Was he the spiritual healer?
That was the first thought that game to Gu Ding’s mind when he saw the man-he was young and did not seem more than a few years older than him.
Although the man had a babyface, he did not look childish. He was dressed in a long white robe and looked a little thin.
“Are you the spiritual healer who treats people’s illnesses?” There was a hint of suspicion in Gu Ding’s tone, but it was not disrespectful. “I am the spiritual healer, but neither you nor the man behind you look like sick people.” The young spiritual healer had only glanced at them and was able to make such judgment.
“The patient can’t make it here before dark today.” Gu Ding felt that the man seemed a little discerning. “She was poisoned. Do you think you can cure her?” “That depends on the poison.” The young spiritual healer put down the scroll in his hand. “Have you analyzed the poison?”
Gu Ding nodded, and Neptune immediately listed the molecular formula of the poison he had tested.
“This is the structure of the poison, a synthetic poison that’s injected directly into one’s brain. According to the man who poisoned her, the patient only has seven days left to live,” Gu Ding went on to provide more information.
The young spiritual healer frowned slightly at the formula as he studied it. A moment later he asked, “Was the poison made with a special ability? It’s obvious that it’s a synthetic poison, but it’s not quite like man-made ones that have much neater structures. Ones that are made with special abilities tend to appear a lot messier.”
“Yes, it’s composition includes special abilities, and the maker’s gene level isn’t low.” Gu Ding nodded. He did not tell the spiritual healer that the person who had made the poison was from the Dark Sectors because he was a little afraid that if he did, the healer would be scared to provide treatment.
“Indeed, the structure of the poison is complex. It’s impossible to determine whether some of the keys are useless or poisonous with the current technology that we have,” said the spiritual healer as he displayed a few keys on the projection and shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t help you for this case. Based on my experience, the only way you can treat the poison is by finding the person who poisoned her and getting him to extract the poison’s antibodies from her body. Alternatively, you could find someone who is immune to poison and borrow their poison antibodies.”
“Is there really no other way?” The healer’s answer was the same as the one Neptune had given him, but it was not what Gu Ding wanted to hear.
“Sorry, there’s nothing I can do.” The spiritual healer shook his head and looked at Gu Ding very seriously. “Can you send me a copy of the structure of this poison? I want to look into it,” the spiritual healer asked as he gave Gu Ding a public email address.
Gu Ding instructed Neptune to send the virus structure map. “Thanks a lot anyway.” Gu Ding and Biggie walked away from the hall.
“Wait a minute, are you heading for Faye Cosmic Nation?” The spiritual healer asked out of the blue.
“That’s right!”
“There’s one more thing I need to ask of you. If you meet my junior, tell him that our master is dead. As for the cause of his death… It’s not convenient to tell outsiders. However, knowing his character, he will certainly ask about it, so just make one up. Let’s say, he took a poison he made by accident and had no time to make an antidote before it began to take effect. He should believe it.”
“Well… Is your master really dead or is his death fake?” Gu Ding thought that the spiritual healer was being too casual about it.
“Of course he’s dead. Why would anyone joke about such a thing?” The spiritual healer looked very serious as he muttered, “Although I’ve always asked twenty times a day why hasn’t that old man died ever since I was three…”
“Can’t you just tell him about it through your communicator?” Gu Ding still found it impolite to give people such information.
“I don’t have his contact number. We haven’t spoken to each other in six years. However, I just found out earlier that he has become an Interstellar Pirate when I saw his wanted order,” the spiritual healer said and projected a bounty order.
Wanted Criminal: Dockett
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Gene Level: Rank-9 Special Abilities: Negative state transfer (This ability is known, other special abilities he has are unknown.)
Ability Description: Able to transfer the negative state of a living organism to another or more living organisms. If the organism that is transferred dies, the ability will backfire on its user and the person will experience twice the effects of the negative state.
Ability Limit: The user of the ability must transfer the negative state within 10 hours of absorbing it, otherwise, they will experience the negative state themselves.
Bounty: 50 million Faye Credits
Crime: …
Gu Ding did not look too much into the rest of the information except for the Faye Credits which had been written on his bounty. It got Gu Ding wondering what sort of currency it was. The young man on the bounty order did not look like he was sixteen years old. Instead, he looked a little more mature-people would believe that he was in his early twenties, or at least a little older than the spiritual healer who was in front of their eyes. Nevertheless, what caught Gu Ding’s attention the most was his special ability-negative state transfer.
After reading the description of the ability, Gu Ding was slightly confused, and he asked the spiritual healer, “That ability of his can also work on my friend’s illness, right?”
“That’s right. However, he’s in Faye Cosmic Nation right now, and I don’t know his exact location. Even if you don’t make any stops, it would take you at least half a month to leave Border River. Faye Cosmic Nation contains more than thirty thousand cosmoses. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack if you want to find him on such short notice. That’s why aside from you, I’ve asked other Interstellar Pirates-at least about two hundred crews that came before you-to help me get this message to him while the new route is open.”
