I am far more advanced than it!

For a long time, Bai Ling had overlooked one thing: why did Mr. D always disappear online, vanishing for a week or even months at a time?

Under normal circumstances, one would assume a netizen had family matters to attend to or was simply too busy with work to log on for entertainment. Bai Ling had thought the same before.

However, in this life, having discovered that Mr. D was actually Yu Chen, he realized that no matter how busy the man was, he shouldn’t be so occupied that he lacked the time to send a single message.

There was only one possibility.

The merman’s condition had worsened, or worse, someone had attacked him, completely shattering the physical equilibrium he had maintained for thirty years through mental supplements. This led to a prolonged coma, forcing him to abandon his plans for restoration.

Bai Ling stared at the hole in the glass, remembering that Yu Chen went blind whenever he took his medicine. The merman’s state was like a bucket with a massive leak; patch one side, and the other would fail. There was always a draft coming from somewhere.

Moreover, Bai Ling wasn’t sure if Yu Chen’s condition was simply more severe, but he clearly remembered that in his past life, when he saw the regiment’s military doctors prescribe mental supplements, they had never mentioned blindness as a side effect. Clearly, ordinary-grade supplements weren’t that potent.

Bai Ling instinctively linked Mr. D’s long offline periods with the drug’s side effects. Frowning, he asked: “Can your master only take this one kind of medicine? Are there no alternative treatments?”

The AI explained: “He took many kinds of medicine in his early years, but Master’s mental power exceeds the conventional scale by fifty times. He easily develops resistance to those weak formulas, making them almost useless.”

Bai Ling was stunned, immediately drawing a parallel to his own situation in his previous life.

An omega who failed to differentiate spent a lifetime haunted by pseudo-heats. Missing the window for development meant there was no biological cure; one could only consume artificial alpha pheromones day after day while supplementing with various hormones to maintain a normal life.

But all medicine is part poison. Taking such a chaotic cocktail of drugs for years meant the liver couldn’t metabolize it all, eventually leading to severe failure.

When Mr. D had gone to the station to meet him in his past life, he had indeed looked well-groomed and dignified. But Bai Ling knew how much pain that old man could endure, suffering from neurological headaches daily, his face as white as marble, yet never uttering a sound.

That supplement of his… he absolutely could not keep taking it like this.

The small robot shook its head. ” Master’s supplement is specially formulated. At the beginning of every month, the private doctor adjusts the ingredients based on his latest physical report.”

“That doctor and his family have served the Master for over thirty years; they are deeply loyal. Furthermore, according to my calculations, taking the supplement is indeed the best method at present.”

Bai Ling’s grey eyes narrowed slightly. “AIs can make mistakes too.”

The small robot’s treads vibrated abruptly, and its camera lens turned toward his calm face.

Bai Ling’s judgment wasn’t baseless, nor was it a lack of trust in the robot. In the next ten years, a horrifying incident involving an AI calculation error would occur in the Empire, directly killing tens of thousands.

It started with a mecha defense system. Due to a calculation lag, a single decimal point was misplaced, causing the defense system to activate during flight, automatically initiating a “system cleanup” and shutdown. On that catastrophic day, many pilots soaring through the sky saw their engines suddenly cut out, plummeting thousands of meters to their deaths.

Bai Ling remembered the name of that system: Blue Wall.

He asked the robot suspiciously: “What system are you running? It’s not Blue Wall, is it?”

The AI waved its mechanical arms, sounding annoyed: “You can doubt my calculations, but you cannot doubt my intelligence. How could I be a soulless idiot like ‘Blue Wall’?”

“I am far more advanced than it!”

Bai Ling’s expression remained indifferent as he followed up: “An advanced system would send me the doctor’s address.”

The robot choked, lowering its head to fiddle with its “fingers.” “That is Level 2 information; I don’t have the transmission permissions. Why don’t you ask Master?”

Bai Ling didn’t want Yu Chen to know he suspected the family doctor. His mind whirled, and a plan formed. He looked the AI over and said, “You call me ‘Mechanical Little Bird’ all day. If I’m a bionic, I should be categorized as a household appliance in your recognition system, right?”

The AI lit up: “That’s right. Master’s household bird.”

Bai Ling curled his lips into a slight smile, feeling zero guilt about deceiving the AI. “Actually, I’m a healthcare appliance. I need to input the Master’s physical data to keep running.”

Healthcare… The robot fell into deep thought.

True, the Mechanical Bird had fed Master medicine yesterday, it was a “Medical Dispenser” designed to prevent the merman from struggling or resisting during the process.

It made perfect sense!

The AI enthusiastically pulled a USB cable from its torso. “Where is your port? I’ll transfer the doctor’s address to you.”

Bai Ling paused. He hadn’t evolved a USB port yet. So, he lied and said his port was broken, asking the AI to read the address out loud.

After Bai Ling left, the AI was still puzzled. How could something as sturdy as a USB port break, unless the user was recklessly shoving things in?

…Did Master try to shove a fin in there? Did it short-circuit?

The AI gasped, feeling like it had discovered something scandalous.

