14: Ghosts and Sudden Changes

Upon reaching the restaurant, the guards of the Medicine Escort Team, who hadn't had a proper meal all day, immediately began to feast under Liu Fusheng's arrangements.

During the meal, Liu Fusheng led a group of high-level pharmacy staff to keep the atmosphere lively, constantly offering words of flattery and making everyone burst into laughter.

They were especially shocked upon learning that Lin Yi was a Disciple of the martial academy and a friend of the main family's Young Master.

Not only did they shower him with compliments like 'a dragon among men' and 'having a limitless future' as if they cost nothing, but Liu Fusheng also secretly slipped Lin Yi a banknote worth fifty taels of silver. He truly handled the nuances of social etiquette perfectly, earning a bit of goodwill from Lin Yi.

Thus, under Liu Fusheng's flattery, everyone toasted and drank. By the time the banquet ended and people dispersed, it was already late at night.

"Come! Drink! Brothers! Drink!"

"No! I'm not drunk! Drink! Keep drinking with me!"

"I want to drink! I want to drink!"

...At the massive Beicang County branch of the Wang Family Pharmacy, the drunken members of the Medicine Escort Team were seen wobbling back to the pharmacy to rest, guided by pharmacy apprentices and guards.

Lin Yi followed behind them, but his eyes were clear, and his steps were steady and powerful.

He hadn't drunk tonight; in fact, he rarely drank in either his past or present life.

He always felt that alcohol would numb his brain and prevent him from maintaining clarity, which he disliked immensely.

Furthermore, although everything had gone extremely smoothly from the start of the medicine escort until now, Lin Yi became even more vigilant.

Based on the lessons learned time and again from his past life's history, the more smoothly a task goes, the less you can afford to relax at the final moment. You must be cautious and careful until you achieve a truly satisfactory result!

"Young Master Lin Yi, your residence is here!"

As Lin Yi was deep in thought, a Little Maidservant of about thirteen or fourteen years old, with quite delicate and beautiful features, respectfully reminded him while holding a lantern in front of a small, elegantly decorated courtyard.

"Mm, it's very late, and I'm going to sleep. I don't need you to attend to me here. Go and rest!"

After speaking, Lin Yi stepped directly into the courtyard.

But to his total surprise, upon hearing his words, the Little Maidservant was so frightened that she knelt directly on the ground and began kowtowing repeatedly:

"Young Master Lin Yi, I beg of you! Please don't send me away. The shopkeeper ordered me to serve you well tonight. If you send me away now, the shopkeeper will surely beat me to death."

"Beat you to death? Over such a small matter, Liu Fusheng would beat you to death?"

Hearing this, Lin Yi frowned slightly:

"Even if his true personality isn't as humble as he acts in front of me, you are still someone the pharmacy spent several years training."

"And I heard Liu Fusheng say your martial arts practice is quite good, with hopes of reaching the eighth rank. In this Beicang County, you'd be considered a rare talent."

"Logically, even if Liu Fusheng doesn't treat you like a treasure, he wouldn't execute you over such a trivial matter, would he? Could it be that you're lying to me?"

A hint of suspicion flashed in Lin Yi's eyes. To be honest, he really did suspect this Little Maidservant was making up excuses not to leave because she was lusting after him.

This wasn't Lin Yi being narcissistic. As a top-ranked Genius Disciple of the Guangling Martial Academy, let alone in a place like Beicang County, even in Guangling Prefecture City, if he were willing, plenty of Young Misses from noble families would offer themselves to him.

If this Little Maidservant truly took a fancy to his talent and potential, finding an excuse to stay with him would be perfectly normal.

"I... Young Master Lin Yi, I... I am not!"

Seeing this important figure from the prefecture city—someone even the shopkeeper had to flatter—frown, the Little Maidservant's face turned pale with fright as she hurriedly explained:

"The shopkeeper used to put on airs, but his temper was okay. He was relatively lenient with me and the other outstanding pharmacy Disciples. It was the pharmacy's doctors and instructors who were more severe, hitting people at the drop of a hat."

"But since a month ago, the shopkeeper's personality suddenly changed drastically. He became extremely irritable and prone to anger, often executing other pharmacy apprentices over minor matters in a fit of rage."

"For example, just a few days ago, 'A-Huan,' the best performer among our batch of apprentices, accidentally said a few wrong words. As a result, the shopkeeper ordered him to be beaten to death in public."

"There's also A-Xiu, Zhang Gou'er, and Wang San. They entered the pharmacy before me and usually performed very well, but they were also beaten to death by the shopkeeper recently."

"So if I were to disobey the shopkeeper's orders today, he would definitely beat me to death as well."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Hearing this, Lin Yi fell into deep thought.

If what the Little Maidservant said was true, then he really needed to take this seriously.

After all, as the saying goes, when things are abnormal, there must be a 'demon' at work. Liu Fusheng's sudden change in personality meant he must have encountered something recently that caused him to become like this.

