Had Zhao Wu lied?
Last night, Dapeng wasn't the only one who left the stilt house to relieve himself.
But why would Zhao Wu do that?
The Qi Family Gang wasn't poor; that small amount of money meant nothing to the horsemen.
Zhao Wu didn't seem like the type to deal with those strange villagers.
The village's mysteries, coupled with the heavy rain, became increasingly baffling.
“Break camp!”
At Headman Qi’s shout, thirty horsemen formed up and left Fish Fry Village, braving the rain.
The rain grew heavier and heavier. People who were not far apart were separated by the misty downpour, as if in two different worlds.
“Stay closer!”
Manager Wu’s voice came from the front, and the horsemen huddled closer together.
Without horses, they relied solely on their two legs, and soon they were covered in mud.
“The rain’s too heavy! It’ll cause flash floods.”
The soil was already very soft and beginning to loosen.
The further they descended the mountain, the more dangerous it felt.
Everyone looked back at the village, which wasn't far behind them. They gritted their teeth; no one suggested turning back, and they all trudged deeper into the rainforest, sinking with every step.
“Hoo, hoo”
“Hoo, hoo”
Their heavy breathing was drowned out by the rain until, an hour later, Headman Qi stopped.
Even through the curtain of rain, his expression was visibly grim.
“We’re going in circles.”
They looked back, and the desolate Fish Fry Village was still not far behind them.
They hadn't managed to leave the area in the past hour.
“Is it a ghost loop?”
Manager Wu looked left and right. In such heavy rain, no markers would be effective, so it was hard to tell if they were simply lost or if something else was at play.
But there was already miasma in the forest, wasn't there?
Headman Qi patted his chest and looked down at his feet. Everyone's legs below the knees were covered in yellow mud, and due to the heavy rain, even lower areas had begun to flood.
Where they stood, the water had already reached their insteps.
“Let’s go back first.”
Headman Qi watched the slowly rising water. “Something’s not right.”
Everyone else also noticed that the muddy path seemed to be rising with the intensifying rain. If they continued downwards, they might really encounter mudslides or flash floods.
Even if unwilling, they could only turn back towards Fish Fry Village.
Fish Fry Village was on higher ground; at least it wouldn't be covered by mudslides.
“Squish, squish”
Everyone’s movements made a squelching sound, the mud clinging tightly to their feet, making every step incredibly difficult.
“Squish, squish”
“Pop…”
“Splat…”
So no one heard a very faint sound emerge amidst the squelching water.
It was like something had suddenly burst and then fallen to the ground.
“Squish”
No one noticed this small detail as they trudged through the muddy path.
“Squish”
“Squish”
...
With great effort, everyone returned to Fish Fry Village. Looking down, they saw that mud had indeed begun to roll, and the water had risen even further.
If they had stayed below, the water would likely have reached their ankles.
The rain showed no sign of letting up, still pouring down with great force.
“Back to the village.”
No matter how capable Headman Qi was, he was still a mortal; he couldn't control the weather.
Everyone returned to the village where they had rested last night, lit the fire pits, and took off their wet clothes to dry.
The women went back to their rooms to change, while the men stayed outside.
“Knock, knock.”
Nan Yue opened the door a crack, and Jiang Siyan handed her a set of his dry clothes.
“Use this to dry your body and hair first before putting them on, or you might catch a cold.”
Nan Yue refused, telling Jiang Siyan solemnly, “I hope you take good care of yourself too. I don’t like you pushing yourself just because you have an awakened ability.”
Jiang Siyan’s smile flickered. “I just didn’t want you to catch a cold.”
Nan Yue shook her head. “I won’t.”
Then she looked past Jiang Siyan. “Chi Yu, come in.”
Chi Yu’s ability was Fire Control; asking her to come in and dry them would be enough.
Jiang Siyan: ...I forgot about that.
But after all, there was a distinction between men and women. Chi Yu couldn’t help the men dry their bodies; she could only use her Fire Control to dry their soaked clothes, but the chill in their bodies would have to dissipate slowly.
Nan Yue rubbed the dried clothes in her hands. They didn’t feel like ordinary clothes dried by fire, which usually felt stiff.
Although the clothes in her hand were dry, they were still soft, not at all like they had been dried by fire.
Nan Yue brought them to her nose and sniffed. There was an aquatic fishiness.
It didn’t smell like rainwater, but more like… the goatskin bags.
Or rather…
Gu Xiang Kai leaned over, lowering his voice. “This rainwater smells like the water from the deep pool.”
Their thoughts aligned.
The rainwater, the mysteriously vanished stream water, and the deep pool all had the same scent.
It carried an unusual aquatic fishiness, like a pond where countless fish were raised, the pungent smell making one want to vomit.
Or rather…
The rainwater and stream water all originated from the deep pool.
Once this thought surfaced in Nan Yue’s mind, it wouldn't disappear. Although the deep pool had only recently appeared, Zhu Xi Ning’s dream and the vanished horses all indicated that it was certainly not an ordinary pond.
The strange occurrences they had encountered on their journey seemed to gradually connect.
If all this water shared the same origin as the deep pool, what would happen if they drank from it?
If the rain was merely meant to trap them here, what was the purpose of the stream formed by dead fish earlier?
Or rather, why did the mysterious entity in this mission want them to drink the water from the deep pool?
“This damned place. Hiss… it’s so itchy, scratch my back for me.”
“I’m itchy too!”
“This is a curse. People back home used to say that when insect bites turn into blisters, dampness is the worst thing.”
“It’s best to apply medicine and get plenty of sun; it heals faster.”
“Where are we supposed to find sun? I haven’t seen sunlight in days. This rain just won’t stop, it’s like we’re soaking in a pond.”
“Exactly, the air I breathe is all water; I’m going to choke.”
Nan Yue looked at the rashes on her forearm. Even after using tools and Jiang Siyan’s awakened ability to treat them, the rashes on her hand had begun to develop into small blisters.
They weren’t very large, only millet-sized, shiny little bumps, and the area hadn’t spread too much, just a palm-sized patch.
The ones on her calves were more severe, likely due to being soaked in muddy water, so both her legs had two or three palm-sized patches of dense blisters.
Jiang Siyan also had them, though his symptoms were the mildest, he wasn’t spared.
These blisters were incredibly itchy, making it hard to resist scratching. Scavengers, having undergone training at the Scavenger Training Academy, had better pain tolerance than ordinary people and could barely control themselves.
But the horsemen couldn’t.
Once their hands touched, they couldn’t stop scratching.
When the blisters burst, fluid flowed out, and quickly, wherever the pus touched, another patch of blisters appeared.
Even tough horsemen were on the verge of breaking down.
“We’ll leave when the rain stops.”
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