131: Legend of the Gods

Leaving the cloud-shrouded hot springs of the Virunga Mountains, Jiang Yuan and Lin Xia plunged back into that seemingly endless ocean of green.

This time, their goal was the deepest part of the Congo Basin rainforest.

Known as the "second lung of the Earth," this was a forbidden zone that human civilization had never truly conquered.

There were no roads; even animal trails were hard to find.

Towering ancient trees blocked out the sky, vines coiled like pythons, and the ground was covered in a half-meter-thick layer of humus, oozing black, foul-smelling water with every step.

Even with Jiang Yuan's "Environmental Force Field" protecting them, insulating them from the humidity and insects, the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere still made Lin Xia feel palpitating.

"We've been walking for four hours now."

Lin Xia glanced at the satellite phone in her hand, which had completely lost signal, and asked with some worry: "There's nothing but a blank space on the map here; does anyone really live here?"

"Of course."

Jiang Yuan walked in front, the holographic radar on his wrist building a 3D topographic map of the surrounding ten kilometers.

"They are known as the 'Children of the Forest,' one of the oldest existing human races on Earth—the Baka people, or what the outside world commonly calls the Pygmies."

"However, it looks like we've come at a bad time."

Jiang Yuan stopped in his tracks, his gaze piercing through layers of banana leaves to look at an open space surrounded by giant trees ahead.

In the air, besides the smell of rotting plants, there was also a strong scent of medicinal herbs, and... the sound of low, mournful weeping.

Pushing aside the last bush.

A hidden, primitive tribe appeared before their eyes.

Dozens of semi-circular low huts built from tree branches and giant leaves were scattered among the trees. At this moment, the atmosphere of the entire tribe was oppressive to the extreme.

Dozens of short (average height under 1.5 meters), dark-brown-skinned natives were gathered in front of a large hut in the center of the tribe. The men held short spears and poison-tipped arrows, their expressions anxious; the women, smeared with white mud, were weeping softly.

When these two "giants," Jiang Yuan and Lin Xia, suddenly intruded, the tribe instantly erupted.

"Wala!!!"

The sentry hunter let out a sharp whistle.

Almost instantly, a dozen blowdarts coated in lethal upas tree sap locked onto their throats. This poison was fatal upon contact with blood; even an elephant could die within minutes.

Lin Xia was so frightened that she instinctively raised her hands, her body stiffening.

But Jiang Yuan, as if he didn't see those lethal arrowheads, just frowned slightly.

He didn't make a move, but a barely perceptible blue light flashed across the surface of his black nano-combat suit.

【Biological Coercion · Low-Frequency Pacification Mode】

An invisible wave instantly spread out.

Those dwarf hunters, who were originally so nervous their hands were shaking, suddenly felt an inexplicable calm, as if they were not facing intruders, but a deity from the forest.

The bows and arrows in their hands lowered involuntarily, and the hostility in their eyes turned into confusion and awe.

Jiang Yuan walked straight through the crowd, heading toward the large hut in the center.

There, a desperate ritual was underway.

In the open space in front of the hut, a bonfire giving off a pungent, strange odor was burning.

An old witch doctor, covered in bone ornaments and with red and black paint on his face, was jumping around the fire like a madman.

He muttered incantations, grabbing handfuls of unknown powder and tossing them into the fire from time to time, sending up green smoke, and then forcibly poured a black herbal decoction into the mouth of a skinny old man lying on a straw mat.

That old man was clearly the Old Chief.

But he was nearing the end.

There was a terrifying wound on his right leg, seemingly bitten by some beast and then infected with toxic bacteria; the entire leg was swollen and black, oozing yellow pus and emitting a nauseating stench.

Black toxic gas was spreading along his blood vessels to his thigh, the old man's eyes were rolled back, and his breathing was as faint as a candle about to be extinguished.

"What is he doing?" Lin Xia asked, resisting the nausea.

"Performing a ritual, exorcising demons."

Jiang Yuan glanced at the witch doctor, his tone flat: "Or... accelerating death."

Although that herbal decoction had anesthetic properties, in the face of such severe sepsis and gangrene, it was useless except for making the patient die a little less painfully.

Seeing Jiang Yuan approach, the witch doctor, who had been jumping energetically, stopped abruptly.

