Flanders looked like an ordinary middle-aged man. His face was a little pale due to his injuries, but he was in good spirits. There was no way he was faking his recovery in this place.
According to the information Silin obtained from Shi Huajing, Flanders used to be a pharmaceutical businessman from a famous school. He came from a medium-sized family, and the company he took over was a family business. They produced a lot of drugs, but most of them were aimed at the middle and low end of the market. That being said, the fact that he hadn't been swallowed up by other big families was a testament to his ability.
Unlike the rulers of the Mist Bodhisattva Empire, most of the people in charge of the League of Stars had real talent. Even if they weren't the most outstanding, they still had a solid foundation. Unlike nobles like Gen Xingming who enjoyed absolute privileges, they wouldn't fool around like that.
After the League of Stars fell into chaos, Shi Huajing decided to work with Flanders. Flanders might be an insignificant force to other people, but Shi Huajing definitely had his reasons for choosing him, and he was a partner he absolutely trusted.
There were some newspapers beside Flanders, and some of the images on them were like books from the heavens to Shusag. They were either molecular diagrams of drugs or the principles behind a newly developed drug. Even if it was an advertisement, it had to be a medical product. Shusag's head was spinning just looking at it.
Flanders was lying on his bed and watching the news. When he saw Silin and Flanders, his gaze landed on Huimao, who was lying obediently in Silin's arms and looking around restlessly. He smiled and said, "You came just in time. I was planning to leave the hospital in a couple of days."
Silin didn't know if Flanders was telling the truth when he said that he came just in time, but he had to admit that he was someone Shi Huajing trusted. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known that Wheeze was a special cat. His gaze on Huimao just now was to verify their identities.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Flanders. I'll have to trouble you with the rest," Silin said.
Flanders waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine, it's fine. There's no need to be so polite."
The fact that Flanders dared to use the term "Fourth Young Master" meant that he had set up a security system in the room. No one outside could know what was going on inside. In fact, Silin wasn't worried that news would leak out even if Flanders hadn't set up a security system. Both Huimao and Czedow were here, so it was a piece of cake for them to control the flow of information.
Flanders told Cillin about his plan. According to Flanders, he wasn't going to leave this place immediately after he was discharged from the hospital. He was going to look for someone, but he couldn't do it in a big way. He would only bring two or three bodyguards with him, bodyguards that he trusted absolutely. It would be even better if Silin and the trio could help. If he still couldn't find that person in the next two days, or if he couldn't touch that person, Flanders would follow his original plan and leave instead of staying here forever.
Shi Huajing had told Cillin a few things before, and if he could, he would help Shi Huajing. Cillin was a very important person to both Shi Huajing and Flanders.
An hour later, another three people entered the recovery room. They didn't look like much, but Silin knew that they were all experts.
The trio was surprised to see Silin's group, but they quickly regained their composure and went to report to Flanders. An hour later, three more people entered the recovery room. They didn't look like much, but Silin knew that they were all experts. After completing a series of procedures, one of them pushed Flanders out of the sanatorium in a wheelchair and into a spacious flying car. The trio followed after him.
"How are things over there?" Flanders asked the person who pushed him into the car.
"We've been keeping an eye on them. No one is disturbing them. The old mister is busy," the person replied.
"That's good." Flanders let out a sigh before saying to Silin, "Old mister Xun is my mentor and Fourth Young Master's teacher."
The person Flanders was looking for was called Jiu Xun. He was Flanders' former mentor at an advanced education school. However, the old man had been kicked out of the school and lost his qualification to become an academician of the League of Stars. At the time, Jiu Xun was one of the most popular candidates. However, he was framed and stripped of many of his academic rights. After that, Jiu Xun disappeared from the public eye. Flanders had already left the school by then, and it was too late by the time he heard the news.
However, after Jiu Xun left the school, he accidentally ran into Shi Huajing who had left home. Jiu Xun was the one who taught Shi Huajing everything he knew.
