Chapter 595
is no different
"Dr. Xu, can you tell how long the Gu worms on Wang Ba's body have been infested?"
Given Wang Ba's current state, it's unrealistic to expect him to return to the border town. Therefore, what Jiang Nian can do now is to first ascertain the specific situation.
"Based on my deduction, the Gu worms in Wang Ba's body have been present for at least three years."
Jiang Nian, who was already planning to find a way to capture Zhou Zhou, was stunned when he heard Xu Ming's words.
Three years? Wang Bazhong's Gu worm has been around for three years already?
"Then why did it suddenly erupt?"
"Here's what we'll do, Comrade Jiang Nian. I'll introduce someone to you. He's a very close friend of mine who knows a lot about Gu worms. If you trust him, I suggest you take Wang Ba to my friend so he can give Wang Ba a thorough examination and tell you exactly what kind of Gu worm Wang Ba has been infected with."
Xu Ming lowered his head and pondered for a while before suddenly speaking.
His face was also full of conflict, as if he had struggled with the decision to recommend this friend to Jiang Nian.
“Dr. Xu, you should know that Wang Ba has a special identity. I can't trust someone I've never met, even if he's your friend. So, could you let me meet this friend of yours first?”
Jiang Nian, who was already in a predicament, was overjoyed to hear Xu Ming's words, but he immediately thought of another problem: Wang Ba could not leave the military hospital at the moment, and his personal safety was only guaranteed if he stayed in the hospital.
Even if Xu Ming introduced the person, Jiang Nian couldn't trust him completely.
Under these circumstances, there was absolutely no way he would take Wang Ba to meet Xu Ming's friends.
After careful consideration, Jiang Nian made this decision.
"I'll make the contact. But my friend has a rather eccentric personality, so please bear with me if he says anything unpleasant."
Xu Ming pondered for a while and finally agreed to Jiang Nian's request, but he didn't forget to give her some instructions.
Jiang Nian agreed—after all, he was the one who needed his help now.
Xu Ming contacted a friend and quickly gave Jiang Nian an address.
"This is where my friend lives. His place is a bit unusual. When you arrive, call this number to contact him. Remember, wait until the door is open before approaching. Do not get out of the car beforehand; make the call after you reach the door."
Xu Ming quickly contacted his friend. He scribbled down the address and phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to Jiang Nian.
Before Jiang Nian left, Xu Ming gave her earnest instructions, his face showing a hint of worry.
"I understand, and I will definitely not offend your friend."
Although Xu Ming didn't say it explicitly, Jiang Nian had already guessed it—it was likely that Xu Ming's friend was also secretly raising Gu worms, which was why Xu Ming reminded him like that.
Jiang Nian looked at the address Xu Ming gave him, borrowed a car, and left the military region.
The address was in a very remote mountain village. When Jiang Nian drove there, he found that almost everyone in the village had moved away, leaving only one family still living there. And this one family was Xu Ming's friend.
A small courtyard. From afar, Jiang Nian noticed that there was no vegetation around the courtyard, making it look exceptionally desolate.
But inside the courtyard walls, the dense trees are quite noticeable, creating a stark contrast with the desolation outside.
Jiang Nian parked the car quite far away and first took out his phone to dial the number Xu Ming had given him.
"Blue Sky Rain is dead. Just burn some paper money for her if you need anything!"
As soon as the call connected, a hoarse voice came from the other end, saying irritably.
He was about to hang up after saying that.
Jiang Nian was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said, "Hello Mr. Lan, I'm sorry to bother you. I was introduced by Xu Ming and I'd like to ask you about something."
Jiang Nian quickly said this before the other party hung up.
The person on the other end of the phone seemed to pause for a moment before speaking: "Come in in five minutes."
After saying that, the phone call ended.
Hearing the busy tone from his phone, Jiang Nian gave a bitter smile.
It seems that Xu Ming's friend has a very strange attitude!
After all, no one would tell the other person they're dead as soon as the phone connects, asking them to burn paper money for them.
Yes, Xu Ming wrote the other person's name on the note he gave to Jiang Nian—Lan Tianyu.
They said five minutes, and it really was five minutes.
The gate to the courtyard opened from the inside.
Jiang Nian got out of the car and slowly walked towards the courtyard.
After crossing the threshold and going inside, Jiang Nian discovered that this place was a completely different world from the outside.
The huge canopy of the tree shaded the entire yard, blocking out all sunlight.
There was only one narrow path in the yard, just wide enough for one person to pass through. The path was lined with dense, strange-looking grasses.
