Chapter 48: Zhaozhao
"Uhh... small... medium..."
Potions couldn’t be used again within an hour. Watching his Life Value tick down like a timer, Lin Fan hesitated for only a second before making up his mind.
’Even though I’m reluctant to use my only medium-sized one, there’s no such thing as waste when survival is on the line. I have to use my strongest option to guarantee the best result...’
[65/370]...
"Use medium Wild Potion!"
The potion took effect, and an icon of a beast’s fang appeared beneath Lin Fan’s Life Value bar.
[64/370]...
A surge of heat radiated from his heart, spreading through every blood vessel to the rest of his body.
The intense pain and cold faded rapidly, as if scoured away by the wave of heat. In their place, a tingling numbness swept through his limbs and torso...
Chu Zhaozhao, who had been chattering nonstop, was suddenly struck speechless by the sight before her.
The man, who had been lying on the ground, on the verge of death from his injuries and blood loss, suddenly began to radiate heat.
The air above his body rippled faintly from the heat.
It wasn’t just the heat. The wounds on his waist and abdomen, which had been bleeding nonstop, suddenly staunched. White vapor began to rise faintly from the injuries and his entire left arm...
"...Mister, what’s happening to you?!"
Chu Zhaozhao stared in shock at the seemingly miraculous sight, the half-eaten Snickers bar in her hand falling to the ground.
She scrambled over to Lin Fan’s side and frantically waved a hand in front of his eyes.
"Mister, you... you’re about to spontaneously combust!"
...
[64/370]...
[65/370]!
His Life Value had finally stopped falling!
It was going back up!
Although the recovery rate was extremely slow—about one point every twenty seconds—it was much faster than his previous natural regeneration!
Before, it took at least an hour to recover a single point!
With a single dose of the potion, his strength and reaction speed were both boosted, and Lin Fan’s overall condition improved dramatically.
’This is the first time I’ve used a medium potion. Just as I thought, it’s way stronger than the small ones!’
The Wild Potion combined the functions of the Swiftness and Strength potions, with an added bonus of accelerated recovery.
’In terms of efficacy, it naturally can’t be stronger than using a dedicated Swiftness or Strength potion.’
’But the effects of this medium Wild Potion aren’t even on par with the small Swiftness and Strength potions I used before.’
’My body hasn’t changed much, either. The last Strength potion turned me into a mountain of muscle. Looks like the effects aren’t all the same.’
The potion’s comprehensive recovery wasn’t limited to his Life Value; his stamina and mental state were also recovering at a rapid pace!
Even though he only had 68 Life Value, under the effects of the potent potion, Lin Fan had regained most of his mobility in just one minute.
He wanted to shove the annoying head out of his face and instinctively raised his left hand...
"HISS! AHH—"
A jolt of pain, too sharp for even the potion to suppress, shot through him!
Lin Fan’s sudden outburst startled Chu Zhaozhao, who was crouched beside him.
She lurched backward but immediately recovered, leaning in even closer. Her eyes widened with excitement as she studied Lin Fan’s face, now twisted from the pain in his arm.
"That’s great! Mister, you’re awake!"
"Awake... Hiss—I never passed out in the first place!"
Lin Fan dismissed the girl with a sense of speechlessness, waiting until successive waves of numbness finally dissolved the pain in his left arm again.
"And I’m not ’Mister’... My name is Lin Fan..."
’Looks like the potion’s healing effect only temporarily stopped the pain,’ he thought. ’The wounds and my broken arm are still a long way from being fully healed.’
Lin Fan kept his left arm as still as possible, using his right hand to push himself into a sitting position.
"Okay, Brother Lin Fan! I’m Chu Zhaozhao—just call me Zhaozhao! Wow, you’re moving already!"
He looked at Chu Zhaozhao, who was kneeling beside him, staring at him with wide, surprised eyes while holding out an unwrapped Snickers bar...
He glanced at the [21/100] floating above her head, then back at his own [70/370]...
’Wait a minute, girl. How are you in better spirits than I am...’
Lin Fan couldn’t help but roast her in his head, but he still reached out with his left hand, took the food, and stuffed it in his mouth.
By now, the smell clinging to her had mostly faded. Besides, after his bloody fight with the Mutant Dog, Lin Fan was hardly clean himself, so he no longer found her presence off-putting.
"Water... water..."
Lin Fan ordered Chu Zhaozhao to get him a bottle of water as he chewed.
’I noticed earlier that there’s still a good amount of supplies and bottled water in the gas station lobby. I’ll have to figure out how to take it all with me later.’
He took the water Chu Zhaozhao handed him, then suddenly remembered he only had one usable arm.
Seeing Lin Fan freeze, Chu Zhaozhao instantly understood. She deftly took the bottle back, twisted off the cap, and handed it to him again.
"..."
Lin Fan ate and drank, watching his Life Value steadily climb. As the energy from the sugar and water hit his system, he felt his recovery speed up a bit.
He glanced at Chu Zhaozhao’s Life Value again and couldn’t resist asking tentatively,
"Are you sure you don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
"Uncomfortable? Yeah, I am... I’m dizzy..."
She stood up and started pointing to various spots on her body.
"Here hurts, and here, and here, here, here... it all hurts. But it’s fine, I can take it..."
"Heh... that’s great..." Lin Fan managed a polite smile, inwardly sighing in amazement.
’I should bandage these wounds on my waist and abdomen,’ he thought, looking down. ’The bleeding has stopped, but it’s still for the best...’
"Sigh..."
’Looking at this trashed lobby... forget bandages, I can’t even find a clean scrap of cloth. I’d better avoid any strenuous movement...’
He staggered to his feet. In this state, there was no way he could head back tonight. Once the potion wore off, he’d probably be right back on the floor.
’I have things to do while the potion is still working and I can move.’
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Lin Fan carefully tucked his left arm inside a tear in the front of his shirt and turned to walk out into the rain.
But then he remembered. ’Wait, don’t I have some free labor right here?’
He turned back and asked Chu Zhaozhao, "Where are the other two?"
"In the back room... ah!"
As if suddenly remembering something, Chu Zhaozhao immediately ran toward the gas station’s inner room.
Lin Fan saw this and followed.
Chu Zhaozhao knelt before the pair, anxiously watching the two figures on the floor. She then turned to look at Lin Fan, who was standing in the doorway, her gaze filled with a hope that treated him like a deity.
Even though the door had been open for a while and much of the smell had dissipated, he had no intention of going inside. Standing in the doorway, he glanced in and saw that their Life Values were at 19 and 20, respectively—the same as the last time he’d seen them.
’They haven’t gone down, which means no internal bleeding or other fatal hidden injuries. They were already weak and just got knocked around a bit. Probably just some internal bruising or a concussion.’
So he said,
"They’re fine. They just don’t have your constitution. They should wake up in a little while..."
Hearing Lin Fan’s words, Chu Zhaozhao’s eyes went wide, as if his very pronouncement could determine their life or death.
But Lin Fan’s ability to see Life Value bars made him perfectly suited to make such a diagnosis. As long as the bar wasn’t decreasing, they obviously weren’t going to die.
Now that he was sure the two wouldn’t die, Lin Fan felt comfortable putting his able-bodied laborer, Chu Zhaozhao, to work.
"Er... Zhaozhao, go find an umbrella. We need to go find some things..."