Cillin didn't need to investigate this old mister he had been looking for for a long time. Shi Huajing's medicinal knowledge was very strong, and there were many times when he was able to solve problems very well and efficiently even though he didn't take the usual route.
It was no wonder that Shi Huajing, the fourth young master of the Shi Family, would notice a small boss of a small medical company like Flanders. So they were brothers.
"It was only when Fourth Young Master came to me and told me about Teacher that I found a new junior brother." Flanders smiled. "That was the first time I heard from Teacher after he left the school. After that, I agreed to work with Fourth Young Master and we secretly sent people to search for Teacher. It wasn't easy for us to find out where Teacher was staying, and it just so happened that I was injured as well, so I came here to receive treatment."
It made sense. After all, Flanders was the boss of a medical company. He had to have a full set of treatment facilities, so there was no need for him to come here for Jiu Xun.
The reason Flanders told Cillin all of this was because he wanted to shorten the distance between them a little.
"Teacher is a stubborn person. He doesn't like to curry favor with others, and he's not good at socializing with people either. That's why he's always offended people, especially back in school. Otherwise, with his knowledge, he would've been named an academician of the League of Stars a long time ago. "
The flying car kept flying towards the suburbs. Large sanatoriums were nowhere to be seen, replaced by small hospitals, pharmacies, and recovery centers. In the past, there would've been fewer people here compared to the central district. But now that the prices of large sanatoriums were high, business here had improved a lot. Some of the older shops were even lined up outside.
The flying car didn't stop and continued to fly towards more remote areas. Like most planets, there was a divide between the rich and the poor on this planet. However, the slums here were slightly better than the ones Silin had seen before.
In this slum area, the landmark building was a huge garbage disposal plant. Most of the waste treatment plants on this planet were located in the slums, far away from the central district. Every day, a large amount of waste would be transported here from other places. Some were from the central district, while others were from the small sanatoriums and pharmacies along the way.
Around the waste treatment plant, many residents of this area were waiting there, armed to the teeth. They carried large bags and wore several layers of isolation gloves on their hands. Some were metal, some were non-metal, and there were also all kinds of tools. There were adults with children, and there were also many elderly people. They looked at the transport vehicle that was slowly approaching from a distance. It was as if they were preparing for a battle, and their fighting spirit was high.
Because of the nature of the planet, there were more medical things, such as sanatoriums, various hospitals, pharmacies, and so on. The domestic waste would definitely be related to various medicines.
Among this waste, there were used and unused medicines, used and discarded treatment products, broken medical equipment, and so on. Among the medicinal waste, there were some drugs with strong oxidation, strong corrosion, high volatility, easy to decompose when exposed to light, temperature sensitivity, and so on. Their contents would have special requirements. Many of the boxes and bottles that contained the drugs were made of precious materials. The residents who stayed around the waste treatment plant all day mainly sorted out such materials.
If these materials entered the treatment plant, they would definitely not get a share of the results of the recycling. They would not get any benefits at all. So every time the waste was transported and had not been sent to the treatment chamber in the treatment plant, the residents around the waste treatment plant would seize the time to pick up these things.
The residents here did not need to buy medicine. They would pick up all kinds of medicine from the garbage dump. Although many of the medicine had different names, the ingredients of the medicine were similar. The experienced residents would classify the medicine together and store it bit by bit in case they needed it in the future.
The children living here understood some pharmacological knowledge from a very young age. Even if they didn't know the principles, didn't know the name of the substance that the medicine worked on, and didn't know the molecular formula of these drugs, they knew what these drugs were used for, what to eat when they had a cold, what to use for trauma, and what the lethal dose of lethal drugs was, and so on.
Survival was the best teacher. If they didn't even know these things, they could die because of an accident at any time because there were bottles and packaging shells of all kinds of drugs everywhere. The various bottles that contained the drugs were the toys of these children since they were young.
