Chapter 17: My friend did it.

Qin Qianyu and the faceless masked woman walked to the entrance of the base.

"Hey you, you can't be here go back to your designated areas right now!"

Qin Qianyu looked towards the voice that had shouted at them then turned to the man behind them.

Two, who was following them pulled out his credentials which made the gate guard flinch before he stood straight and stiff awaiting an order.

"Open the gate!"

Two commanded with authority in his voice. One could immediately understand that this was his standard military voice.

The guard done as he was commanded to do and the gate started to open.

Soon a set of lights lit up in the distance and it came close to the gate but didn't enter. Two tried to see the driver of the vehicle but couldn't make out a single thing.

Soon bodies started piling out of the vehicle, 7 in total, two of which were tightly bound and screaming in a foreign language.

"Hey what's this?"

Two exclaimed. However, the faceless masked woman threw off her masked and ran towards the five girls.

"Xiaoting! Mi'er! Xiaoyu! Yi'er! Xiaoxue!"

The woman cried out. The children crowded around the woman, they turned to the old man in the buggy and all of them gave a polite and sincere bow towards him.

He waved then honked his horn.

"ROOOAR!"

Hearing the loud beast roar echoing off the mountain walls caused those that didn't know to shiver. The guards along with Two armed themselves.

Suddenly a tiger bolted over towards the children.

"You kids get away now!"

Two shouted at the children and the woman repeated. The kids saw the guns and became panicked.

The children shocked Two, the guards and the woman when they jumped up in defence of the large white tiger creating a human shield around it.

Qin Qianyu looked at the kids and a grateful smile formed on her lips. When she had made her way over to the base from were the poachers base was, Bai Saan had followed as quickly as he could.

While she was inside the compound, the tiger could only wait around pining after her scent when he eventually arrived.

When Qin Qianyu was brought to the gate with Two and the woman, Bai Saan zeroed in on her scent and rushed over from the area she had initially used to infiltrate the base.

"Buddy put the guns away, he's with me, he also helped those kids so don't shoot a hero."

Qin Qianyu said as she tried to coax the men to lower their weapons. When they saw how the tiger and the kids were interacting the men slowly lowered their weapons.

Once everyone was calm, the kids sighed a breath of relief. Then they took turns giving Bai Saan cuddles and strokes.

"Big sister! Where are going now?"

Han Xiaoting cried out, only after she was pushed out from the group hug Bai Saan was receiving.

"Mhm, I still have a lot of training to do, you should also do the same, we can never have enough apothecary alchemist in the world."

"Big sister I promise to learn good!"

"Haha please do Tingting, please do."

Qin Qianyu turned and nodded to Two then the woman and the kids and took Bai Saan with her as she hopped into the baggy together with the tiger.

"I'm done master,"

"Mhm, any longer I would have torn down this stupid place."

"Master?"

"It's nothing since you're done let's go,"

Qin Qianyu said nothing only nodding. She sense that grandpa Wú had a story to tell about this place. She saw undisguised hatred in his eyes that only seem to soften the further away the trio got from the base.

2 hours later within Shenlong base, inside a medical bay the commander started to stir.

He opened his eyes to find One, Two, his sister and a few doctors staring back at him slightly, with odd looks.

He noticed that both One and his sister kept taking glances at his waist for some reason yet one was looking bashful the other mischievous and scheming.

The commander sat up and offered a bow to the doctors,

"Thank you for the timely aid, I don't know how you managed to bring me back after I ended up being poisoned by those men's darts, but I'm eternally thankful that I'm able to survive thanks to your capable minds and outstanding capabilities."

"Commander we aren't that worthy of such praise, we didn't do much,"

"Didn't do much!? You done absolutely nothing!"

Xiaoling was fuming after hearing what the doctor that made the bet with Qin Qianyu said,

"Xiaoling!? Why are you still wearing that mask, hm, before that, you owe these doctors an apology, if not for them you'd be crying an ocean over my dead body."

