Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 167: Purifier Wang

Zac was currently speeding along the deserted road, heading east. He was still driving the car, as it was pretty much as fast as him jogging. He’d also found that it was easier for him to use the Dao of Trees while driving compared to jogging, so it was also better for his wound.

Ever since he arrived at the edge of the Dead Zone he had sensed that the atmosphere contained some miasma. It was only a smidgeon, but Zac noticed to his annoyance that his wound seemed to passively absorb it. He was therefore forced to use his Dao of Trees a bit more than he did back on the island.

That’s why he’d decided to look up one of the purifiers, even if it would waste at least one day. He could only assume his condition would get worse when he went into the Dead Zone, so if he could get the wound fixed ahead of that he would likely save more time in the end.

The image of the mutilated corpse on the street of Eastern Hills was a poignant image of what would happen if he didn’t properly take care of his wound. It would be a cosmic joke if he survived the Incursion and the three waves, only to turn into a zombie because he didn’t properly tend to his festering gut.

He’d stayed the night at John’s place. He lived together with the siblings in a pretty large house. It turned out that they were a small mercenary group, and the reason that John was so friendly from the start was that he hoped to recruit Zac. They were originally 7 people, forming a pretty strong squad that mainly focused on finding herbs and other valuables deeper in the core zone.

However, months of risking their lives had resulted in only three being left of the group, and they finally had to admit they needed to bolster their squad after being unable to finish the tiger on their own.

If Zac actually was who he pretended, then he might actually have taken them up on their offer. Going into the Dead Zone alone was perilous, having a squad to watch your back was preferable. They had been disappointed at his refusal, but they made no big deal about it.

Zac had only stayed the night and left early in the morning. The former expat helped out quite a bit in explaining how things worked, even though Zac refused Johnʼs invitation. More troubling was what he heard about himself, or rather the Super Brother-Man.

Rumors about him had already reached the frontier. There were all kinds of rumors, but the core of them was generally that he consorted with the invaders, which was why he had gotten so strong. John had also heard about Ogras deeds in New Washington, though the details had gotten extremely twisted.

However, there was no official proclamation from the government, which only made Zac more uneasy. It only meant that whatever they planned would be done under the table, rather than in the open.

He also didnʼt think that rumors were spreading organically, as only a week had passed since the auction. Zac believed that the government was trying to speed things along. Perhaps they tried to boost their own reputation by dragging the Super Brother-Man through the mud.

Zac wanted to get his name cleared, but for now he could only ignore the rumor mill. He didnʼt care what the world thought of him as long as he could reach his sister. Since John had been so helpful Zac left a few hundred Nexus Crystals in his room when leaving.

He had no idea if he’d meet the three again, as they had their goals and he had his. He was currently driving toward one of the main border towns in the area, which was somewhat ostentatiously named Perseverance. Apparently, it was originally a part of Chengdu, and over 50 000 people lived there at the moment.

Zac kept driving for most of the day, passing a few towns on the way. He actually encountered a few parties on the road, though people kept to their own, likely afraid of getting attacked. There were no witnesses and no laws out in the wild, and Zac guessed few people would take a risk like John and the other two did.

The suns were already setting when he arrived at his destination, and it appeared he just made it before the large town gates were closing.

“1000 Nexus Coins to enter with a vehicle,” a guard said as he hailed Zac.

Zac’s brows rose at the price, but he still paid up and drove through. The price was a bit surprising, as it was equivalent to killing at least twenty decently strong Zombies. If everyone had to pay that amount when returning from an excursion then the town would have to make quite some profit.

Zac drove some ways into the town, before turning into a few back alleys. When he found a secluded spot with no pedestrians he quickly exited the vehicle and put it in a cosmos sack before quickly walking away.

He knew that cars were generally safe if he parked it somewhere, but he didn’t want to take any risks as there were inscriptions on his vehicle making it special.

Most cars on the frontier were actually booby-trapped nowadays with various explosives, as good terrain vehicles were hard to come by and fiercely protected. There were car mechanics who mainly dealt in installing bombs in hard-to-find places with hidden triggers. Stealing one was akin to sitting on a barrel of gunpowder that could go off at any time.

Zac walked around the town, getting a sense of the area. The whole place felt rougher compared to Eastern Hills, and there were more people who seemed to be barely scraping by. There was one thing that confused him a bit. He noted that many of the weaker pedestrians seemed to have accumulated more miasma in their bodies compared to the stronger ones.

However, after seeing a street vendor selling food he understood why. Even if the vendor slathered the skewers in some sauce Zac could see that the meat was grey and sickly-looking, and he could even sense some corrupt energy in the meat. It seemed that food was getting scarce and they were forced to eat animals tainted with miasma.

Zac could only shake his head and keep walking, happy that he had stocked up with food that would last months in his pouches. He didn’t have time to worry about the people slowly turning themselves into zombies, but instead he was trying to listen in on conversations to find out more about the Purifier. It didn’t take long to learn where the purifier, who was apparently called Wang Guo, resided.

The Purifier ran what was called a miasma clinic out of the bottom floor of his building. Zac quickly walked over there and found that there already was a long line pale people, most clearly suffering from miasma poisoning. Zac shrugged and just went to the back of the line.

