Too Fresh and Delicious

Too Fresh and Delicious

He Haiqin despised foreigners, just as He Jiaqing despised the exchange students at school. In this regard, father and son were astonishingly alike.

He Yuxiu clasped He Haiqin's hand. "Brother, listen to your sister. This doctor truly has some skill. Xiao Zhengong sent him over, so just let him try."

"Get out!" He Haiqin shoved his sister away.

He Yuxiu looked at Yan Yulin. "Sister-in-law, say something!"

Yan Yulin took a deep breath and gathered her courage. "Master, I've listened to you all my life. I'm making the decision just this once. Sister, please invite the doctor in!"

He Yuxiu got up to fetch the doctor. He Haiqin was furious beyond measure, but powerless to stop her.

Before long, the doctor Cui Tike came to the window. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a high-bridged nose. The sight of He Haiqin covered in pustules startled him.

Yan Yulin hurriedly explained, "Doctor, don't be afraid. These pustules aren't contagious. Our family has cared for him for two years, and no one has ever caught it."

"Damn foreign devil!" He Haiqin shot Cui Tike a glare, then turned to Yan Yulin. "Why are you telling him all that useless nonsense? Can this foreign devil even understand you?"

"I understand!" Cui Tike answered in crisp, standard speech. "Not all foreign devils are bad people. I'm a good foreign devil. I love Pro State."

He Haiqin forced out a smile. "You sure know how to flap that mouth of yours."

"It isn't just talk." Cui Tike unbuttoned his shirt, exposing a hairy chest. Tattooed across it were five large characters—I love Pro State.

Yan Yulin covered her eyes.

He Yuxiu said from the side, "Look at that, look! He means it sincerely. He even tattooed it over his heart."

He Haiqin turned away, unwilling to look at Cui Tike. "My house doesn't have any of your foreign equipment. Leave."

Cui Tike shook his head with a smile. "Honored master, don't worry. I don't need foreign equipment.

"I am a Medicine Cultivator. I use Pro State's ancient medical arts. Let me first examine your pulse."

Cui Tike seriously took He Haiqin's pulse. He Haiqin endured his disgust and did not want to look at him again.

Several minutes later, Cui Tike seemed to have reached a diagnosis. He took out his bag, removed a silver needle, sterilized it over a candle flame, and gently pierced one of He Haiqin's pustules.

Thick green fluid flowed out. Cui Tike dipped his finger into it and held it beneath his nose to smell it.

Then he licked the fluid off his finger and tasted it.

Yan Yulin had just emphasized that the pustules were not contagious.

Even so, seeing Cui Tike put that fluid into his mouth made Yan Yulin retch.

It was not only her. Even He Haiqin, the owner of the pustules, wanted to vomit.

He Yuxiu had a stronger stomach. Her cheeks twitched for a moment before she said to He Haiqin, "Brother, look at how dedicated Doctor Cui is. He ate it with his own mouth, and he's still savoring the flavor!"

"Bleurgh—" He Haiqin vomited.

A Food Cultivator could not vomit lightly. It was the utmost disrespect toward food.

But He Haiqin truly could not hold it back.

Cui Tike's tongue was still moving, carefully savoring the flavor of the pustule.

Several minutes later, Cui Tike nodded. "I think I know the origin of this illness."

He Yuxiu froze. "Tell us?"

Cui Tike said, "This illness should not have existed in this world, yet someone created it."

Upon hearing this, He Haiqin turned his face back, looking at Cui Tike in considerable surprise. "You know who harmed me?"

He had always suspected the Lu Family had struck at him from the shadows.

He Yuxiu's eyes widened as well. "Was it those bastards from the Lu Family?"

Cui Tike shook his head. "I don't know who it was, but I can find a way to break it. Honored master, please give me a room to myself so I can prepare medicine for you."

He Haiqin frowned slightly. He did not want to take medicine of unknown origin.

Cui Tike knew what He Haiqin was worried about. "Honored master, please rest assured. I will remain in your residence until you recover. If anything goes wrong during that time, you may kill me whenever you wish."

He Haiqin looked at Yan Yulin. Yan Yulin gave the steward a meaningful glance, and a separate room was arranged for Cui Tike.

Less than half an hour later, Cui Tike emerged from the room holding a test tube filled with white powder.

"Honored master, please swallow this medicine. Your illness will soon be cured."

He Haiqin stared at the white powder, his cheeks twitching repeatedly.

He did not want to take it. He did not trust foreigners.

But in his present state, even if he did not take medicine, he would not last more than a few hours.

Yan Yulin took the test tube. After hesitating for a moment, He Haiqin nodded.

Yan Yulin fed the powder into He Haiqin's mouth.

He Haiqin's throat was full of pustules, making it extremely difficult for him to swallow. That was also why he could not eat.

