Gu Zhan stepped forward to help.
The mechanism at the exit of the tunnel was similar to that of the entrance. After searching the corners for a while, he found a hollow brick.
“Yes, yes, this is it.” The boy stepped forward and activated the mechanism.
The wall slowly lifted, revealing a passage.
Outside was a bright, blazing light that temporarily blinded Gu Zhan.
The boy had already bent down and crawled out, extending his hand to Gu Zhan, “Hurry up, opening the door will cause vibrations; they could chase us at any moment.”
Gu Zhan grasped his hand and crawled out of the tunnel.
Outside was a forest, with lush green grass and the cheerful chirping of birds. It felt like he had shifted from a tense, thrilling escape game to a laid-back farming game.
As the boy walked ahead, he introduced himself to Gu Zhan, “My name is Garen. Thank you for saving me. What’s your name?”
“Gu Zhan.”
“Gu Zhan?” He struggled to understand the name. “Zhan? Benefactor, your name is really strange.”
“It’s nothing.” In a Western setting, it was quite normal for NPCs to find their names odd.
The two of them ventured deeper into the woods. After walking for a while, they encountered no pursuers.
Garen sighed in relief, “Thankfully, we escaped. Anyway, let’s head back to the village first.”
Gu Zhan judged that he was an important NPC. Plus, he had nowhere else to go, so he chose to stay with him.
“But…” Garen turned to look at Gu Zhan, “Your outfit is too conspicuous. The followers of the Sun God aren’t popular outside of Hasan City. We should go to the hunter's cabin to change clothes first.”
“Why? Don’t the villagers believe in the Sun God?”
Garen halted and glanced at Gu Zhan, “The villagers only believe in the Pig Head God and the Rice God.”
“Ah?” Gu Zhan didn’t understand at first.
It wasn’t until the boy walked a bit further that he finally grasped it.
The villagers were practical people who didn’t care about such gods or deities.
After walking a bit more, they finally spotted a small village deep within the forest.
Outside the village stood a small, independent cabin with its door wide open, seemingly inviting anyone inside.
Garen said, “This is the hunter's cabin; let’s go.”
Gu Zhan followed Garen into the small cabin, which was low enough that he had to duck his head to walk inside.
In contrast, Garen was unaffected, walking around the cabin, occasionally opening drawers or rummaging through shelves.
Garen said, “This is a resting place for hunters. Sometimes they leave spare clothes here. Ah, found it.”
He pulled out a set of gray clothing and turned to offer it to Gu Zhan.
However, when he looked up, he found Gu Zhan standing at the doorway, not coming in.
Garen: “…”
Only then did he realize that his benefactor was two heads taller than him.
The boy subtly stood on tiptoes, but even then, it was hard to reach Gu Zhan’s height.
A flash of frustration crossed Garen’s eyes. Why does this guy have to be so tall?
He impatiently handed the clothes over, “Hurry and change. I’ll wait outside for you.”
Gu Zhan was puzzled by the sudden shift in the boy’s tone. He took the clothing and watched Garen walk past him.
Once Garen was outside, he began to change.
The clothes fit well, but they had a strange sour smell, as if they hadn’t dried properly after a rainy day and had been stuffed in a cupboard for half a month.
As Gu Zhan walked outside, he instinctively sniffed at the clothes he was wearing.
Seeing his action, Garen said, “Don’t be picky; having something to wear is better than nothing. Hang in there; once we get to my house, I’ll get you some other clothes.”
Gu Zhan raised the clothes he had just taken off and asked, “What about these?”
Garen glanced at them and said, “Just in case, let’s burn them.”
The boy was quite cautious, and Gu Zhan handed the clothes over to him.
They found a random spot behind the hunter's cabin, and Garen dug a hole in the ground, collecting some twigs and dry leaves to place inside. He tossed Gu Zhan’s white robe in as well and set it ablaze.
While waiting for the fire to burn, Garen asked, “You said you’re from outside; what’s it like out there?”
The boy had a look of longing for the vast outside world. Gu Zhan, who had no idea what lay beyond Hasan, nonchalantly lied, “Outside, everyone believes in the Sun God. The streets are filled with flowers, and it’s warm like spring all year round; it doesn’t rain much.”
Garen’s eyes revealed disbelief, “Not raining much? Doesn’t that mean it’s very dry? Can flowers and grass still grow well?”
Gu Zhan didn’t care about the logical flaws in his lie and replied lightly, “With Kripper’s blessings, they grow very well.”
Garen’s eyes widened in shock, clearly having his worldview shattered.
