Zhang Zeshan was flabbergasted. A wooden splinter tore his trouser and slashed his calf, but he felt nothing.

When had anyone dared to slam a tea table before him? And this man had smashed the table into splinters too!

Given his rank, where he to visit the local authorities, even the mayor of a municipality would not dare treat him like this. It was totally outrageous!

But his emotions and his feelings were worth nothing to Ning Tao.

Ning Tao said blandly, “Director Zhang, so sorry. I was reckless. I can’t control my emotions when I’m angry. If you threaten me again, I won’t know what I will break.”

Only now did Zhang Zeshan recover. He pointed a finger at Ning Tao’s nose, his voice trembling with anger. “How dare you… threaten me!”

Ning Tao replied, “Rice can be eaten casually, but you must watch your words. Do you still want me to write out the formula? If not, I’m leaving. I have other things to do.”

Zhang Zeshan glared furiously at Ning Tao. “Aren’t you afraid that…”

Ning Tao interrupted Zhang Zeshan’s words. “Me, afraid of what? Afraid that you will hit or nab me? Let me tell you, you won’t be able to beat me in a fight. As for nabbing me, I don’t care about that at all. Why don’t you get some of your guards here to nab me now?”

Zhang Zeshan suddenly turned and walked towards the door. He really seemed to be calling someone over.

Ning Tao merely stared at him.

Zhang Zeshan walked to the office door and suddenly stopped. Then he turned back again. There was no longer any fury on his face and he looked composed. “Very well then, write me the formula.”

For him to hold this position today, both his EQ and IQ must be high. Ning Tao had indeed enraged him, but the men he brought here were not his match at all. So how could they nab him? And besides, he needed a reason to nab him. What excuse could he come up with? Moreover, Jiang Hao was with him. She was an elite agent from the Bureau of Special Affairs. Would she allow him to nab her boyfriend? If this matter escalated, the person in trouble would surely not be Ning Tao, but him.

Ning Tao smiled. “That’s right, study the nature and situation first. Being reckless can’t solve the problem.”

A faint smile appeared on Zhang Zeshan’s lips. “Doctor Ning, so sorry just now. I was a little upset. Don’t take it to heart, please write the formula now.”

Ning Tao walked to the desk and took a gel pen from the pen holder. He wrote the elixir prescription on a sheet of printing paper.

He was of course not writing the real elixir prescription. There were 18 spiritual materials on that skull fragment, with their corresponding dosages. He was merely writing one spiritual material with a name similar to an ordinary herb’s. Even the dosage he gave was wrong.

After writing it, Ning Tao handed the formula to Zhang Zeshan. “This is the elixir prescription on that skull fragment.”

Zhang Zeshan impatiently shifted his eyes to read the prescription. Then he asked probingly, “Doctor Ning, are you sure you remember right?”

Ning Tao said, “I just wrote it honestly. It’s your business whether you believe me. I take this matter to be settled. I must go, I have things to do.”

Jiang Hao glanced at Zhang Zeshan and then left with Ning Tao.

Zhang Zeshan watched Ning Tao and Jiang Hao depart, only moving after they disappeared from his sight. That glance Jiang Hao gave him before leaving was like a cold wind from Siberia. He felt frozen by that frosty look!

In the stairway, Jiang Hao spoke. “Tao, you didn’t write Zhang Zeshan the real prescription, did you?”

Ning Tao smiled. “What do you think?”

Jiang Hao also smiled. The owner of the Sky Clinic had such miraculous medical skills. Surely, his art of deception would be no worse!

Ning Tao asked, “Do I have an office?”

Jiang Hao answered, “Yes, on the floor below this one.”

Ning Tao said, “Take me there.”

Jiang Hao did not ask more. They went down a floor and she took Ning Tao into an office.

Ning Tao surveyed the surroundings and then walked quickly to draw the window curtains. Then he bit his finger and drew a blood lock under the desk with his blood. He unlocked the blood lock and entered it without saying another word.

Jiang Hao started. When she recovered and went after him, that convenient door had already closed.

“I haven’t entered yet.” Jiang Hao was a little frustrated. She wondered why Ning Tao had left without taking her along.

But at this moment, the convenient door suddenly opened again. Ning Tao emerged from the door and a golden shadow also scurried out.

It was the Howling Celestial Dog, wearing a doggish cowboy robe, with a pocket holding its cell phone.

Ning Tao said, “Celestial Howling, it’s just above us. In that office above ours, is someone making a call?”

The Howling Celestial Dog nodded its canine head, pricking up its ears.

Only now did Jiang Hao realize why Ning Tao had left so suddenly, and not spoken another word to explain his departure.

Soon, the Howling Celestial Dog opened its mouth. “Dad, he’s making a phone call.”

Ning Tao ordered, “Report what he says to me.”

A voice mimicking Zhang Zeshan’s voice emerged from the Howling Celestial Dog’s mouth. “COE Song, I have that guy’s elixir prescription… He won’t dare to give me a false one… Yes, the last time, he did give us the real formula with the skull… He said that skull had been stolen this time… he didn’t know who did it… We still need to investigate to know if it’s true… Okay, I’ll take it to you right away…” There was a pause, then the dog said, “He hung up the phone.”

