IWOL Chapter 58: The Stitched-Heart Bear

The pitter patter of raindrops gradually increased. In a split second, the air that was filled with the stench of the evil talking beast was overcome by the pervasive, fishy smell of urine.

Wang Que took off her coat and threw it over her head in disgust to block the rain. A few seconds later, she turned her head and began to retch uncontrollably.

The peculiar smell of ammonia was very similar to the stench in a bathroom with the plumbing stopped. Dong Zheng quickly understood what the rain was and cursed. He told Wang Que, “Hurry up and go hide. This is urine.”

Allen was shocked. “Urine? How the heck?”

“Don’t care so much about logic in the box.” Dong Zheng didn’t want to open his mouth to speak at all. The urine was floating in the cold wind, and he really didn’t want any of these things to fly into his mouth. He quickly said, “Allen, let’s help with the soapy water. We also need to find a way to guard against the crows in the sky.”

Wang Que hesitated, gritted her teeth, and said, “I’ll go with you.”

Allen said, “This rain is too disgusting. We may not have time to take a shower later. We’ll go first. You’re a girl so you don’t have to follow.”

“It’s okay, I—”

“You stay with General Bear and help him pay attention to the location of the earthworms. If they can enter the town from deep underground, the use of acid-base control won’t work as expected. Once these things are able to come in, they can turn the town upside down.”

Wang Que understood that Dong Zheng also didn’t want her to go and so he gave her a task. To be honest, she really didn’t want to go out into the rain. She promised, “Okay.”

On the other side, Cui Zuojing had a dilemma.

The giant earthworms were too thick for Cui Zuojing to cut them down with a single blow. If he failed to kill it with a single blow, its wound would quickly heal under the powerful force of its regenerative organs. In some cases, it could even become two brand new earthworms.

Although, of the two re-grown earthworms, even if the one containing the brain would eventually survive, the other one could still cause an inordinate amount of damage before it died.

To stop this regeneration, he must destroy the cranial nerves of the earthworm or the clitellum used for reproduction.

Cui Zuojing gauged a position, jumped up hard, stepped on the bristles on the earthworm’s slippery body, and ran uprightly along the section toward the clitellum. His fighting instinct was deeply imprinted in his bones. Even after an eight-year period of leisure, it hadn’t faded in the slightest but had, instead, made him even more fired-up and passionate.

He rushed forward ten meters and jumped onto the back of the clitellum. The Tang sword cut into it, slicing open the thick and bulging belt in a straight and longitudinal line!

With a muffled sound, viscous juice spurted frantically out from the incision, carrying with it densely packed earthworm cocoons. The red-purple cocoons were on the verge of maturity, and each were about the size of a football. The moment the earthworm became injured, it grew irritable and squirmed frantically, twisting and tossing all over the place.

The youth’s back stretched out in a flexible arc as he flipped in the air and landed on another earthworm. He planted the Tang sword into its muscular body without any hindrance and temporarily cancelled his ability so that the sword would remain stuck in the layer of muscles, just enough to help him stabilize his figure.

Cui Zuojing took the opportunity to take a breath. He closed his eyes and changed his hold on the sword handle into a reverse grip. While urging his power, he simultaneously pulled down–

The Tang sword slashed vertically down the earthworm’s body, pulled by Cui Zuojing’s weight. The youth hung on the Tang sword and swiftly dropped down before the furious earthworm could twist its body and slam him down. He landed lightly on the ground.

The earthworm, which was almost completely split apart right down the middle, twisted weakly for several moments before falling heavily, it’s organs and bodily fluids splashing everywhere. Cui Zuojing couldn’t dodge in time and a bit of the liquid landed on his arm. The skin immediately began to itch.

He sighed and promptly rubbed the mucus off his clothes.

The body fluids of earthworms were dangerous. He knew this since he was a child. At that time, he’d often followed his father to go fishing and had dug for earthworms to use as bait. As a result, his fingers would become slightly ulcerated.

The corrosiveness of the giant earthworm’s fluids could not be underestimated. Cui Zuojing needed to get it cleaned as soon as possible. He glanced at the manual and saw that data on all the monsters had been collected.

