Chapter 719: Chapter 719: Runes

"Joy Ford, did I lose my memory?"

"Not exactly. The magnetic fields and energy in nature can interfere with the human brain. Your brain was overstimulated, which just scrambled your memories. Get a good night’s rest, and we’ll go out again tomorrow morning."

"Did neither of you lose your memories?"

"No, but I got hit in the head by a rock, so I’m still a little dizzy."

Evelyn Ford rubbed the back of her head. Even though it had already healed, the spot where she was injured still ached faintly.

After dinner, Evelyn Ford and Wendy went to check on Flynn Hansen. Although they had identified the toxins and pathogens carried by the green-headed flies, how to treat Flynn Hansen was still an unknown. None of the specialized medicines were working, and Evelyn Ford didn’t know what else to give him.

"Joy Ford, I have a bold idea. Don’t you raise a lot of poisonous scorpions? I remember an ancient medical text that mentioned a treatment method—fighting poison with poison. If we could get a scorpion to draw the toxins out of Captain Hansen’s body, wouldn’t he be saved?"

The idea was too risky and had no scientific basis.

"Once a scorpion’s stinger pierces the skin, it releases venom. Flynn Hansen’s condition is quite serious. If we use an unscientific treatment, it might backfire and just hasten his death."

"You tested the red fruit before, right? Didn’t it have properties that activate cells and detoxify the body? Let’s try that. We can juice it and have Flynn Hansen drink it. If that still doesn’t work..." Evelyn Ford rubbed her fingers together. ’If the red fruit is still ineffective, I’m afraid I’ll have to give Flynn Hansen some of my blood.’

"Okay, I’ll go juice it right now."

The two returned to the wooden cabin, and Wendy went to make the juice. Evelyn Ford found a few medical books on antidotes and began researching new detoxification methods.

"My blood should be able to save him," Ronan Kendrick said abruptly as Evelyn Ford was flipping through the medical books.

Evelyn Ford turned to look at him. After a few seconds of silence, she sighed. "I know. But Ronan, once he drinks your blood, he’ll gain the ability to self-heal. That’s not a power you can hide. If that ability causes him to become greedy or develop dangerous ideas, we’d be creating a ticking time bomb. And if others find out about his self-healing, will he even be able to survive? We can’t use your blood to save someone unless it’s the absolute last resort."

Evelyn Ford read for the entire night but couldn’t find an effective antidote. Wendy had already given Flynn Hansen the red fruit juice. To their pleasant surprise, it had an effect—Flynn Hansen’s high fever broke, and the flush on his face faded considerably. The bad news was, he still showed no signs of waking up.

If they waited any longer, his organs might begin to fail. If it came down to it, Evelyn Ford planned to try using her own blood. She had given her blood to Wendy before. Although its effects weren’t as potent as Ronan Kendrick’s, it could still save a life. Plus, she wouldn’t have to worry about passing on a self-healing ability, because after Wendy drank her blood, she had simply gained superhuman strength. Gaining superhuman strength was far less dangerous than mysteriously acquiring the power to self-heal.

At seven in the morning, the three of them prepared to leave the space. Evelyn Ford mixed half a vial of her prepared blood into the red fruit juice and instructed Wendy to feed it to Flynn Hansen. Then, the trio took their horses, left the space, and reappeared at the entrance to Devil’s City.

Daylight now illuminated Devil’s City. The surroundings were eerily quiet, without even the sound of wind. The three people and their three horses stood before a stone stele, staring silently at the words carved on it.

"Devil’s City. Danger! Do Not Enter! - Serena Provincial Government"

The words "Devil’s City" were even painted red. The stele and its inscription had been made by the Serena government before the apocalypse. Below it was a date. Evelyn Ford did a quick calculation; the inscription was eighteen years old.

"So, do we go in or turn back?"

Ryan Rowe was a little excited. "Mr. Kendrick, Joy Ford, do you think there might be some kind of treasure inside?"

Evelyn Ford leaped onto her horse and made a "forward" gesture.

"There’s only one way to find out if there’s treasure inside, right?"

Compared to the night, the daylight offered a much clearer view of every rock and patch of soil in Devil’s City. There were stone mountains that soared into the clouds and strangely shaped loess fortifications. As the three rode into Devil’s City, the wind began to howl behind them. The WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH was like a grim reaper’s melody, so startling that Evelyn Ford almost fell off her horse.

"That’s so creepy. I’ve got goosebumps all over. You guys don’t think there’s actually... something unclean in there, do you?"

"Like what?" Evelyn Ford adjusted her posture, glancing over at the spooked and jittery Ryan Rowe.

"It’s called Devil’s City. Maybe there are actual devils in here. You know, with three heads and six arms, or monsters with horns and long noses."

Ryan Rowe, it had to be said, had a very active imagination.

"You have to trust in science. It’s definitely the magnetic fields and energy playing tricks on us."

Although Evelyn Ford said that, she was silently chanting, ’Amitabha... Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen...’ and even made the sign of the cross on her chest.

"Let’s keep going."

To make themselves more visible to each other, all three had changed into red clothes and hats before setting out that morning.

"Look at the rock up ahead," Ronan Kendrick said, gesturing for the other two to look. They were wearing goggles, but a light breeze had kicked up yellow sand, dirtying the lenses. Evelyn Ford and Ryan Rowe couldn’t see anything, so Ronan Kendrick had to lead them closer. When they arrived in front of a massive boulder, Evelyn Ford could finally make out what was on it.

"Are these runes? Or some kind of markings?" Ryan Rowe hopped off his horse and walked up to touch the strange symbols on the rock.

"I’ve seen some documentaries where tribes preserve their own unique writing and symbols. Could this string of symbols on the rock be a form of writing, too?" Evelyn Ford wiped her goggles and, to get a better look, jumped off her horse as well.

"This looks like blood. It seems like these symbols were written in blood."

"There’s the smell of Vermillion. It’s probably a mix of Vermillion and blood."

There were six symbols in total. The first one looked like an overturned bowl with two horizontal lines underneath it, as if a pair of chopsticks were holding it upside down.

The second symbol resembled a fish’s tail, with no head, and two dots in front of it.

The third symbol was a hand sign, but the hand itself was strange. Not only did it have six fingers, but the nails were also very long. In the gesture, the thumb was pointed down while the other fingers were held up side-by-side.

The fourth symbol was somewhat blurry and hard to make out. The fifth had faded, leaving only a single stroke. The sixth symbol showed two hands with thumbs interlocked and the other fingers pointing away, as if performing some kind of ritual.

Nearby were many mud sculptures of various sizes, depicting human bodies with animal heads. Some were eagles, some were three-headed snakes, some were butterflies, and there was even a four-horned chimera.

"Flynn Hansen never said they encountered anything like this last time." Evelyn Ford took out her phone and snapped some photos and videos. Looking closely, the mud sculptures seemed to be naturally formed, with no trace of being man-made. ’Could nature really be this miraculous?’

"Mr. Kendrick, Joy Ford, we haven’t actually stumbled into the territory of some mysterious tribe, have we?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.