GDK 819: Establishing a presence
A few more days went by like the blink of an eye. During this time, Han Shuo had recruited a sufficient number of workers and pharmacists for his new shop. Baum had also completed the renovation for the new Celestial Pearl branch. Therefore, Han Shuo no longer stayed in the City Lord’s manor house and moved into the new shop.
After having heard the conversation that Baum had with his divine guard through a demon general, Han Shuo became even more certain that Baum had a hidden agenda and did not help him purely out of generosity. This was consistent with McKinley’s story that Baum was a scheming person. Han Shuo knew he needed to be extra careful when dealing with Baum.
But after making that discovery, the demon general that had been constantly surveilling Baum no longer discovered any other unusual activities. Baum had been cultivating in his manor house for those dozen or so days. He had only met a few people and did not do anything suspicious.
Han Shuo had also released several demon generals to roam all around the City Lord’s manor house, trying to find McKinley’s divine body. However, after searching every corner, not only did they find no suspicious items, but they also did not discover any storage room in the manor house. Han Shuo knew that recovering McKinley’s body wouldn’t be a straightforward and easy task.
Being a cautious man, Han Shuo had also assigned a demon general to follow the divine guard that Baum sent for sounding out the Goldstone’s employees. He noticed that the workers were all tight-lipped, as though they had been warned by Myles. The Ethereal City divine guards had learned nothing useful from them.
Han Shuo felt that of all his kids, Metal Elite Zombie was the most talented in managing business and human resources. Although he would likely be the weakest in strength compared to his brothers due to the lack of Elysians cultivating in the energy of metal, he had directly benefited Han Shuo the greatest by using his innate ability.
The Goldstone Enterprise has branches in all Dominions. Han Shuo could learn the situation in any corner of the Elysium by using the connections Goldstone had. Right now, Han Shuo was most longing to meet Metal Elite Zombie again. He wanted to ask him about the Goldstone Enterprise and to hopefully learn management skills from him, which would be greatly beneficial to the future development of Celestial Pearl Pharmacy.
With Baum doing the promotion, every god in every corner of Ethereal City learned that a Celestial Pearl branch will soon be open for business in the city. Before the pharmacy store was even open for business, many gods had started queuing outside, wanting to buy Han Shuo’s medicines.
During his journey from the City of Shadows to Ethereal City, Han Shuo had traversed countless mountains and rivers where he had collected enough medicinal ingredients to fill one space ring. He had also refined a large number of pelleted medicines during that time.
Han Shuo was working on full throttle. Following his instructions, the pharmacists he recruited started producing some common medicines while the shop workers were making relevant preparations. It did not take long before the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy officially opened for business in Ethereal City.
On the first day of business, Han Shuo took out a thousand bottles of his miraculous pelleted medicines and put them for sale on a special rack. They were sold out to the large crowd in no time. Han Shuo earned around seventy thousand black crystal coins by the end of the first day.
Those who had managed to get their hands on the medicines Han Shuo personally refined felt the promised benefits right after consuming it. Naturally, these gods started promoting the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy for Han Shuo, free of charge. For a period of time, the entire Ethereal City was talking about the miraculousness of the medicines from Celestial Pearl.
Everything went very smoothly. After the initial success, Han Shuo took out yet another portion of his medicines for sale. The Celestial Pearl store was crammed as gods from every block and street swarmed to the shop. They would spare no black crystal coins to get their hands on Han Shuo’s medicines.
All those who had managed to buy the medicines would conscientiously become a promoter of the pharmacy. The Celestial Pearl Pharmacy and its owner, Han Shuo, rapidly rose to fame in Ethereal City and became well-known to the gods living in the city.
While the shop was open for business, there were a few uncultured cunts who cut queues and forced their way into the shop to buy Han Shuo’s wonderful medicine. When that happened, Han Shuo would give Rose a meaningful glance and she would immediately kick their asses off the shop. There were also some who tried sneaking into the pharmacy at night. Han Shuo and Rose would kill all those intruders on the spot with no warning. Those certain forces came to recognize that Celestial Pearl Pharmacy was not merely a simple pharmacy chain when all those experts they sent in never returned.
After all those who intruded the Celestial Pearl failed to return time and time again, there was no longer any powerhouse who dared take their strength lightly. Everyone stopped trying to get the medicine through illegal means. Then, when the business got into a stable orbit, Han Shuo announced that he will only sell his special medicines once every few years, just as he did back in the City of Shadows. Although everyone was saddened by that announcement, the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had successfully made a name for itself. Even without Han Shuo’s personally refined medicines, its business will be doing much better than other pharmacies in the city.
Time flies. More than half-a-month passed in the blink of an eye. The Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had slowly rooted itself in Ethereal City. However, Han Shuo was feeling rather worried as Little Skeleton, Wood, Water, and Metal Elite Zombies had yet to appear. Han Shuo had even gone to the Goldstone store twice to ask about Han Jin. But the only answer he got from Myles was that Metal Elite Zombie was temporarily out of contact and he should be on the way.
