Stranger Danger

“You can rule the world if you want to, or you can own a harem of millions.”

“Or perhaps your wish is to become the strongest warrior in the world?”

……

Ye Qing didn’t even get the chance to examine his surroundings when a voice suddenly spoke to him inside his head. It wasn’t just a voice either. Every time it said a wish, it would show off a corresponding illusion. He saw himself sitting atop a literal mountain of gold and silver; he saw countless beautiful women fawning over him, he saw reigning above all as the ultimate ruler, and he saw himself becoming the greatest warrior of all time, literally.

Ye Qing sneered internally. The Door Demon would make a good movie director, if nothing else.

“Do you desire them, mortal? If you do, then know that I possess the power to fulfill all of your wishes!” The Door Demon’s voice rang inside Ye Qing’s head again.

Feeling a little playful today, Ye Qing answered, “I want them all. Can you do that?”

There was a lull in the Door Demon’s response. Is it just me, or did he just skip straight to the ending? Normally, the human would make their wish, I would accept and bring up my condition, and they would obey my every bidding like a dog, right? This is a little…

The Door Demon thought for a moment and forcibly wrestled back control of the conversation, “I can bestow all of your wishes, of course. But in return, you must help me with a little something.”

I bloody knew it. They could never come up with something new, Ye Qing thought disdainfully but replied, “What, you need me to help you before you can fulfill my wish? That’s too much work. Forget it. I don’t want it anymore!”

Door Demon: “...” This isn’t part of the script!

“Are you sure, mortal? If you agree to help me out, I will grant you everything you ever wanted.”

Ye Qing looked tempted. “Okay! I agree! You may fulfill my wishes now!”

Door Demon: “...” Holy shit this guy is materialistic.

The Door Demon let out a helpless sigh, “I would, but my power is limited right now. I can only grant your wishes if you remove my seal.”

“Eh, I don’t trust you. I’ll unseal you after you fulfill my wishes, and not a moment sooner!” Ye Qing curled his lips in disdain. His expression was obviously saying, “I knew it! He’s another Bronze noob pretending to be a Challenger [1]! Ptooey!”

“You must be joking! If you don’t help me unseal my power, then how can I possibly fulfill your wishes?” The Door Demon argued angrily. If I was strong enough to break out of the seal myself, then I wouldn’t need your help, would I?

“If you don’t fulfill my wishes first, then how can I trust you?”

“You… you…” The Door Demon felt like he was about to explode. This conundrum was eerily similar to the famous question, “Which came first – the chicken or the egg?” They could literally argue about this for a year and never arrive at a conclusion.

By now, the Door Demon had figured out that Ye Qing was toying with him. He wasn’t a Stranger for nothing after all. His voice grew eerie and threatening, “No one has ever dared to toy me like that, boy. I will remember this, kekeke…”

“Save it, bitch,” Ye Qing dropped his act and smirked, “You’re not the first person to make that threat, and you won’t be the last. Also, you’re just a pathetic little keyboard warrior right now. What makes you think you can hurt me when you can’t even lay a finger on me?”

The Door Demon might not know what a “keyboard warrior” was, but he certainly got an idea of Ye Qing’s meaning. His voice grew hateful and crazy as he muttered, “You will regret this, you will regret this, you will regret this…” over and over again. At the same time, irritating and nausea-inducing illusions sprung inside Ye Qing’s mind.

“What did I say? You have nothing but your pathetic little keyboard,” Ye Qing grinned diabolically and visualized the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method”. The great emperor immediately shone like the sun and melted away all of the madness and malice.

Ye Qing did not relent, however. Emperor Fuxi continued to float on the nine heavens and bathe everything in purifying light. A few breaths later, a wisp of black qi suddenly slipped out of a dark corner of his head and screamed hatefully, “Graaahhh! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you one day!”

The next second, it was annihilated by Emperor Fuxi’s light.

“I knew it wouldn’t be that easy,” Ye Qing sneered. Had he underestimated the Door Demon’s cunningness and overlooked that black qi, heavens only know what kind of trouble it could cause. Strangers truly could not be trusted [2].

“What’s wrong, Joyless?” Lin Yuhuai asked when he noticed that Ye Qing was blanking out.

“It’s nothing.” Ye Qing shook his head. The entire conversation had taken place mentally, so Lin Yuhuai had no idea what just happened. “Can you tell me more about the Door Demon, Brother Lin?”

