Physician's Odyssey Chapter 488 - Absent for the Second Phase

The National Healer Selection's second phase was finally unveiled, and anyone that was qualified to participate in this section were all influential figures in China's medical industry.
Ling Yu's appearance instantly attracted everyone's attention since it was the first time there's such a young candidate.
Standing beside Ling Yu, Wang Guofeng smiled. "Just treat it normally, and I believe that you won't disappoint the sect."
Looking at Wang Guofeng, Ling Yu smiled before his expression suddenly turned solemn and asked, "Has Su Tao really withdrawn from this phase?"
"That's right!" Wang Guofeng gently patted Ling Yu's shoulder and encouraged, "The others are your opponent. There are a total of three candidates for TCM that have made it this far. Su Tao has already been eliminated, so you and that other candidate can't embarrass us."
"What a pity!" Ling Yu sighed with a bitter smile.
Wang Guofeng did not pay attention to Ling Yu's laughable obsession and greeted some acquaintances since they were once in the same industry while introducing Ling Yu in the process. Wang Guofeng often appeared in all sorts of medical conferences, so he had a wide connection. Thus, no one underestimated Ling Yu because of his age due to Wang Guofeng's support.
A female staff walked over from the hallway and her gaze fell on a paper and started to take attendance. When she called Su Tao three times, she was puzzled when no one responded to her call. In the end, she wrote a question mark beside his name with a red pen.
Out of the ten candidates, nine of them have already arrived, so the female staff announced, "The second phase will start in ten minutes, so please rest for now. The interview won't take too long, and each candidate will only take five minutes."
After that, she paced into the office and gave a call to Su Tao's phone. However, no one picked up her call.
In the end, she could only report to her superior, "Ms. Han, one candidate is late, and we couldn't contact him. What should we do?"
Ms. Han was currently organising the information that the judges would be using in the examination phase, which she replied in annoyance, "A candidate is late? Revoke his name from the namelist, then."
But just when the female staff wanted to strike off the name on the list, Ms. Han asked, "Oh, right. What's the name of that candidate?"
"Su Tao!" The staff reported.
"Him? Now, that's a little troublesome." Ms. Han frowned as she immediately took the namelist from the female staff and gave a call to the number on it. However, no one picked it up.
Wearing an unsightly expression, Ms. Han solemnly said, "He might have encountered something along the way. Readjust the list and move him to the end."
"Isn't that against the rules?" The female staff asked.
Sighing that this staff was too young, she faintly replied, "Settle with that arrangement. I'll take the responsibility if anything happens."
In the end, the female staff could only change the sequence of the candidates immediately and placed Su Tao at the end.
Sitting on her seat, Ms. Han pondered for a long time and ultimately decided to report this matter to her superior.
The National Healer Selection has always been fair and just, but there were occasionally some exemptions. Su Tao was recommended by Sire Shui and Sire Cao. The two of them were influential figures and wielded the authority to make recommendations on the recruitment. If Su Tao could successfully make it in, then the two of them would have priority over him. So if Su Tao's qualification got revoked, it would have a huge influence.
Entering her superior's office, Ms. Han briefly reported the situation.
As Deputy Director Liu fell into silence, he wore a grave expression and said, "Organise the examination phase first. The specialists this time are all influential figures, so you have to receive them well. You've done well by putting Su Tao as last, and if he really fails to turn up, then we'll just report the situation to the higher departments."
"This Su Tao is too unreliable. How is he worthy of being a National Healer?" Ms. Han unhappily replied.
Waving his hand, Deputy Director Liu said, "You and I are not the ones to judge if he's suitable for the title. Otherwise, why would we need the judges? Go and get busy!"
After Ms. Han left the office, Deputy Director Liu sighed and gave a call to Song Sichen.
He's a disciple of Song Sichen. He urgently said through the phone, "Teacher, there's a situation. Junior Brother Su Tao still hasn't shown up for the examination phase!"
Song Sichen was alarmed by the news as he asked, "What?! I'll call him immediately!"
Wearing a bitter smile, Deputy Director Liu replied, "Teacher, you don't have to call him. My colleague has already tried several times, and it's always at a busy tone… If he misses this chance, then it will have a huge negative influence on his life… According to the regulations, he won't be allowed to participate in the National Healer Selection anymore in the future."
At this instance, Song Sichen felt stars spiraling in his head as he anxiously paced back and forth. "Then, what should we do now?"
Deputy Director Liu knew that his teacher's temperament has always been bland. For him to lose his composure spoke of the effort that he placed in Su Tao. Since he didn't want to worry his teacher, he immediately pacified, "I'll get someone to call him incessantly, so please don't be worried!"
"How can I not be worried?! He's a talent that's hard to come by in a thousand years! If his qualification to be a National Healer is revoked, then not only is it a great loss to the TCM industry, but it's also a great shame to China's medical study!" Song Sichen sighed.
