Chapter 49: Gate Symbol's Guardian

City Hospital, after enduring both vine parasitism and the Terror Slime incidents, has now been thoroughly expanded and reconstructed, specifically dedicated to treating patients affected by various mystical events.

Zhai Zhengping stared at the data in his hand, disbelief still evident on his face.

“It’s truly miraculous.”

Zhao Mingcai, seated in a wheelchair, slowly wheeled over. “Dean Zhai, how are the patients from the Gate of Sin and Virtue incident doing?”

There was no choice; he had become a permanent resident of the hospital. Unable to die yet unable to fully recover, with current medical technology proving insufficient for Zhao Mingcai’s condition, their only hope lay in finding individuals associated with the Eight Gates, particularly those linked to the Exhaustion Gate.

“Very well,” Zhai Zhengping shook his head incredulously. “Incredibly well, almost beyond belief.”

As someone renowned in the medical field, Zhai Zhengping had witnessed numerous miraculous events over recent years that continually challenged his understanding. ”…I don’t quite know how to explain it. The Gate of Sin and Virtue incident has persisted for more than half a month, during which many people were declared dead, their organs severely decayed. Yet just moments ago, one by one, they all came back to life.

After these individuals were brought here, we actually isolated them completely. In mere hours, do you know how rapidly their cells regenerated?

“By providing sufficient nutrients to their bodies, the new cells regenerated at a frenzied pace. Except for those who died unequivocally due to fire, explosions, or similar causes during the accidents, most have indeed experienced a second lease on life.”

“Isn’t this simply incredible?”

“Yes,” Zhai Zhengping sighed, though beneath his weariness lay a surge of determination. Despite his advancing age, he could clearly see that the world was undergoing significant changes. Each great transformation of the world brings both hardships and new opportunities; it’s all about who can seize them amidst the shifting tides.

After expressing his awe, Zhai Zhengping didn’t linger further with Zhao Mingcai. He exchanged quick farewells and hurried away.

These individuals were valuable experimental subjects. The rapid cell division and regeneration alone presented numerous avenues for research, leaving no time to waste.

Meanwhile, in one of the isolation rooms, Jing Rui was striving to steady his breathing. Calm down, calm down, he thought, determined not to let anyone at the hospital notice anything unusual about him compared to other patients.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Jing Rui unconsciously gripped the bedsheet.

His Page of Book was missing, likely taken when he was rescued. Upon waking up around seven minutes ago, he had asked the doctor, who explained that many personal items from the highway were collected and would be returned upon discharge.

At first glance, the Page of Book appeared as an ordinary, slightly thicker folded sheet. Unless it spoke, nobody would notice anything unusual about it. Jing Rui distinctly remembered keeping the Page of Book tightly pressed under his arm throughout the incident. Therefore, unless someone specifically searched for it, either the Page of Book was overlooked as insignificant and not cleared away, or its uniqueness remained undiscovered. Regardless, Jing Rui couldn’t inquire further without drawing attention to the Page of Book from hospital staff.

As he thought about the Page of Book, a mix of indescribable emotions clouded Jing Rui’s face.

The reason he ventured into the Gate of Sin and Virtue this time was because the Page of Book told him he would obtain a life-defying power here. Having already missed out on the artifact at ‘Desperate Circumstances’ before, could he afford to miss another opportunity?

Convinced by the Page of Book, Jing Rui had entered the gate.

However, despite being informed that this journey was inherently perilous, akin to a high-stakes gamble, Jing Rui felt a persistent unease.

He had considered completely disregarding the Page of Book and sealing it away. Yet, its seemingly all-knowing capabilities made it impossible for Jing Rui to abandon it. For instance, now knowing that the Page of Book might be lost, he admitted feeling more reluctance and fear than relief. He had already lost his golden finger advantage; losing the Page of Book too… filled Jing Rui with inevitable dread.

“I must find a way to get discharged quickly and retrieve the Page of Book.”

In the hospital’s storage room for miscellaneous items,

most objects from the Gate of Sin and Virtue area had been cleared out and were undergoing a series of inspections. However, after examination, it was evident that ordinary items remained unchanged.

As a result, the management of this storage room was not particularly stringent. Among the stored items, there lay a thin, unremarkable book on one of the wooden cabinets.

Within the closed book, a contemplative face emerged, accompanied by automatically displayed text:

‘Initially thought he would be the frontrunner… Now it seems I must reassess. In that case, Jing Rui still has his uses. Saving him indeed granted him the power to overcome death. No matter, taking a slight loss now; later, I’ll present him as a gift to the eventual victor.’

The text quickly vanished, along with the contemplative face.

In the villa, Duan Wenxuan sat on the sofa snacking as he explained, “That’s how it unfolded. Hu Fu’s holy light is actually highly contradictory to Osiris’ power. With Hu Fu’s assistance, Osiris ultimately agreed to compromise.

For anyone entering the vicinity of the Gate of Sin and Virtue, there will still be a Trial. Those deemed virtuous retain their souls within their bodies, while those judged sinful, upon natural death, have their souls returned to the Gate.”

“That simple?”

“Just that simple. In essence, Osiris isn’t truly a ‘god’; you can think of him more as an embodiment of certain rules. However, now he possesses emotions and intellect, which led him to gleefully choose his own name.

Given these attributes, negotiating benefits and conditions with him becomes quite straightforward, doesn’t it? If he refuses change, people would merely avoid the Gate of Sin and Virtue, preventing him from conducting Trials and acquiring souls.”

