Chapter 139: Failure, Liang Ziyin Retreats

Qiu Feng asked Bian Changxi, “Miss Bian, what do you think?”

Bian Changxi replied, “I’ve never seen this kind of plant before, so we need to be extremely cautious in how we use it. Mr. Liang’s suggestion isn’t without merit, but in my opinion, we shouldn’t ingest it just yet. Didn’t someone say the residue could be used externally? Let’s try that first and see if it works.”

She glanced at Liang Ziyin, thinking to herself, This guy really isn’t prepared. We’re at a critical moment, and he still doesn’t seem to know how to use the Five-Colored Grass. This suggests two things: first, he’s just repeating rumors and making guesses about its effects; second, even if he did prepare, something must have changed and he didn’t get all the information. Otherwise, with how toxic Five-Colored Grass is and how dire Shadow’s condition is, one misstep could be fatal—Liang Ziyin wouldn’t even make it out of the villa alive. The risk is enormous. There’s no way he’d recommend this to Gu Xu without some guarantee.

Of course, it’s also possible he’s just pretending to know less than he does, to make things seem more reasonable and authentic.

But judging by the panic and forced composure in his eyes, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Qiu Feng thought her reasoning made sense, but as for the residue...

He said, “Let’s mash some of it, and boil some of it. We’ll keep both the juice and the residue and test them one by one. Miss Bian, could you help us?”

Bian Changxi helped process the grass, while Qiu Feng consulted the old Chinese medicine doctor who hadn’t left yet, but didn’t get any definitive or constructive advice. Once everything was ready, Qiu Feng, Qiu Yun, and Liang Ziyin went to Shadow’s bedroom. Anan helped out, Bian Changxi stood by to assist if needed, and Wu Dalang watched anxiously from his wheelchair at the door.

Qiu Feng took charge, first applying the boiled residue to the back of Shadow’s hand. The hand was already so dark and swollen it almost glowed. If this discoloration was due to snake venom, one could only imagine how much poison had built up in Shadow’s body.

They applied the hot residue, but there was no reaction. When asked, Shadow replied in a nearly unintelligible, weak voice, “Cool.”

The residue was warm, but Shadow felt it as cool—there was an effect!

Qiu Feng proceeded to apply it to his whole arm.

The yellowish residue smeared on the blackened arm looked quite unsightly. Everyone waited in tense silence, quickly noticing that the yellow color of the residue was fading, as if being absorbed by the skin. Shadow let out two muffled groans: “Itchy…”

“It’s really working!” Liang Ziyin exclaimed in delight. “This residue was boiled to mush, so most of the essence is gone. Let’s try the mashed residue instead—it should work even better.”

He meant the residue from the mashed, unboiled grass.

Qiu Feng looked at Bian Changxi, who said, “If the boiled stuff works, we should be cautious. Let’s rinse the mashed residue with water to dilute its potency before applying it.”

Liang Ziyin frowned. At this rate, how long would it take to see results? If things went on like this, they wouldn’t even get to try the juice today. The person in bed wasn’t his concern—he just wanted immediate results, ideally a miraculous recovery, so he could claim credit. Qiu Feng, however, fully agreed with Bian Changxi. Time was the least of their worries—safety came first.

Anan and Bian Changxi put the mashed residue in white gauze and rinsed it repeatedly with clean water until the green color was almost gone before using it.

Liang Ziyin said in a low voice, “Miss Bian, you’re being overly cautious. The water you rinsed out is probably more potent than this residue. At this rate, when will Mr. Song be out of danger?”

Bian Changxi suddenly realized, “That’s a good point. If external application works, we could make a medicinal soak for Shadow.” She added, “But I still don’t agree with ingesting it—medicine is always somewhat toxic, and this is a strange mutated plant.”

In fact, Five-Colored Grass is a poisonous plant. Its main function is to neutralize snake venom—in other words, fighting poison with poison. So, the most effective method is to drink the juice, but Shadow’s strong reaction just now showed two things: first, the concentration of poison in his body is extremely high, so even a little antidote is rapidly absorbed; second, his body is too weak to handle it, hence the intense reaction—his body is protesting.

So, they could only use the gentler, conservative approach of external application. This method might take a month or two and probably wouldn’t fully cure him, but it was the safest. If anything went wrong, they could wash it off immediately. If he ingested it, even stomach-pumping might not help, and it would take a long time anyway.

Qiu Feng nodded repeatedly, lifted the blanket, and applied the residue from Shadow’s arm all the way to his back. Bian Changxi cautioned, “Be careful—don’t apply it where the skin is too thin.”

Liang Ziyin quickly agreed, “Right, and don’t get too close to the internal organs either.” Seeing that Qiu Feng was prioritizing safety above all else, Liang Ziyin knew he had no choice but to go along, since any credit for saving Shadow would still be his in the end. As he spoke, he moved to the head of the bed, subtly nudging Bian Changxi aside, put on gloves, and checked Shadow’s condition.

“Hmm, Mr. Song’s condition is stable for now.”

