Ninth class citizen

Chapter 293 The Medicine Seller

Steward Wu appeared in front of him like the wind, grabbing the other man's shoulders with both hands: "Be more specific."

Even if a seventh-tier martial artist were to restrain their strength, it would still be beyond the endurance of most people. Sweat instantly beaded on the staff member's forehead as they barely managed to raise their finger to point at the words on the virtual screen, saying:

"Look, Steward, that Nan Rong is still alive!"

"Impossible!" The other staff members were extremely surprised: "That's magma at 3,500 degrees Celsius! Even with Master Tian's defensive supernatural item, it wouldn't last that long!"

"But hasn't the lava lake started to cool down? She's lucky, but she'll still be trapped inside when the lava solidifies."

"But if we only do this, won't it affect the viewing experience for the VIPs in the evening?" a subordinate asked. "Should we switch to another method of execution?"

After the initial surprise, Steward Wu felt that it was only right.

"Ignore her for now." He glanced disapprovingly at his meddlesome subordinate. "Find out the cause of the lava lake's temperature drop. Also, send people to inspect the energy reactor to see if the energy crystals inside have degraded."

"Yes, Steward." When the subordinate left, the temperature of the lava lake had dropped to 600 degrees Celsius, the liquid magma began to solidify, and the whole lake turned blackish-red, with wisps of flame rising from it from time to time.

Seeing this, even without any hints that the difficulty had been reduced, the survivors knew what to do.

Chen Hao led the remaining men onto the all-black pontoon bridge. The temperature on the bridge was currently below 100 degrees Celsius, which was a piece of cake for martial artists of the second rank and above.

The group walked briskly and arrived at the center of the lake in the blink of an eye.

A loud bang came from the lake at that moment, like the detonation of a high-explosive bomb. The not-yet-completely-solidified magma sprayed and splashed in all directions. Even though the martial artists reacted quickly, three of them were still blasted away by the black and red hot rocks and were about to fall into the lake and become roasted meat.

While they were in the air, they were all very unwilling.

They were so close, so close to surviving, why did they fail at the last minute?
However, in the next second, an invisible wind gently lifted their bodies and carried them to the checkpoint on the other side.

Chen Hao and the others were extremely surprised. But before they could speak, they saw a woman leap out from the spot where the explosion had occurred and hover in the air.

Her clothes were intact, and her black hair was incredibly smooth; she didn't look like someone who had been baptized by a lava lake at all.

Everyone who witnessed this scene was dumbfounded and speechless with shock.

Nan Rong slowly opened her eyes, her black-gold pupils looking indifferently at everyone. Enveloped by wind wings, she crossed the lava lake and landed at the exit of the checkpoint.

Upon landing, the golden light in her eyes completely vanished, returning to a pure and clear black.

Chen Hao crossed the lava lake at top speed and rushed to Nan Rong's side, asking warily and cautiously, "How did you survive?"

Behind him, the remaining martial artists also gathered around, their eyes full of questions.

Nan Rong glanced at it indifferently: "If I were you, I would leave here first before talking about anything else."

"Not bad!" Chen Hao looked at her with a complicated expression, and swiped his electronic bracelet across the electronic lock on the alloy door.

The doors slid open, and an electronic voice announced: "Congratulations on clearing the Crimson Maze. There are currently 7 team members remaining, with a total time of 35 minutes and 6 seconds, placing you first overall. We will now begin calculating the team members' base rewards and contribution share."

"Great!" the survivors cheered. Only then did they dare to breathe a sigh of relief, and instantly felt the excruciating pain in their wounds.

Apart from Nan Rong, everyone else, including Chen Hao, had burns of varying degrees all over their bodies.

The three people with the most severe injuries had burns covering more than 70% of their bodies. If it weren't for their strong physiques as martial artists, they wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.

However, the doctor's next words cast a shadow over their hard-won cheerful mood once again.

“The others can go to the medical center for treatment in the repair pods,” he said. “But the three of you are too badly injured; ordinary gene repair fluids are no longer effective.”

"Doctor, please take another look. Our injuries only look scary; they can actually heal by lying in the repair pod!"

The doctor shook his head: "For this kind of deep, large-area burn, the worst thing you can do is use a mechanical gene repair solution—after the surface skin heals, the inside will fester and ulcerate, and the death will only be more tragic."

"What else can we do?" the three seriously wounded men pleaded, blocking their way. "You can't just watch us die, can you?"

"Get out of my way!" The arena staff immediately pointed energy guns at their heads: "Who gave you permission to talk to the doctor like that!"

At that moment, Chen Hao sighed softly: "I have connections with Master Stephen's assistant, so I was able to get my hands on a Tier 1 F-grade universal gene repair agent, but it wasn't cheap."

For novice and intermediate gladiators, Master Stephen is an unimaginable figure, far beyond their reach, and they have no right to even approach him.

Hope immediately shone in the eyes of the three seriously wounded:

"Money is nothing compared to life. Even if it's a bit expensive, I definitely have to have one!"

"And I!"

"As expected of the captain, you actually have such channels! How much per bottle? Just name your price!"

“We’re all teammates, so I won’t make money off you. They gave me 30,000 Thorn Coins per item, and I’ll transfer it to you at the original price—if you can’t pay me right now, you can write me an IOU.”

The doctor had already walked more than ten meters away when, for some reason, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and reminded him:

"I didn't make it clear earlier. Your injuries can't be healed by a Tier 1 F-grade universal gene repair agent. At least a Tier 1 E-grade one is needed."

After saying this, the doctor nodded to Nan Rong in the distance, then turned and left with the remaining injured.

The three seriously wounded soldiers looked at Chen Hao expectantly: "Captain, did you hear that? Is it still possible to get a Tier 1 E gene repair agent?"

“This…” Chen Hao frowned. “It’s very difficult. You down there don’t know that Master Stephen synthesizes very few Tier 1 E-grade gene repair agents. Most of them are taken by the arena, and the number of agents that can be circulated is extremely scarce. It’s probably unrealistic for you to want three at once.”

The three seriously wounded men, writhing in pain, pleaded repeatedly, "Captain, please, for the sake of our unwavering loyalty, help us out again!"

"Sigh, he's a comrade-in-arms after all, I can't just sit idly by." Chen Hao finished his suspense:

“You guys go back and wait, I’ll go up and inquire for you. But let me make this clear, even if we succeed in getting the potion, the price will at least double, and it’ll be impossible to get it for less than 60,000 Thorn Coins.”

No matter how expensive it is, we have to take it. The three seriously injured men exchanged glances, each seeing a deep sense of helplessness in the other's eyes.