novelraw Chapter 682: To Dissolve in His Radiance
Chapter 682: To Dissolve in His Radiance
The image of a soft wood cork had already formed in the exorcist's mind.
"Then have you seen the plant's roots? Were there any seeds?" the exorcist asked.
"There are no seeds. You can consider the body itself to be the seed, capable of sprouting anywhere," the doctor replied, grabbing a wad of cotton. He carelessly wiped the blood from his mask and lifted the severed piece of flesh with his scalpel.
Fine veins, reminiscent of blood vessels, covered the surface of the flesh. The doctor took it with a pair of tweezers and separated a spiderweb-like tangle from the tissue.
He dipped it in clean water to wash away the blood. Without the clots, it looked just like the root system of a plant.
"These are the roots of a withered plant, growing directly in the flesh."
"No seeds... Does that mean it isn't a parasite?" the exorcist murmured, almost to himself.
If the flesh was both the seed and the fertile soil, it was more like some kind of curse.
"Dissect the roots from other parts," Lu Li said.
"Of course. A single sample proves nothing," the doctor said with a nod of approval. He appreciated more professional observations like that.Over the next few minutes, the doctor extracted several more root fragments. Some were so desiccated they had almost turned to fiber, while others were so vibrant it seemed you could almost hear a pulse throbbing in their veins.
But consistently, no trace of any seeds was found.
"It seems to be a curse... That's why only the locals are getting infected," the exorcist said, his expression troubled.
They might have found the cause, but that was all they had found. They still had no idea how to lift the curse.
"Is he dead?" Lu Li asked, looking at the doctor, who had stepped away.
"He has a few minutes left." The doctor, who had been about to remove his mask, paused. "Is there anything else you need?"
"There is one more thing," Lu Li said, then turned back to the exorcist. "What was his crime?"
The exorcist fell silent for a moment before answering. "Knowing he was infected with this plague, he raped a nine-year-old girl. Do you remember little Lina, the one who shared her candy with you?"
Pure evil could rival anomalies.
Lu Li lowered his gaze and reached for his holster, his voice calm as he explained, "My Spirit Gun is called The Atonement. Its ability is Memories of Death—it lets me see what an anomaly saw just before it died."
"If the patient dies because of the curse, I will see what he saw."
"He's a scoundrel, so do what you will," the exorcist said without objection, even seeming pleased at the thought of the bastard getting what he deserved.
Lu Li unfastened his holster. But before he could draw the Spirit Gun, there was a thump from behind him.
Emin had collapsed to the floor, her fogged-up mask obscuring her face.
"What's wrong with her?!"
The exorcist immediately backed away to the wall, putting more distance between himself and the bed.
Lu Li instantly drew his Spirit Gun, sensing the space around him.
The quiet room was suddenly filled with "people." Gazes were everywhere: on the ceiling, under the bed, in the cracks of the door, even in the pockets of their clothes.
But there were no anomalies around, except for the infected man on the bed.
The Spirit Gun returned to its holster. The noisy gazes gradually faded, and the ward grew quiet again, leaving only them.
"There are no anomalies."
Lu Li went over to Emin, took off her mask, and placed his fingers on her neck.
Her pulse was still beating. Emin's face was pale.
"She might have fainted at the sight of blood, or maybe it was too stuffy in the mask," the doctor's voice said from nearby.
Lu Li nodded and, with the exorcist's help, seated Emin on a chair. He drew the Spirit Gun again, and the familiar sensation of being watched and whispered to returned.
Extending his arm, Lu Li aimed at the infected man and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Boom!
A deafening roar that couldn't be blocked even by covering one's ears echoed through the room.
A crimson flower blossomed on the chest of the figure on the bed, and Lu Li was instantly pulled into the Memories of Death.
"She might have fainted at the sight of blood, or maybe it was too stuffy in the mask," the doctor's voice said from behind him. Lu Li turned and saw himself seating Emin on a chair.
The infected man had been alive the whole time...
Lu Li thought, watching from the side as his other self raised the Spirit Gun.
The man on the bed suddenly turned his head, staring venomously at Lu Li. The next moment, the shot rang out, and Lu Li's consciousness snapped back to reality.
Humanity flooded into his soul as Lu Li silently holstered the Spirit Gun. But perhaps it was just an illusion—the presences seemed to have drawn even closer than before.
Emin, as if woken by the gunshot, was slowly coming to.
"My head suddenly started spinning... I'm sorry," she said, rubbing the back of her head where a bump was already forming from the fall.
"Any results?" the exorcist asked hopefully.
"The infected man was alive the whole time," Lu Li said.
"So even that didn't work..." the exorcist sighed.
They had almost grown used to failure; success was as rare as a pleasant surprise. "Let's get out of here. Maybe the others got some information from Tavitown."
After receiving word from Lu Li, the town's leader had sent a team of exorcists to investigate. They should have been back by now.
Let's hope it's good news.
They left the room and returned to the first-floor hall.
The exorcists who had gone to Tavitown were back. They brought neither good news nor bad: the heretics' gathering place was empty. The ground was covered in disordered tracks. They were gone.
The trail had gone cold again.
The only thing left was for Lu Li to go to Tavitown himself.
The exorcist immediately advised Lu Li to use The Atonement to grant release to the patient who had been cursed the longest.
If she was already dead, they could see what killed her. If she was still alive... then her life was nothing but agony.
Back in the ward on the second floor, little Lina, with her long brown hair, lay quietly on the bed. Even the sprouts growing from her forehead seemed almost cute.
Shhhk...
The exorcist pulled back the curtain, revealing the horrifying scene once more.
He stepped back, looking at Lu Li.
It had become a moral dilemma: when a person suffering from excruciating pain wishes for death, should you do everything in your power to save them, or help them find release?
The roots hanging over the edge of the bed swayed gently, like seaweed, quietly reaching for Lu Li as he stood by the bedside.
"Don't let them touch you."
Emin warned. The words had barely left her lips when the oil lamp in Lu Li's hand suddenly emitted a faint light.
It was dimmer than the flame of a dying match, but for some reason, it was calming, as if bathing in sunlight.
The root that had quietly wrapped itself around the lamp quickly withered, broke off, and fell to the floor, crumbling into pieces.
Seeing this, Lu Li suddenly raised the lamp, extended his arm, and brought it closer to the bed.
The creeping roots, like earthworms, moved slowly in a dense mass toward the lamp—or rather, toward his hand.
They intertwined, stretching longer and longer, until they reached the lamp's shade.
The lamp glowed again, flickering like a firefly, now brighter, now dimmer.
The exorcist saw Emin backing away and continued to retreat as well, even though the light made him feel incredibly light and safe.
The withering and dying roots fell away in layers, while from the other side, more roots continued to crawl and writhe forward.
"What's happening?" the exorcist couldn't help but ask.
Many of the patients on the second floor, drawn by the light, were looking over with curiosity.
Lu Li, standing before the bed, watched the scene in silence before speaking. "It's called the Beacon. The light repels anomalies at the cost of burning Humanity."