Chapter 172: 169. Flesh Chunk

169. Flesh Chunk

Recently, the customer flow had been stable, and Lin Ling hadn't checked his account on the Strange Tales forum for a while. Thinking of himself as a diligent boss who was a high-intensity self-searcher and post-spammer, suddenly ignoring an account he had already registered felt a bit irresponsible, like a deadbeat husband abandoning his wife and children.

Thus, Lin Laoban decided to surf the forum for five minutes today; he couldn't let it delay his time for watching the show.

Just as he was about to start typing his account password, the wind chime inside the door rang, and a customer arrived.

"Lin Laoban!" The person who entered was reckless and hurried, running to the counter. They asked Lin Ling, who was typing on the keyboard, "Boss, may I ask, is there any medicine that can make injuries heal completely?"

Seeing Chen Xiaolin's anxious appearance, the corners of Lin Ling's smiling mouth arched higher. He closed his laptop and laughed, "There is no such medicine; after all, this isn't a pharmacy. However, there are items with similar effects."

Hearing this, Chen Xiaolin gritted her teeth in secret. She gripped the broken straw in her hand and said, bracing herself, "Boss, you once gave someone whose lifespan was coming to an end a longer life and health, right? Can you sell me those directly? I am willing to trade."

Lin Ling blinked, "Sure. Are you trying to use it to save Li Duojin?"

"Yes." Chen Xiaolin placed the broken, withered straw on the counter and muttered with her head lowered, "The Life-Saving Straw is very useful, but it has its limitations..."

Just half an hour ago, Chen Xiaolin had gifted her Life-Saving Straw to Li Duojin. However, after that, the severely injured Li Duojin suddenly became critical again and was rushed to emergency care.

This surgery was also timely and successful, and Li Duojin had pulled through once more, but the newly gifted Life-Saving Straw had withered and snapped as a result.

The doctors also said that Li Duojin, having undergone surgery again, seemed to truly have the protection of gods, and there was an element of luck involved, along with the skill and efforts of the doctors and nurses, plus Li Duojin's own strong will to survive, which was why he had endured the second surgery.

But there would be no next time. Li Duojin's body could no longer hold up. If a similar emergency situation occurred again, Li Duojin would definitely have no chance of survival; he would surely die.

Looking at Li Duojin, who was breathing faintly on the hospital bed, Chen Xiaolin could not bear to see him die just like that. She thought of the Forest Cabin that sold "Life-Saving Straws," and the story Li Duojin had mentioned.

The Forest Cabin possessed countless Abnormal Items, and Lin Laoban was the very Venerable One Li Duojin spoke of. Lin Laoban had even once bestowed upon him a second life of rejuvenation. Chen Xiaolin felt that if she asked Lin Laoban for help, she should receive a response, right?

And now, Lin Ling had given Chen Xiaolin an affirmative answer, just as expected.

"The Life-Saving Straw does indeed have limitations; after all, it only saves a life, it doesn't save the person... Wait a moment, I'll go prepare it for you." Lin Ling nodded, then turned to rummage for something. Before long, he brought out a strange-looking chunk of flesh. Both ends were like blooming flower petals, and the center was pitch black. But looking closely, there were patches of black, bubble-like structures reflecting a luster, and dense white tentacles extended from the middle body part. The entire flesh chunk seemed to be breathing, contracting and moving.

"This... what is this?" Chen Xiaolin's eyes widened. She didn't think this creepy thing could be a good item.

"King oyster mushroom." Lin Ling opened a pair of eyes filled with sincerity.

"Who would believe that!"

"It really is." Lin Ling scratched his head, "It's just that the king oyster mushroom has become a spirit. Its appearance looks a bit different from a regular king oyster mushroom, but the texture when eaten is absolutely the same."

Why are you confirming the species based on texture!? Chen Xiaolin was shocked.

"This thing is edible?" Chen Xiaolin gasped. Looking at the living chunk of flesh, she only felt it was creepy; she didn't feel it was edible. Instead, she felt that eating this thing might make one "perverted."

Lin Ling: "Of course it is. The effect is about the same as the divine medicine you need, and if you eat enough of it, you can even become immortal."

Chen Xiaolin: "... Immortality is unnecessary; just being able to save a person is enough."

"The price is 300 per tael," Lin Ling said with a smile.

"Is it still cash?"

"Otherwise, WeChat or Alipay transfers are both fine." Lin Ling was still an excellent boss who knew how to keep up with the times; he wouldn't make the customer's payment process complicated or troublesome.

Seeing that Lin Ling was about to raise his hand and knife to cut a slice from the flesh chunk, Chen Xiaolin immediately reached out to pause him, unable to help but cautiously ask again: "Um, may I ask how much is needed to save Li Duojin's life?"

"A slice of meat is enough," Lin Ling said cheerfully.

"Fine, then cut me two taels," Chen Xiaolin gritted her teeth and said.

With the money and goods exchanged, Lin Ling watched Chen Xiaolin's graceful figure walk out of the Forest Cabin. He tapped the table lightly with one hand, as if playing some music, the arc of his mouth lifting with an even more inexplicable meaning.

At this moment, while cleaning the shelves, Wei Jiang, who had been observing from the shadows for a long time, walked out and asked suspiciously: "Boss, why are you suddenly so happy?"

"Hehe, I have always wanted to know one thing, and that is how long humans must continue to make mistakes before they can truly correct them." Lin Ling looked at Wei Jiang and laughed, "There is no statistical result yet. As for the current individual case, it will take ten lifetimes..."

Yu Lianyun arrived at the current residence of Lihua Group's person-in-charge, Song Lu, in Shanghai—a villa located in the suburbs. The atmosphere was strange.

To ensure the operation could proceed smoothly, Yu Lianyun still had people follow the established plan step by step. However, when they actually rushed into the villa, they found that the silent villa had left behind a scene that humans could never understand.

It turned out the villa was not empty, but Yu Lianyun and her team couldn't determine if those things could still be considered human.

Those who originally lived in the villa were now covered in frost. Their backs, from the lower edge of their pants along the spine up to the crown of the head—roughly at the Hundred Meetings acupoint—had been cut open by some kind of powerful, sharp blade. The internal flesh, organs, and bones had all disappeared, leaving only a frozen skin bag that maintained a human shape, as if the things usually hidden inside these humans had jumped out on their own.

Could these people be monsters wearing human skin?

There was no way to guess the answer. But what Yu Lianyun could be certain of was that the Alien God, the Empty Demon, which had been missing for a long time, should be nearby. The way these people died was a sign of encountering an attack by the Empty Demon.

The influence of the Empty Demon on humans, besides turning human reason paranoid and twisted, also allowed the Empty Demon to summon those who had been brainwashed for a long time and whose bodies and minds had been catalyzed by the power of the Empty Demon. Their skin bags would also become the same as the Empty Demon, as if forming a kind of Vessel. However, unlike the Empty Demon itself, those humans who were bewitched would only accelerate toward death after jumping out of their skin bags.