252 Chapter 251: Black Venom Toxin (1/2)
Staggering out of the forest, I finally managed to make it out of Sen Lin Forest and into Du Chun Town.
”Huff…”
It had been quite the exhausting, if uneventful journey back. Good thing I had followed Lian Rou into the Toxic Marshes, or I would never have found my way out. My glasses had mapped out the route we took from Duchun Town to the Toxic Marshes, and I had merely followed the highlighted path. Having such hi-tech gadgets was really a lifesaver.
Honestly, if all I had was a paper map and my sense of direction, I would have gotten lost. Having a compass would be useless as I had to make several detours anyway. This sucked. Thankfully, my glasses provided a 3D holographic image that overlapped with the actual terrain in realtime, just like how Dead Space did it.
Man, that was an awesome game. It had been 6 years since the 3rd one. Apparently Electronic Arts screwed up with the third and it was no longer profitable to make a fourth game, never mind that they left an open-ended conclusion for the Dead Space 3 downloadable content, Awakened.
In any event, I managed to reach the town, and could begin tracking down my teammates. Thank Heavens for the wonders of technology.
However, I wasn't compelely out of danger yet. Right after I stepped out of Sen Lin Forest and right into the outskirts of Duchun Town, I immediately felt the superheated yang qi threatening to burst out of control inside me.
”Gah!”
Clutching my chest, I dropped to my knees as the fiery qi flowed through my qi channels like molten lava. The pain was excruciating and l almost blacked out, but it was ironically the pain that kept me from falling into unconsciousness.
”Damn it…this was what Xiao Zhang meant when he said the hot spring was only a temporary solution?”
No wonder he gave me those pills. Fumbling for my Snow Aegis, I urgently grabbed the bottle of pills and popped one into my mouth. After swallowing it, I took deep breaths and waited for the agony to abate. Leaning against a tree, I closed my eyes and relaxed.
A few seconds passed and the fiery qi died down, almost as if it was extinguished. I knew it would be back, though.
”Damn…”
Pushing up my glasses, I wiped the perspiration from my face and rose to my feet. That was quite the painful ordeal. If I wasn't mistaken, it was about three days since I last took a dip in the Hellfire Yang Hot Spring. That quick? I thought I would last for a few more days before suffering from the pure yang qi I had absorbed from Mo Long.
Perhaps using my own qi and fighting battles with qi would speed up the process of causing the fiery yang qi to go out of control. I had to be careful. I also had to make sure I had these pills on hand.
Whatever the case, my priority right now was to meet up with my team. My condition could wait.
Using my smartphone, the moment I received a signal, I immediately dialed Tong Xue's number.
”Wu? Is that you?” Tong Xue's surprised voice floated over the phone. I nodded out of habit, and then remembered that he couldn't see me.
”Yup, it's me all right. Where are you guys?”
”Carlton Hotel. You know, the place next to the bus stop we got off before going on the mission?”
”Roger.” I vaguely remembered that. It was a huge, eye-catching building with a luxurious interior, like all hotels of the Carlton brand. Even if I didn't, I could just use Google Maps, which would conveniently lead me there. The reason why I couldn't use Google Maps in Sen Lin Forest was because there was no signal or satellite tower in there, and I wouldn't have access to the Internet or phone service. Now that I was back in town, I found myself restored to the wonders of modern technology.
It felt so relieving, being connected to modernity again.
After hanging up, I proceeded toward Carlton Hotel. My team hadn't booked rooms, but were instead camped up at the lobby. The refugees looked all right, gorging on meals as if they hadn't eaten forever. Otherwise they seemed unhurt. That was good.
What wasn't good, however, was Yi Ding Si. It looked like he was going to die if we didn't do anything.
”Why haven't you brought him to a hospital?” I asked as I knelt by his side. Lian Rou had placed him on a mattress, and was trying all sorts of ways to treat him.
”We're waiting for the ambulance,” Lian Rou replied. ”We just needed to bring the victims of the Black Venom Cult to a safe place first.”
”The police will also be here soon,” Tong Xue added. ”They'll take care of these people. But we figure we should give them a place to stay and some food to eat.”
They had paid the hotel staff with money from the academy funds to find food and other necessities for the poor people. In any case, they would be the police's problem, not ours. We would just have to return to the academy after this.
”I see. That's good then.” I glanced at our one casualty. ”How is Yi Ding Si holding up?”