Otherwise, whether it was A-Huan, A-Xiu, or those people like Zhang Gou'er and Wang San, these people were the Foundation for Liu Fusheng to rule the pharmacy and suppress the county in the future. He couldn't possibly execute them casually.

But now, Liu Fusheng acted as if he didn't care at all, which was truly abnormal.

With this thought, Lin Yi continued to ask:

"Xiao Zhi, let me ask you, besides these things, have there been any other abnormalities regarding your shopkeeper or the pharmacy recently?"

"Other abnormalities?"

Hearing this, the Little Maidservant Xiao Zhi lowered her head in thought. After a moment, she seemed to recall something, but just as she was about to speak, she hesitated.

"Don't be afraid!"

Seeing this, Lin Yi noticed something was off and spoke to comfort her:

"Xiao Zhi, if there's anything, just say it. With me here, even Liu Fusheng wouldn't dare touch you in the entire Beicang branch of the Wang Family Pharmacy. You can rest assured."

"This..."

Hearing this, Xiao Zhi frowned, a look of struggle appearing on her face. But after thinking for a while, she seemed to finally make up her mind and nodded:

"Alright! Young Master, the shopkeeper originally forbade us from speaking of this. However, since your status is noble and you wish to hear it, Xiao Zhi does not dare to hide it."

"About two months ago, a major incident did occur at our White Bird Pharmacy Manor on the west side of the city."

"Overnight, everyone in the manor—from the head of the guards down to the medicine-planting apprentices—suddenly died. And their deaths were extremely gruesome."

"Later, the shopkeeper went to investigate personally. Not long after, he returned in terror and told us that the manor was haunted—that a malevolent ghost had killed everyone inside. The next day, he personally led people to seal the manor and forbade anyone from going there, or they would be severely punished."

"In the days that followed, a few brave apprentices tried to check the manor at night. As a result, they either died right at the manor's entrance or lost their minds and went completely insane. Even the pharmacy's best doctor couldn't cure them. So soon, no one dared to go to that manor anymore."

"Medicine manor? Haunted?"

Hearing these words, Lin Yi's frown deepened.

He was a transmigrator; he had already experienced something as mysterious as Transmigration, so he naturally wouldn't say stupid things like 'there are no ghosts in the world' or that he was a 'staunch materialist warrior.'

However, Lin Yi had lived in this world for over a decade and had never actually seen a ghost. Even if he occasionally heard rumors of fierce ghosts harming people, investigations usually found they were either man-made or the witnesses hadn't seen clearly and were just guessing wildly.

In short, in this world, Lin Yi hadn't seen a ghost, and no one had truly seen one.

Therefore, regarding the haunting of the medicine manor, Lin Yi remained very skeptical.

Moreover, the haunting happened first, and then Liu Fusheng's personality changed. These two things seemed to have no connection, but Lin Yi had a faint feeling that the truth behind them wasn't so simple.

"Forget it! Regardless of what's wrong with Liu Fusheng, the most important thing for me now is to tell Wang Chuan about this!"

"Although this might seem like making a mountain out of a molehill, as the saying goes, 'caution is the parent of safety.' It's never wrong to have Wang Chuan question Liu Fusheng."

"As for whether I'm overthinking or if there's really a hidden secret, Wang Chuan, a sixth-rank Martial Artist, can handle it. That's much better than me worrying about it alone."

Thinking of this, Lin Yi immediately said to the Little Maidservant beside him:

"Xiao Zhi, I have to go out for a bit. Since you don't want to leave, stay in this courtyard tonight! Just wait for me to return."

"If I don't come back tonight, no matter what noise you hear outside, do not come out, lest you bring trouble upon yourself. Do you understand?"

"I understand! Thank you, Young Master Lin Yi! Thank you, Young Master Lin Yi!"

Seeing Lin Yi's serious expression, Xiao Zhi also nodded gratefully.

After instructing the Little Maidservant, Lin Yi took his long saber and immediately strode toward the courtyard where Wang Chuan was resting.

However, just as Lin Yi was halfway there, bursts of terrified screams suddenly rang out from outside the pharmacy.

"This is bad! The Bandits from Black Wind Stockade have broken into the city! The Black Wind Stockade Bandits are in the city! Everyone, run!"

...The terrified screams rose one after another, and before Lin Yi could even react—

"Boom!"

Another massive explosion thundered in his ears.

Immediately after, about a hundred meters ahead of Lin Yi, not far from Wang Chuan's courtyard, a section of a high courtyard wall was smashed down by a giant hammer.

Following that, a burly man over two meters tall, holding a giant hammer with muscles like granite, led a group of Bandits into the pharmacy:

"Haha! Boys! Loot! Kill!"

"This puny Beicang County Magistrate actually dared to offend my Black Wind Stockade. The Big Boss has personally ordered us to give them a good lesson."

"Tonight, this Beicang County belongs to our Black Wind Stockade! Kill!"

"Haha! Kill! Loot!"

"Roar! Kill, kill, kill!"