"Eldest brother it's not that, they . . "

"Xiaoling, your brother needs his rest,"

One interrupted, with a light but firm grasp of the shoulder. Xiaoling knew that One didn't want her mentioning Foxy sister.

Xiaoling sneered in her heart, she was almost begging for her brother to be gay so that he wouldn't be attracted to the woman standing by her side.

Xiaoling was just about to retort when a loud commotion erupted in the adjoining room.

A smirk of a smile flew across One's face as she heard the shouting. Xiaoling didn't miss it either. The two women and the doctors knew why there would be such a commotion happening.

The handsome wolf heard the voice too and frowned,

"What's wrong with father?"

He mumbled, he felt a headache coming on.

Suddenly the door burst open and a tall lanky lethargic looking man entered.

He went to the charts and records going through them intently, then the updated ones that another doctor had and made some comparisons.

He nodded, after seeing the results and the follow up treatments. The script that Qin Qianyu wrote out was also attached.

"What nice writing, and these medications make a perfect combination with each other."

"Good work you guys,"

The lanky man gave a polite bow to all of the doctors, then his face turned stern.

"Why am I just hearing about this now Huh!? If it weren't for a colleague saying that I must be relieved that my son was administered timely treatment otherwise I'd be cremating his body. Would I have even known!? Hmmm!?"

"Silly smelly kid! No matter how important the work I'm doing here is! You kids are still my greatest achievements and will always take precedent! Do you two understand!?"

"Yes Daddy,"

"Yes . . Father,"

"Mhm, good, now who can tell me why my board was tampered with!?"

Xiaoling saw that One was about to open her mouth, no doubt she would paint Qin Qianyu in a bad light, so she shot straight up from her seat and interjected first!

"Me, me, me! Daddy I know! And so does that doctor over there! It was my friend! My friend did it!"

Xiaoling exclaimed excitedly. She pointed out the doctor that made the bet with Qin Qianyu and started retelling the terms of the bet.

She then handed over her phone, Qin Qianyu had sent it to her while she and faceless made their way to the main gate. It was a picture of the original scribe, a message was attached.

"You were so close but still miles away. Compare and you'll see."

"Daddy, my friend came over and after just glancing at it she shook her pretty little head and started making corrections."

"Your friend did!?"

"Mhm! That's right! She's also the one that saved Eldest brothers life."

Xiaoling's father frowned then he saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors present. The handsome commander did the same and saw the same.

Their father sighed then nodded at his daughter then marched into the next room, phone in hand.

Xiaoling turned to One and beamed her most famous mischievous smile.

"Lieutenant, care to wager?"

One said nothing and walked out the room along with the doctors.

"Xiaoling, what's going on who's this friend of yours?"

"Haha, silly brother you know her too, it's the Phantom Fox you had dinner with the other night."

"What! You brought her here!?"

"Nope! She brought herself!"

" . . . "

Xiaoling sat down and explained what had actually transpired without leaving one bit out. She even added the other five kids into the mix and the episode Two and the guards had with the tiger out in front of the gates.

"If you want to know about your treatment however, I suggest you get a copy of the security feed and watch it, it'll be far more . . Ah, you'll have a greater understanding of it that way."

Xiaoling added while pointing out the areas that had a camera setup in order to disguise her crooked smile.

Xiaoling's brother took no notice of his sisters little antics, he just nodded then asked her worryingly,

"Right, one more thing! Why are you being so harsh towards Lieutenant Zhang? I thought you liked her?"

"You mean I fell into her trap of getting me to like her!"

"Hmm!?"

"Im only being harsh because she's annoying, creepy and insincere and that's not all, she also keeps doing dickish things like what she did earlier."

"Earlier?"

"I don't know if you've chosen not to see it or what, but, that woman didn't want me telling you that it was the Phantom Fox that saved you because it would make her seem too inferior to Foxy sister. Guh! She's always doing it! She acts as if she's being a considerate and caring person towards me for your sake, but it's just a shitty scheme, she's only doing it for her own benefit in order to look good and charming in your eyes. She's so fake!"

