Chapter 38 Corruption

Inside the house, several wooden crates sat on the ground, filled with bottles of colorful potions. None of the bottles had labels, and the liquids were murky, suggesting poor quality.

The goatee man, the two surviving henchmen, and the witch doctor Gamma huddled in the corner, trembling as Zhou Jing inspected each potion.

With Zhou Jing present, and intimidated by the Beast Hunter's combat power, they dared not resist or flee.

Zhou Jing looked over the potions, then turned back to Gamma.

"So you had quite a stash. Half a year ago, you lied about being out of potions, deliberately letting my brother die."

"No!" Gamma quickly explained, "These are potions I made recently. I really was out of potions back then, I..."

Meeting Zhou Jing's "keep making it up" gaze, his defense grew weaker and weaker until he was stuttering and speechless.

Zhou Jing snorted. "My brother met you for the first time, and because he was an outsider, you refused to treat him… I don't know why you thought my brother was a threat to your business.

But if I hadn't come, you would have succeeded. It's too easy to mess with your duties, isn't it? Not many people would care."

Gamma hung his head, not daring to answer.

Zhou Jing played with the potions, casually asking, "How profitable is your potion peddling? What price do you sell these potions for?"

"Usually four bottles for one silver coin..." Gamma answered tremulously.

So cheap. That's much lower than the cost price for a pharmacy to acquire normal potions.

Zhou Jing calculated and was a little surprised. "Then these few crates of potions would only sell for thirty-odd silver coins. Your apothecaries' income isn't this low, is it?"

For so little money, they'd take such a risk?

I thought it was at least a few hundred silver coins' worth of business.

It's just that this batch isn't much. Usually, a batch could sell for fifty or sixty silver coins… Gamma thought, but didn't dare say it out loud.

"How did you get involved with this guy?" Zhou Jing scanned the two men, drawing out his dagger and playing with it.

Gamma's heart trembled. He glanced at the goatee man, then steeled his resolve, confessing everything about his cooperation with the man.

High-level apothecaries are highly profitable, but he'd only ever been a mediocre apothecary.

Gamma had wandered to White Plains City a few years ago, wanting to cooperate with the White Plains City pharmacy, but because his skills were so poor, he was turned away when he tried to peddle his potions. He couldn't sell his potions at all, and his money was almost gone. He couldn't even afford potion ingredients.

At the time, this goatee man had quietly stopped him, pointing him in a direction: to become a village doctor in the surrounding villages. So Gamma came to Frostwood Village and stayed here.

He'd been in Frostwood Village for several years. The Hunter Team provided him with free ingredients, and making potions became a no-cost, high-profit business.

But with his level of craftsmanship, he basically made substandard products. And this goatee man always came with the grain collection team, secretly buying his substandard potions in bulk and taking them back to White Plains City.

As for what they did with them back there, Gamma didn't know and didn't care.

Although the price was very low, it was good enough for Gamma, since it was normally difficult to sell the potions he made.

So, over the years, he used the excuse that potion-making was prone to failure, pocketing most of the materials brought by the Hunter Team. Only a small portion of the potions he made were enough to meet the village's needs. The rest was personal profit.

After listening to Gamma's explanation, Zhou Jing looked at the goatee man, raising his eyebrows. "You're from the pharmacy, aren't you? We met once, remember?"

The goatee man nodded subconsciously.

He'd felt that Zhou Jing looked familiar as soon as he saw him. He'd squatted to the side and thought quietly for a while before vaguely recalling their brief encounter three months ago.

Hearing this, Zhou Jing rubbed his chin.

Good thing he didn't go up and talk to this guy as soon as he spotted him, or he might have stirred up a hornet's nest, causing him to be wary and do nothing tonight, and he wouldn't have encountered this mess.

Approaching at the wrong time might not be a good thing, after all. These people don't have gold exclamation points over their heads, and you can't just interact with them to trigger events.

"Then tell me, it can't be that you'd kill my friend to silence him over a thirty-silver-coin business, right? How do you profit from buying these substandard potions? You definitely earn more than that, right?"

Zhou Jing played with the dagger, glaring at the goatee man.

