In the blink of an eye, it was the end of October, and the three of them finally arrived at Qinglize's territory. Qinglize is very large, housing several villages and towns, and they are as broken as isolated islands in the ocean. Over the years, their size has not changed much, and many small villages have even disappeared. After all, this is a swampland, not suitable for large-scale construction.
However, compared to the past, not even that long ago, this place has become completely different. The lush grassland turned yellow, as if a winter had arrived that Qinglize would never usher in. The water in the pool has dried up, and there are deep cracked pits everywhere. If people are not careful, they will slip down because of the loose soil around the pits. Some pits are very deep, revealing the dead remains of ancient creatures. Some of the corpses were considered fresh; they might have fallen by mistake. But each corpse was very thin, and it was obvious that they had experienced starvation during their lifetime. It stands to reason that there should be insects eating up all these corpses. After all, the humid and rainy Qinglize is full of those tiny figures in any season. However, no one has seen a single trace of an insect as far as the naked eye can see.
"The situation is getting worse." Wenying followed Han Shang closely and said while looking around, "Isn't this the warm south? Why???????????????? Are the conditions even more desolate than in the north? Is this really Qinglize?"
"Unfortunately, it seems so." Xie Zhe said helplessly, "Although we didn't take this road when we came here in the past, according to the map, we have indeed arrived at the edge of Qinglize."
Hanshang also said: "There are really no signs of life here. Although it is much better than the desert, it is this half-dead look that makes people uneasy. We have also walked through places that are not deserted. We were not naive at that time. Has everything returned to normal? The result was that we were not chased and beaten by monsters. Do you still remember that deer with three eyes? Even if it dies, who would dare to eat it?"
"That deer is indeed strange. Even if it is a monster, generally speaking, the third eye should be born in the center of the forehead. Most normal lives are born symmetrically and follow rules. Its third eye is like a second mouth. They all appear on one side of the face. From a distance, I thought the white ones were teeth, and suddenly turned my dark eyes, which really shocked us all."
"Ah, stop talking." Wenying waved her hand, "I don't want to think about it at all. There are too many weird things there. It's really unseen and unheard of."
"Do you still remember that sheep?" Xie Zhe suddenly asked Han Zhang.
Han Chang was stunned for a moment and couldn't think of anything for a long time. Asking Ying didn’t know what he was talking about, he just said:
"I saw a lot of normal and abnormal animals along the way. They ranged from chickens raised in fellow villagers' pens to buffaloes that are several times the usual size. However, we didn't seem to see any sheep?"
"No, it was a sheep we saw when we were with... Ling Quan. Where was it? Well, that was the first time we met Mrs. Shen Wenzheng and her daughter."
"Ah! I know. At that time, we hadn't met Xue Miyin yet." Han Zhang thought about it, "That sheep... was infected with the disease, right? At first glance, it looked like he was poisoned. You I feel..."
"Well, I thought about it for two days and felt that they are somewhat similar, but not the same. I suspect that they have all been affected by some evil spell from the Shadow Pavilion, maybe related to the epidemic. But so far, humans still have It was not greatly affected. Those who left just found another life because they did not have enough food."
Han Shang shook his head and said, "Who knows? Maybe it's not visible in people of the same generation. You see, those who have problems are small and fast-growing things. Relatively speaking, People live a long life, so the impact may not be so obvious. But if they keep eating those changed plants, trees and animals, no one knows what the future will be like."
"Don't sound so scary." Wenying felt a chill.
"No... I agree with Han Chang's statement. Along the way, we have seen five or six villages. Each of them has its own weirdness, but the people have become extremely indifferent because of the lack of food. They It’s not that we haven’t asked for help, but there is nothing we can do, and we can’t help much. Because the area is remote, the court has not responded yet, maybe the news has not been passed on. No one can tell when the change first occurred, but in some places the earliest There were some strange signs at the beginning of the year. Remember that town where the well water turned blue? They said something strange happened in spring. I saw that at night, the wells in the village were emitting a faint light, but I couldn't feel anything. Spells only have pure spiritual power. Moreover, they are not good spiritual power. They pollute the water source, but people have no other choice."
Wenying sighed and said: "Although no one is willing to take us in anymore, villages and towns are much safer than sleeping in the wild. I really can't stand these frightening, I don’t know when the monster will attack at night. But luckily Ling Huan is not here, she must not be able to bear this grievance..."
Xie Zhe didn't answer. Han Chang cleverly avoided some topics: "Some of those monsters are not even monsters, they are just mutated animals. Generally speaking, they will not attack humans... and there are even many that only eat grass. Choose Attacking humans and monsters, I'm afraid, are you really starving? The balance of life is completely destroyed."
