Chapter Twenty-Four: Unsolvable

"Phew." Zhang Bo let out a long sigh only after the people were out of sight. "This... this is just too..." He couldn't find the right words; his naturally kind-hearted nature made it impossible for him to say anything harsh.

"Is this even treatable? It was so terrifying." Zhao Luzheng rubbed his somewhat stiff cheeks, his eyes still lingering with traces of shock.

"If it can't be cured, I don't think the girl will be able to go on living," Zhuge Yun said, spreading his hands. Seeing the glares from the others, he added with a touch of grievance, "I’m not wrong. How strong would someone's heart have to be to keep living with a face like that?"

Just the mere thought of that face he had seen earlier made his skin crawl and his stomach churn.

"But with today’s advanced medical standards, she should be fine, right? It’s just a face full of bumps." Zhuge Yun changed his tone, asserting quite optimistically.

The others were stunned for a moment, then agreed wholeheartedly.

Which of those countless beauty clinics didn't use extreme exaggeration in their advertisements? The photos they released always showed a horrific "before" and a complete transformation "after." Even if they couldn't achieve results as dramatic as the photos, getting halfway there would be enough.

With Zhuge Yun putting it that way, everyone felt a bit more at ease. They had been rattled earlier because Lin Zhenzhen’s face had truly challenged their visual nerves, compounded by her heart-wrenching display of despair. They hadn't considered that with modern medical aesthetics, her face might not be beyond saving. Perhaps it just looked frightening for now and would improve immediately upon reaching the hospital.

Even so, the psychological trauma Lin Zhenzhen suffered was inevitable.

...

The classroom soon returned to normal. Everyone was chatting and bustling about. Groups of girls were still discussing Lin Zhenzhen, their expressions and words filled with obvious sympathy and shock. As girls, they naturally understood the importance of a face. For most, if they were disfigured, they would rather die. All that talk about "looks don't matter, inner beauty is what counts" was just lukewarm consolation for those who had both. Humans are visual creatures; they notice appearance first, then proceed to explore the inner self. These two steps are hard to reverse. And even if they were to be reversed, one’s features should at least be decent.

Disfigurement is truly too cruel.

...

Xiao Xiao rested his head on his desk, staring blankly out the window. The bumps on that girl's face seemed to have a familiar aura lingering on them.

That was... demonic energy.

He frowned, revealing a hint of endurance as he carefully recalled the girl's face. While others only saw purple bumps and viscous yellow pus, Xiao Xiao had seen black mist rising from each bump, almost obscuring her entire face.

The black mist, like smoke and fog, writhed and churned. Even though he was at a considerable distance, Xiao Xiao distinctly felt a cold, eerie chill snaking toward him like a venomous snake. The sensation of cold, slippery scales brushing against his skin made his scalp tingle.

As he stared, the black mist seemed to boil, with wisps exploding and dissipating. Suddenly, a burst of black mist didn't vanish; instead, it surged toward Xiao Xiao with lightning speed.

Caught off guard while his skin was already crawling, Xiao Xiao could only stare blankly as the mist attacked his face, his mind going blank. He felt his limbs bound by several strands of icy, sinister energy, leaving him unable to move.

He did not notice, however, that a glimmer of golden light had quietly appeared in his eyes. It gradually spread until his entire iris turned gold, and even the whites of his eyes reflected a pale radiance. For a moment, Xiao Xiao’s eyes were cold and majestic, like a god or Buddha from the highest heavens—void of sorrow or joy, vast and infinite.

The black mist vanished into thin air, as if it had encountered the scorching sun on snow.

Xiao Xiao felt his eyes twitch from the strain, but he discovered that his body hadn't changed at all. He assumed the black mist had disappeared because it had entered his body. He felt himself all over, but there was not a single sign of discomfort.

In fact, the chill he had felt earlier was gone, replaced by a sense of comfort as if he were soaking in a hot spring. Strange. Was the black mist just a facade? Intimidating to look at but lacking any real lethality? Not only was it harmless, but was it actually something like a panacea? Otherwise, why did he feel better than ever?

It was unscientific! Xiao Xiao lamented; the situation had unfolded completely unexpectedly.

...

However, regardless of the reason, he was the one who had benefited. Since that was the case, Xiao Xiao stopped overthinking it. If he couldn't figure it out, he wouldn't force it. Perhaps he would know the reason someday; why fret about it now?

...

"Hey, did you know? The girl from this morning—her face might not be curable," Zhuge Yun said, his tone complex, carrying a mix of regret and sympathy.

"Really? How do you know?" Zhang Bo asked, startled. It wasn't that he doubted him; over time, he had come to fully appreciate Zhuge Yun's formidable information-gathering ability—or, in layman's terms, his talent for gossip. At the very least, whenever something happened at school, asking Zhuge Yun was always the right move. One had to wonder where the guy got his sources.

"Heh, worship me, right?" Zhuge Yun immediately became smug. Noticing Zhang Bo rolling up his sleeves, he cleared his throat and said concisely, "The news came from the girls who were with her."

"Oh, the ones who accompanied her to the school infirmary this morning?" Xiao Xiao immediately understood the source. It wasn't exactly a secret that needed guarding; while it was better left unsaid, saying it didn't really matter either. "Is she still at the school infirmary?"

"How could she be? She was sent to the Yanjing Third People's Hospital long ago." The dermatology department there was one of the best in the country.

"Is it really incurable? What exactly are those purple bumps?" Zhao Luzheng shook his head, trying his best to banish that terrifying face from his mind; he already felt a bit of nausea in his stomach.

"Who knows? Apparently, standard treatments aren't working because the hospital can't figure out how those bumps appeared in the first place."

"What about plastic surgery?"

"You think plastic surgery is that simple?"

"Sigh, that girl is just too unlucky."

"Exactly. If even the hospital can't find the cause, could it be a primary case?"