The Dark Clouds Looming Over the City, the Cursed Germs—The Black Curse

Ignoring the stares of others, Jiang Yuan noticed the weariness on Tao Chunru's face and frowned.

"Mom, you don't look well. Did you take the tonic I bought for you?"

"Mom's been too busy lately, so she forgot."

"This won't do."

Jiang Yuan took out a life crystal from the void and crushed it in front of Tao Chunru. The rich and refreshing light green life energy entered Tao Chunru's body, instantly dispelling all fatigue and restoring her physical and mental strength to their best state. Even the wrinkles on her face faded a bit, making her look much younger.

"What, what is this?" Sister Mo couldn't believe it.

She had never seen any healing techniques or medicines with such amazing effects!

Li Mengzhu, being knowledgeable and experienced, crossed her arms and said:

"This is a Life Crystal, which usually only drops from hidden dungeons. Moreover, this one is a mid-grade one; its value is probably over five million."

"Five, five million?!" Sister Mo and the other nurses stared wide-eyed.

They work so hard, yet their annual salary is less than 200,000 yuan.

Jiang Yuan casually spent the money that they would have earned in over twenty years.

"You child, even if you have money, you can't waste it like this," Tao Chunru said, feeling a little sorry for him, but her face showed more pride than anything else.

"It's okay, I've picked up hundreds of these in dungeons."

Jiang Yuan's next sentence stunned everyone again.

Li Mengzhu was stunned.

A few hundred is too many!

Are you going to take the college entrance exam or to buy goods?

The nurses, including Sister Mo, who were about the same age as Tao Chunru, looked at Tao Chunru with envy and jealousy, their voices filled with bitterness.

"Little Tao, no, Sister Tao, you're really lucky now."

"I really envy you for having such a wonderful child. Unlike me, I don't know what sins I committed in my past life to have given birth to that useless thing of mine."

"Even if you become successful, don't forget about your old colleagues..."

The young nurse approached Jiang Yuan, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glistening with tears, and said, "I... my name is Jiang Ying. Could you... could you sign your name for me?"

"Of course, thank you for taking care of my mom."

"No, no, it's more accurate to say that I received more care from Sister Tao..."

After receiving Jiang Yuan's autograph, she became even more excited, and her legs under her nurse's uniform involuntarily began to intertwine and rub together.

"Um... are you free tonight?"

Li Mengzhu leaned close to Jiang Yuan and teased, "She seems to be quite interested in you. I feel like she's the type who would wear black stockings under her nurse's uniform for the contrast. What do you think? Do you like this type?"

Jiang Yuan was speechless: "..."

"boom!"

Suddenly, a loud bang came from outside the door, and a large hole was blasted in the wall. The nurses and patients let out shrill and terrified screams.

Li Mengzhu and Jiang Yuan looked over.

A large, obese, and powerfully built shield-type warrior was seen frantically grabbing a doctor by the neck and lifting him into the air, while holding a severed arm in his other hand.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he screamed in struggle:

"I've already told you I'm in terrible pain, I'm in so much pain, why is nobody here to help me?!"

"Isn't your hospital there to save lives?"

The doctor struggled to speak, "But...but our tests show everything is normal, there's nothing wrong..."

"Nonsense! I can clearly feel it, I can feel something gnawing at my internal organs and my skin, like something is trying to crawl out, I can feel it very clearly...!" The man roared, his pain not feigned.

"That's why I said you should see a psychiatrist..."

"Aaaaaah!!"

The man was about to tear the doctor in half in front of everyone.

Li Mengzhu made her move.

All that was seen was a flash of silver light, and the doctor who was about to be killed vanished from his grasp.

Before the obese patient could react, he crashed heavily to the ground.

Li Mengzhu's slender right leg stepped on his back, her eyes cold and sharp, her powerful aura suppressing the fat man's entire body, rendering him unable to move an inch.

"I am Li Mengzhu, the captain of the third squad of the Patrol Division. You are suspected of attempted murder, violating Article 5 of the Law for Transformed Martial Artists, which prohibits attacking ordinary people. You are under arrest."

