People Really Do Laugh When They're Speechless

"Really?!"

Count Grey suddenly grabbed Ye Chuan's wrist. His knuckles turned white from the force. The despair in his eyes was instantly replaced by a burning hope, and even his voice was trembling uncontrollably.

He couldn't believe his ears. The strange disease that left even the empire's top healers, Holy Light masters, and priests helpless, this young man in front of him actually claimed he could cure.

Ye Chuan gently pulled his wrist back:

"Let's go take a look first. Whether it can be done or not depends on the actual situation."

Count Grey nodded hastily. At this moment, he had completely lost the reserve of a count. He turned around and led Ye Chuan and Elara toward the Dio territory.

Inside the territory, the soldiers who had been somewhat at a loss after discovering their Count was abducted,

after all, who fights a war by first kidnapping the opposing leader.

Only to see Grey unexpectedly returning with Ye Chuan and the others.

"Lord Count!"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, hurry up, step aside!" Count Grey even told Ye Chuan to throw him out again to do another human cannonball.

Being this anxious, it seemed he really loved his wife.

Count Dio's manor covered a vast area. Normally, it should have been a quiet and elegant place, but at this moment, it exuded an oppressive, deathly stillness.

Even the attendants wore solemn expressions, walking softly as if avoiding something.

Behind the main house deep within the manor, an independent attic was enveloped by layers of magic barriers. Faint, mournful roars and wails came from behind the barriers. The sound was unhuman, hoarse and violent, mixed with soft sobbing, making one's scalp tingle.

Elara tightly gripped the hem of Ye Chuan's clothes. Her small face was pale, and she subconsciously slowed her steps, her eyes full of terror:

"T-Teacher... what is that sound? It's so scary..."

The pain and madness in those roars sent chills all over her body.

Ye Chuan patted the back of her hand, signaling her not to be afraid, while his gaze fell on the barrier of that attic.

Count Grey stopped his steps, looking in the direction of the attic. His face was full of pain and exhaustion, and he said in a hoarse voice:

"This is the attic I specially prepared for Anna. I set up a triple confinement barrier here, just in case she loses control and hurts someone...

No one can find out what this strange disease is. Holy Light purification is useless, and dark magic suppression can only hold it off for a while, but it will make her suffer even more."

He paused, turned to look at Ye Chuan, his eyes full of pleading:

"They all say Anna is beyond saving and told me to give up early... but I can't accept it. Seeing your strength just now, I suddenly felt that maybe you could create a miracle."

Ye Chuan didn't speak. He raised his hand, and the triple confinement barrier shattered like paper, without making a single sound.

Seeing this, shock flashed in Count Grey's eyes again,

This barrier was set up by a master barrier mage he had hired. An ordinary seventh-tier powerhouse would have to spend some effort to break it, yet Ye Chuan dissolved it with a casual wave of his hand.

Pushing open the wooden door of the attic, a smell mixed with blood and rot rushed at them. Elara couldn't help but cover her nose and mouth, shrinking back.

The light inside the attic was dim. Only a single magic lamp hung from the ceiling, emitting a faint glow.

In the center of the room, a woman was confined within a complex magic circle. Her limbs were locked by chains gleaming with silver light. The chains embedded deeply into her flesh, oozing dark red blood.

The woman had long lost her former appearance. Her figure was as thin as a twig, and her originally luxurious dress was torn to shreds, clinging to her body.

Her skin took on a bizarre livid gray color, and it seemed like something was squirming under her skin in multiple places. Her limbs twisted uncontrollably, and she constantly let out hoarse, monstrous roars, occasionally mixed with a few clear but desperate words:

"Kill me... kill me quickly..."

The next second, she violently threw her head back and let out a terrifying shriek. Her eyes were cloudy, filled with pure brutality, with only a faint glimmer of rationality remaining deep within.

"Anna!" Count Grey called out in heartache, wanting to step forward, but was stopped by Ye Chuan.

Ye Chuan walked slowly to the magic circle, his gaze falling on the woman.

Her body had long been parasitized by a human-skin monster. The monster was slowly devouring her flesh and soul, and now only lingering soul fragments were still struggling to hold on.

If they had been a day or two later, even this last shred of rationality would have completely vanished, turning her entirely into a vessel for the human-skin monster.

"How is it? Lord Xi Xi, Anna... can she still be cured?" Count Grey asked nervously, his heart in his throat.

Ye Chuan withdrew his gaze, "She can be cured."

"Really?!!"

Ye Chuan spread his hands, "Yeah, I'll just kill her directly, and then use resurrection magic to reconstruct her flesh and soul. This way, we can completely eradicate the parasitic monster."

"Isn't that simple?"

"Wh-what?!" Count Grey was instantly dumbfounded, standing frozen in place, his face full of disbelief.

"K-kill her? And then resurrect her?"

He had never heard of such a treatment method and found it hard to accept for a moment.

But on second thought, seeing how calm Ye Chuan was, it might just be true. A hint of shock surfaced in his eyes again,

"Do you... do you really know resurrection magic? That's a legendary forbidden magic!"

"Of course, though with this method, she might lose some of her memories after being resurrected," Ye Chuan added.

Count Grey's expression became complicated. He stayed silent for a moment before hastily asking:

"Then, what about a second method? Is there a way without killing her?"

"The second method is to completely destroy her current body. I'll mold a brand new, identical physical body, then pull her soul out and stuff it inside." Ye Chuan said it as if it were the most trivial thing.

Count Grey was stupefied. "H-how is that any different from killing her? That new body, even if it looks exactly the same, wouldn't be the original Anna anymore..."

"It just sounds a bit nicer this way." Ye Chuan spread his hands.

This sentence completely crushed Count Grey. His legs gave out, and he squatted on the ground, holding his head in his hands. Tears uncontrollably rolled down as he cried out hoarsely:

"Is... is there really no other way? Does it have to be like this? Anna is in so much pain, I don't want her to suffer like this anymore... but I don't want to lose her either..."

"Is there truly no direct way to cure her? Oh, my Goddess..."

Ye Chuan said, "There is."

Count Grey: "?"

He sniffled, looking at Ye Chuan, seemingly a bit dazed. "You said there is?"

"There is."

"S-so there was one all along? W-why didn't you say so earlier?"

Ye Chuan said, "You didn't ask me if there were any other ways. Naturally, I recommended the most efficient treatment methods."

Count Grey stared at Ye Chuan for a good few seconds, and suddenly let out a relieved, albeit exasperated, laugh.

When a person is truly left speechless, they really do laugh.

"What is the third method?"

"The third method is quite troublesome. It will use up a lot of my precious materials and cost me magic power to purify her." Ye Chuan said, rubbing his fingers together.

"It'll cost extra."

"Alright, deal!!"