Jiang Nian's gaze sharpened as he noticed numerous insects wriggling beneath the strange grass.
Thinking of Xu Ming's instructions, Jiang Nian couldn't help but shudder.
If I accidentally get bitten by these little bugs, I don't know if the system can save me.
Follow the path to the end, and you'll find three houses.
One of the doors was open.
Jiang Nian knew that this must be the place Lan Tianyu had invited him to enter.
After hesitating for a moment, he slowly walked into the room.
The room wasn't big; it only contained a table, two chairs, and a neatly arranged shelf. The shelf held many small bottles and jars, each seemingly just big enough to hold a single insect.
Jiang Nian didn't know why this thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
A middle-aged man, who looked to be in his forties and was wearing a gray robe, sat in a chair.
He was fiddling with a small bottle in his hand.
Jiang Nian smelled a strong stench of blood.
His gaze swept over the bottles and jars on the shelf again, and this time he saw that many of them were stained with blood, which startled him.
Jiang Nian didn't stop walking; he slowly walked to the table and sat down in the chair.
"Xu Ming said you have something to ask me. I don't know what it is. Just so you know, I'm only interested in Gu worms, nothing else."
Lan Tianyu looked Jiang Nian up and down before speaking, her tone cold and distant, even aloof.
"Hello, senior, I am Jiang Nian. It's like this, a friend of mine seems to have been poisoned by a Gu poison. Dr. Xu Ming examined him and said the Gu poison has been present in his body for at least three years. A few days ago, my friend suddenly fell into a deep sleep and hasn't woken up since. I wonder if you have any way to wake him up?"
Jiang Nian's gaze remained fixed on the small bottle in Lan Tianyu's hand, but he quickly answered his question, briefly explaining Wang Ba's situation.
"Has someone planted a Gu worm in your body for at least three years? You've been unconscious the whole time, and we haven't been able to wake you up? Little guy, I'm quite interested in your blood. If you want my help, you'll have to pay a price. Xu Ming should have mentioned that to you, right?"
Lan Tianyu stared at Jiang Nian with a profound expression on his face for a while before suddenly uttering this sentence.
He directly mentioned Jiang Nian's blood and also brought up the matter of payment. Jiang Nian wasn't stupid; he understood what Lan Tianyu meant as soon as he finished speaking.
But is there anything special about my own blood?
Jiang Nian's mind raced.
Unlike ordinary people, his body has been modified by the system. If there's anything special about him, it's that his physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary people.
But this was only the first time he had met Lan Tianyu. Could he really see something wrong with his body? Jiang Nian wasn't sure.
However, just as the other party said, although Xu Ming did not tell him that asking Lan Tianyu for help would come at a price, Jiang Nian had thought about it on the way. It would be strange if someone like Lan Tianyu helped without asking for anything in return.
Jiang Nian had also considered what conditions the other party might propose and whether she could afford them. If all else failed, she still had the military backing her up; she could always ask Gao Shiwei for something.
Despite all his calculations, Jiang Nian never anticipated that Lan Tianyu would be after his blood.
"System, system, if I absolutely need Lan Tianyu's help, can I give him this blood?"
Jiang Nian didn't dare to rashly agree to Lan Tianyu's request. Although he felt that his blood shouldn't be anything special, he still wanted to ask the system's opinion first, just to be on the safe side.
After all, only the system knows the true condition of one's own body.
"They can be exchanged."
The system responded after a long pause after Jiang Nian finished speaking, with just four simple words.
Jiang Nian had no idea what the system was feeling at that moment; he only knew that the system had agreed to let him trade blood with Lan Tianyu.
"If you can help me figure out what kind of Gu my friend is afflicted with, and also help me catch the person who cast the Gu, I am willing to offer you two hundred milliliters of blood."
In Lan Tianyu's opinion, Jiang Nian had thought about it for quite a while before saying those words.
However, as soon as Jiang Nian finished speaking, Lan Tianyu frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with the terms of the deal proposed by Jiang Nian.
Jiang Nian remained silent. He knew that the fact that Lan Tianyu dared to ask for payment meant one thing—he definitely had a way to save Wang Ba and find out who had cast the curse.
However, the conditions he proposed clearly did not satisfy the other party.
Jiang Nian frowned. Two hundred milliliters of blood was only the amount needed for one blood donation, which he could handle. If it were any more, even with his excellent health, he wouldn't be able to manage.
But Lan Tianyu's thoughtful expression gave Jiang Nian a vague sense of unease.
