Trigger warning: Blood, child abuse, torture
Feng Yongrui buried all the corpses of the children in a nearby forest. He set up a plaque for them, and hoped they would be at ease knowing that Xiang Si would soon pay for his crimes.
As for Hou Renshu and Ma Bo, they had already brought all the children out of the cages and told them that they were free. The children had mixed reactions. Some of them found it unbelievable, and others began crying out of relief.
Ma Bo asked the children if they knew anything about Xiang Si or what he was planning to do. One of the children, Yao Meilin, sidled up to Ma Bo and pulled at his sleeve.
Yao Meilin was about ten years old. Her black hair was tied into two pigtails, and her clothes were grubby and dirty. There were scars on her arms and bruises on her back because some of the guards had beaten her.
Yao Meilin was one of the few children with spirit roots. Because children with spirit roots were stronger, they were able to survive even after their blood had been drained from their bodies.
After draining large amounts of their blood, Xiang Si would order the guards to give Yao Meilin and the other children with spirit roots some food and medicine. When they were healed, their blood would be drained again.
It was an endless, torturous cycle.
Yao Meilin was one of the first children who had been kidnapped. Somehow, through sheer willpower and luck, she had been able to survive this long.
Yao Meilin spoke to Ma Bo and told him what she knew about Xiang Si and the guards. She explained that on the day she was kidnapped, she felt something entering her ear.
That day, she had a painful migraine and she went to bed early. In the middle of the night, her head hurt even worse than before, waking her.
"At that moment, I smelled something. Whenever that particular scent entered my nose, my headaches got better..." Yao Meilin explained.
Her head hurt so much that, instinctively, and without caring about the consequences, Yao Meilin had left her house and followed the smell.
"I didn't know what that happened after that. I remember passing out somewhere, and when I woke up, I was in here," Yao Meilin's face seemed emotionless, but Ma Bo could see that she was actually upset.
Yao Meilin did not understand what had happened to her. She was locked up with other children and had no idea where she was. One day, she was dragged out of the cage and brought upstairs.
To her horror, the guards slit open her wrists and watched as she bled on the ground.
"Did you try to run away?" Ma Bo whispered hoarsely.
"Of course," Yao Meilin replied. Her face showed a bitter smile.
"Almost every time a new kid arrived, he or she would somehow try to escape. But whenever that happened, we would either be beaten by the guards until we passed out, or, our heads would start hurting so much that we felt like dying," She said.
"...It must've been the Gu worm," Ma Bo whispered.
"Pardon?"
"No, it's nothing. Go on," Ma Bo replied.
"Well, in any case, none of us could escape. Every day, many children would die. And every day, new children would be brought here," Yao Meilin said.
She pursed her lips and fought back tears. Yao Meilin looked up and sniffed a few times.
"In any case, all of us would be brought upstairs one day or another... They would drain our blood, and they wouldn't stop if we were still awake. It was hell."
Yao Meilin continued by saying that the array on the ground was really mysterious. Even after so many children had their blood drained from them, the array would continuously suck and absorb the blood.
Yao Meilin recalled the pain and the terror she felt when her life was slowly sucked away and shuddered. Ma Bo wanted to comfort her, but honestly, he didn't know what to say.
As a person who didn't experience what she had experienced, who was he to try to understand her pain? How could he understand what she had gone through?
"I'm sorry... You've... gone through a lot... If you want to cry, it's okay," Ma Bo finally spoke, his voice breaking at the end.
Ma Bo pursed his lips. He intended to phrase it in a better way... Was he too impulsive?
"I-it's okay," Yao Meilin shook her head and gave a small smile. Things were better now. Wasn't she saved by these people?
Yao Meilin had already decided to keep these memories and store it into the innermost part of her mind.
"There isn't much that I know about the Big Boss," Yao Meilin said. The Big Boss was what the other guards called Xiang Si.
"I do remember that he was sometimes talking to himself or mumbling something... His behavior was really weird. Other than that, I don't know anything else about him. I'm sorry," Yao Meilin said.
