Chapter 52 - 50: Life-Saving Medicine, Breaking the Spirit!

Chapter 52: Chapter 50: Life-Saving Medicine, Breaking the Spirit!

After the father-son reunion, Liu Zimo followed his dad into the inner bedroom.

There, he saw his uncle, Zhao Hongzhang, lying groggily on the bed. His entire body was flushed and burning hot. He was groaning, drifting in and out of consciousness—completely delirious from the fever.

Drawing on the medical experience he had acquired from Liu Siqi, Liu Zimo gave Zhao Hongzhang a brief physical examination. He discovered that the persistent high fever was caused by a simple tonsil infection.

Under normal circumstances, such an illness could be easily cured with a few packets of fever reducers and anti-inflammatory drugs. However, there were clearly no relevant medical supplies stocked at home right now, which had caused Zhao Hongzhang’s condition to worsen to a life-threatening degree.

"Dad, didn’t you go out to look for medicine earlier? Did you find any?" Liu Zimo asked Liu Yi softly.

Liu Yi sighed and shook his head, his face full of worry.

"Alas, find what?

"All the nearby clinics and pharmacies were looted clean long ago. The medicine shelves are completely bare!

"I just wandered around several streets downstairs. I ran into quite a few Demon Beasts, but I didn’t find a single pill of fever-reducing medicine!

"And your uncle... he’s living the bachelor life and never had the habit of keeping common medicines at home. Now look at us. All the pharmacies are empty, and we couldn’t find any even if we tried!"

Hearing this, Liu Zimo nodded in understanding.

This was entirely within expectations. Ten days had passed since the advent of the Demon Calamity. Many survivors who had evaded the first wave of Demon Beast attacks would inevitably have to risk leaving their shelters to search for essential supplies if they didn’t want to starve or die of thirst.

Supermarkets, grain and oil stores, bakeries, as well as pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals were bound to be the first places they targeted. Furthermore, more than half of Luozhou City had already been taken over by the local military and police, and the Demon Beasts in the city were mostly wiped out. Most of the living supplies in the city had likely fallen under military control. Unaware of the situation, his dad’s futile hope of finding the relevant medicines in nearby pharmacies and clinics was undoubtedly slim.

"Leave the search for medicine to me. I’ll get fever reducers and anti-inflammatory drugs for Uncle Hongzhang as soon as possible," Liu Zimo said, taking on the task of finding medicine.

It was also his own lack of foresight. Despite stockpiling so many emergency supplies, he hadn’t thought to prepare common medicines at home.

Of course, this also had to do with Liu Zimo’s lifestyle habits over the past thirty years. After initiating into the Martial Dao, his body had been as robust as an ox. In thirty years, aside from getting injured, he hadn’t fallen sick even once, so he naturally never developed the habit of stockpiling medicines.

In fact, it wasn’t just Liu Zimo. In the Post-Apocalypse, due to the continuous eruption of Spiritual Energy storms, the physical fitness of humanity constantly surged toward its limits under the nourishment of the increasingly dense Spiritual Energy.

A year after the outbreak of the Demon Calamity, even ordinary people who had not stepped onto the Martial Dao were incredibly robust, and illnesses like colds and fevers rarely occurred. Even if they were injured, as long as it wasn’t a severed limb or damage to the brain and internal organs, they could quickly recover on their own without taking medicine. It was just like the wounds Yang Sisi had sustained during her battle with the Demon Beasts earlier—without medicine or stitches, they had healed on their own in just a few hours.

Thus, in the Post-Apocalypse, humans typically only died in battle from injuries, and rarely from illness.

Liu Zimo hadn’t expected that his uncle, who should have been incredibly sturdy after experiencing the first Spiritual Energy baptism, would be so unlucky as to contract a tonsil infection.

"Um... Advisor Liu, excuse me!

"If you only need fever reducers and anti-inflammatory drugs, I might be able to help out a bit!"

Hearing the conversation between the father and son, Yang Sisi, who had been obediently sitting in the living room resting while holding Feihong’s hand, suddenly interrupted.

"Before leaving Shangjing City, I grabbed some anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing medicines from a pharmacy next to the supermarket. They’re right here in my bag!" she said, opening the hiking backpack she had been carrying. She dug out over a dozen boxes of various kinds of traditional Chinese and Western medicines.

Among them, pediatric fever reducers and cough syrups made up the majority.

It was obvious that Yang Sisi had prepared these for Feihong. As a girl, she was naturally more detail-oriented and thoughtful.

Knowing that it would be extremely troublesome if a young child fell sick, Yang Sisi had made a special trip to the pharmacy to prepare a good amount of relevant medicines just in case, right while gathering supplies for the journey out of Shangjing City alongside Liu Zimo.

Little did she know that Feihong’s cultivation would advance in leaps and bounds, rendering her so ridiculously healthy that she never had the chance to get sick. Therefore, the medicines Yang Sisi prepared naturally became dead weight, lying idle at the bottom of her bag. Over time, she had almost forgotten they even existed.

Had she not just overheard Advisor Liu’s family stressing over the lack of medicine, she might still not have remembered them.

"Oh my! Good girl, you’ve really been a huge help. Let me thank you on behalf of my entire family!

"We are so grateful!

"If his uncle survives this, you’ll be our family’s great benefactor!"

Hearing there was medicine, Liu Yi darted out of the inner bedroom with a WHOOSH. Seeing the large pile of medicine on the table, his eyes reddened with excitement as he took Yang Sisi’s hands and continuously expressed his thanks.

