After Fu Zhu gave up on the idea of trying to treat the Mara-Struck right now, the three of them stood by in silence, feeling the heavy sorrow of the family.
March 7th couldn't bear it. She leaned down slightly and whispered to Bailu.
"Bailu, you said the Cloud Knights handle the Mara-Struck in the end, so... how exactly do they handle them...?"
Bailu placed a finger on her lips and said with a frown, "The self-healing ability of the Mara-Struck is incredibly strong. Even if their head is severed, as long as it remains connected to the neck by a single thread, they can recover very quickly."
"Moreover, the Mara-Struck have lost all reason. To prevent them from harming others, the Cloud Knights generally have to resort to certain... procedures, before placing a portion of them in coffins for mass burial."
March 7th was rendered speechless. For a long while, she didn't know how to react. Finally, she pursed her lips, walked over to Fu Zhu, and hugged his arm, burying her face in his shoulder.
In a small voice, she said, "Let me lean on you for a bit."
Fu Zhu nodded lightly, saying nothing more.
Bailu stared at the Mara-Struck individual for a good while before walking over to the family members. "Did he experience anything unusual before turning Mara-Struck?"
A female family member, who looked to be in her forties, wiped the tears from her eyes, her voice still trembling.
"I don't know... He's been perfectly fine recently, and then just suddenly... sob..."
The woman broke down into quiet sobs again. It took her a while to compose herself before she looked back up at Bailu.
"Lady Bailu, why do you ask? Did you find something abnormal with him?"
Bailu shook her head. "It's just that the number of patients who have turned Mara-Struck for no reason has been quite high recently. I was just asking. It seems this was just a coincidence."
Not long after, the Cloud Knights arrived. They first saluted Bailu with a fist-to-palm gesture, then moved forward to pull away the grieving family members clinging to the Mara-Struck. Using various specialized restraints to immobilize the patient, they finally carried him away.
Fu Zhu witnessed the entire process and sighed helplessly, speaking softly to March 7th and Xing beside him.
"Let's go."
"Okay," they answered in unison.
Before leaving, Fu Zhu didn't forget to say goodbye to Bailu.
"Bailu, since there's nothing else, we'll be leaving. By the way, do you know where I could find something that meets my needs?"
Fu Zhu described all the properties and the appearance of a Blaze Rod to Bailu, not forgetting to add that it only needed to be about 60% similar.
As long as the similarity exceeded 50%, he could probably convert the item into its MC equivalent.
Bailu thought it over, but ultimately couldn't recall anything similar.
"Sorry, I can't think of any medicinal ingredients that resemble what you've described. However, I can have someone check with the merchant guilds for you. The major guilds on the Luofu often do business between various planets, and they have many rare items in their possession. You might find what you need among them. Big Brother, you helped me build the medical center, so just consider this my thank-you gift!"
"Then I'll thank you in advance."
After leaving the medical center, the trio wandered aimlessly through the great street.
Xing, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since they entered the medical center, finally spoke up.
"Old Bro, before... were you thinking of trying to save that man who turned Mara-Struck?"
Fu Zhu glanced at Xing with some surprise. He hadn't voiced his inner thoughts at all. How did this girl figure it out?
"You guessed that I have this ability?"
Hearing Fu Zhu's reply, March 7th covered her mouth in astonishment. "Fu Zhu, you really have an upper, middle, and lower strategy for curing the Mara-Struck?"
Fu Zhu felt that the grim atmosphere from the medical center had affected the two girls, so he adopted a lighter tone and raised his hand in his signature gesture.
"Do you want to hear my upper, middle, and lower strategies?"
Xing didn't speak, just stared at Fu Zhu with a serious little face.
March 7th, however, directly shook her head and even reached out to cover Fu Zhu's mouth.
"Don't say it!"
Fu Zhu, his mouth covered, stared at the two girls in surprise. This was not their usual reaction.
It was then that Xing, with a stern face and an unprecedentedly serious tone, spoke.
"Bro, I know you're very capable, but the Xianzhou Alliance is much bigger than we imagined, and the Mara-Struck is the fated curse for almost every native of the Xianzhou. If the people of the Xianzhou find out that you can cure the Mara-Struck, we don't know what the consequences will be. So you absolutely cannot reveal your methods, not even to us!"
Previously, when they first met Fu Xuan, they had asked her about the function of the Matrix of Prescience out of curiosity.
Fu Xuan had told them that the Matrix of Prescience could not only be used for divination but also for interrogation, allowing one to know everything in the subject's mind.
They couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be targeted by the Matrix of Prescience later. If Fu Zhu told them his methods and their memories were accidentally read, it would be a disaster.
Therefore, it was better not to know in the first place.
Seeing how worried the two were for him, Fu Zhu's gaze couldn't help but soften. He nodded at them to show he understood, and only then did March 7th release the hand covering his mouth.
Xing also reverted to her usual cheerful, carefree self, as if she didn't know what trouble was.
"What should we do next? Go to the docks and get some fries?"
"Are you a seagull? We might as well go play 'black car pulls white, white car pulls black.' That's more interesting."
"Ew! You two are so weird!"
March 7th distanced herself from them with a look of disdain. She decided she absolutely could not let these two unreliable siblings plan their itinerary.
For all she knew, Xing might actually drag them to the docks to eat fries, and while Fu Zhu probably wouldn't actually drag them to play 'black car pulls white,' he would definitely make them watch how seagulls defile someone's beloved vehicle.
And so, March 7th decided to be the idea king of their trio!
She unhooked the camera from her waist, held it in her hands, and stood before the two siblings with her hands on her hips.
"Today, I am the Little Captain! You two must follow my itinerary!"
Fu Zhu and Xing were very cooperative, placing their right fists over their chests. "Yes, Captain March 7th."
March 7th nodded in satisfaction, then turned to look around, searching for a scenic spot to take a group photo. They hadn't taken a single one since arriving on the Luofu!
Finally, March 7th's gaze fell upon a colossal, sky-piercing tree that broke through the clouds in the distance.
"Hey! I've got it! Let's go to that big tree!"