Chapter 53: Dispelting the Curse

“Why hasn’t Ye Feng come out yet?” Long Yue and the others waited anxiously not far away.
“What if we go back and check?” Zhuge Ling’er blinked her big eyes at Long Yue and Lu Zhan.
“No, if Ye Feng has been captured too, it will be even safer for us to stay outside—he’s very resourceful!” Lu Zhan stopped Zhuge Ling’er.
“Lu Zhan, take them to a safe place first and pick up Xu Qiang along the way. We’ll follow right after!” Long Yue immediately came up with a plan.
“No, I can’t let you take risks,” Lu Zhan shook his head.
“I’ll have Yi Fan use a camera to see what’s going on. If Ye Feng has been captured, we’ll wait for you to handle it, and then we’ll act together. If he’s fine, we’ll wait for him to come out and head back together. Don’t worry, I won’t risk Ling’er’s or my own safety,” Long Yue explained.
“Yue’er, are you sure you’re not lying to me?” Lu Zhan clearly didn’t believe her words.
“You don’t trust me?” Long Yue stared at him unyieldingly.
“Alright, alright… You win. But you must promise that no matter what happens here, you’ll wait for me to return before taking action. If you confirm Ye Feng is safe, call me!” Lu Zhan finally agreed.
“Come with me, I’ll take you to a safe place!” Lu Zhan waved at the others.
“Where’s Ye Feng?” Lao Ba looked around but couldn’t see any sign of him.
“He’ll come later. I’ll take you to a safe place first!” Lu Zhan could only give that answer.
“Could he have been… trying to save us?” Lao Er was cut off mid-sentence.
“Don’t worry, that kid is smart! Even if all of us get killed, he might still be fine!” Lu Zhan replied irritably, clearly still upset about having been captured by Ye Feng once. “Staying here is a burden to us. Understand?”
“I get it. So that secret job Xiao Ye was doing was actually being an agent…” Lao Liu mused.
“Let’s go!” Seeing that Lu Zhan ignored them, Lao Er tapped Lao Liu’s head and followed the others.
“Sis Yue’er, what should we do now?” Zhuge Ling’er seemed excited.
“Wait, I’ll call Yi Fan to find out what’s going on!” Long Yue dialed the number again.

“Hey, what happened? You should have rescued all the hostages by now, right?” Yi Fan felt uneasy after receiving Long Yue’s call. If everything was going as planned, it should have been Ye Feng calling to report that everything was fine, since he and Long Yue didn’t even know each other.
“The hostages have been evacuated, but Ye Feng hasn’t come out. Can you access their video system to see what’s going on? If Ye Feng has been captured, we need to go back right away to rescue him.” Long Yue’s rapid speech indicated the urgency of the situation.
“Ye Feng still hasn’t come out? But I’ve restored the video system to its original state—he should know that you’ve successfully evacuated…” Yi Fan frowned. “I’ll check what’s happening to him! I’ll call back if I find out anything!”
…
“Gu worms?” Ye Feng frowned slightly. “Do such things really exist?”
“You’ve seen vampires and werewolves—is this something so rare?” Pearl said with a bitter smile. “I was an orphan since I was young. At the age of five, I was adopted by the organization, and a gu worm was implanted in me as an oath of loyalty. By the age of twelve, an elder began teaching us poison skills. In three years, only I survived out of the twelve girls who learned those skills. Another year passed, and when I became proficient in poison skills, I was chosen by the organization to carry out missions. I can’t even remember how many people I’ve killed. All I know is that my hands are covered in blood. From the day I joined the organization, I knew I was destined to follow the path they assigned me, even if it led to the eighteenth layer of hell.”
“What effects does that gu worm have on you?” Ye Feng continued to ask.
“The master of the gu worm is the Grand Elder. All my orders come from her. If I disobey, the gu worm secretes a nerve toxin that causes severe pain and intense itching. The pain is unbearable, along with an itching that penetrates deep into the bones, making one want to cut open their skin with a knife and grind their bones with something…” Pearl’s whole body trembled slightly, clearly having experienced such punishment before.
“I understand. I’ll think of a way to help you solve this problem!” Ye Feng said as he sent his mental energy into the Void Realm.

