Chapter 32 Panacea

"Chu Hengkong, stop it..."

The wind was howling across the table. Ji Huaisu covered her face and sighed. Her face was facing the biggest challenge since she was born.

This is a common noodle shop, with old facilities and a down-to-earth atmosphere. Its success is due to its low prices and the chef's skill. In the past, the shop was filled with a cheerful atmosphere of chatting and gossiping, but today, everyone from the chef to the customers was as silent as a mouse. No one dared to pick up their chopsticks, and more than a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at Ji Huaisu across the street.

Chu Hengkong, chopsticks in his right hand, buried himself in his noodles, his left arm waving a tentacle back and forth like a tennis racket. Each movement caused the extended tentacle to swish a full circle around the restaurant, resembling a silver electric fan from above. Everyone seemed apprehensive; facing a fan blade that could brush against your scalp at any moment, few people would not feel apprehensive.

The few hairs on the store manager's head swayed miserably in the wind stirred up by the tentacles. He asked tremblingly, "What is the will of the Lord Messenger of God?"

"There is no decree... He has gone crazy..." Ji Huaisu said weakly.

At this moment, the swirling tentacles made a crisp "snap" sound. Chu Hengkong looked up suddenly, with a pickled vegetable shred hanging from the corner of his mouth: "I got it!"

Everyone in the shop was shocked. The timid customer jumped up with his bowl in hand and tried to run away. Ji Huaisu almost wanted to crawl into the ground. Chu Hengkong saw this scene and reacted. He threw a big pearl to the boss: "Sorry to disturb everyone. I'll pay for the whole thing today. No need to give change."

Everyone's panicked expressions instantly changed as they praised the angel's compassion and beautiful tentacles, then shouted for another bowl. The store manager happily entered the kitchen. A large bowl of noodles in the store cost 7 Liuzhu, and this large bowl alone was worth 1,000 Liuzhu. Such generosity made him willing to be whipped a few times, not to mention the electric fan.

Ji Huaisu looked up in frustration: "You used to be the kind of person who would say 'I'll pay for everything today' at the bar and then start a drunken frenzy, right?"

"No, I used to be responsible for picking up the tab after others got drunk." Chu Hengkong corrected him seriously, "I rarely drink, and being drunk affects my judgment."

"You look quite drunk now."

"I am very clear-headed. Mr. Ji was very wise at the time."

These two incoherent sentences reflected Chu Hengkong's true thoughts. After watching Ji Huaisu swing his sword, he began to ponder the details of that move, spending a full day before finally grasping the key. This speed was incredibly fast compared to his previous abilities, but if it had been when he had just achieved the skillful hand, it wouldn't have taken him even half a minute.

Only after returning to normal did he understand how precious the burst of inspiration he felt when he first leveled up was. Learning three thousand sets of techniques in three days was the best decision he had made since arriving in Huilong City.

Chu Hengkong nibbled at the remaining noodles, reminiscing about his lost inspiration. They were a little cold, but still tasted good. The dark noodles, made from coarse flour and plant roots, were topped with sliced ​​chicken, various pickles, and a spoonful of chili oil. One bowl was enough to make you feel refreshed from head to toe.

"I didn't realize swamps could produce peppers."

"This is the granary of Huilong City. As soon as you step outside, you'll see exotic species everywhere, including everything except large livestock." Ji Huaisu sipped his chopsticks, his face full of longing. "When order is restored in the city, we'll have the conditions to raise pigs, cattle, and sheep..."

Chu Hengkong burst the bubble of fantasy: "The premise is that there are still living piglets in the city."

"I hope so." Ji Huaisu said viciously, "If not, come with me out of town to rob pigs!"

"Keep your voice down. The spy at the door is laughing."

Ji Huaisu turned toward the door and made a face, frightening a young man who had been peeking out of the room so much that he ran away. She turned back and snorted, "There are eyes and ears everywhere! As if controlling the volume would help."

Ji Huaisu was right. The enemy's surveillance was rampant and blatant. The customers in the restaurant across the street, the squid vendors on the street, the elderly men drinking tea in the teahouse... Chu Hengkong spotted three spies with just a glance, and it was easy to imagine that there were more waiting in the wings. If it weren't for the alarming sound of the hand fan just now, I'm afraid the spies would have slipped into the store to spy.

He drank his noodle soup and said casually, "Let's write a wanted poster and arrest Adari."

There was no doubt about it; only the Great Wizard of the Spiritual Society could afford to deploy human wave tactics in the swamp. Grandma Sangjia had been assassinated this morning, so it could only have been Adari who did it. Ji Huaisu was also a little tempted. She raised her chopsticks several times, but finally put them down.

"Not very good."

"reason?"

"Religious rule is also a deformed order," Ji Huaisu said. "The last time I came to the swamp, I didn't destroy the Society of the Spirits because Granny Sangjia was a nice person, and more importantly, if the Society of the Spirits fell, the swamp would be in chaos. Life is hard for the lower classes, and even blind believers need to find spiritual sustenance. That old man has a high reputation in the swamp, and I'm worried that killing him directly will cause a riot."