"Mr. Liu, there’s no need to be so polite. My life was saved by Advisor Liu, so these few boxes of medicine are nothing..." Yang Sisi said softly, feeling a little embarrassed.

Liu Zimo also walked out from the inner room at this moment. Looking at the medicine on the table, he cast a grateful glance at Yang Sisi.

"There’s no need to bring up the past. Let’s treat each matter separately.

"These medicines might not have been much before the calamity, but now, they are life-saving treasures.

"I’ll remember this favor!"

After saying that, Liu Zimo cast a speechless glance at his dad, who was still holding onto the girl’s hands and refusing to let go, and gently reminded him, "Dad, since we have the medicine now, hurry up and take it inside to feed Uncle Hongzhang. Otherwise, if his fever keeps running, his brain is really going to fry!"

Liu Yi didn’t budge. He looked up and gave his eldest son an annoyed eye-roll.

"You kid, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? Can’t you wish for your uncle to get better?

"Also, you’re an adult now. Can’t you read the room? Can’t you see I’m talking to the young lady? Couldn’t you use your own legs and bring the medicine to your uncle yourself?"

With that, he casually tossed a box of anti-inflammatory drugs and fever reducers from the table to Liu Zimo. Then, with a beaming smile, he softly asked Yang Sisi, "We were in a bit of a rush when we got back, so I didn’t get a chance to ask. What’s your name, miss? And what’s your relationship with my eldest boy?

"Oh, and this little girl, she’s so cute and well-behaved. Tell me, what’s your name? Where are your mommy and daddy?"

Now that they had the life-saving medicine, the worry and burden in his heart had vanished. Liu Yi immediately reverted to his overly familiar, chatty nature, enthusiastically making small talk with Yang Sisi and Ye Feihong.

During the conversation, he even gossiped and asked Yang Sisi if she was dating Liu Zimo or something, perfectly embodying the image of an old father fretting over his son’s marriage prospects.

Regarding this, Liu Zimo was utterly speechless; his dad was sprouting nonsense again.

To prevent his dad from losing his filter and making any more wildly inappropriate remarks, Liu Zimo handed the medicine to Liu Zihao. Under the pretext of having urgent business to attend to, he grabbed Yang Sisi and jumped out the window, fleeing the scene.

As for Ye Feihong, she stayed at home following Liu Zimo’s instructions to rest while simultaneously protecting his dad and the other two. The little girl was, after all, an Iron Bone realm Martial Artist now—a bona fide little expert. Acting as a bodyguard was more than within her capabilities!

Meanwhile, at the Luozhou City Military Staff Department.

Director Liang Luohua and Deputy Chief of Staff Zhou Yiren stood holding binoculars, gazing across the distance from their temporary camp toward a commercial high-rise in the city center.

On the outer wall of the building, a thirty-meter-long white silk banner was fluttering in the wind. The white silk was covered in large red characters, and at both its upper and lower ends hung a fresh corpse dressed in Daoist robes.

"Tsk, tsk. When I first heard the news, I thought it was just a rumor. I figured that those two from Dragon Tiger Mountain, who were both highly skilled in the Illusion Technique and possessed extraordinary martial prowess, wouldn’t have died so easily.

"But now, the facts are laid out right before our eyes. It’s impossible not to believe it!" Zhou Yiren commented, his tone tinged with schadenfreude.

"I wonder which hero dared to deliver such a fatal blow to the disciples of Dragon Tiger Mountain?

"What’s even more interesting is that the killer didn’t just stop at murder. They actually publicized the duo’s crimes and hung them up alongside their corpses in the city center for everyone to see!

"Talk about completely destroying them body and soul, without leaving a shred of dignity!

"Director Liang, do you think those crimes written on the white silk are real?

"Dragon Tiger Mountain is a prestigious sect, after all. They emphasize charity and accumulating merit. They shouldn’t be capable of such atrocious acts, right?"

Liang Luohua shook his head slightly. "You can know a person’s face but not their heart. Disciples of prestigious sects aren’t immune to having heinous villains among their ranks.

"Whether this matter is true or false will become clear once we send someone to investigate. No matter how chaotic the current situation is, the life-and-death movements of over two hundred people aren’t so easily concealed.

"However, compared to the crimes committed by Jing Yong and Xuanqing, what I want to know more is: who exactly made the move?

"To silently eliminate an Iron Bone realm Martial Artist like this isn’t something just anyone can do!

"At a crucial juncture like this, having a mysterious expert of unknown origin and unclear allegiances suddenly appear in Luozhou is a real headache!"

Zhou Yiren nodded slightly in agreement, the expression on his face growing a few shades more solemn.

He had long since personally experienced just how powerful an Iron Bone realm Martial Artist was. In a situation without heavy firearms, if such a person faced off against the warriors under their command, taking on a hundred or even a thousand at once would be no difficult task. This was precisely why the Military Staff Department had always been so wary of, and even accommodating toward, the Iron Bone realm Martial Artists active in the city.

Now, an even stronger individual whose cultivation was very likely above the Iron Bone realm had suddenly popped up in the city. To their Military Staff Department, this could not be considered good news.

An uncontrolled, unrestrained supreme expert was absolutely a destabilizing factor for the current Luozhou City. It was no wonder Director Liang found it such a headache and was so eager to smoke them out.