Chapter 1809: A Hope That Does Not Exist
Ying Hai injected a dose of medicine into the child.
Xu Huo saw it was a stamina supplement and asked if the child could handle a stronger dose.
"Thank you for your kindness," Ying Hai said, holding the child's hand and shaking his head. "He can't even use medicine anymore."
Silence spread through the crowd. Finally, Ying Yu couldn't take it anymore and kicked aside a nearby stool before rushing out.
The old man quickly told Ying Hai to follow him out and check on him, in case he did something drastic.
The child who had received the injection calmed down a little, but his overly weak breathing signaled the passing of his life.
The child's mother knelt by the bed, tears streaming down her face, murmuring in despair, "I don't understand... why do we have to suffer like this? If the heavens don't want us to live, why not just kill us outright... why torture my child like this..."
Her pain was also the pain of others.
Fan Yunhong slowly stepped back two paces, then abruptly turned around and shouted, "I've made up my mind! I'm not staying here! I don't want to be the last one to die!"
After saying this, he turned back to Xu Huo and said, "Let's set off!"
At that moment, the woman kneeling by the bed suddenly turned and threw herself at Xu Huo's feet, humbly and carefully touching the edge of his shoe. "Please... take him with you... Other districts must have a way to save him... Please take him away..."
The others didn't come to pull her away; they too held a glimmer of hope, hoping that this unknown passerby would show mercy and save them completely from their suffering.
"...Mom..." The child on the bed woke up groggily and then said he wanted candy.
The mother crawled over, picked up the piece of candy, put it in her mouth to moisten it, and then gently pressed it against her child's lips.
"Sweet..." The child smiled and drifted back to sleep. The woman checked his breathing, and only after confirming he was still alive did she turn to look for Xu Huo, but by then, the spot by the bed was empty.
Xu Huo had gone outside. For the first time, he felt he should prepare a suitable communication tool to get in touch with Mr. Dong.
Opening the Under Dimension, he scrolled to Bai Kou's name and sent her a message.
Bai Kou happened to be online and replied with a single word: "Scram."
At least someone was there.
Xu Huo sent another message, hoping she could go to Rose Castle and get an antidote for the Black Thorn Disease from Dr. Deng.
"I'm in an instance. Someone else will get it for me," Bai Kou replied after a while, and then taunted him, "If you have money, you might as well buy a few communication items."
About half an hour later, a user named "Eats Three Bowls Every Meal" handed him a box.
Inside the box was a single dose of medicine and a short video recorded by Dr. Deng.
"There's only one dose, given by someone else. I'm not sure if it works. But I advise you to think carefully. Saving one person is easy; saving everyone is hard. You can't just watch whoever suffers and..."
Xu Huo closed the rest of the nonsense.
Fan Yunhong had crawled out shortly after him. Seeing that Xu Huo hadn't left and wasn't being disturbed, he sat nearby waiting. Now, seeing him return with a dose of medicine, he asked, "What kind of medicine is this? Can it save that child?"
Even Dr. Deng didn't know; how could Xu Huo?
"Let's give it a try."
Xu Huo briefly explained the origin of the medicine to the child's mother and emphasized, "This injection could also have the opposite effect. You can think it over."
The woman began to tremble all over. Ying Yu, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, even wanted to charge in and hit someone. He glared angrily at Xu Huo. "Are you trying to use the people of District 010 as lab rats too? Don't even think about it! Even if we die, we won't let you take a single bit of advantage!"
Given how District 010 had fallen from a district already integrated with the game to its current state, and considering that Stellar Pharmaceuticals had once been here, it wasn't hard to imagine the countless horrific atrocities that had occurred here. Perhaps for them, barely surviving wasn't necessarily better.
Xu Huo placed the medicine on the table and left the underground mall.
Fan Yunhong, who had just come down, followed him back up. Having overheard half the conversation, he said sincerely, "You're really a good person. Willing to take me to a safe zone, and willing to buy medicine for a dying child. Someone like you is bound to have good luck and live a long life..."
Xu Huo ignored his platitudes and took out a surgical kit. "Would you mind sparing some flesh and blood?"
Fan Yunhong swallowed hard. "Cut it raw?"
Xu Huo added painkillers and hemostatic agents, both A-grade.
"For research, right?" Fan Yunhong bravely extended his arm. "If it can contribute to curing the Black Thorn Disease, sacrificing a bit of flesh and blood is nothing!"
Xu Huo worked quickly. With a dose of painkiller injected, drawing blood and cutting out the black markings took less than ten seconds. By the time Fan Yunhong had mentally prepared himself and looked down, the hemostatic agent was already applied to the wound.
He packed the samples into the box and attached a note saying, "I don't believe you only have one dose," before handing it all to "Eats Three Bowls Every Meal."
Ying Hai came up from downstairs, excitedly saying, "The medicine is working!"
Xu Huo paused at this and checked on the child from outside. The person who had been on the verge of death moments ago was now sitting up on his own, licking the candy, and even the black markings on his chest had faded considerably.
If this were a targeted cure for the disease, Dr. Deng would never have said the effects were unclear. And genetic diseases aren't toxins; a targeted cure wouldn't work this fast. It was more likely that the medicine was too strong or only provided a temporary effect.
Seeing that Xu Huo wasn't smiling, Ying Hai's expression cooled. After a moment, he choked out, "Is it a final burst of life?"
"I don't know," Xu Huo repeated.
Ying Hai turned and went back inside.
After a long while, Fan Yunhong asked, "When are we leaving?"
Xu Huo looked up at the gray sky. "Tomorrow."
Fan Yunhong hesitated before asking, "Is your instance task to find a child?"
Xu Huo turned to him, and he quickly explained, "I only guessed because you seem so concerned about children. I'm not trying to pry into your instance content. I just thought, if you're looking for a child, you could ask the Ying brothers. They're at least D-rank players; they must know more than us."
When CK12 Safe Zone was mentioned, the Ying brothers had no particular reaction, suggesting they probably didn't know much either. If they had known that a child had been born in CK12, they would have immediately thought of that as the reason for its destruction.
Xu Huo was now more curious about what Dr. Deng, or the Stellar Pharmaceuticals team represented by Dr. Deng, was doing here, and whether the Black Thorn Disease was related to Stellar Pharmaceuticals.
After waiting a while without receiving a reply, he got up and headed back. The Ying brothers might not know, but the old man managing the camp probably knew something else. (End of Chapter)
Source: /txt/35960/34148140
Next Chapter: Chapter 1810: Lucky and Unlucky