Chapter 600: The Hidden Relic

“In this world, there are always bad people who want to inflict pain upon you and the things you cherish. Even if you’re afraid of pain, you have to endure it first, and then transfer that pain right back to them.”

“A tooth for a tooth…”

“An eye for an eye…”

The captain whispered softly in Dr. Liu’s ear.

The fiery glow intensified, eventually blurring into a single ball of light…

A harsh light pierced through her drowsy eyelids. Dazzled, Li Luo slowly opened her eyes.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Xi bending over, looking down at her.

“You’re awake?”

Xi reached out and waved a hand in front of Li Luo’s face.

Li Luo was confused. She tried to push herself up, but her arms gave out and she slumped back down.

“Don’t rush. You’ve been asleep for three days. Let me get your blood flowing first,” Xi said with concern, gently touching Li Luo’s shoulder. A faint, imperceptible thread of healing power entered Li Luo’s body.

“Three days?” Li Luo could feel the soreness in her body steadily easing and the pangs of hunger slowly fading, but she still found it hard to believe.

“Yes, three days. I checked on you and saw you were in a deep sleep, so I didn’t wake you. But you’ve slept so long, you need to get up, move around, and eat something.” Xi took Li Luo’s hand and helped her sit up.

Only then did Li Luo realize she was lying on a bamboo cot next to the beacon. Her backpack was beside the cot, along with a pile of canned goods and other food.

“You were sleeping so soundly, we moved you up here. The predecessor conjured this food.”

“‘The predecessor?'” Li Luo quickly scanned her surroundings and saw Block floating nearby, chasing a headless rabbit formed from the Black Calamity.

The rabbit seemed to have had its programming altered; it just kept hopping in circles, occasionally digging at the dirt as if looking for something.

“So you know he’s not a healer?” Li Luo asked.

“Yes,” Xi said, a bit embarrassed. “The predecessor told me everything. But I still think he’s a wonderful senior. Even if he’s not a healer, he’s taught me so much.”

As Li Luo listened, her stomach started to grumble.

She quickly grabbed the food by the cot and began to eat.

‘Did I really sleep for three days? Was that dream really that long?’

Li Luo recalled the dream about the Pain Transfer Pills, feeling puzzled. The dream had been exceptionally real, remarkably vivid, as if it had actually happened.

‘Could that have been what really happened when the Pain Transfer Pills first appeared?’

At this thought, Li Luo quickly pulled out her electronic screen and searched for information on the Pain Transfer Pills.

However, she found nothing. She had searched when she first acquired the Pain Transfer Pills and gotten the same result. It was as if information about this relic was being deliberately hidden.

Xi stood to the side, watching Li Luo stop eating midway to anxiously pull out her electronic screen. Confused, she quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just looking up info on my relic.”

“The relic that can transfer wounds?” Xi Chui asked.

“Yes.”

Unconvinced, Li Luo searched several more times, but there was still absolutely no information.

It was as if this relic had never existed. There were no records of it whatsoever, which struck Li Luo as incredibly strange.

Logically, even if the discoverer of such a relic was kept anonymous, there should still be usage records. Even if it was classified for some reason, a summary of the relic’s effects and application examples should still show up in the database.

But now, this relic was like one of those “first discovery” relics, with no documentation at all.

‘Could it be that this relic has never been used since its discovery? The Pipe Fortress’s relic vault cataloged it but never uploaded its data?’

‘No, that’s not right… Wasn’t this relic discovered on Earth?’

The more Li Luo thought about it, the more something felt wrong. But then, remembering her dream, she thought of a new approach.

She began searching for a creature called the “Annular Tumor,” trying to find records of battles between humanity and this species.

And sure enough, she found it…

It was a catastrophic Abyss invasion from the early days of the Great Cataclysm, an event where humanity suffered immense losses. Back then, the Annular Tumors appeared as a terrifying new creature that devoured more than half a city.

The city was located near an Abyssal Chasm. The Annular Tumors had consumed their way from the chasm right up to the city’s edge. Later, the city’s patrol squad created a massive wall of fire within the city, halting the creatures’ advance and holding out until reinforcements arrived. Only then did humanity manage to drive the Annular Tumors back into the Abyss.

After the city was rebuilt, it became a part of Dawn City.

There wasn’t much information recorded about this battle. Such events were common near Abyssal Chasms, and this was just one of many. Humanity had fought countless battles, big and small, against the Abyss. There were far too many people and events to commemorate, making this particular battle seem unremarkable.

However, the battle did have some questionable points.

How did the patrol squad erect a wall of fire large enough to block the Annular Tumors in such a short time?

How could a wall of fire hold back the Annular Tumors for so long?

And the biggest question of all… why were there no civilian casualties in this battle, despite the entire patrol squad being wiped out?

It was inconceivable. A disaster that consumed over half a city, yet not a single civilian was harmed.

But too many strange things happened during the Great Cataclysm. The entire world was in chaos, and people had neither the time nor the energy to get to the bottom of everything. So, these questions were simply set aside.

For the government and the public, the lack of casualties was a good thing. The priority was resettling people and rebuilding the city. Such matters could be investigated after things stabilized. But no one expected the Great Cataclysm to be just the beginning; the world only grew more unstable afterward…

After reading through the information, an idea began to form in Li Luo’s mind.

What she had seen in her dream might have been real.

But why would she dream about that battle? She had no connection to it whatsoever.

‘Is it because of the Pain Transfer Pills? Do they cause vivid dreams?’

Li Luo recalled the words of the captain in her dream. It seemed he was trying to tell her something.

‘Those squadmates… they couldn’t have been real, right?’

How could a human possibly survive being bathed in a sea of fire? Anyone who wasn’t using a relic, like Dr. Liu, should have been instantly incinerated.

But then, why did Dr. Liu see those squadmates?

Were they hallucinations caused by his brain being scrambled by the scalpel?

‘In the end, the entire patrol squad was wiped out… Did Dr. Liu not survive either? Where did he go?’

Li Luo pondered, licking her lips.

Without realizing it, her mouth had become dry again…