Yet this time was strange. Though it had not been mixed with water, he somehow managed to swallow the dry, astringent powder.

Cui Tike stood properly at the bedside, indicating that he would not leave.

After waiting about an hour, the originally frail He Haiqin slowly sat up from the sickbed.

He was sweating heavily, and a faint trace of color had returned to his pustule-covered skin.

Yan Yulin's face was full of joy.

He Yuxiu praised him without end. "Brother, look how incredible Doctor Cui is! Just one dose, and you've already recovered!"

Cui Tike smiled slightly. "Honored master, do you believe me now?"

He Haiqin gave a cold snort. "Foreign devils' medicine is always like this—treating the symptoms, not the root!"

Cui Tike shook his head. "I will remain in your residence until you are fully recovered."

He Haiqin cast Cui Tike a sidelong glance. "How much did Xiao Zhengong pay you?"

Cui Tike spread his hands. "I cannot tell you that. It is a matter of professional ethics. Sect Leader Xiao insisted that I cure you, and he said money was no object."

He Haiqin frowned. "How much exactly? Stop beating around the bush!"

Cui Tike looked quite helpless. "Sect Leader Xiao gave me ten thousand silver dollars."

He Haiqin nodded and told the steward, "Give him ten thousand silver dollars and let him return to the guest room to rest."

Cui Tike shook his head. "You needn't give me money. Sect Leader Xiao already—"

"This is my reward to you! Go on, get out!" He Haiqin admired Cui Tike's medical skills, but that did not change his disgust toward foreigners.

After Cui Tike left, He Haiqin said to his wife, "Yulin, bring paper and pen. I'm writing my will."

"Master, what are you doing?" Yan Yulin wished she could cover He Haiqin's mouth. "You're already better, yet you're saying such inauspicious things again."

"I don't trust that foreign devil. For all I know, this is just a final flash before death. Hurry and bring the paper and pen. I'll speak, you write. Elder Sister, you be a witness."

He Haiqin was very stubborn, and no one else dared defy him. Once the paper and pen were prepared, the first thing He Haiqin instructed was that the He Family be entrusted to He Jiaqing.

He Yuxiu said from the side, "Brother, let me remind you: Jiaqing is still lying there. Whether he can wake up is another matter entirely."

He Haiqin shook his head. "I heard from Third Brother that Jiaqing is not seriously hurt."

He Yuxiu snorted. "You're the only one who trusts Third Brother. Do you know what he's really plotting?

"If anything happens to you and Jiaqing, Sister-in-law and I definitely won't be able to fight him. The He Family will fall into his hands. Jiaqing ended up like this—perhaps he was the one who did it!"

"Elder Sister, you, you, you..." He Haiqin suddenly began gasping violently, the pustules all over his body bursting one after another.

Yan Yulin hurriedly supported He Haiqin.

"Hai Qin, your sister was only speaking carelessly. Don't scare your sister like this!" He Yuxiu was about to fetch Cui Tike when He Haiqin called out to stop her.

"Elder Sister, I'm hungry. Get me something to eat..."

Hungry?

He Haiqin was hungry!

If a Food Cultivator could eat, it meant he had weathered this ordeal.

He Yuxiu was overjoyed. "Doctor Cui is far too miraculous! He only took one dose of his medicine, and he pulled through!"

Medicine?

Did it work?

No. It was utterly useless!

That white powder was no different from dirt on the ground!

Sitting in the guest room, Cui Tike stuck out his tongue at the mirror.

On his tongue was a green pustule the size of a pea.

What cured He Haiqin was not medicine. Cui Tike had transferred every lesion from He Haiqin's body onto himself.

From the moment he first licked the pustule fluid, the lesions had already passed onto him.

From that moment on, He Haiqin had begun recovering. That was why he could swallow the powder.

Cui Tike was not a Medicine Cultivator. He was one of the rarest cultivators in the world—a Disease Cultivator!

He stared at his tongue, a smile appearing on his face.

What perfect pustules!

Who had created them?

It seems there are still others from my sect alive.

I have to find him,

and then kill him!

"Hehehehehe!" Cui Tike let out a shrill laugh.

Cough, cough, cough—

He had laughed too hard, and the pustule on his tongue burst.

The thick green fluid made him cough violently.

After coughing, he smacked his lips.

With a slurp, he swallowed every drop of the fluid and let out a heartfelt sigh of praise:

"Too fresh and delicious!"

Pro State, Belt Ridge, out in the wilderness.

The 1160 Train was still stopped.

Fierce shouting and sounds of fighting occasionally came from outside the carriage.

Li Banfeng opened his backpack and counted the remaining food, piece by piece.

PS: Once again, thanks to Alliance Master Naiyazi Supreme. Happy weekend, dear readers.

(End of chapter)