Chapter 9: Outdoor Mission

  Returning from Old Man Cao's house, Li Meng found that his own courtyard gate was open, and there were sounds of rummaging coming from inside. This made him pick up his heart again, and he could only pretend to be calm as he walked in.

  Fortunately, the jade and feathers inside Wanhui have been sent back to the Shanhaijing world by him. Otherwise, it would be difficult to end today. He is more aware of the severity of Yanhuang's law than anyone else.

  Inside the house, Yang Fan sat expressionlessly in the living room. There were several people carefully searching for something in various places such as the rooms and kitchen. Except for Yang Fan and his assistant, everyone else was from the Yan Huang Discipline Group, 'assisting' Yang Fan with the investigation.

  When he saw Li Meng coming back, Yang Fan's eyelids lifted slightly.

  "Yang Guanshi, what are you people doing?" Li Meng walked into the living room with a shocked and puzzled expression.

  "Routine investigation!" Yang Fan habitually adjusted the glasses on his nose, and his eyes looked at Li Mang with spirit, trying to find any abnormalities. Although he had tried every means to protect Li Mang in front of Cai Cai, it didn't mean that he wouldn't conduct a serious investigation. As Cai Cai said, Yan Huang Academy was an important place, and no mistakes could be made. This time Li Mang had poisoned the dog, but what about next time?

  Li Meng did not look at him, but seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

  "Sit down, I have a few questions for you." Yang Fan gestured.

  "Good!" Li Mang didn't pretend, came to Yang Fan's opposite side and sat down. Standing was too much pressure, he worried that his legs would shake and reveal a flaw.

  A man in a Sun Yat-sen suit walked out of the room, and although he was expressionless and didn't say a word, he stood upright, supervising with an unmistakable air, not giving face to Lian Yangfan from the discipline team.

  "When did you become so familiar with the king?" Yang Fan asked in a gentle tone, just like they were having an ordinary conversation, without putting too much pressure on Li Mang.

  "Maybe it's because we've been in contact more often!" Li Mang replied.

  "Is it?" Yang Fan looked at him.

  "Yes!" Li Mang nodded seriously in confirmation.

  Yang Fan nodded and did not continue to ask about this matter, then said: "Alright! I'll ask you another question, last night the king called for a whole night, do you know about this?"

  "At breakfast time, Xiao Pizi had mentioned this matter to me." Li Mang replied truthfully.

  "What kind of medicine did you give to the king?" Yang Fan suddenly asked, his tone becoming extremely serious, a faint sense of majesty bursting out from him, his eyes fixed steadily on Li Mang.

  Li Mang's heart tightened, but he quickly reacted and said with a shocked and wronged expression: "I didn't give the king any medicine to eat!"

  Seeing Li Mang not daring to admit, Yang Fan's eyes flashed with disappointment, and then his face turned slightly cold, expressionless: "Yesterday afternoon, did you feed the king food?"

  It sounds like a question, but Yang Fan has already used a affirmative tone.

  "There is some chicken bones." Li Mang answered truthfully.

  "According to the disciplinary team's investigation, Da Wang was yelling non-stop last night because of the food you fed him. You owe me an explanation." Yang Fan was already furious.

  "This... this is impossible! I also had some of that stewed chicken at the time, it can't be poisonous!" Li Mang suddenly stood up, with an innocent face.

  "...Looking at Li Mang's appearance, it didn't seem like he was lying. Yang Fan raised an eyebrow slightly, and his doubts in his heart were slightly shaken, but on the surface, he still remained calm and asked: "Braised chicken? What ingredients did you put in?"

  "Three Sanqi flowers, still the Yang Guan affairs you sent before, a small bag of dried tangerine peel, two spoons of edible salt, and five grams of infant stone powder." Li Mang replied without hesitation.

  "What's infant stone powder?" Yang Fan asked directly, as for huangqi, citrus and edible salt, they were all ignored by him.

