Museum of Deadly Beasts

Chapter 65: Cooked

The iron crab on the stretcher wasn’t terminally ill as it could still move around.

“This is Mr. Zhang from Maple City’s Commerce Chamber,” the assistant introduced.

“We’ll be in your care, Appraiser Dong!” the middle-aged man in brocade robes said as he saluted Dong He.

Dong He got up and went over to his new client immediately. “There’s no need to be so courteous, Mr. Zhang. I will do my best to help your pet beast.”

Dong He’s heart started pumping upon taking a closer look at the iron crab. There was a chilling air around it and the crab felt frozen to the touch. There was even a layer of ice on its shell.

This was a pretty rare case. At the very least, Dong He had yet to see one himself.

The cases he had come across thus far were trivial instances that were easy to take care of. This one seemed relatively difficult.

However, it was obviously suffering from chills. To deal with such conditions, it was normal to feed the pet beast a warming medicine to gradually raise its body temperature. This was considered the safest, most conservative method.

Yet, Dong He currently had this desire to ‘prove himself’ as he was lacking in experience. If he wanted to make himself known in the shortest time possible, he had to do what others couldn’t.

Prior to this, it was impossible for him to come up with any other treatment methods. But coincidentally, yesterday, Dong He learned from Han Dong how Lin Jin had treated a pet beast with this same condition.

The pet beast Lin Jin had treated just happened to be an iron crab that was suffering from chills as well.

‘Even the Gods are helping me!’

Dong He tried to recall the contents of the evaluation report he had seen back then. Lin Jin had used a rather novel technique that showed immediate results. All that was needed was a steamer and a large pot to help the iron crab get rid of its chills.

Moreover, the evaluation report sounded logical, supported by the theory of mingling fire with water, making it acceptable for the pet beast, attribute-wise.

Dong He still couldn’t figure out some of the contents.

But that wasn’t important right now.

What’s important was that after detailed observation, Dong He could tell that this iron crab was showing the exact same symptoms as the one Lin Jin had treated yesterday.

Since this was the case, there was no reason why he shouldn’t use the same shocking treatment method as Lin Jin used. If the effects are immediate and if he managed to pull this procedure off, with a little publicity here and there, he would surely rise to fame.

At this exciting thought, the fats on Dong He’s cheeks trembled.

However, he wasn’t that much of an idiot. Dong He had to make sure that the iron crab was indeed suffering from chills and whether or not it was curable.

Hence, after a series of diagnoses, he managed to confirm his assumptions.

However, Dong He failed to notice a crystal clear bead inside the mouth of this iron crab. As he knocked on the crab’s shell and arranged to have a pot and fire ready, the bead fell out from the iron crab’s mouth.

When Mr. Zhang of the Commerce Chamber heard Dong He giving instructions to have a pot and fire ready, he was dumbstruck.

“Appraiser Dong, you…”

And here Dong He thought the man would never ask. With this, he could now carry out the theory he had plagiarized.

“Mr. Zhang, you don’t understand. Come, let me educate you.” Thus, Dong He began narrating the theory he had heard with a fiery passion. “Your iron crab must have mistakenly consumed extremely cold food. As crabs are of the water and yang attribute, you wouldn’t normally worry about this, but over-consumption would still pose some harm. You should be aware as well that chills can simply be dispersed by fire, or we can give it some yang-dissolving medicine but the effects would be too slow. However, since the iron crab belongs to a yang attribute, dispersing the chills with fire or letting it consume medicine mixed with yang-dissolving components would cause it harm instead. So to dissolve the chills without harming its attribute, I’ve decided to go with a novel method which is to use a steamer. Steam contains fire properties and they’re just right for dispersing the chills in this iron crab’s body. The effects are also immediate so it won’t take long before your pet beast jumps back to life.”

Dong He supplemented his speech with bombastic hand gestures, sputtering as he rambled on.

Not only Mr. Zhang, but even the jaw of his assistant dropped upon his explanation.’How deep and profound’, they thought.

Despite his skepticism, seeing how confident Dong He was, Mr. Zhang could only swallow his words.

“I’ll leave it to you then, Appraiser Dong. Once this is done, I’ll be sure to thank you nicely.”

“Great, wonderful!”

At that moment, several people worked together to move the struggling iron crab into the steamer.

“Make the fire bigger and make sure it steams!”

Dong He was beaming with great confidence.

As the flames burned fiercely, steam soon emerged from the pot.