“Come here every ten days and provide me with 200 milliliters of blood. If you can agree to this, I will cure your friend and help you find the person behind it all. You should know that Gu worms should have been extinct long ago, at least people like you shouldn't know about them. The fact that the other party dared to use such a thing on your friend means that the power behind them is definitely not simple. I'm taking a risk, after all, I have to bear the possibility of offending people. So, 200 milliliters of blood every ten days is my minimum requirement. If you can't accept it, the door is behind you, you can leave.”
Lan Tianyu finally spoke, her expression quite relaxed, but the meaning behind her words made Jiang Nian's face change.
He thought that donating 200 milliliters of blood at a time would satisfy Lan Tianyu, but he didn't expect that she would require him to come here to donate blood once every ten days.
Jiang Nian fell into deep thought, pondering whether Wang Ba was worth it for him to do this.
After all, what we have to pay is our own blood.
But the path ahead seems to offer no other choice.
I promise you.
Jiang Nian finally spoke, his voice heavy with emotion.
Lan Tianyu smiled.
He got up, walked to the shelf behind him, and took down a black porcelain bottle.
After uncorking the bottle, Lan Tianyu sat down opposite Jiang Nian.
He took out a dagger and placed the knife and bottle on the table in front of Jiang Nian.
"This bottle is filled with exactly two hundred milliliters of blood."
Lan Tianyu looked at Jiang Nian, her tone indifferent.
Understanding Lan Tianyu's meaning, Jiang Nian didn't hesitate. He picked up the dagger and made a cut on his finger, and blood dripped into the black porcelain bottle.
Two hundred milliliters of blood quickly filled the bottle.
As soon as the bottle was full, Lan Tianyu snatched it from Jiang Nian's hand and carefully put the stopper on.
"You can go now. I'll come find you in a day; just send me your address."
With a wave of his hand, Lan Tianyu's attitude turned cold, indicating that Jiang Nian could leave.
Seeing Lan Tianyu clutching the porcelain bottle containing her blood tightly to her chest, Jiang Nian felt a little awkward. Hearing that she could leave, he didn't say much, simply nodded slightly, and departed.
That night, Jiang Nian did not return to the repair company to rest, but slept on another bed in Wang Ba's ward.
Just to be on the safe side, Xu Ming specially arranged for Wang Ba to have a single room. No one would notice that Jiang Nian was sleeping there.
Jiang Nian didn't sleep well that night.
Losing 200 milliliters of blood is not a big problem for him.
But the thought that his blood might be used by Lan Tianyu to raise Gu poison made Jiang Nian feel uneasy.
Jiang Nian woke up very early the next morning.
Looking at Wang Ba, who was still unconscious on the bed, a dark glint flashed in his eyes.
The plan couldn't be changed, and Wang Ba couldn't just stay unconscious. He had no other choice now.
With Xu Ming's help, Jiang Nian secretly took Wang Ba out of the military hospital.
After returning from Lan Tianyu's place last night, Jiang Nian contacted Gao Shiwei and asked him to arrange a house for Wang Ba to stay in temporarily.
At this moment, Jiang Nian drove Wang Ba to an old residential area in the city.
A three-bedroom, two-living-room house is enough for them to live in.
Wang Ba was still unconscious and didn't need to eat, which saved Jiang Nian a lot of trouble. After everything was settled, Jiang Nian contacted Lan Tianyu.
"Senior, everything's arranged. Would you like to come now, or...?"
Jiang Nian was very polite to Lan Tianyu, who was raising Gu poison, and asked her questions cautiously, not expecting the other party to come over directly.
Sure enough, Lan Tianyu spoke up: "Send me the address, I'll be there at midnight." Then she hung up.
Jiang Nian was speechless as he looked at the phone that had been hung up.
This strange senior chose to come here at midnight. Although Jiang Nian doesn't believe in ghosts or gods, Lan Tianyu's choice of this time is, undeniably, quite a coincidence.
It was exactly twelve o'clock, not a minute more or a second less.
At exactly twelve o'clock, there was a knock on the door.
As soon as Jiang Nian opened the door, she saw Lan Tianyu, dressed in a gray robe and holding a small black bottle, walk straight in.
Jiang Nian noticed that the small bottle in Lan Tianyu's hand was the same one that had contained his blood before. He could smell a faint scent of blood.
But it's hard to say for sure, since Jiang Nian had noticed before that most of the bottles on Lan Tianyu's shelf looked the same, with no difference between them. (End of Chapter)