"Why can't it be me?" the man said as he slowly climbed up from the water to the shore. And he was none other than the one-eyed old man we had seen in the dilapidated house before.
"You old guy, what did you do to them?" Although I was surprised by the sudden appearance of the one-eyed old man, I was still more worried about the lives and deaths of Hua Muling and Xiong Ming.
So, I managed to get up from the ground and wanted to walk towards Hua Muling and the others, but before I could take two steps, my feet suddenly gave way and I fell straight forward, falling like a dog.
"If I were you, I wouldn't move!" At this time, the one-eyed old man suddenly said.
I stared at the one-eyed old man and said loudly: "What did you do to me?"
The one-eyed old man glanced at me disdainfully with his one eye and snorted: "I didn't do anything to you. Don't you know everything just by looking at your feet?"
Hearing what the one-eyed old man said, I subconsciously looked at my right leg.
When I looked at it, I suddenly discovered that there were four or five fist-sized bulges on my right leg.
What frightened me even more was that those bulges were swinging from side to side, and it looked like something was squirming inside.
I shouted to the one-eyed old man in shock: "What... what is this?"
The one-eyed old man didn't even look at me, but threw a knife towards me and said coldly: "Pick them out! If it's any later, it will be too late."
I picked up the knife on the ground, looked at the one-eyed old man in surprise and asked, "You want me to pick them out of the skin myself?"
The one-eyed old man didn't even look at me this time, and said coldly: "It's up to you whether you want to or not. Anyway, after a while those things get into your head and when you get mad, I'll just kill you, old man."
The one-eyed old man said it very plainly, but it sounded like a thunderbolt to my ears. My whole brain buzzed, and I couldn't help but think to myself: "What? Can these things get into my brain? What are they? When did they get into my head?" Did it enter my body? Why don’t I feel anything?”
But at this moment, I suddenly felt a sudden numbness in my legs. Then, those four or five fist-sized bulges began to drill up my legs at a speed visible to the naked eye.
I couldn't help being frightened, and I quickly picked up the knife, pointed it at the top bulge, and pierced it.
As I raised the knife and lowered it, I picked out a fish that was less than ten centimeters gray, white, and translucent, like a loach, from the wound and fell to the ground.
As soon as the strange gray-white loach left my wound, it opened its mouth wide and made a cricket-like sound. After rolling on the ground for a while, it suddenly became stiff and began to twitch continuously in less than a second. A few minutes later, the weird loach suddenly exploded on the spot with a "bang".
I couldn't help being shocked when I saw this, and I didn't dare to stop immediately. I pricked open the remaining four or five fist-sized bulges on my legs with three strokes, and picked out all the weird loaches inside from the wounds one by one. Thrown to the ground.
Following the crisp explosions, waves of cold sweat began to flow down my forehead and back.
After a long time, I finally came to my senses and looked at the one-eyed old man and asked in surprise: "These... what on earth are these?"
The one-eyed old man heard my question and replied calmly: "Blood Loach!"
I asked in surprise: "Blood Loach? What is that thing? Are my two friends also attacked by these damn blood loaches, that's why they are unconscious?"
The one-eyed old man nodded and said coldly: "That's right! However, that girl was better. I don't know why the blood loach didn't attack it. She just choked a few mouthfuls of water and simply fainted. However, that big one Black people just..."
When the one-eyed old man said this, he suddenly paused, and I hurriedly asked: "What's wrong with him?"
The one-eyed old man said slowly: "He is not so lucky. He drank too much river water, and the river water is full of these blood loach eggs. I have tried my best to clean up the blood loach attached to him. , but some of it still got into his body. Whether he can survive depends on his luck."
I hurriedly asked: "Then how can we save him?"
The one-eyed old man glanced at me, and then said slowly: "It's actually very simple to save this big black guy. Find something called Tiger Houttuynia cordata, take the roots internally, and the branches and leaves externally, and you can remove all the poison in the body." The blood loach was forced out. Then, boil water with glutinous rice, soaked black fungus, and red dates, and drank it for three days and it was fine. The method is not difficult, but..."
I hastily asked: "But what?"
The one-eyed old man said: "However, this tiger-skin Houttuynia cordata is not the common Houttuynia cordata. It is said that this thing is extremely rare and mostly grows in extremely cold places. Old man, I have only seen it once in my life. ."
