As they walked through the streets one after another, all they saw was such a depressing scene. They wanted to find someone to ask, but after walking around a few times, they could only rarely detect any residents moving around. Sometimes they heard footsteps clearly, but left in a hurry when they approached; occasionally, they could see the backs of the townspeople hurried away, and could vaguely catch a glimpse of each other nervously looking back.
Apart from the sparse traces of people, the road is also very clean, so clean that it is disturbing. In places where people often come and go, there are inevitably all kinds of odds and ends, but there is not even a vegetable leaf to be seen here, as if no one has been living here for a long time.
If this town is so well-maintained that it is excessively clean, there are still some unreasonable things about it. Han Chang saw keenly that there were mosquitoes and flies flying everywhere on the walls, on the ground, and at the corners of tree roots. Although it is indeed the season when insects are rampant, these annoying little things are too concentrated, in groups and pieces, spinning around a small area. He also pointed out these places to his companions, but when they came closer to investigate, they couldn't find any different stains after wiping away the mosquitoes and flies.
They couldn't see why, and could only frown deeply, confused by everything they saw in the town so far, and accompanied by an ominous premonition born of weirdness. Han Chang waved his hand to disperse the flies, then got closer and took a sniff.
"is blood."
"Blood?" The other two people were somewhat surprised, "How could..."
"But I don't know what kind of blood it is. It has been cleaned up. Maybe someone killed the chickens in these corners and drained the blood."
Xie Zhe shook his head: "I can't see a single chicken feather now."
"Perhaps it would be better for us to rest outside the town." Jiao Mo thought about the suggestion.
"Sigh. If there are no restaurants or inns opened, and people in the town can only watch from a distance, we really have no other way." Han Chang sighed and agreed, "We don't necessarily want to be comfortable, but the current situation , it’s too strange.”
Xie Zhe's face was still tense, and his eyes were scanning around, as if he was eager to see any clues.
"I'm a little concerned too. Something unusual must have happened here to make it what it is today."
As he spoke, Han Chang moved his ears. He heard footsteps again, very close at hand.
This time, I have to ask clearly.
He made a quiet gesture to the two of them. Xie Zhe and Jiao Mo understood and kept their mouths shut at the same time. The three of them walked lightly, turned a corner, and saw a young woman walking towards them. She was sallow and thin, holding a rice bag tightly in her arms, with her head lowered and shoulders slumped, looking quite sad. Soon, she looked up and saw three strangers. She immediately looked panicked, turned around and wanted to run away. They didn't know why. If they were far apart, it was because the townspeople were xenophobic and didn't want to see strangers. They wanted to run away when they were so close, for fear that they were some evil villains who would kill without blinking an eye.
Along the way, the people they occasionally met seemed to avoid seeing each other. They really didn't want to miss the opportunity to find out. They were also afraid of chasing and scaring the woman away, so Han Chang had no choice but to take a few steps and grabbed the shoulder of the woman who was still trying to escape:
"Don't be afraid, we just want to ask..."
"It's killing, it's killing! Don't kill me, don't kill me!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as he touched her, the woman screamed in horror. She still held the rice bag in her hand and refused to let go. She could only twist her shoulders in panic, trying to shake off the shackles. Han Chang was offended and held her tightly, trying to persuade her nicely: "We won't kill you! I, we won't steal your food... Hey, don't do this..."
The woman was probably in a hurry. She held the rice bag tightly in her arms, lowered her head and rushed towards them. Han Chang easily avoided it and pushed the woman to the ground with his backhand. She was screaming in tears and incoherently.
"Don't kill, don't kill...please, don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill anyone again! My, my baby... baby..."
Han Chang was extremely embarrassed. Obviously, if he let go, the woman would run away like other townspeople; but if he kept restraining her like this, the woman would be afraid and unable to calm down. If someone passes by again and misunderstands them, it will be troublesome to send them to the Yamen.
At the moment of dilemma, Jiao Mo walked up to him and squatted down next to him. She lowered her head and spoke gently to the woman:
"You, please calm down..."
Her unusually moving voice immediately stunned the woman, and her shouting and struggling stopped. Taking this opportunity, Jiao Mo quickly continued:
"We are not bad people, we are not short of food and drink, and we will not rob you of food. We are very sorry for offending you, but this place is really weird, there are no people around, and we are also afraid, so we can only take this last step to catch you. Let me ask you something."
"You...what are you asking?" The woman breathed rapidly for a while before speaking in a low voice. She was still hugging the rice bag and shivering, "I don't know anything. I just came out to find someone to exchange for some food...at home. I really can't open the pot, I don't want to come out, it's too scary, it's too scary outside, it's too scary here... But the baby is hungry, and we have nothing to eat..."