Lin Yuhuai answered, “According to the records, the Door Demon is a powerful Stranger whose main body is a door. As you may have noticed, it possesses the power to traverse through space.”

“Centuries ago, a champion of the Pacification Bureau managed to capture the Door Demon and seal it within the headquarters. Since then, it had become the passage between the Tower of Secrets and the outside world.”

“Unfortunately, the Door Demon is anything but pleased with its new life, and it tried everything under the sun to tempt our people into unsealing it. In fact, many weak-willed people had given into temptation and met terrible ends. To put it simply, half of them were led astray, and half of them went mad.”

“Did the Door Demon promise you something, Joyless? You mustn’t believe it no matter what it says.”

“Don’t worry, Brother Lin. I know,” Ye Qing replied smilingly. He would have to be stupid and crazy to fall for the Door Demon’s tricks.

It was at this moment a cold man wearing a black robe with patterns of celestial objects and a silver mask appeared before the duo. He took a look at the written order Lin Yuhuai gave him and said, “You wish to procure the Human-type Strange Artifact No. 58 is the Miracle Doctor Calabash, a Soulstealer-class Strange Artifact. You will need three special Artifact Wielders to wield it. Please give me a moment.”

The black-robed man’s voice sounded hoarse and unclear as if he wasn’t used to speaking. He then turned around and went somewhere.

“Miracle Doctor Calabash? Soulstealer-class Strange Artifact?” Ye Qing blurted in surprise. Forget seeing, this was the first time he heard of a Soulstealer-class Strange Artifact. He could only imagine how powerful it was.

But what did the guy mean by “three special Artifact Wielders”?

“Can you tell me more about this Miracle Doctor Calabash, Brother Lin? And what are ‘special Artifact Wielders’?”

Ye Qing was never afraid to ask something he didn’t know about.

Lin Yuhuai answered, “The Miracle Doctor Calabash is a Soulstealer-class Strange Artifact that was rumored to be the possession of the miracle doctor, Niu Qinghua. They say that it gained a sliver of sentience and power due to prolonged use.”

“The Miracle Doctor Calabash contained the soul of the miracle doctor himself, and it could be summoned to cure any non-fatal disease and most Stranger-based toxins and curses.”

“That’s incredible!” Ye Qing praised. The Miracle Doctor Calabash might not possess any offensive power, but its healing potency was something everyone in the jianghu dreamed of having.

Theoretically, it wasn’t a dream to rule a corner of the world with the Miracle Doctor Calabash. As long as the wielder wasn’t suicidal, of course.

Lin Yuhuai continued, “However, the conditions to activate a Strange Artifact became more stringent the more powerful it was. The adverse effects are much worse as well.”

“To use the Miracle Doctor Calabash, three people with medical knowledge and skill must be present at the scene. Moreover, the greater their knowledge and skill, the greater the soul they would be able to summon. However, if even one person is missing, then the soul in the Miracle Doctor Calabash would go on a rampage and curse everyone around it. You can see why it’s so dangerous.”

“Besides that, the Miracle Doctor Calabash is so powerful that it cannot be wielded continuously by one person. It must be used in rotation to prevent its users from being assimilated or cursed by the Miracle Doctor Calabash.”

“I see,” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization. The Bronze Tiger Mask was one such example. It was just a Hatred-class Strange Artifact, but its use conditions and its adverse effects were already pretty potent, much less a Soulstealer-class Strange Artifact.

The duo had just finished talking when the black-robed man returned with another three black-robed men. However, the newcomers’ black robes were perfectly plain, and their masks were iron-colored.

In the Tower of Secrets, those who were called upon to wield Strange Artifacts of the corresponding grade were known as Artifact Wielders. The Artifact Wielders were categorized into Human, Earth and Heaven just like the Strange Artifacts. The black-robed man they met at the beginning was an Earth-rank Artifact Wielder, and the three newcomers were Human-rank. The newcomers must be the Artifact Wielders of the Miracle Doctor Calabash.

Ye Qing could tell that they were all late-stage Vessel Augmentors. However, the auras were somewhat impure and bizarre probably because they had to wield all sorts of powerful Strange Artifacts for a long time.

After the four men came close, the Earth-rank Artifact Wielder handed a bronze box covered in mysterious patterns to his three colleagues and said to Lin Yuhuai, “These are the men responsible for wielding the Human-grade Strange Artifact No. 58 this time. Please keep them safe.”