The mission was completed. Now, he could leave.

Cui Zuojing shook the mucus off the Tang sword, cut the head off a decayed rat, and ran toward the city wall.

A drop of fishy rain fell on his face.

Cui Zuojing grabbed the ankle belonging to the evil talking beast above and pulled it down. Then, he stepped on the monster below and climbed up the city wall using the ladder. The doll guarding the location instinctively attacked, but Cui Zuojing flexibly avoided it.

The youth ignored the doll and ran towards the command post. By this point, it’d been raining for awhile and he was thoroughly soaked. The itching on his arm had turned into an unbearable tingling. Cui Zuojing carefully protected his injured arm, trying his best to avoid infection from the raining urine.

He rushed into the command post. Only Wang Que was there to see him come in. Cui Zuojing took off the shirt that he no longer wanted touching him and asked, “Where are Dong Zheng and everyone?”

“Big Brother Dong and Big Brother Allen went to get soapy water. Brother Lin and Linhai have returned to the castle, and Uncle followed them,” Wang Que replied, shifting her eyes away.

Cui Zuojing nodded. Taking Wang Que into account, he didn’t take off his pants. He tossed his clothes into the trash can, dropped the manual on the table, and said, “When they return, tell Dong Zheng that I have finished collecting the data.”

After he said this, he picked up a chair, set it over his head as an umbrella, and rushed out of the command post. He entered the health room and told the surprised caregiver doll, “Let me use the bathroom. Thank you.”

After closing the bathroom door, Cui Zuojing turned the faucet on the maximum level to wash his arm. The water from the shower gradually turned hot. He took off his pants and kicked it aside. He couldn’t wait to stand underneath the water to wash away the urine, mucus, and other various marks left on him by the battle.

Fifteen minutes later, Cui Zuojing sniffed his arm, felt that there was no longer any smell, and turned off the shower.

But then, he became aware of one serious question: What would he wear to go out?

Cui Zuojing: ………

Dong Zheng returned with Allen to the command post half an hour later. He saw the manual on the table, knew that Cui Zuojing had come back, and heard Wang Que said that Cui Zuojing took off his clothes and ran out in a hurry. She guessed he probably went looking for a place to take a shower.

Under the guidance of the prisoner link, Dong Zheng found the health room and learned that Cui Zuojing had been in the bathroom for more than forty minutes. The stitched-heart bear had temporarily stopped its work and was standing outside the bathroom door, patting on the door as if it wanted to enter.

Dong Zheng knocked on the door and heard Cui Zuojing’s voice called out from inside, “Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

Cui Zuojing breathed a sigh of relief when Dong Zheng finally came. At the moment, he was standing in front of the sink, washing his arm. “Help me find clothes.”

Dong Zheng cheerfully obeyed and asked the nurse for a medical gown.

“Open the door.”

Cui Zuojing opened the door just wide enough to allow the clothes to be handed in. The youth hiding behind the door had only one arm exposed, and Dong Zheng caught a glimpse of a large, pulpy red ulcer, which looked frightening when compared with the surrounding delicate, intact skin. His breathing became stagnant and he immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Earthworms are poisonous.” Cui Zuojing knew that the injury on his arm was a bit tricky. He had rushed but it was only just enough to turn the itching into pain. Looking down and seeing the little bear who had been patting the door just now, he said, “What is this?”

“You change your clothes first.” Dong Zheng hugged the heart-stitched bear in his arms. The sewn on black buttons that were the little bear’s eyes were staring at Cui Zuojing, and it stretched out its hands, as if wanting to touch his wound.

Cui Zuojing closed the door and came out a minute later with the medical gown fastened on and his hair still wet. The little bear immediately broke free from Dong Zheng’s arms and spit out a piece of white cloth and needles.

“It wants to treat your wound.”

Cui Zuojing recognized that this was Agatha’s teddy bear from the school and asked, “Did you use the heart on it?”

“Yes, Linhai said that its function is the same as the scp stitched-heart bear.”

Cui Zuojing crouched down, and the little bear covered the festering wound on his arm with the white cloth. It took the needle and threat and pierced it through the skin. Unlike the pain he’d imagined, when the bear sewed on the white cloth, there was only a faint ache.

