Chapter 19: The First Settlement

Chapter 19: The First Settlement

The issue with the medicine that Xie Liu mentioned was actually not about medicine at all; strictly speaking, it should be called a “toxicology problem.”

The reason is simple: doctors in this era simply cannot treat illness, especially those among the Holy Blooded—they can’t treat illness either.

All they can do are two things: staunch bleeding and let blood.

If someone is injured, you staunch the bleeding.

If you want to injure someone, you let blood.

All treatment or harm revolves around these two simple logics, and naturally, their medicines were born to fulfill this function.

So the problem troubling Xie Liu is actually quite simple: her coagulant often kills the person while trying to save them, but not every time—even the Holy Blooded cannot escape this pattern.

This leaves her somewhat at a loss; she doesn’t know what dosage will just heal the wound without killing the patient.

And after hearing her description, Chen Jian was practically speechless.

If you want to stop bleeding, why not just suture the wound directly instead of using a coagulant?

Moreover, their coagulant is purified from some viper venom that Chen Jian has never heard of—who knows what other toxic junk is mixed in.

It’s only because the Holy Blooded have robust physiques; otherwise, her patients’ mortality rate wouldn’t be 50%—it would be 100%.

So Chen Jian’s advice to her is simple.

Don’t use it, don’t try to save.

If there’s real bleeding, grab a tourniquet, tie it tight, and try to sew the wound with needle and thread.

Even if infection sets in later, the survival rate is still far higher than with widespread thrombosis.

Xie Liu doesn’t understand these principles, nor does she grasp how a person could be sewn with thread.

In her view, bandaging to stop bleeding is fine, but sewing a human body with needle and thread is something only certain heretical sects would do—it’s practically a desecration of the person.

But hearing Chen Jian speak so firmly, she reluctantly agreed, intending to try suturing the next time someone gets injured.

The eight of them chatted while resting; after night fell, Chen Jian, following routine, assigned people to stand watch, while the Holy Blooded squad simply let Xu Lie keep watch all night.

The next morning, everyone packed up and set out; at that moment, Chen Jian saw their means of transport—or rather, their transport—for the first time.

Two large water buffalo.

No mutation, just plain Asian water buffalo.

They kept them on a small riverbank over two hundred meters from the campsite; when found, the buffalo were splashing in the water, full of vigor.

The squad moved most of the non‑essential gear onto the buffalo’s backs, then led the animals onward.

This archaic mode of transport, combined with the vegetation‑covered road, almost made Chen Jian think he had traveled not to the future but into some pastoral bygone era.

But at the same time he wondered:

Why is there no vegetation in Chuansha City?

He posed the question to Xu Lie, who couldn’t answer, only telling him that every region occupied by monsters of level four or higher has its own distinctive traits.

Some have no vegetation; some have luxuriant overgrowth.

Some suffer extreme weathering, all buildings reduced to powder.

Yet others remain as good as new, like a freshly built city.

Chen Jian’s interest sparked instantly, and he asked:

“You said the city that looks like a newly built one—where is it?”

“To the southwest, a place called Shan Cheng.”

Xu Lie replied offhand:

“It’s shrouded in year‑round fog, only revealing a corner when a gale blows.”

“No one has ever entered; everyone can only glimpse it from afar, even the High Priest of the Holy Blood Hall.”

“Those who tried to go in died—no, actually anyone who approached the city died.”

“But perhaps you could give it a try? Though you’d have to wait until you’re fully rested, right?”

“Indeed.”

Chen Jian nodded, exhaling softly.

Shan Cheng, the Fog Capital!

In his time, that city’s strategic importance went without saying; and by reasonable inference, after a major crisis it would certainly have seen unusual deployments.

If it truly is “ageless,” then it’s very likely the best place for the squad to resupply their equipment.

Chen Jian silently logged this information into his PDA and marked it as the squad’s primary objective.

The other three squad members’ eyes flickered with anticipation—perhaps they hoped not only for gear, but also

for people.

What if, there, they still lived among their own kind, the very compatriots they knew best?

That somewhat unrealistic thought was simultaneously suppressed by all four, yet undeniably they also treated it as a kind of hope.

The team pressed on; Chen Jian had imagined they’d march nonstop for half a month.

In fact, after four rest periods, four days and nights, having narrowly slain a few wandering wilderness monsters, they reached their first stopping point.

It was a village‑like settlement; from its mountainous surroundings, the collapsed outer walls and watchtowers, and the unmistakable internal air‑defense facilities, Chen Jian instantly recognized its original purpose.

“A barracks.”

“We’ve been following the highway all along; judging by direction, it’s the Wushen Expressway.”

“We’ve covered 220 kilometers; ahead lies a large lake, so this must be near the Bai Zhang Yuan Reservoir.”

“In other words, this base is”

“the garrison of the Wu J 2nd Mechanized Brigade?”

Chen Jian’s tone was doubtful; beside him, Shen Yue shook his head:

“It doesn’t look like it; the scale is too small.”

“But it does resemble a base; regardless, we have to go inside and have a look.”

“Of course we should.”

Chen Jian nodded, looked toward Xu Lie ahead, and asked:

“How many people are here?”

Xu Lie turned his head and replied:

“Fewer than a hundred.”

“There aren’t many people here, but it’s already the largest settlement in the vicinity.”

“Moreover, it lies on the route many caravans take heading south, so trade is fairly prosperous.”

“We can sell the looted resources to the locals in exchange for supplies and silver and gold.”

“If luck is on our side, we might even find some ammunition and bombs from before the great cataclysm—though we’d need a lot of luck for that.”

“Where did it come from?”

Chen Jian asked sharply.

“No one knows; perhaps the locals dug it out of the nests of some small monsters.”

“In any case, we’ll be staying here for two days—you can have a good look around.”

Of course we should have a good look.

Chen Jian took a deep breath and nodded to his teammates.

By now he was fairly certain that the settlement hid something valuable.

The ammunition couldn’t have been brought by traders, because even if they had it, such scarce goods would never make it to such a remote area.

So there’s only one answer.

Those things must be locally produced.

If luck is on our side, our squad’s ammunition shortage might find an initial solution here.

Chen Jian’s eyes lit up, and then he gave the order:

“Let’s move, into the city!”

(End of chapter)