Volume 2 Chapter 5: The First Life Experience

After the innkeeper Katharine left, Qin Lun lay quietly on the bed, resting his head on his arm and sinking into deep thought.

Stephen Albert had actually died! The first Otherworld Mission given to him by the Shattered Starry Sky was to save a dead person!

In a small town like this, the death of a baron’s heir was already a big event. Many people saw the Albert Family’s funeral procession, so it probably wasn’t fake.

According to Katharine, although the Albert Family held a hereditary baron title, their fief was only a small forest and some hilly land on the outskirts of Audiya Town. This fief was not large, had little value, and the family was far from the ruling center of the Maize Duchy, so they had no political enemies. It could be said that they lived a reclusive noble life, staying out of worldly conflicts all year round.

Such a family naturally wouldn’t need to fake the heir’s death to avoid enemies. Of course, Katharine was just an innkeeper of a small inn, so her information could only serve as a reference at best. The truth needed Qin Lun to investigate himself.

Thinking of Katharine, a faint smile appeared on Qin Lun’s lips. This still charming innkeeper gave him a brand new experience of life. However, this kind of physical pleasure was just an experience for Qin Lun.

Whether it was Qin Lun or Joey, neither actually had a real goal in life. Entering the Shattered Starry Sky might be a test or an opportunity for ordinary people, but for Qin Lun and Joey, it was only curiosity about new things.

Apart from a little relief from breaking free of prison walls, the rest was just following their whims. Even now, with this Otherworld Mission, the first thing Qin Lun thought about wasn’t completing the task, but uncovering the secrets behind it.

If it were someone else, with the hints from the Otherworld Mission, they would surely think Stephen Albert was faking his death. Although Qin Lun wasn’t so sure, he couldn’t deny that his originally perfunctory attitude had changed a lot. Now he was truly very interested in this Otherworld Mission.

After all, the so-called “save” didn’t necessarily have to mean saving a life. There were many things humans could connect with “saving”…

A strange light flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. He got up from the bed and walked around the room naked. He felt the sudden excitement surging in his heart and couldn’t help muttering to himself.

To find out whether Stephen Albert was alive or dead, he had to enter Baron Albert’s castle. Under normal circumstances, not to mention a young doctor without a medical license, even the town’s famous doctors might not get an invitation from the master.

However, the situation was different now. An epidemic disease was spreading in the town. Although Katharine, under Qin Lun’s “seduction,” gave all the information without holding back, Qin Lun also sensed from her words that there really was the “information block” she mentioned.

This epidemic disease had actually appeared over a year ago. Back then, a few outsiders in Audiya Town suddenly collapsed unconscious on the streets. However, the disease those people had wasn’t contagious, and they struggled for over a month from falling ill to dying.

The recent epidemic disease started half a month ago. People in the town fell ill and died one after another, and those around them got infected too. It spread slowly from the town’s outskirts at first, eventually covering the entire nearby area, including several towns. The reason it was linked to the incident over a year ago was purely because the bodies of these patients after death had very similar characteristics: rotting from the inside first, and all having that dark green jelly-like substance.

The situation in the other towns was unknown for now, but in Audiya Town, there was always a mysterious power that would cover up the bodies of those patients. Even their families kept silent about it.

Among Katharine’s gossip, there were several versions, and a few caught Qin Lun’s attention.

One said the source of the epidemic disease was in the mountains about a hundred miles from the town, where an evil witch lived with the evil creatures she controlled. The epidemic disease was a magic potion she invented to harm people.

Another theory was that the epidemic disease was brought by those outsiders a year ago, and the source had been latent in the bodies of those who died now, only breaking out recently. This theory had quite some support because among the first to die in the town were several town doctors, who were also the first to come into contact with the sick outsiders.

However, another piece of information Katharine unintentionally revealed caught Qin Lun’s attention. Over a year ago, those outsiders came to Audiya Town and were received by Baron Thomas Albert.

To the townsfolk, this wasn’t strange at all. Those outsiders wore splendid clothes. Whether merchants or minor nobles, it wasn’t gossip-worthy that they received an invitation letter to Albert Castle for a ball or something on their first visit to Audiya Town.

Yet, for Qin Lun, the information here was quite intriguing. Guests who had just been received by the master fell gravely ill and died on their way home, and the master showed no reaction afterwards.

