Lin Yao got out of bed and put on his shoes, deliberately making a loud noise, and dragged his still-unfitted leather shoes toward the door.
Upon opening the door, surprise, confusion, and fear washed over them. "Who are you? What do you want?"
Three masked men stood outside the door. One of them was a woman with a slender figure, while the other two men were very muscular. They stared motionlessly at Lin Yao, whose face was filled with fear, with a look of relief flashing in their eyes. It seemed that they were also worried that Lin Yao would resist, which would affect the subsequent handling of the situation.
"Hello, Lin Yao." The man standing at the front spoke. Judging from his voice, he was middle-aged, and his Mandarin was somewhat broken with a noticeable accent. Unfortunately, Lin Yao couldn't tell which region he was from.
"Oh no! What are you doing? Where is Yi Zuojun?" Lin Yao retreated abruptly, backing up to the bed, his face full of vigilance.
"Lin Yao, we mean no harm, please don't be afraid," the middle-aged masked man in the lead continued. "The Yi family is fine; they're just elsewhere and are safe now."
Lin Yao didn't speak, his face clearly showing "I don't believe you," which was very obvious under the light.
The middle-aged masked man hesitated for a moment, considering how to continue speaking, then stepped forward from the crowd and walked towards Lin Yao, "Don't worry, we just want to invite you back as a guest, we won't hurt you."
“This is kidnapping!” Lin Yao immediately retorted. “It’s illegal!”
After saying the last sentence, Lin Yao couldn't help but want to laugh out loud, and he secretly held his breath to keep himself from losing his composure.
"Don't misunderstand, we were just worried that Mr. Lin wouldn't understand, so we didn't inform you beforehand to come see you." The middle-aged masked man's tone was very calm, and the previous talk of illegality had not stirred any waves in him. "The Yi family will try to stop us, so we let them get some sleep first. Don't worry, they're really fine."
Lin Yao tilted his head, looking at the masked man with wary eyes. "Can you please let me go?"
No one in the room responded.
"I need to see Yi Zuojun and the others with my own eyes before I can decide whether to believe what you're saying," Lin Yao immediately demanded. He was genuinely worried about Yi Zuojun and the others' safety; who knew if these people were just trying to fool him?
"Okay, please follow me." The middle-aged masked man nodded in agreement, turned and walked towards the door. Lin Yao followed closely behind, eager to see Yi Zuojun.
Next to the alchemy room was a storage room. Now that the Yi family had added ten more members, they converted the storage room into a dormitory, which contained two bunk beds for four people.
The Hidden Forest Residence has plenty of rooms, so there's no need for everyone to live so crampedly. However, the outhouse is very crowded right now because all eleven members of the Yi family are lying flat on the ground, making the already small space almost impossible to move around in.
Thank goodness! Lin Yao's heart eased slightly. He could feel that the Yi family members on the ground were still breathing, albeit very weakly, but they were clearly not dead yet; they were just unconscious.
Judging from the appearance of the Yi family members, they must have been poisoned at the same time, which is why there were no signs of a fight.
"What's wrong with them? Let me see." Regardless of the masked man's reaction, Lin Yao pushed his way forward and found Yi Zuojun among the Yi family members, carefully examining his condition.
He has been poisoned and is in a coma. Fortunately, his breathing and heartbeat are stable, though much weaker than usual, and he is not in immediate danger of death.
The pupils appeared normal. A close examination of the exhaled and oral air revealed no unusual odor, suggesting a reaction to poison.
Unbuttoning Yi Zuojun's shirt, Lin Yao saw that there were no additional signs of poisoning on his chest, indicating that the poison was not very potent and might only cause unconsciousness without harming the body.
To take his pulse, Lin Yao gripped Yi Zuojun's left wrist with his right hand, while his left hand grasped Yi's upper arm, slightly shifting the grip position as if to lift the weight of the left arm for easier pulse taking.
After a moment, Lin Yao looked up at the middle-aged masked man standing nearby and asked, "What kind of poison have they been given? How will you treat them?"
"Mr. Lin, don't worry, we didn't do anything to them. They will only be unconscious for three days. I will keep the antidote. After three days, they will take the antidote and they will be fine without any aftereffects."
"Let me see the antidote." Lin Yao's voice was not loud, but his tone was firm.
The middle-aged masked man was taken aback. After hesitating for a moment, he gestured to the woman beside him with his chin. The woman took out a porcelain bottle from her bosom and handed it to Lin Yao.
