Chapter 21: Plaster or Poison

Chu Qiang tried to expand the scope of his temporal financing through the strange radio before him, wanting to confirm whether Yang Zicang was still alive.
Bai Yuan sat on the stone steps of the empty ruins, let out a sigh, then lay down on the ground with a troubled heart, gazing up at the sky.
Many people were launching financing without an opponent. In this area, countless individuals simultaneously received telepathic requests from dozens of others.
But there was only one person who did not respond—the man being hunted by the monster.
“Is he really dead?” Luo Xin moved his eyes, glancing at the people beside him. They all shook their heads.
……
Liang Xi stood blankly in the tunnel, two trails of tears streaking down his cheeks.
The boy wiped his face with his dirty sleeve, then continued exploring the monster’s lair.
……
Twin cartoon-like phantoms condensed from mist zipped swiftly through the dark pipes.
With the loss of their leader, the rat monsters scattered in panic, their fierce, wolf-like aura gone.
Swish! A phantom figure crossed the height difference of ten meters and landed at the cave entrance, trailing a trail of mist. Seeing no trace of that terrifying monster, Shao Min finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In the dim glow of Magic Stone, two silhouettes were visible near the wall.
The bundled-up cartoon mistman dropped from the air and swayed in front of Yang Zicang’s head, but he showed no response.
“Are they all dead?”
[It perceives the existence of the Chrono Weapon!]
“What!” Shao Min’s eyes snapped wide open.
The model had proactively sensed the Chrono Weapon, indicating this weapon is at least at a strength of over fifty years of Chrono Order per strike; otherwise, it wouldn’t have responded.
That spear!
The four hands of the two misty miniatures pressed down on the long spear, struggling to pull it, but only managing to lift it a tiny bit.
“Oh my god… Wait, needing a thousand years to carve open space? What does that mean?”
If only I had that much lifespan.
“Damn it, this is a rare and precious find. No choice, it has to be this way!”
With great resolve, he invested ninety-nine years of Chrono principal to enhance his ability to lift heavier objects.
“I’ve scrimped and saved for this—it has to work!”
The two cartoon misty figures gritted their teeth, leaning back as they dragged the long spear, making Shao Min’s heart pound wildly.
“It’s moving. It can be done. I’ll also possess a Chrono Weapon soon!”
He could hardly wait to go into the nest to retrieve it.
The silver spear slid lightly across the ground, turning direction and heading outside the cave. Just as the tail of the spear was about to leave the reach of Yang Zicang’s arm, the quiet hand suddenly shot out and pressed down on the spear’s tail.
Feeling the scene through the mist, Shao Min’s spine instantly went numb. He saw the man leaning against the corner open his eyes with a demon-like glint, locking gazes with him through the fog.
“He’s still alive?!”
“Whoosh~” An immense suction force instantly appeared at the front end of the spear. The energy of the two mist figurines dwindled by a quarter in an instant.
Shao Min’s perceptual vision spun and blurred. “Tsk.” He quickly dismissed his ability and covered his stinging eyes.
“That bastard’s not dead and actually got the Chrono Weapon! Ah, my eyes, damn bastard!”
Shao Min cursed hatefully, then remembered the words Ma Chao had told him earlier, “Don’t underestimate the quadrilateral…” He never expected this to come true so quickly. That kid managed to survive in such a dangerous situation.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he was startled by his own idea.
“Ha, Ma Chao can’t lose.”
He stood up, covered his eyes, and walked a few steps, but his pace grew slower and slower.
“But what if he loses…”
……
Yang Zicang, half-unconscious, listened to the interior regretting muttering with some sorrow.
[I’m in a place where not even death is known in the surroundings. Is this what the ancients meant by dying far away from home…]
This was indeed his own emotion, but it had been refined into something more specific, forming a monologue.
This thing was both like himself, and like an unnecessary inner voice or thought.
At this moment, Yang Zicang felt that the model had become somewhat different. If the previous model was like a speaker hanging on his chest, now it was more like an organ transplanted into his body, and his instincts were trying to accept it as part of himself.
Having experienced death together had deepened the model’s resonance with his consciousness.
“Will we die together?”
[Not ‘we’, it’s ‘me’.]
Yang Zicang slightly turned his head, wearily placing his hand on the Chrono Weapon.
The silver spear’s surface now bore additional black fine lines— markings that appeared after it had devoured the Black Iron Book and the Ratman Leader.
At the same time, a message regarding the spear was fed back to him.
[Gravitational Arc Light.]
This name was the information he had felt when first touching the spear’s body.
First, this spear was indeed a Century Weapon, one whose every strike could deliver a century-long temporal blow.
