Desperate Si Niang

Soon enough, Li Tian and Wu Zhengyi returned with another group.

Bai Ming turned to look at the familiar group. When they had encountered each other he had not paid special attention to them but now looking them once more he felt he had grasped the importance of balance in a group.

Yes, given the purpose of this hunt, the strength of the team members might be important but so was their skill in healing.

Wu Zhengyi scrambled, pointing at the injured young man lying down.

"Brother Chi, please hurry, this brother has bled a lot and might be about to leave the world of the living"

A man looking to be in his early twenties walked out of the group and approached the injured young man. Cui Rong had already taken a step aside to let him handle the situation.

The man who had already stretched out his hand to remove the bloodied clothes stopped his actions for a moment then picked up a stick on the ground and used it to push aside the clothes covering the injuries. Looking at the injuries, blisters with a lot of pus forming on the skin, his brows wrinkled. After inspecting the injured young man for a moment, he looked at Cui Rong with a dark expression.

"Can you handle it?" Cui Rong asked.

The man remained silent for a moment.

"I can't..."

Hearing this everyone present were confused.

"The bleeding was stopped in a timely manner however, my skills aren't enough to deal with this infection"

Cui Rong's seemed to understand a bit and looked at the blood and wounds covering the young man's body. It did not appear like the blood of a normal person. Bai Ming and the rest who didn't have much skill in healing were even more confused by this.

Infection?

What infection?

The man seemed to sense their confusion and added, "Look at this blood, swollen wounds and the sweat on his face..."

"...no, this cannot just be called an infection"

Taking a closer look, the blood had a hint of purple colour on it. Everyone present also began to analyse and notice this.

"Poison?" Li Tian said with a guess.

The man nodded approvingly. He then diverted his attention and looked at the ground and saw a worm wriggling on the ground which was also covered in the young man's blood.

Si Niang who had been quiet the entire time stepped forward.

"If you can't help him then we can maybe return him to the camp or village, I'm sure someone can deal with this poison"

He was very hopeful but he did not realize that he gravely underestimated the potency of the poison. The man simply shook his head. Seeing this Si Niang thought maybe the man was simply too proud to admit his own skills were inferior but the man squatting kept his down and without waiting for Si Niang to say anything else he added.

"I do not dare claim my skills are the finest but I can assure you of one thing, this brother here can't be helped" the man gestured with a single finger lifted.

Si Niang was not willing to give up that easily because to him this was a life and death matter which also affected him.

"But even so, the village healers have dealt with many poisons, you can't possibly be saying this is a new type of poison that has not been..."

Si Niang's words stopped midway. He looked down at Mu Bai and that his breath had become a bit more haggard and pained. He immediately knelt down and held Mu Bai in his arms, calling his name repeatedly but the young man's eyes did not open.

Everyone looking at this moved closer but did not know what to do.

Si Niang helplessly shook the injured young man but no response came. Soon the name he called out had changed.

"Snotface...you still haven't shown me the girl you fancy..."

With each passing time, Si Niang's voice became groggy. His eyes reddened upon realizing there was nothing he could do. His hands which were trying to shake Mu Bai awake had turned stiff.

"What's going on, how could something like this happen?"

He seemed to be whispering to himself but still, no answer came.

He started to recall their last moment together, at that time Cui Bei given them instructions to act as spies and watch Bai Ming's group. Although they had been promised sweet benefits, now that his friend was in a near death state he was no longer thinking about it. In fact he even regretted accepting this job. Had they joined other groups none of this could have happened.

He had already made his own assessment of Mu Bai's state when he first saw him. Seeing the bruises, although it appeared like he had met a fierce beast in the forest, Si Niang clearly saw that some of the injuries were the result of man.

Although he already had his assumptions, he did not express them and remained silent.

The man close by looked at all this without a change in expression. This was not the first time he had seen a life lost like this.

"He is too far gone, even if we tried carrying him, he wouldn't make it to the camp" the man surnamed Chi said flatly.

He sighed, and stood up. Staring down he looked at the worm that was covered in the infected blood. It's wriggling had weakened a lot.

"This..."

It was highly likely that the worm would soon stop showing signs of life. Realising that the infection could be passed by touching the infected blood, he scanned the people present and locked gazes with Bai Ming and Cui Rong.

Bai Ming's hands were still covered in Mu Bai's blood. Cui Rong was the same.

The man didn't want to explain and simply pointed at the worm on the ground. Bai Ming and Cui Rong looked at the worm and also saw the state it was in. It didn't take them long understand that they too who had come into contact with Mu Bai's blood might very well get infected too. Their faces immediately turned gloomy.

The others also noticed the man pointing at the worm and pieced up all the clues.

Wu Zhengyi and Li Tian who were standing close to Bai Ming immediately took a few steps back. Although they were not sure, they could not risk being poisoned.

"Brother Bai, don't think too much of it we are only taking precautions"

Bai Ming looked at his friends and looked at back to the blood in his hands. He did not regret it.

Was trying to save a life wrong?

Bai Ming did not think it would be right to have left the young man as he was. Even though their efforts to save him turned out to be pointless he straightened his back and controlled his breath then turned his body slightly. He starred deeply at this healer who had been brought over.