Hou Renshu had also asked the other children if they remembered anything. Most of the younger children were too scared to say anything or recall the horrible memories.
The older children's stories were similar to Yao Meilin's story. They also did not have any relevant clues regarding Xiang Si.
On the other hand, Feng Yongrui was busy talking to the System. Feng Yongrui knew that he should send the children home, but if the Gu worm was not extracted from their brains, they would probably end up like Ya'er, unable to live normally.
"There should be a specific method to extract the Gu worm. We might need another worm to lure it out, or we might need to use internal energy to absorb the Gu worm. It all depends on the setting of the world..." Feng Yongrui said.
"What do you think, System? Have you found anything?"
The System gave a few beeps in response and then sighed.
Feng Yongrui found it weird to hear a mechanical voice sighing, but he didn't say anything.
"Host, I have found the method to extract the Gu worm, but... it's very dangerous and time consuming," the System's voice was uncharacteristically grave. It had even forgotten to speak in third person.
"Just tell me. Whether it's dangerous or not... I'll be the judge of that."
"Well, I have actually found three ways to extract the Gu worm. The first method is death. The Gu worm will die if its host is dead," the System said.
"Alright, that's not doable. What's the second method?" Feng Yongrui was frowning deeply.
"The second method is buying a method in the System Mall. Under the 'medicine' section, there is a miracle medicine called 'Konghua'. When a person ingests this medicine, the Gu worm inside his/her body will disappear, and the person will be immune to all poisons."
Feng Yongrui paused.
"...But?" he asked.
"But, this medicine costs 150,000 points, and it can only be used for one person."
There were at least 500 children that were kidnapped by Xiang Si... Not to mention, Feng Yongrui only had 1,952 points.
"Host, poverty is a vice indeed," the System lamented.
Feng Yongrui rolled his eyes and directly asked for the third method.
"Well... for the third method, a highly skilled cultivator, at least a Nascent Soul Cultivator, should ingest a certain type of poison and lure the Gu worms out of the other person's body."
"The Gu worm will be lured by the poison and the abundant internal energy of the cultivator and leave their previous host, rushing to the skilled cultivator."
"By 'skilled cultivator', you mean me, right?" Feng Yongrui asked. "So I should ingest a certain type of poison, and use my internal energy to lure the Gu worms over to me... Those worms will rush over to me, and then I should kill them, right?"
"Correct, Host. However, this method is risky for several reasons. First of all, the poison you must take is very potent. The poison will crawl slowly into your heart and kill you within four hours," the System explained.
"This means... I'll have to finish extracting the Gu worms from the children within four hours, right?" Feng Yongrui was a bit worried.
"Correct. Before the time is up, you have to extract the Gu worms and then detoxify yourself."
"...So this is like a game with a time limit, and if I go over the time limit, I die for real," Feng Yongrui surmised.
The System nodded with its non-existent head.
"This method is also risky because there is a risk that the Gu worm might enter you before you manage to kill all of them," the System said.
Feng Yongrui wanted to extract the Gu worm from about 500 people, and the speed of the Gu worms exiting a person's body would be different for every person.
Some Gu worms might crawl outside slowly, and others might be very fast. On one hand, Feng Yongrui had to concentrate on using his internal energy to lure the Gu worms out, and on the other hand, he would have to kill the Gu worms once they exited the child's body.
It was like playing a game, where you had to attack and defend yourself from a barrage of enemies. One small mistake could cost you your life.
And unlike games, once you died, it was game over for real.
"Remember, Host. You have to kill the Gu worm only when it has fully exited the child's body. If the Gu worm is still partially inside the child and you hurt the Gu worm, the child might get hurt too," the System reminded him.
Feng Yongrui sighed.
"Other than this, there's no other way, right?" he asked just to make sure.
"No, Host. This is the only way."
"Alright then," Feng Yongrui sighed.
***
System: Actually, there is a method to make the Gu worms disappear forever. You don't need to spend points or anything.
Feng Yongrui: Really? Hurry and tell me!
System: Convince the author to erase the Gu worms from the entire story.
Feng Yongrui: =_=