Chapter 2

Once in the hall, Wang Lin was greeted by a foul smell; similar to decomposing corpses. This smell was very familiar to him. He immediately took a few steps back. He looked at the lady on the bed, carefully inspecting her neck, arms and legs.

Round, violet petals were seen on the skin of her body.

Looking at these round, violet petals, an image unexpectedly appeared in Wang Lin’s mind; a place filled with corpses. Each of them had the petals on their body. A black clothed man was squatting on the ground, examining the bodies. At times, he seemed to be deep in his thoughts, and at other times, he would mix and match some herbs!

After the image disappeared, Wang Lin felt a throbbing headache. The colour on his face changed. He couldn’t help but feel goosebumps. Some important messages surfaced in his mind.

Corpse Flower Poison! This must be Corpse Flower Poison. And it seemed that it had progressed to the second stage.

The lady noticed Wang Lin’s expression. She cynically said, “You must be afraid.”

With the information about Corpse Flower Poison, Wang Lin knew that the second stage was when the poison would be most contagious. He looked at the lady, muttered to himself softly and smiled.

The lady’s eyes became even colder. She said, “You have some guts. The other slaves were scared to death when they saw my real appearance. You are the first one who managed to smile. But that’s alright, your fate will still be the same as others.”

Wang Lin laughed, pulled up a chair for himself and sat on it.

The lady was stunned. She had never expected Wang Lin to sit in front of her. She coldly said, “It seems that you are not only gutsy, but also……”

“You desperately look for men to sleep with you with the very intention of spreading your disease to others. Are you hoping that by doing so, you would be cured?” Wang Lin interrupted her. His eyes were shining brightly.

The lady immediately sat up. With fiery eyes, she asked, “Who told you that?”

Wang Lin remained calm and collected. He continued, “The way you are doing, it won’t cure your disease, but instead, make it even worse.”

The lady stared at Wang Lin eerily and said, “I don’t know who told you that. It doesn’t matter. I shall let you experience this Mandara illness.”

Wang Lin kept quiet and stared at her calmly. He noticed the subtle scowl on her face.

As the memory regarding the Corpse Flower Poison became clearer, he said, “Based on the round red petals on both your arms and legs, I am guessing that your whole body is already stiff and numb. Every movement brings unbearable pain. Your hair has begun to fall out. Mouth full of ulcers. Aches and pain all over your bones and joints, and your vision has become blurrier. Am I right?”

Her expression turned from eerie to shocked. Her breathing became laboured. Most of the things that Wang Lin had just said were true. She had never told anyone about her symptoms. Thus, none of the servants would have known about these.

Because Mandara disease was so rare on the Empress Mainland, only a handful of people would know about the illness in detail.

“How….. How do you know?” Her voice was already shaking.

“Mandara disease can be divided into three stages. Once it progresses to stage three, the only outcome is death.” Wang Lin looked at her and coolly said, “You are very lucky to meet me during the second stage of the disease. I know how to treat this Mandara disease.”

The lady took a deep breath, sat up straight and said, “Mandara disease is fatal. What makes you think that you can cure me?”

“If you are not being treated, death within one year is inevitable!” Wang Lin looked at the lady expressionlessly.

After a moment of silence, she pursed her lips and said, “Okay, I will let you treat me. But if you are lying to me, I definitely…”

“Treatment would require that you pay a price,” Wang Lin smiled while interrupting the lady again.

“What do you want? Wealth? An ID as a free man? High level spells? Say it.” The lady said in disdain.

“An ID as a free man. A quiet place to stay where I would not be bothered. Spells…. that would do too. Give me a set of high level spells. You need to also ensure my safety after your recovery.” Wang Lin knew that in the near future, he would not be able to leave the place. The most important thing now was to survive and grow stronger.

“Not a problem. But, how do I know that you are not lying to me. If you are really confident of treating my disease, you will take this pill now. On the day of my recovery, I will give you the cure. Wang Popo, restrain him.” the lady smiled coldly while retrieving a wooden small box.

Wang Lin heard a sigh from his back, followed by an icy cold energy going into his body. In the blink of an eye, his whole body was immobilised. Other than the mouth, all other parts of his body became stiff.

“Young man, it’s in your best interest to take this pill. I am already old. I do not wish to use the Soul Chain technique on you. You must have heard about the Soul Chain technique. There is a one third chance of failure where the soul would be scattered. However, if successful, you would be a living zombie whose job is only to obey commands.” A hoarse voice came from Wang Lin’s back. The old woman was actually Wang Popo.

