140: Chapter 140 Pigweed That Can Restore Health

Xiao Niao squinted his eyes, his expression showing he couldn't bear to watch the scene. He felt this kind of fist-to-flesh combat was too crude and bloody, yet he also had to admire the strength Hu Gualing displayed in battle. After all, his impression of online game combat was still stuck in the realm of throwing skills at each other and dodging them; the closest he could imagine to realistic combat was a simple trade-off where he hit the monster once and the monster hit him back. It wasn't until he witnessed Hu Gualing killing the Bloodthirsty Wild Dog that he realized one could actually fight like this!

Furthermore, if it weren't for the names floating above their heads and the damage numbers appearing when they were injured, he wouldn't have doubted for a second that this battle was happening in reality!

Xiao Niao looked at the Wild Dog's corpse, then looked down at the old longbow in his hand, shaking his head with complex emotions...

Game Notification: [You have killed a Bloodthirsty Wild Dog, gaining 35 Combat Experience]

Seeing the kill notification appear, Hu Gualing knew the Wild Dog beneath him was dead as could be. He released his held breath, exhaling several times while gently shaking his right hand. He hissed in pain repeatedly as he checked the injury on his hand; his right hand was a bloody mess, and even his originally silver-white steel knuckle duster was stained with blood. However, he didn't have Tang Yao's germaphobia; he simply took off the brass knuckles, rubbed them in the yellow dirt to clean them, and put them in his backpack. Otherwise, wearing them would squeeze his wounds and hurt too much.

A piece of flesh had been bitten off the back of his right hand. He had only spat some saliva on the wound to dull the pain and hadn't treated it further, instead continuing to fight with the brass knuckles. Although this act of fighting while injured wasn't judged by the game as self-harm—and thus didn't deduct character health—the pain coming from the wound was very real. It made Hu Gualing grimace so much that he temporarily forgot to check the loot.

Xiao Niao climbed up from the ground and walked over softly. He saw Hu Gualing sitting on the Wild Dog's corpse, clutching his right wrist and groaning in pain. As soon as his gaze touched that bloody right hand, Xiao Niao felt a secret jolt of fear and quickly looked away, unable to bear the sight. With a look of pity, he said, "Your injury is so serious, and it's on your right hand. Why don't you just commit suicide and use Resurrection?"

This was exactly what Hu Gualing had used to persuade him earlier. Now the roles were reversed, and it was his turn to say it to Hu Gualing.

However, Xiao Niao was being sincere. The wound on Hu Gualing's hand was truly shocking. If he were the one with such a severe injury, no matter how much he feared pain, he would endure the brief agony of suicide to resurrect. Besides, Hu Gualing's injury was on his right hand; even if he pushed through, his combat ability would be severely affected. It would be better to die and resurrect early.

Hu Gualing, however, grimaced while feigning ease. "It just looks scary. Most of it is actually the Wild Dog's blood, it's no big deal. Besides, my health hasn't even dropped that much. Measuring by the value of one life per revival coin, this is worth more than half a revival coin. There's no reason to give up voluntarily!"

Hu Gualing was truly in pain, but he truly didn't want to die either. It wasn't that he wanted to play the hero in front of his teammates; he genuinely wanted to save these few fantasy points. When he first entered the game, he was young and foolish, just throwing his life away and wasting 3 fantasy points in a row. What's done is done, but now that he knew the wonders of this game, he naturally wasn't willing to squander fantasy points like that anymore.

At this moment, Tang Yao walked over and took a look. "His health only dropped a small notch, it shouldn't be a big deal. But we should still stop the bleeding of the wound."

Hu Gualing's health was originally just over a hundred. He had lost 14 points after taking a hit from the Wild Dog but hadn't been hit once during the rest of the battle. So his overall health was still quite healthy, just appearing to have lost slightly more blood than Xiao Niao's health bar.

But stop the bleeding? Where would they find something to stop bleeding on this wasteland? Xiao Niao was about to retort to Tang Yao when he saw her pull out a bunch of green vines.