Yang Kai fell silent for a moment before responding, “Alright. Regarding the person Young Master Duan mentioned, we’ll send over a specialized portrait artist shortly. As long as this individual has any records within Hanming Country, we will find them as quickly as possible.”

“Hmm, make it fast.”

Seeing that Duan Wenxuan seemed eager to play his game, Yang Kai decided not to linger.

Upon leaving hastily, Yang Kai didn’t head back to the Registry of Files but immediately contacted Li Dong instead. He wanted to confirm if Hu Fu had been detained at their location. Theoretically, there was no reason for Duan Yuanhui to lie about ‘Osiris,’ but Yang Kai’s cautious nature compelled him to compare both sets of information.

Li Dong paused for a few seconds before erupting in frustration, shouting, ”…Where did he go?! When did he leave? Didn’t I instruct you two to specifically keep an eye on him?!”

From Li Dong’s reaction, Yang Kai understood that once the rescue operations were nearly complete, Hu Fu had silently slipped away without anyone noticing.

Suppressing his dissatisfaction, Yang Kai cut off Li Dong’s rant by hanging up the phone immediately. Moments later, he rubbed his face, realizing once again that these ancient mystical forces were utterly unreliable. The only truly dependable source was their own cultivated mystical power. For now, Duan Wenxuan remained at the villa, enjoying well-arranged meals and leisure activities.

In a city within Hanming Country, Yue Fei discreetly altered his appearance through facial manipulation to blend in with the crowd, looking visibly uneasy.

Being cautious by nature, after the incident at the Gate of Sin and Virtue, he hastily packed his belongings that very night and moved out of his rented accommodation. To avoid drawing attention, he took only three ‘viable’ ceramic doppelgangers with him, temporarily abandoning the others still undergoing the energy infusion process from the door symbol, which had not yet fully matured.

His caution proved justified; just two days later, there was an alleged gas leak reported at his former residence. Both neighboring buildings were evacuated, and police tape now cordoned off the area.

It seemed too coincidental for Yue Fei to believe.

“Has the person with the door symbol in An City collaborated with the authorities?” Frowning, Yue Fei glanced at the cordoned-off neighborhood before quietly departing.

He knew he wouldn’t return here again, but the problem was that although he could change his appearance, it made traveling inconvenient since his identification documents were now useless.

“I need to take things slowly. It appears fighting alone won’t suffice; I must find capable individuals who can assist me.”

Yue Fei felt increasingly troubled. He had to devise a plan to join a somewhat loose organization, ideally one that could help resolve his identity issues and provide theoretical support from experts for any necessary physical enhancements.

The official channels were definitely out of the question; Yue Fei feared getting trapped once involved. Other organizations also seemed uncertain, prompting him to consider forming his own group.

Meanwhile, Duan Wenxuan had been up to something during these two days, sufficient time to lull Yang Kai and his team into complacency. After wasting those days, Duan Wenxuan stepped through a gate, disappearing around a corner.

In An City, inside a room:

Duan Wenxuan first stood before a mirror, his bones cracking audibly as his appearance swiftly transformed—from Duan Yuanhui’s likeness back to his true self.

As the owner of the door symbol, his next priority was undoubtedly to locate the adversary.

Despite receiving no information about the target even after more than two days, Duan Wenxuan remained unperturbed. The door symbol possessed extraordinary capabilities; if not for Jing Rui being unexpectedly killed by that tea egg, capturing him with his unique object manipulation abilities would have been quite challenging.

However, this encounter still proved highly fruitful.

Although he failed to absorb the opponent’s door symbol, the energy boost from Osiris allowed his own door to acquire a significant new ability.

Previously, as the door continuously absorbed energy, it generated numerous small doors for Duan Wenxuan’s use.

In essence, the little doors functioned as teleportation arrays; wherever they were placed, Duan Wenxuan could instantly arrive at that location using the door symbol on his arm.

However, overall, there were never enough little doors. This forced Duan Wenxuan to constantly move them around, fearing he might need one nearby and not have it available.

But now, with this surge of energy replenishing the door symbol, it acquired a highly useful new ability: Coordinates. Essentially, any place Duan Wenxuan had personally visited, he could set coordinates for immediate access.

These coordinates acted like markers, allowing him to reach any location where coordinates were established through the door symbol. Setting coordinates required energy consumption, and unlike the little doors, once placed, coordinates could only be destroyed, not relocated.

Additionally, coordinates worked exclusively within the present world and were ineffective in different worlds. Nevertheless, this capability was sufficient for Duan Wenxuan’s needs. As a result of implementing coordinates, the door symbol gained another unique feature - the Gatekeeper.

After creating the gatekeeper, Duan Wenxuan’s first priority was to address the little doors he had previously deployed in the present world. With the new world about to open, these doors would become uncontrollable for twenty-four hours. However, the gatekeeper could, based on Duan Wenxuan’s instructions, prevent entities from the new world from entering the present world during that time frame. Nevertheless, if any entity from the new world possessed greater force than the gatekeeper, there would be nothing it could do to stop them.

Additionally, the gatekeeper strengthened Duan Wenxuan’s control over his door symbols to some extent, making it more challenging for other door symbol owners to absorb them. The most crucial aspect, though, was that the gatekeeper’s primary purpose was to stabilize the coordinates.

Having clarified his newly acquired abilities, Duan Wenxuan promptly decided to create the gatekeeper first. The Li Kingdom’s Mountain God Festival was imminent, so he planned to swiftly resolve the matter of Jiangshan Shen and Xiang Ping before the new world opened.