101: Chapter 101 Heading to the Suburbs

Conducting an experiment was easier said than done, as many obstacles arose during execution.

Since the primary goal was to test the maximum duration over which an injury could be healed, the longer the experimental subject had been injured, the better.

This presented a challenge for Zhang Mu.

Arriving at the small wooden hut where Domit was temporarily staying, he saw Lia sleeping with her cat ears twitching occasionally. With his hands behind his back, he pushed open the door, crossed the courtyard, and began wandering through the village.

After walking for a while, Zhang Mu stopped beside a low stone house with a gabled roof.

He estimated that this village was likely among the poorer ones within the entire Kingdom of Lake.

Looking around, because it was at the foot of a mountain with significant elevation changes, the small pointed-roof huts—quite different from the flat-roofed rural houses on Blue Star—were scattered at varying heights.

It was currently afternoon; the villagers had finished lunch and gone to work in the fields.

On the intricate, narrow mud paths, he was the only one standing under the shade of a lush tree by the roadside, with the occasional child who had just grown their teeth running past him.

Sitting on a thick tree root that protruded halfway out of the ground, Zhang Mu rested his chin on his hand and sighed.

A high-grade healing potion couldn't be considered cheap, even across the entire Saul Continent.

Fortunately, he could bring the most precious herbs required for the formula over from Blue Star.

But having the potion alone wasn't enough; where was he supposed to find an experimental subject injured for many years in such a hurry?

While he was nursing a headache, there was a sudden commotion from the low stone house behind him, sounding like a bamboo basket or something similar hitting the ground.

A bamboo basket?

Zhang Mu instinctively turned his head just as the wooden door was pushed open from the inside. A short, curly-haired young man dressed as a villager walked out, clutching a familiar bamboo basket in his arms.

Standing up to look, he saw it was already empty.

The young villager raised his hand to toss the basket down the slope by the mud road, but Zhang Mu was quick. He stepped forward and caught the bamboo basket as it arched through the air.

"Where did you get this basket?" Zhang Mu asked with a smile, looking at the young man who was somewhat dazed by his sudden movement.

"It's my own," the man replied after snapping out of it, giving a perfunctory answer before turning back toward the house.

Zhang Mu was wearing a shirt and brownish straight-cut trousers; the young villager couldn't tell he was a mage.

However, because of the style and fabric of the clothes, it was obvious at a glance that only a 'Lord' could afford them, so he still kept his attitude very humble.

Had it been an ordinary villager, this notoriously lazy man in the village would likely have waved a wooden stick to drive them away long ago.

Zhang Mu naturally wouldn't watch him walk away. He caught up in two steps, grabbed the back of the man's neck, and forced him to his knees on the ground.

"Where are my pancakes?"

In truth, he didn't care about a few flatbreads with a bit of coarse salt, nor did he intend to eat them.

But it was one thing for him not to eat them; it was quite another for them to be stolen before he could throw them away.

He didn't have the time or inclination to go looking for them specifically, but now that he had run into the culprit, how could he let the pancake thief go?

Seeing the kneeling young villager stammering and refusing to admit it, Zhang Mu added a bit more pressure with his right hand.

"Still not talking?"

"My Lord, inside... they're inside..."

Releasing his grip, Zhang Mu ignored the young villager lying on the ground clutching his throat and coughing, and strode into the house.

It was a small, very empty room with no furniture except for an old wooden bed in the right corner that looked quite aged.

On the floor beside the bed lay an old donkey that looked nearly dead.

His gaze fell upon its hollow left eye socket. Zhang Mu's eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over to crouch down.

He performed a brief inspection.

There was no eyelid, and the socket was dry and rough; it had clearly been blind for many years.

Having caught his breath, the young man stumbled in, leaning against the doorframe and gasping for air as he opened his mouth to speak.

Zhang Mu cut him off directly: "How many years has it been blind?"

Having just faced a death threat, the young villager didn't dare ask questions and immediately replied, "My Lord, it's been over ten years."

Hearing this, Zhang Mu said nothing more and pulled a bottle of high-grade healing potion from his Storage Pouch, prying open the donkey's mouth to pour it in.

The effects were rapid.

In just five minutes, a transparent liquid seeped from the socket, and granulation tissue began to appear from the very back, wriggling as it grew and spread outward.

After a few more minutes, the blind left eye was as good as new.

It worked.

Zhang Mu stuffed the crystal bottle back into his Storage Pouch and stood up happily.

It was a high-grade healing potion after all; while it was relatively slow against injuries caused by magic, it could handle ordinary physical damage in minutes.

The young villager, seeing this scene, gaped in astonishment.

He hadn't expected that after he stole the Lord's pancakes, the Lord would not only refrain from anger but would instead mercifully heal the old donkey that had been his companion for years.

Moved beyond words, he knelt on the ground: "My Lord, thank you for your mercy!"

Zhang Mu turned around, and seeing him weeping with gratitude, asked, "Are you happy?"

"Of course, My Lord, your tolerance..."

"Then you're happy too soon."

He looked up blankly, staring at Zhang Mu in confusion.

"You used the pancakes to feed the donkey, didn't you?" Zhang Mu tilted his head, his peripheral vision catching the pancake crumbs near the old donkey's mouth. "Your family is so poor that when you steal food, your first thought is to feed the donkey."

"My Lord," he kowtowed in terror, "my parents passed away long ago. It is my only family. I had no other choice but to steal your corn pancakes."

"Do you think you're very kind, very loyal and righteous?"

"I only stole a basket of pancakes, My Lord!"

Zhang Mu curled his lip. "Are you seriously ill?

Silence. That means you're healthy, then?"

"This basket of pancakes," Zhang Mu lifted the bamboo basket he had just placed by his feet, "was brought to Bala City to be sold by a young boy who risked his life for a day and a night, traveling alone through a forest infested with magical beasts.

You have sound limbs and aren't sick, yet you're essentially worse than a half-grown child?"

His lips quivered, but he couldn't find words for a long time. His head remained pressed against the ground, not daring to meet Zhang Mu's gaze.

Looking at his miserable appearance in tattered clothes, Zhang Mu suddenly felt a surge of disgust.

He looked pitiful, but wasn't this self-inflicted?

If your fields had been hit by a disaster or something, I would have let it go; after all, it's just a basket of pancakes.

But was this really a case of having 'no choice'?

In broad daylight, while the other villagers are out working the fields, you're resting at home saying you have no choice?

It would be a miracle if you ever had a choice like that.

Zhang Mu turned to walk out of the house. As he did, he plucked a bamboo strip from the basket and flicked it; it accurately pierced the back of the man's right hand, pinning his palm to the floor.

Ignoring the screams coming from inside the house, he made his way back to Domit's hut.

Domit wasn't back yet, which didn't surprise Zhang Mu. He had to teach the villagers as many blacksmithing techniques as possible, so he likely wouldn't be back until late tomorrow night, or even the day after when they were ready to depart.

He glanced at Lia on the bed again; she was sleeping soundly and probably wouldn't wake until late tonight.

Seeing this, Zhang Mu summoned the portal and returned to reality.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time.

He had gone to the Other World at noon, wandered the village, and then wasted some time with the young villager; it was now just past five o'clock.

Rubbing his chin and calculating, Zhang Mu felt he should have enough time to make a trip to the outskirts.

Having made his decision, he wasted no time, activated his Shadow Technique, and left home.