  "Infant stone, it has a calming effect on the mind. It was left by the ghost doctor two days ago and he instructed me to take it." Li Mang had already known the answer in his heart, so he replied directly.

  "Stone, go and get confirmation from Gui Yi!" Yang Fan signaled to a black-clad youth beside him, his assistant.

  "Yes!"

  Relying on the man in the Zhongshan attire standing at the door frame, he also gave a subordinate inside a glance. The man nodded knowingly and followed Shi Tou out. As for Yang Fan, he pretended not to see it. The discipline team of Yan Huang had always been strict like this, and his face couldn't be used either.

  As the stone left, the atmosphere in Li Mang's courtyard suddenly became oppressive and quiet, with no one speaking. Yang Fan and others were waiting for the final confirmation, while Li Mang, although he had known earlier that nothing would happen on Gui Yi's side, couldn't help but feel tense, his palms covered in sweat.

  Li Meng even thought that if things were exposed, what should he do? Admit to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas"? This was absolutely impossible. Even if he was caught, he would not admit it. At worst, he could hide in the world of the Classic of Mountains and Seas to escape.

  But what about my own family? Will the Huang Empire bother them?

  Li Mang felt a bit anxious and uneasy, but still had to put on a calm appearance.

  The stone quickly went and returned, directly reporting to Yang Fan: "The ghost doctor has confirmed this matter, and he also said that the amount of infant stone powder used by livestock should be one-tenth less than that of humans. Otherwise, if it is excessive, it will stimulate the brain and make it feel excited. Last night's symptoms of the king were undoubtedly due to taking too much infant stone powder."

  The disciplinary team behind him also nodded slightly to their leader.

  Li Meng's expression relaxed slightly.

  Yang Fan's tense face was the same, he stood up and patted Li Meng's shoulder, saying: "I shouldn't have doubted you, but this is Yan Huang University, you should understand our difficulties...... Rest well today, go to work as usual tomorrow, let's go!"

  After seeing off Yang Fan and the others, Li Meng suddenly collapsed onto the sofa, his entire body instantly drenched in sweat, with not a shred of strength left in his limbs. He didn't doubt that he had just walked through the gates of life and death, because if any irregularities were discovered, the punishment would be unimaginable.

  The treatment at Yanhuang Hospital is not bad, everything else is fine, but it's very sensitive to any abnormalities. Today's investigation is the inevitable consequence, just as Yang Fan said, the situation at Yanhuang Hospital is special and cannot afford any mistakes, otherwise the impact will be huge.

  Using the big test medicine, this was indeed inconsiderate. Li Mang was covered in cold sweat for his recklessness this time. But before that, he really hadn't thought that a wild chicken would have such a powerful effect.

  "Be more careful during this period, try not to enter the Shan Hai Jing world again!" Li Mang muttered to himself, deciding that despite having survived the investigation, he still needed to be cautious.

  He stayed at home that day, reading in the yard or sleeping, and even cooked for himself when he was hungry. This was actually a habit he had maintained before, after all, there were many strange people in the Huangdi courtyard, and if it wasn't necessary, he generally wouldn't go out, nor would others suspect him of anything.

  During this time, Li Mang had many urges to enter the world of Shan Hai Jing, but he finally endured it. The water in Yan Huang Academy is very deep and must be cautious. In these six months, he lived in peace, and Yan Huang Academy also looked calm, but Li Mang knew that this was because he used to be an inconspicuous role, and all the storms had nothing to do with him.

  But once "Shan Hai Jing" is exposed, he will be exposed to the wind and waves, and in the scramble of giant sharks at the bottom of the sea, he may not even have a corpse left.

  ……

  The next day, Li Meng arrived early at the office area of the 9th group. This was a large courtyard, just in front of his house not far away, and around it were the residences of Cao Lao Tou, She Nai Nai, Xiao Pi Hai, Yang Fan and others, who were also members of the 9th group.