Either those outsiders were just temporary guests the baron invited on a whim and forgot afterwards, or the baron couldn’t do anything about their situation, or even secretly killed them. Connecting this with the baron’s heir, Stephen Albert, who died or faked his death over a year ago, made it very interesting.

Qin Lun’s eyes sparkled. He subconsciously pinched his nose; he seemed to smell a strong scent of conspiracy.

“It looks like tomorrow I’ll have to find the dear innkeeper again to discuss the true meaning of life!”

…

“Ah…” A woman’s high-pitched scream was followed by the rhythmic creaking of the wooden bed in the guest room stopping.

The innkeeper Katharine lay collapsed on the bed like a puddle of mud. Glittering sweat beads dripped down her blond hair into the deep cleavage between her breasts. The woman let the young man’s head rest on her high, soft, pale chest and gently played with the black bangs on his forehead.

But seeing the young man’s clear, bright eyes, this plump, sexy, middle-aged beauty sighed inwardly. She knew she hadn’t won the young man’s heart; what they had was just a fleeting affair. Sometimes she even felt she was just a novel fruit the young man was experimenting with and tasting.

Young, handsome, funny, from a good family and well-educated—if she were ten years younger, she’d probably cling to him desperately, unwilling to let go no matter what! A strange thought surfaced in Katharine’s mind.

“Are you really going to do this?” After the wild lovemaking, the innkeeper finally came to her senses and asked about serious matters.

“Yes, you’re the only person I know in Audiya Town. I’m afraid I can only ask for your help. You’ll help me, right?” Qin Lun squinted his eyes, chuckled lightly, and patted Katharine’s plump, pale buttock.

“Of course I can. I’m just worried about what happens after. I don’t want my baby to catch that strange disease!” Katharine stretched out a soft finger, poked Qin Lun’s forehead, and scolded him laughingly.

“He won’t. Actually, I’ve already cured several patients back home, including myself and my attendant! It’s just that I don’t have a formal license, my reputation is small, and word hasn’t reached Audiya Town yet.” Qin Lun’s eyes flickered as he said with a smile, “Besides, the medicine needed to treat this epidemic disease is very precious. I won’t casually treat all patients!”

“After you get your medical license, will you still come to see me?” Katharine bit her lip, a rare blush appearing on her face.

“Of course, my Katharine is the most wonderful lover!” Qin Lun’s eyes flickered again as he smiled and pinched the tender flesh on the woman’s cheek.

Just a lover! Katharine felt a little disappointed, but soon smiled happily. A sincere answer was a hundred times better than a false promise. The worldly innkeeper had long passed the age of being a girl who liked fantasies.

…

Three days later, in the main square at the center of Audiya Town, a strong-looking townsman suddenly clutched his chest in pain, slowly collapsed to the ground, and a stream of dark green, unknown substance flowed from his mouth.

“Ah…” Women’s screams rang out in the town’s main square. Soon, this sick townsman attracted the attention of everyone nearby. The crowd gathered from all directions, but they all carefully stood around, no one daring to help the patient.

Although the townsfolk had vaguely heard about the epidemic disease in town, apart from the first one or two cases, no one had actually seen the disease break out in public.

The symptoms of this disease were now widely known; basically all townsfolk knew about them. Although the mysterious power in the town had temporarily controlled the situation, it couldn’t avoid the panic the epidemic disease brought.

In fact, now whenever someone had a fever or cold, their family wouldn’t let them go out and would try every means to hide the illness.

Not to mention that the town’s doctors had all died in the first wave of the epidemic. Even if they were alive, people would rather travel dozens of miles to secretly see doctors in other towns than reveal the truth to their neighbors.

This was a contagious epidemic disease. No one knew how much panic revealing a relative’s illness would cause among neighbors, or what kind of treatment they would face.

Getting sick quietly, treating the illness quietly, dying quietly, burying quietly—everyone chose self-deception like the proverbial ostrich. This was also the root cause of the eerie, desolate scene Qin Lun saw when he first came to Audiya Town, and the reason why the epidemic disease started spreading in several nearby towns.

Of course, it was also why there were patients who came to see Wellington, this young man without a medical license, for treatment, and why Wellington ended up killed by his own actions.

“Move aside, move aside, all of you move aside!” Just as the townsfolk watched helplessly, this person unintentionally shattering the false peace the town residents pretended to have, a commotion arose at the edge of the crowd. A hunchbacked big man waved his strong arms, pushing the townsfolk left and right.

“You fools, make way for Young Master Wellington! The doctor from the Stan Family will save this poor wretch!”