Neptune managed to find Dockett’s contact number fairly quickly. That was because he had started conducting a portrait comparison search the moment he saw the wanted order. Hence, it did not take him long to find it. Neptune also locked in his position according to the person’s contact number. The guy was in the middle of the Faye Cosmic Nation, and Neptune knew it would be impossible for them to reach there within a month. Even if he stayed in place, with the speed of the Golden Eagle, it would take them at least three months to reach his location.
“I’ve got Dockett’s contact number. You can contact him yourself,” Gu Ding said and sent Dockett’s contact number to the spiritual healer’s email address.
The spiritual healer was a little surprised when he received Dockett’s contact number from Gu Ding. The former looked at the communication function on his wristwatch hesitantly.
“Do you have any scriptural tattoos on you, mister spiritual healer?” Gu Ding could not help but ask. He did not think Nisoth would say anything out of the blue.
“You may call me Orm,” the spiritual healer revealed his name. He was a little puzzled by Gu Ding’s question. “Scriptural tattoos? That sounds painful. Why would anyone do that?”
“All right then, let’s go!” Gu Ding knew that Orm was not the one he was looking for, so he pushed open the door to leave. Biggie quickly caught up to Gu Ding from behind.
“What are we going to do now?” Biggie looked worried. He had thought that the spiritual healer was the one they were looking for, but apparently not.
“Huh? Since you just came out of the temple, you must have met the spiritual healer?” Elsa had reached the summit-just in time to see Gu Ding and Biggie walk out of the temple. She immediately rushed forward to greet them.
“Yes, he’s not the one we’re looking for. He took a look at our partner’s illness but said he’s unable to cure it.” Gu Ding did not intend to hide anything from Elsa.
“Are you looking for someone? Maybe I can help. I’ve taken this mountain road no less than ten times, and I remember all the people I’ve met. If you tell me some of their features, I might know them.” Elsa looked enthusiastic.
“All we know is that they have a bunch of scriptures carved on them, we don’t know anything else.” Gu Ding was not expecting Elsa to help but told her their only clue anyway.
“Scriptural tattoos on their body?” Elsa stared at Gu Ding-her eyes were wide open. “Are you sure? I think I know that person.” “You’ve seen someone with scriptural tattoos on their body? Where is that person?” Gu Ding immediately felt hopeful again.
“I can’t take you there. He told me to stop pestering him. If I didn’t, he said he’d kill me.” Elsa sounded aggrieved. “I met him four days ago. I felt that he was strong, so I challenged him. He really is strong. All he did was just stare at me and I lost. I kept pestering him after that, trying to get him to come back with me to the Vikings and challenge my father, but he kept rejecting me. That’s why I watched him each day until the night before yesterday-when I accidentally saw him taking a bath and saw the engravings he has on his chest. At that time, he flew into a rage when he found out and forbade me from pestering him any further.”
“Where is that man now? You don’t have to take us, you can give us his location, and we’ll find him ourselves.” When Gu Ding heard Elsa’s explanation, he felt that the man was probably the person in Nisoth’s prophecy. “No, you can’t have his location now. He doesn’t like to be disturbed after dark. He always closes his door at night and prays.” Elsa shook her head. “How about tomorrow? I’ll take you there in the morning, and you can knock after I leave.”
“That works too!” Gu Ding nodded.
“It’s getting dark now. Please check-in at the side hall as soon as possible or you won’t have a place to stay tonight.” Elsa reminded them.
“Thank you,” Gu Ding said, suddenly realizing that the little girl was a perfect candidate as a member of his crew. Gu Ding’s crew was short of leading combatants, and she was pretty strong. “How long are you going to stay on Tampa? Which planet are you going to head to next? Do you have any plans?” Upon hearing Gu Ding’s question, Elsa fell silent for a moment before she shook her head. “I don’t know. There’s food and places to stay here…”
“Are you an Interstellar Vagrant?” Gu Ding was speechless. The girl was strong. However, she had no sense of survival and had been reduced to a vagrant.
“I guess so…” Elsa felt that she had no other identity, no money, and was only constantly wandering around.
“Would you be interested in joining our crew?” Gu Ding grinned and asked her. “We’re Interstellar Pirates.” “Will there be a lot of food? I eat like a horse, and I’m never full here even after having twelve meals a day,” Elsa still sounded aggrieved as she said. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we have plenty of food! Standing next to me here is our chef Biggie! Biggie eats like a horse too.” Gu Ding pointed at Biggie with his thumb. “He’s really good at cooking, and he makes something new almost every day.” “How about a place to stay? It doesn’t have to be nice, a bed would do. I’m just not used to sleeping on the floor.” Elsa looked at Gu Ding in anticipation. “We each have our own rooms with basic necessities in them. If you need anything else, you could just ask us to buy it for you. Just give us a list. Of course, you could also ask me for money to buy stuff yourself. I’m currently in charge of the crew’s finances.” Gu Ding guessed that Elsa had been through a lot.
“Really? Then I agree!” Elsa was so happy she almost jumped. “My name is Elsa. Nice to meet
you.”
