The strongest intermediary in all realms

Zhou Ming stared at the "Investigate the internal personnel structure of Sihaitong" to-do item for a full three minutes.

How could he possibly break in? The other side was a heavily guarded stronghold, equipped with military surveillance and spiritual energy shielding panels. For a mere Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator disguised as a rogue cultivator to force his way in would be like offering himself up as food.

From the outside, you can only see vehicles coming and going, but not the core personnel. Relying on Chen Jianguo's neighborhood intelligence network, you can at most get a superficial understanding, but you can't get to the heart of the matter.

He was scratching his head in frustration when there was a knock on his office door.

"Is Boss Zhou here?"

The voice was unfamiliar, with a soft, southern accent at the end. Zhou Ming got up and opened the door. Standing outside was a young woman in gray training clothes, around thirty years old, slender, with her right arm in a cast and hanging in front of her chest.

Her expression was a mix of embarrassment and anxiety. In her left hand, she clutched a business card—one of the fifty cards Zhou Ming printed last week, but only a few had been distributed so far.

"Hello, I'm Zhou Ming." He stepped aside to let me in. "Please come in."

The woman entered the office, her eyes quickly scanning the surroundings—a broken desk, a rickety chair, a transparent salamander perched on a computer case—then her expression became even more embarrassed: "Um...did I come to the wrong place?"

"That's right." Zhou Ming straightened his chair. "Please sit down and tell me what's the matter?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, but then sat down.

She placed the business card on the table and cleared her throat: "My name is Xu Ling, and I teach physical education at Yuecheng District No. 3 Middle School. Last week, one of my students' parents—Master Chen Jianguo—told me that you can get some special...things."

She lowered her voice noticeably when she said the word "things".

What do you need?

Xu Ling bit her lip and patted the cast on her right arm. "It takes a hundred days to recover from a bone injury, but this injury wasn't from a fall. It was from practicing the wrong techniques. I've been practicing Baguazhang for ten years, and recently I was trying to master a key move. I used too much force, which caused minor damage to the meridians in my right arm. I went to the hospital for an X-ray, and the bones were fine, but the problem with the meridians can't be seen by Western medicine. I've inquired around and heard that there are 'bone-healing plasters' or 'meridian-clearing powders' from another world that can work, but you can't buy genuine products on the market, and I'm afraid the ones on the black market are adulterated."

Zhou Ming looked at her arm hanging in front of her chest, his gaze lingering for a moment on her palm and knuckles.

With ten years of experience in Baguazhang, the calluses on his hands and knuckles are clearly visible, a result of years of practice. This person's skill is not just for show.

"I've heard of Bone-Healing Ointment," Zhou Ming said, leaning against the edge of the table, his tone casual yet professional. "It's a common injury medicine in martial arts worlds, incredibly effective for bone and tendon injuries. But there are definitely counterfeit versions rampant on the market because it's so easy to get in other worlds; you can resell it for huge profits, and there are just too many fakes."

Xu Ling's eyes lit up: "You can get the real thing?"

"Yes," Zhou Ming nodded, "but I need time. I've been to martial arts worlds before, and there are pharmacies around the Condor Heroes world that produce this kind of medicine. The problem is, I need to first determine the exact extent of your meridian damage before I can prescribe the right medicine. If the bone-healing ointment doesn't work for you, and I end up wasting my time by using another medicine, it won't benefit anyone."

Xu Ling hesitated for a moment, then extended her left hand: "You know medicine?"

"I don't understand," Zhou Ming said frankly, "but I have a way to test it." He turned to look in Xiao Qi's direction.

Xiao Qi understood and silently emitted an extremely subtle system scan beam, which swept across Xu Ling's arm.

A few seconds later, the system panel displayed the scan results: [Right arm meridians: Slight congestion, no breakage, due to excessive exertion during practice leading to poor blood circulation. Treatment: Apply the martial arts world's 'Meridian Clearing Powder' externally; it should clear in three to five days. Bone-Healing Plaster is not suitable.]

After reviewing the results, Zhou Ming had a better understanding: "What you need is Tongluo San (通络散), not Xugu Gao (续骨膏). Both originate from martial arts worlds, but Tongluo San is more suitable for your condition. If you trust me, I'll make a trip and bring the medicine back in about three days."

Xu Ling paused for a moment, then laughed: "You know what medicine to use without even taking my pulse?"

"I'm an intermediary; my skill is getting the right things," Zhou Ming replied with a smile, "but there's a small condition."

"What are the conditions?"

Zhou Ming quickly calculated in his mind. Xu Ling was a physical education teacher at Yuecheng District No. 3 Middle School. She had practiced Baguazhang for ten years and should know quite a few people in the local martial arts circle.

If the wound medicine she requested is effective, the word-of-mouth recommendations among her fellow martial arts practitioners, classmates, and old friends will be more effective than any other guy.

"The medicine will be charged at 60% of the market price, but you need to do me a favor—there's a trading company called Sihaitong in the west of the city. Could you find out if anyone in the martial arts circle has done business with them? I don't need you to go into details, just ask casually, like a friendly chat between fellow apprentices."

Xu Ling tilted her head: "Sihaitong? Never heard of it. But I know a few owners who run martial arts schools and deal with various suppliers. I'll ask them when I get back."

"Thanks." Zhou Ming stood up and stretched. "I'll contact you within three days regarding the medicine."

After seeing Xu Ling off, Zhou Ming closed the office door and stood in front of the map for a few minutes.

He marked three points on the Yuecheng District map with his marker: his office (No. 87 Wutong Road), Sihaitong (Chengxi Warehouse District), and the Third Middle School (Chengnan).

