"Maintain... If it were only a matter of maintaining, that would be one thing," Guan Xuemin sighed. "You know as well as I do that those painkillers do great damage to your body. In the long run—never mind whether the drugs still work, or whether your body has built up a tolerance—even if it hasn't, the side effects of those painkillers will drag you down..."

"By the way..." Guan Xuemin's mention of painkillers suddenly brought something back to Yang Huaijun: the prescription Wei Zhao had given him. That day he had gone to the pharmacy to fill it, thinking only to give it a try.

At night, when the pain all over his body kept him from sleeping, Yang Huaijun would brew the medicine and drink a few mouthfuls. The effect was truly miraculous—before long the pain was gone, and he slept straight through till dawn, his whole body filled with an indescribable ease. It was better than painkillers by a measure he could not begin to count—no waking in the middle of the night when the drug wore off, no having to go through the whole ordeal all over again.

Yang Huaijun had never expected that the prescription Wei Zhao had dashed off so casually would prove so effective. These past days he had been drinking the medicine from that prescription, and it had kept the pain in his body under control.

An Eagle indeed—a godlike presence within the squad... Yang Huaijun admitted himself outmatched. And he was not alone: among all the members of the squad, there was not one who had fought shoulder to shoulder with Wei Zhao who did not hold him in awe.

Nor was anyone jealous that the goddess of their hearts was infatuated with Wei Zhao, for they felt it was only proper—nothing could have been more natural.

Hearing Guan Xuemin bring up the painkillers, Yang Huaijun suddenly remembered the prescription Wei Zhao had given him. He hesitated. Wei Zhao had never told him he must not speak of it, but Wei Zhao might well be on some special mission right now—what if mentioning it brought him trouble?

On the other hand, Guan Xuemin was his elder. When he came back from the battlefield, if not for Guan Xuemin, he would have lost his life long ago. All these days he had been kept alive by Guan Xuemin's acupuncture and painkillers...

"Grandpa Guan... a few days ago a friend of mine gave me a prescription that can take the place of painkillers. I tried it, and the effect was very pronounced. It lasts much longer than painkillers, too—usually one dose a night is enough..." Yang Huaijun decided to tell only part of it, not the whole, so that he might have an answer for both sides.

"A prescription? To replace painkillers?" Guan Xuemin's eyes went wide. "From a Chinese pharmacy?"

"Yes..." Yang Huaijun, embarrassed under Guan Xuemin's stare, nodded.

"And it works on you?" Guan Xuemin had received more shocks today than he had eaten meals in half a lifetime. Earlier he had heard from Liu Tianyi that a twenty-year-old miracle doctor had, with nothing but massage, saved Old Master Liu from a myocardial infarction. And now here was Yang Huaijun, with someone who had given him a prescription that could replace Western painkillers—and not only worked, but worked better than the painkillers themselves.

What has become of this world? Since when had the world of Chinese medicine gone so mad, producing so many masters?

"Grandpa Guan, I won't hide it from you—I can say this prescription works extremely well for me. After drinking it, not only does it suppress the pain in my body, but the whole next day I feel clear-headed and refreshed..." Yang Huaijun said truthfully.

"Oh? Let me have a look at the prescription." At first Guan Xuemin had been somewhat worried that the prescription might contain contraband such as poppy seeds. If it did, a pronounced painkilling effect would be perfectly normal—but the harm to the body would be great. Then again, on second thought, Yang Huaijun was a policeman, a captain of the criminal investigation squad; how could he not know what a poppy was? How could he possibly touch such a thing? Besides, that sort of thing was not something an ordinary pharmacy could sell.

Since Yang Huaijun had filled the prescription at a pharmacy, the ingredients on it must all be quite ordinary, the sort any pharmacy would stock... At this thought, Guan Xuemin realized he had been overcomplicating things.

Seeing the somewhat startled look on Yang Huaijun's face, Guan Xuemin smiled wryly. Many prescriptions were closely guarded secrets. Take that Divine Physician Kang of our time—had he not, on the strength of a single formula for a wound medicine, built up a pharmaceutical group from nothing? He had even established a supply relationship with the military and turned the Kang family into a rising clan of note.

If Yang Huaijun's painkiller formula was truly so effective and had no side effects, then its value should be no less than that wound-medicine formula of Divine Physician Kang's...

To have blurted out a request to see the prescription—that really was putting him on the spot. So he hastened to explain: "Xiao Yang, don't read too much into it. I know many prescriptions are confidential. The reason I wanted a look was to see whether any of the ingredients might have side effects..."

"Grandpa Guan, though the prescription isn't easily passed around, there's no problem with you seeing it..." Yang Huaijun was taken aback for a moment, then said, "I'll take it out and show you right now. Only, until my friend gives his permission, I hope Grandpa Guan won't pass it on..."

"Naturally. I understand these rules well enough. Xiao Yang, rest assured, I won't make things difficult for you. Until your friend gives clear consent, I won't use this formula for anyone else either." Guan Xuemin was overjoyed at Yang Huaijun's words. Even if he could not use such a formula, a single look at it would give him much to ponder.

That day, after filling the prescription, Yang Huaijun had tucked it into his pocket. He took it out now and handed it to Guan Xuemin. Yang Huaijun knew Wei Zhao's character: if something was meant to be kept secret, he would say so plainly. Since he had not said so, it must not need keeping secret. Still, since he had not received Wei Zhao's explicit authorization, Yang Huaijun cautioned Guan Xuemin not to spread it.

Guan Xuemin took the prescription carefully and began to read... At first it was fine, but as he read out the names of the herbs one by one, the astonishment on his face grew thicker and thicker...

"This is a prescription?" Guan Xuemin was dumbfounded on the spot. The ingredients on it were as ordinary as could be; not one was particularly expensive. A few of them, such as gastrodia, did indeed have the effect of easing pain and calming the nerves—but those same medicines had been used on Yang Huaijun before, and their effect had not been very pronounced. Could it be that these few herbs, put together, produced some different, wondrous effect?

Astonished as Guan Xuemin was, he was also a leading authority in the world of Chinese medicine, and he knew that in many cases a formula differing by a single ingredient could produce effects worlds apart...

These medicines were all basically for treating neuralgia and muscular pain; there was nothing particularly remarkable about them. The one thing Guan Xuemin could be certain of was that this medicine was surely not toxic, and that it contained nothing as overbearing as poppy seeds...

"This is the prescription, Grandpa Guan. Is something wrong with it?" Seeing Guan Xuemin's shocked expression, Yang Huaijun asked, somewhat puzzled.

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