“What is this Scarlet Gu?” Li Shentan asked after calming himself down.
If the Scarlet Gu were some kind of venomous worm Lian Yi intended to use on him, it would prove she was a bad person.
And if she were a bad person, he could hypnotize her without feeling guilty, right?
The women thought he could no longer put up a resistance after being apprehended, but the problem was that the Demon Whisperer’s hypnotism was not something normal people could understand. With just a few words, he could hypnotize everyone here!
Lian Yi looked at Li Shentan and said, “Since we’re going to live together in the future, I might as well tell you. The Scarlet Gu is a secret skill that our tribe does not impart to others. The Scarlet Gu is as small as a needle. If it flies up next to you on a normal day, you might not even notice it. After you refine the Scarlet Gu, you can make it suck your blood and let it parasitize your target’s body. Then the target will fall head over heels with the person controlling the Scarlet Gu and won’t abandon her.”
Li Shentan was stunned. The most complicated thing in the world was probably emotion, so how could someone possibly manipulate the emotions of others with just a tiny worm?
Moreover, it did not seem like this thing was considered harmful. This woman could not truly be defined as a bad person if she only wanted to use the gu worm to gain his affection.
What was the definition of a bad person in Li Shentan’s eyes? Someone who did things to hurt others.
But what Lian Yi wanted to do was probably what a lot of men would consider bliss.
What should he do? Although he still felt he could not use hypnotism on her, he really did not want to be the target of her gu poison.
He turned his gaze to Little Liren and realized she was looking excitedly at the cinnabar box in Lian Yi’s hands. It was as though she could not wait to see him get implanted with the gu worm!
Lian Yi told Li Shentan, “You don’t have to worry that it’ll harm your health. Once it drinks my blood and parasitizes your body, not only will it make you healthier and stronger, it will also give you the ability to refine corpses. At that time, you and I will be on equal footing, and we can govern the village stronghold here in Xiuzhuzhou together.”
Li Shentan had a strange expression on his face. It was as though Lian Yi was saying to him, “Look, Xiuzhuzhou is the land I’ve conquered for you.”
Scarlet Gu had an extremely special place in the Lian tribe. It helped maintain the relationship between two people, making sure they would never abandon one another. Under normal circumstances, the matriarch’s ah’zhu was no different from a normal man who commanded no social standing in the village. But after the matriarch used the Scarlet Gu on him, he would become a respected person.
The logic behind this was that men who did not have the Scarlet Gu implanted in them were still unreliable and untrustworthy. But men who had the Scarlet Gu were good people and could enjoy the same high status as women.
Speaking of which, this was one of the unique customs of the Lian tribe.
But as a result of this, Li Shentan was even more unwilling to use hypnotism. Not only was Lian Yi about to gift him her tribe, she was even going to present him the entire village stronghold. Where else could he find such a good person in the world? If he were to use hypnosis on someone like that, wouldn’t he become the enemy of good? The opposite of good was evil!
However, he really did not want to be implanted with the gu worm!
Li Shentan slowly calmed down and said to Lian Yi, “I don’t believe it! I don’t believe that your Scarlet Gu is that magical!”
Lian Yi got angry. “Why don’t you believe me?!”
“Who in the world dares to proclaim they can control the emotions of people?”
“Scarlet Gu can do that!”
“I don’t believe it!”
Lian Yi was so angry she wanted to hit someone. “Then I’ll show you.”
With that, Lian Yi drew a dagger from her belt and pointed it at Li Shentan. “Put your hand out for me. I’ll let the Scarlet Gu drink your blood and parasitize me. I’ll show you the Scarlet Gu really works! You’ll see if my feelings for you are genuine!”
Li Shentan stretched out his hand. “Sure!”
But Lian Yi started laughing strangely. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? Pin him down.”
Li Shentan said helplessly, “Wait a minute, let’s talk nicely.”
If this were any other place, Li Shentan would not have felt so helpless. If he had encountered bad people, he would just kill them. How could it have possibly become so troublesome?
