Chapter 119 - 111: The Only Sober One
Chapter 119: Chapter 111: The Only Sober One
"Big sister, I know I’m not going to live."
Unlike the anxious expressions of Xiao Hu and his parents, Xiao Tao’s face, though sallow, held a certain calmness. She didn’t have much hope for survival.
Tang Mo looked at Xiao Tao’s face and saw something none of the other villagers in Wuxi Village possessed: clarity.
"I’m the only person from Wuxi Village who ever got into college. I was a student at S University Medical College and only came home after the apocalypse began. I know my own body. It’s basically tumors in my internal organs. Before, with modern medical technology, I could have lived for a few more years. Now, all I can do is wait to die. There’s no other way."
When she spoke of death, it was as if Xiao Tao had already made her peace with it.
"What if you could find a Medicinal Insect that specifically treats your illness? Don’t you hold out any hope for that?"
Malignant tumors are cancer. In the past, with proper medical facilities, chemotherapy, and targeted drugs, living another few years, or even a decade or more, wouldn’t have been a problem.
But now, it was a death sentence.
The only hospital currently capable of treating major illnesses was at S Base, but the exorbitant cost in Crystal Cores was far beyond what an ordinary family could afford.
It was safe to say that getting medical treatment in the apocalypse was vastly more difficult than before.
’But didn’t the people here have their trusted Medicinal Insects?’
"Heh, Medicinal Insects? They’re just the most common type of Exotic Beast Worms. Big sister, do you really believe something like a bug can cure diseases?"
On her face, so thin it was almost skeletal, Xiao Tao’s eyes were wide, fixed on Tang Mo as if waiting for a definitive answer.
"Whether I believe it or not doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you, who live in Wuxi Village, believe it."
Tang Mo had just arrived today and would be leaving in a few days. Her belief was irrelevant; what mattered were the people here.
"They’re completely obsessed. I’ve told them so many times, but no one listens. No one listens to me..."
Xiao Tao was someone who had received a scientific education. She had been to college. She had studied medicine.
All those years of education, all the books she had read, made it impossible for her to accept the concept of Medicinal Insects with a clear conscience.
If Medicinal Insects could truly cure illnesses and save people, then her younger brother wouldn’t have died.
"Can Medicinal Insects really save people? Have you seen it with your own eyes?"
Tang Mo had heard from Xiao Hu that many people went to the Sect Leader for Medicinal Insects, and their illnesses were cured almost instantly after eating them.
’If these weren’t isolated cases, then how were all those people getting better?’
"It’s true that some people have been cured after getting bugs from the Sect Leader and eating them, but it has nothing to do with those disgusting insects!"
After Xiao Tao got sick, her parents also took her to the Sect Leader to get an insect. The price for it was her father’s leg.
Not everyone who was sick had the right to receive a Medicinal Insect. Only those who went out to hunt mutant beasts, made contributions, and brought back their quarry were qualified to be treated.
As for the degree of contribution required, that was up to the Sect Leader alone to decide. It was a complete monopoly; his word was law.
To get a Medicinal Insect for her, Xiao Tao’s father went into the forest alone. He later emerged covered in blood.
For Xiao Tao, her father paid the price of a leg.
But it was useless.
To this day, Xiao Tao could still remember how disgusting the journey of that insect was—from the tip of her tongue, down her throat, and finally into her stomach.
But after eating it, she didn’t get better at all. In fact, she felt nauseous for days.
"Then how did those other people get better?"
Tang Mo lowered her head in thought. If the Sect Leader was a fraud and the Medicinal Insects were a complete fabrication, there was only one thing that didn’t add up: the people who were genuinely cured after eating the Medicinal Insects he provided.
How could they be explained?
"I couldn’t figure that out before either. But recently, I’ve read a lot of news and related research. Big sister, you know that a Spiritual Ability User’s spiritual power can be used for self-healing, right?"
Tang Mo nodded for Xiao Tao to continue.
"I suspect the Sect Leader is a Spiritual Ability User. Self-healing only works on oneself, but he might have developed a way to treat others based on that ability! I’ve asked around about the people who were cured by the Medicinal Insects. They usually had simple ailments. For anything slightly more complicated, the Sect Leader would claim he couldn’t find a suitable Medicinal Insect. It’s probably because his spiritual power isn’t strong enough."
Xiao Tao analyzed meticulously. She had been researching this for over half a year.
She had only ever told her family about these thoughts, but no one believed her.
Since her own family didn’t believe her, she was even more afraid to speak of it to outsiders.
’Using spiritual power to treat others?’
As a powerful Spiritual Ability User herself, Tang Mo’s shock at hearing this was comparable to the excitement of when the atomic bomb was first developed.
If spiritual power could truly be used to treat others, the status of Spiritual Ability Users would rise dramatically.
Most importantly, if spiritual power could really heal others, it would mean that in the future, the people around her could be saved if they were injured!
Right now, Tang Mo fervently hoped that the Sect Leader of Wuxi Village was exactly as Xiao Tao had analyzed.
"Big sister, I overheard you talking with the men. If that place is dangerous, please don’t go. It’s not worth sacrificing yourselves for those meaningless insects."
This was the most important reason Xiao Tao had called Tang Mo in. She truly didn’t want to see anyone else give their life for those damn insects.
"Don’t worry. Get some rest."
After leaving Xiao Tao’s room, Tang Mo kept mulling over the issue. If the Sect Leader really was a Spiritual Ability User, she wondered how he compared to her.
She didn’t dare to probe him recklessly. When someone with high spiritual power probes someone with low spiritual power, the weaker person won’t notice.
However, if someone with low spiritual power tries to probe someone with high spiritual power, they will be discovered immediately. If the gap is too large, they might even suffer a backlash—the principle was similar to taming mutant beasts.
Until Tang Mo knew the Sect Leader’s depth, she really didn’t dare to act rashly.
’Still, I’m already ranked nineteenth on the leaderboards. My luck can’t be so bad that I’d find someone with a higher Spirit Attribute Value than me in some random mountain village, right?’
Tang Mo recalled the dozen or so people ranked ahead of her. Although she didn’t know them, she had a vague impression of them, and none seemed as greasy as the Sect Leader.
’Whatever. I’ll take the gamble and find a chance to test him next time.’
Of course, she couldn’t just wait for an opportunity. If she wanted a chance, she had to create one herself.
The next morning, Tang Mo got out of bed and went straight to the Sect Leader’s house, knocking on his door.
There were always a few people serving in the Sect Leader’s courtyard. When they opened the door and saw it was Tang Mo, they didn’t dare to be careless and quickly invited her in.
This was the person who could find large batches of Medicinal Insects, after all. They had to treat her with care.
She casually entered the main hall from the previous day, found a chair, and sat down. Soon, Tang Mo saw the Sect Leader, whose face was even darker than it had been yesterday.