" . . . "

"Brother! . . Please tell me you like cave diving behind the oak tree and boulders,"

"Huh!?"

Xiaoling's eyes were filled with a hopeless plea however, her brother however just shook off her last words, nodded and let out a lengthy sigh.

He had no idea that his sister felt that way about lieutenant Zhang. He always thought the pair were close but it seems that he was wrong.

"Hahaha! Xiaoling, Xiaoling! Come quickly!"

The pair heard their father exclaim loudly as he started calling out. The commander patted his sisters head then he put on a robe without paying attention to his lower half or the mess that was there and went with his sister to join the others in the adjacent room.

"Xiaoling, tell your friend to come back, she must come work for me!"

Xiaoling's eyes went wide and a large happy grin formed on her face.

"Daddy! Was she right!? Did that Doctor over there lose the bet!?"

"And then some!"

Xiaoling's father answered. Xiaoling looked over at the doctor that made the bet and beamed a huge smile his way.

He saw that devilish smile and his knees soon buckled.

"How? How could this be?"

That doctor tumbled to the floor, lieutenant Zhang wasn't any better either, she had been running Qin Qianyu down to Xiaoling's father just moments ago but now, fury raged deep in her heart for some unknown reason.

Any other person would know that what she was feeling was jealousy.

Xiaoling paid no mind to the doctor or the lieutenant's feelings She quickly and happily composed a message and sent it to both the Hextext accounts she had for Qin Qianyu.

[Well that's good! Make sure he fulfils the bet but the other thing you mentioned. Sorry, no can do little bunny, my itinerary is packed solid. However if that Dr wants some reference material I recommend three books, Dr Wen's Polysynth vol 1, Dr Wen's Composer and the follow up disintegrated.]

Cough cough!

"Um daddy, well here's the thing, she ah, she's quite busy at the moment but she gave you some . . . recommendations."

"Oh! Aw, that's a shame them what did she recommend?"

"Ah . . "

"These,"

Xiaoling handed her phone back to her father when he read the message his eyes went wide and his lips started twitching.

"Xiaoling what does your friend mean by this!?"

"Dr, what's wrong?"

"Father!?"

" . . . "

Xiaoling's father showed everyone there the contents of the message. They were all aghast.

"Presumptuous! Dr. This woman! Is she saying that you should go back and learn all the basics!?"

Xiaoling's father broke out in hysterics,

"Hahahaha! She actually recommended the resource syllabus I wrote for middle school kids! . . . "

"Xiaoling!"

Her father snapped, this caused Xiaoling to become startled, even her brother frowned and moved closer towards his sister.

Lieutenant Zhang saw this and an idea quickly formed. She too stood up and wrapped her arm around and comforted Xiaoling.

"Dr, don't be mad, Xiaoling was only helping, she couldn't possibly know that her friend was mocking, the, Dr Wen."

The commander cocked an eyebrow at his lieutenant, after being told those things by his sister it was hard to un-see what she was actually talking about.

He grabbed his sister's hand and gently pulled her out of lieutenant Zhang's embrace.

"Hmm?"

Lieutenant Zhang raised her brow at the commander, he felt her looking but paid no attention to it.

"Angry!? What are you talking about! Why would I be angry? Tsk! Xiaoling message your friend, tell her I understand now and thank her properly for me."

"Huh!?"

Not only was lieutenant Zhang confused, so was Xiaoling and her brother, Dr Wen then explained,

"She's not telling me to learn the basics, she's saying not to forget the basics. Here let me show you, when you compare these two, the former and the revision. Look, what I've used over complicated the problem. Yet this here, here and here are so simple that you actually miss the elegance of it all but it actually solved all the problems caused by this factor! Haha! Xiaoling your friend is truly fantastic. I love her!"