As night fell, Shen Jiang returned to Mingxintang once more.
This time, the hospital had not only kept her contact number but also Little Uncle’s number, just in case they couldn’t reach her during emergencies.
Shen Jiang couldn’t be certain whether the gate would appear tonight. To be safe, she left a scheduled text message for Little Uncle, set to be delivered tomorrow evening.
If she didn’t return, Little Uncle and Little Aunt would surely take good care of Grandma.
Besides these preparations, Shen Jiang had specifically gone shopping for supplies.
With just her bare hands, not only could she hardly gather any significant amount of herbs, but she also had no way to carry them. Last time, the herbs she brought back totaled less than five pounds, and after processing, they’d likely be reduced to just one pound.
Essential tools like gloves, hoes, sickles, and herb baskets were indispensable. Shen Jiang had even specially purchased several extra-large, reinforced woven bags.
Since this was essentially a “zero-cost shopping” trip, the more she could bring back, the better her gains. She didn’t expect such high-risk, high-reward opportunities to occur daily, but she hoped each trip would be fruitful and leave no regrets.
After some thought, Shen Jiang also packed several packs of sausages, compressed biscuits, and chocolate into her Back Basket. After all, this was pure manual labor – if she overexerted herself and ran out of energy in the wilderness, there would be no one to help her.
As for that Great Dragon, relying on his kindness was less reliable than relying on herself.
To be honest, while shopping, Shen Jiang realized many items were necessary for her Back Basket: flashlight, lighter, dagger, compass – these were essential products for wilderness survival. Since they were compact and didn’t take up much space, Shen Jiang didn’t hesitate to buy them all and pack them into her basket.
In the end, she spent every last penny of her few hundred yuan.
Everything was ready, waiting only for the gate to open.
Shen Jiang took a deep breath in the dark, silent Mingxintang. Claiming she wasn’t nervous would be a lie. She checked the time on her phone – it was already 8 PM, so why hadn’t the gate appeared yet?
Drawing on her mental preparation, Shen Jiang gathered her courage and closed her eyes, flipping the light switch just like last time.
Click.
She opened her eyes, but the expected scene didn’t materialize. The lights came on as usual, revealing Mingxintang under the fluorescent lamps as ordinary as ever, with no trace of the Golden Gate.
Shen Jiang was stunned.
After several attempts, the mysterious Golden Gate showed no signs of appearing.
The heroic determination Shen Jiang had mustered for adventure largely dissipated.
The unknown fear of unfamiliar wilderness, the awareness of the Great Dragon’s absolute power, and the uncertainty of returning safely – all these negative afterthoughts finally surfaced and grew, refusing to subside.
Shen Jiang somewhat discouragedly realized that perhaps she wasn’t as brave as she had imagined.
But no matter what she thought or how she tried, the Golden Gate gave no indication of appearing. Shen Jiang eventually gave up this hopeless waiting and returned to her room to take out her treasured medical books and start studying.
Even without those herbs, she could still rely on her own hands to restore Mingxintang to its former glory.
As night deepened, the young doctor slept soundly at her desk, medical book still in hand.
Shen Jiang had always been a light sleeper. Drifting in and out of slumber, she suddenly sensed something amiss in her surroundings. Squinting through barely opened eyes, she saw the mysterious dark patterns on the Golden Gate pulsing with mesmerizing rings of light, which had stealthily reappeared before her once again.
A faint, flowing luminescence had already begun creeping up from her feet and was about to envelop her body once more.
All drowsiness instantly vanished from Shen Jiang.
An ambush! This was absolutely an ambush!
Her hands fumbled along the edge of the table. When she had returned to her room yesterday, she had brought the Back Basket inside precisely to prepare for such emergencies.
Scrambling to grab the prepared basket from the floor, she didn’t even have time to put on her coat before the Golden Gate’s light enveloped her body. Immediately after, a tremendous suction force pulled her inside.
The moment she landed, Shen Jiang pulled out her phone from her pocket.
May 17, 2135, 3:00 AM.
Zero signal.
Shen Jiang swallowed hard and looked up at the glaring sun hanging overhead, reluctantly accepting a fact: this place and her homeland, Huaguo, weren’t just worlds apart—they were separated by tens of thousands of miles, with a time difference of over ten hours alone.
But there was good news too. Shen Jiang quickly discovered the Golden Gate had spat her out at the exact location where she had left last time.
Frankly, anywhere would have been fine since the Golden Gate would eventually take her away from here. The most urgent matter now was to race against time and quickly find that patch of medicinal herbs from last time.
Spirits lifting, Shen Jiang hastily shouldered her Back Basket and began climbing up the mountain along the route she remembered taking.
Last time, circumstances had forced her to take only a small portion of the herbs.
