Li Jiao instinctively felt that something was wrong. The hair on her body stood on end as unease washed over her.
"Then... then why do I need to?"
Xie Roufen reached out and gently rested her hands on Li Jiao's shoulders, feeling her slight trembling.
"Because you need to stabilize the pregnancy too."
Xie Roufen's voice was tender. She looked at the pale-faced Li Jiao and opened her mouth.
Densely packed black ants poured out of her mouth, crawling onto Li Jiao's body.
...
When Nan Yue woke up, her first reaction was to check on Zhu Xi Ning beside her. The other woman was sleeping quietly. Last night, she had secretly tied their hands together with a piece of cloth, and the knot was still perfectly intact.
She untied the rope and got out of bed to stretch. A piercing pain came from her finger, but she ignored it and walked out of the house.
One after another, the others began to wake up. After washing up, everyone gathered as usual.
Nan Yue glanced around the group. "Where's Chen Bin?"
Last night, He Jiang and the others had left Chen Bin alone in the room where Jiang Mingfu had died. Chen Bin likely knew he couldn't win against them, so he didn't say much and slept there for the night.
However, he had not come out yet.
Huo Fuyu pushed the door open, and everyone saw that Chen Bin was still sleeping on the bed.
Liu Kai Xu poked his head in. "Chen Bin, wake up!"
The person on the bed didn't move an inch.
The others, who had initially thought nothing of it, realized something was wrong. No one could sleep that soundly during a mission.
Huo Fuyu and Nan Yue exchanged a look and entered the room.
Chen Bin was still lying quietly on his side, his expression very peaceful.
Nan Yue reached out and pushed him, but Chen Bin remained motionless.
"His body is already cold."
Nan Yue looked down at him. He was already dead, probably for two or three hours.
"How could this be? What happened to him last night? Did he really die just because he got caught in the rain?"
"He looks like he's just sleeping to me."
The crowd outside was buzzing with discussion, but the two inside said nothing.
Nan Yue looked down at her finger and then abruptly pulled back Chen Bin's blanket.
A thick stench hit them, mixed with a faint sour smell, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the scent of blood.
It was a mess under the blanket. Everything below Chen Bin's shoulders looked as if it had been corroded by something. His skin was gone, replaced by a slurry of flesh and blood mixed with mucus, sparsely clinging to the skeleton.
Huo Fuyu's expression turned grim as his gaze drifted to Nan Yue's hand.
"Did you touch the rainwater too?"
Nan Yue didn't explain much and simply gave a hum of affirmation.
Since she woke up this morning, her fingertip had been bloodily mangled and incredibly painful. She had hurriedly bandaged it and applied a band-aid.
"Will it spread?"
Nan Yue shook her head. "No, only the areas that touched the rainwater will be corroded."
Huo Fuyu looked at Chen Bin thoughtfully. He had turned into this just by being caught in the rain.
If Jiang Mingfu hadn't committed suicide by drinking the Ant-red Flower water yesterday, he would probably be in an even worse state today, with even his bones melted away.
"He seemed fine yesterday."
Nan Yue glanced up at Huo Fuyu. "Was he?"
Huo Fuyu smiled. "Perhaps."
Nan Yue had noticed that Chen Bin was unusually quiet, and she had seen Huo Fuyu observing him several times. She wouldn't believe for a second that he hadn't noticed something.
The two of them shared a knowing, fake smile while the people outside began to gag again.
"As expected, we really can't touch the rain!"
Nan Yue didn't join their discussion. She returned to the stone house and tore off the band-aid. Only then did Zhu Xi Ning and Wen Xiang Yuan see her injury.
Zhu Xi Ning silently changed the dressing for Nan Yue, while Wen Xiang Yuan's eyes grew red.
"Boss, you don't have to do this kind of thing yourself in the future. I... I can do it, or Gu Xiang Kai can!"
Gu Xiang Kai muttered, "It's not like I didn't try to stop her."
Nan Yue smiled and tapped Wen Xiang Yuan on the head. "You're not my stand-in. You might not die, but that doesn't mean you won't feel pain."
"Besides, my pain tolerance score was the highest in the academy. This little injury is nothing."
Wen Xiang Yuan's gaze moved to Nan Yue's finger. A chunk of the fingertip had been corroded away. It looked agonizing, and the pain from acid corrosion was long-lasting and persistent, enough to drive someone mad.
"Pain tolerance..."
Nan Yue looked at Wen Xiang Yuan. "The pain tolerance course at the academy. It's about habituating yourself to various levels of pain."
Wen Xiang Yuan lowered her head. "...I didn't pass that one."
Gu Xiang Kai frowned as he inspected Nan Yue's finger. "It's fine if you didn't pass. Not even ten out of a hundred people can pass it, let alone with an excellent grade like hers. I think that's the most inhumane course in the curriculum."
Nan Yue smiled. To her, the period when she was being corroded and invaded by the evil spirits on her body every day was much worse. That kind of soul-deep fear and pain was far more severe than anything physical.
Thinking back on it now...
Forget it.
"The drainage ditches by the doors, the rain, the oil lamps, and the lanterns all contain this liquid. It's corrosive. I think if it works on humans, it should work on those things too."
"It might not be as powerful if the quantity is large or the size is massive, but it's at least a method."
Nan Yue lowered her voice. "Keep an eye on the straw raincoats in our room. Check with other villagers to see if there are more. It's best if everyone has one."
"Also, find containers for water. Collect as much as possible."
The others nodded as they listened to her assignments.
Tomorrow was the day of the sacrificial rite, and the villagers began preparing the necessary items today.
They brought out wooden masks painted in various colors with intricate patterns from their houses and wiped them down with oil at their doorsteps.
Earlier, Song Sisi and the others had gone to find Luo Liu, only to learn that he had been frightened into a high fever that still hadn't broken.
They then found Suo Qisi and struggled to communicate, telling him about Chen Bin's death.
Suo Qisi's face was deathly pale, and the fear in his eyes had turned somewhat numb.
"Sacrificial rite, tomorrow. Much to do... can't manage..."
The enthusiasm of the Antswamp Village residents had finally been worn away by the bizarre deaths of the outsiders. They began to avoid the outsiders, who now had to get their own food, and no one helped clean the rooms anymore.
"Should have left, before, should have."
Suo Qisi's lips trembled as he sighed. He regretted letting the outsiders stay. He had thought staying here would be safer than crossing the forest, but now he realized people were dying one after another in the village too.
Nan Yue and the others couldn't voice their frustrations. Even if Luo Liu had insisted back then, they wouldn't have been able to leave.
However, the good news was that Xie Roufen and Li Jiao were both fine. Li Jiao told Zhu Xi Ning that the ancestral hall was indeed safe, suggesting that the women should all move there today.
Liu Kai Xu was terrified. He sidled over and said he wanted to go too, but Li Jiao frowned. "What is a grown man like you doing trying to squeeze into a group of women?"
Liu Kai Xu's face turned cold. "That's not your house. It's not up to you to say no!"
Li Jiao didn't bother arguing with him and continued to persuade the women.
Li Jiao also knew that Zhu Xi Ning listened to Nan Yue, but Nan Yue always made her feel a bit afraid, so she didn't dare say too much.
Nan Yue looked at her and thought, "She's not right."
Rate on N.U.
