Healing the World

In the dead silence between bouts of wailing, a chilling wind suddenly stirred, billowing down the long street. Inside the vehicle, Tong Shan froze in astonishment. He sensed that the surrounding figures—the terrifying pressure crushing inward against their force field—had actually halted in their tracks. No, not just halted—it felt as though they instinctively wanted to back away... In the putrid, freezing wind, the bloodstained white coat billowed like an apparition. Dancing hungrily. The specter sprawled across the hood stiffened, eyes wide and vacant as it stared at that unfamiliar face, unable to make sense of it. It was simply impossible to see his face clearly. It was as if countless silhouettes were superimposed upon one another: at times resembling a burning corpse, at times an evil spirit bathed in fresh blood, sometimes rotting away to reveal bare bone, and sometimes crisscrossed with dense, tangled stitches. Thick blood slowly seeped from beneath the stitches, curving along his joyful smile into a cruel arc. "You're injured?" Ji Jue gazed at the ghastly specter, unable to suppress the swell of delight and wonder rising in his chest. A raw material actually delivered itself right to his doorstep? *Crack!* The moment he reached out, a faint crunch came from the hood. The specter, which had been screeching and roaring atop it, instinctively shrank back a step. "I... I'm not..." Its two cobbled-together faces twitched and squirmed continuously. In the surge of creeping dread and horror, it completely forgot about the soul and flesh right before its eyes and wanted to give up. No—more accurately, it wanted to flee! Yet the terrifying speed that let it come and go without a trace, and the camouflage that let it fade into thin air at will, were utterly unusable right now! It was as though an invisible hand held it fast. The ID badge on Ji Jue's chest thrummed with ripples, yet it weighed down like a ten-thousand-ton boulder, radiating infinite crushing pressure that rendered the specter completely unable to break free. A bizarre power that likewise originated from Quancheng exerted its influence here, nullifying every possible escape. Or rather, the moment Ji Jue appeared, the rules and power the specter relied upon had been completely erased, superseded by an even higher and more horrifying set of rules. Starting from the instant it dared utter the words "I'm injured" to a "doctor" acknowledged by Quancheng! "I see..." Ji Jue lowered his gaze, carefully sensing the bizarre power currently shrouding the long street and the workings of some mechanism beyond his understanding. Recalling Director Qian's earnest teachings back in the hospital, he finally let out a sigh of enlightenment. He said, "You're sick." *Smack!* In that instant, as those words fell, the ferocity and fury on the specter vanished without a trace, replaced by unprecedented dread. Even without knowing, understanding, or grasping what on earth was happening, it drove the remnant spirit into instinctive terror and madness. "No! I—I—I—I don't!" The specter on the hood thrashed wildly, tumbling off and slamming into the pool of blood. Scrambling on all fours, it tried to crawl backward, its two blended faces screeching, "No, no, no, no, no! Go, go, go, go! Go away! Leave! Lea—lea—lea—" The screeching snapped to an abrupt halt. Because a pair of feet standing in the pool of blood was already right in front of it. "No, you're sick. You're very sick." Ji Jue consoled it, a gentle smile appearing on his blood-soaked face. "Don't be afraid. We'll cure you..." A doctor saves patients. A doctor will save patients. Yes, this was his sacred calling. This was the duty and responsibility Quancheng acknowledged and bestowed upon a doctor... In that moment, amidst the specter's shrieks, Ji Jue clamped a hand over its face, pinning it ruthlessly to the ground. "Don't conceal your illness for fear of treatment! I'm a doctor—can't you tell? "You must be ill. Your ailment has permeated your entire body; if left untreated, it will only worsen! "Come on, let me take a good look—" *Snap!* Amid its violent struggles, a cracking sound seemed to come from the specter's body. Ji Jue looked down, pinning the squirming phantom with one hand while eyeing the source of the noise, his brow furrowing instantly. "Even your leg is broken? How tragic!" He gripped the bone blade, measuring the spot. "With it this severe, amputation is the only option. We're out of anesthetics, so bear with it, okay?" "Mmph—!" Under the weight of Ji Jue's left hand, the specter's eyes bulged wide. A shrill scream erupted from beneath his palm as blood gushed like a spring. Under the slash of the bone blade, its left lower leg was severed clean off in an instant, tumbling through the pool of blood like a living creature. Yet very quickly, quicksilver crept out from his toolbox and engulfed it, absorbing, suppressing, and sealing it until it turned into a thumb-sized fragment. This time, there was none of the previous strain or difficulty. Effortless! "Wait, that's not right." Ji Jue frowned. "Stop moving—the broken one was the thigh!" Then came another strike. The screams climbed to a shrill crescendo as an entire right leg dropped from the specter's body, only for the creeping quicksilver to devour it instantly like a ravenous beast. The specter's two faces contorted violently, eyes bloodshot as it shrieked and wailed again and again in futile struggle. "I told you, stop moving, stop moving! Cooperate with the doctor's treatment! I'm doing this for your own good!" Ji Jue reprimanded it in annoyance. "It's all your fault—I cut off the wrong leg! Now I have to amputate again! You think surgery is free?! If you keep squirming, don't blame me if my hand slips in my excitement and cuts the wrong place!" "Mmph! Mmph! Mmmph!" The specter stared in