The sounds of beating and curses kept coming. Chu Yu’s stubborn, unyielding gaze gradually overlapped with Shen Ji’s own struggle to survive in the apocalypse. Shen Ji’s heart stirred. He wanted to save this child, whose fate in his previous life had been so miserable… he should have had a bright future.
Shen Ji pressed his pale lips tightly together, and a trace of blood-scented bitterness surged up again.
The poison inside him churned violently, and his remaining ability was nearly exhausted. This broken body was so weak that he could not even deal with three burly men, let alone stand upright without leaning against the cold wall for support. His vision kept darkening.
Shen Ji had never felt this powerless or aggrieved before. Suddenly, his awareness swept over the space given to him by the system, and a familiar camouflage pouch appeared in the corner out of nowhere. It was the medical kit Shen Ji usually carried with him when he went out.
His spirits lifted at once. Shen Ji moved his mind slightly, and the medical kit appeared in his hand. He unzipped it: bandages, disinfectant spray, the last two supplement potions, and several other medicines.
Shen Ji directly swallowed a supplement potion. As the familiar cold liquid went down, a strange warmth instantly surged through his limbs and bones! Some of the overdrawn ability in his body was finally replenished.
The pain brought on by the poison was also eased a little. Although it still could not be neutralized, at least he had recovered somewhat.
The beating in the alley continued. A cold glint flashed in Shen Ji’s eyes as he quickly opened a small blue bottle labeled with a skull.
He activated his ability and silently, precisely spread the powder inside over Chu Yu’s exposed skin and clothes. The moment the powder touched his skin, the curled-up Chu Yu only felt a sudden, brief chill.
This unexpected sensation made him blink in confusion, even briefly overriding the pain in his body. He blinked again, still puzzled and unable to make sense of it.
This was a barrier agent specially used for the severely wounded in the apocalypse. Even if one could not move, any stranger or zombie trying to approach would feel unbearable stinging and itching the moment they touched the powder, and they would have no choice but to withdraw quickly.
After making sure Chu Yu would not suffer further harm for at least the next few days, Shen Ji did not linger. He could feel the poison in his body continuing to erode his heart meridians. The urgent priority was to find the antidote as quickly as possible; otherwise, if he went up there now, not only would he fail to save Chu Yu, he would also die and be written out of the mission world before it had even properly begun.
First, he needed to find the person most likely to know clues about the antidote… the only surviving old servant left behind by his birth mother, Lin Wan: Old Li. Shen Ji remembered that after Lin Wan’s death, Old Li had been driven out of the Marquis Residence and was now living by doing odd jobs near the Qinglin Tavern.
Shen Ji made his way through the maze-like alleys, carefully avoiding the few people who were up early. At last, deep in the streets, he found the shabby signboard of the “Qinglin Tavern.”
Beside the tavern stood a low, decrepit little hut. Several bundles of firewood were scattered at the entrance. An old man with white hair and beard and a hunched back was holding firewood and preparing to go inside.
“Old Li.” Shen Ji’s low, hoarse voice came from behind him.
The old man trembled all over, and the firewood in his hands scattered to the ground with a crash. Old Li slowly turned around. When his cloudy eyes finally made out the newcomer’s face, his pupils contracted sharply, and his face was filled with disbelief, shock, and joy!
“E-Eldest Young Master?! You… you weren’t already…” Old Li’s voice shook so badly he could hardly speak, and he stumbled forward.
“I got lucky and didn’t die.” Shen Ji’s voice was weak. “Old Li, I’ve been poisoned by a deadly toxin.”
“Poison?!” Old Li snapped back to his senses at once and hurried forward to support Shen Ji back into the hut. He shut the door tightly and examined him carefully. The bloodstains on Shen Ji’s pale face were shocking, his clothes were torn and covered in dust, and he looked like he was about to die from poison.
“Young Master… look at your face!” Old Li leaned in to inspect Shen Ji’s complexion, the blackness under his eyes, and the bluish tint on his nails, then suddenly grabbed his ice-cold hand. “Your body is cold, and your nails and lips are turning blue…”
Old Li gasped sharply. A fierce hatred erupted in his eyes. “Heart-Eroding Powder! It’s Heart-Eroding Powder! Young Master! The poison you were struck with… it’s exactly the same as what Madam suffered back then… exactly the same!”
Shen Ji’s gaze remained calm. “Are you sure?”
“There is no mistake!” Old Li wept, his voice hoarse with grief and rage. “Madam was tormented to death by this poison… little by little! She… she eventually found the antidote recipe, but… it was too late…”
As he said this, Old Li suddenly remembered something. He stumbled toward a battered wooden chest in the corner and groped along the bottom with trembling hands. With a soft click, a hidden compartment popped open.
Carefully, Old Li took out a long wooden box wrapped tightly in oil paper.
With trembling hands, he opened the box, took out a slightly yellowed scroll, and carefully unfurled it before Shen Ji.
Painted on it was a lotus bud on the verge of blooming. Strangely, around the lotus, seven narrow green leaves formed a perfect star shape, and between the petals there seemed to be a starlight-colored shimmer flowing.
Below the painting, elegant handwriting noted:
Seven-Star Lotus
Its nature is extremely yin and extremely cold. It grows in places of vicious miasma and where fierce beasts gather.
Take seven petals, grind them to extract the juice, and mix it with morning dew that has not touched the ground. This can cure the poison of “Heart-Eroding Powder.”
… Notes of Lin Wan
“Seven-Star Lotus…” Shen Ji’s fingertips unconsciously brushed over the strange pattern on the scroll.
“It’s the Seven-Star Lotus!” Old Li pointed at the scroll, his voice filled with grief. “Madam eventually found out that the Seven-Star Lotus might be in the forbidden zone of the Royal Hunting Grounds. Only a place like the forbidden zone of the Royal Hunting Grounds, where toxic miasma fills the air and ferocious beasts run rampant, could possibly have this thing!
“Ordinary people wouldn’t even dare to go in there. By then, Madam was already beyond the help of medicine, let alone the fact that the Seven-Star Lotus was so rare…”
Shen Ji remembered that today happened to be the annual opening day of the Royal Hunt. By then, a large contingent would be entering the mountains. Although there would be many guards, there would inevitably be gaps in their vigilance. That was the perfect chance to slip in secretly.