Wenying's attention was easily drawn away. She continued following her brother's words: "It's true. In fact, Mutsuki-kun had warned us that night...but we didn't expect the situation to be so bad. However, at least there was a message from Master Lintian, telling us that the research on Broken Mirror has He made some progress. But other than that, he didn’t provide any other useful information..."
"I think, nine times out of ten, the culprit is the Death Shadow Pavilion."
"It's hard to say."
Xie Zhe said this suddenly, which made the other two people a little confused. Han Chang asked puzzledly:
"What else is possible?"
"...I have an idea, but I'm not sure, it's just an inference. You see, in the month we've been moving forward, we've seen too many scenery that shouldn't belong to Death Shadow Pavilion. Some places are barren and barren, like Here - maybe the situation wasn't so bad back then. The plants had no energy, and animals were rarely seen. But in some places, they were so lush that it was incredible, as if they were taking away nutrients from other places. ...Of course, the animals here are full of aggression. So I thought, has the spiritual veins around here been strongly disturbed? It is not an exaggeration to even say that it is distorted. Originally, the distribution of spiritual veins in the world was sparse. The density is uneven, but just like the blood vessels in the human body, there are primary and secondary times. But here, this situation is too serious. It can be said that it is death from drought and death from waterlogging. Perhaps - Death Shadow Pavilion is in Maybe we can avoid this kind of natural disaster?"
"A natural disaster?" Han Zhang turned his head and said, "I don't agree. It might be the trouble caused by the Shadow Pavilion. A natural disaster? How can they be so capable?"
"But precisely because this influence is so unusual,... I always feel that it is not something that the Shadow Shadow Pavilion can do."
Wen Ying seemed to agree with Xie Zhe. She nodded and added, "And if they really did it, what good would it do?"
Of course Han Chang doesn't know. Rather, no one knows about this issue. Master Lintian clearly investigated something, but he didn't reveal much to them. He only said that there was something fishy here. Now that we have come to this point, even if it is a natural disaster, there should be traces to follow, right? If there is no trace to be found, nothing can be done. Xie Zhe was unsure, so he could only take one step at a time. Having said that, over the past few years, he and his friends have been crossing the river by feeling the stones.
Walking forward in this vast and quiet dry swamp, the three of them were cautious and cautiously paying attention to every step they took. It was getting dark, but they still couldn't find a place to rest, not even a stone to block the wind. Before the last light in the west completely disappeared, Wenying suddenly said that she smelled the smell of plants.
"And it's a very large, very dense forest. Only such dense vegetation can emit such a degree of fragrance."
"I seem to smell it too...is it there?"
Hanshang points to a place. Since they all said so, maybe the scenery ahead has really changed. Xie Zhe looked where she pointed and saw a group of green in the distance. So a few people immediately quickened their pace and rushed over before it got completely dark. Sure enough, when they got closer, they discovered a forest. Although it is small, the trees are very dense, and the tree crowns above are even more intertwined to form a complete dome.
Not only that, under the illumination of the fox fire, they discovered many buildings deep in the forest. Although they have been abandoned for many years, are riddled with holes, and are occupied by wildly growing plants, they are still places that are protected from the wind. Occasionally, they could hear the rustling of small animals scurrying through the grass, which made them even more happy.
"This house is relatively complete. Shall we go in and take a look?"
"It's better to be careful." Han Zhang reminded Wenying, "Since there are no more animals outside, maybe they are all hiding in this spiritually rich forest. Maybe something dangerous has already occupied it. We should Be more cautious.”
"Ying, it should be fine, right? I don't smell the smell of other animals..."
Having said that, Wenying still felt a little guilty. The three of them walked into the house closely together, one foot after another. The wooden door has been completely eroded, and the walls are densely covered with vines, filling the gaps where the bricks have been lost. The fox fire completely illuminated the interior, and the interior walls of the house were also green. In addition to the vines outside the house, there is also dense moss. The room was empty, with nothing but the pervasive, strong fragrance of plants.
"It seems quite safe..."
Wen Ying took a few steps bravely, and several balls of fox fire followed her. When she was very close to the wall, she realized that a large piece of brick in the corner of the house was actually missing, and it was like a vine curtain outside that blocked off the outside world. At this time, there was another rustling sound, and the fox's instinct made her think that there was some squirrel or gecko hiding in it. She brought her face closer, and the vines suddenly swayed, and every leaf seemed to be blown by the wind.
Just when she was wondering where the wind in the room came from, something suddenly appeared among the leaves. She let out a scream and took two steps back, falling to the ground. Upon seeing this, the two men immediately stepped forward to help her up. Hanshang noticed that her face was pale, as if she had been severely frightened, and he could even hear her roaring heartbeat. Xie Zhe, on the other hand, cautiously took a step forward and looked at the place where Wenying was looking before.
A human face suddenly appeared among the leaves.