“Excuse me, how long does it usually take to get to see the doctor? Is he still working at this hour?” Zac asked the man in front of him.

“Don’t you know how this works?” the man turned over with a dour face, though he quickly moderated his demeanor after seeing the huge axe on Zac’s back. “We’re lining up for getting a chance at getting treated tomorrow. Mr. Wang only has open office once a week, and he treats people as long as his Cosmic Energy allows.”

Zac wasn’t too enthused about waiting the whole night in line when there was no guarantee he’d even get to meet the Purifier. As he was mulling over what to do he suddenly spotted a man walking straight up to the closed doors and entered.

“Who was that?” Zac asked the man in front of him.

“One of Lord Perseveranceʼs lieutenants,” the man answered in a hushed voice. “They always get purified after returning to town.”

Zac understood the implications. The rules clearly weren’t the same for everyone. Since this Mr. Wang seemed to change his tune depending on who visited, then Zac wouldn’t need to wait in this endless line. Zac was worried about the Purifier being limited somehow to only helping out once a week, but it seemed it was rather that he didn’t want to waste too much of his time.

“So you think one can get purified without waiting if one pays enough?” Zac asked the man in front of him again.

The man nervously looked around and ignored the question. But a few coughs from Zac and walking up uncomfortably close forced the man to answer in a whisper.

“Hey, I don’t want trouble. Mr. Wang is petty, and if he finds out I’ve talked about him behind his back who knows what trouble I’d get into. But yeah, he is also greedy, so he’d definitely heal you if you paid enough. Honestly, he is only doing these open houses since the Lord Perseverance is paying him to,” the man wheezed, then pointedly started ignoring Zac.

Finally understanding the way things worked and unhesitantly walked up to the door to the clinic. A few mutters and curses were thrown his direction from those in the line, but no one wanted to cause trouble or lose their spot, so Zac entered unaccosted.

“Hey! Didn’t you see the line? Purifier Wang’s open hour starts tomorrow,” an annoyed, but sweet, voice entered his ears as soon as he walked through and closed the door.

It was a woman that was sitting by a clear glass table in a small empty lobby. She was quite good-looking in a sultry way, but her appearance only lowered Zac’s opinion of this so-called healer.

The woman was clearly wearing a “Sexy Nurse” Halloween-outfit rather than actual scrubs, showing off a great amount of skin. Furthermore, she wasnʼt alone as a strong-looking bodyguard lounged in a chair nearby.

From what Zac had heard so far Wang Guo was far from some benevolent hero, but rather some shady person who had lucked into a great class. He could only internally sigh and walk up to the counter.

“I have traveled far to meet Purifier Wang, as I hear he is one of the most skilled people around,” Zac said.

Actually that wasn’t true, but Wang Guo was the closest one to the east of Eastern Hills, and Zac didn’t want to waste more time than he had to.

“It doesn’t matter. Purifier Wang only sees patients once a week, as he needs the rest of the week to recuperate. The great healing arts take a lot of strength,” the nurse answered with a huff as the bodyguard started to move toward him.

Zac didn’t respond, and instead only took out one of his cosmos sacks and poured a small hill of Nexus Crystals on her desk and leaned over it toward the startled girl.

“Unfortunately my time is limited. This is a small gift to you. I would be happy to give a much larger donation to Purifier Wang as well. Could you tell me what I’d need to do to get the same treatment as the guy who just entered?”

The girl expertly took the crystals and swept them into a Chanel bag with extreme swiftness, cleaning out the table in only a second. After that, she looked at the guard who shrugged.

“Since you wish to donate to help keep his little clinic running I’m sure Purifier Wang would be able to squeeze you in,” she said with a smile, as she leaned forward a bit showcasing her impressive cleavage.

It was at this moment the man from earlier exited the door leading further into the clinic. He was surprised to see the gruff-looking Zac stand in the lobby leaning over the counter, and he appeared extremely incensed at seeing the receptionist’s suggestive pose and smile.

“Who the fuck are you? Yao Yao, get away from that barbarian,” the man growled and quickly walked over.

“I mean no trouble, I am just here to see Purifier Wang,” Zac said as he quickly backed away.

“Then why the fuck are you hitting on my woman?” the lieutenant growled.

“He’s here to give a big donation to the clinic,” the nurse quickly said, trying to defuse the situation.

However, the comment only seemed to enrage the man further.

“So you’re trying to flash your little wealth in front of my girl? You might as well leave all of it behind then,” he said, and with lightning-quick movement took out a dagger, unhesitantly stabbing toward Zac’s throat.

Zac was about to kill the man in front of him by instinct, but in the last second restrained himself. Things also got more convoluted after the guard joined the fight after some hesitation, trying to help the angry man out.

Zac tripped one of the men and brought the other one with him down on the ground, causing a chaotic grapple-fight. He quickly knocked out the lieutenant on the way down, and after grappling around with the bodyguard for a few seconds Zac awarded him with a measured punch knocking him out.

Zac could only hope it would look genuine to the shocked spectator, as he was in no mood to pretend any longer than that. One of the men actually managed to land a punch in his gut, which made his wound hurt like a hot tong, souring his mood considerably.

“I’ll go ahead and visit the Purifier now. I would prefer not to be disturbed,” Zac said to the gaping nurse before heading into the inner parts of the clinic.