The cold light of the dagger flashed in the goatee man's eyes. He swallowed and carefully opened his mouth:

"I'm a small manager at the White Plains City pharmacy. I buy these potions to secretly switch out the pharmacy's inventory…"

After hearing a few sentences, Zhou Jing understood.

This goatee man bought substandard potions made by village doctors in nearby villages at a low cost. Then, using his position, he replaced the high-quality potions in the pharmacy's warehouse with these substandard potions.

In this way, unknowingly, he quietly replaced batches of the pharmacy's stock.

This not only kept the number of potions in stock consistent with the books, but also allowed him to seek personal gain, taking the good potions in stock and selling them off.

Taking public goods to earn personal profit, slowly eating away at the pharmacy. In this way, the goatee man had already earned several thousand Terra silver coins.

And the substandard potions were mixed in with the normal potions and sold at the price of normal potions. The pharmacy's income was still guaranteed, and the only ones who ultimately suffered were the buyers… But there was only one pharmacy in the city, so people had no choice and didn't need to pay attention.

Although the effects of the substandard potions were very poor, they wouldn't kill anyone, and they still had the final say.

*Ho, switching the old for the new. I didn't expect there to be such an operation here.*

Zhou Jing chuckled.

It seemed that no matter what world you were in, people who exploited loopholes always had a vision that could surpass the times.

In the eyes of some people in the main world, this might even be a "smart person" who knows how to make money and has a lot of social experience.

"Then who do you sell the good potions you switched out to?"

"I've sold them privately to passing merchants, or sent them to other towns to sell…" The goatee man said with an embarrassed smile.

"You're so brazen. Aren't you afraid that the other managers at the pharmacy will find out? Aren't you afraid that the cooperating apothecaries will check? Aren't you afraid that the lord will notice?"

Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows, using the back of the knife to lift the goatee man's chin.

Feeling the coldness on his chin, the goatee man's Adam's apple bobbed. He quickly said:

"Those apothecaries are the easiest to appease. They wouldn't bother to buy back the potions they've already sold to us. Even if they found out, we could just say that they were individual non-standard potions. And none of the other managers would check the quality of the potions. Some of them even do the same business as me.

… As for the lord's side, as long as the pharmacy provides tax revenue, Lord Luther won't notice anything unusual. If the lord needs potions, we'll definitely give him the best goods."

Zhou Jing clicked his tongue.

This man's life was too promising.

He'd thought it was just a simple resale, but he'd accidentally uncovered the inside story of the White Plains City pharmacy, involving a gray chain of interests.

… So there's corruption wherever there are people. Even in this relatively primitive world, there are such problems.

He quietly opened the panel and spent 10 Star Realm Points to check the goatee man's attributes. He was just an ordinary person, nothing unusual.

Zhou Jing clicked his tongue and turned to look at the potions again. "What kind of substandard potions do you mainly buy?"

"Healing potions, various disease potions… nothing else." The goatee man said softly.

At this time, Gamma added, "There are also some Hunter potions."

The goatee man turned and glared angrily.

Gamma didn't dare to look at him. He waved his hands at Zhou Jing, hurriedly saying, "Jason, I didn't know anything about this. If I'd known they were using my potions for this kind of thing, I wouldn't have dared to…"

"Shut up."

Gamma immediately covered his mouth, not daring to speak.

Zhou Jing was too lazy to pay attention to this man, narrowing his eyes at the goatee man. "There are substandard Hunter potions too? You guys are really courting death."

The Beast Hunters protect White Plains City from the threat of alien beasts, and yet someone dares to provide them with substandard products for personal gain… and sell them so expensively!

That's simply digging your own grave!

Just then, the door of the apothecary's hut was pushed open, and Baron strode in, followed by Ross—after subduing these men, Zhou Jing had Ross quietly pull Baron over.

"What's going on here?"

Baron looked at the scene, confused.

He was sleeping soundly at night when he suddenly woke up, finding a figure standing by his bed. He was so scared that his soul almost left his body, and he almost chopped the figure with an ax.

Finally, he found that it was Ross standing by his bed. Baron breathed a sigh of relief, but was puzzled as to how Ross had entered his house so silently.

If it had been a night attack, wouldn't he have suffered?

Ross couldn't speak and couldn't explain what had happened, so he dragged Baron, indicating that he should go to the apothecary's hut.

