Welcome to the Wasteland - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: The Devil’s Blessing

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Zhou Qingfeng could not heal his own wounds from determination alone. At least 50% of his skin was covered with burns of varying degrees. The lightest damage was blistering, maybe, but some parts of his body were practically 30% cooked by now.

Zhou Qingfeng had used his Wittier than All ability many times, too. The huge depletion of energy left him dizzy, hungry, and thirsty. His breathing became ragged, and his heart beat faster. The combined discomfort was torture. After he returned to the interior of the hospital building, he went everywhere in search of water.

All sorts of rooms and departments were connected to the corridors, but they were empty. There was not a soul in sight. The patients here had either run away or had been captured by Locke’s gang and were now hostages. Zhou Qingfeng went through room after room in search of food and water, but found nothing.

“F*ck, where can I get some water to drink?” His throat parched, Zhou Qingfeng felt he was almost going to collapse. He could no longer spare any energy to look out for possible enemies nearby. He devoted everything he had left, dashing up and down the building, barging into rooms, climbing stairs. Dizzily, he found himself in front of the door to a small room.

“Alenzo’s Supernatural Pharmaceutical Lab.” Zhou Qingfeng read the sign hanging on the door. He thought, ‘What the f*ck is this place? Is there any water inside?’

When he pushed on the door, he found that it was locked.

Without hesitation, Zhou Qing raised his gun and fired. He broke the lock with one shot. He then pushed the door open and walked inside. The first thing he saw was a huge fridge opposite the door.

‘Oh… What’s inside the fridge? Will there be water? Drinks? Food?’ Zhou Qingfeng pounced on it excitedly. When he opened it, he saw rows upon rows of small glass bottles inside.

Zhou Qingfeng seized one, opened it, and gave it a sniff. He felt a refreshing scent swirl inside his nostrils. Right now, every part of him was in pain. The cool air from the fridge was pure bliss.

‘This stuff shouldn’t be poisonous, right? Can I drink it?’ Zhou Qingfeng was about to die of thirst. His heavy injuries made him almost unable to think straight. Thoughts about what place this was, or what was inside the fridge, did not cross his mind. He drank a mouthful of the liquid inside the bottle.

It was a little sour but tasted quite pleasant. Most importantly, it felt refreshing. So Zhou Qingfeng drank more and more. Eventually, he downed the entire bottle.

As it turned out, there was someone else present in the room, squatting in a corner. The man did not dare speak when he saw Zhou Qingfeng barge into the room with a gun. However, the disheveled police uniform Zhou Qingfeng was wearing gave the impression that he could be trusted. When he saw Zhou Qingfeng drain the bottle, he could not help but call out, “You can’t drink that! That’s not checked yet.”

‘What?’

Zhou Qingfeng aimed his gun immediately when he heard the unfamiliar voice. He saw the man hiding under the table. “Who are you? Show yourself!”

Just after he spoke, Zhou Qingfeng felt his limbs turn to jelly. His mind, too, became clouded. After a few seconds, he turned weak at the knees and collapsed to the floor.

The guy under the table jumped out immediately. He ran to Zhou Qingfeng and mumbled anxiously, “Oh no, oh no, the policeman drank the NTZ-49. What shall we do?”

Time passed…

When Zhou Qingfeng woke up, he found himself lying on a hospital bed. A white man in his thirties was dozing beside the bed.

“Where am I?” Zhou Qingfeng got up. He remembered his woeful day—it started with going out to buy ammo with Catarina, encountering the robber, killing him; stumbling upon a kidnapping case, killing people again; entering the hospital, killing people again, dashing out from the sea of flames, almost dying of thirst.

‘What happened next? I must have passed out!’

Zhou Qingfeng looked down at his arm. Someone had hooked him to an IV machine. He glanced at the text on the drip bag. It contained a saline solution and glucose plus antibiotics, typical medications.

What surprised Zhou Qingfeng the most was that his skin had already started to form scars despite his being covered in all sorts of burn wounds not long ago, especially on previously exposed body parts like his arms. Some parts of his body were even starting to heal, leaving him only with an itchy sensation.

‘Why is my body recovering so fast?’

Zhou Qingfeng nudged the white man beside him to wake him up. Then he asked, “Oi, wake up. What’s all this?”

The white man stood up hurriedly when he saw that Zhou Qingfeng was already awake. He asked with concern in his voice, “Mister Policeman, how are you feeling?”

“Excellent. I’ve never been better.” Zhou Qingfeng raised an arm and pointed at the needle taped to it. “Can I take it off?”

The white man nodded. “Of course. I was just worried that your body would need more water, electrolytes, and nutrients during the transformation process, so I hooked you up to an IV. I’m sure you’d need the restroom now. It’s over there.”

He had not noticed before the man mentioned it. Now that he did, Zhou Qingfeng felt like his bladder was about to burst. He darted to the restroom. There he discovered that he pissed blood—pitch-black piss that looked quite terrifying.

Strangely, it took him more than a minute to finish his business. Zhou Qingfeng felt refreshed from top to bottom. When he walked out of the restroom, he saw a meal the white man prepared for him.

“You must be famished now, and probably have a lot of questions. You have discovered that something’s wrong with your urine, am I right? You need not be worried. I can explain everything.” The man pushed a bag of bread and a jar of jam to Zhou Qingfeng. “You better eat something first. You desperately need to replenish protein, carbohydrates, and water, but I’m afraid this is all I have.”

Zhou Qingfeng had indeed felt the pangs of hunger. Extreme hunger, at that. He did not need to be asked twice; he seized the bread and jam and ate ravenously. He polished the large bag of bread within five minutes. 

When Zhou Qingfeng had almost finished eating, the white man rubbed his palms together somewhat nervously and said, “Now I have two things I have to tell you. What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news?”

“Good news or bad news?” Zhou Qingfeng felt energized after filling his belly. He was in high spirits and he was practically glowing. He gulped a glass of water and said, “Give me the good news first.”

“The good news is, the burn wounds all over your body that you got yesterday are recovering rapidly. Also, from now on, your body will recover at a rate ten times faster than the average person. Of course, the catch is that you’ll have to burn through a lot of food.

“Your body will be strengthened in all aspects. Your strength, stamina, explosive power, even your eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell, will improve extensively. You will be two or three times physically stronger than other people.

“So, you will be able to run faster, jump higher, be on the move for a longer time. Aspects that are related to your IQ, including your memory and your analytical and observational skills will be heightened by at least 50% within the next three days. Simply put, you will become a superhuman.”

The man put up a finger for every aspect that he listed. When he finished, he used up all the fingers in one hand. Zhou Qingfeng did feel the improvement of his physical capabilities. The feeling was really strange—it was as if he was on steroids.

“Good news indeed. What caused the changes?” Zhou Qingfeng asked with a smile.

The white man heaved a long sigh. His face crumpled immediately as he said rather dejectedly, “And we come to the bad news. Do you remember the bottle of liquid you drank after you barged in? It’s called NTZ-49. We call it the Devil’s Blessing.”