As the house collapsed due to the battle between the other races, the man in front of him, drenched in blood, managed to rescue his wife and child, but he ended up buried under the rubble himself.
He hadn’t died; he used every last ounce of his strength, with the help of his wife, to lift the beam off his body.
But today seemed to be his day of reckoning, or perhaps he was just having terrible luck tonight.
Before he could even be grateful for his narrow escape, those two other races returned, and one of them accidentally injured him, sending him flying three meters.
He lay on the ground once again, without the strength to get back up.
His wife, with her child in tow, crawled over to his side, “A-Qiang, A-Qiang, what happened to you? Are you okay, A-Qiang?”
Then she looked around in every direction, hoping for a miracle to appear. “Someone, please help our A-Qiang! Help us…”
But she couldn’t say anything more, just cradled her man in despair, muttering with a heavy heart, “Who can save us…”
A-Qiang let his wife and child cry beside him, not making a sound, unable to utter a word of comfort. Every time he tried to speak, a surge of blood gushed from his mouth. All he could do was open his eyes and gaze quietly and tenderly at his wife.
“At last, I couldn’t keep my promise to protect you until the end… Ari, farewell!”
As he neared death, a cold voice sounded nearby. “Do you need help?”
Ari suddenly raised her head and saw a masked person standing nearby. A glimmer of hope shone in her eyes, as if she had caught a lifeline. She immediately said with a tearful voice, “Please save our A-Qiang, please help us! Hurry, please…”
Su Hao nodded, crouching down in front of A-Qiang, who was gasping heavily. He reached out and placed his hand on A-Qiang’s chest, slowly infusing him with blood energy, helping clear his congested blood.
A-Qiang abruptly spewed out a mouthful of blood, finally able to breathe more easily.
Ari quickly knelt beside him, nervous, not knowing where to put her hands. “A-Qiang, A-Qiang! Hang in there, A-Qiang, someone is helping us! You’ll be fine…”
A-Qiang’s eyes cleared, and he struggled to say, “Ari.”
At this moment, the masked man said in a calm tone, “I’ve only helped him clear his blood congestion, delaying his death. However, his internal organs are severely damaged. He’s not likely to survive.”
Hearing this, Ari felt like lightning struck her, and the intense light gradually dimmed. She knelt down, grasping the masked man’s clothing, crying without words, “Please, save him… I’ll do anything to repay you…”
Su Hao watched this scene, sighed softly, and muttered to himself, “The savior of one might not save another. Begging without gaining, all sentient beings are suffering.”
Su Hao continued, “I can save him, but it won’t be for free. There are conditions.”
Ari’s hope rekindled, her teary eyes fixed on Su Hao. She said with a trembling voice, “As long as you can save him, I promise you anything.”
Su Hao explained, “First, after I save him, he needs to follow me for at least a year. Do you agree?”
Ari, now more composed, wiped her tears away and nodded, “I agree!”
Su Hao continued, “Second, I need him to assist me in an experiment that could be life-threatening. Do you accept?”
Ari hesitated, but seeing A-Qiang nod in agreement, she also nodded. “I accept.”
Su Hao finally said, “Then it’s settled.”
“Recovery!”
Su Hao activated the Recovery rune, visibly mending A-Qiang’s external wounds. A-Qiang’s internal injuries gradually recovered with the help of Su Hao’s blood energy.
A-Qiang’s face began to regain its color, his breathing stabilized, and he felt strength returning to his body, reigniting his desire to live.
In reality, even if they hadn’t agreed to Su Hao’s terms, he would have saved A-Qiang and then looked for the next person in need. To Su Hao, it didn’t matter whether they agreed or not. Someone would eventually agree, and he could always find people willing to cooperate in his experiments. Su Hao didn’t feel like he owed them anything.
Soon, with Su Hao’s help, A-Qiang regained his strength and sat up slowly, hugging Ari as they both wept.
After some time, Su Hao handed a gold Zhu to Ari and then left with A-Qiang.
Over the next period, Su Hao rescued two more people on the brink of death. Then he left Chi Yang City with the people and headed towards the laboratory.
……
After bringing the three of them to the laboratory, Su Hao introduced himself as “Boss Wei” and had one request: they needed to memorize the new version of the “Code of Conduct for Other Races.” After that, he allowed them to live in the cave and recover their health.
In the following days, Su Hao brought back one or two ordinary people every night until there were eight people living in his laboratory. He then stopped making nightly trips to Chi Yang City and focused on training these ordinary people to improve their physical strength and accumulate blood energy.
Soon, these ordinary people became acquainted with each other. In their free time, they enjoyed chatting and sharing gossip.
“A-Qiang, how did you end up here?” a man with a long face curiously asked A-Qiang, who was lost in thought.
A-Qiang snapped back to reality and suddenly smiled, “That night, I thought I was going to die, but Boss Wei brought me back from hell, so I came here with him.”
The long-faced man nodded, “Same here. I thought I was done for, but Boss Wei saved me. But A-Qiang, do you know what Boss Wei wants us to do here?”
At this point, everyone else gathered around, curious.
A-Qiang glanced at the long-faced man, his tone suddenly indifferent, “Xia Tu, my life was given to me by Boss Wei. I can do whatever he wants. I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.”
Xia Tu chuckled and said, “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just asking out of curiosity!”
At this point, others started speculating about Su Hao’s intentions, and there were various opinions.
A-Qiang couldn’t be bothered with this. He just wanted to strengthen his body and survive the potential “experiment” Su Hao had mentioned. Then, a year later, he hoped to return to Chi Yang City and reunite with Ari.
He soon reached a platform at the foot of the mountain and began following Boss Wei’s guidance to exercise his body and accumulate blood energy.
Two months later.
Su Hao gathered the people and observed their progress in accumulating blood energy. He nodded in satisfaction and said, “It seems like you’ve all been recovering well during this time. We are about to enter the second phase.”
Everyone felt a twinge of anxiety, even though they knew this day would come. The fear in their hearts was hard to describe.
Everyone had the same question in their minds: “Boss Wei, what exactly do you want us to do?”
Su Hao seemed to sense their unease and reassured them, “Don’t worry! Boss Wei acts carefully and precisely. There won’t be any problems!”
“Our upcoming experiments will be divided into four stages, each lasting approximately two months. As long as you successfully complete all of them, you can leave in less than a year.”
With that, Su Hao took out eight sharp small knives from behind and small bottles labeled with numbers, distributing them to each person. Then he said, “Alright, the first task is to collect some of your own blood and fill the small bottles!”
The first task was self-injury?
Most of them looked bewildered, filled with concerns about their future.
In the midst of their confusion, A-Qiang didn’t hesitate. He cut his finger with a knife, allowing blood to flow into the small bottle. Swift, steady, and precise, without even blinking an eye, he immediately awed everyone.
(End of this chapter)
