Episode 6: The Mysterious Key

After the epidemic crisis in the market subsided, Doctor Pim still couldn't find peace of mind. The mysterious man still lay motionless and unconscious on the bed in Lin's shop. His body showed no signs of any disease, but the lifespan band on his arm was pitch black and flickered like a flame about to go out. Doctor Pim rolled up his sleeve and froze when he saw a faint raised spiral mark on his wrist—the same pattern that had appeared on his own skin on the first day he crossed dimensions! He clenched his fist. "This man... might be connected to my arrival." Lin noticed his tense expression and asked with concern, "What did you see?" Doctor Pim gave her a brief account, but before he could finish, the mysterious man opened his eyes for a moment. His slender hand grabbed Doctor Pim's arm with a strength beyond that of a sick person. "The seal... is broken... you must cut the root at the origin point of the cycle," he whispered hoarsely, then pressed an old brass key into Doctor Pim's palm before losing consciousness again. Lin squinted at the key. "The engraving on the key... looks like the symbol on his wrist." At the same time, the sound of armor and heavy footsteps came from the front of the shop. The city lord's soldiers arrived sooner than expected. The young soldier whose life Doctor Pim had saved led them down to a secret tunnel behind the herb shelves. He said the temple in the middle of the forest had been sealed shut because a monk had died with a black spiral mark on his chest. Doctor Pim decided immediately. "Take us there." Leaving the tunnel, they found the ancient temple ruins covered in vines. Doctor Pim used the key to open a hidden compartment behind the Buddha statue. As the stone door slid open, the scene before them stunned everyone—inside the room, a modern glass bottle containing a dark black liquid sat in the center, and beside it was a "biohazard" symbol that Doctor Pim knew all too well. It was a pathogen storage device from the 21st century! "So you've finally arrived here, Doctor Pim," a cold voice sounded from behind. Everyone turned to look. A man in a white robe stood in the darkness, his sleeve bearing the same spiral mark, but it glowed flickeringly as if warning. He smiled slowly at the corner of his mouth. "You are the one who caused the epidemic to erupt, and today you must end it yourself."