But soon, the boy accepted the notion that plants could thrive even without rain and commented, “It seems like Hasan is a bit better; although the people here are a bit strange, at least they don’t believe Kripper can actually make plants grow…”
Midway through his sentence, he suddenly realized there was a fervent fan of Kripper beside him. He quickly turned to look at Gu Zhan, who appeared quite calm.
It seemed that since meeting his benefactor, Gu Zhan had remained composed.
Garen curiously asked, “If it’s so good outside, why did you come to Hasan? No matter where, a healer should be in high demand, right?”
Gu Zhan replied expressionlessly, “Because I fell in love with the emperor’s woman, and he exiled me from his territory, so I became a wandering doctor.”
Garen: “…”
For a moment, Garen couldn’t tell if Gu Zhan was being serious or just making stuff up.
—
The fire in the pit gradually died down, and Garen had a premonition that his benefactor was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.
He chose to ignore the odd parts of their conversation, wiping the sweat off his forehead that had accumulated from the heat, saying, "Once it's burned out, bury the ashes, and then let's head back."
The two walked toward the village, and as they reached the village entrance, they heard a commotion inside. A crowd of people had gathered by the roadside, seemingly unsure of what to do.
Garen seemed very attached to this village and quickly jogged over, diving into the crowd.
Gu Zhan lagged behind, moving slowly and standing at the edge of the crowd to see what was happening.
After observing for a while, he managed to get a clear picture.
It appeared someone in the village had fallen ill and fainted, and a group of people surrounded him, unsure of what to do.
After a bit of shouting, Garen's voice suddenly rang out from the crowd, "Doctor! I brought a doctor back!"
The circle of people immediately parted like a stream, and Gu Zhan finally saw that the person lying on the ground was an elderly woman.
However, her condition was quite unusual; her eyes were tightly closed, her face was flushed, and there were some black spots on her hands and neck.
Upon seeing those spots, Gu Zhan's mind buzzed, and some hidden memories suddenly surged forth.
Black spot disease had spread suddenly in the Duchy of John six months ago. The cause was unknown, and those infected would develop black spots on their bodies. It typically began on the wrists and soles of the feet, accompanied by coughing and fainting.
As the black spots gradually grew, the patient’s condition worsened—from coughing initially to later vomiting blood.
It was said that eventually, even the internal organs would turn to blood and be violently coughed up.
The most terrifying part was that this disease was not only extremely difficult to cure but also contagious!
Gu Zhan suddenly remembered how he had left the Duchy of John and arrived in this remote little town of Hasan!
In the Duchy of John, everyone believed in the Sun God, and he suspected that the source of black spot disease was within the church itself. He had infiltrated the church to investigate but was discovered and subsequently expelled from the duchy, forced to come to this remote town…
He had come to the Sun God faith in Hasan also to investigate this matter.
As he recalled these moments, Gu Zhan's hair stood on end, and his blood ran cold. He immediately pushed through the crowd and shouted, "Step back! Don’t come near!"
The crowd looked at him in shock.
"This is black spot disease; it’s contagious!"
The crowd was puzzled and skeptical.
Just then, the elderly woman in the center suddenly began to cough.
Her cough was severe, nearly uncontrollable, and her whole body trembled along with it.
As her heart-wrenching cough echoed, those who had doubted began to step back, and those who were more timid hurriedly fled.
Gu Zhan watched their retreating figures, feeling an unusual weight in his heart.
The elderly woman's condition was already very severe; surrounded by this crowd, who knows how many had already been infected? Even if they left now, it was unlikely to make a difference.
Garen was crouched beside the elderly woman, and upon seeing this scene, he angrily exclaimed, "Gu Zhan, what are you doing? Why are you scaring them?"
"I'm not scaring them." Gu Zhan lowered his head and rummaged through his belongings. If he remembered correctly, he should have a spatial pocket containing "holy water," which could temporarily suppress black spot disease.
After searching for a while and not finding it, he suddenly realized his wrist was bare.
This sensation felt strange; it hadn’t happened since the first instance.
After a moment's thought, he realized the astral watch was no longer on his wrist.
However, in place of where the astral watch used to be, a complex circle of black patterns appeared.
It seemed to have replaced the astral watch.
With a thought, the patterns emitted a slight warmth, and soon, a transparent glass vial fell out of thin air from the position of his wrist.
Oh right, this was his spatial pocket.
Gu Zhan caught the vial, which was diamond-shaped and filled with a transparent liquid that looked no different from water.
He uncorked the vial and sprinkled some of the holy water onto the elderly woman.
