Chapter 54: End-of-life Care, One Good Deed A Day
Miss crouched down, looked at the nose ring boy with a worried expression, and sighed: “Sigh! Brother Lu, just rest in peace. It’s not that I don’t want to save you, but in university, I’ve only dissected cadavers and understand basic human physiological structures, but I really have no first aid experience. If I make a move, you’ll only die faster and more peacefully. How about, for the sake of being teammates, I send you off painlessly on your final journey?”
“Save… please…” Lu Rang’s pupils gradually lost focus, but under the domination of strong survival instinct, he painfully vomited blood while trying to speak.
“This puts me in a difficult spot. Your current condition means even slight movement accelerates death.”
Bang!
Another heavy Whiplash Kick slammed into the fragile neck, kicking Grandma Yu, who had climbed back up with heaven-defying vitality, back to the ground. Her head cracked and bent, smashing into the ground.
Yuan Zhu took small steps forward and unleashed a vicious War Trample on that thick, hard skull, smashing the old woman into the stone slab.
Mai Lili, who had just stood up, happened to witness this midnight murderer stomping the fallen old woman’s head into the stone slab street, instantly shuddering and not daring to meet his gaze.
Yuan Zhu also spotted Meng Xiyue stuffing a grenade into Lu Rang’s chest, helping him hold it with both arms hugging his chest, about to pull the pin, and suddenly shouted a reminder: “Feed him a Tomato, dummy!”
Yuan Zhu’s reminder stunned the pink-haired murderer. Her hand pulling the pin froze, then she turned to Lu Rang, who was glaring with wide eyes fixed on his mortal enemy, and smiled: “Congratulations, you’re saved!”
Lu Rang, whose eyes had lost their light, struggled desperately: “Gren… ade…”
“This one’s about to explode. If you like it, I’ll give you a new one later.” As she spoke, she pulled out the grenade and tossed it at a distant Mad Tomato.
Boom! The Mad Tomato had one leg blown off.
Meanwhile, Meng Xiyue pulled three red little Tomatoes—each with a tongue, ears, and nose—from the side pocket of her backpack and stuffed them all into Lu Rang’s bleeding mouth.
Then, she picked up a dirty, broken little wooden stick from the ground and jabbed it repeatedly into the boy’s mouth. She didn’t care if he swallowed successfully; as long as the Blood Tomatoes were punctured and their juice flowed out, it counted as a win.
Sure enough, once the three fruits were crushed and spread in Lu Rang’s mouth, a stream of heat flowed from his throat into his body, beginning to focus on repairing his collapsed, sunken chest ribs.
His heartbeat grew strong again, breathing resumed from nothing, and his unfocused eyes refocused. Lu Rang looked at Meng Xiyue with gratitude mixed with fear.
“More… I… pocket…”
Lu Rang struggled to speak, his survival instinct overflowing, indicating three fruits weren’t enough—he had more in his pocket. Meng Xiyue nodded in understanding, pulled out another three, and stuffed them into his mouth.
This time, before she could raise the broken wooden stick, Lu Rang bit through the Blood Tomatoes first, another round of life-filled nourishment rapidly restoring his condition. Tears in his eyes, he said with lingering fear: “I… I’m alive again!”
“You guys hurry and go!”
Yuan Zhu had already torn off one of Grandma Yu’s arms and thrown it far away, pinning her down with his other leg to control her movement, wondering why this group was so slow to flee.
If you keep dragging this out, I’ll have to tear apart the old woman and clear out this group of Mad Tomatoes—how can we sneakily kidnap and refine Ghost Companions then?
Thinking of this, he slightly loosened his foot, giving Grandma Yu an opening. Her Tail Whip swept horizontally, blocked by Yuan Zhu raising his arm, followed by a set of close-range combo punches—powerful and unrestrained—sending the berserk old woman retreating repeatedly, until a tumble created distance, and they faced off again.
Seeing Yuan Zhu still entangled with Grandma Yu, Meng Xiyue picked up the limp-limbed Lu Rang and retreated without looking back: “We’ll go ahead; catch up soon!”
“Got it!”
The shadows under Grandma Yu’s feet surged violently, suddenly spraying out streams of Shadow Threads that tightly wrapped her waist, legs, remaining arm, neck vertebrae, and tail, pulling in different directions to fix her in place.
Yuan Zhu turned his head, saw his teammate disappear around the corner, then suddenly grinned. He stopped the fake fight, activated [Boss Template], and a ferocious aura instantly swept the area, making the sneaking Mad Tomatoes turn tail and flee.
On the ground, the human shadow’s outline gradually elongated and grew, ultimately transforming into a pitch-black Fierce Tiger.
Without needing to act personally, the Skeleton snake tail burrowed into the ground first, then flung out a ten-meter-long black giant snake upper body, swallowing a fleeing Mad Tomato into [Universe Within The Belly].
It repeated this several times, collecting five Mad Tomatoes for Yuan Zhu, before slowly sinking into the shadows and vanishing.
The Tiger Demon pulled its snake tail from the shadows and approached Grandma Yu.
The old woman still had grim green eyes, bloodshot eyeballs, beast-like roars from her mouth, sharp tusks clacking together, constantly provoking the Tiger Demon.
“Has she gone completely mad?”
Little Spicy Stick: “Want to swallow her too?”
“Teammate for a bit, I’d feel dirty. Respect the elderly and love the young—it’s a traditional virtue from my hometown.” Yuan Zhu shook his head, then manipulated countless ground shadows like asphalt to wrap and roll up Grandma Yu, infiltrating the ‘Filthy Blood uniform’ to try tearing off this Pollution Source.