“I see. It’s the lowest-gradeGu worm worm, with just a bit of neurotoxin. All you need to do is drip your blood on the egg before it hatches. Once the worm hatches, feed it with your blood for 49 days, and it will willingly submit to you. Ordinary people can become its master—it’s the lowest-gradeGu worm worm. Moreover, this kind of worm can’t enter the human body on its own; it must enter through a wound with blood,” Boy explained. “So, strictly speaking, it doesn’t count as a form ofGu worm art. That means there’s a way to eliminate it in the First Realm.”

“What should I do?” Ye Feng asked.

“It’s simple. You just need to find thatGu worm worm toxin. Don’t forget to read the instructions before using it!” Boy reminded him.

“Neurotoxin,Gu worm worm, toxin…” Ye Feng combined these keywords, and in his mind, a picture emerged—a small transparent bottle containing a bright red liquid that looked somewhat terrifying.

He placed the bottle in the storage box and then took it in his hands.

“What’s this?” Pearl and Wei Baisong stared curiously at the small flask-like bottle that suddenly appeared in Ye Feng’s hands. The red liquid inside made them feel uneasy.

Ye Feng picked up the bottle and read the tiny print on it.

“What is this? What are you doing?” Pearl asked again.

“This is your antidote. I’m reading the instructions…” Ye Feng continued to read word by word without looking up.

“You mean I have to drink this red, sticky stuff? That’s so disgusting! It looks like human blood…” Pearl quickly waved her hand away.

“Okay, I know what to do now!” Ye Feng turned to Wei Baisong. “Do you have a knife?”

Wei Baisong shook his head.

“I do.” Pearl pulled out a blade from the sole of her shoe and handed it to Ye Feng. She no longer cared about what he was planning; she only knew that if he could help her get rid of theGu worm worm, she would do whatever he said.

“Alright, you do it yourself. Make a cut anywhere, then I’ll open this bottle. The worm will come out through your wound, crawl into the bottle, and be destroyed.” Ye Feng released Pearl, bent down to place the bottle on the ground, and put one hand on the cap, ready to lift it after Pearl made the cut.

“That’s it? So simple?” Pearl glanced at Ye Feng skeptically. She couldn’t believe that something that had troubled her for nearly twenty years could be removed so easily.

“High-tech? You wouldn’t understand even if I explained! It’s just a cut—nothing that will disfigure you!” Ye Feng couldn’t help but mock her.
Zhenzhu tilted her head to the side and then sharply cut her arm, blood immediately flowing from the wound.
“Don’t cover the wound—let it flow out!” Ye Feng stopped her instinctive reaction and then opened the bottle cap.
Hearing this, Zhenzhu’s right hand, which had been about to press on the wound, froze mid-air. Soon, she felt a tingling sensation above her neck. The tingling spread, and she guessed it was the parasitic worm inside her moving. She resisted the urge to scratch and remained frozen, not daring to move.
After a while, she saw a bulge moving along her left arm—a thing about the size of a thumb, slowly moving toward the wound.
It was unclear how much time passed, but eventually, the thing fell to the ground along with the blood flowing from Zhenzhu’s wound. Once on solid ground, it crawled much faster, slipping under her feet and into the container filled with red liquid in just a few seconds. Ye Feng immediately covered the container. The creature, somewhat resembling a cockroach, struggled a bit before flipping over, clearly dead.
“That thing is disgusting,” Zhenzhu said, nearly vomiting at the sight. The thought that such an ugly creature had lived inside her for twenty years made her want to take a bath right away.
“That’s enough!” Ye Feng spread his hands. “Do you still want to stay?”
“Thank you, Ye Feng! I’ll leave China immediately, stay away from the organization’s surveillance, and promise never to bother you again!” Zhenzhu shook her head.
“You don’t need to thank me. If it weren’t for those orphans you helped, I would have killed you without hesitation to avenge Brother Long! Remember what you said today. If you break your promise, I’ll take your life at any time—along with his!” Ye Feng turned to look at Wei Baisong.
“Thank you!” Wei Baisong stepped forward to support Zhenzhu and bandaged her wound briefly.
“I should leave now!” As soon as Ye Feng finished speaking, he disappeared.
Surprise flashed in Wei Baisong and Zhenzhu’s eyes, and the two quickly left as well…

“Xiaofeng has come out!” Yi Fan saved the video clip he had just seen, then dialed Long Yue’s number. After hanging up, Yi Fan reopened the video clip stored on his computer, covered his forehead with one hand, and let out a low sigh. “Xiaofeng, how many secrets do you still have hidden from us…”