"That's normal, there were so many black fish in that school, they must have eaten quite a bit over the years."
Li Yusheng thought of a suitable explanation.
Even if Wang Xiaoli had kept some in secret, they couldn't say much, after all, she deserved the most credit.
Lin Fan shook the dragon horn in his hand, "Where's the dragon pearl?"
Wang Xiaoli's throat bobbed, and a round bead slid out from her mouth.
Lin Fan reached out and caught it. He examined it carefully. The entire bead contained a strange energy, as vast and profound as the starry sky.
It was genuine!
He was also worried that Wang Xiaoli's greed might get the better of her and she wouldn't hand over the dragon pearl.
"Here."
Lin Fan extended the dragon horn forward, and Wang Xiaoli immediately opened her large mouth.
He gently tossed the dragon horn in. Turning around, he saw the Li siblings standing timidly, not daring to come closer.
"You can have these."
Lin Fan generously tossed the dragon pearl over.
Li Yurou's face lit up with joy, and she nimbly caught it, playing with it curiously.
Wang Xiaoli swallowed the dragon horn and slowly closed her eyes.
She lay motionless on the ground. If not for the hot air blowing from her nostrils, she would have looked dead.
"Brother Zheng, here, for you."
Lin Fan divided the dragon bones on the ground into two portions, keeping a long, narrow bone and handing it to Zheng Ke.
"For me?"
Zheng Ke pointed at himself in disbelief, a surge of immense joy rising in his heart.
Dragon bones!
A priceless treasure!
He trembled with excitement, his feet feeling light as he stepped forward.
"If you find a good craftsman, you might be able to forge a peerless divine weapon."
Lin Fan, who had received ten times this amount of dragon bone, felt the need to exaggerate to avoid appearing stingy.
Zheng Ke's hands trembled as he reached out. "I will enshrine it and pass it down to my son, for generations to come."
He bowed deeply. "Thank you, Master Lin!"
"You've earned it. Here's some gold and silver as well." With that, Lin Fan picked up a dog-head gold nugget the size of his palm.
He wondered what the black fish spirit wanted with this thing. It looked like a crudely processed ornament.
The Li siblings also helped stuff Zheng Ke's arms full.
"Thank you, thank you all."
A brilliant smile bloomed on Zheng Ke's face as he nodded repeatedly in gratitude.
Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoli, after a brief rest, finally regained her strength.
Her massive body quickly shrank, transforming into a pale-faced, slender young woman clad in tight black clothing.
"Are you alright?"
Lin Fan scrutinized her from head to toe, especially her stomach.
Strange, why had her stomach become flat after transforming into a human?
She had eaten so many black fish; they couldn't have just vanished for no reason.
"Brother Lin."
Li Yusheng nudged Lin Fan's back from behind, reminding him that Wang Xiaoli's complexion was very poor.
Lin Fan chuckled. "Are you really okay?"
"You don't need to worry about me," Wang Xiaoli said coldly.
"Alright, everyone, let's pack up and go."
Lin Fan glanced towards the faint fish-belly white in the sky.
"Okay."
Everyone nodded.
"What about cleaning up the battlefield? I'm not afraid of anything else, but I'm worried about the venom on the shore flowing into the reservoir. This is the city's water source. If that happens, we'll be wiped out!"
Lin Fan stared intently at Wang Xiaoli.
"Hmph."
Wang Xiaoli snorted, then turned around expressionlessly.
With her back to them, she made no apparent move, but a great sucking sound suddenly erupted.
The surrounding trees swayed, bending in an invisible gale, bowing towards Wang Xiaoli.
A dense cloud of poisonous mist rose from the ground, coalescing into a small mass that flew towards Wang Xiaoli.
"With Miss Wang here, we'll handle other areas."
Lin Fan called to the others. They took some tools from the truck and tidied up other traces, such as the marks left by the giant snake's crawling.
After completing their tasks, the group set off on their return journey.
In the car.
Zheng Yue leaned on Lin Fan's shoulder, chattering about amusing past events.
She recounted how, as a child, she had a favorite rag doll. When the family dog chewed it to pieces, she was so angry that she disciplined the dog with a stick for a whole day.
The next day, the dog was involved in a car accident and died gruesomely.
Zheng Yue was saddened for a long time, feeling guilty for a while, believing the dog's death was inextricably linked to her actions.
She also recalled how, as a child, in her ignorance and opposition to her mother's superstitions, she often did rebellious things.
Her mother would always sigh softly and quietly clean up, complaining for days but never scolding or hitting her.
Lin Fan listened quietly, occasionally asking a brief question.
"Ouch."
Li Yurou, who had been eavesdropping, suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of her head.
"Brother, why did you hit me?"
She turned to look at her brother with a wronged expression.
"Go to sleep. We still need to figure out how to explain to Uncle-Master that we used the Celestial Master Talisman," Li Yusheng said sternly.
"I know, really. Just say it nicely. Don't hit my head again," Li Yurou pouted playfully.
At this moment, Zheng Yue received a phone call.
"Boss, the investment deal has been finalized."
"The Gaizhou officials attach great importance to it, and they've agreed to all your demands."
Her subordinate reported the work clearly and concisely.
"Understood. You will be in charge of future work in that area."
Zheng Yue's voice was cold, her tone very casual.
She didn't care about an investment of only eighty million.
"Thank you, boss!" the subordinate said excitedly.
"Keep up the good work," Zheng Yue said before hanging up.
"We've reached Shimen County."
Lin Fan inadvertently glimpsed the banner hanging on the highway overpass, realizing he had returned to his hometown.
"Yes, it was so fast."
Zheng Yue stretched and, with lingering reluctance, leaned her head back on Lin Fan's shoulder.
The group first went to Borun Pharmaceutical, then, each holding their respective spoils, they bid each other farewell and departed.
---
Three days passed in a blink.
The clinic operated as usual, keeping Lin Fan extremely busy.
In his leisure time, he hid in his bedroom, studying the wondrous uses of the dragon horn.
It turned out that there were indeed countless magical things in the world.
Lin Fan had studied for a long time but couldn't fully comprehend all the uses of the dragon horn.
As for the dragon bone he received, he threw it into the cave to feed his蛊虫 (gu worms).
Lin Fan believed that in time, they would all evolve into Golden Silk Gu.
Rumble...
A tanker truck full of concrete roared into the village, kicking up dust high on the country dirt road. Several villagers covered their noses and mouths with one hand, frowning in annoyance.
"Xu Zixin is quite fast."
Lin Fan muttered to himself, standing in the clinic.
Tian Mengyao was accustomed to poverty in Luofeng Village, spending every penny as if it were eight cents. She wouldn't have bought so much cement at once.
"Dr. Lin, I've finished the medicine. I'm leaving."
An old man walked over unsteadily.
"Sir, please pay attention to keeping warm in the future, especially on cloudy or rainy days. It's best not to go out," Lin Fan carefully advised.
"Ah, I understand. Thank you, Dr. Lin. You are truly a good person!" the old man said with sincere gratitude.