Chapter 44

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Chapter 44: Erosion

Wang Xiao awoke.

He found himself tightly bound to a specially designed operating table.

At that moment, he was stripped completely bare, constrained by dozens of restraining straps that left him unable to move even a little.

He wanted to speak, to call for help, but all he could produce was a muffled "mewling" sound.

The mewing sound caught the attention of a nurse closest to him, who immediately ran to report to a doctor nearby:

“Doctor, he’s awake again.”

The man referred to as “doctor” glanced at the red electronic clock hanging on the wall, clearly annoyed as he said,

“I told you his anesthetic metabolism is twenty times that of a normal person! Why can’t you understand to increase the dosage?

“What good is saving a few vials of anesthetic at this moment? If this operation is successful, the rewards will be plentiful!”

There were two doctors and three nurses in the room, each busy preparing for an operation.

Anesthetic was injected into Wang Xiao again.

Wang Xiao felt a rush of confusion; his regenerative ability was indeed strong, but it was only at the First Level.

Although he had developed some tolerance to the large amounts of anesthetic, he was still feeling somewhat disoriented.

The only thing he knew was that he had fallen into the hands of a group of scheming individuals.

Those people had likely discovered his secret, and it seemed he was about to be sliced open for research…

Wang Xiao felt a hint of sadness; he was still unsure if he had avenged his father, but suddenly he thought of the psychologist who had led him to open the door to a new world.

It had been a long time since he last visited her.

It truly was a mistake.

Wang Xiao closed his eyes in the midst of his confusion, slipping into a half-dream, half-awake state.

He heard footsteps approaching from afar, and all the doctors and nurses stood still, respectfully saying,

“Sir.”

Then he heard a familiar voice, belonging to the elderly man in the hospital bed:

“Very well, let’s prepare for surgery; be swift with your hands and feet, as I have a meeting to attend in the morning.

“Until this is completed, we cannot allow any signs of flaws to be visible.

“Li Xia, Walk, who will repeat the details of this operation?”

“Yes.”

Hearing the elderly man’s order, the doctor who had previously issued commands to the nurses immediately bowed his head and responded:

“By using blood transfusion to suppress the rejection reaction, we will replace the liver and pancreas…”

—

【Warning! Warning!

Your authority 【Immortal】 is being eroded; current erosion level: 0.1%】

The blessing pathway of the believer, Wang Xiao—【Blood and Flesh】—is being eroded; current erosion level: 10%.”

“Hmm?”

At ten o’clock at night, Lin Qingliu, who was torn over whether to get a midnight snack, put down the book "How to Communicate Normally with the Mentally Ill," suddenly feeling energetic.

“Things are getting more interesting…”

Wang Xiao was in trouble.

There was no doubt about it.

However, Lin Qingliu did not intend to intervene just yet.

This was related to Wang Xiao’s awakened path ability; since he had become a practitioner of the Blood and Flesh pathway, he must repeatedly experience the edge of life and death to feel the limits.

Only by determining where his regeneration limits lay could he continuously break through them.

Having a highly promising ability but being trapped in a gruesome game of cutting fingers off daily would never allow for true growth.

That said, Lin Qingliu did feel a bit of interest in the puppet masters behind all this.

After all, the superpowers he bestowed upon a few believers were not ordinary; they truly possessed infinite potential, a portion of divine authority.

Thinking along these lines, a slight smile curled at the corner of Lin Qingliu’s mouth, as he was quite curious:

If this piece of cake turned out to be larger than expected, would that hidden figure choose to retreat in the face of difficulty or swallow it whole?

As the direct superior of four believers, he held more information.

The black market doctors in the outer city had started brazenly engaging in organ trafficking about half a year ago.

Before that, such activities did occur, but they were only done privately by a few people. By the time Lin Qingliu arrived in this world two months ago, it had nearly transformed into an open industry.

And El was a direct victim of this bloody trade.

The case Zhuang Mian was investigating was also linked to this line.

As a superpowered individual capable of supplying organs without limit, Lin Qingliu had long prepared for Wang Xiao to be targeted by certain people.

However, the situation exceeded Lin Qingliu’s original estimations; after all, it was the first time he had heard that abilities and authority could also be eroded…

Unless the other party possessed a plundering-type ability, but wasn’t that a bit too overpowered?

Lin Qingliu tried to imagine that if he could steal other superpowered individuals’ abilities, then these past two months would have been enough for Hope City to nurture a native of his own country.

At that time, he would lead humanity to defeat extraordinary beasts and reclaim this planet that belonged to him…

As for whether the native would turn into a happy superhero…

Lin Qingliu shook his head to cast aside those unrealistic fantasies and began to ponder the hidden puppet master behind this event.

Even though he and Wang Xiao had only met twice, Lin Qingliu knew that Wang Xiao was someone who had almost infinite trust in humanity.

If the gender were switched, it would be easy to determine he was a typical naive soul.

Hopefully, this time will teach him a lesson…

If Wang Xiao fell victim in this incident, it could only be said that his adaptability to this world was still lacking.

With that thought, Lin Qingliu got out of bed and moved in front of the mirror.

He reached up to brush his hair, and 【Blood and Flesh Transformation】 quickly activated.

White, messy, fluffy long hair fell down, covering half of his face.

Lin Qingliu’s joints creaked as if they were rubbing against each other.

His body slowly stretched upward, turning him into a tall figure with long limbs.

His back bent slightly, and his clothes seemed somewhat ill-fitting.

Glancing in the mirror, Lin Qingliu confirmed his current appearance.

This look and physique belonged to a previously introduced divine believer, who also collaborated with the "Paster" acting as a front.

“Hope is a fantastic show.”

Lin Qingliu, or rather, the Paster, stepped out of the second-floor bathroom window, disappearing into the vast night.

—

Zhuang Mian’s Public Security Team vehicle drove along a small road in the inner city.

Two hours prior, she had used a public phone in the inner city to call her teacher.

Though her teacher was reluctant, he ultimately used his authority to track down the vehicle with the NM5239 license plate.

This was a public vehicle registered under the Red Maple Grove Sanitarium, though the sanitarium had been shut down five years ago due to budget deficits…

As for why this vehicle and this license plate were still able to move freely on the streets, perhaps it was because Hope City truly lacked the manpower and resources to check such trivial matters.

Once Zhuang Mian learned the location of the abandoned sanitarium, she set off.

Her plan was simple:

First, drive to the nearest residential area to the sanitarium;

Then, walk the rest of the way to avoid being exposed;

Finally, begin her stealth approach.

However, along the way, she felt that the feel of the vehicle was a bit off…