The Woodpecker Clan had a long history in medicine and was once appointed as one of the royal physicians of the Old Empire. Due to their specialized profession and brilliant skills, they retained their respect even after the change of dynasty, remaining untouched by political fallout.

A quick search told Bai Ling that this “family” was more of a medical dynasty. They didn’t just have a sprawling private clinic in the wealthy district but their own laboratories.adva

The manor before him leaned against the mountainside. The tall, lush canopies cast vast shadows. Even in the dead of winter, the greenery was vibrant, clearly maintained at great expense. The manor offered excellent privacy and only accepted VIP appointments.

Bai Ling didn’t have an appointment, so he was naturally blocked at the gate. However, he unhurriedly pulled out an X-ray. “This X-ray is labeled with your clinic’s name.”

This was something the merman had given him earlier.

The receptionist took a peek. The label was indeed theirs, but she shook her head. “Even with this, it won’t work. You must have an appointment. Without one, Dr. Zhuo sees no one.”

Bai Ling’s gaze shifted to the wall behind her. A poster for the Mental Nurturing Supplement was pasted there. The doctor in the photo had a gentle face, holding a medicine box with a caring smile. The slogan read: [Money is easy to find; health is hard to seek. Contact number: 8088xxxx]

It was essentially telling you that the medicine was expensive and didn’t bother with the poor.

Bai Ling asked, “Is that Dr. Zhuo Liangmu?”

The receptionist followed his gaze and realized: “No, he’s so young, of course he isn’t Zhuo Liangmu. Our Old Master is 98 years old this year; his skin is all wrinkled. The one in the ad is our Young Master, the Old Master’s grandson. He’s young and promising, graduating with a PhD in medicine at eighteen and taking over the Old Master’s lab.”

Bai Ling frowned slightly. “So young…”

He guessed that Yu Chen’s supplement likely passed through the hands of this “Little Woodpecker” now.

Since he was already here, Bai Ling had no intention of leaving empty-handed. He changed his story: “Actually, I want to discuss a partnership with the young Dr. Zhuo. I have a large group of mercenaries under me, forty-nine in total. They’ve over-trained and complain of headaches all day; they need long-term mental nutritional supplements.”

The receptionist knew that the greater nobility often kept private mercenaries. For example, the private army of the Duke of the underwater city “Poseidon” was famous for its scale of 5,000 men and combat power rivaling the Central Army.

The veiled guest before her, with forty or fifty mercenaries, commanded a force equivalent to an Imperial mercenary club. He had to be at least at the rank of an Earl.

Little did she know, Bai Ling was just using his actual club’s numbers as a cover.

Following protocol, the receptionist tested him: “Could you please show your family crest or any ID to prove your identity?”

Bai Ling pursed his lips under his veil, thinking he should have swiped a plate with a crest from Yu Chen’s palace to prove himself. But then his mind turned, and he suddenly drew the blade at his waist.

Seeing that Lake Askid Blade, which by law could only be used by high-ranking greater nobility, the receptionist immediately broke into a smile. She stood up respectfully and bowed as she led the way: “This way, please.”

As he stepped into the elevator, Bai Ling couldn’t help but think: power really is an all-access key.

The receptionist brought Bai Ling to a VIP room and laid out tea and snacks. “Please wait patiently for a moment. Young Dr. Zhuo is currently out on a house call; it will take half an hour for him to return.”

Bai Ling said immediately: “That’s fine. Seeing the Old Dr. Zhuo is the same to me.”

A flicker of unease crossed the receptionist’s face. “That… actually, the Old Master has been resting behind closed doors since last month. He isn’t seeing guests at the moment.”

Bai Ling arched a sharp eyebrow. Yu Chen’s condition had always been the Old Woodpecker’s responsibility. If he was suddenly resting, why hadn’t the AI received word, and why were the medications still being delivered as usual?

This “Little Woodpecker” seems to be hiding something…

“Very well, I will wait patiently.”

He agreed verbally, but as soon as the receptionist left, he swiftly moved to disable the room’s surveillance. He moved cautiously along the walls, inspecting the rooms one by one.

A clinic was not a military defense facility. Even with a full security system, to a seasoned veteran like Bai Ling, it was child’s play.

He soon slipped into the security monitoring room. There was only one robot inside. He hid by the door, and the short blade in his hand flew out, piercing the power box with precision. The robot sparked for a few seconds before collapsing.

Bai Ling closed the door, successfully taking over the security room. He pulled up the surveillance footage from every location.

And there, he found the clue.

In a corner of the basement sat a room covered in infrared sensors. Behind a heavy steel door was an iron bed. Sitting by the bed was a man with fiery red hair and a crest reaching for the ceiling.

The man happened to look up at the camera, his face full of fury.

That face was sixty percent like the one in the poster outside, but as the receptionist had said, the skin around his eyes was wrinkled.

Bai Ling instantly felt the gravity of the situation increase.

The Old Woodpecker had been locked up by his grandson. In that case, the medicine Yu Chen had been taking this month… was it poison?!