Chapter 76 - 73: The Former Genius

Chapter 76: Chapter 73: The Former Genius

The atmosphere inside the shop was solemn.

Using the enhanced Blood Hand Brand, Little Blood firmly suppressed the burly man who was on the verge of frenzy.

It wasn’t easy. Controlling a Ghost Level powerhouse was, of course, several times—even dozens of times—more difficult than simply defeating or killing them.

But Little Blood still managed to hold him down. Staking its honor as an official employee of the Safe Zone, it couldn’t concede defeat, roar~!

"Feed him the medicine!" Shi An spoke up again.

Hair Ghost snapped out of his shock. He hurried forward, crossing the distance in a few quick strides, and shoved the cup of Purifying Water right against the burly man’s mouth. He also manipulated his own Ghost Object, Wet Hair Ghost, to pry the man’s mouth open. Then, he poured the cup of Purification Potion straight down his throat.

The cup was emptied!

The burly man continued to struggle.

Profound Sword also stepped forward, picking up the Purifying Water set aside nearby and handing it over.

Hair Ghost took it and poured it in once more.

A second cup!

A third!

A fourth!

Multiple cups were poured down his throat!

The majestic Purification Power burst forth within his body, flowing into his limbs and bones. The madness in the beast-like man’s eyes gradually faded bit by bit, and the strength of his struggles began to wane.

"It’s working!" Shi An stared intently.

After all, Purifying Water could only cleanse negative corruption; it wasn’t some Divine Medicine that could fully restore one’s condition with a single gulp. Even with several times the normal dose, it was impossible for this terminally ill man to instantly recover and become vigorous and lively. But the presence of a change meant it was effective. He could be saved!

Shi An then had Hair Ghost feed the wildman-like burly man some nutritional supplements.

After a long while, the burly man finally stopped struggling, and Little Blood dispersed the giant hand condensed from the Blood Mist. It discreetly wiped away non-existent sweat and let out a long sigh of relief. Nothing had gone wrong. Its dignity as Lord Blood had finally been preserved.

At this moment, the burly man was half-kneeling on the ground as the effects of the Purifying Water kicked in. The intense Purification Power was washing through his body. He kept his eyes closed, his brows tightly furrowed, while his muscles continuously twitched.

The Purification Power was still surging. Spreading within his body, it burst forth from the inside out, breaking through the surface of his skin and flooding toward the mutated areas caused by the corruption.

On his skin, those cyan and purple knotted muscles hissed as if dropped into a boiling vat of oil, and white mist rose into the air. Slowly, these knotted muscles actually began to crack, peel off, and melt away bit by bit.

The wildman-like muscular man hadn’t been born so burly. His bulk was a symptom of mutation, the result of the spreading corruption. He was actually...

Over ten minutes later.

When the man’s "muscle shell" completely fell away, the person revealed before Shi An and the others was unexpectedly a... a rather handsome young man.

Shi An was speechless.

Was this right?

Just moments ago, he had been built like an iron tower—over two meters tall, resembling a wildman or a beast, and incredibly burly. In the blink of an eye, he had been reduced to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth. He looked about the same age as K.

If the youth’s facial features hadn’t still borne some resemblance to the burly man from before, Shi An wouldn’t have dared to imagine they were the same person.

The young man still had some signs of corruption on him, which would likely need to be slowly cleansed in the days to come. But for now, his physical crisis had passed. He opened his eyes. The madness in his pupils was gone, and his sanity had returned.

However, he still looked bewildered. He asked in confusion, "Where is this?

"And who am I?"

The first question was reasonable, but the second one... Oh no, it seemed this young man’s brain had been fried by the corruption.

Shi An asked, "What do you remember?"

The young man thought for a long while. "I... I remember I was walking. I just kept walking. I was so, so tired, and the whole world was blood-red and black. After that, I can’t really remember clearly."

Great. He had already forgotten ninety-nine point nine percent of his past experiences, and all that remained was wandering in the Nightmare World. Even those memories of wandering were hazy.

"Since you can’t remember, just stay here for now. Room and board are included, you get weekends off, and there’s a salary."

Although his memory was blurry, the young man vaguely recalled that finding a safe haven in this world was no easy feat. He agreed.

Shi An had Hair Ghost take the young man to change his clothes.

Fortunately, Xi Xue and Profound Sword had delivered a batch of supplies earlier, which included Dream Descenders’ clothing. Otherwise, Shi An would have had no choice but to let this youth continue wearing his wildman outfit.

Before the young man left with Hair Ghost, Profound Sword kept staring at him. After a long while, Profound Sword said, "Manager, I think I know who this young man is."

"Who is he?"

"A grassroots genius. A former genius."

Profound Sword recounted a story.

The story was simple. There was once a young man named Lin Xiao who braved nightmares and fought ghosts. In just two and a half months, this youth with no background whatsoever fought his way from a complete novice to the Great Perfection Realm of the Control Stage.

His aptitude and his will were universally recognized by many experts. The First Seat of the Wizard’s House and the Hall Master of the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall—two top-tier powerhouses—both wanted to take the young man as their disciple.

But then, an accident occurred. The young man’s family was swept up in a ghost disaster, and his entire family perished. Young Lin Xiao was also severely injured as a result.

"Later, I heard that Lin Xiao spared no cost to develop his Curse Objects in a vain attempt to obtain even greater power.

"But after some time passed, there was no more news of him in the Dream Descender circles. The authorities officially classified him as missing, and many believed he died in an accident." Profound Sword sighed.

Power came with a price. Especially for Dream Descenders.

Lin Xiao’s world had been left with nothing but hatred, and he poured everything into acquiring power. With almost no Anchor Point in reality, wasn’t it incredibly easy to lose himself in the Nightmare? But the agony of losing one’s closest kin was something outsiders couldn’t comprehend or counsel against without having experienced it themselves.

"Lin Xiao went missing two months ago.

"Which means he survived in the Nightmare World for at least two months. A full two months!"

Profound Sword was in awe. He also sighed in lament.

A former genius. But in this world shrouded by nightmares, whether one was a genius or a powerhouse, everyone was struggling bitterly.

Who could truly reach the shore?

Shi An conducted a basic examination of young Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao was currently at the Refining Stage, First Refinement Realm. His Lifebound Curse Object was the Complete Level "Unyielding Heart."

He also possessed two Master Level Curse Arts! One Lifebound Curse Art, "Unyielding Dragon Fist," and one Universal Curse Art, "Bloodthirsty."

In truth, it wasn’t necessarily that Lin Xiao only knew two Curse Arts. Rather, after his amnesia, only these two Curse Arts—which he had practiced to the Master Level—could be used instinctively.

This young man was very strong. Earlier, Lin Xiao had fought the Butcher ghost to a standstill, but only because his fighting style had been completely disorganized. He had no tactics and didn’t know how to dodge. His condition had also been extremely poor.

In reality, young Lin Xiao’s on-paper combat power was even above Profound Sword’s.

"He’s quite a fierce warrior.

"It’s just that the Safe Zone is too cramped right now. I can only set up two beds in the tool room. Once the Safe Zone is upgraded in the future, I definitely need to improve employee benefits."

Lin Xiao was practically destitute. He had no weapons and no supplies. Given his previous condition, he probably wouldn’t have survived past today or tomorrow.

However, he still carried one item on him, an object he had guarded with his life.

A tattered map.