As the holy water landed on her body, her heart-wrenching cough finally stopped.
The elderly woman seemed utterly exhausted and closed her eyes, fainting.
Gu Zhan also sprinkled some holy water on Garen, and the icy water made Garen shudder, quickly waving his hands to avoid it.
"What are you doing?"
Gu Zhan's expression was serious: "If you don’t want to be infected, don’t move."
Garen froze in place.
He was still afraid of death after all.
After sprinkling the holy water, Gu Zhan asked, "Where does she live? Let’s take her back to rest."
Garen quickly pointed to a small house nearby: "Over here!"
Countless questions drifted through Gu Zhan’s mind, but he couldn’t find the answers.
Garen grew increasingly dejected and looked at Gu Zhan's right hand, saying, “Can you give us some of that stuff you just sprinkled?”
Gu Zhan replied, “That stuff is very powerful and can’t be used by ordinary people. Don’t worry, I’ll be staying here for a while and will come by often.”
“Fine,” Garen resigned, “Let me settle you in first.”
The two left Mary’s house, and Garen led Gu Zhan to the back of the village. In a corner at the far end of the village stood a slightly dilapidated little house.
“This was our old home,” Garen said. “It’s been abandoned, but it should still be livable. You can stay here for now. I’ll bring you daily necessities.”
“It’s fine; I can handle it myself.”
---
The house had indeed not been lived in for a long time. Dust covered everything, and the furniture was in poor condition.
As someone being hunted, staying in such a place seemed fitting for his identity.
Fortunately, there was a small creek not far behind the house.
After a day of crawling through tunnels and dealing with patients, Gu Zhan couldn’t possibly sleep like this.
After cleaning up the room, he went to the creek, intending to take a bath.
The water was cold. As he stepped in after taking off his clothes, the chill hit him. He stood by the creek for a while, trying to adjust to the temperature before slowly walking in.
The water reached his waist at its deepest point, and just as he was about to splash some water on himself, he heard Garen's voice from a distance.
“Benefactor? Gu Zhan—are you there?”
Gu Zhan’s body was already wet, and he didn’t want to return immediately, so he hesitated for a moment while standing in the creek.
Garen however approached skillfully. When he got closer, Gu Zhan realized he was carrying a large bundle of blankets that obscured almost his entire view.
“Don’t come any closer,” Gu Zhan warned.
Garen stopped.
Struggling to peek from behind the blankets, he caught sight of Gu Zhan standing naked in the creek.
The lower half of Gu Zhan's body was submerged, and the setting sun cast shimmering reflections on the water. He resembled a sacred statue submerged in water—pure and untouchable.
Garen let out a short gasp. Being at an age where he was becoming more aware of his gender, he was caught off guard by the sight of Gu Zhan and involuntarily blushed.
However, once he regained his composure, he felt embarrassed for staring at someone else's naked body.
Quickly adjusting the blankets to block his view, he pretended to act nonchalantly. “I came to bring you bedding. Is your room cleaned up?”
“It’s all cleaned,” Gu Zhan replied. “You can just put it on the bed… By the way, did you bring any clothes?”
Garen hurriedly said, “I did, I’ll bring them over shortly.”
But then he thought again—if he brought them over later, wouldn’t that mean he’d have to come back again?
What if Gu Zhan was already out of the water by then?
That wouldn’t do.
Gailun quickly changed his mind. “You don’t have any clothes to wear right now, right? I might as well leave them here.”
“Eh… no need…” Gu Zhan started to refuse, but Garen had already placed the bedding on a flat stone nearby.
Seeing Garen’s busy back, Gu Zhan swallowed his words.
Before long, Garen found some clothes, placed them on the ground, and hurriedly took the blankets away.
This left Gu Zhan confused. What was going on? Was there a flood or something chasing him?
After Gu Zhan finished his bath, he went ashore to change his clothes and stepped out of the little house, just in time to see Garen walking out.
Garen had his head down, not paying attention to where he was going, and almost bumped into Gu Zhan.
Gu Zhan reached out to steady him. “Be careful.”
Garen looked up, his face turning bright red. He quickly stepped back, stammering, “I… I’m sorry. I was lost in thought.”
Seeing his reaction, Gu Zhan thought he might be ill and reached out to touch his forehead.
But Garen instinctively blocked him with a vigorous motion.
Garen seemed as surprised as Gu Zhan by his reaction, staring at his own outstretched hand before quickly lowering his head and fleeing past Gu Zhan.
As he ran, he shouted, “I’m fine! I’m perfectly okay! You should rest early!”