Xiao Niao said in pleasant surprise, "Is this medicinal herb?"

Tang Yao: "No, it's Pig Grass."

Xiao Niao froze: "..."

Hu Gualing's eyes lit up as he took the vines. He rubbed them in his left hand for a while, first using the bright green juice to wipe away the bloodstains around the wound. Although he couldn't wipe it very clean—leaving his hand a mess of red, green, and blue like an overturned palette—at least the wound was exposed. Then, Hu Gualing stuffed the remaining vines into his mouth, chewed them up, and spat them onto the wound. After spreading it evenly, he felt a wave of coolness, and the pain seemed to lessen significantly.

Just as Xiao Niao was doubting the effectiveness of this Pig Grass, he saw a green '+1' suddenly pop up over Hu Gualing's head. After a while, another green +1 slowly appeared...

Xiao Niao said in amazement, "It's actually restoring health! And you said it wasn't medicinal herb!"

Tang Yao was also surprised. "This is just Pig Grass, how can it restore health?"

The 'Pig Grass' she referred to didn't mean a specific type of grass; rather, any wild grass or vegetable that could be used to feed pigs was collectively called Pig Grass. For instance, the wild grasses and vegetables growing along the riverbanks of Xiao Huang Village included several different species, but Tang Yao couldn't tell them apart and didn't bother to. She simply followed the knowledge she learned from the Pig Keeper, identifying anything a pig could eat and packing it all away.

The vine she handed to Hu Gualing was one of those. Regarding this grass, the name she knew was euphorbia humifusa. Its use, of course, was for feeding pigs. The reason it was in her backpack was because she feared Sharp Tooth would get tired of eating pig feed all the time outside, so she brought some fresh green food as snacks.

Giving these vines to Hu Gualing was only because she thought he was bleeding so much that applying some grass juice would probably help a bit. She hadn't expected the juice to stop the bleeding immediately upon application, and even Gualing's lost health points were slowly recovering with +1 +1!

Tang Yao herself could hardly believe it. Could the wild grass she boiled pot after pot to feed pigs actually be some precious medicinal herb with such immediate effects?

Thinking this, Tang Yao took out another bunch of euphorbia humifusa from her backpack. She threw most of it to Sharp Tooth and kept one stalk in her hand to inspect.

[euphorbia humifusa: A type of wild grass commonly found in fields and thickets. It is low-growing and has tenacious vitality.

Uses: Feeding pigs; Unknown.]

"Feeding pigs, that's right. Could stopping bleeding and restoring health also be its uses, but because I haven't learned herbalism, I can only see it as 'Unknown'?" Tang Yao thought as she looked at the item description for the euphorbia humifusa.

As Xiao Niao watched the bunch of vines thrown on the ground—half of which had already been hungrily devoured by Sharp Tooth—he began to believe what Tang Yao said about it being Pig Grass for her pig. "It's just... that Pig Grass can restore health is simply too incredible!" Xiao Niao couldn't help but exclaim in wonder.

Seeing the surprised and curious looks of the two, Hu Gualing said with a face full of pride, "This grass is called euphorbia humifusa. In our parts, it's also called 'Blood's Sorrow'. As the name implies, blood feels sorrow when it sees it, meaning it's very powerful at stopping bleeding. It usually grows in our rural fields. It's not surprising you city folk don't recognize it."

Tang Yao nodded in realization.

Xiao Niao's eyes lit up. "The legendary Hemostatic Grass?"

Hu Gualing: "Um... you could call it that too. Anyway, back when we used to get hurt in Small Skirmishs—"

"What's a 'Small Skirmish'?" Tang Yao interrupted curiously.

Hu Gualing rubbed his jaw and thought for a bit. "A Small Skirmish is exactly what it sounds like: a battle between children."

"..." Tang Yao said, somewhat speechless, "Isn't that just a fight?"

Hu Gualing chuckled. "Well, that's basically what it means. When we were kids, whenever we got bumped, scratched, or bloodied, we'd just chew up this grass and apply it, and it would heal very quickly. So calling it Hemostatic Grass isn't wrong."