“Maple City?”
“Lin Jin?”
Their expressions changed the moment they heard those words. What was originally an exchange out of politeness and courtesy turned cold and hostile. Indifference was immediately apparent on their faces.
The abrupt transition baffled Lin Jin. Noticing his visible confusion, one of the appraisers remarked coldly, “So you’re Appraiser Lin Jin of Maple City. Hmph! Please forgive me for not receiving you at the door as I didn’t know you would be paying headquarters a visit.”
Lin Jin was momentarily taken aback by his enigmatic tone.
‘I don’t know who these appraisers are, and I don’t recall meeting them too. It’s impossible that they have a grudge against me, so what gives? Why was there such a drastic change in their attitudes when they heard my name?’
How odd.
However, Lin Jin remained silent. Before the air was cleared of any confusion, it was best to refrain from saying unnecessary things. At most, he would just have to ask Appraiser Tan Xun what was going on later.
Lin Jin was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a large portion of people working here who refused to acknowledge his status. After all, his achievement was not without a special request from the Emperor, so to everyone else, Lin Jin was merely an incapable fool who only knew how to pull the right strings. Influenced by their envy, it was only natural that they were indifferent to Lin Jin’s presence.
However, apart from these people, virtually no one else knew about their contempt toward Lin Jin.
The men following behind them illustrated this truth. They were presumably the owners of the pet beasts, and upon bumping into a Rank 3 beast appraiser, they paid the Rank 2 beast appraisers’ callousness no mind and stepped forward. “Mr. Appraiser, would you mind taking a look at our pet beasts together with Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao? These animals mean a lot to us. If they can be saved, we’re willing to pay as much as we can.”
“That’s right. They were suddenly poisoned out of nowhere. You’re a Rank 3 beast appraiser so you must be capable enough to know what went wrong. Please help us.”
They were blissfully unaware that their words had invoked the anger of both Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao. While the air was originally indifferent, both appraisers now wore hostile expressions.
Appraiser Cao was gritting his teeth when he suddenly said, “Since the great Appraiser Lin is going to take a look at these pet beasts, by all means, go ahead. It’ll be a great learning opportunity for us as well!”
“Sounds good! Appraiser Lin is a Rank 3 beast appraiser after all! You’re in luck, Chief Liu! We’ll just let the Great Appraiser Lin treat your pet beasts,” Appraiser Wang said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
While Chief Liu and his group were initially unaware of it, they weren’t blind. Judging by their tone, Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao were clearly at odds with this young Rank 3 appraiser.
Did their earlier comment add fuel to fire?
Chief Liu and his group immediately panicked.
“Uhm, Appraiser Wang, now that we thought about it, we think it’s best that you do the job. We sought your help first anyway. Appraiser Cao, we’re old acquaintances, right? We can’t afford any more delays now.”
Now that Chief Liu noticed their hostility, they didn’t dare to say anything else. They only wanted their pet beasts treated and that was first priority.
Appraiser Wang was still slightly peeved. However, Appraiser Cao gave it a quick thought and figured now wasn’t the time to be vindictive against Lin Jin. The pet beasts of the chief of the Chamber of Commerce were showing such serious signs of poisoning that they had to act now.
After giving it some thought, he said, “Chief Liu, fret not. These pet beasts may be severely poisoned but Appraiser Wang and I have fed them three-leaf antidotes. They should be fine for the time being.”
These were words of comfort and sure enough, Chief Liu and the others breathed sighs of relief. Lin Jin was the only one who frowned upon hearing what the man said.
Of course, he knew about the three-leaf antidote. This antidote variant was the most popular among beast appraisers thanks to its uniqueness and its efficacy. No matter the type of poison, the antidote would start to take effect quicker than any other solution available in the market, thereby prolonging the life of the victim.
Though, it was this effective precisely because it was a form of poison. As they say, the most effective way to fight fire is with an even stronger fire.
It was for this reason that the antidote had to be used with utmost care.
Lin Jin was already aware that these pet beasts weren’t poisoned. Although the symptoms displayed were similar, they were, in fact, not poisoned.
To feed them the antidote would be counter-intuitive in such a scenario.
Lin Jin wanted to spare himself unnecessary trouble. After all, he was only there to obtain the files he wanted. However, somehow, trouble would always find its way to him, no matter how desperately he tried to avoid it.
He could choose to ignore them but if he did, these pet beasts probably won’t be able to live through the night. If that were the case, not only would the owners suffer, but their headquarters and the reputation of these Rank 2 beast appraisers would take a massive blow as well.
Of course, none of these were that important to Lin Jin. The greatest problem here was that Lin Jin couldn’t help himself.
Ever since transmigrating to this world, he fully invested his time in studying pet beasts and researching appraisal skills. He was clearly aware that his peers were making a mistake, and a grave one at that. It would have been fine if he had not bumped into them, but now that he did, he felt an obligation to intervene.
One could say he had an itch to scratch, or that he was a busybody who couldn’t bear to watch appraisers making such mistakes.
Even if it meant challenging their ego.
Lin Jin didn’t care anyway. They were being rude earlier, so he didn’t really have to be that considerate of their feelings. Moreover, he was trying to help them. When viewed as a whole, it was a good deed.
Lin Jin’s conscience was perfectly fine with this.
Thus, right before Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao could carry out their procedure, they were interrupted by Lin Jin’s voice, “These pet beasts should be fed ice toad blood dissolving pills at once. The pills may be costly, but their lives are far more precious than that.”
At this, silence descended upon them. Chief Liu and his group stared at Lin Jin in confusion while Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao wore baffled expressions. It wasn’t long before their anger flared up.
“Outrageous! Do you seriously think that everything you say goes, just because you think you’re a Rank 3 beast appraiser? Listen, this may sound harsh, but you’re just a snot-nosed brat who knows nothing about what he’s talking about. I doubt you were even born when we were already appraising beasts, so how dare you act in such a shameful manner!”
Appraiser Wang’s anger from earlier had yet to subside. Under the mistaken assumption that Lin Jin was speaking nonsense, he was even more irritated now.
They reacted this way mainly because Lin Jin’s tone sounded like he was ‘lecturing’ them. Lin Jin had failed to provide any explanation for his statement either, so it really did sound more like an order than a piece of friendly advice.
Both appraisers had many apprentices under their wings as well so they were very familiar with this tone. This was the same tone they used with their pupils.
No one could stand being given a lecture by a Rank 3 beast appraiser, who only got there through personal connections. Thus, they lashed out.
Appraiser Cao looked equally infuriated. “Appraiser Lin, you’re going a little too far. Even if we were rude to you earlier, we could have settled our differences in private. What are you trying to achieve by publicly shaming us this way?”
Lin Jin’s brows furrowed.
He had been very reserved earlier and showed them enough respect. He didn’t declare right away that they had just mistakenly poisoned their clients’ pet beasts, but merely urged them to use ice toad blood dissolving pills to resolve the issue instead. Was that inappropriate too?
Lin Jin had limited patience too, so he replied, “My fellow appraisers, I’m not sure how I’ve offended you but it’s a mistake if you think I’m trying to shame you. Have you both considered the consequences of feeding a three-leaf antidote to a pet beast who isn’t poisoned in the first place?”
