Chapter 93: The Powerful Act as They Please
"The true world is composed of the most complex colors," Bai Mo said, not explaining his Life Field, but rather speaking of things irrelevant.
The journey was mostly through countryside. The tsunami along the Mediterranean coast and the attacks suffered by Rome seemed not to have disturbed the leisurely life inland. All along the way were countless olive trees, and occasionally, as they passed a house, a few barks could be heard.
"It's barely a hundred kilometers from Rome here, yet it's distinctly two different worlds," Bai Mo mused.
"They spend most of the day on farm work, and only in the remaining time might they glance at the outside world. For them, the only practical impact is the temporary cancellation of the train to Rome from the nearby small town."
"I see Shao Wo Fu Mountain."
"Mm, this pleasant journey is nearly over," Di Ge La Su said, holding the steering wheel in front. "Where in the town at the foot of the mountain do you need to go?"
"Just drop me off on the outskirts of town; I'm just going for a walk around here."
"Then I'll stop here."
"Alright."
He placed the drop of blood on his fingertip, and the instant Di Ge La Su stopped the car and turned his head, Bai Mo flicked his finger lightly, sending the blood drop into Di Ge La Su's mouth.
"Mr. Bai, this is..." Di Ge La Su was about to ask, when he suddenly felt his entire body violently rejecting the foreign object that had just entered his mouth. The reaction was so intense that he couldn't speak clearly.
"Just a transaction."
Bai Mo meticulously observed the reactions throughout Di Ge La Su's body from the back seat. He found that as soon as his blood entered the other's system, it immediately triggered a violent rejection, far more intense than when he had first injected the mutated lysosome himself, just like with that little white mouse. He speculated that this was likely a matter of the power differential between them.
Back then, he himself was stronger than the owner of the mutated lysosome, whereas now, he was immeasurably stronger than Di Ge La Su, who had just developed his first spirit hub and was, according to the institute's classification, likely still at Spirit Animation Stage One. Moreover, even a single drop of his blood, possessing a Life Field, contained the will of his original self.
"I hope you win, otherwise I'll have to retrieve this drop of blood with psionics to save you. It's rare to meet someone to my liking," Bai Mo murmured.
Di Ge La Su felt as if he were sometimes burning and sometimes plunged into an ice chamber. His physical sensations and brain's cognition began to falter, and even concentrating on thinking about his current situation became incredibly difficult.
"No! What difference is there between me and a salted fish if I give up thinking!" He struggled to form this thought in his mind. "I am a philosopher! To abandon thought is to declare death!"
Relying on this "unyielding (self-hypnosis?)" will, Di Ge La Su persisted in thinking, even if his thoughts were just counting from one to ten, and then from ten back to one. Gradually, he found the burning sensation receded, the chilling sensation almost vanished, and everything began to return to normal.
"Good luck, it activated successfully." At this point, Bai Mo used psionics to retrieve the drop of his blood from Di Ge La Su's body, which had begun to lose the struggle against the host's will.
"How does your body feel?" Bai Mo asked as Di Ge La Su just opened his eyes.
"What did you just make me eat?! I nearly lost my life!" Di Ge La Su ignored Bai Mo's question, instead demanding furiously.
"A mysterious medicinal liquid from Huaxia, a Marrow Cleansing Elixir. It's a precious liquid that, if ingested and you pass the trial of will, can greatly enhance your overall attributes." Bai Mo rattled off, not even blinking. "We're friends, how could I harm you? See if you aren't much stronger now?"
Di Ge La Su hadn't yet grown accustomed to his increased strength. The moment he pushed off with his feet, his head slammed hard into the car roof.
"Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his head, and then noticed the car roof had a dent.
"Forgive my earlier outburst. Thank you very much for your gift." After confirming that his strength in all aspects had indeed advanced significantly, Di Ge La Su sincerely thanked Bai Mo.
"No need. As I said earlier, this is a transaction."
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Di Ge La Su felt a heavy blow to the back of his neck, and then he lost consciousness.
Bai Mo injected the unconscious Di Ge La Su with an anesthetic he had found in a bandit's lair yesterday, then took out a scalpel from his travel bag. Carefully and meticulously, he cross-referenced his observations from his divine sense, excised the spirit-energy-enhanced growths in Di Ge La Su's eyes related to emotional vision, and placed them into a specimen box.
Next, Bai Mo completely erased his own will from the retrieved drop of blood, then experimentally dripped it onto the incision where Di Ge La Su's ocular growths had been removed. To his surprise, after absorbing his drop of blood, the original incision site began to sprout granulation tissue resembling the former growths.
Seeing this, Bai Mo felt as excited as if he had discovered a new continent.
"It seems trading spirit hubs will be a good business in the future." He said, laughing, as he stitched up Di Ge La Su's eye incisions. "Though it might drain me dry of blood."
"Later, I'll try if other people's blood has this effect." Thus, a mad plan began to unfold.
"Awake? How do you feel?" Bai Mo asked after the anesthetic wore off.
"I'm alright. What happened just now?"
"Just now, I performed a small surgery on you, removing some useless residual substances from the Marrow Cleansing Elixir. Also, a reminder: after using this liquid, your eye ability might be ineffective for about two to three days, but it will then return to normal." Bai Mo estimated that two to three days should be enough for the granulation tissue to regrow into the original structure.
Although Di Ge La Su looked skeptical, Bai Mo offered no further explanation, adopting an expression that seemed to say, "Believe it or not, I believe it."
"The powerful act as they please. That saying truly hits the mark." Bai Mo casually pulled out a wad of one hundred dollar bills from his bag, tossed them onto the car seat, and then nonchalantly departed.
Di Ge La Su held the ten thousand dollars, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Right, the powerful act as they please. Since I'm still weak, overthinking is pointless. At least he was willing to make a fair trade with me. Although I don't know what he did to my eyes, the power he granted me is real. What does it matter if I can't use my ability for two or three days?" Although Di Ge La Su guessed the other party's actions, the thought of Bai Mo being able to make him faint without warning made him abandon any thoughts of pursuit.
Carrying his case, Bai Mo walked into the small town. The town at the foot of Shao Wo Fu Mountain, also deep inland and thus insulated from the tsunami, remained bustling with a lively atmosphere.
"Mama, that person looks different from everyone else," a four- or five-year-old boy said, tugging at his mother's skirt.
"Xiao Tuo Ni, he's an Easterner," the woman explained to her child.
"Easterner? What's that?" the little boy continued with his barrage of "what's that?" questions.
Bai Mo walked along the street, quietly listening to the people around him discuss him.
"It seems this isn't a tourist area, but rather a relatively closed-off town."
Comments