Chapter 111
111 A Bitter Harvest
Aubrey’s POV
+8 Pearls
Listening to the sounds of pain coming from both sides of the road, I frowned, feeling like I had still come too late.
I should’ve come with alpha Henry the moment he said he was heading to Stella Pack.
I clenched my fists and looked around before walking straight to a little werewolf girl sitting under a tree.
She seemed to have just gotten infected, not yet burning with fever. Her left leg looked torn up, like it had been mauled by a beast, bloodied and mangled.
I crouched down and looked her in the eye. But unlike all the empty, dazed, or agonized stares I’d seen along the road, her gaze was steady–like she was waiting for something.
“Can I look at your wound?”
I asked gently. The girl struggled to stretch out her left leg for me.
Her face was sunken, her body just as frail. I rolled up her pant leg, and sure enough, what I saw was even worse–dark red and black flesh, rotting with a foul stench. Some of the tissue was visibly pulsing. On closer look, it was crawling with maggots, greedily devouring the dead flesh.
If I hadn’t been reborn, this would’ve made me scream. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Find_Nøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access s of novels early and in the highest quality.
But I had gone through the same thing in my previous life. I’d once cut rotting flesh and worms out of my own body. Seeing this now didn’t scare me–it just left me numb.
That kind of pain and itching goes deep into your bonès. Visually and physically, it could drive a person insane. The girl seemed frightened by the sight of her own wound, but she was too weak to scream or struggle. She just stared at me, wide–eyed, and that look tugged at something inside me. She was just a kid- her wolf hadn’t even awakened yet. This damn war…
“I’m going to wrap it up for you. If you’re scared, just close your eyes.”
I took a deep breath.
“No…” the little girl shook her head. Her voice was dry and hoarse, and her small face looked sad. “I got infected two days ago… I’m going to die… Don’t waste your medicine on me…”
“It’s not rare. I picked it in the Moro forest,” I said firmly, pressing her leg to keep her from moving. “Look, these are the herbs.”
I pulled the plants from my backpack and showed her.
I knew clearly that what this place needed wasn’t just more werewolf healers–it needed a cure for the T–flu. That was why I’d collected herbs along the way. It wasn’t useless.
Luckily, I had a good memory. I still remembered the main ingredients used in the detox serum that cured the T–flu in my last life. I didn’t remember the exact ratios—I’d only glanced at it once–but if I had a lab, 1 was confident I could crack this man–made plague myself.
I kept working while thinking, my hands moving fast. I’d only brought three doses of anesthetic, so I used one on the girl. I didn’t bother disinfecting. I burned my surgical blade and started removing the rotting
09:19 Fri, 22 Aug
111 A Bitter Harvest
tissue.
“What are you doing sitting under this tree?”
+8 Pearls
I talked to her while working, hoping to distract her. I cleaned the wound and crushed the herbs with a rock, applying the paste carefully.
“My brother was taken away… I wanted to see if he’d come back…”
Her words made my chest tighten. Her brother had probably been forcibly conscripted. These untrained werewolves were nothing more than cannon fodder in battle. Most of them wouldn’t even leave behind a body to return home.
Once I wrapped her wound, I took off my jacket and draped it over her. “I need a pot and stove. Do you know where I can find one?”
She pointed. “That’s where I lived with my brother. There should be one inside.”
“Okay.” I patted her matted head. “Stay here. I’ll go.”
I decided to make a pot of herbal medicine before leaving. It wouldn’t be a cure, but if I left without doing anything, this village wouldn’t last another few days.
I opened the door, and a few rats scurried toward me, bold and unafraid. I kicked them aside hard. They squeaked, struggled, and fled.
The house felt like a refugee camp, reeking of decay. I sighed. In this village, the T–flu hadn’t taken lives first —it had stolen souls. The place was drowning in hopelessness. It made my skin crawl.
I chopped up the furniture for firewood and used river water to cook the medicine.
When it was ready, I poured it into a kettle and stepped outside, looking for two male werewolves who weren’t as sick. I handed them the kettle.
“This is a detox brew. It’ll make you feel better for now, but the symptoms will come back. When you’re stronger, go find these herbs in the forest and make it yourselves.”
I placed the three herbs on the ground. But the two men didn’t move. Their eyes were glazed, unfocused. It was like they didn’t understand me at all.
I frowned–and released a wave of alpha–level pressure from my body.
“Didn’t you hear what I said?”
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