A burst of skin-peeling screams rang out, and Yuan Zhu chose to give up. The fusion was too deep; this polluted uniform had merged with her body, becoming part of it.
“Is the Mao Mao King uniform this dangerous?” Yuan Zhu said in surprise.
Little Spicy Stick: “Maybe related to ‘Pollution Source’? We can output stronger ‘Shadow Pollution’ to suppress the Filthy Blood in her body.”
“Let’s try!”
The Tiger Demon manipulated shadows to pry open the old woman’s mouth, pouring asphalt-like Shadow Energy into her. The limited Filthy Blood concentration in her body was gradually suppressed, but the old woman began oozing oil from all orifices… even more evil and terrifying than before.
“Ugh… I, I can’t hold on. I just wanted to restore my youth, not become a monster. I shouldn’t have absorbed that green blood. Young man, please, kill me! And save my goat—if it can’t be saved, eat it, don’t waste it.”
“Baa…” Nearby, the Little Goat with a broken spine lay on the ground waiting to die, bleating helplessly.
Yuan Zhu: Such strong Obsession, even at death’s door not forgetting to have someone eat the goat.
“Uh… alright, I promise.”
“I have two Tomatoes on me; feed them to it.” Grandma Yu began her last words.
Yuan Zhu nodded: “Got it, I’ll make sure.”
“I don’t want to become a bloodthirsty monster, but I can’t control myself—that feeling was awful. Never touch the green blood.”
After Grandma Yu finished, she was enveloped and infused with even more Shadow Pollution. The Game Sprite figured they were about to leave the city, so better use up this Shadow Power now—might not get another chance.
He frantically drew Shadow Power from omnipresent ‘Shadow Apertures’, then force-fed the old woman, using massive quantities of ordinary ‘Shadow Pollution’ to flush and dilute the Filthy Blood…
Grandma Yu, deeply fused with ‘Filthy Bone Filthy Blood’, couldn’t withstand the Shadow Pollution infusion. Her abnormally strong vitality was finally worn down bit by bit, completely extinguished.
In a sense, a highly potential Filthy Bone Demonic Creature was drowned by him with massive Shadow Power.
After this, the Tiger Demon clawed open a gash in the ground, and Grandma Yu’s corpse fell through the wound into the Shadow Dimension. Perhaps, after contacting enough Yellow Springs Death Qi, she could return to the world as a Corpse Ghost or Ghost Companion?
But by then, human consciousness would be gone, just a brand new ‘Yellow Springs Shadow Ghostly Creature’ born from her corpse.
Deactivating [Boss Template], ending the end-of-life care, completing his daily good deed, Yuan Zhu walked to the Little Goat in self-satisfaction, choosing to feed the old woman’s final legacy into its mouth.
Thinking it over, he plucked some green, fleshy Tomato Seedlings from several dead Mad Tomatoes by the roadside and fed them to the Little Goat too.
Pure Blood Tomatoes only had minor effects for restoring blood and healing wounds. To fully save this crippled Lamb, he needed heavy stuff!
Mad Tomatoes contained Mad Blood, but also ‘Tomato bloodline’ and trace Buddhist Dharma injected by Abbot Duowen, nutrient-rich. He even proactively chose ‘Mad Tomatoes’ for refining Ghost Companions. (Couldn’t find safer Buddha Tomatoes after all.)
Before the latest version, Abbot Duowen clearly aimed to demonize all civilians then convert them back to Buddhism for enlightenment. So these ‘Mad Tomato civilians’ must have Buddhist Dharma back doors, safer than pure Filthy Bone Demonic Creatures.
Thus, Yuan Zhu figured feeding the Little Goat ‘Eggplant Seedlings’ from Mad Tomato corpses would grant Filthy Bone vitality, suppressed by Tomato starlight and Buddhist Dharma, without full corruption.
Even if the Little Goat turned demonic, he could easily suppress it and save (kill) it on the spot!
So, saving one goat’s life surpasses building a seven-story pagoda! Yuan Zhu, lost about this world, decided to experiment on the Little Goat with ‘my hunch’.
No control group needed—just go by feel and see what it turns into.
“Eat up, eat up! Have more Mad Tomato flesh and grass. Weren’t you craving Filthy Bone Demonic Creatures before? This is the upgraded premium version!”
“Baa choke choke! Baa choke choke!”
Smelling the ‘Filthy Bone’ scent on the Mad Tomato Seedlings, the Little Goat went instantly greedy and mad like a Native American smelling leaves, eager for a bite.
So Yuan Zhu kept feeding, and the Little Goat kept devouring.
Until all the tender seedlings from several Mad Tomatoes were plucked clean, he reluctantly stopped.
The latter munched with fresh mouthfeel; its broken limbs and spine unknowingly repaired, starting to bounce around Yuan Zhu the feeder.
This Lamb, born not long ago, now sprouted a pair of sharp, green-veined spiral horns on its head. Faint green bloodshot around its horizontal slit pupils, but unlike prior Filthy Bone Demonic Creatures, it wasn’t berserk—still rational.
“Didn’t go mad? Were these garbage Mad Tomatoes too weak, Filthy Blood concentration too low? Or Tomato Person and Buddhist Dharma suppression?” Uncomprehending, Yuan Zhu split a Shadow rope from his Clothes, tied it around the Little Goat’s neck, and led it toward the city gate.
