Aoki thought that after simulating two lifetimes, he would have to use up one of them.
Fortunately, during the close-quarters struggle with Nongli, he was lucky enough to stuff a rice bowl into Nongli’s mouth, preventing her from biting him, and soon after successfully awakened her consciousness.
That’s when he discovered that Nongli would go berserk upon tasting blood.
Obviously, this was yet another problem he had to face.
He originally planned to put severe pressure on Nongli to make her understand what she could and couldn’t do.
If he died, Nongli wouldn’t have any pills to eat, and he believed this would definitely make her grasp the seriousness of the situation.
However, after regaining consciousness, Nongli’s expression clearly showed a sense of guilt.
So Aoki simply gave her a brief warning and let it go.
Afterward, he arranged to sleep. Nongli transformed into a fox and burrowed into Aoki’s pile of clothes, while Aoki lay on the bed.
…
……
Back in the fantastical real world, Aoki opened his eyes and sat up on the jade bed.
It was the agreed meeting time with Cuihua, who naturally wasn’t startled by his sudden awakening.
“Your expression looks happy?”
Cuihua asked.
Aoki nodded and asked, “How are the preparations for the physician? Do you have any candidates?”
“Yes.”
Cuihua finished explaining the basic information about the physician, then asked, “But I’m curious—how are you going to control the physician? By magic?”
Earlier, Aoki had told her that he had lost the ability to use magic.
“I have a better method.”
Aoki smiled and held up a hand, counting on his fingers: “I need a furnace, it’s…”
Recalling the shape of an alchemy furnace in his mind, Aoki described it to Cuihua.
“And some corresponding tools—you’d better get some paper and a pen, I’ll draw it out for you.”
“Why? Is the Sacred Land in the Deepwood District very cold?”
Cuihua only thought Aoki wanted to boil water, but Aoki shook his head and said, “No, I’m going to refine pills—you can think of it as alchemy.”
“Alchemy… If you understand alchemy, wouldn’t you know what kind of potion Yuelan made for you?”
“This is different. Pill refining is knowledge from another world.
Besides, even if I knew alchemy, detecting potion components would still require specific tools and methods, right?”
Cuihua didn’t understand, but she knew she had to follow Aoki’s lead.
Actually, she’d been thinking about running away early these past two days, but thinking of her family, she decided against it.
The mad Saintess Yuelan would never spare her family!
“The nearby blacksmith is leaving tomorrow. Are you in too much of a hurry? By the way, here’s what you wanted.”
Just as Aoki was about to say it wasn’t urgent for now—after all, it would be several dozen hours before he woke next—he saw Cuihua take out a vegetable basket filled with food, and he was so excited he nearly cried.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he ate.
Though now the Deepwood District’s energy supply kept him from feeling hungry at all, he still craved food.
Taking the food out of the basket, Aoki ate while pondering a question:
“You said some people go berserk when they get blood on them. How does that work?”
“Sounds like beast tribes.”
Ever since Aoki had spoken frankly to her, Cuihua no longer needed to play the role of caretaker. Aoki woke periodically and took care of his own hygiene. She only came to make an appearance.
“Beast tribes? Are the beast tribes in this world like that too?”
Aoki raised an eyebrow; he hadn’t really learned much about the beastmen in this world.
“What do you mean ‘this world’ and ‘that world’?”
Cuihua thought Aoki’s words sounded strange and said, “Beastblood frenzy—that’s a specific term. Not only beast tribes, but some other races have this problem too… I’ll bring you some books about it later. There’s a certain eastern fox tribe that specializes in writing about this. Maxi probably has some—oh right, I think he’s a doctor.”
Then Cuihua explained in her own simple way that certain races lose their sanity under certain conditions and follow only their instincts.
Aoki felt this was a fitting description of Nongli’s behavior, though Cuihua didn’t provide a solution, and he hadn’t thought of one either. For now, he’d have to keep Nongli away from blood at all costs.
“Yuelan hasn’t come by lately, right?”
Wiping his face with a damp towel, Aoki asked Cuihua.
“No. She’s probably been busy recently. Because something big happened in the Rose Kingdom—the border checkpoint was mysteriously attacked, and many died.
They suspect it was monsters. Saintess Yuelan has quite a lot on her plate.”
“…”
Aoki’s expression grew serious upon hearing this.
Many aspiring heroes had gathered at the Rose Kingdom’s border checkpoints. If monsters had raided there, it was obviously on the Demon King’s orders. But who among the Demon King’s allies could be involved?
Besides the rare Saintess Yuelan, probably no one else.
Thinking this, the pressure in Aoki’s heart grew even heavier.
He got off the jade bed and paced, trying to think of a plan.
Seeing this, Cuihua understood his frustration.
“Don’t overthink it. I know you’re trying your best, but being anxious won’t help right now.”
She took out pen and paper, handing them to Aoki: “Your immediate priority is to tell me exactly what you need. When you wake next time, you can try harder.”
“Ha, thanks.”
Aoki hadn’t expected Cuihua to comfort him. Taking the pen and paper, he drew everything needed for pill refining. After receiving the sketches, Cuihua nodded and muttered, “We’ll have to wait for the blacksmith to come back first…”
“He’s going out? Perfect, then he can gather the materials. These materials should preferably be…”
Aoki went on to add some notes about precautions during the preparation.
When he finished, he asked to go out for a while.
Cuihua didn’t refuse and opened the magic barrier, letting Aoki sit at the Sacred Land’s entrance.
This place was a forbidden zone anyway, especially deserted at night. With his qi circulation stopped, Aoki was now partially paralyzed. Sitting at the gate, he gazed at the beautiful nightscape of the Deepwood District, drowsiness creeping in.
Before long, Aoki leaned against a tree trunk and fell asleep. Cuihua watched his profile thoughtfully.
When Aoki woke again, he was back on the Sacred Land’s jade bed. Cuihua was nowhere to be seen. He glanced outside the magic barrier and saw that dawn had broken.
Not good!
After exiting the simulation, the simulation’s time flowed in sync with reality.
He had missed an entire night!
Thinking of Nongli potentially causing trouble, Aoki quickly sent his consciousness back into the simulated world.
Opening his eyes, he hurriedly rummaged through the pile of clothes for Nongli. Tossing the clothes onto the bed, a golden-eared, red-eyed white fox tumbled out.
Nongli, in fox form, yawned and looked at Aoki strangely.
“Phew… you didn’t leave?”
Aoki breathed a sigh of relief, silently thankful.
After getting up, Aoki went to the courtyard to wash up, planning to prepare some food for Nongli and then refine today’s pills. He also expected a punishment notice from the Hall Master.
“The Hall Master is dead! The Hall Master is dead! The Hall Master was bitten to death by a fox demon!”
Someone shouted outside. Aoki was stunned and immediately turned his head.
Nongli, now in human form, stretched lazily. Seeing Aoki look at her, she flashed a sweet smile, as if begging for praise for her performance.
But she was a little terrifying—her mouth was dripping with fresh blood.