The three points form an isosceles triangle.

His network of intermediaries is radiating outwards from one point. Chen Jianguo has a network of informants in the Chengnan Electromechanical Market area, Xu Ling has connections in the martial arts circle, and Lin Xiaowan can monitor data in the Administration Bureau system.

Although the three puzzle pieces are still small, when put together, they can just cover the information flow of different dimensions in Yuecheng District.

"You're weaving a tighter and tighter net," Xiao Qi floated over, looking at the map. "But have you considered that the bigger the net, the easier it is to be discovered?"

"So right now it's just lines, not a network." Zhou Ming put the marker back on the table. "There's no direct connection between the lines. Old Chen doesn't know who Xu Ling is, Xu Ling doesn't know Lin Xiaowan exists, and Lin Xiaowan doesn't know I'm investigating Sihaitong. I can gather the information myself; they don't need to know each other."

Xiaoqi nodded thoughtfully.

Gulu climbed down from the computer case, slowly moved to Zhou Ming's feet, and rubbed its head against his trouser leg.

Zhou Ming bent down, scooped it up, and placed it in his palm. The crystal salamander curled up into a ball and made a gurgling sound.

"You have the leisure to keep pets," Xiao Qi said sourly.

"Its name is Gulu, not a 'pet'," Zhou Ming said, placing the salamander on the windowsill to bask in the sun. "It's my lucky charm."

A series of urgent sirens sounded on the street outside the window, and three hovering police cars swept past at low altitude, their bodies bearing the logo of the Transcendental Bureau.

Zhou Ming peeked out and saw that the police car was heading in the west of the city.

"Things aren't peaceful." He squinted. "The police are being dispatched to the west of the city at this hour. Do you think it might be related to Sihaitong?"

Xiao Qi opened the system's external scanner, then shook her head after a moment: "The distance is too far; we can't scan for specific information over there. But the Bureau's dispatch frequency has indeed been higher recently; they dispatched officers yesterday as well."

Zhou Ming remained silent, watching the police car disappear into the horizon. If there was some kind of "cooperative relationship" between the Transmission Management Bureau and Sihaitong—for example, if the approver of that external account was a high-ranking official within the bureau—then whether the police car was dispatched to investigate Sihaitong or to help Sihaitong maintain order was a very delicate question.

"Let's continue to observe," he finally said. "Let's secure this order for Xu Ling's medicine first, and then reconnect with our connections in the martial arts world."

He walked back to the table, took out the travel notes for the Condor Heroes world from the drawer. He had made a deal with Gongsun Zhi of the Valley of Heartbreak before, so he shouldn't have to turn against him if he went again.

However, Tongluo San (通络散) is not a specialty of Jueqing Valley, and Gongsun Zhi might not be interested in the medicinal herb business. He needs to find a channel in a martial arts world familiar with the distribution of healing medicines.

"Xiao Qi, are there any other commercial hubs in the Condor Heroes world? I mean places where pharmacies, clinics, or herbal medicine merchants frequently appear."

Xiao Qi pulled up a map of the Condor Heroes world, zoomed in, scanned the area, and marked a point: "Xiangyang City, about three days' walk from Zhongnan Mountain. There's a 'Hundred Herbs Hall' in the city that specializes in selling medicines for injuries and cultivation aids. The owner is a retired itinerant doctor who welcomes all customers."

"A three-day walk..." Zhou Ming frowned. "That's too long. I can't afford to waste time."

"There's another way. In the timeline of The Return of the Condor Heroes, Xiangyang City is on the verge of war, and supplies are scarce. Herbal medicine merchants often gather at the 'Trade Route Station' in the south of the city to trade. If you go to the station on market day, you can meet multiple herbal medicine merchants at once, without having to go to their fixed shops in the city."

Zhou Ming checked the timeline of the post station market as calculated by the system—it was tomorrow.

"Alright, let's set off tonight, rest in the rift zone for the night, and head to the post station to open for business tomorrow morning."

He picked Gulu up from the windowsill and put it into his system space, then slung his equipment pack over his shoulder.

In addition to the spirit stones and talismans he had exchanged with the rogue cultivators, he also carried a box of rainbow candies that he hadn't finished collecting in the Rift Zone last time—sometimes these things were more useful to small merchants in martial arts worlds than real gold and silver.

As the silver-gray tunnel tore open, Xiao Qi suddenly whispered, "Boss, I've noticed something."

"explain."

"When Xu Ling came in, I detected an extremely faint residual energy on her, quite different from the spiritual energy of Blue Star. It was more like the spiritual power of a fantasy world, very, very faint. If it weren't for the system's high-sensitivity scan, it wouldn't have been detectable at all."

Zhou Ming paused in his tracks: "She's had contact with people from the Xianxia world?"

"It's possible. It's also possible she's cultivating a fragment of some kind of fantasy martial arts technique, but she just mentioned practicing Baguazhang for ten years and that her meridians are damaged, yet she didn't mention anything related to fantasy martial arts. Either she doesn't know, or she's deliberately keeping quiet."

Zhou Ming stood in front of the silver-gray passage for three seconds, thinking. Xu Ling's order for this medicine came at just the right time—it was exactly when he desperately needed connections in the martial arts world. Chen Jianguo introduced him to a contact in the martial arts circle, and this person happened to have residual energy from the immortal realm.

When coincidences become too numerous, they no longer seem like coincidences.

"Take the medicine as usual." He stepped into the corridor. "We'll deal with this mystery when we get back. For now, let's finish what needs to be done."

A stream of silvery-gray light enveloped his body.

When he comes back next time, there will be one more name on his client list.

But the things behind this name are perhaps more complicated than he imagined.