Beijing Capital International Airport was filled with people. Aside from travellers, there were also all sorts of other people here.
Lowering his sunglasses, Xia Yu pointed at a man wearing a windbreaker as he talked to Liu Jianwei, "See that fellow? He's a plain-clothes officer!"
Liu Jianwei was currently stuffing his face full of the noodles before him and muttered, "Continue boaffsting!"
But the moment he finished, the man wearing a windbreaker that Xia Yu pointed out earlier suddenly hollered in the direction of a middle-aged man who was dragging a brown suitcase. The middle-aged man panicked and tried to squeeze himself into the crowd. But the middle-aged man only ran out for ten-odd meters before two robust men came from the right and pinned him down onto the ground.
"So? Are you impressed now?" Xia Yu pointed at his eyes and became smug. "This is called eyesight! If I've guessed correctly, that man that was just arrested should be an official who embezzled public funds."
Rolling his eyes Liu Jianwei replied, "Focus on our business. Our boss is still waiting for us to rescue him!"
"That disciple from the Witchcraft Sect is an expert in disguise, and even with my keen eyesight, there's nothing I can do with so many people here." Xia Yu weakly sighed.
Since he finally filled his stomach, Liu Jianwei stood up. "I don't have the time to talk with you. Let's take a walk around, at least it's better than us sitting here doing nothing!"
Pressing Liu Jianwei down, Xia Yu smiled. "Did you think that I called you to this restaurant to buy you a meal?"
"You mean, you weren't?" Liu Jianwei was baffled.
In his heart, Xia Yu sighed. Liu Jianwei might be powerful, but his intelligence was mediocre and paled in comparison to him.
Pointing at the entrance, Xia Yu lowered his voice, "This restaurant is directly opposite the washroom. If the other party is an expert in disguise, then he will definitely change his disguise in the washroom before boarding the plane. So we just have to keep watch on the washroom to find him."
"You're really vicious!" Liu Jianwei looked at Xia Yu for a long time.
Snapping his fingers, Xia Yu pointed at his head and grinned. "I'm a private investigator, and I rely on my brain to feed myself!"
Thereafter, Xia Yu called the waiter over and ordered more food.
Letting out a sigh, Liu Jianwei continued to deal with the food on the table.
Taking a magazine, Xia Yu calmly flipped through it but his gaze was ultimately focused on the washroom.
Roughly half an hour later, Xia Yu suddenly patted Liu Jianwei. "The target has appeared!"
"Who?" Liu Jianwei was at a loss as he looked at Xia Yu.
Pointing at a long-haired woman pulling a red suitcase, Xia Yu replied, "That woman!"
"Woman?" Liu Jianwei widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Yeah! Who can say that the other party won't disguise himself as a woman? It's more hidden this way." Xia Yu urged.
He had looked into the information of the person that Wang Guofeng booked the ticket under and remembered that person's appearance. The other party nearly managed to fool Xia Yu, but fortunately, he managed to see through the flaw. The woman never entered the washroom, but she appeared out of nowhere.
The only explanation was that she had disguised herself in the toilet.
It was a reverse thinking process!
In the beginning, the woman walked at a slow pace. But upon noticing that there's someone chasing after her, she started to increase her pace and walked towards the crowd.
"Disappeared?" Liu Jianwei noticed that the woman had disappeared after turning a corner.
"He must've noticed us and went into hiding!" Xia Yu said in regret and continued, "With his character, he definitely won't board the plane today, and we've missed the best opportunity to capture him."
"Continue searching!" Liu Jianwei refused to give up and continued, "I refuse to believe that he can hide from us!"
As Xia Yu and Liu Jianwei continued their chase, there was a 'woman' lying on a man's knee two meters away from them engaging in an intimate act.
When the 'woman' straightened her back, the man blushed and he was still immersed in the bizarre encounter and was about to ask the 'woman' for her contact info.
But the 'woman' did not even turn around as she retrieved a hat and scarf from her luggage to cover her face. Through the scarf, she changed her style as if she had turned into another person and headed in the opposite direction of Xia Yu and Liu Jianwei.
But before she managed to flee, a breeze blew over.
Relying on her instincts, she was flustered as she dodged it and started to fight with a sweet-looking woman.
Although she was wearing heels, her movements were agile, as if the luggage had become a weapon.
Her gaze was wandering around as she analysed the fastest path to flee.
But it was a pity since the sweet-looking woman did not give her that chance.
All of a sudden, that woman felt that her opponent disappeared. In the blink of an eye, her opponent appeared once again and was sticking to her.
After several breaths, the 'woman' had her hands cuffed and she suffered a kick to the back of her knee and dropped to the ground.
"You're under arrest!" The sweet-looking woman breathed out and smiled as she revealed her cute canine teeth.