stunned disbelief, unable to believe its ears. Then, as Ji Jue swung the blade again, its body suffered an uncontrollable fit of convulsions and spasms before freezing rigid. Only scarlet tears seeped from its four eyeballs, dripping down to join the pool of blood. Ji Jue turned his head in hesitation and took a look, only to discover the left thigh was actually still there? Then what had he just cut... Ohhh! Ji Jue came to an instant realization. With a wave of his hand, the quicksilver absorbed it immediately. Well, what was cut was cut. It was all for the patient's own good—consider it preventive cancer screening. Though keeping it seemed rather useless, he could at least take it back to brew medicinal liquor for Lu Feng. He worked so hard every day installing surveillance cameras to provide for the family—drink up and replenish some vitality! After three successive tests, he roughly understood the special status of a "doctor" within Quancheng, along with the rules and authority he held over these anomalous specters. Save the patient; no limit on methods. Within the bounds of the rules, he could administer whatever treatment he deemed reasonable. But what was the trigger condition? The first time he encountered that bizarre figure, the bone blade had hummed, but it had not exerted such overwhelming dominance. In other words, that entity had not been judged as a patient. Then what was the criterion for a patient? Injured? Wailing? Crying for help? Perhaps all of the above. After all, the bone blade's reaction had already surfaced when the creature crawled under the vehicle's wheels. As long as the conditions were met, he could act as a doctor to perform first aid and surgery. That raised a question... If a patient has an issue, a doctor can administer emergency treatment. But what if the patient doesn't have an issue—can the doctor lend a helping hand to give them one? That still needed testing, but it wasn't a big problem. Even if he couldn't put the patient into the ICU himself, didn't he still have teammates?! Just imagine: an honest, law-abiding local "resident" suddenly gets beaten within an inch of their life for no reason by a bunch of out-of-town scoundrels, and right at death's door, gasping their last breath, a rushing doctor swoops in to provide emergency rescue and treatment. Who knew how thrilled they would be! Just thinking about it made Ji Jue want to laugh out loud. More importantly, he roughly grasped the underlying nature of the myriad bizarre phenomena formed over decades within Quancheng's heavily corrupted environment. Everything before his eyes was merely an outward manifestation; in essence, it was a chaotic phenomenon birthed from the despair, hatred, and madness of countless remnant spirits coalescing within Quancheng. External destruction could, at most, strip away the branches and leaves above ground without harming the root network below. To eradicate it entirely, one either had to crush everything with absolute force—plowing the soil completely over to expose, shred, and annihilate it— Or comply with the rules and operate from within to excise this malignant fruit! Just like right now... Studying medicine *can* save Quancheng! "Oh no, ruptured internal organs!" Ji Jue gasped in "sheer horror." "Immediate emergency surgery is required!" The specter stared in terror, but before it could even react, the bone blade slashed down, disemboweling it. A long stretch of intestine was then roughly yanked out and excised by Ji Jue! "Sigh, the liver looks pretty bad too." Ji Jue wore a troubled expression, forced to reach in once more. "Punctured lung? That's just... terribly bad." "The heart stopped beating! What's going on here!" Ji Jue's hands never stopped. Blessed by Masterwork Nature, his speed was mind-bogglingly fast; like scooping stuffing from a rag doll, he completely gutted the exposed chest and abdomen in a few swift motions. Yet the specter still wasn't dead?! Such tenacious vitality was truly admirable. Amid its continuous struggles, it seemed to realize all effort was futile. Only its four eyes remained locked onto him with venomous hatred. Yet its abilities were completely powerless right now, forcing it to endure in agony, waiting for the treatment to end. Until, for who-knew-what number of times, Ji Jue gasped in shock, "Disaster, massive intracranial hemorrhage?!" A pair of nimble hands naturally reached toward its head, and before it could react, a blade cleaved its skull wide open! *Splatter!* Blood surged out, drenching Ji Jue's face in crimson, yet he took no notice. Emergency rescue was like this—every second counted! If he didn't treat it soon, the patient was going to get well! Yet in the midst of his busy work, he couldn't help but look up at the eerie figures around them, which for some reason had drifted farther and farther away, quietly slinking backward... He could sense the connection between them. As though they were a single entity. In that case... "Emergency! The patient has suffered massive blood loss!" Ji Jue furrowed his brow and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Family members, prepare to donate blood immediately!" In an instant, as if disrupted by an external force, the surrounding specters swayed and shuddered violently, struggling silently to tear free of their invisible bonds. Yet immediately afterward, they were suppressed by an even more terrifying weight, unable to move. Rigid, flickering. Ji Jue urged again, hollering, "The patient is about to stop breathing! What are the family members just standing around for? Donate blood! Donate blood! Donate blood!" On the dead-silent long street, his voice echoed and overlapped continuously until it boomed like thunder. On Ji Jue's chest, the bloodstained ID badge vibrated violently until, beneath the grime and blood, a wildly laughing face covered in sutures emerged. Moving in sync with Ji Jue's lips, it roared the command alongside him: **[DONATE BLOOD]**!!! Instantly, blood surged like a tide. Amid countless piercing shrieks from all directions, crimson continually erupted from the silhouettes, coalescing into torrents that poured into the dying patient on the ground. It revitalized the dying, battered specter, leaving it glowing with renewed vigor. Immediately afterward, the blood sprayed and misted out from every wound across its body, only to be slurped clean into the fuel tank by Little Niuma, which had crept over to crouch nearby at some point, without leaving a single drop behind. Delicious! Loved it! Wanted more! Little Niuma flickered its headlights, silently urging: **[More]**! And so, a tide of wails rang out once more! Followed by: *Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp...* Ten minutes later, when Ji Jue reluctantly rose from the patient's side, the specter on the ground had been hollowed out into a complete husk. It didn't even have the strength left to wail, shriveled and stiff like an empty juice box sucked dry. Even the four eyes on its face had been removed out of the goodness of Ji Jue's heart as a preventive measure against presbyopia. After seven or eight successive rounds of blood donations, the surrounding remnant shadows had dimmed to a flicker, like candles in the wind. Under the ravenous gaze of Little Niuma's sweeping headlights, they backed away one after another, frantically waving their hands in sheer terror. No more, no more, really not a single drop left! Having drained nearly the entirety of the specter's soul and forcibly extracted the corruption and spiritus, the final harvest materialized in Ji Jue's palm. A thumb-sized crystal. Purified over and over through Fluid Alchemy, what was clearly quicksilver had taken on a gem-like, translucent luster, dazzling with radiant streams of crimson light. Nodding in satisfaction, he tucked it into his toolbox, placing it right alongside the pitch-black iron ingot from yesterday's corrupted aberrant at the workshop. Save up a bit more, and he could craft some nice items again! "The resuscitation was a complete success. The patient is out of danger." He raised a hand to wipe the blood and sweat from his forehead, peeled off his gloves, and announced the good news to the family members: "Now, you can pay the bill." Amid the dead silence, he looked eagerly at the stupefied specters, smiling with anticipation: "Will that be cash or card?" . The long street remained deathly silent, and inside the vehicle, everyone had fallen as quiet as stunned quails at some point. They stared dumbstruck as Ji Jue laughed maniacally while draining the specter's blood and carving out organ after organ condensed from spiritus, literally hollowing out a monster that would have given all of them their hands full into an empty shell. Then he turned around to beat the family and extort the relatives. Wringing blood from a stone, he demanded everything but their lives, leaving behind nothing except a breath of air. *Gulp.* Ji Xue swallowed dryly and hesitantly turned back to look at Lou Feng, unable to conceal her shock. "Are all of you in Embers... like this?" "Just him!" Lou Feng instinctively waved his hands in frantic denial. "I'm normal! No—all of us artisans are normal people! Except Ji Jue! Is he even human?!" He had to draw a line—draw a hard, absolute line! If he didn't distance himself right now, he felt the reputation of artisans would be dragged straight into the gutter by this bastard. Besides, how many fucking days had it been since he recovered?! Ji Xue was silent for a long moment. She looked at him, then back at Ji Jue, who was beating the specters while laughing wildly, and nodded sincerely: "Fair point." In the front passenger seat, Xu Guan, who had been forced to witness the entire spectacle, turned around stiffly. His face twitched as he looked at Tong Shan. "Captain... I suspect he's with the Evil Transmutation Cult..." Tong Shan remained silent, hesitating to speak. He desperately wanted to nod and say: *I suspect him too, but I don't have proof.* In the end, though, he merely patted Xu Guan's shoulder and consoled him, "Look on the bright side—he's way more sinister than the Evil Transmutation Cult, isn't he?" "..." Xu Guan was rendered speechless and quietly deleted that section from his record tome. Amid the silence, the vehicle door swung open. Amid the wreckage littering the ground, a refreshed and invigorated Ji Jue stepped back into the car. He sat down, tilted his head back, and chugged down an entire large bottle of water before letting out a long breath. "Phew! Broke into a sweat..." Wiping his face, he looked around in confusion. "Hmm? What's wrong with everyone? Why isn't anyone talking?" "N-no... n-nothing... Nothing at all..." Following a flurry of panicked deflections, Ji Liu cleared his throat, his gaze darting around. "Probably just tired. We're all exhausted, right?" Instantly, a chorus of agreement echoed: "Ah, right, right, right!" "Exactly!" "I'm so exhausted, my head hurts!" "Let's get moving, hurry! We shouldn't linger here!" Just like that, the vehicle that had been stalled for so long started up once more. It rolled across the scattered mess and the specters struggling in the road, unable to get up, driving away amidst a string of crisp, heart-warming crunches. Onward they traveled. Threading their way through a dark, labyrinthine world. After a very long time, a light finally shone ahead. A rampart-like shadow emerged from the gloom, searchlights sweeping toward them. Silhouettes could be vaguely seen bustling atop the high walls. "Finally made it." Amid the collective sighs of relief, Ji Liu stepped on the brakes, finally relaxing a little. Ahead lay the Permanent Exploration Team outpost. Someone raised a gun.