He had a very high status in the tribe, and seeing this tall stranger about to interrupt the ritual, he immediately let out an angry roar, waving the bone staff in his hand, trying to drive Jiang Yuan away.

"Get lost."

Jiang Yuan just spat out two words coolly.

Although there was a language barrier (they had no language), his icy gaze was like a bucket of cold water, directly extinguishing the witch doctor's arrogance.

The witch doctor was forced back again and again by the invisible aura, sitting down on the ground with a thud.

Jiang Yuan walked to the straw mat and squatted down.

"System, scan."

"Target status: Severe sepsis, necrotizing fasciitis, accompanied by multi-organ failure. Estimated time of death: 15 minutes."

"Still savable."

Jiang Yuan fished a transparent glass vial, only the length of a finger, out of his storage space.

Inside was a pale blue liquid, emitting a dreamlike shimmer in the dim jungle light.

【Universal Cell Repair Fluid (Civilian Diluted Version)】

This was the most basic medical supply in Eternal Star City, but on Earth, it was a miracle drug.

Jiang Yuan didn't look for a vein to inject like a doctor.

He directly uncorked the bottle, and the crisp fragrance instantly overpowered the stench at the scene.

He first poured half the liquid into the Old Chief's mouth, then poured the remaining half directly onto the blackened, ulcerated leg.

"What... is that?"

The terrified witch doctor and the surrounding tribesmen stared wide-eyed at this scene.

The scene that followed became a myth that would be passed down in this tribe for thousands of years.

Sizzle, sizzle—

The moment the blue liquid touched the wound, it boiled as if it had a life of its own.

The originally blackened, pus-oozing necrotic flesh began to fall off and liquefy at a visible speed. Immediately after, fresh red granulation tissue grew wildly, and black toxic blood was forced out of the body.

The swelling subsided, blood vessels regenerated, and the skin healed.

In just three short minutes.

That rotten leg, which had originally been sentenced to death and required amputation to save a life, had actually recovered its healthy skin tone, without leaving even a single scar!

Meanwhile.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

The Old Chief, who had originally fallen into a deep coma and had one foot in the grave, suddenly coughed violently twice and spat out a mouthful of black blood.

Then, he opened his eyes.

His eyes were clear, no longer cloudy.

He felt the chill that had been devouring his life from within vanish, replaced by a warm current. He tentatively moved his leg and found that it didn't hurt anymore.

Under the ghost-like gaze of the entire tribe, the old man, who had been on his deathbed just moments ago, propped himself up with his hands and sat straight up!

Dead silence.

The entire tribe fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone had their mouths wide open, watching this miracle.

The witch doctor was trembling all over, and the bone staff in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter." He had practiced medicine his whole life and had never seen such power. This was not something herbs could do, and this was not something ancestral spirits could do.

This was a god.

"Waa-woo—!!!"

The next second, earth-shattering cheers erupted.

The Old Chief was so moved that his eyes were filled with tears; he didn't care about the dirt on his body, he turned over and bowed, his forehead hitting the ground heavily at Jiang Yuan's feet, shouting some honorable term loudly.

Immediately after, the witch doctor knelt down.

The hunters threw away their weapons and knelt down.

All the Baka people, like wind blowing through wheat, prostrated themselves before Jiang Yuan in unison.

Their eyes were fanatical and devout; that was absolute worship of supreme power.

Lin Xia stood to the side, her hand holding the camera trembling.

She had recorded everything: the man standing in the center of the crowd with a calm expression was like a deity who had descended to the mortal world, casually dispelling the shadow of death.

"Alright, stop bowing."

Jiang Yuan waved his hand a bit helplessly.

He couldn't stand this kind of scene the most.

He took a few pieces of compressed high-energy biscuits from his pocket and stuffed them into the Old Chief's hand—this stuff was enough to help him recover the vitality consumed by this major illness.

"Just passing by, a small favor."

Jiang Yuan stood up, the non-existent "lab coat" seeming to flutter in the wind.

"Let's go."

He beckoned to Lin Xia.

Amidst the reverent kneeling of the entire tribe, Jiang Yuan, just like when he arrived, with his hands in his pockets, turned around stylishly and walked into the depths of the mist-shrouded jungle.

Leaving only the legend of the "Celestial Being" to be passed down from generation to generation in this ancient rainforest tribe.