Just like when Tang Qiuqiu was in her hometown, it was common for children there to use guns as if they were eating, and it was similar here.
Hua — —
The garbage was unloaded from the truck, and the residents rushed forward, regardless of waiting for all the garbage to be emptied. The heavily armed young adults rushed in front, and the women and children picked up at the edge. After all the garbage was unloaded, they rushed over to pick up the valuable ones in this batch.
Even if they wore all kinds of gloves, some of the drugs, just a little bit of it would corrode a large piece of the wound, and there were all kinds of harmful gases around the garbage dump. It was impossible to completely block it with the poor quality masks that the residents wore. The damage to them was not small.
Because of grabbing the garbage, the residents who were scratched by the machinery and corroded by the drugs didn't have time to deal with the wounds. For them, this was not strange at all. Everyone had all kinds of scars on their body. They didn't have the money to repair them, and there was no need to do it because it would always come back after it was done.
There were a lot of flies on the garbage dump, big and small. After the flying car stopped, Huimao rushed over there to play with the flies. The residents here were only interested in the drugs and bottles. They didn't care much about a cat, even if it was a fat cat.
Flanders walked out of the car after the flying car stopped. He wasn't in a wheelchair. He was almost fully recovered after the treatment. Looking at the fat cat rushing over to the garbage dump, Flanders thought about what Fourth Young Master had said and decided not to bother with it.
Waving his hand, Flanders pushed away the mask one of the bodyguards handed him. This wasn't a garbage disposal plant, and the air wasn't too bad because of the direction of the wind. Although there was a clear smell of drugs in the air, Flanders could still tolerate it. He just couldn't help coughing sometimes. Besides, the more pitiful he pretended to be, the better it was for him to go to his mentor. If he came to show off his superiority and made himself look different from the residents here, the chances of him persuading him would be very low.
Leaving one of the bodyguards to keep an eye on the flying car, Flanders led the other two bodyguards and Silin's group towards the narrow street.
After passing through a small alley, they saw a small courtyard at the end of it. The layout was very similar to Likrabe's residence Silin had seen before. It was obvious that Likrabe had been greatly influenced by this man back then.
Even before entering the courtyard, they could already smell the natural scent of medicinal herbs. The courtyard door was open. When Silin and the others arrived, they happened to see someone coming out of the courtyard. It was someone who had just finished receiving treatment. From the courtyard, they could see an old man sitting in the living room. The old man was massaging a patient who was sprawled on the floor. Since there weren't any machines to treat him, he had to use his own hands most of the time.
The old man had a pair of beautiful hands. Unlike the stained, wrinkled, and rough hands of most old people, Jiu Xun's hands were as smooth and resilient as those of a young man in his twenties. Most doctors would act like idiots without the aid of machines, but Jiu Xun wasn't one of them. His hands were excellent healing machines in their own right. Although they weren't as effective as the machines in sanatoriums, it was still a rare sight to see without the aid of machines.
Standing next to the old man was a very muscular young man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. Right now, the young man was staring unblinkingly at the old man's movements.
Although Flanders was very excited to see Jiu Xun, he knew that Jiu Xun hated to be disturbed when he was working. Therefore, he just stood there without making a sound. Only his breathing and heartbeat gave away his restless mood.
Ten minutes later, Jiu Xun stood up and washed his hands in the basin that the burly young man handed him. After that, he put on his gloves and spoke to the patient before handing him a medicine bottle. The medicine bottle was filled with a brown liquid that had already been prepared. The patient only needed to follow the doctor's instructions and use it.
After he was done with the patient, Jiu Xun finally looked at the people in the courtyard. Jiu Xun's gaze swept across the people in the courtyard and finally landed on Flanders. He frowned for a moment, then his eyes flashed for a moment before he finally calmed down.
"Flanders?" Jiu Xun said slowly.
Although he was trying his best to hide it, Silin and the others could still tell that Flanders wasn't as calm as he seemed on the surface.
