Chapter 1243: Grocery Store

While pondering, the red paper Chen Ling had wrapped around the physician tightened more and more, making the latter blush as if he were about to suffocate.

But Chen Ling didn't continue to increase the force.

With a flick of the red paper, he threw him against the wall like trash. The physician let out a muffled groan, rolled his eyes, and fainted on the spot, lying on the ground like mud.

An invisible python crawled out from under Chen Ling's sleeve and wrapped directly around the unconscious physician's neck. As the scarlet tongue flickered, a segment of memory was swallowed directly into the Heart Python's belly.

Chen Ling didn't take further action. He had just entered the South Sea, and if he went too far, it would inevitably attract the attention of the South Sea's official organizations. If there were characters like Han Meng who were born with keen insight, it would be easy for them to guess that he was looking for a physician, thereby strengthening the protection of other physicians.

As Chen Ling's rank reached the Fifth-Order peak, he gradually became proficient with the Sixth-Order ability [Heart Python]. At the very least, it was no longer the castrated version that could only steal emotions. As long as he didn't exceed the scope of the South Sea Realm, this stolen memory wouldn't return to the physician's mind in the short term.

After doing all this, Chen Ling picked up Xiao Tao, flickered, and disappeared from the clinic.

"King, Xiao Tao's breathing is getting weaker."

Xiao Bai's anxious voice sounded.

Chen Ling looked down at the unconscious Xiao Tao. Her body was tinged with purple, and her skin was frighteningly hot.

Although she had the protection of Chen Ling's starlight, after traveling for so long, Xiao Tao's condition had deteriorated to a serious degree. The reason Chen Ling had so urgently threatened the physician with death was because Xiao Tao didn't have much time left...

If he couldn't find a suitable physician, Xiao Tao probably wouldn't survive the night.

Chen Ling's figure quickly shuttled through the streets of the South Sea Realm, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings, as if looking for something.

Finally,

his peripheral vision swept over a shop's plaque, and his figure slowly stopped on the side of the road...

—Brother Wang's Grocery Store.

"King, we aren't looking for a doctor, why are we coming to a grocery store?" Xiao Bai asked in confusion.

Chen Ling's gaze was somewhat complicated.

To outsiders, this was just an ordinary grocery store, but in fact, it was one of the underground contact points established by the Twilight Society in the South Sea Realm.

After Chen Ling broke with the Red King, he no longer called himself a member of the Twilight Society and had no contact with them. He had been staying with the Fusion Faction for over half a year, and he didn't know what the Twilight Society's attitude toward him was now.

The reason Chen Ling chose to kidnap a Medical God Path practitioner to treat Xiao Tao immediately upon entering the South Sea Realm, instead of asking the Twilight Society for help directly, was because he didn't want to rely on the Twilight Society's power anymore...

But now, he seemed to have no choice.

After standing at the door for a long time, Chen Ling finally walked in.

The space in the grocery store wasn't large. As soon as he walked in, he could smell a faint musty odor from the old wooden shelves. The shelves were filled with common daily necessities, but their quality couldn't compare to those carefully decorated boutiques; they were just slightly more affordable.

In the narrow and dim grocery store, there was only a bald middle-aged man sitting behind the counter with drooping eyes. Seeing Chen Ling walk in, he glanced at him casually,

"Pick whatever you want."

Chen Ling didn't pick any goods but stopped directly in front of the counter:

"I want to buy a glimmer of hope."

The middle-aged man's gaze froze, and his lazy and casual demeanor disappeared without a trace.

He carefully sized up the brown-clad youth before him for a moment and spoke again:

"Show your identity."

Chen Ling was silent for a moment, then finally raised his empty palm and rubbed it gently in the void. A playing card appeared out of thin air as if by magic.

—Heart 6.

Seeing the face of this card, the middle-aged man was clearly stunned, and his gaze toward Chen Ling was incredibly surprised.

"Can this card still be used?" Chen Ling asked in a deep voice.

"Of course."

Learning of Chen Ling's card, the middle-aged man was clearly more solemn, his back straight. "Heart 6, what do you need?"

"I need a doctor who can detoxify Calamity toxins... It's very urgent."

"How urgent?"

"Before tonight."

The middle-aged man's brows furrowed slightly, as if he were hesitant.

"Is it not possible?"

"Before tonight, it's a bit too urgent... I'm not sure if there's a suitable person in the Twilight Society, but I can try for you," the middle-aged man took out paper and pen from under the counter.

"How about this, give me an address where you're staying temporarily. If I find a suitable person, I'll have them go to you immediately."

Seeing this, Chen Ling wrote down the address of a hotel across the street. He couldn't keep holding Xiao Tao and running around on the street; finding a hotel to stay in temporarily would be much more convenient.

After leaving the address, Chen Ling left the grocery store and went directly to the hotel across the street to open a room.

After checking in, the first thing Chen Ling did was observe the surrounding environment. After confirming that no one was following them, he pulled the curtains shut.

"Xiao Bai, you stay here and watch Xiao Tao, I'm going out for a while."

"Yes! King!"

Xiao Bai walked out of the shadow and answered with his head held high.

Xiao Bai was calling him "King" more and more smoothly now. Chen Ling even had the illusion that he had really become a mountain king... He locked the door behind him and walked downstairs alone.

The streets of the South Sea Realm were even wider than those of the Tian-Shu Realm. Pedestrians on the road were in a hurry, and the shops on both sides were exquisite and scattered, like a prosperous metropolis. And Chen Ling discovered that there were supermarkets every few steps, with fresh vegetables, fruits, and various colorful desserts that dazzled the eyes.

Chen Ling, wearing a brown coat, walked into a supermarket in a low-key manner.

"Hello, are there only today's newspapers?" Chen Ling asked, pointing to the stacks of newspapers next to the checkout counter.

The clerk looked at him suspiciously but still answered: "There are some unsold ones piled up in the warehouse... Do you want them?"

"Yes, I want all of them from the recent period."

Chen Ling had been away from the human realms for too long. He didn't know the changes in the several realms over the past half year, and newspapers were his best way to get new information.

Chen Ling paid the money, took the thick stack of newspapers, and left. He picked up the latest newspaper from today and read it directly under a lamppost on the side of the road.

—"Frequent Earthquakes in the Cang-Yun Realm: Natural Phenomenon, or Calamity Attack?"

A bolded headline caught Chen Ling's eye. He immediately opened the newspaper and read it carefully...

This article reported on the recent frequent earthquakes in the Cang-Yun Realm and the unexplained mass death of plants within the realm. Although there were no casualties for the time being and no traces of Calamities had been found around the realm, some people had already speculated that this might be related to the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest.

"Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest, has it set its sights on the Cang-Yun Realm..." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

"Who will be next?"