Chapter 21: Gu Poison

Chapter 21 Gu Poison

On the other side, after Bai Ruoshui had examined those people, his expression had turned indescribably terrible.

Bai Yuanzhou had never seen that look on his face before, and put an arm around his shoulders, asking worriedly, "Is it that serious?"

"Mm, it's Gu poison. Yuan Kai has scratches on him, and the gu worms will enter his body through those wounds."

Poison is easy to cure, but Gu poison is difficult to handle.

"Gu poison?! Wasn't that lost long ago?"

Their knowledge of Gu poison came only from old tales of ancient Earth told by the elderly, or from obscure history books. Even in ancient Earth tens of thousands of years ago, few people mastered Gu poison, so records were scarce. They had always thought it was a myth or had been lost long ago, never expecting it to actually exist.

What makes gu poison terrifying isn't how fast it spreads—it's that it can't be killed. If there's no cure, the only option is to kill the infected person completely and burn them to ashes, otherwise it will continue to spread.

Of course, there was another way to treat it, but it involved Bai Yeye, and Bai Ruoshui wouldn't mention it.

Bai Ruoshui sighed: "Master once told me about it, but back then I... now I can only go and beg Master. He must have a way."

Bai Ruoshui's master was a famous divine doctor across the galaxy. No illness or ailment was beyond him. But his temperament was unpredictable and he loved to nitpick everything. Even Bai Ruoshui, who's practically perfect, got picked apart by him more than once.

When Master was about to teach Bai Ruoshui how to cure Gu poison, Bai Ruoshui happened to start dating. Something must have set him off, because he disappeared without a word, only showed up once during Bai Ruoshui's wedding to give a gift, and then didn't show for five years.

Bai Yuanzhou couldn't help complaining: "With your master’s awful temper, is he really gonna come out and help?"

He still remembers when he got married, a grumpy old man suddenly showed up and started pointing at him, criticizing him from head to toe, without saying a single good thing.

If it weren't for Bai Ruoshui's sake, he would have beaten him into a Chinese knot and thrown him out.

"Master's not bad-tempered, he just... anyway, he's always been good to me." Although he often got scolded, Bai Ruoshui always respected him deeply.

Bai Yuanzhou didn't want to upset his wife, so he said nothing more.

Bai Ruoshui first wrote a prescription and had the military doctor prepare the decoction for Gu Yuankai to drink. It wouldn't cure the poison, just suppress it.

After the military doctor left, Bai Ruoshui asked Shen Yu: "Are these the only people who turned out like this?"

Shen Yu answered truthfully: "These are the only ones we captured, but in reality, there must be more."

He'd been looking into it all day yesterday, but at the time they hadn't considered it might be gu poison—they thought it was some world-ending virus cooked up by a crooked scientist.

Bai Ruoshui said, rubbing his temples: "Take precautions from now on. Any person who appears like this must be captured. If it keeps spreading, we're done for."

"Mm." It seemed like that was all they could do for now.

Bai Ruoshui then thought of Bai Yeye: "Where is Yeye? Let me go see him first."

"He should be in Yuan Kai's room. I'm not sure why he's been avoiding you." Shen Yu had been too anxious earlier to ask Bai Yeye.

Bai Ruoshui frowned: "Is he injured?"

Shen Yu hesitated, then decided it was better to be honest: "He cut himself saving Yuan Kai, and last night he caught a fever from getting chilled, but he's fine now."

Bai Ruoshui spun around, his voice frantic: "He's hurt! Why didn't anyone tell me right away!"

This was so unlike his usual gentle, easygoing self that Bai Yuanzhou was startled for a second, then quickly put a hand on his shoulder: "Yesterday Shen Yu was busy investigating the mastermind behind all this, so it's understandable he forgot about it. Didn't he say Yeye's okay now? Let's go check on him first."

Bai Ruoshui loosened his clenched fists, his expression calming down a little: "Sorry, General Shen. Let me go check on Yeye first."

Without waiting for Shen Yu's reply, he quickened his pace to find Bai Yeye.

Bai Yuanzhou smiled apologetically at Shen Yu: "Sorry about that, I'll go with him."

"It's fine."

Shen Yu didn't take offense at Bai Ruoshui's attitude, but he thought it was odd. After all, Bai Yeye was just a pet. Getting that worked up over him didn't seem normal.

When Bai Ruoshui found Bai Yeye, he was half-hiding in a cupboard, shaking, with the other half of his butt sticking out.

Bai Ruoshui pulled him out and examined the wound on his body: "Where are you hurt! Let me see!"

Bai Yeye's little ears drooped down: "It's fine, just a small scratch."

Bai Ruoshui saw the bandage on his front paw, and fire seemed to flare up in his eyes.

This was his most precious little brother, the one he couldn't bear to even scold. How dare someone hurt him.

"Don't be mad, okay?" Bai Yeye tried to calm him down with an adorable smile.

When he saw Bai Yuanzhou and Shen Yu come in, Bai Ruoshui held back his anger and patted Bai Yeye's round head: "It's good that you're fine. Big Brother isn't mad."

Bai Yeye's little ears perked back up. Awesome! Brother Ruoshui isn't mad!

"Huh... Generals? Why's everyone here?" Gu Yuankai sat up and stretched.

Bai Yuanzhou exclaimed in amazement: "How are you awake? Didn't they say it was hard to cure?"

"Huh? Cure what? Didn't I just take a nap?" Gu Yuankai had no idea what was going on, only feeling completely refreshed.

Bai Ruoshui stepped forward to take his pulse, while his other hand unconsciously tightened on his clothes, his sharp gaze settled on Bai Yeye.

Bai Yeye guiltily turned his head away. When Brother Ruoshui asks later, he'll just flat-out deny it!

"It's still in the early stage, not fully healed. Take your medicine on time. Leave the rest to me until I find Master." Bai Ruoshui withdrew his hand.

His tone was normal, but Bai Yeye sensed a coldness in it that made him a little scared.

Bai Ruoshui didn't return to the prince's mansion. Instead, in Bai Yeye's room, he used a special communicator to contact Wu Shao.

Wu Shao ignored him at first, only responding half an hour later.

"What is it?"

"Master, for some reason gu poison has appeared on the planet Lexis. Your disciple is too foolish to find a solution. I wonder if you could come out..." Bai Ruoshui pleaded.

But before he could finish, Wu Shao left again.

Another half hour passed before he came back, and his answer was just two words: "Not coming."

"Then at least tell your disciple how to handle it. This concerns the people, please help, Master."

"What does it have to do with me? Back when I wanted to teach you, you went off to get married. Why learn now?"

"...Your disciple was wrong. I beg you, Master." Bai Ruoshui didn't dare to argue, apologizing humbly.

Bai Yeye got angry and barked loudly: "Stinky Old Man! Stop bullying Brother!"

Hearing his voice, Wu Shao sneered: "If you want my help, let that little mutt come beg me. Whether I help or not depends on how sincere he is."

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