Lin Yuhuai replied smilingly, “You have nothing to worry about.”

After that, Lin Yuhuai, Ye Qing, and the three Human-rank Artifact Wielders left the Tower of Secrets and made a beeline for Longwind Street. It was because it was the closest outbreak location to the Pacification Bureau.

As they traveled, Ye Qing noticed that the three Artifact Wielders would pass the bronze box to another Artifact Wielder every half a teatime, and the Artifact Wielder carrying it would be shrouded in a faint mist. The faint mist seemed to be poisonous or imbued with some sort of evil energy as well. Clearly, the Miracle Doctor Calabash possessed some sort of corrupting quality.

This made Ye Qing realize just how dangerous a Soulstealer-class Strange Artifact was. Even just carrying it could bring harm to its bearer.

After arriving at Longwind Street, Ye Qing led the three Artifact Wielders straight to the zombies and the civilians who were hurt by the zombies. Once they were ready, one Artifact Wielder placed the bronze box on the ground and slowly opened it to reveal a bronze calabash.

Although the calabash was made from bronze, it was colorful and engraved with what looked like images of a night feast. It was also shaped like a teapot despite its name [3]. Its appearance was so exquisite that it resembled a work of art.

The Artifact Wielder carefully lifted the Miracle Doctor Calabash in front of him. Then, he started rubbing its surface with his right hand.

What the fuck? Why does this look so familiar? Ye Qing was taken aback by the strangely depraved gesture at the same time a memory hit him. Is this Aladdin’s lamp? Is he going to summon a bloody genie and make a wish?

Before he could even finish his mental ramblings, a white fog gushed out of the Miracle Doctor Calabash’s spout and transformed into a saintly old man with white hair and beard.

Ye Qing: “...” It really is a genie!

The three Artifact Wielders gave the miracle doctor’s soul a deep bow after summoning him. Shooting them a glance as if he had a real mind, the miracle doctor stroked his beard and exhaled in the direction of the infected.

Rain clouds suddenly appeared above the infected’s head. When the rain began, the changed civilians actually started changing back to humans. Their organs regrew, and their flesh and blood knitted until it looked like they had never been hurt in the first place. Then, their deadened eyes slowly regained their sentience, and their faces bloomed with the joy of a survivor who somehow survived despite all odds.

Whoosh!

When everyone had returned to normal, the miracle doctor’s soul slowly turned transparent until it disappeared completely.

The moment the soul disappeared, the Artifact Wielder wielding the Miracle Doctor Calabash abruptly collapsed on the ground. His complexion was purple, his breathing was weak, and he looked like he could fall into a coma at any second.

His companions were clearly prepared, however. One of them caught the Miracle Doctor Calabash and deposited it back inside the bronze box. Another produced a pill from his pocket and fed it into his collapsed colleague’s mouth.

Over time, the Artifact Wielder’s unhealthy complexion slowly faded away into nothing. He soon regained his mobility and strength as well.

Ye Qing summoned Zhou Xi to his side and gave him some instructions. He and the three Artifact Wielders then left the way and marched for Nanping Boat.

There were far more infected on the Nanping Boat because it was beset by two giant zombies. It had taken two uses of the Miracle Doctor Calabash before they finally cured all of the changed civilians.

Strangely, the giant zombies weren’t healed. In fact, the Miracle Doctor Calabash’s healing powers did not seem to work on them at all.

Left with no choice, Ye Qing ordered Xu Banren to escort the giant zombies back to the Pacification Bureau.

Finally, Ye Qing and the three Artifact Wielders made a beeline for Fish Dragon Market. By the time the civilians were cured and dealt with, it was almost midnight.

“Thank you very much for your services,” Ye Qing thanked the three exhausted Artifact Wiedlers from the bottom of his heart after everything was over.

“You’re welcome, my lord, but we are simply performing our duties,” they replied in an indifferent tone.

“I’ll escort you back to the Tower of Secrets right now.” The Miracle Doctor Calabash was very important to say the least. He could not entrust this duty to anyone else except himself.

The three Artifact Wielders bowed respectfully, “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Let’s go!” Ye Qing waved and escorted them toward the Pacification Bureau.

1. League of Legends rank tier reference. ☜

2. A certain frog and Book Sprite sneezes. ☜

3. Calabash was used by doctors in Ancient China to transport medicine. ☜