Lian Rou looked grim. ”Not good, to be honest. I've tried all the antidotes I have, but it seems like the Black Venom Cult has developed a new poison. I've managed to slow its effects, but unless I synthesize the right antidote soon, we won't be able to save him. Yi Ding Si will definitely die at this rate.”
Just like Zi Sha and Jiu Bu Liao. Damn it.
”You look like hell yourself,” Tong Xue remarked as he watched me. ”Are you all right? You didn't get poisoned, did you?”
”Nope,” I assured him. ”I'm fine. Just a bit tired.” Plastering a grin on my face, I retrieved the heads of the three Black Venom Cultists I killed. ”I even slew a few of them. Brought their heads back for the authorities to verify.”
”Ugh…” Lian Rou grimaced at the gruesome sight. ”Put those away.”
”Sorry.” I complied and placed them back in my storage device. ”But yeah, I'm all right. As you can see, I even defeated those bastards who chased after us.”
”Heh. As expected of you.” Tong Xue grinned back and nodded in approval. ”Those Black Venom Cultists are no match for you.”
”Uh…to be honest, I wouldn't say that.” I briefly filled them in on the details of my match. ”It was close,” I admitted. ”They are really strong. And I don't think Da Du is even the most powerful of the bunch. He is probably an elite member at best.”
”Meaning the real threat is back in the base camp.” Lian Rou frowned. ”Do you think Song Ting Yu and her bodyguards are fine?”
”Speaking of them, did you not run into them?” Tong Xue asked, looking a little worried. ”They're taking quite a while. Do you think they were really able to defeat the Black Venom Cult? Especially if they could afford to send an elite member after you.”
”They're more skilled and experienced than me,” I pointed out. ”And they're in a group. They shouldn't have any problems. If I can win, then they definitely can.” I glanced at the pale Yi Ding Si, who was shivering feverishly and moaning softly. ”The only thing now is to find a way to cure Yi Ding Si of his poison.”
”The hospital should have the facilities needed to treat him.” Lian Rou chewed on her lip. ”But it'll be difficult. If we have a sample of the poison they used, then it'll be much easier to synthesize an antidote.”
”Then let's do it!” I stood up after taking a swig of water from a bottle that Tong Xue thoughtfully passed to me. ”I'm heading back to their camp. They should have all those poisons stored inside their lab. Hopefully they would have the antidotes as well.”
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No sooner than the words left my mouth did the ambulance arrived, along with an escort of police.
”I'll speak to the paramedics,” Lian Rou said.
”We'll leave that to you then,” Tong Xue agreed and turned to me. ”We should get going then. Otherwise Yi Ding Si will not last much longer.”
The police decided to leave the prisoners in the hotel, letting them stay there while taking notes and searching their database for information. After an informal exchange, we then left the rescued people to the authorities, and then stepped out of the hotel lobby. At the same time, Lian Rou and the paramedics were carting Yi Ding Si into the ambulance on a wheeled stretecher.
”?”
There was a movement in the forest, which caused Tong Xue, Lian Roou and I to freeze. Did the Black Venom Cult follow us all the way here?
A beautiful figure shot out of the forest, staggering into Duchun Town. She looked battered and in terrible shape, her complexion extremely ghastly, but even so I recognized her.
”Song Ting Yu?”
The girl in a torn pink dress stumbled for a moment and raised her head weakly to stare at me. Then she collapsed, but I had used Jin to appear right in front of her, catching her before she hit the ground. She stared at me, her pupils dilated.
”…Fei Wu? Is that…you?”
”Yeah.” I nodded. Quickly helping her toward the hotel lobby, I placed her on the steps so that she could rest and catch her breath. ”Are you all right?”
Stupid question. She obviously wasn't. She was convulsing, finding it difficult to breathe, and I could see black tendrils of smoke leaking from her pink pupils at periodic intervals. She was clearly stricken by something.
As I helped her, I could feel the intense heat radiating from her body. Like Yi Ding Si, she was suffering from a fever. Her lips had gone all white, and her expression trembled along with her shuddering body, revealing the agony she was experiencing.
”Oh no!” Lian Rou cried in alarm. ”She's suffering from the same poison that is afflicting Yi Ding Si!”
”That's not good.” With my Heaven and Earth senses, I could detect her qi gradually disappearing. At the rate it was dissipating, she would probably die in the next week or so. And Yi Ding Si was in an even worse condition, so he would probably succumb in the next two or three days.