Gu Zhan turned to watch Garen’s retreating figure, feeling somewhat bewildered.
The comments section, however, mercilessly mocked the scene:
【Hahaha, this little NPC has fallen for him.】
【I said who can remain unaffected under the beauty of my wife?】 Native banner
【Damn system censorship, what did Garen just see? Why can he see, but I can’t?】
Gu Zhan had no idea that he had influenced a young boy’s aesthetic sensibilities.
He had done too much today and was already exhausted.
It was best to go to bed early.
Upon entering the house, he discovered not only had Garen delivered blankets but also food on the table.
From the amount, it was clear that it was more than enough for just Gu Zhan.
Garen likely intended to have dinner with him but had rushed away for some reason.
Maybe there was something at home?
Gu Zhan seldom wasted time thinking about such matters. He decided not to ponder further and sat down to eat.
After finishing his meal, he stretched a bit. Once it was completely dark outside, he lay down to sleep.
He had a dreamless night, and when he woke up the next day, the sun was shining brightly.
The clear and beautiful morning light streamed through the window, making even the dust look exquisite.
Gu Zhan got out of bed, washed his face in the creek, ate some leftover food from yesterday, then pushed open the little house door, ready to explore the village.
He felt a bit uneasy about what had happened yesterday.
Before he could walk more than two steps, he saw Garen rushing over from the direction of the village.
Upon seeing Gu Zhan, he shouted in a panic, “Not good! Gu Zhan, everyone has started coughing!”
Gu Zhan’s previously relaxed expression instantly vanished. The spread of the black spot disease was faster than he had imagined!
He followed Garen as they ran toward the village.
Garen told him, “I heard you say that this black spot disease is contagious, so I gathered everyone in the village to a clearing. But what do we do next? Why are they getting sick so quickly?”
Gu Zhan replied, “Let’s take a look first.”
Before long, they arrived at the village clearing, where there was an ancient camphor tree and a flowerbed underneath it.
At this moment, the flowerbed was filled with people—both men and women, but all older.
Garen asked, “Is it because they are older that they caught it so quickly?”
Gu Zhan observed for a moment. The ages of these people ranged from forty to fifty, but they weren’t old enough for age alone to be the cause of such quick contagion.
Gu Zhan asked, “Who are these people? What do they do in the village?”
Garen hesitated for a moment. “What do they do… The villagers are self-sufficient, but they occasionally go to Hasan City.”
He began to introduce each person’s identity. There were two who were a father and son, frequently going to Hasan City to deliver vegetables. One was a courier, and another had previously worked in Hasan City and had returned home to retire. The rest were just idlers.
Gu Zhan stood a bit further away and said to Garen, “These people shouldn’t have been infected yesterday; they only realized they were infected with the black spot disease after Mary’s condition worsened yesterday. The source of this disease should be Hasan City.”
“Ah?” Garen’s face momentarily displayed confusion. “So what should we do?”
Gu Zhan replied, “First, we need to isolate these people to prevent them from affecting others. Today, you and I will go to Hasan City to find out what is causing the black spot disease to spread.”
Garen immediately yelled, “But we’re wanted in Hasan City! The Sun God Church won’t let us go. If we’re discovered, I’ll be captured again to be a sacrifice!!”
Gu Zhan said, “But you have to do this. I’ve seen many places infected by the black spot disease; within a month, there won’t be a single living person left in the village. Even if you don’t get infected, do you want everyone you know to die from this disease?”
Garen fell silent, lowering his head as he clearly wrestled with complicated thoughts.
After a while, he dejectedly said, “Then if they’re sick, shouldn’t we treat them? Why run to Hasan City? Even if we find out the source of the contagion, what can we do? It won’t help with treating the illness.”
Garen was right.
But this was a world with magic, and Gu Zhan suspected this was not a “disease” at all.
His character had already done extensive research on the black spot disease.
The fact that neither “holy water” nor “healing magic” could cure the black spot disease was enough to conclude that it wasn’t a real illness.
Holy water and healing magic were both powerful forces; they could directly replace diseased cells with healthy ones.
If those methods couldn’t lead to recovery, then the black spot disease… definitely wasn’t a regular illness.
The source had to be found in order to solve this.
Otherwise…
If everyone in the village died, even if Gu Zhan managed to clear the game, he would lose all his points.
Thinking of the points, Gu Zhan’s attitude became firm: “If you don’t want to go, then I’ll go alone.”
“Okay, okay.” Garen had no choice but to compromise. “I’ll go with you. This way, even if we get caught, we have a chance to escape.”
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