"Old man?" Chu Hengkong noticed this statement.

"He's almost sixty this year!" Ji Huaisu said with disgust. "Either he borrowed the power of a demon, or he used some terrible medicine. In any case, it can't be a good thing."

Sixty years old... He is experienced, has high prestige, and is a smart "cornerstone". The basic foundation of the swamp should be very stable, and we cannot expect him to make mistakes on his own initiative.

This place is overpopulated. If the riots lead to chaos, the overall order of Huilong City will inevitably decline, and Huilong's divine power will also decrease... In the worst case, the Healing Temple may be unusable. And if a large force is sent to the swamp to suppress it, the courtyard will be unprotected and vulnerable to attack from both sides...

The more Chu Hengkong thought about it, the more headache he felt: "I understand why you don't want to come to the swamp."

"I told you to go to the club first!" Ji Huaisu sighed, "Let's go, let's get back to work."

When Chu Hengkong went out, he heard some people talking among themselves, as if they were talking to him on purpose.

"That inspector murdered the great wizard Alex..." "Its tentacles were stolen." "He's not the Son of God." "That man destroyed the ritual of God's descent." "Sure enough, he and the Knight of Disaster are birds of a feather..."

He laughed it off and headed to the wet tea shop as planned.

·

So-called "wet tea" is a specialty of the Bize District. The swamp is humid and full of poisonous insects, making it prone to disease. When Huilong City was first built, before the Healing Temple, epidemics in the swamp caused great trouble for the City Lord's Mansion.

Fortunately, the swamps presented both risks and opportunities. Immigrants brought with them the customs and beliefs of their homelands, as well as their own medicinal herbs. Seeds from around the world took root and sprouted in the swamps, creating a richness of medicinal materials that would delight any doctor. The great master Jingzang was the first to discover this. He personally visited the swamps and taught people how to combine herbs with tea leaves to create a dehumidifying and anti-toxin tea. This tea saved the swamps from an epidemic that year, and the people expressed their gratitude to him, and the practice of healing wet tea spread.

Nowadays, every major settlement in the swamp boasts a renowned wet tea shop, each said to have its own secret recipe. The first place the two visited was Hechuntang. Located in the downtown area, the shop had already seen customers waiting outside even after opening in the morning. A burly, gray-skinned waiter took a tea ball from a visitor and returned it with a wooden bowl of iced tea.

Chu Hengkong queued up to buy a bowl of tea, and while getting the tea, he asked, "I'd like a prescription. Is the doctor here?"

The gray-skinned man said without even looking up, "You're lucky today. Go in now. The doctor will be out collecting herbs in a moment."

Chu Hengkong thanked him, opened the door curtain, and walked into the shop, where the aroma of herbs hit him. The wet tea shop looked very much like a traditional Chinese medicine store from the last century, with large wooden cabinets filled with various medicinal herbs, labeled accordingly. A doctor with a rhinoceros beetle's head was packing a small backpack.

The doctor's eyes were as small as soybeans, and his face was adorned with a genial demeanor. "Sit down and tell me. What's wrong with you?"

Chu Hengkong smiled back, "I'm not sick. My friend wants to open a tea shop in the courtyard and asked me to find out which recipe sells best."

Doctor Chong was amused when he heard this: "Your friend is truly an amateur! The climate in the Central Courtyard Swamp is different, and the residents' constitutions and races are different. Even if the prescription is excellent, how can it be applied mechanically?"

Ji Huaisu put on his raincoat again and spoke in a sinister tone, "Businessmen are obsessed with money. We are doing our duty by asking him a question and passing on a message to him."

"See that in your hand?" Doctor Chong nodded at Chu Hengkong. Chu Hengkong took a sip of the wet tea. The tea had a cool, herbal flavor with a hint of sweetness, which helped him cool down and quench his thirst.

“It’s delicious.”

"It's good to drink, that's the best seller," Doctor Chong said. "No matter what shop it is, the best seller is the Panacea."

"This is called a panacea?" Chu Hengkong was stunned when he heard this. "Is this the recipe personally passed down by Master Jingzang?"

"Don't laugh! You youngsters, don't you know? This is a genuine panacea. Even if you're venomous and would die within a few steps, a bowl of it can bring you back to life. It's saved countless lives in the past." Doctor Chong's expression was serious. His tone dropped, "But it stopped working after a while, so I had to use it as a refreshing tea... Alas, I can't explain why..."

Doctor Chong sighed and went out with his small waist bag on his back. Chu Hengkong saw him walking eastward and couldn't help feeling strange.

To the east of Deep Roots was the path they'd taken by bicycle, a path dotted with weeds and dead trees. But looking west from the settlement's higher vantage point, one could see dense jungle and a hill covered in blooming flowers. That hill was practically the only bright spot in the surrounding area. It was obvious that rare and exotic plants should be found in fertile forests, not in wastelands.

"Doctor, are we in the right place?" Chu Hengkong asked.

"Don't you dare go!" Doctor Chong sneered, "You are really from the courtyard, but you don't even know the rules of the swamp."

