65 – Caoben Street

Early in the morning, Li Yun visited Caoben street. It was originally a street known for selling herbs and Chinese medicine back in the Qing Dynasty. The street retained much of the characteristics back then but had evolved into a tourist destination.

People crowded the ancient streets that maintained the hallmark woodwork and lanterns dating back to the Qing dynasty. Bikes and rickshaws steered through the crowd and narrow streets. The streets had a mixture of tourists and locals shopping for rare and exotic ingredients.

Li Yun walked down the street and randomly touched the medicinal along the street. He frowned with disappointment as none of the rare ingredients exhibited any sort of qi. It was within Li Yun's expectation, but he was still disappointed that Qivi was limited to only living creatures.

He continued further toward the center of the street until he reached an area connecting to a small side street. It was still relatively busy compared to the typical streets in the city, but less so than the other portion of Caoben Street. Up ahead, he saw a large belly man in regular tees and slack. The man sat on a wooden bench situated across from a shop, shaded by the overhang.

"You must be Mr. Li," the man got up and greeted Li Yun with a handshake. "I'm Pao Lie. We chatted on the phone."

Li Yun's hand twitched with a bit of hesitation when the man wiped his nose with his sleeve. The man was suffering from a mild cold.

"What the heck, it's not like I've been sick before," Li Yun thought.

Li Yun shook hands with Pao Lie and realized the man was suffering was sinuses. After the usual introduction, Pao Lie unshackled the locks and opened up the double wooden doors leading into the shop.

"I've been trying to sell this place for six months, but it has been hell," Pao Lie complained. "Sure there are some hebee jeebies, but who still believe in that nonsense?"

Pao Lie's lack of salesmanship was apparent. With the way he was talking about the rotting cabinets and smelly odor, one didn't have to wonder why it was on the market for so long. Li Yun took the first step inside, taking in a sniff of the strong herbal smell spreading throughout the room.

"I have tried getting rid of the smell, but it's impossible." Pao Lie walked in further and turned on the light.

The light flickered once, and then after several indiscernible flickers, it managed to stabilize itself and covered the room with a dim yellow glow. Looking around the retail space, it looked like the typical herb shop with shelves and small cabinets lined across the walls. The wooden cabinets had been painted brown to hide the rot, but it was starting to peel. If Li Yun could get Ersan to help him fix the place, he could probably make it look decent.

"How about the back?" Li Yun asked.

Pao Lie led Li Yun to the back room where there was more storage space, and a wooden door leading to a small courtyard. The courtyard was heavily shaded by a willow tree, and the ground was plain compacted sand. Further back was another room. It had probably been the living area for the shopkeeper back during the Qing Dynasty. However, Li Yun could feel the cool yin energy emancipating from the room.

"Is this the true essence of yin?" Li Yun thought. Even when he had visited the morgue, it was nothing compared to the feeling he was feeling now.

Pao Lie unlocked the door and walked inside. Li Yun wondered if it was just him feeling the chill. As he walked into the room, he felt even more chilling

"So, what do you think?" Pao Lie asked after seeing how quiet Li Yun was.

"I'm willing to pay 150k yuan for the 6 years," Li Yun offered.

Pao Lie's face sank. "I paid 400k yuan for this place. You gotta give me some slack."

"Don't you feel a bit chilly?"

"You're not the first person to tell me that, but I don't feel anything. "

The presence of yin energy felt stronger in the room than anywhere else. Li Yun wondered if it was because of the number of people that had died in the room, or if it was because he was stronger. All his stats were almost 100. Last week, he had added the last previous action points to Shen. He was hoping there would be some sort of bonus at 100, but nothing had happened so far.

Jing: 95 Qi: 94 Shen: 100

Li Yun remembered the incident that had happened at the store. Most of the information online was similar to what Rouxi had mentioned. He pulled out his phone from his jacket and pressed on Bu Tao's number.

"Hey! You're calling during my work hours," Bu Tao responded.

"Do you know anything about the organ harvesting case on Caoben?" asked Li Yun.

"Oh, that case was pretty big a few years ago," Bu Tao responded. "That's the case that got me the promotion."

"I thought I was the one that helped get the promotion."

"That was for my sergeant position. Anyway, we caught the husband and wife running the operation."

"How does their operation work?"

"They advertised it through word of mouth to people, it's sort of like a special service provided by the herbal shop," said Bu Tao. "Their targets are usually people with very little education and desperate for money. There's paperwork that people have to fill out regarding confidentiality and risk, so it was difficult for the prosecutor to get a higher sentence for them. Most of the people went into it willingly."

"How did the police get involved?"

"One of the people who sold their kidney passed away due to an infection. The person was an informant for the prosecutor, and she was unhappy to find that in addition to the kidney being removed, there was another part removed as well."

"Did they find the contract?"

"It was vague on what type of organ. She was able to get a warrant for their arrest for unregistered medical facilities and tax evasion. When they searched the house, guess what they found?"

"Bodies?"

"Yep, there were six bodies thrown into the well in the back courtyard. They were missing people from the past ten years. However, since they never disclosed what they were doing to anyone, no one ever thought that the herbal shop was the last place they had visited."

"Did they ever catch the doctor involved?" Li Yun asked. He looked at Pao Lei, who was half-listening into the conversation. Li Yun hung up the phone, but continued holding onto his phone. "What!? The doctor is still out there!? So you don't know if he's going to come back to the store? Hm hmm.... Thanks for the advice..."

Pao Lie's frowned, but he was still hoping that Li Yun would buy the property. "So?"

"The case is only partially solved, so this place is going to be cursed for a while, good luck selling it."