Wang Lin smiled and said, “Alright, I shall swallow the pill.” Once he said that, his entire body returned to normal. After stretching and moving his still slightly numb arms and legs, he took the wooden box without saying anything.

Using two fingers, he slowly removed the pill from the box and immediately inserted it into his mouth and swallowed. He said, “Mandara disease needs a long period of treatment. I need two years. Every month I will give you a prescription of herbs. You will recover after two years.”

In actuality, the treatment for Corpse Flower Poison was not as slow as what Wang Lin claimed. With the information he had in his memory, he was confident that he would be able to cure this disease within three months. Stating two years was only to buy time for himself.

He did not believe that the lady would hold the end of her bargain regarding his safety. After spending some time thinking for the past month, he had learnt that it’s in his best interest to put his fate in his very own hands.

At the southmost part of the mansion, there was a quiet and secluded court where Wang Lin was sitting. All the servants nearby had been transferred out. So now, apart from him, there wasn’t anyone else.

At the time, the day had grown dark. Apart from a strange looking rectangular lamp, there were two other objects in front of Wang Lin. One was his ID as a free man, another was a book made up by yellow silk cloths.

Looking at them, Wang Lin gave a deep sigh.

Whatever he had now was closely related to the crystal he discovered at Jian Yu Island. Besides giving him fragments of weird memories and recollections, the crystal had slowly changed his personality and attitude.

It wasn’t wrong to say that the crystal gave him a new life. Currently, his survival was the only thing which mattered most. In order to survive, he needed to become strong! Wang Lin gave a resolute look and picked up the yellow book. However, once he flicked through the book, he frowned. There wasn’t a single word that he recognized.

Lucky for Wang Lin, besides words, there were illustrations of human bodies. However, focusing on the red and green curvy lines on the illustrations gave him a headache.

Putting down the book, Wang Lin laughed bitterly. Apparently, there was something he had to do first; learn how to read.

Back in his room, Wang Lin pushed the tea cup from the table onto the floor. He picked up one of the bigger broken fragments, then laid on his bed. However, he had difficulties falling asleep. Although he was no longer worried that he would disappear like other subjects, he couldn’t help but feel that he was still in great danger.

Any wrong move in San Xiao Jie’s room would have resulted in death.

He was trapped in a hopeless situation. However, Wang Lin believed that if he were like the other subjects, his fate would be different. The other subjects had been forced to sleep with San Xiao Jie and died after contracting the Mandara disease.

The fate of his fellow subjects were clear examples of what could have happened.

Therefore, when he recognized that Mandara disease was actually Corpse Flower Poison and that it was curable, he smiled because he knew he had the key to get out of this deadly situation.

Actually, when San Xiao Jie wanted him to consume the poison, she would not have needed Wang Popo’s service to force him. Wang Lin understood his situation and would unhesitantly take the pill in exchange for two years of preparation time. It was his belief that all of these would change completely in two-years time.

Finally, Wang Lin fell asleep. He had not changed his clothes. The broken fragment of clay was still in his tight grasp. To him, this was a weapon to defend himself.

After a restful night’s sleep, Wang Lin woke up very early the next morning. After briefly washing his face, he looked into the mirror. The man in the mirror looked ordinary; with a rather dark skin tone and coarse skin. There was a confused look on his face.

How could he continue surviving? By making himself strong, that’s the only option. He needed to be strong!

However, the most important thing now was to find the herbs required to treat the Corpse Flower Poison. He was prepared to go outside and get a better understanding of this strange world. When he stepped out of the courtyard, Wang Lin noticed two armored female guards standing at his door.

One of them looked at Wang Lin and raised her hand to stop him. She said, “Without San Xiao Jie’s permission, you cannot leave this place.”

Wang Lin smirked, laughing in his heart. He loudly said, “You let San Xiao Jie know that I need to go out to buy the herbs. Also, call Chun Lan to come here with enough money for the purchases.” After saying this, Wang Lin returned to the courtyard, sat on the stone chair and continued reading the spells book.

The guard looked shocked. After hesitating for a bit, she gave an eye signal to her partner and left quickly.

Not long after, the guard returned with Chun Lan following behind. Chun Lan was surprised to see Wang Lin. She felt curious as to why he was not killed like the other men on the second day. But she understood that she should not ask about things which she was not supposed to know. “San Xiao Jie gave me a thousand crystal coins, what medicine do you wish to buy?” After saying that, she suddenly noticed that there was a black piece of paper on the stone table. She gave an astonished look. She recognized that. It was the ID of a free man!

Wang Ling closed his book and stood up. He gently smiled, then said, “Bring me to the place that sells herbs so that I can have a look first.”