Jiang Hao’s voice was cold. “I didn’t expect him to give this elixir prescription to Song Beikun! No wonder he came here to monitor this experimental base, and even brought guards along with him. He must be treating this base as his ATM, drawing money whenever he needs to.”

Ning Tao answered with a smile, “Sometimes, even ATMs can dispense counterfeit money.”

Jiang Hao asked, “Should we continue to follow him?”

Ning Tao nodded. “Of course. If we follow him, we can track down Song Beikun’s lair. I’ve always been curious what kind of a man he is, who can make Sun Pingchuan and Sun Lanxiang do his bidding.”

“Could that man be the tyrant?” Jiang Hao asked.

Ning Tao’s heart trembled, and then he asked, “What made you think this?”

Jiang Hao replied, “No reason. I’m an agent. I have an acquired sixth sense that I can’t explain. And moreover, did it not strike you that the first tyrant you killed was Tang Tianren from the Tang Sect, and the second Bai Sheng? Of the two, one was a practitioner, the other a demon. There might be a pattern in them, or some kind of fixed reason why they were tyrants.”

A secret agent was a secret agent. Ning Tao, a doctor from a medical school, certainly could not develop a sixth sense through special training like her. She had her special take on issues, and her own unique way in analyzing matters.

Jiang Hao’s analysis had a great impact on Ning Tao. “What you said has really given me a new perspective. I’m even wondering now if it might be connected with the Ancestor-seeking Elixir.”

Jiang Hao shrugged. “That I don’t know, You’re the expert when it comes to the clinic.”

The Howling Celestial Dog suddenly spoke. “Dad, Mama Jiang, that man has opened the door and left.”

Jiang Hao instinctively walked towards the door.

But Ning Tao grabbed her by her arm. “Don’t be anxious. If we follow him right away, we will be discovered. I have better ways to follow him, we don’t need to do it ourselves.”

The Howling Celestial Dog wagged its tail at Ning Tao, its canine face showing a smile. “Dad, do you mean me? I heard a tone of commendation in your voice.”

Ning Tao looked at it. “They can drive away in a car. Can you?”

The Howling Celestial Dog looked solemn. “Dad, I promise to complete the mission. If I don’t complete it, I will carry my head to see you!”

Ning Tao fondled its canine head. “I’m not making you follow him all the way. Just tail him first and let me and Mama Jiang follow behind you. I will call you later. Once you pick up my call, stay put and wait for me.”

The Howling Celestial Dog nodded. “Understood… Dad, he has gone downstairs.”

Ning Tao said, “Go.”

The Howling Celestial Dog raced to the door, opened it with its paw, and left the office.

Jiang Hao walked to the window and lifted the curtain a little, craning her neck to look outside through the gap.

Zhang Zeshan and the armed guards he brought here had gotten into two cars and left the experimental base. However, two armed guards were left at the gate. She started to frown, because those two guards were obviously left behind to spy on her and Ning Tao.

Ning Tao said, “Hao, I met Lin Qingyu today.”

“Who?” Jiang Hao turned around and stared at Ning Tao. From her expression, it was clear she thought she had misheard.

Ning Tao said, “While sending Xiaoji to school, I met Lin Qingyu. We chatted for a while in a cafe.”

Jiang Hao remarked in surprise, “Wasn’t she taken away by Lin Qinghua? Why is she back?”

Ning Tao answered, “I don’t know what happened too. She invited our family for dinner. I said I would only decide after consulting you and Qing Zhui.”

“You told her about me and Qing Zhui, and our relationships with you?”

Ning Tao nodded. “Yes. There’s nothing to hide. Our relationships are open and aboveboard.”

Jiang Hao rolled her eyes at Ning Tao, but could not help but let a faint smile hover on her lips. “Open and aboveboard? One phone call from me, and the police will arrest you for bigamy.”

Ning Tao was speechless.

Jiang Hao said, “She must have returned from the United States. What has she experienced there over the past months?”

Ning Tao replied, “She said she was put under house arrest by Lin Qinghua, in a farm in a New York suburb. There, she learned how to ride a horse. One day, all the people confining her left and a woman took her to the airport. She bought her an air ticket and gave her back her passport, so she returned.”

“Do you believe her words?” Jiang Hao was looking at Ning Tao.

Ning Tao shook his head. “I don’t. She has changed. She’s no longer the same Lin Qingyu.”

Jiang Hao smiled a little. “I’m relieved you said that. At least it meant she hadn’t bewitched you. She invited our whole family for dinner? I would like to meet her. Go and ask Qing Zhui if she would go.”

Ning Tao said, “Since you’re going with me, she will definitely come along.”

“If this is a Hongmen banquet and a trap to capture us, will you fight her?” Jiang Hao was staring straight into Ning Tao’s eyes. The expression in her eyes was as if she were “observing him in secret”.

Ning Tao said, “If that is the case, f**k her!”

“You don’t have to f**k her, Qing Zhui and I will do the honors for you,” Jiang Hao said.

Her words sounded a bit wrong. Ning Tao said, “Let’s go. Time to set off.”