Han Shuo looked at the calendar and saw that there was just half-a-year left before their agreed meeting date, which wasn’t all that long. Han Shuo started to get somewhat anxious, worried that they might have run into trouble.
It was at this time that Han Shuo came to understand how it felt to be a father and realized that it was not easy at all. He felt restless and uneasy waiting for them and wanted to go search for them, but he did not know where to start looking.
Are they alright? Perhaps they have been injured? Or maybe… wondered Han Shuo for the thousandth time with his brows tightly bunched.
“Father, you don’t have to worry, they will be just fine,” consoled Han Tu after noticing that Han Shuo had been rather edgy recently. Being telepathically connected, they could sense the source of Han Shuo’s anxiousness.
“Yea, don’t worry. Little Gold, Little Wood, and Little Water should all be on their way here. As to our Eldest Brother, he most definitely isn’t in any trouble, because he is the most powerful!” said Han Huo cheerfully. The ‘Eldest Brother’ he mentioned was none other than Little Skeleton. As Han Shuo had made Little Skeleton before the five Elite Zombies, they naturally considered him as their eldest brother.
“Hopefully so,” sighed Han Shuo. He then instructed Han Tu, Han Huo, and Rose, “Be extra careful tonight. I will be visiting the City Lord’s manor house. I wonder what he invited me there for.”
“Don’t worry, there haven’t been any thieves lately. They are now too afraid of us to try to intrude!” said Han Huo in a fearless and complacent face. It was as though he could defeat any intruders with his eyes closed.
When Rose noticed that Han Shuo was staring at her, she nodded and replied, “With me here, there shouldn’t be an issue.”
Han Shuo became slightly more at ease. He instructed Han Tu, “If you meet an enemy that you cannot fight off, you will bring Rose and Little Fire and flee. As to those shop workers and pharmacists, bring them along if you can. But if you can’t, just leave them.”
“Yes, I know, father. Please stop nagging!” replied Han Tu smilingly. He clearly also did not take Han Shuo’s words seriously, thinking that no one would dare intrude the pharmacy or stupid enough to throw away their life.
Han Shuo couldn’t help but laugh at himself after hearing those words. He too felt that he was becoming more and more annoyingly wordy in recent days. He would always tell Han Tu and Han Huo some cautionary tales. He had also been constantly nagging Han Huo to be more prudent in the future, lest he offends experts that he cannot defeat.
When Han Shuo saw that those two brats of his not taking his words seriously, he forced a smile and sighed. However, after thinking for a moment, he realized it was true that there haven’t been any trespassers lately. Therefore, Han Shuo did not nag them any longer and traveled to Baum’s manor house.
Soon after Han Shuo left, night came and veiled the sky. The workers and pharmacists of Celestial Pearl went into their dormitories to rest.
The Celestial Pearl branch was refurbished from a small manor. At the front was the actual shop where all kinds of medicines were sold. Behind that were pharmacy labs and buildings for the workers to rest. The main warehouse was in a separate building, protected by boundaries that Han Shuo and Rose deployed.
The Celestial Pearl workers and pharmacists had gotten used to the strange noises after the first few nights. They no longer feel worried about their safety when they realized none of their coworkers were harmed and those miserable shrieks came from strangers. They also gradually came to realize that Celestial Pearl was no average pharmacy.
That night, they went on and carried out their usual routine. Some went to their rooms to rest while some continued to refine medicines. None of them were concerned about intruders or attackers.
Rose who was in the gymnasium suddenly bunched her brows and abruptly got up from her meditation. Right when she exited the door to look for Han Tu and Han Huo, she saw the two approaching her surreptitiously.
“There are enemies. It seems quite different this time. There seems to be a highgod!” said Han Tu softly after they got beside Rose.
“It must have something to do with that fucking Baum! Not a single intrusion happened during all those days Father was in the shop. But right on the night that he is away, the enemy comes! Coincidence? I think not!” cursed Han Huo in a low voice.
“You two be careful. If there’s any real danger, just escape without me,” Rose knew that Han Tu had the ability to escape by tunneling underground. She knew that Han Shuo loved the two kids very much and definitely cannot accept anything to happen to the two.
“Woman, what are you worrying about? Don’t you remember what my father said before he left? I’m more than capable of bringing all three of us to escape if there’s any danger we can’t handle,” replied Han Tu smugly.
“Yea, that’s right. You are my father’s woman, how can we allow anything to happen to you? If you are not around, who is going to sleep with my father?” said Han Huo in a mischievous smile.
Rose turned red-faced after being teased by the two buffoons. Her slight nervousness was replaced with an urge to beat up the brothers. Han Tu and Han Huo started smirking mischievously after seeing Rose’s reaction. They continued to mock Rose, as though this ancient and mighty highgod was nothing to be afraid of.