Lu Yuan leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.
But he did not fall asleep.
After the room fell silent, his mind became even clearer.
Martin's breathing was faint, with an occasional groan.
The woman kept watch beside him, remaining motionless.
Outside the window, the sky gradually brightened.
Just as Lu Yuan thought he could rest for a while, hurried footsteps came from outside the door.
"Mr. Lu!"
It was Herman's voice, tinged with anxiety.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes, stood up, and went to open the door.
Herman stood at the door, followed by two panicked men.
The cigarette holder had gone out at some point, and he hadn't relit it; his expression was grim.
"Something has happened."
Herman's voice was raspy. "We checked everyone, and seven or eight people were splashed with pus."
Lu Yuan's brow furrowed.
"The symptoms?"
"Most are fine, just some small bumps on their arms and shoulders."
Herman paused, his voice sinking. "But two of them..."
He didn't finish, but his expression said it all.
Lu Yuan fell silent for a moment.
"What about the mayor?"
Herman's steps faltered.
"...I don't know."
His tone was strange. "I sent someone for him, but they said he's unwell and it's not convenient for him to come out."
'Unwell?'
When they were hunting the sandworm yesterday, the mayor had personally played the bone flute. Now that such a serious matter had occurred, he was "unwell"?
Lu Yuan noted this suspicion but didn't ask further.
"Take me to see those two."
At the edge of the town stood a low stone house.
Many people stood around the house—the town's young and strong men—holding torches and various weapons.
Their faces were filled with fear and anger.
But mostly, they looked lost.
As Lu Yuan approached, the crowd automatically parted to make a path.
"They're inside."
Herman stopped at the door, his voice tight. "We don't dare go in for fear of being infected."
He paused and added a sentence.
"Inside are Old Hans's two sons."
Old Hans.
Lu Yuan recalled the name mentioned by the townspeople during their conversation last night.
"...Old Hans's sons haven't returned yet..."
So that was the case.
Lu Yuan glanced at Herman and pushed open the door.
The light inside was dim, with only a sandworm oil lamp lit in the corner.
A fishy stench filled the air, so strong it was nauseating.
Lu Yuan's gaze fell upon the center of the room.
Two people.
Or rather, things that used to be human.
One was curled in a corner, trembling all over.
His face was completely unrecognizable; dense clusters of eyeballs of all sizes had sprouted from beneath the skin, covering his entire head.
Those eyeballs were still rotating.
All of them were looking at Lu Yuan.
The other was even more horrifying.
His skin had turned brown, covered in ringed grooves like the patterns of a sandworm.
His limbs were twisted at impossible angles, and he lay flat on the ground like a molting insect.
His mouth was agape, emitting a hissing sound.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text quietly surfaced:
【Detection target: Severely Polluted Individual (terminal stage)】
【Status: Mutation irreversible, personality completely lost】
After reading the prompts, Lu Yuan's gaze lingered on the two bodies for a moment.
He noticed a detail.
The skin patterns on the "sandworm-like" mutant were almost identical to the mutated sandworm they had hunted yesterday.
This wasn't ordinary pollution spreading.
There was indeed a source of pollution in this desert.
Lu Yuan kept this discovery to himself and turned to walk out of the house.
Outside, the crowd waited quietly.
A grey-haired old man stood at the front, his cloudy eyes staring straight at Lu Yuan.
There was no anger or fear in that gaze, only a hollow expectation.
Judging by his appearance, this must be Old Hans.
"They cannot be saved."
Lu Yuan spoke, his voice very calm.
Old Hans's body swayed.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
Someone nearby reached out to support him, but he brushed them off.
"...I know."
Old Hans's voice was dry and raspy, his last shred of hope finally shattered.
"I went in to see them."
He lowered his head, staring at his calloused hands.
"They are no longer my sons."
Silence.
A wind blew in from the desert, kicking up fine sand that pelted the people's faces.
"What should we do?" Herman's voice came from the side.
"Burn them," Lu Yuan continued expressionlessly. "Before they completely turn into something else."
A commotion rippled through the crowd.
"Burn them?" someone's voice trembled. "Burn them alive?"
"They are no longer living people," Lu Yuan said without any fluctuation in his tone. "You saw it just now."
The man went silent, but the expression on his face was complex.
Old Hans looked up at Herman.
"Old He, lend me your fire."
Herman was momentarily stunned.
"You..."
"I'll light it."
Old Hans's voice was calm—so calm it didn't sound like he was talking about his own sons.
"I'm the one who brought them into this world. It's only right that I be the one to send them out."
No one spoke.
Herman fell silent for a few seconds, pulled a fire starter from his pocket, and handed it over.
Old Hans took the fire starter and turned toward the stone house.
His back was slightly hunched, yet his footsteps were steady.
When he reached the door, he stopped for a moment.
"Close the door."
Two young men stepped forward and tremblingly pushed the door shut.
The moment the door closed, a piercing screech came from within.
"Bang!"
Something slammed against the door, making the wooden planks vibrate violently.
"Hold it!" Herman rushed forward, bracing his shoulder against the door.
Several others realized what was happening and threw their weight against it.
Old Hans stood by the window, fire starter in hand, motionless.
He was listening.
Listening to the sounds inside.
The screeching grew sharper, mixed with the sounds of slamming, scratching, and some kind of viscous squelching.
Old Hans's hands were shaking.
But his eyes were dry.
"The powder," he croaked. "Give me the powder."
Someone handed him a cloth bag.
Old Hans took it and scattered the greyish-white powder through the window.
The powder used to deal with sandworms now fell upon the polluted ones.
The screeching inside became even more agonizing.
Old Hans opened the fire starter, watching the small cluster of flame.
His lips moved as if he were saying something.
Lu Yuan was too far away to hear.
But he saw Old Hans's eyes grow red.
Then, the fire starter was thrown in.
"Boom!"
Flames instantly spread out.
The screeching grew sharper and more agonizing.
Then, it gradually weakened.
Finally, it was completely silent.
Old Hans stood by the window, staring at the firelight within, saying nothing.
Greyish-white flames flickered across his face.
No one approached to disturb him.
Lu Yuan stood to the side, looked away from Old Hans and toward the burning stone house.
Greyish-white flames danced on the earthen walls, and thick smoke billowed from the window and the cracks in the door.
A strange smell permeated the air.
It wasn't the stench of ordinary burning flesh, but something more pungent.
Lu Yuan frowned.
This smell...
He had smelled something similar before in Gelimu Port.
It couldn't be the Deep Sea Church—this was the desert, after all—so who could it be? Was it just a coincidence?
Rate on N.U.
