Chapter 623: Chapter 623: Rescuing the Elixir_1
"Li Qing, are you tempted?" Shisan stared at those items and asked in a murmur.
Li Qing nodded.
How could anyone possibly resist the allure of such treasures?
Just the sight of those gold chests alone made his breath quicken and his heart race with excitement.
Not to mention the curio shelf was chock-full of various objects.
The gold was carelessly stacked in a corner.
But those objects were neatly arranged on the curio shelf, hinting at their even greater value.
"Li Qing, if we sneakily pocket a couple of the smaller items, surely nobody would notice, right?" Shisan whispered, swallowing hard, "Or maybe we could each take two little ones."
"Let’s drop that idea; just looking is enough. Don’t get yourself into trouble," Li Qing patted Shisan on the shoulder, "We should wait for our reward money. Each treasure here has its place, and it would be obvious if any were missing. It’s not worth it."
Shisan shook his head with an air of regret, "Sometimes this job isn’t all that great! Just scraping a little gold off those ingots would be worth more than our reward."
Li Qing chuckled softly.
Although he was also tempted, it was just that—a fleeting temptation.
The allure of these items wasn’t that strong because he wasn’t short of money right now.
The two of them left the treasure room reluctantly and entered another.
As the door swung open and they witnessed the chaos inside, both of their gazes became blank with shock.
"Li Qing, I think I might know why that cat turned into a spirit!" Shisan said, wide-eyed and dumbstruck.
Li Qing nodded, "I understand now too."
Because this was also a treasure room.
Unlike the previous one, this room was filled with various valuable medicinal herbs and elixirs in enormous quantities.
But the scene in front of them was a mess; containers full of elixirs had been toppled and scattered everywhere.
The precious medicinal herbs were gnawed and in disarray, many of them ruined.
Looking at the very obvious claw and bite marks, it was clear that a cat had been the culprit.
And besides the chubby orange cat from before, there likely weren’t any other cats here.
"Shisan, I think we can take some things from here; after all, archaeology and cultivation don’t really mix, right? Even if they take these things, they wouldn’t be able to use them. Besides, look at the state the cat has left them in. I think we should rescue some of these elixirs!" Li Qing said lightly.
Upon hearing this, Shisan’s eyes lit up instantly, "Big Brother, we can take not just a few, but a lot more!"
"Young man, you’re getting a little greedy there!" Li Qing said with a faint smile.
Shisan laughed, "Li Qing, you don’t know, but whatever we find usually ends up with the Ninth Bureau, and it’s a longstanding rule of the Ninth Bureau that the discoverers get twenty percent, with the rest being turned in for redistribution."
"But with so much of it ransacked by that darn cat, it’s hard to tell what most of these elixirs are anymore. So, it only makes sense for us to take them and do a bit of research, right?"
Li Qing hadn’t realized the Ninth Bureau had such rules, "If that’s the case, then we really should rescue these elixirs!"
With that, Li Qing picked up a box from the ground and began to sweep whole bottles of elixirs into it.
The ones scattered across the floor, no longer identifiable, were definitely not what Li Qing wanted.
He didn’t want to risk his life, for taking medicine recklessly was very dangerous.
Shisan’s mouth twitched slightly, "Li Qing, isn’t it a bit too blatant for you to do this? Officer Wang and his team are still outside, right?"
"But I only have two pockets, and I don’t have anything else to put things in." Li Qing suddenly felt troubled.
He had forgotten that Wang Baichuan and the others were still outside.
If that stubborn guy saw him taking a box for himself, he would definitely snatch it away and give him a lecture on ideology.
Even if the items in this room were to eventually belong to the Ninth Division.
"If you trust me enough, Li Qing, why not put it in my backpack instead? I can easily fit twenty or so bottles." Shisan began to smile slyly, "After we get out, we can divide the spoils, no, distribute the prizes."
Only then did Li Qing notice that Shisan was actually wearing a backpack.
He paused and asked, "Is this... you came prepared?"
An aggrieved look immediately appeared in Shisan’s eyes, "Brother Li, I’ve always had this backpack with me, even last time."
"I know now, you’ve been focusing all your attention on my sister, never really giving me a proper glance, right? Inside here are all the magic artifacts and talismans that my sister and I carry, along with cinnabar, compasses, and other things. We’re not like you, Brother Li, who can just saunter around swinging your hands freely. I have to carry things, and I have to carry double the load," Shisan explained.
After Shisan explained, Li Qing suddenly remembered that Shisan always did have a bag on him.
It was just that he had never paid much attention to it, his focus admittedly more on Zi Ling.
"You’re right about one thing but wrong about another," Li Qing decided to first correct Shisan’s misunderstanding, "My attention is indeed mostly on your sister, but that’s because your sister is so annoying and always causing trouble for me."
"My sister... she’s actually quite nice, although she can be mean, likes to get physical, meddles in other’s business, and likes to stir up trouble..." Shisan counted on his fingers and eventually couldn’t go on. With an awkward wave of his hand, he said, "But my sister is beautiful."
Li Qing couldn’t help but laugh, "There are plenty of beautiful women in the world."
Shisan was at a loss for words.
Did his sister really have that many shortcomings?
...It seemed she actually did.
"Stop dawdling, open up your backpack and pack them in!"
Li Qing shoved all the elixirs he had just taken out of the boxes back into Shisan’s backpack.
He also realized that doing this kind of work did indeed require a tool bag.
In the big tomb beneath the school, he had obtained Xiao Ding and Black Arrow, which made him a fortune.
This time, he had gotten so many elixirs, it seemed he would have to prepare a tool bag for future expeditions.
"Brother Li, what are these Three-Step Elixirs for?" Shisan asked, picking up a bottle.
"Don’t ask me; you definitely know more about this stuff than I do since you’ve been trained from a young age, whereas I’ve learned on the fly," Li Qing said somewhat speechlessly, asking him for advice on this was like asking a blind man about the roundness of the moon!
"You also shouldn’t bother studying them too much; whether they’re good or bad, just shove them all in," Li Qing said.
"True, considering the treasures next door, even the worst items here can’t be too bad," Shisan muttered.
The two went on a whirlwind spree of looting until Shisan’s tool bag was bulging at the seams, and only then did they stop.
The two who talked about saving the scattered elixirs on the ground were actually only packing full bottles, not taking a single loose elixir.
Even in order to make room, they took out all the wooden swords, compasses, and similar items from the bag.