This time, armed with her Back Basket and hoe, she would reclaim everything that belonged to her.
Godwin·Westzer had been resting in his Dragon lair when he sensed a sudden familiar presence. His golden dragon eyes snapped open.
Hadn’t that creature left? Why was she back again?
A flicker of exasperation passed through Godwin·Westzer’s draconic pupils. When he’d left last time, that human had been enthusiastically uprooting weeds. Yet when he returned, there wasn’t a trace of her presence left on the entire mountain.
The Black Dragon immediately inspected everything in his Dragon lair. The magical barriers he’d set before leaving remained completely untouched, and his treasured hoard lay undisturbed exactly where he’d left them.
If he had to identify what was truly missing from this mountain…
It would probably be just a few weeds outside his doorstep.
Though there were plenty of weed corpses scattered about, Godwin could distinguish subtle differences between various weed species. One particular patch appeared noticeably emptier, yet not a single trace remained of those pagoda-shaped weeds.
The only explanation was that human follower had disappeared along with a portion of the weeds from the ground.
Godwin found this discovery utterly baffling for quite some time.
This peculiar human came and went as she pleased, but what truly confounded him was how she could completely ignore the treasures in his Dragon lair, taking only a handful of weeds instead…
He simply couldn’t comprehend human thought processes.
“You actually dared to return?”
Shen Jiang had barely climbed a few steps, not even catching sight of the dragon yet, when thunderous draconic speech echoed through the skies.
Her footsteps faltered, an inexplicable sense of guilt rising within her.
What’s going on? She seemed to detect a trace of resentment in that deafening Dragon Tongue.
“Lord Godwin, to better complete the task you assigned, I specially went down the mountain to gather some tools.”
The Black Dragon spread its dark wings, gliding down from the mountaintop with the wind, landing majestically before the human.
Shen Jiang had barely heard the Great Dragon’s voice when she saw its colossal form blot out the sky above her. The hurricane-force winds raised clouds of dust from the ground, immediately blinding her.
With a mouthful of dust, Shen Jiang dared not show her anger. She bowed her head respectfully to greet the approaching dragon.
“Is that pile of junk on your back what you call tools?” the dragon asked his follower with casual arrogance.
“Exactly. With these, I can clear the weeds from this mountain much faster,” Shen Jiang replied respectfully, squinting through the dust.
Godwin didn’t know whether to call this human follower foolish or persistent – she’d actually taken the weed-clearing task to heart.
“Are you really that eager to become my follower?” The dragon looked at the bowing human with complex emotions.
Shen Jiang slightly raised her head, her gaze firm as she looked at the Great Dragon.
Though she stood before a dragon, what the dragon represented was a whole mountain full of precious medicinal herbs.
Without hesitation, Shen Jiang poured out her sincere feelings: “Yes! I consider becoming your follower my lifelong goal. For this, I’m willing to dedicate everything I have, including spending my entire life clearing the weeds from this mountain.”
“Very well.”
Such a fervent and devout human indeed deserved to become his follower.
Godwin·Westzer decided to give this human before him a chance.
The Black Dragon softly chanted a magical spell, mysterious radiance swirling around him. As the incantation ended, a blue flower drifted gently through the air.
By the time Shen Jiang realized what was happening, the pale blue flower she’d never seen before had slowly floated to her.
Her eyes widened slightly in an especially adorable reaction – she hadn’t expected the Black Dragon to suddenly give her a flower.
Was it because she expressed willingness to clear the mountain’s weeds for him? Truth be told, Shen Jiang’s favorability toward this colossal black dragon increased several notches.
The pale blue petals were ethereal, light as wind yet soft as water. Having never seen such a flower before, Shen Jiang couldn’t help leaning closer for a better look.
As she drew nearer, the scent emanating from the blue flower made her somewhat uncomfortable. Well-versed in various medicinal herbs’ properties, though she didn’t recognize this blue flower, its peculiar fragrance triggered some unpleasant memories.
Before Shen Jiang could react, the flower seemed sentient as it pressed against her cheek, instantly dissipating into specks of blue light that entered her body.
With a “hum,” all surrounding sounds vanished.
Damn dragon, what kind of demonic flower did he give me!
Shen Jiang felt her entire brain empty instantly, her thoughts freezing in that moment. All her senses receded like tidewaters, as if frozen by a massive block of ice. The scene before her eyes became nothing but blurred outlines.
Godwin’s slightly arrogant voice vaguely entered her mind: “Tell me, what do you want from me?”
As if his voice alone remained between heaven and earth, cycling through Shen Jiang’s consciousness.
Desire…
What does she desire to obtain from the dragon…
What is the deepest, most hidden longing in her heart that cannot be spoken aloud…