At first, there were still noises when they covered the lid over, but now, it was dead quiet. The iron crab stopped struggling and made no other movements.

Dong He felt that something was off. Logically speaking, the iron crab should have kicked open the lid and jumped out by now.

However, he assumed that it might just be too early to tell.

Han Dong told him that Lin Jin had steamed the crab for fifteen minutes, and in his case, barely seven minutes had passed so it probably needed some more time in the steamer.

Everyone else was watching on with great curiosity. After all, they had never seen such an interesting treatment method before.

Another couple of minutes passed.

Still, there was no movement.

Dong He was beginning to panic, and more importantly, he could smell a fragrant scent.

This was a scent so familiar that he instantly recalled Symphony Restaurant where he constantly frequented.

Speaking of Symphony Restaurant, it had been a while since he went there. The mere thought about dining there made Dong He hungry.

There was still no movement in the pot.

Large beads of cold sweat formed on Dong He’s forehead. He finally couldn’t contain himself and got someone to take the lid away. A strong fragrance of steamed crab wafted out and made everyone’s mouth water. At the same time, however, all of them wore the same horrified expression.

Especially Mr. Zhang from the Commerce Chamber. He was staring, wide-eyed at the bright red shell of his now cooked pet beast, his precious iron crab. Unable to catch his breath, he choked up before his eyes rolled backward. He was knocked out cold on the floor before they could realize what had happened.

Dong He was dumbfounded as well.

His assistant braced himself and took a look inside the pot before turning to Dong He. “Appraiser Dong, this crab is cooked.”

“Haha, Appraiser Dong, are you secretly eating something good? I can smell it from here, let me have some too! You know you can’t hide from my senses,” said Zhang He as he came in with a big smile on his face.

Zhang He was ecstatic today. Not only was Lin Jin’s consultation hall shut down in the morning, but the man was assigned to the emergency hall after lunch. How humiliating. Even Zhang He wouldn’t go to a place like the emergency hall, so what could be more embarrassing than a certified beast appraiser being assigned to such a place?

He heard that it was Dong He who sent Lin Jin to the emergency hall so Zhang He was here to butter up the man. However, he smelled the strong fragrance of steamed crab and thought that Dong He was having a meal so he blurted that phrase out.

But he ended up throwing himself in front of the muzzle of a gun.

No matter how dumb he was, Dong He knew that he screwed up royally. He was already panicking so when Zhang He added fuel to his fire, Dong He finally found an outlet for his seething rage. He strode over and slapped Zhang He, bellowing, “Eat sh*t and die!”

“Why are you hitting me?” Zhang He was dizzy from the slap as Dong He had unleashed the full power of his bulky build. But Zhang He wasn’t going to be a pushover. As an apprentice affiliated with Chief Wang, how could he just let himself get hit? Zhang He fought back immediately. However, being weaker than Dong He, he ended up being forced onto the ground and pummeled instead.

Lin Jin naturally had no idea that this slapstick was happening. He was currently still immersed in studying the ‘pulse-seeking technique’.

Although this needle technique sounded a lot like Master Asia’s ‘Sunflower Needle’, this technique was clearly much stronger. In terms of offense, just by using one needle, Lin Jin could render his opponent immobile.

As it was able to rescue pet beasts and harm humans, only an idiot wouldn’t study this newly received power.

Although Lin Jin really wanted to become a wandering swordsman, he couldn’t help it since the museum didn’t offer lessons on mastering the sword.

After mastering part one of the pulse-seeking technique, the ‘Acute Needle’, Lin Jin opened his eyes.

It was getting dark outside, making him realize just how much time had passed. The emergency hall was hectic as usual, but Lin Jin was surprised to see Zhao Ying, Lu Xiaoyun, and Han Dong mixed in the crowd.

Lin Jin immediately understood the situation.

The trio never left him despite his bleak situation, and with this, Lin Jin realized that he had found the right people.

Lin Jin got up and stretched his stiff muscles before joining in the fray.

With Lin Jin here, no matter how busy the emergency hall got, everything was systematic. There was an order in chaos. Everyone took Lin Jin’s orders, and if they came across a complicated case, with just one glance by Appraiser Lin, they would receive appropriate orders.

Everyone here was experienced and they understood, to reach this level of efficiency required a solid foundation. Hence, they were all convinced to work hard.

Just then, Lin Jin’s nose wiggled and he commented, “Who’s cooking crab? The smell’s making my mouth water!”