The fat man seemed to regain some of his senses and pleaded desperately, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't want to kill anyone, I didn't want to be violent, I... I don't know what happened, I just felt so bad..."

"Please, please save me..."

He lowered his head and gasped for breath, his chest heaving abnormally. Under the horrified gazes of those around him, he spat out a mouthful of blood, almost staining an entire wall crimson.

"puff!"

The nurse who was accidentally splashed with the spray reacted, her pupils contracted sharply, and she let out a piercing scream.

"ah--!"

Jiang Yuan also keenly noticed that after the fat man spat out that mouthful of blood, his entire body's energy and blood instantly deteriorated to the extreme.

"Just like the previous patient."

Tao Chunru walked to Jiang Yuan's side, her eyes filled with worry. "That patient's tests were all normal, but he said he felt very, very unwell. Treatment skills and medicines were useless, and he died very quickly in the end."

The young nurse said, "His condition is deteriorating much faster than that of the older woman... Could it really be some kind of unknown infectious disease?"

Jiang Yuan's expression hardened slightly as he released his mental energy to examine the fat martial artist's body closely, his gaze penetrating like an X-ray.

No abnormalities were found.

It’s weird.

"No, this is terrible! The patient in room 749 is also vomiting blood."

"Number 832 is also one."

"Number 648 too..."

It seemed to be a chain reaction.

One patient after another deteriorated.

In the hall, some patients waiting in line for examination also showed similar symptoms to the fat martial artist, groaning and collapsing to the ground, complaining of discomfort and pain.

Chaos erupted inside the hospital.

Even if several doctors activated the healing array, which required a large amount of crystals to activate, it would have no effect on them.

"It really is some kind of unknown illness. If it were an injury, it should have been cured long ago," Tao Chunru said.

"Calm down, everyone, calm down!"

A director from the hospital appeared.

He is a fifth-tier professional physician, and the highest-ranking person in the hospital besides the hospital director.

"A healing influence."

As he used his skill, streams of pale green restorative wind passed through the bodies of each patient, but it was still ineffective.

He had no choice but to use his skills.

"A calming breeze."

The wind carrying the effects of anesthesia and sedation blew by, which gradually calmed the patients down.

The nurses finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After making a phone call, Li Mengzhu frowned even more deeply.

Jiang Yuan asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Mengzhu: "I just asked my subordinates, and similar situations have occurred in other hospitals. Patients in all the hospitals collectively felt unbearable pain just now, as if it were pre-arranged. This cannot be a coincidence; someone may be manipulating everything behind the scenes. The higher-ups have also realized the seriousness of the situation and have ordered me to start an investigation now."

She looked at the young nurses and asked, "When did the first patient arrive? Could you please tell me the whole story from beginning to end?"

The nurses nodded.

Jiang Yuan looked at Tao Chunru and said, "Mom, let's go back."

Tao Chunru was taken aback and said, "What are you talking about? Can't you see the situation now? If I leave, we'll be even more short-handed."

"Your staying won't make a difference. If it's an unknown disease caused by an unknown plague, then this isn't something nurses can handle," Jiang Yuan said gravely. "It's a catastrophe affecting millions of people in several cities!"

The torrential rain continued to fall from the sky, accompanied by thunder and lightning, and the waters of the Posuo River surged wildly.

A doctor wearing a crow mask stood by the riverbank, and a strange yellowish-black substance flowed into the river from his feet.

"I am indeed a genius for being able to fuse the flesh and blood of abyssal demons, the curse of the Yin Lord, and diseases into one. It's a pity that the effect is too poor against mid-to-high-level advanced warriors, and the lethality is insufficient."

"Those fools are only now realizing it's too late. The torrential rain will spread the cursed germs flowing into the river throughout the city. My cursed germs are already inside millions of people."

"This is both a curse and a blessing; it is my masterpiece as a master of plague."

He was whispering.

Its name is—

"The Black Curse".