The bugs kept eating at Guo Zhenghe’s body, including his innards, muscles, and brain. He felt pain everywhere. The pain was so intense that he felt as if he were about to get insane.

Miao Xihe disappeared from the hospital, which threw the doctors and police into a panic.

“Where is he? Did he run away?”

“That’s just about impossible,” the doctor who was in charge of him said. “How could he even run in such a state? He had problems even walking for goodness’ sake.”

“Where is he then?”

The police officers were all confused. They checked the surveillance and found several unidentified figures spiriting him away.

“Who are those people? Where are they taking him?”

In an underground room of a remote location in Haiqu…

“Tell me, how do you get this cured?” Guo Zhenghe asked with a sinister expression.

A huge patch of decayed flesh was on his face. The same went with his hand. There was even a section of his finger so decayed that the bone underneath was visible. One could have even detected bugs crawling on those places time and again, making the sight very harrowing to look at.

The man before him was Miao Xihe, who was nailed to a rack. His limbs and body were respectively nailed shut by steel nails that were over three feet long. However, there was little blood seen from the wounds.

“He-he.” Miao Xihe lethargically chuckled. It was as if he did not feel anything at all.

He had been subjected to various torture, yet he remained silent.

A drop of blood dripped on the back of Guo Zhenghe’s rotten hand. He felt the blood to be scorching hot. It was as if the spot had been touched by fire. His hand did not hurt as much after that.

“So, your blood can get rid of the bugs, eh?” Guo Zhenghe looked at the back of his hand, which even he found disgusting.

“Drain his blood, and be careful not to let him die!”

Eerie faint golden blood was extracted and collected in a bucket. Guo Zhenghe rushed to wash his body with the blood.

It actually worked. In a very short time, all the spots washed by the blood felt considerably less painful than they had been. He lifted the bucket and rushed to drink from it.

Everyone around him took a few steps back. They were frightened at what he had just done.

It was simply too harrowing to behold.

Xu Xinyuan went up to him and carefully asked, “How are you feeling, Sir?”

Guo Zhenghe looked up and said, “Blood, I want more of his blood, but keep him alive!”

The blood he had just drank made his stomach churn. It caused him to have the urge to vomit, but he pushed it down by sheer force of will.

That night had been one crazy night.

The next day, back in the northern village…

“Master, Miao Xihe disappeared from the hospital yesterday. He was taken somewhere else by some unidentified people.” Jia Zizai immediately informed Wang Yao of the news.

“I reckon it was the work of Secretary Guo,” Wang Yao said. “He was afflicted with the curse and was in desperate need to stay alive, so he would have done anything.”

“Will Miao Xihe rat us out?”

“He wouldn’t,” Wang Yao said. “When I fought him, I discovered that he no longer cares about whether he lives or dies. He has little to fear. Do you think someone who has no fear of death would let Guo Zhenghe run free and easy?”

“Well, that Secretary Guo is done for then,” Jia Zizai replied.

“Not necessarily,” Wang Yao said. “Something tells me that he won’t bite the dust so easily.”

In Haiqu…

“Blood, I need more blood!”

Guo Zhenghe’s body saw considerable changes in one night. The rotten parts of his body began to grow flesh again, and the wounds no longer hurt that badly. Miao Xihe’s strange blood, which he had ingested, seemed to have worked in peculiar ways in him. The blood eased the pain he was suffering. At the same time, it made him rather restless and enraged. The urge to beat people up, even to kill people, was intense.

“Sir, we can’t let any more blood out of him,” Xu Xinyuan said in a subdued voice to Guo Zhenghe, who was on the verge of running amok. “He will die if we keep doing it.”

Guo Zhenghe took many deep, labored breaths. A tinge of clearness was seen in his bloodshot eyes.

“We’ll wait for a little while longer then,” he said.

He went to the building topside and covered his face with a mask. His face was, at the moment, looking like it had been splashed by acid. It was a terrible sight to behold.

“Uncle Xu, I feel like I’ve changed in the past few days,” Guo Zhenghe said. “I’ve become more irritable and easily angered. I feel like someone else altogether.”

“You’ve been through a lot as of late, Sir,” Xu Xinyuan said.

“What you need is a good rest for the time being. Best still, rest in peace and quiet.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Guo Zhenghe said. “I need to rest. I can’t keep going on like this.”

Guo Zhenghe washed his body with blood extracted from Miao Xihe’s body for seven consecutive days. He also drank several cups of the older man’s blood every day. His body began to recover at frightening rates. The rotten skin began to regrow. New flesh grew, covering the exposed bones. Other than that, he also felt himself becoming more energetic. It was as if inexhaustible energy kept welling from his body.