"Teacher … cough cough cough, teacher, I've finally found you! Cough cough cough … "
Jiu Xun took a few steps forward and helped Flanders up from his knees. "Why didn't you wear a respirator when your lungs were injured? The air here will worsen a patient like you. Although you're almost fully recovered, it's best if you don't come into contact with this kind of air before you're fully recovered! "
Tears welled up in Flanders' eyes. He coughed a few times and said, "I came as soon as I got your message. I didn't think about wearing that thing."
Silin: "..."
The two bodyguards didn't react in the slightest to their master's blatant lie. It looked like this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
Flanders wasn't as composed as Silin had been when they first met him. Instead, he was acting pitiful in front of Jiu Xun like a child. After all, he had several years of experience working with Jiu Xun as a teacher, so he knew a thing or two about Jiu Xun's temperament.
While scolding Flanders for not taking care of himself, Jiu Xun had the burly man bring him a bottle of medicine. He sprayed it on Flanders and dragged him into the house.
"That's all for today. Close the door," Jiu Xun said to the burly man.
Jiu Xun dragged Flanders into the house. One of Flanders's bodyguards and Shusag stayed in the courtyard to prevent any suspicious people or troublemakers from approaching.
"Teacher, Fourth Young Master … no, Shi Huajing … no, Likrabe …"
Jiu Xun felt like slapping Flanders's head twice. "What the hell is it!? It's been so many years and you still haven't gotten rid of your bad habit of not being able to speak properly when you're agitated?! "
Flanders thought to himself: I'm acting like this right in front of you!
Flanders had been deeply influenced by what he went through when he was still a student. Jiu Xun always had high expectations for his students. He wouldn't be as lenient as other mentors because of their connections or backgrounds. Therefore, every exam, clinical trial, and paper he wrote were the real deal. Every exam, every clinical trial, and every paper he wrote was the real deal.
The students who managed to survive Jiu Xun's tutelage were now doing well in the medical world. However, not every one of them was like Flanders who still had a deep relationship with Jiu Xun. Ever since they graduated, they never wanted to see Jiu Xun again. The old man was too hard to please. He had a bad temper, high standards, and loved to scold people. Not many people could stand his temper.
However, it was exactly because of Flanders's deep relationship with Jiu Xun that it had become a conditioned reflex. Flanders would get agitated every time he was in front of Jiu Xun and couldn't speak properly. He had lost count of how many times Jiu Xun had scolded him because of this. Just like now. It had been years since they last met, but he was scolded as soon as they met.
Jiu Xun knew that the poor kid named Likrabe he met years ago was actually Shi Huajing, the son of a powerful political family in the League of Stars. He was also known as the fourth young master of the Shi Family. After a moment of silence, Jiu Xun didn't respond to Flanders's request to take him away. According to Flanders's understanding of the old man, Jiu Xun was going to turn him down.
Jiu Xun was a strict person when it came to his students, and in turn, he had high expectations of his students. As a matter of fact, Jiu Xun's expectations of Rikulab were much higher than Flanders'. It was just that Rikulab had run away from home in a sorry state. Jiu Xun remembered him as a depressed and self-deprecating child, not as the fourth young master of the Shi Family who was now in his prime and wielding great power.
To put it bluntly, Jiu Xun hated the rich and powerful. Back then, he lost his qualification to become an academician and was kicked out of the institution he worked for for years because of those rich and powerful people. It would be a lie to say that he didn't mind it at all. Jiu Xun might not have mentioned it, but it didn't mean that he had forgotten about it. On the contrary, he remembered it very well. He knew very well why he was set up, but that was just how his personality was. He couldn't change it even if he wanted to.
Flanders panicked. He knew that he wouldn't be able to say anything to change Jiu Xun's mind. In fact, he might even make the situation worse. Flanders looked at Silin. If Shi Huajing said that Silin might be able to help, then he should be able to do something, right?
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