I was surprised and said: "What? So hard to find? Grandma, what should I do?"
Just when I was scratching my head anxiously, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind - "Dragon Elephant Golden Rat".
When I thought of this name, I couldn't help but feel overjoyed: "Yes! And that little thing, it is the best to discover the spiritual things in the world. The tiger-skin Houttuynia cordata is so rare, it can definitely be regarded as a spiritual thing in the world. There is Now that I have this little thing, wouldn’t it be easy to find the tiger-skin Houttuynia cordata?”
When I thought of this, I immediately got up and looked around for the dragon, elephant, and golden rat. What surprised me was that I searched this place three times inside and out, but I couldn't see the dragon, elephant, and golden rat at all. The silhouette of a rat.
I asked the one-eyed old man angrily: "Have you seen a big yellow and white mouse?"
The one-eyed old man said coldly: "Are you talking about the dragon, elephant, and golden rat?"
I asked in surprise: "You...you know that thing?"
The one-eyed old man nodded and said, "Of course! I raised it, how could I not recognize it?"
I clenched my fists and asked in surprise: "What? Did you raise that dragon, elephant, and golden rat?"
The one-eyed old man said: "What? You don't believe it? Or do you plan to rob it? You made the rhubarb look like that, and I haven't settled the accounts with you yet, and you are going to force me here again? Is this how you treat the person who just saved your life? person?"
Hearing what the one-eyed old man said, my feet that were walking toward him suddenly stopped in mid-air, and I couldn't help but think: "It's true, although this guy doesn't know whether he is a friend or an enemy, he did save us. If I really plan to go It would indeed be against the moral integrity of the world to snatch the Dragon, Elephant, and Golden Rat by force, but... But if we don’t snatch it by force, I don’t know how long Xiong Ming can survive. If this guy just hangs here like this, I will never be able to survive for the rest of my life. I guess I won’t be able to live in peace.”
The one-eyed old man seemed to see what was on my mind, and said coldly: "You don't have to worry too much about your friend. Although a few blood loaches got into his body, he is in good health, and the old man I also have a way to suppress those bloody loaches, so he won't die for a while. As long as you do one thing for me, I will naturally lend you rhubarb to look for the tiger-skin Houttuynia cordata."
I said overjoyed: "Really!"
The one-eyed old man said coldly: "Of course it's true! Am I kidding you?"
Hearing what the one-eyed old man said, I immediately bowed deeply to him and said respectfully: "Thank you, old man! I just don't know, what do you need the three of us to help you with?"
The one-eyed old man said calmly: "You will know later!"
After speaking, the one-eyed old man slowly took off his shirt, revealing his dark skin and shocking scars.
Those scars were neither knife wounds nor burns, but rather marks left by bites from some unknown insect.
Looking at the one-eyed old man's scars that made people feel numb, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart: "This guy... what on earth did this guy go through when he was young?"
The one-eyed old man obviously noticed the change in my gaze, looked at the scars on his body, and then smiled bitterly and said, "Everyone has a past that they don't want to remember!"
After saying that, the one-eyed old man walked to the side and took out a large package from behind a stone. He took out a few pieces of clothing and after selecting them, he threw two of the black clothes to me. , said: "If you wear this, the size should be suitable!"
I took the black clothes and took a look. They were a set of Adidas sportswear. Although the style was a bit old, it was brand new.
"Thank you!" After I said that, I took off my already tattered clothes and put on this early 1990s-style sportswear.
The one-eyed old man also found himself a set of blue tops and black trousers that looked like those of the village party secretary, and he took out an oil-paper bag from the big cloth bag. He took out an unfiltered cigarette from the oil-paper bag and handed it to me. Said: "Do you smoke?"
I nodded, took the local cigarette and looked at it. There was no brand that was purely hand-rolled.
I usually don't smoke this kind of cigarette, but at this time, there is nothing to choose from. It's already worth celebrating if you have cigarettes. You can't beg for food and you don't want to smoke, right?
So, I bowed my hands to the one-eyed old man to express my gratitude.
The one-eyed old man struck a match to light his cigarette and handed it to me. I took the match and lit the cigarette in my hand, and took a long puff. The rich, dry, and spicy smell made me choke and cough for a long time.
It took me a long time to calm down. I cleared my throat vigorously, and then reluctantly asked: "Old man, what are you smoking? Why are you so strong?"
