Chapter 1397: The Medicine Pack
The scene by the lakeside was bizarre, with a group of walking corpses holding knives and bleeding themselves. It looked like a cult gathering. After bleeding, they didn’t die but continued walking along the shore like walking corpses.
This was cheating. They could cut their wrists and not die, and their life aura was still recovering. It’s impossible for them to bleed indefinitely, right? That would violate the law of conservation of mass.
Although I felt that in this magical world, the conservation of mass was long gone, the conservation of mass-energy should still exist, right? For example, water mages consume magic power to create seawater.
With such confusion, we stealthily followed the bleeding group and saw a small wooden hut not far away. All of them silently walked inside.
Inside, two people in white lab coats were distributing medicine packs, wrapped in paper, to these living corpses. Upon receiving them, they directly opened the paper and poured the contents into their mouths.
Without the God’s Eye, I couldn’t confirm their true identities, but I felt that these two people were definitely Alien Parasites. Their status was markedly different from those around them.
“That’s right, they are accomplices of the ones who captured me back then,” Older Brother Jayad confirmed their identities.
I felt the reaction of the living corpses after eating the medicinal powder. “After taking that medicine, their life aura rapidly increases. Older Brother Jayad, is there any way to steal a few packs for me to see?”
The effect was so immediate. As a Doctor, I became interested in the composition of the medicine. Could this be some kind of secret divine medicine?
“That’s easy, wait for me a moment.” Older Brother Jayad became instantly interested. When it came to stealing, he was no longer sleepy. In a flash, he agilely jumped to the back of the wooden hut. The windows of this wooden hut didn’t even have glass, so he directly climbed in.
However, the perception abilities of the Alien Parasites were much stronger than those of the living corpses. Their Spiritual Sense was quite strong. When Older Brother Jayad got close, one of them even looked back. Not seeing anyone and not sensing any strange aura, he turned back to continue distributing the medicine, probably thinking he had made a mistake.
Soon, Older Brother Jayad returned with a bag of medicine packs, saying with unfinished interest, “It’s really boring. Their security is too poor. The medicine was just placed on the ground, and they could take it freely. Apart from their alertness, they are useless.”
“Brother, they are staying in such a confined space, who would come here to steal things? Besides, they can freely distribute this medicine to commoners, which shows it’s not very valuable or important,” I took the medicine pack from Older Brother Jayad.
“Ah, yes. When I approached earlier, I found they could communicate telepathically. They said that after these people finished bleeding, they could be sent back to the Slums once the delegation left,” Jayad said.
“Telepathy? Is it similar to our sound transmission? Older Brother Jayad, could you eavesdrop on their communication?” I asked, somewhat surprised.
Textbooks did mention not to blindly trust the confidentiality of sound transmission, and that powerful individuals could eavesdrop. However, this was the first time I had witnessed it.
“It’s not difficult. As long as you stay in sync with the fluctuations they emit, you can hear it. You just have to be careful not to let them detect that I’m accessing it,” Jayad added.
Older Brother Jayad brought useful intelligence. Although I knew that the Alien Parasites did capture people from the Slums, I now also knew that they would throw the people who had finished bleeding back into the Slums.
That made sense. If so many people went missing at once, even with the incompetence of the Lord of the City’s and the Police Station, they should have paid attention. The method was to ensure the people didn’t die, and then send them back after bleeding.
But to continuously cut their wrists and bleed like this, I didn’t believe it wouldn’t harm their bodies. Even if they had undergone mutations, it’s only possible if this medicinal powder was truly that effective.
As I thought this, I opened the medicine pack. Inside was a pile of red and white powder. I was speechless. I had originally thought it was some kind of divine medicine, but looking at it now, it could only be considered crudely made.
This was just some herbs roughly ground and mixed together, some not even fully ground into powder, with obvious fragments of leaves and roots. While these were indeed herbs with strong blood-replenishing effects, they all had significant side effects without exception.
Some of them were poisonous, some caused hallucinations, some resulted in high blood pressure, and some were difficult to absorb and would damage the stomach. However, the Alien Parasites mixed these potent side-effect-laden medicines together without any processing and made people swallow them. This was something only shamans and Witch Doctors from primitive tribes would do.
In my understanding, the process of making medicine was to remove impurities, extract active ingredients, and enhance their effects through synthesis. If the active ingredients themselves had side effects, then one should find ways to reduce the side effects or decrease the dosage. In severe cases, they should be discarded.
But the current situation was that the Alien Parasites completely disregarded impurities and side effects, directly grinding some highly effective herbs into medicinal powder for commoners to consume.
Many of these herbs were spirit herbs with excellent effects. Mercenaries and Adventurers with extensive knowledge or experience in wilderness adventures would directly use these herbs to treat injuries.
However, they mostly used them externally. If used internally, their powerful physique would ensure that their bodies wouldn’t suffer too much from the side effects as long as they didn’t consume too much.
These commoners, on the other hand, were just ordinary people. If their bodies hadn’t undergone mutations, their bodies couldn’t withstand this medicinal powder, which was half medicine and half poison, especially compared to ordinary citizens.
Even so, I didn’t believe they would be fine if they directly swallowed the medicinal powder. I had overlooked them earlier, but now that I looked closely, these living corpses were all more or less ill.
Some of them had toxins spreading within their bodies, some had high blood pressure, and some had damaged or perforated stomachs, lungs, and other internal organs. Yet, they continued to walk forward, unconcerned.
I was certain they wouldn’t live much longer. Although they no longer had the consciousness to feel pain, and corrosion had greatly enhanced their physical qualities, I was sure they were still human. With the accumulation of incurable conditions, their illness would inevitably worsen, and they would die.
As expected, just as I thought this, one person in the group of living corpses suddenly began to cough violently, convulsed a few times, and then fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth. Their life aura rapidly faded, and the recently surged vitality was as fleeting as a flash in the pan.
His collapse did not surprise the two Alien Parasites. They seemed to communicate a few words. I nudged Older Brother Jayad. “Can you still hear? Translate for me.”
“Uh, they said, ‘What fragile mortals. Another one died. Why don’t they all die together? What a hassle. Tell a few people to carry him to the ritual site,'” Older Brother Jayad acted as his advisor.