But it just so happened that this strange tribe in Xiuzhuzhou was actually intent on giving him control of the village stronghold even though they looked extremely ferocious.
How nonsensical!
Li Shentan calmed down and said, “It’s like this: I know a way to treat your people. Why don’t we leave the matters between us for later? Can you let me treat their illnesses first? As the tribal chief, you can’t possibly disregard the lives of your own people, right?”
Lian Yi was stunned. “You have a way to treat them? Don’t lie to me. If you don’t have any idea of how to do it, just hurry up and submit to me. We’ll hold the wedding celebration tonight to help our sick villagers get better soon.”[1]
Li Shentan nearly broke down. He was a legendary superhuman from the Central Plains, the Demon Whisperer, who could make people blanch at the mention of him, as well as a child whisperer. How did he end up having to get married to help the sick recover?!
Why was everything that happened since they arrived in Xiuzhuzhou so abnormal?!
“If I say they can be cured, they’ll definitely be cured.” Li Shentan said, “Can you have these copper and silver corpses release me first? It will only take a moment for you to understand.”
After some thought, she summoned her gold corpse to stand guard next to Li Shentan in case he tried some trick. Only then did she have the rest of the corpses free him.
Li Shentan looked at the gold corpse and saw it was actually a benevolent-looking old man. Other than his golden skin tone, there was nothing unusual about him.
He took out a satellite phone from his backpack and dialed Hu Shuo’s number and put the call on speaker. “Grandpa!”
Hu Shuo was clearly a little surprised. “How rare of you to call me. Did something happen?”
Li Shentan took a deep breath and said, “I have been abducted to the south of Xiuzhuzhou to get married. They even said I’ll have to father some children soon….”
Hu Shuo chuckled. “That’s good.”
Li Shentan grew annoyed. He was fine with Little Liren not wanting to help him, but why was his grandpa also cheering for his abductors?
All of a sudden, Lian Yi said in a clarion voice, “Grandpa.”
Li Shentan looked at Lian Yi in shock. ‘Who the hell are you calling Grandpa?!‘
However, Hu Shuo did not mind at all. Instead, he laughed out loud on the phone and said, “Hello! I still have some matters to attend to in the Central Plains. After I’m done, I’ll go and visit you all. I can help take care of your children—”
“Let’s talk about why I’m calling you first,” Li Shentan interrupted. “It’s like this: There’s more than 20 people in this village suffering from headaches and fever. Grandpa, can you send over some medicine, antibiotics, or something to treat their inflammation?”
Hu Shuo thought for a moment and said, “That won’t be a problem. The Wang Consortium has been very strict with their drug controls recently, but I should be able to get my hands on some.”
“No.” Next to them, Lian Yi shook her head and said, “Grandpa, you can come, but we won’t allow other outsiders to visit Xiuzhuzhou as they please. You can’t reveal the location of our village to them.”
Li Shentan looked at Lian Yi helplessly. “Is the location of the village more important than the lives of over 20 of your tribespeople?”
Lian Yi pursed her lips and did not say anything. She seemed to be in a dilemma as well.
The people of the Lian tribe had been living in Xiuzhuzhou for over 200 years. This place was a utopia, and they really did not want it to be disturbed by outsiders.
It was OK if someone had gotten lost and wandered in, but how could they let more people know about this location?
Li Shentan sighed and said, “Grandpa, is there any way to make the antibiotics ourselves?”
Hu Shuo thought for a moment on the other end of the line and suddenly replied, “You guys definitely can’t make antibiotics like penicillin, tetracycline, and so on. However, there’s an antibiotic you can really produce. Allicin! This antibiotic is mostly used in agriculture in the Central Plains. Since we can’t send any medicine in, that’s really the best option you have for now.”
[1] In some cultures, if an elderly relative is ill, young couples move up the wedding date in the belief that it might help their recovery—a practice called 冲喜(chōngxǐ).