Chu Hengkong was puzzled. He was about to ask more questions when Ji Huaisu pulled the corner of his clothes.

"That's Adali's private property," Ji Huaisu said coldly. "After sidelining Granny Sangjia, he seized all the fertile land in the swamp. He used legal means and paid the appropriate amount of money... but by the time people realized it, there was nowhere else to go to collect herbs. Now, 90% of the herbs in the swamp are Adali's private property. People pay high prices for them and still have to praise the great wizard's kindness."

Chu Hengkong could vaguely discern a long, worm-like queue on the hill. It must be the people laboring their way up the mountain to seek medicine. The queue was a grayish-black hue, strewn with rags and dirty clothes, while a few tiny dots on the hilltop were pure white, the monks' robes embroidered with gold. Atop the hilltop, a mass of blooming flowers, the bronze spire of the church shone. Perhaps the great wizard was sitting in the church at that moment, calculating how much oil he could squeeze from the skinny bones of the poor.

"If I had known, I would have killed him when we first met." Chu Hengkong said.

"If you dare to take action, people will take the initiative to serve as human shields for you." Ji Huaisu said lightly, "I have tried it."

They walked back to Hechuntang, hoping to buy a few more prescriptions from the young apprentice. When they returned, they found the line for the panacea had grown even longer, people's eyes filled with anticipation. The gray-skinned waiter, tired of serving the soup, shouted impatiently, "Don't bother wasting time! This is just a summer-heat tea, it won't save lives!"

The hope in the crowd's eyes faded at this. Some left, but nearly half remained in line. Several fortune-tellers mingled in the line, gossiping about the medicine buyers, urging them to pray instead. A middle-aged woman hesitated, saying, "When you're sick, you always have to take medicine! My grandfather said this medicine saved his life..." The fortune-teller shouted, "Your grandfather is old and confused. Can you believe what an old man says? The old man also said the whirling dragon is effective. When have you ever seen one manifest? Those great masters and dragon gods are all scams. At least you can pray with me and find peace of mind!"

So the middle-aged woman was persuaded, and there were a few fewer people in the queue. The gray-skinned guy was particularly happy to see that there were fewer people in the queue, because he could finally be lazy.

Ji Huaisu saw the witch's arrogant look and silently clenched her fist. Chu Hengkong patted her hand and said, "Don't bother with stupid people."

They headed to the next wet tea shop as planned. The Shengen settlement wasn't as crowded as they'd imagined. The simple faces of the residents concealed a sense of unease and anxiety. Their robes were dusty gray. Perhaps they were once colorful, but after spending so long in the swamp, they had become a uniform gray. Many more people hid behind doors and windows, lying on their beds. Chu Hengkong could hear their labored breathing and see the ominous light peeking through the cracks in the doors.

Deep Roots' settlements are home to more glowing corpses than those of Abundant Harvest, yet the people here distrust doctors and government officials. They are losers who couldn't make it in the Middle Courtyard, wanderers stranded here from distant islands. Their trust has long been worn away by repeated misfortunes and wars. But to survive in this world, one must believe in something. Unable to trust others or themselves, they join the rest of humanity in hesitatingly trusting the illusions of gods.

They spent the remaining half day wandering around the various wet tea shops in Shengen, buying remedies of all sizes from doctors and apprentices. It wasn't until late at night that they returned to their base to rest. The beds were sticky and the air conditioning was as noisy as a helicopter, making it difficult to get a good night's sleep.

"Let's take turns on night watch." Chu Hengkong suggested, "I'll go first. I'll call you at 2:30."

“3 o’clock!”

Chu Hengkong conceded, and the extra half hour of rest improved the blonde's mood a bit. She sank down on the bed, buried her head deep in the pillow, and muffled her voice, "Every time I come to the swamp, I feel..."

"Prioritize the priorities. We're here to find gold. There's no point in overthinking it."

"I know." After a while, Ji Huaisu said sullenly, "I know."

After a quick wash, the blonde fell asleep. She slept soundly in this environment, showing how kind she really is. Chu Hengkong pondered for a moment and called the guards to the door.

"What's wrong, Inspector?" The young man on duty was very nervous.

"Just to inform everyone, you will be wearing your gear to sleep tonight." Chu Hengkong stuffed him a few flowing beads, "Overtime pay, thank you for your hard work."

The young man on duty became even more nervous, collected the beads, and hurried downstairs. Chu Hengkong returned to his bed and sat cross-legged in meditation, listening to the occasional grinding of his partner's teeth.

·

Ji Huaisu didn't sleep well. In her dreams, she kept feeling like someone was following her. Turning around, she saw it was an old, ugly octopus. Its muddy tentacles were wriggling around her, each one entwining a person, leaving her with nowhere to start.

At this moment, she was suddenly shaken awake. The old octopus's face turned into Chu Hengkong. She blinked blankly: "...Isn't it three o'clock?"

"Control your emotions." Chu Hengkong said seriously, "Let's retreat."

She turned her head in confusion and saw the bright red light coming from the window.

(Got a new book recommendation for tomorrow! So I'll update twice tomorrow!)

(End of this chapter)