The three of them exchanged confused looks. Han Chang let go of the woman and apologized to her. While she was patting her clothes, Xie Zhe also walked forward, squatted on the other side, frowned and asked:
"Scary? What happened? Why is there so much panic here? Not only you, everyone is panicking and sneaking around. They either say nasty things to each other or run away when they see people..."
"What can I do if I don't run away? I thought it would be fatal to live this kind of life once, but why did something happen again just after I felt safe for a while? Oh, God, please spare us!" The woman clutched her fists. He was wearing clothes and his eyes were red.
"Why, what happened? Are there gangsters or demons in your place?" Han Chang said, his eyebrows knotted, "Has the epidemic been rampant before and spread to this place?"
"Epidemic...yes, epidemic." She murmured, squatting on the ground and shaking slightly, "There are monsters everywhere. They are obviously corpses, but they can move around and attack us living people. Whoever bites will change. Turned into monsters. Our town obviously didn’t have much contact with outsiders, but it still suffered. They came from outside and ran into the town, but they injured my eldest son... What a pity, he is a strong boy, those things It couldn't have killed him. But he was bitten, and everyone said he would be like that too! We had no choice but to... let him..."
The woman was shaking violently. Needless to say, her eldest son must have been killed after being infected in order to prevent him from turning into a living corpse. They were heavy-hearted and did not know how to comfort them, so they could only remain silent.
After a while, the woman calmed down and continued to talk about the misfortunes that happened in this small town.
"Later, my husband-in-law came back. He stopped going out to work and the world was in chaos. He had to take care of me and the little girl at home. But...but, he also died. Last time, he was still fine. .This time, he’s dead too!”
The woman cried hoarsely, her eyes were red, and there were no tears visible. She thought they had all dried up. Jiao Mo sighed and touched her skinny and trembling shoulders. Han Chang and Xie Zhe looked at each other and could see a face that was tense with doubts and sorrow just like his own. After the living corpse, what happened here? Could it be that Wu Yongshi did something evil again?
"What happened this time?" Han Chang asked cautiously, "Are they those moving corpses? Are they here again? Or are there moving dummies here to attack you?"
"Dummy?" The woman read it doubtfully and shook her head decisively, "No, it's a disease, it's madness!"
"Crazy disease? Is it the kind that, after getting it, people will bite people everywhere and make others infected..." Xie Zhe tried to understand what she was talking about.
"It's not that kind of disease. That kind of disease is terrible, but as long as you don't get bitten, there is no danger. But now, anyone in the town can go crazy, and suddenly kill people everywhere, for no reason! Everyone can go crazy, and the neighbor has a kind heart. The aunt, the old man who talks to the street, and even the children may have been fine at first, but suddenly became crazy for some reason. Everyone is afraid of misfortune. They are afraid that others will get sick and kill their own family members, and they are even more afraid of their own family members. People get sick..."
They finally knew why the town became like this. Everyone should be careful about the people around them. A little carelessness can lead to life-threatening dangers. This kind of disaster without warning will make people even more frightened because of the unknown. But - why? The madness the woman described did not fit any disease they knew about. If it wasn't a disease, what could be spreading in this town and causing such a disaster?
Xie Zhe tried to ask the woman about the situation she had seen, hoping to get some clues from the "patient's" symptoms. But without asking a few words, the woman shook her head and started crying. From her confusing words, it was not difficult for several people to know that her husband was killed by someone who had an outbreak of madness. At this time, they really could no longer be cruel and forced her to recall and tell what she had seen.
The situation was stagnant for a moment, and the three people looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what else to ask. The woman cried for a while and calmed down a little. Suddenly she turned over and knelt on the ground and kowtowed:
"Please, let me go! My little baby is still at home. If I don't go back, she will starve to death. Madam and gentlemen, please do well, do well..."
They didn't see this scene, so they hurriedly helped her up and apologized again and again. Han Chang suggested that since the situation was not safe, they could simply escort the woman home, which would be regarded as an apology. But the woman was probably still afraid of the madness that everyone could get, so she rejected them, stumbled and hurriedly ran to the other end of the alley.
The three of them stood there blankly, feeling very confused. With their strength, they are not very afraid of people suddenly rushing out, shouting and killing, but in such a situation, the hope of staying overnight is obviously slim.
"Did the woman just now say that the food in her hand was exchanged with someone else?" Han Chang thought of this incident and carefully speculated, "Her husband is probably the victim, not the one who got sick, otherwise he would have been injured. No one is willing to exchange food for her. However, since there are still people willing to help her, it also means that there are good-hearted people here, right? Let’s visit a few more houses and try our luck. "
The other two people agreed, after all, there was no other way. As it turns out, their luck was not that good. From sunset to nightfall, the sky was filled with stars, but the three of them still couldn't find anyone willing to let them stay.
It seems that sleeping on the street has become the only option.
