Wei Sijian

Watching Ding Anbai's departing back, Shen Qian was utterly bewildered.

What kind of nonsense was he talking about?

Shen Qian went over what Ding Anbai had just said again. He was certain he understood every single word, but when put together, he had no idea what they meant.

Could he know I wanted to work with him?

But Shen Qian immediately dismissed the thought. If the other man really knew, he could not possibly have refused. Besides, there was no reason for him to know.

Just then, a white-haired old man emerged from the inner courtyard with several young people in long white coats. Shen Qian saw everyone in the courtyard, including Ding Anbai, smile and go forward to greet them.

Faintly, Shen Qian caught words like "Professor Cheng."

Shen Qian had already looked over the others' work badges. Most of them were entrepreneurs from the pharmaceutical industry. It seemed this old man known as Professor Cheng was the medical expert from North Capital.

After the group exchanged a few pleasantries, a square-faced young man behind the old man suddenly said something. Shen Qian saw the white-haired old man frown deeply and rebuke him. The square-faced young man retorted indignantly, then turned and returned to the inner courtyard.

Then Ding Anbai and the others surrounded the grim-faced white-haired old man and entered the auditorium.

Seeing that the summit seemed to have officially begun, Shen Qian could only abandon the idea of testing Ding Anbai again. Just as he was about to leave, a series of "ding-dong" notifications suddenly popped up in his mind.

Shen Qian, who had developed a stress response to them, went pale.

"Valuable resource target detected. The system has automatically activated AFK mode."

"Generating map data. Range: 3 km²..."

"Locking target location. Generating optimal route..."

"Target resource locked. System auto-pathfinding..."

"Ding!"

Fuck, I'm at the Martial Arts Bureau right now—the Martial Arts Bureau, where experts are everywhere!

What the hell is the system trying to pull now?

These thoughts flashed through Shen Qian's mind in an instant. Soon afterward, his vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.

When Shen Qian opened his eyes, his first reaction was to warily survey his surroundings.

There did not seem to be any danger... and it was unusually quiet.

He was in a room filled with books, like a small library. Through the gaps ahead, he could make out three or four rows of bookshelves. Shen Qian was standing by the entrance.

He casually picked up a book with a white cover.

"Outline of Nine Needle Medicine"... a medical book?

Shen Qian glanced over the bookshelf in front of him again. "Cheng's Pharmacology," "From Herbal Refining to Pill Refining—The Importance of Demon Beast Materials"...

This small library seemed to contain nothing but books related to medicine and pharmaceuticals.

That meant Shen Qian was most likely still inside the medical research institute.

"Ding. Target location reached. The system is automatically acquiring the resource array..."

"Resource array generated. System knowledge base expansion in progress. Progress: 1%, 2%..."

Hearing the two notifications in his mind, Shen Qian understood somewhat.

So the target resources the system referred to were these medical books?

Then how had he gotten in here?

He opened the AFK Record from earlier and took a look. The entry was simple, consisting of only one line:

"You followed Wei Sijian into the laboratory of the Martial Arts Medicine and Pharmacy Research Institute and arrived at the library (15:23)."

Who was Wei Sijian?

Shen Qian was somewhat confused.

At the same time, another question occurred to him. Had AFK mode been interrupted because the system needed to expand its so-called knowledge base?

Creak!

Just as Shen Qian was pondering this, the door behind him was suddenly pushed open.

Shen Qian's body stiffened, and the person behind him also stopped.

Shen Qian slowly turned around and saw a puzzled face staring at him.

It was him!

Standing before Shen Qian was a young man in a long white coat and white gloves. His hair was a mess, and his small eyes paired with his almost perfectly square face made for a rather comical sight...

If Shen Qian remembered correctly, this was the young man who had argued with Professor Cheng at the auditorium entrance earlier.

This was so awkward...

Did this count as being caught red-handed?

Just as Shen Qian was considering how to explain himself, the square-faced young man spoke first.

He looked at Shen Qian in sudden realization. "So there's someone here after all. Perfect, help me find a book. I need it right now. It's called 'Encyclopedia of Spirit Herbs,' and it should be on the second-to-last bookshelf inside!"

The square-faced young man finished speaking at a rapid pace and turned to leave.

Shen Qian was a little dumbfounded, but he thought of something and instinctively called out, "Wei Sijian?"

"What?" The square-faced young man turned back.

"...Nothing."

"Oh."

Wei Sijian nodded, then turned and hurried away again.

...So he really was Wei Sijian!

But why did he seem a little slow in the head?

Shen Qian thought it over, then, while the system was still loading, went to the second-to-last bookshelf. He quickly found the "Encyclopedia of Spirit Herbs" Wei Sijian had mentioned.

After lingering for a while longer, he finally walked out of the library once the system notified him that the knowledge base expansion was complete.

Outside the library was an enormous space spanning over two hundred square meters. Rows of experiment tables and all kinds of equipment packed the area full, while an indescribable medicinal smell—neither pleasant nor unpleasant—hung in the air.

In the vast laboratory, only Wei Sijian, dressed in white, was bent over an experiment table, completely absorbed in tinkering with something.

"Here, the book you wanted." Shen Qian took a glance and, after confirming that Wei Sijian was merely fiddling with some herbs, approached and handed him the book.

"Just put it beside me." Wei Sijian did not even raise his head.

Shen Qian placed the book on the experiment table and stood nearby observing for a while. Throughout the entire time, Wei Sijian had no reaction whatsoever, completely immersed in his own world. Shen Qian even picked up the notebook spread open on the table and flipped through it from cover to cover, but Wei Sijian still ignored him.

This...

Shen Qian rubbed his chin, roughly guessing how he had entered the laboratory. Most likely, he had simply followed behind Wei Sijian and walked right in...

Wei Sijian seemed like a complete airhead!

"No, that's not right. What exactly is wrong..." Wei Sijian finally looked up, but only to snatch the notebook from Shen Qian's hands. He still did not properly look at Shen Qian.

Perhaps only people like this were true academic talents...

Now completely at ease, Shen Qian stopped watching Wei Sijian, who was frowning tightly, and began wandering around the laboratory.

Along the way, he saw plenty of incomplete herbs and bottles and jars containing various concoctions. Unfortunately, none of them were labeled, so Shen Qian did not dare touch them carelessly.

Besides the library, there were several other rooms connected to the laboratory. Shen Qian's gaze suddenly sharpened and fixed on the plaque of one room.

"Apothecary Storage Room!"

He glanced back at Wei Sijian, who was still muttering to himself, then tried pushing the door. He discovered it had an electronic lock and required a card swipe to enter.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Qian returned to Wei Sijian and said, "Let me borrow your access card."

"Don't disturb me whenever you feel like it!" Wei Sijian glared at Shen Qian unhappily, but still took a card from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.

Could someone really be this careless...

Watching Wei Sijian shift his attention back to the notebook, Shen Qian silently complained to himself before turning toward the Apothecary Storage Room.