Chapter 598 - 595: Li Luo’s Dream

Chapter 598: Chapter 595: Li Luo’s Dream

Faint firelight flickered on the Sky Island, which had already descended into darkness. The beacon by his ear buzzed softly from time to time.

After everything had fallen silent, the island’s surviving creatures crawled out again. A soft insectile chirping filled the air; these tenacious lifeforms had survived yet another catastrophe.

In a daze, Li Luo seemed to see the fire growing brighter and brighter...

...

The fire burned, and burned.

"Dr. Liu! Dr. Liu! Please, get me a few more painkillers!"

A soldier in a tattered uniform pleaded weakly before him. His body was wrapped in bandages from which reddish-black blood seeped, and he looked as if he wouldn’t last much longer.

And yet, the soldier’s eyes were filled with fighting spirit.

Dr. Liu met the soldier’s gaze for a moment, then turned and opened his medical kit.

"I’m out. Can you hold on?"

"I can manage. Just wrap it up for me. Thank you, Doctor." The soldier gritted his teeth and held out his leg.

The soldier’s right knee was a bloody, mangled mess; one could even see the yellowish-white of the bone. The wound was smeared with powders of various colors, a clear sign the soldier had attempted some rudimentary treatment himself. Still, the sight of it was shocking.

Dr. Liu glanced into his medical kit again and took a deep breath.

Inside the kit, there was still one blister pack of painkillers.

He had scavenged them from a pharmacy while rescuing civilians earlier, but now, he had to keep them for himself...

"Can you still hold on?" Dr. Liu asked while disinfecting the wound with iodine. He knew if he didn’t keep the soldier talking, the man would likely pass out from the pain.

"I can take it. My leg hurts so much it’s gone numb... Just be quick. Don’t hold back," the soldier replied through gritted teeth, sweat already pouring down his face.

Hearing this, Dr. Liu’s hands trembled as he carefully wrapped the bandage.

"All done." Dr. Liu opened his mouth, about to give some medical advice, but it didn’t seem so important anymore...

"Dr. Liu, have the higher-ups said when reinforcements are arriving?" the soldier asked with a glimmer of hope.

"Soon," Dr. Liu replied softly. It was a standard answer—so standard that he himself had no idea what "soon" really meant.

The soldier understood what he meant, and the two of them fell into a wordless silence.

"Right, then." The soldier staggered to his feet. His right leg was completely unable to bend, forced to remain ramrod straight. Dr. Liu stared, his eyes wide, wondering if the soldier had truly lost all sensation or was simply fooling himself.

"Thank you, Doctor." The soldier nodded to Dr. Liu, turned, and walked toward the blazing sea of fire before them.

"I’m going to kill some more of the enemy."

The soldier left him with only those words. Dr. Liu’s ears were ringing, and the pain in his own arm was the only thing that snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts.

Dr. Liu looked down at his wrist and carefully pulled back the long sleeve of his medical coat.

The skin was completely ulcerated, covered in a blurry mess of bloody scabs. If not for the painkillers he’d taken, Dr. Liu wouldn’t have even been able to bandage the soldier.

Looking at the mangled flesh of his wrist, Dr. Liu’s hand began to tremble again. He quickly pulled the sleeve back down. ’Out of sight, out of mind.’

He walked to the entrance of the makeshift medical station and looked out over the sea of fire. Fleshy, donut-shaped creatures were steadily advancing in their direction.

The higher-ups called these creatures Anulomas. They slowly corroded everything around them, turning objects into breeding grounds for their own replication, much like a virus.

After emerging from some great abyss, these creatures began to corrode the surrounding buildings. His squad had been trapped here after rescuing a group of civilians.

His teammates had vanished one by one. The captain had set a massive fire to hold the creatures back, while he, as the squad’s medic, remained in the rear to provide support.

’I wonder where the civilians retreated to...’ Dr. Liu glanced behind him. Several large buildings loomed behind the makeshift medical station. If those Anulomas managed to corrode these, their numbers would swell to a terrifying degree.

But now, it seemed the Anulomas had gotten smarter; they were starting to fly over the sea of flames to get around it.

Just as a few Anulomas were about to clear the inferno, they were shattered by bullets fired from below. It seemed some of his teammates were still fighting within the sea of flames.

However, Dr. Liu knew they couldn’t last much longer.

A wave of inexplicable fear washed over him. Dr. Liu turned back inside the medical station and picked up the gun from the table.

After a moment’s thought, he grabbed his medical kit as well and returned to the entrance.

Aiming the muzzle at the Anulomas above, Dr. Liu pulled the trigger.

The recoil sent a sharp, jarring pain through his wrist, but after a few shots—perhaps thanks to the adrenaline—he gradually started to adapt to it.

However, the fresh blood seeping through his coat sleeve was a stark reminder that his wrist couldn’t take much more.

Dr. Liu ignored it and aimed at several more Anulomas, but this time, as he’d feared, the shot went wide...

His hand was shaking, shaking so violently he couldn’t aim at all.

Left with no other choice, Dr. Liu opened his medical kit and took out the blister pack of painkillers.

Dr. Liu was about to pop a pill out and swallow it, but just then, he noticed the text on the foil backing.

’These aren’t painkillers?’

’Pain Transfer Pills?’

Dr. Liu quickly read the description of the drug’s effects and adverse reactions on the foil. In disbelief, he popped out a pill.

Then, before his shocked eyes, the foil backing slowly repaired itself, and a new pill materialized within the blister.

’This is a Relic! The effects listed on the packaging might actually be real!’

With this realization, Dr. Liu carefully reread the text on the foil.

"Adverse Reactions: Drowsiness, dry mouth, vivid dreams."

After finishing the text, Dr. Liu didn’t hesitate and swallowed the pill.

Immediately, a strange sensation washed over him. Guided by it, he looked down at the wound on his wrist.

Under his gaze, the wound actually began to transfer, shooting toward an Anuloma above the sea of fire. The creature staggered as the wound suddenly appeared on it, and it plummeted into the inferno.

Looking at his own, perfectly healed wrist, Dr. Liu was now certain: this was truly a Relic.

However, the situation seemed to be taking a turn for the worse.

Dr. Liu hadn’t seen any bullets fly from the sea of fire in a long time, nor had any of his teammates returned to the medical station. Meanwhile, the Anulomas were drawing ever closer to the buildings behind him.

Dr. Liu kept pulling the trigger, shooting down a few more Anulomas, but more and more of them were emerging from the flames.

’I’m running out of bullets...’ A drop of cold sweat trickled down Dr. Liu’s forehead. The moment those Anulomas touched the buildings behind him, there would be another population explosion. The civilians who had retreated into those buildings would be in grave danger.

In an instant, Dr. Liu thought of a solution.

He opened his medical kit, grabbed a scalpel, and slashed it viciously across his own arm. Blood immediately began to pour out.

But he wasn’t finished. Under his mental command, the gash instantly transferred to an Anuloma above the sea of fire. These creatures seemed highly sensitive to pain; easily affected, it faltered for a moment before dropping into the flames below.

Seeing this, Dr. Liu felt a surge of elation and once again brought the scalpel to his own skin...