Chapter 1620: The Worst Era

Tianxue Domain.

Chu Muyun slowly placed the blood-stained scissors back onto the metal tray, looking at the front with a complex gaze. The stench of the corpses in the dissection room was becoming unbearable. He sighed lightly and waved his hand at Bai Ye beside him.

Bai Ye, who was leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, snapped his fingers, and the corpses on the bed instantly vanished without a trace.

At this moment, Chu Muyun’s face was pale as paper, as if the simple work just now had left him exhausted. He slowly leaned on the table and sat in his wheelchair, just about to say something to Bai Ye, when he began to cough violently the next second.

"*Cough cough cough cough cough*..."

Scarlet blood flowed from the corners of his mouth. Bai Ye frowned, produced a towel from somewhere, and handed it to Chu Muyun.

"Are you okay?"

"...I'm fine." Chu Muyun shook his head weakly. "I'll live."

Bai Ye looked at Chu Muyun’s state, about to speak, when the next second, as if he had sensed something, he suddenly looked to the side.

A figure draped in a theatrical robe with a red base and black patterns appeared like a phantom in the void.

"Senior Chu, what has happened to you?"

Hearing Chen Ling's voice, Chu Muyun, who had finally managed to steady himself, was startled. He turned his head to meet Chen Ling's solemn gaze, and after a moment, he offered a bitter smile.

"Why are you here?"

"I came to ask for your help to save someone..." Chen Ling got straight to the point and recounted Kong Baosheng's situation.

After listening, Chu Muyun's expression turned peculiar. He exchanged a glance with Bai Ye, and both sighed simultaneously...

"I... cannot save him."

"Even you can't save him?" Chen Ling was stunned. "You are the divine doctor of our Dusk Agency..."

"Lord Red King, you hold me in too high regard." Chu Muyun smiled bitterly. "Let alone just a surgeon, even a doctor truly specialized in dealing with viruses might not be able to handle this plague... It's not that I have no way to save him, it's just that I need more time."

Chen Ling had already sensed that something was wrong with Chu Muyun's condition. He keenly caught something in Chu Muyun's eyes and frowned as he asked:

"Senior Chu, what do you mean?"

"He is refining a Gu with his own body," Bai Ye spoke up directly.

Chu Muyun hadn't intended to confess to Chen Ling so soon; after all, he feared Chen Ling would try to stop him out of concern... But who would have thought that as soon as Bai Ye opened his mouth, he would spill his secret.

He glared fiercely at Bai Ye, knowing full well that Bai Ye had done it on purpose.

"What??" Chen Ling suddenly lowered his head to look at Chu Muyun.

Since things had come to this, Chu Muyun naturally couldn't hide it anymore. He gave a rough description of what he was doing, and Chen Ling's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Are you crazy?" Chen Ling couldn't believe what he was hearing. "No wonder you volunteered to go to the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury with us... From the very beginning, you intended to turn yourself into a sacrifice??"

"I am simply doing what I can to find a way out for humanity."

"You... but we are the Dusk Agency. Our goal is to restart the world, isn't it?"

Chu Muyun smiled slightly. "Of course we must restart the world, but the Dusk Agency is full of talent; it doesn't have to be me. But how many people are there who can help humanity hold on a little longer during this plague?"

Chen Ling looked at Chu Muyun in his wheelchair, at a loss for words.

He should have realized it sooner; Chu Muyun had been this kind of person from the start... Back in the third district of the Aurora Domain, when he was still an ordinary person, he had just sent him a letter asking for help, and Chu Muyun had brought his suitcase over to provide free medical care. Every time he carried his hammer, he looked like a madman, but after smashing people into pulp, he would always casually cure their hidden ailments before dusting off his clothes and leaving alone.

Hidden beneath that "keep strangers away" exterior and the ferocious hammer was a pure and burning heart of a healer.

Chen Ling was silent for a long time. "I understand..."

"I still need some time." Chu Muyun looked down at his own broken body. "Once I find the antidote to save these people, I will present it to Lord Red King immediately."

With things having reached this point, there was nothing Chen Ling could say to stop Chu Muyun. He could only tell Bai Ye to protect him well, then withdrew his Thought Storm.

When Chen Ling opened his eyes again, he was still in the quiet room.

He sat motionless like a statue in the dead silence for a long time, then slowly pushed his wheelchair, inching toward the room's balcony...

The person in the entire Dusk Agency most likely to cure Kong Baosheng was temporarily unable to act. The only thing to do now was to wait... wait for Chu Muyun to truly find the antidote to resolve this great plague.

Chen Ling stood behind the railing on the second floor of the theater, overlooking the domain shrouded in hunger, plague, and despair, and sighed softly:

"The worst of times... it couldn't be any worse than this, could it?"

……

Knock, knock, knock—

"Enter."

Following a weary voice, the office door was slowly opened.

Li Qingshan stepped through the windows that had been boarded up. The slivers of light leaking through the gaps in the boards were like tiny light-swords stabbing into the darkness, filling the oppressive and stifling office.

And in the center of this sealed office, a pair of bloodshot eyes opened silently.

"It's you." Cang Yun-jun smiled helplessly upon seeing the visitor. "Any good news?"

Li Qingshan looked quietly at this man who had been driven nearly to madness. After a moment of silence, he slowly uttered three words:

"He has come."

Cang Yun-jun's pupils contracted slightly.

"Where... is he?"

"At Jinghong Tower. Do you want to go see him?"

Cang Yun-jun fell silent. No one knew what he was thinking at that moment, but after a full minute, he shook his head:

"No... it's too early to go now."

"Haven't you been waiting for him all this time? Now that he's here, why do you think it's too early?" Li Qingshan frowned slightly.

Cang Yun-jun did not answer. Instead, he leaned back, resting his whole body against the chair, and countered:

"Have the clues to the Turbid Calamity been found?"

"...Still looking." Li Qingshan shook his head. "It hides too deep. We can only confirm that it should be hiding somewhere underground in the Cangyun Domain... but it's hard to pinpoint the exact location."

"Didn't I teach them to use the decay rate of crops in different regions to perform a fuzzy localization first?"

"They did indeed do that, but it doesn't seem to have been very effective... I don't know the specifics." Li Qingshan looked at him helplessly. "Mr. Qi, I'm just a performer here to help. Those calculations and formulas of yours... I don't understand them."

"Forget it. Let them come and report to me later."

Cang Yun-jun waved his hand and said.

Seeing this, Li Qingshan turned to leave.

But just as he was about to push the door open, Cang Yun-jun's slightly hesitant voice came from behind him again:

"You and him, you are good friends, right?"

"Can you tell me... what kind of person is he?"