A faint, pleasant fragrance wafted from the open bottle. It was the antidote, or at least a non-poisonous one, and not some cosmetic product a woman might offer to appease him. Lin Yao felt even more relieved. It seemed these masked men didn't want to completely offend the Yi family. If someone died, they would face the Yi family's relentless revenge. Everyone knew the Yi family was extremely protective of their own, and when their members were in trouble, the Yi family would act unreasonably, only stopping when they had gotten their revenge.
"They must think they're not really from the Yi family, just a pharmacist at most, so they won't provoke a fierce counterattack from the Yi family, right?" Lin Yao put the cap back on the bottle, returned the porcelain bottle, stood up, looked at the middle-aged masked man, and smiled.
The middle-aged masked man felt a jolt of fear upon seeing Lin Yao's smile, a vague sense of danger creeping in. He tried to investigate further, but the feeling vanished, as if it were an illusion. After carefully scrutinizing Lin Yao's expression but finding nothing amiss, the middle-aged masked man winked at another masked man beside him.
To Lin Yao's utter astonishment, the masked man who had received the order squatted down, pulled open Yi Zuojun's chest, and examined him closely, even rolling up his sleeves to inspect his hands and arms.
Finding nothing amiss, the middle-aged masked man secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had been overly suspicious. He turned to Lin Yao and said, "Mr. Lin, please come with us. We will take care of your safety."
"Are you kidding me? I'm safer without you!" Lin Yao thought to himself, obediently following the masked man out of the room. All three of them were at the early stage of the Earth Rank, and with their bizarre poison techniques, Lin Yao didn't think he could escape alive. He would only have a sliver of hope in a bustling city, but not in this remote and impoverished place. He decided not to go there and risk humiliation.
Relieved, Lin Yao left the room and saw the other twelve masked men in the courtyard. He thought to himself that these people had come prepared, even controlling the number of people so precisely. Even if it was a one-on-one poisoning, they could have four extra people to maneuver. It seemed that not only were they well-prepared, but their intelligence work was also very thorough. Every move of the Yi family had been monitored.
"Mr. Lin, please cooperate. Don't worry, you won't be harmed." As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, the masked woman took out another small porcelain bottle and approached Lin Yao.
"Fine, I'll cooperate with your kidnapping." Lin Yao said helplessly, defining the nature of the incident in his words, with an expression that suggested he was going to his death heroically.
You kidnapped me today, so you'll be in for revenge later. This isn't just being invited for tea, it's a kidnapping.
None of the masked men understood the meaning behind Lin Yao's words. Only the masked woman who was opening the bottle and holding it under Lin Yao's nostrils trembled slightly.
Upon opening the bottle, an almost imperceptible sweet fragrance wafts out, which is very pleasant and gives one a feeling of wanting to indulge in it, making one's thoughts slow down a bit.
The medical energy within his body reacted swiftly, clearly sensing the effects of the poison. Lin Yao stared blankly at the masked woman's eyes, carefully observing them until he noticed some strange signs. Only then did he relinquish control of his body, letting it slump to the ground, where it was caught by another masked man behind him.
"Let's go. Take everything suspicious with us. We've already offended the Yi family anyway, so let's search for anything of value." After giving the order, the masked middle-aged man led the way to the courtyard gate, where their car was waiting.
It was already 11:10 p.m., and Yi Fei had just come out of Zhongnanhai. The leader was very busy, and he had only just gotten the chance to meet him. He met the leader for fifteen minutes, which was completely different from the situation where they met almost every day before. In the future, he would resign from his security job and take up a position in the army, so he might have even fewer opportunities to meet the leader. For a moment, he felt a little down.
This leader is a good leader who is loved by the people. Yi Fei is a little reluctant to part with him.
Once outside the restricted area, Yi Fei immediately took out his phone and turned it on. He wanted to know the situation in Chengdu; he had been feeling uneasy these past few days, as if something was about to happen.
Finding his car, Yi Fei didn't start it immediately. The text messages on his phone were incorrect; the latest one was only an hour and ten minutes ago. He hadn't received the 11 o'clock message! His agreement with Yi Zuojun was to send a text message every hour to let him know he was safe!
Something's happened!
=========
Thank you to "Fengshen Yearning for the Divine Eagle" for your monthly ticket support! Thank you for ensuring my monthly ticket count isn't empty today!
Thank you to "kuei柜子", "习惯ㄋ、寂寞", "益侠", and "明明心月" for their generous donations!