Chapter 45: They just want to survive

Asleep?

In the courtyard, Dixiya, sitting by the campfire, asked softly.

This was the first night they had taken in Ke Lai.

This little wanderer, who had been roaming the desert for a long time, had brought Luo De quite a bit of trouble.

For example, she refuses to eat rice and insists on eating only candy.

For example, she stays filthy and refuses to bathe; in the end, Dixiya had to knock her out to get her to wash, and the price was that after waking up, Ke Lai would flee at the sight of her.

Moreover, at night she refuses to sleep, instead curling up in a dark corner of the wall, and no matter how you call her, she won't come out.

Yeah, I slept.

Luo De, exhausted from the day's tossing and turning, shifted his body.

Ke Lai is extremely vigilant.

Besides Luo De, nobody is allowed to approach her; anyone who gets close gets bitten, and it took a lot of effort to coax her to sleep.

How's your hand? Dixiya asked with concern.

It's fine.

Luo De showed his perfectly intact right hand; the wound from Ke Lai's bite earlier that day had fully healed.

His fire elemental power, like his ice elemental power, has an innate healing ability; the effect is similar, and the spot bitten by Ke Lai healed in the blink of an eye.

Glad to hear it.

Your elemental power is really peculiar.

After muttering softly, Dixiya shifted her tone, speaking sternly: "This little girl has issues; she didn't sincerely intend to stay here."

Although Ke Lai hid it well.

But everyone present was sharp; they all saw that her willingness to stay had nothing to do with craving food—she had other motives.

By now she had fallen asleep, so Dixiya felt free to speak openly with Luo De about it.

However, Luo De didn't care about it at all.

He held a branch, poking the fire as he replied, "Yeah, I know."

You still want to keep her?

Hearing that, Dixiya's voice rose a few notches.

Shh—

Luo De didn't explain; he simply raised a finger slightly, signaling Dixiya to lower her voice.

—!

Dixiya, feeling angry and holding back her fire, snapped: "Aren't you afraid this little girl will bring you trouble?"

It's fine.

She can't stir up any trouble, and the trouble isn't even hers.

Luo De said carelessly: "Rest assured, I have my reasons for keeping her; look at when I've ever done something that puts me at a disadvantage."

What he said was sensible and well-founded, and Dixiya didn't know how to continue persuading him.

The atmosphere fell silent at once.

In the spacious courtyard.

Apart from the whooshing of the cold wind, only the crackle of the burning campfire could be heard.

After a long while.

Only then did Dixiya speak up.

What are you planning to do?

You're just going to keep her like that?

She considered the practical side, continuing the previous topic as she analyzed for Luo De: "She does have magic scale disease; keeping her here will only make things worse, and if she dies here it'll be a hassle. I've heard the Academy has a hospital specializing in magic scale disease, supposedly called Vitality Home, not far from A Ru Village."

Without letting her finish, Luo De interrupted: "I won't let her go anywhere, especially that damn Vitality Home."

?!

Dixiya stared, then realized and asked: "Does Vitality Home have a problem?"

Any problems?

Hah—

Luo De snorted: "That place is just a scam to lure people in for human experiments; it's certainly no proper clinic for treating magic scale disease."

Huh?

Dixiya was still hearing this for the first time, and she stared in shock: "Is what you're saying true?"

Suddenly.

She then thought of something else, eyes widening: "All the magic scale disease patients in the village are sent there! If what you say is true, then that means—!!!"

No hope.

Luo De shook his head: "Anyone who goes in there can't come out like a normal person."

No way!

How can we just stand by and let someone die?

If that place is specifically set up to harm people, why not go rescue them?!!!

Dixiya ignored Luo De's words, and in her fury she went to find Kantisi to discuss rescuing the people.

But she hadn't taken a few steps before Luo De roughly hauled her back.

What's the point of going?

The defenses there are even stricter than those of Xu Mi Cheng; the leader could beat even that Senior Discipline Officer, and unless people from the Academy take action, it's basically impossible to snatch anyone out of there.

Speaking, Luo De jerked his chin toward the room where Ke Lai was sleeping: "See, she escaped from a laboratory similar to that place."

Dixiya's first thought wasn't sympathy for Ke Lai or anything else, but she wondered aloud: "How do you know all this?"

"I've encountered such a laboratory in the desert before, and I've seen its grim state."

Luo De casually found an excuse.

Anyway, no one knows what those Foolish Crowd's laboratories in the desert are really like, so just making up a lie will do.

Next.

He told Dixiya everything he knew.

This includes, but is not limited to, the surgery of removing brain lobes to keep patients calm; using a special instrument to dialyze the patients' whole blood, thereby reducing its elemental energy concentration; harvesting normal people's organs to replace patients' organs that have abnormal elemental content; forcibly replacing patients' limb skin and other body parts; and worst of all, the live injection of Archon residue experiment.

No visuals.

Just listening to Luo De's description gave Dixiya goosebumps.

"Is this really something a person could do?"

Dixiya pressed her lips together.

For some unknown reason, she inexplicably felt a faint sense of fear toward the attending physician Luo De had mentioned.

Dixiya wasn't someone who had never killed before.

In the desert region, especially deep in the desert, killing people was just everyday fare.

But if it were asked of her to expressionlessly harvest organs from a living person and implant them into another, she would admit she couldn't do it.

And those who could do such things without changing expression.

Even without having met him, that was enough to make people fear him.

What a pity.

In those hospitals that claim to treat magic‑scale disease patients, all the doctors are living humans, not demons or monsters.

Luo De looked at Dixiya with a serious gaze and warned: "Don't try to provoke those people; we can't afford to offend them. If we really fall out, given their strength, you, me, the Blazing Light Beast Hunters, and even A Ru Cun could all end up with nowhere to bury our bodies."

I, I understand.

After Luo De's repeated warnings, plus the descriptions of those horrific experiments, no matter how much Dixiya wanted to help those innocent patients, she could only helplessly gaze at the moon and sigh: "They're just poor people trying to stay alive."

Yeah.

They just want to strive to keep living.

Gazing at the round moon in the sky, Luo De likewise sighed.

(End of chapter)