Lan Jin told him firmly, "No. This wound is definitely from your scratch."
"Then why…" Ling Jiang trailed off. The wounds on Ling Jiang and Huang Jinghe were already blackened beyond recognition, yet Lan Jin's injury was still bright red.
Lan Jin stood still for a moment, hesitating, then said, "Maybe I can fix this."
Huang Jinghe froze for a second, then asked, "Sister Lan, do you know something? Is there… an antidote? Or maybe you have antibodies in your body?"
Lan Jin shook her head. "No. Wait here. I'll be right back."
She went downstairs. She planned to use spiritual spring water to detoxify the three of them, but unless it was absolutely necessary, she did not want to reveal her secret space. Going downstairs would give her an excuse and keep it hidden from view.
She first went home and found three empty mineral water bottles, then entered her space and filled them with spiritual spring water. After that, she returned upstairs.
When the three bottles appeared in front of them, the others were stunned.
Lao Gao even laughed. "Sister Lan, don't mess with me. Sure, if you're injured, you should drink more water, but that's hot water, not this. And we're obviously poisoned. No matter how much water we drink, it won't flush out this kind of toxin."
Seeing Lao Gao's smug expression and hearing him spout nonsense, any guilt Lan Jin had felt earlier for hitting him completely vanished.
She looked at the three men again and explained, "This isn't normal water. Of course, I can't guarantee it will work. So you have a choice. You can drink it and see, or you can do nothing."
Out of trust for Lan Jin, Huang Jinghe did not hesitate. He took a bottle and drank.
The spring water was sweet and fresh. The moment it entered his mouth, he felt a warm current spreading through his body. The sensation was incredibly soothing.
Huang Jinghe's eyes lit up. Realizing this was no ordinary water, he quickly downed the rest. Only after finishing did he remember to ask, "Sister Lan, did you drink it yourself?"
"I did." When she filled the bottles earlier, Lan Jin had drunk a large cup—not for detoxification, but to restore her strength after all the running around.
Hearing that, Huang Jinghe relaxed.
As he set the empty bottle down, the wound Lao Gao had scratched began to itch terribly. Huang Jinghe scratched at it without thinking and accidentally scraped out all the black blood. Black clots smeared his fingernails and fingertips.
When he pulled the wound open to check, the blackened veins were gone. The wound was fresh and red.
Ling Jiang, who had been watching closely, was stunned.
"This… this is amazing. And so fast."
Ling Jiang grabbed Huang Jinghe's collar to check for herself, confirming the blood was red and the black veins had vanished. Without hesitation, she grabbed the other two bottles.
She opened one and poured the entire contents into Lao Gao's mouth before taking the last bottle for herself.
But the spring water did far more than just detoxify. Lao Gao's wounds had been severe, yet within minutes of drinking, they were completely healed.
Feeling no more pain, Lao Gao sat up in disbelief. He moved his limbs, then said slowly, "Hss… I think I'm fine. It hurt so bad before, but now there's no pain at all. Even my bones feel fixed. Sister Lan, what kind of magic water is this? It works like that?"
Ling Jiang was equally shocked. "You're fine? Your wounds are gone? That's too fast. Quick, get up and try walking."
Lao Gao let Ling Jiang help him down, but once he stood, he shook off her hand and walked around the bed easily, his steps steady as before.
Just as he felt fully recovered, he suddenly clutched his chest and coughed violently.
Something was wrong. Lan Jin frowned. "What's wrong? Drinking this water shouldn't make things worse."
Lao Gao was coughing so hard he could not speak. He waved a hand helplessly.
Ling Jiang patted his back. "Lao Gao, what's wrong?"
When he caught his breath, he managed to say, "Feel like throwing up."
The words had barely left his mouth before he vomited a mouthful of congealed blood. After spitting it out, he rested briefly and then felt even better than before. He understood now. To fully recover, he had to expel every bit of poison from his body.
"Look."
Huang Jinghe's voice was tense. He pointed at the clotted blood, where a live worm was writhing.
Realizing it had come from his body, Lao Gao's stomach churned, and he vomited again. But only one worm came out. He gagged for a long time, yet nothing more appeared.
The worm, unable to survive in the cold, froze before it was even fully expelled and lay still.
Lao Gao avoided looking at it. "I didn't eat any worms."
Of course they had not reached that level of desperation. Besides, in this freezing weather, there were no insects to eat.
So where had it come from?
The question circled back to the first suspicion: the insect powder Ling Jiang had traded for outside.
Ling Jiang's face twisted in regret. "I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have taken that insect powder. If you hadn't eaten it, none of this would have happened, and you wouldn't have suffered like this."
She choked up again.
But now the scarier thought was not Lao Gao—it was the others who had eaten that same insect powder and might already be turning into something just as horrifying.
The powder had been sold here for more than a day or two. Far more than one or two people had consumed it.
Huang Jinghe's voice shook. "So that sound I heard last night… the howling… I didn't imagine it?" It had been faint, but if it was made by a person, then it had not been far away.
If everyone in this area had eaten it…
The consequences would be unthinkable.
Their neighborhood might already be a purgatory.
…
But.
Purgatory was not limited to their neighborhood.
The insect powder had never appeared without reason.
Which meant, everywhere people could see, it was already purgatory.