  Here is the translation:

  It's necessary to introduce that Huang Da Institute is divided into nine groups, from one to nine, each group has a person in charge. The person in charge of the ninth group is Yang Fan, who is responsible for more than ten people with special abilities, just like an agent, responsible for their tasks, life and treatment etc.

  The staff of the ninth group is actually not many, Yang Fan, his assistant Shi Tou, and then there's Li Mang, plus a hygiene aunt. Fortunately, the aliens in charge are only about ten or so, and except for Old Cao and Little Fart, who are half abnormal, the rest are absolutely normal people, and some even live in the outside world, and Li Mang and others can also cope with them.

  When he arrived at his own desk, Li Meng found several documents on the fax machine. He picked them up and took a look. Two of them were notices that had been transmitted, and one was even about him.

  "Notice of Closure of Case Regarding Li Mang's 'Poisoning' Incident"

  The notice was very brief and only approved the investigation report submitted by Yang Fan yesterday, also defining this case as a misjudgment. The signature below is from the Discipline Inspection Team.

  It wasn't until then that this difficult period was truly over.

  Li Mang raised an eyebrow, quietly putting away the notice and shifting his gaze to the last fax, titled "Guangxi Manshan Paranormal Event: Manshan Ghosts"

  The content points out that a mysterious event occurred in a village in Mengshan County, and after repeated investigations by the police, no results were obtained, and many detective police officers were sacrificed. The matter was serious, and after verification, it was found that there was a shadow of a person with supernatural powers, so it was submitted to the relevant department for handling by Yan Huang, and the Yan Huang task force assigned this matter to the 9th group of Yan Huang, and the 9th group sent someone to solve it.

  For the task of dealing with supernatural events, Li Meng was already used to it, so he didn't think much of it. Seeing Yang Fan arrive, he handed him a document: "Yang, there's a new task for today."

  "Huh?" Yang Fan, who had just entered the door, took it over casually, quickly browsed through it, furrowed his brow in thought for a long time, and then handed it back to Li Meng saying: "You're in charge of this matter."

  "What?" Li Mang doubted his own ears.

  "Don't you want to go out and take a walk?" Yang Fan asked while packing up his things without even lifting his head.

  "It's just a thought, but I'm just an ordinary person, don't joke around, Yang! Although his heart was stirred, Li Mang shook his head like a drum. Despite having several times more strength than before, it was still limited, after all, he was just a wild chicken, not a magical medicine, and its effects were limited. Now that he had to face ghosts and monsters, he would definitely be scared silly."

  "Don't worry, you don't need to lift a finger. Zhang Daoshi will take care of it, just follow him and assist a bit, consider it lending a hand." Yang Fan explained.

  "Like that..." Li Meng's heart was already racing, but he still looked at Yang Fan with a puzzled expression. If he remembered correctly, this 'clerk' didn't have the qualifications for external missions, and even if he did, it would only be to go to the city to buy something. Moreover, he had been in Yan Huang for less than half a year, and one year was considered the probationary period, so he wouldn't even have vacation time to return home.

  Yang Fan knew what Li Meng was thinking, and before he could speak up, he said: "Recently the team has been very busy, with tasks everywhere, and I really can't take care of Shi Tou, so you'll have to go... Also, in the past six months, you've suffered a lot of grievances, and yesterday you were even misunderstood. This time it's an opportunity for you to go out and relax as a reward."

  "Get the task on file, bring your own luggage and follow Zhang Daoshi to set off. There's 100,000 yuan here, you may need to pay for food, accommodation and other aspects, remember to bring back the invoice for reimbursement. I don't think I need to say more about other things." Yang Fan handed over a small package containing a bank card, various certificates, and a satellite phone, which might be used when executing tasks outside.

  The surprise came so suddenly that Li Meng was stunned and took the documents from Yang Fan's hands, only to feel the excitement when he returned to his own courtyard. The paranormal case had little to do with him, but he could take this opportunity to prepare some equipment for exploring the Shan Hai Jing world, and the timing couldn't be more perfect.

  ……

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