He went underground and said to Miao Xihe, who was within an inch of his life by then, “Thank you.”

“You’ll regret this.”

“Regret? Well, it’s not like you’ll be there to see it anyway.”

“I’ll destroy your village and everything you fought so hard to protect!”

Miao Xihe shut his eyes and said nothing else.

In the village clinic…

Zheng Weijun was looking very excited and pleased with himself.

“Master, both the Heat Clearing Powder and Antidote Pill are selling like hotcakes,” he said. “Our reputation keeps building through word of mouth.”

“Well, so long as the ingredients are good, the medicines will work well,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

“Man, to think I used to run around places begging for others to hear me,” Zheng Weijun said. “Now, I’m just sitting with my legs crossed, waiting for clients to come begging for our favor instead. Gosh, this just feels great!” At the beginning of the venture, he had been going places begging to be heard and given a chance just so that the produced medicines could be sold. He had his fair share of doors slammed in his face. Now, people were all sucking up to him instead.

While they were talking, Jia Zizai entered the clinic. He refrained from saying anything since Zheng Weijun was there. He simply greeted the man with a smile.

“Well, time to leave you guys alone,” Zheng Weijun said. “I’ll be off, Master.”

“Take care of yourself,” Wang Yao said.

“I need to tell you something.”

“Miao Xihe’s body was found at the beach in Haiqu,” Jia Zizai said. “He had numerous wounds all over his body. It appears he was hideously tortured.”

“Is that so? That’s a pit.” Upon hearing the news, Wang Yao sighed. Miao Xihe was still quite a legend in some ways.

“What’s more, all his blood had been drained from his body,” Jia Zizai said.

“Blood?” Wang Yao shuddered for a bit when he heard that.

“I’m thinking that Secretary Guo found a way to cure himself of the curse.”

“With blood?”

“Think about it,” Wang Yao said. “Miao Xihe carried so many of those bugs on him, yet he was unaffected at all. There had to be something in him capable of working against those bugs. Furthermore, he had been tempering his body using medicine. The effects of the medicine traveled throughout his body, entering his internal organs and mind. He was a medicine man to begin with, so his blood would have had ways of repelling those terrible bugs.”

“Guo Zhenghe is one very lucky asshole indeed,” Jia Zizai said.

“Try to keep a close eye on him,” Wang Yao said. “After all, he is one hell of a schemer.”

“Noted, Master,” Jia Zizai replied.

Time flew. Before they knew it, spring had arrived

At Yenching University in Jing…

Su Xiaoxue was getting ready to head back to her hostel.

“Xiaoxue!” A man was heard calling her name.

“Zhenghe?” Su Xiaoxue traced the direction of the voice and saw Guo Zhenghe dressed in an immaculate suit. He had returned to how he was before. He emanated a unique aura. He also held a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“These are for you,” he said.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Su Xiaoxue did not take his flowers.

“I have someone I like now, and I remember telling you that more than once,” Su Xiaoxue said with a displeased tone.

“I know that, but you two are not married yet, which is to say that I still stand a chance,” Guo Zhenghe said.

“I don’t like you,” Su Xiaoxue coldly said. “In fact, I really don’t like you.”

“You’re still how I remember you being,” Guo Zhenghe replied.

“Don’t look for me ever again,” Su Xiaoxue coldly said before turning around and leaving.

“It doesn’t matter. People change. What if I were to tell you that the guy you like is now dead?” Guo Zhenghe muttered to himself.

He was not being loud with his words, yet Su Xiaoxue was able to hear him clearly. She halted her steps and swiftly turned around.

“Guo Zhenghe, if he has been harmed in any way, I’ll make you pay dearly for it.”

Guo Zhenghe simply chuckled.

“Guo Zhenghe was here.” When she returned home, Su Xiaoxue heard from her mother that Guo Zhenghe had been there as well.

“What was he doing here?” she asked.

“He said some mumbo jumbo that I was unable to understand,” Song Ruiping said. “He has changed.”

“Yeah, he looked for me at school as well,” Su Xiaoxue said. “The last thing he said was disgusting.”

“Oh? What did he say?” Song Ruiping asked.

Su Xiaoxue repeated what he said to her mother.

Song Ruiping lightly coughed and said, “Yeah, keep your distance from him from here on out. From what he said alone, you can tell that he’s already out of his mind somewhat.”