Second, this spear also possessed a special ability—gravity. Although stating it this way was not entirely accurate.
It could generate an attractive force within a range of over thirty centimeters, exerting a powerful pull on objects weighing less than ten kilograms. For anything heavier, it could still have some effect. This ability was called “Gravitational Arc Light.”
And its essential function was to store the space of this spear.
Thus, what he had actually gained was this ability called “Gravitational Arc Light,” and the silver spear was merely its accessory.
[To open the “Gravitational Space” for the first time requires a Temporal Power of 1000N.]
[I sense that stripping a Chrono Weapon requires consuming unknown items not found in this world.]
Yang Zicang gave a bitter laugh inwardly. Where could he find time energy now to open the storage space for this long spear?
He never expected that just a minute or two of fighting would bring him back to square one overnight. He had been proudly pleased with the fourfold boost not long ago.
He checked the wound on his chest—it was severe, with breath escaping through it. Besides his arm, the upper half of his body was almost completely numb and unable to move.
At that moment, a wave of cold air surged into the cave entrance once again.
Yang Zicang cast a cold sidelong glance. It was that cartoonish mist creature again. He quickly struggled to move his fingers and press them against the tail of the spear.
Thump! Something like a plaster patch was flung into Yang Zicang’s arms.
The cartoon mist figure pointed at the thing, then at its own chest, miming the action of sticking it on before dissipating.
Yang Zicang thought in surprise: “Who is this? I attacked him, and yet he’s coming to help me?”
Slowly moving his arm, he used two fingers to edge the object open bit by bit. He blacked out several times during the process, and it took no less than five or six minutes just to tear open half of the plaster.
But when Yang Zicang finally managed to peel the patch’s backing off, a doubt crept in: Could this thing actually be meant for healing the wound?
[I began to doubt the authenticity of this healing item.]
What now? Should he stick it on or not?
The chilling, negative emotions that had seized his mind earlier were very likely caused by that misty cartoon figure from before.
YangZicang stared at the plaster, caught in a dilemma.
[The 22nd Evaluation Committee Member revealed his presence to me. He wants me to play a guessing game.]
“A guessing… game…?”
[If you guess correctly, this item will have a powerful healing effect. If you guess incorrectly, it will be a potent poison. And regardless of right or wrong, it will be used automatically.]
Cold sweat trickled down YangZicang’s back.
At a time like this, did these unknown entities still have the mood to amuse themselves at his expense?
“What are you making me guess?”
After agonizing over the two choices, YangZicang spoke weakly.
[The 22nd Evaluation Committee Member tasks you with guessing whether this temporal-timing item possesses the effect of healing injuries.]
“I…!”
YangZicang cursed inwardly. Was this really not some joke they were playing on him?
After two or three seconds of mental confusion, the young man suddenly felt a stretch of clarity.
At first glance, whether or not there was this game seemed the same, but there were still slight differences.
YangZicang sensed that clear, still emotion within—the same pure emptiness his heart had felt before, like fleeting death.
The afterglow of that emptiness lingered, but pain was rapidly shattering it into fragments. Yet the flow of blood also sent his weak body sliding back toward this abyss of nothingness.
In this faint hollowness, YangZicang’s thoughts became more ethereal, and at that very moment, a sudden spark of insight struck.
He understood.
……
“I want to ask a question. One not directly related to this guess.”
[The 22nd Evaluation Committee Member granted my request to ask a question.]
“Are Evaluation Committee Members, aside from their role in ‘guidance,’ prohibited from directly intervening in our choices or development, unless under specific circumstances, such as encountering a special monster resembling a mother entity?”
When Yang Zicang mentioned the word “guidance,” his tone was filled with hesitation, as if it were not the precise term.
[The 22nd Evaluation Committee Member praised my keen insight and agreed with my interpretation.]
Yang Zicang chuckled lightly and said weakly in his mind:
“Thank you, I have no other questions. As for the riddle outcome, I guess it has a ‘curative effect.’”
From the confirmation gained from his own question, the answer had already been roughly determined.
[I have given my first answer. The Evaluation Committee Members granted me the promise that I could retract it within ten seconds. The answer is about to be revealed!]
[Time’s up.]
The half-unrolled plaster in his hand was torn apart by an invisible force, slapping onto his chest like adhesive tape.
Did I guess correctly? Yang Zicang felt a bit tense.
A faint green light emerged, and the young man sensed an incredibly comforting energy surging forth from it, converging into the wound on his chest.
[I, the Great Quadrilateral, actually got it right by sheer luck.]
“Heh, yes, I chose correctly.”
Yang Zicang breathed a sigh of relief.
His physical strength quickly recovered, and despite a lingering fatigue in his spirit, most of his other injuries healed within just half a minute.