Baron was surprised, but he quickly put on his equipment and trotted over here. As soon as he entered, he saw the current scene. Zhou Jing sat on the only chair in the room like a king, while the witch doctor Gamma and three unfamiliar men squatted in the corner.

Zhou Jing kicked Gamma with his foot, signaling him to explain.

Gamma dared not hide anything, so he tremblingly explained the situation.

Soon, Baron also understood what had happened.

"What! You deliberately didn't save Will back then?"

Baron was furious, grabbing Gamma's neck and lifting him up.

"Cough cough cough…" Gamma coughed repeatedly, unable to breathe.

Seeing this, Baron released his hand, letting him fall to the ground.

"You're really something, deceiving our village all this time… And you, from the pharmacy, you actually dare to peddle substandard Hunter potions…"

Baron's chest heaved violently, and he was so angry that he wanted to split the two men's little brains with a slow-motion left-hand, right-hand chop.

The men trembled and huddled together.

Zhou Jing, who was standing to the side, spoke up. "I called you over to discuss how to deal with this."

The main world has a whole set of laws to deal with corruption in office, but he wasn't sure what the procedure was here, so he asked Baron to ask.

Baron calmed down.

He pondered for a moment, then leaned close to Zhou Jing's ear and whispered:

"We have to report this kind of bad behavior to the lord. They are important witnesses. Only by handing them over to the lord can the corruption in the pharmacy be thoroughly investigated, so that no more hunters will buy substandard potions… Luther definitely hates people who deceive him and damage his interests. He won't let these two guys go. It'll probably be a hanging."

"Alright, I guess."

Zhou Jing nodded, pondering to himself.

Directly killing people doesn't yield much profit, but if he reports this corruption to the lord, the lord will show his appreciation to some extent, right?

Although he doesn't really care about money in the Alien Beast World, resolving this incident might get him more Star Realm Points or information-state particles when he returns.

That's right, there's also Gamma's illicit gains over the years…

Zhou Jing remembered this and thoroughly searched the house, eventually finding a few secret compartments. He took out two bulging money bags from them.

After a brief count, there were about seven or eight hundred Terra silver coins.

Gamma's face was ashen. This was the savings he had painstakingly accumulated by reselling potions.

Even for the high-income Beast Hunters, it was a large sum of money, requiring several hunts to earn.

"What do we do with this money?" Zhou Jing asked.

"What are your thoughts?" Baron asked in return.

Zhou Jing thought for a moment and shrugged. "You and I take a little, then give some to the Hunter Team, and the rest should be turned over to the village. After all, part of it includes the villagers' labor."

"I thought you'd keep it for yourself." Baron was a little surprised.

"I'm not interested in money."

Zhou Jing waved his hand.

At least in the Alien Beast World, that was the truth.

At this time, Gamma couldn't help but speak, pleading:

"I've been treating the villagers for so many years. I should have some merit, right? And if it weren't for me reselling potions, there wouldn't be this money at all… Can you leave some for me?"

Impressive. This guy really knows how to open his mouth.

Zhou Jing raised an eyebrow and snapped his fingers.

Ross immediately approached Gamma, slowly drawing his dagger.

"Don't! I don't want it!" Gamma shouted in terror.

"It's better this way."

Zhou Jing waved his hand, telling Ross to take out cloth strips and stuff them in the men's mouths.

Baron ignored Gamma, pacing around the house for a while, then said in a deep voice:

"Jason, you should leave tonight, taking these two men to White Plains City. There are guards on the grain collection team. If you run into them during the day, it'll be troublesome to explain. They might misunderstand that you've kidnapped the people from the grain collection team."

"Alright, I'll leave in a bit." Zhou Jing nodded. "What about you?"

"I'll deal with the grain collection team in the village. You don't have to worry about things here," Baron replied.

Hearing this, Zhou Jing didn't delay and quickly went home to pack his things.

Then, he borrowed a pack beast from a neighbor, loaded the crates of substandard potions onto it, and, shrouded in the night, set out with Ross, leading the goatee man and Gamma on the road.

Baron stood at the village entrance, watching Zhou Jing and his group grow smaller and smaller, disappearing into the night.