Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Lu Wang’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the body of a massive snake fall from the sky to his feet. He didn’t recognize what kind of snake it was. However, he could still feel the snake’s oppressive aura, which even in death hadn’t completely faded away.
Preparing the snake for dinner was a fairly easy task. All he had to do was cut it into neat, square sections. Each familiar was then given a chunk of snake meat, which they happily gorged themselves on.
On the other hand, the preparation of the Ghostfire Crow was a bit tedious. It was, after all, a Lord-tier monster. Even though it had been dead for a couple of days, it still managed to give Lu Wang a hard time.
Even with a knife, Lu Wang still couldn’t properly defeather the Ghostfire Crow’s body. In the end, he resorted to using a laser cutter to finish the task.
Upon seeing how exhausted Lu Wang was, Gao Peng shook his head and said, “Allow me.”
Lu Wang took a step back and watched as Gao Peng had Da Zi saw off one of the bird’s claws. Gao Peng then dissected the bird’s abdomen with surgical dexterity and proceeded to scrape out its innards from its body.
Lu Wang was stunned, not by Gao Peng’s expert hand, but by how he was able to cut through the bird’s skin so easily Cutting open a Ghostfire Crow’s leathery skin was no easy affair. One would have to possess incredible strength in order to pull off such a feat.
As soon as its innards were removed, the Ghostfire Crow was placed on a skewer, ready to be cooked with the various spices that Lu Wang’s kitchen was already stocked with: cinnamon, paprika, and pepper.
The delicious aroma of cooked Ghostfire Crow meat wafted out from the house. Da Zi, who was busy chewing on snake meat, looked up from its meal and saw the steaming chunk of meat in Gao Peng’s hand. It then looked back at its cold, wrinkly, unappetizing chunk of snake meat. There was a glint of red in its eyes…
Just as Gao Peng and the others were enjoying their meal, a group of people suddenly emerged from the edge of the hilltop. Each of them was wearing a mask over their mouths, their faces pale. Some of their eyes were bloodshot. Their brows were bunched up like tangled blades of grass.
When they arrived at the top of the hill, the first sight that greeted them was that of a white-scaled dragon that had its back towards them. Not far away from it was what appeared to be a brain floating in mid-air and making an unusual humming sound…
“Have we come to the wrong place?” someone asked. These monsters’ auras were making them dizzy.
“That looks like Lu Wang’s flag,” said a girl in the front of the group who was pointing at the Military Conferment Flag standing in the middle of the field.
The Military Conferment Flag was still watching one of its favorite war films. It would occasionally do a spin, letting its flag flutter in the wind. It looked quite carefree doing so.
“Mr. Lu Wang, we’re from Hanzhong Base City,” announced a stocky-looking gentleman at the front of the group.
Lu Wang, who was in the middle of eating his dinner, paused to look up at the group of people at the edge of his sanctuary. Glancing at Gao Peng and Ji Hanwu, he returned the chunk of meat in his hand to his plate and wiped his hands with a cloth. “Excuse me for a second.”
Lu Wang was a good-looking man in the conventional sense of the word. Standing at least six feet tall, he had a set of thick eyebrows and a muscular physique over which his shirt was stretched taut. As he walked, his legs and shoulders swung forward powerfully.
“How may I help you?” asked Lu Wang. His voice was deep and husky.
The girl at the front of the group stepped forward. Her name was Liu Xiaolu. She said urgently, “Mr. Lu, a plague has spread in the city. The entire Hanzhong base city is now quarantined.”
“Then you better find someone who specializes in plagues and whatnot. Why the hell did you come looking for me, anyway? I’m not a bloody doctor,” said Lu Wang brusquely, waving a hand at the pony-tailed girl standing in front of him. She was clad in a jacket and a pair of leather pants.
Lu Wang threw a furtive glance at Gao Peng and his grandfather, hoping that these people hadn’t ruined dinner for his two guests. “If there are monsters that need killing, I’m your man. But curing a plague is beyond me.”
“Every infected person is now running wild in the city. Right now, you’re the only one who can calm things down there,” said Liu Xiaolu, who seemed to be on the verge of tears.
Lu Wang was the only elite trainer in Hanzhong City. He had been the holder of that title for quite some time now.
He seemed hesitant about helping these people. Before the Cataclysm, he had just been a simple carpenter. His first familiar was an alligator snapping turtle, which he had kept as a pet back then.
Since then, Lu Wang had encountered little to no impediment in his rise to glory. By sheer luck, he later came upon the Military Conferment Flag on top of Mount Dingjun, just as it was in the midst of its transformation into a full-fledged monster.
Just like that, he now had two Lord-tier familiars with him.
He didn’t like poking his nose into other people’s business. He was of the belief that his time was better spent doing absolutely nothing.
In order to avoid those who would always come to him for help, he decided to move out to the mountains and told the Hanzhong government that unless there was a crisis that required his immediate attention, they had best leave him alone.
There’s a plague in the city… How is that my business? he thought.
“We’ll take a look at it. Both of us have Lord-tier familiars at our disposal. I’m sure the plague won’t affect us,” said Gao Peng suddenly from behind him.
Liu Xiaolu stared at the man who had appeared beside Lu Wang, unable to believe that there was someone out there who had the gall to speak to Lu Wang so casually. She had heard that Lu Wang had a nasty temper.
To her surprise, Lu Wang didn’t lash out at the man. Instead, he nodded and said, “All right then.”
…
“These are the people who were affected by the plague.” In the hospital, Gao Peng was brought to the quarantine zone to see how bad the infection was.
“These three were brought into the hospital a month ago, two weeks ago, and three days ago, respectively,” said a doctor in a thick hazmat suit. His voice was muffled by a mask that he was wearing over his mouth.
The doctor gave Gao Peng a thick folder of clinical records.
The first page showed the picture of a withered-looking girl. There was a crazed look on her face. The rest of her body was severely emaciated.
“She’s been our patient for three days,” said the doctor. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Beside the patient’s picture was a description of her current condition.
[Patient Name]: Zhou Yuanyuan
[Age]: 21
[Time since infection]: 76 hours
[Condition]: Fever, fainting, loss of appetite, visibly stimulated by sight of blood, increased physical strength and other bodily capacities, signs of hair loss, capable of infecting others, and accelerated blood circulation.
Other doctors had jotted down the results of their examinations on the back of the page.
[Patient does not seem to have developed any aggressive tendencies. However, her intelligence has regressed considerably, making it harder to establish any intelligible communication with her.]
[Patient…]
Gao Peng glanced through the rest of the passage, frowning. This was like something out of a movie. He turned to the next page.
[Patient Name]: Chen Weizhong
[Age]: 32
[Time since infection]: 361 hours
[Condition]: His hair has fallen out completely. Wrinkles on his skin, loss of teeth, severe desiccation, has developed an extreme craving for blood, increased blood flow, and increased heart rate. Any form of skin puncture inadvisable during the duration of quarantine for fear of severe blood loss.
The picture in the folder showed the face of a severely deformed man.
His bald head was covered with wrinkles. His eyes were sunken, and his nose had shrunken beyond recognition. He was wearing a blue hospital gown. His toothless mouth hung open slightly like that of an old man.