Cui Zuojing and Dong Zheng both stared curiously. Knowing that it was a stitched-heart bear and seeing it with their own eye was completely different. They wanted to know how these bear-derived materials could replace body tissue.

The moment the last stitch was finished, the white cloth attached to the festering wound turned into the color of skin under their very eyes and dissolved into Cui Zuojing’s skin. After a few breaths, it blended in with the surrounding intact skin and completely replaced the festering wound.

Cui Zuojing let out an amazed “wow” and reached out to touch it. He didn’t feel any pain at all. Even the sensation felt exactly like the skin before, and he couldn’t tell that it was made out of a piece of cloth.

Dong Zheng also stroked it and had to sigh. “This is too amazing.”

After curing Cui Zuojing, the little bear hugged his palm and rubbed against it. Then it ran to continue treating the other injured dolls.

“If this thing can be taken out of the box, then it would certainly be a big reward,” Cui Zuojing said in a low voice.

Dong Zheng hummed in agreement and looked at Cui Zuojing from head to toe. He asked, “Are there any other injuries?”

“No. Those monsters may look scary and there were many of them, but their combat ability wasn’t very strong. By the way, I finished collecting all the data in the manual. You can take care of the rest.”

“I have already discussed strategies with General Bear in accordance with the weaknesses of the earthworms and decayed rats. I’ll take a short rest. The most important thing is to look after the dolls.” Dong Zheng looked at the rain outside the window that never seemed to stop and was a little worried. “Most of these dolls are plush toys. They’re afraid of water. I don’t know what will happen with the rain. I hope the sun will come out tomorrow.”

“At that time, we’ll reassess the situation.”

The nearby residential area has been expropriated as a training center. Dong Zheng applied for a room to rest, and Cui Zuojing followed him in. The room wasn’t too big, and the bed was by the window with a nightstand next to it.

Dong Zheng had been running around all day. Although General Bear had provided him with a raincoat, his body was unavoidably smelly. He also took a shower, and when he returned, Cui Zuojing was sitting on the bed, carefully cleaning the Tang sword with a cloth.

Cui Zuojing moved to the side to make room for Dong Zheng and asked, “Does your head feel uncomfortable?”

Dong Zheng knew what he was referring to and said, “It’s okay. Just a little dizzy. It should be fine after a nap.”

“After ability awakening, your mental power is much stranger than at the beginning. In the last box, I just ran a little bit farther and you couldn’t stand it and ended up fainting.”

“That’s a little farther?” Dong Zheng asked rhetorically, with a smile in his eyes. “You are obviously separated by several planes, okay?”

Cui Zuojing wasn’t convinced. “But I didn’t do much activity at the time. If it weren’t for taking you into consideration and thinking you might not be able to withstand it, I wouldn’t have taken the executioner for a run and would have just killed it directly.”

Dong Zheng was willing to accept his argument and said, “Okay, I promise to work hard to improve myself as soon as possible so you can play according to your strength.”

That was good enough. Satisfied, Cui Zuojing put the sword aside and looked at the time. It was half past one in the morning and he was also a little tired.

“I’ll go back to the prisoner’s space and rest for a while. You can rest too. This guarding battle looks like it won’t be over for a while.”

Dong Zheng hummed in agreement and watched as Cui Zuojing’s figure slowly disappeared before his eyes. Dong Zheng placed one hand on the prisoner’s coat of arms on the back of his hand, saw that the youth was already lying on the extra-large bed in the prisoner’s space, and withdrew.

He also lay down in his clothes, turned off the light, closed his eyes in the dark, and fell asleep unknowingly amid the pitter patter of rain on the windows and the sound of fighting in the distance.

He hadn’t dreamed in a long time but now one quietly visited him in his deep slumber.

Dong Zheng couldn’t remember how long it’d been since he’d dreamed. When he was still in the real world, his busy schedule made sleep very precious to him and he had no chance to dream at all.

But this time, the hazy world slowly unfolded before his eyes.

He saw a woman. A woman with bright and beautiful features, who only appeared in an old photograph in his memory.

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