Bian Changxi stepped aside, not bothering to argue.

But just then, Shadow suddenly began convulsing, the black shadows on his body writhing violently. Bian Changxi tensed. “Wash it off!”

She grabbed a basin of clean water and splashed it over Shadow.

The water washed everything off Shadow—and soaked Liang Ziyin as well. He shuddered, but his hand was gripped tightly by Shadow, who was unconscious and wouldn’t let go. Dark, viscous liquid oozed from under Shadow’s skin, and when it touched Liang Ziyin’s hand, it made a sizzling, corrosive sound. Liang Ziyin’s face turned pale with fright as he quickly used his wood-type energy to heal himself, struggling to free his hand.

Bian Changxi pressed her hand to Shadow’s arm, sending energy into him, and immediately “saw” the dense, agitated green dots boiling inside his body.

Whenever someone is infected by an external virus or toxin, these green dots appear in their body—last time, when she treated Gu Xu, she could sense them. In zombies, the dots are black. She’d already figured out this pattern. The shape and number of green dots indicated the severity of the injury.

The green dots in Shadow’s body were large and twisted, colliding and churning as if sensing an external threat, each one jumping up to resist.

Bian Changxi quickly used her own energy to “soothe” them.

As her green energy flowed through, the dots shifted their attention. The green current quickly spread, wrapping around each dot like silk, isolating and suppressing them in small spaces. The white glow in the green current had a chilling effect, freezing the dots and gradually draining their energy. Externally, Shadow slowly calmed down.

Bian Changxi withdrew her hand, now covered in sticky, dark poison that made her palm blurry and steaming. Anan immediately handed her a wet towel. As she wiped her hands, Bian Changxi said, “This poison is really potent—it even fights back. Looks like we overdid it.”

Qiu Feng was shocked and quickly asked the gasping Shadow, “How do you feel?”

Shadow couldn’t speak, but the shock had at least cleared his mind a bit. He shook his head, indicating he could still hold on.

Qiu Feng nodded and said to Bian Changxi, “Looks like we’ll have to find another way.” He glanced at Liang Ziyin, his gaze icy. He’d seen clearly how Liang Ziyin had only cared about saving himself just now, forcefully prying Shadow’s fingers off without regard for Shadow’s safety. That behavior earned Liang Ziyin a big black mark in Qiu Feng’s mind.

Liang Ziyin felt uneasy under that gaze. The sudden crisis had been terrifying, and his reaction was pure instinct—how could he be blamed? That poisonous liquid was horrifying, sizzling on his hand like hot oil.

“Deputy Qiu…”

“Mr. Liang, you must be tired after running around with us all day. Why don’t you go get some rest? Shadow can’t undergo any more tests right now. I’ll have someone call you if we need you.”

Liang Ziyin’s face turned ashen. Looking around, he saw everyone’s eyes were cold and disapproving. He hesitated, then forced a smile. “Alright, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Up in the building, Wen Mingli watched through binoculars as Liang Ziyin left the villa, looking dejected. She knew he’d failed.

“Useless. Just because I didn’t spell everything out for him, he actually let himself get kicked out.”

Liang Ziyin wasn’t her man, and she’d never planned to plant her own people around Gu Xu—his team was too sharp-eyed, and any slip-up would expose her. She wasn’t worried about her spies’ safety, but she didn’t want the trail leading back to her.

She’d originally wanted to plant someone among Gu Xu’s colleagues, but he hadn’t followed the same path as in her previous life, so all her arrangements were wasted.

But once Liang Ziyin was chosen by Qiu Feng and got close to Gu Xu, she started paying attention to him. After Bian Changxi arrived at the base, she secretly and indirectly leaked information about the Five-Colored Grass to him.

Even if Liang Ziyin gained Gu Xu’s trust, Wen Mingli wouldn’t benefit, but at least Bian Changxi would suffer—a classic case of hurting others without helping herself. In the end, it hadn’t worked.

Wen Mingli pouted. So annoying—how did Bian Changxi get so capable this time? Liang Ziyin was already above average, but he still couldn’t match her?

A burly man wrapped his arm around her waist. “Why get upset over such a trivial matter? He’s just a pawn—if he’s useless, let him go. If you’re really unhappy, I can send Xiao Anzi over. He’s much more capable.”

“No way, Xiao Anzi is for you, Brother Sun. I can’t give him to anyone else. Even if we pushed Bian Changxi aside, it wouldn’t be worth it.” Xiao Anzi was Gu Xu’s chief doctor in her previous life, the only wood-type user to reach level nine in seven years of the apocalypse, with near-miraculous healing powers. When she first saw him a month ago, she thought she was seeing things. She practically treated him like a treasure, giving him anything he wanted. He’d just reached level three yesterday—his progress really lived up to her expectations.

I’m feeling a bit drained. I wanted to write something more exciting, but it keeps coming out bland. I’ll try to get Bian out of the base soon to fight zombies. Staying cooped up inside, scheming with these people, is just too boring.