Time passed by, and the cold wave from the north, carrying wind and snow, once again blew from the distant Guizhou Wasteland and the Hades Sea. Winter has arrived, and because the large and small streams on Qingwan Island flow into the sea, the sea water is diluted, and the nearby
A thick layer of ice quickly formed on the sea surface. Because of this, ships in Crescent Bay were unable to sail before the beginning of spring.
Even so, the islanders are still very optimistic. Not only because they have been accustomed to such harsh winters for many years, but also because they have prepared sufficient food in advance before winter as in previous years.
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However, the long cold winter is still a bit difficult for Qi Ziyin, who has just arrived on the island. Although it is possible to cut ice and melt snow, the fresh water supply on the island is not a problem. In addition, the start of winter this year is half a month earlier.
, the sea water has also frozen much more rapidly than in previous years. No one knows how long this severe winter, which has never happened in a century, will last. As a precaution, food in the city has also quickly entered a reduced ration. Each person can only get rations per day.
I got a few fist-sized yellow rice steamed buns and a bowl of fish porridge.
The feeling of being hungry is not pleasant. Qi Ziyin was really hungry that day. He tossed and turned on the couch and couldn't sleep, so he got up and put on his robe, planning to boil some hot water to fill his empty belly. But right now
While he was lighting the fire, he heard an inconspicuous shout coming from outside the house, as if someone rushed past the door in a panic. Followed by more people and more noisy sounds.
Gradually, the young man in the room could even see through the paper the swaying torches held high by the crowd on the street, and he could also feel the anxiety and uneasiness shown in their movements.
He realized that something was happening on the island, and immediately opened the door and went out, only to see a team of dozens of people surrounding a lonely stone house. Finally, a neighbor he knew flashed through the team.
People, the young man quickly grabbed the other person and asked about it. Only then did he find out that an islander was sick, and the situation quickly deteriorated. It was Leng Jiayun who led people to check the situation during the previous commotion.
Hearing what his neighbor said, Qi Ziyin became more and more uneasy. The team holding torches walked away in an instant. In his hurry, he didn't even bother to dress up, so he immediately followed them with his shoes on.
"Why are you here?"
Seeing the young man appearing in the team, Leng Jiayun seemed a little nervous. Qi Ziyin didn't care so much and rushed to her in two or three steps:
"Sister Jia, I heard that someone is sick. Is the situation serious?"
"The one who fell ill is the blacksmith Cheng who lives on the cliff in the back mountain. You should also know him."
"Uncle Cheng? He even horseshoeed me before winter. How could he suddenly fall ill?"
"Actually, he felt a little uncomfortable a few days ago, but at that time he thought he was just suffering from a cold and didn't take it seriously. But no one could have imagined that now the disease has made him unable to even get out of bed. It's just that
However, the cause of the disease has not been discovered yet, so you should go back to the house quickly, there is nothing to see!"
The woman hurriedly explained, and then reached out to push the boy back. However, Qi Ziyin shook his head and said that he could help:
"When I was in the palace, I also followed the imperial physician and learned some pathological medicine. I can recognize common medicinal materials, and I also know a little bit about them. What symptoms does Uncle Cheng have now?"
"Lao Cheng has been coughing these days, and in severe cases he will vomit. Large red rashes have appeared on his skin, which gradually fester, and he has a high fever that is difficult to get rid of. Lao Cheng has been practicing medicine for more than 40 years and has never seen such a strange disease.
, I’ve never even heard of it.”
Standing next to Leng Jiayun was a well-known doctor in Qingwan City. His complexion didn't look too good at the moment, and it seemed that he was lacking help. When the young man said that he knew a little about pathology and medicine, he didn't even wait for the woman to refuse.
He immediately took over the topic.
Hearing what the other party said, Qi Ziyin also felt that something was a little strange, and frowned and thought:
"Coughing, vomiting and high fever are indeed typical symptoms of wind cold. However, the large rashes and ulcers sound a bit like the possible symptoms of smallpox..."
"smallpox?!"
When the surrounding islanders heard these three words, they immediately started whispering - when the Shuodi Rebellion had just subsided more than sixty years ago, smallpox once spread in Changzhou and Sizhou. In addition, due to the war,
The spread of the disease soon became difficult to control, with countless casualties. Now, if Blacksmith Cheng was really infected with smallpox, it goes without saying that everyone would understand what this would mean to the frozen Qingwan.
"I'm sure that what Lao Cheng is suffering from is definitely not smallpox. But it's not time to draw conclusions yet. You should cover your face first and come with me to his home to see it before you talk!"
As the doctor spoke, he handed over a small square towel and asked Qi Ziyin to cover his mouth and nose. After taking it, the young man hesitated for a moment, then tied the square towel on his face and continued to follow the team forward.
Before everyone could get close to the house where blacksmith Cheng lived, they smelled a disgusting stench in the air, like rotten eggs that had been left out for a long time, with a hint of indescribable sweetness mixed in. I just breathed.
After two clicks, the boy in white immediately pressed the square scarf on his face tightly with his hands. However, the rancid smell was still unstoppable and penetrated his mouth and nose from all directions.
Several people in the team retreated on the spot, quietly hid behind the crowd, and then disappeared quietly. But fear is human nature after all, so Leng Jiayun did not stop him, just frowned and asked.
road:
"When you came yesterday, was the smell so strong?"
The doctor shook his head, as if he couldn't believe that the condition could develop so quickly:
"When I came last night, Lao Cheng's body just had more abscesses than in the past few days, but there was no smell at all. I remember that after I gave him medicine, he said he felt better."
"Could that be the smell of something else?"
As the woman spoke, she was about to push the door open and walk towards the house. Unexpectedly, before her fingertips touched the door latch, she heard a frightening scream from inside the house, and then the wooden door was knocked open with a "bang", and a
The figure stumbled out and almost bumped into her.
That figure was none other than the sick blacksmith. He was now completely naked and covered with blood-soaked fine cloth. And the places where there were no red spots or abscesses had become blistered and ulcerated, and there was no longer a piece of intact skin.
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"Lao Cheng, don't move around for now. Follow me to the house to change the medicine. You will feel better after changing the medicine!"
Upon seeing this, the doctor immediately wanted to persuade the other party to stop struggling, but Cheng Blacksmith couldn't listen at all. Thick, translucent mucus continued to spurt out of his mouth and nose, and his bloodshot eyes were filled with painful despair.
After coughing a few times, he roared in a vague voice:
"It's itchy...I'm itchy!"
As he spoke, he raised his hand and scratched his arm several times. The bloody water flowing out of the sore had already dyed the fine cloth dark brown, making it stick to the human skin tightly. This
Scratching, he immediately pulled off the fine cloth that had become hard and dry, and there was still a large piece of ulcerated flesh attached to it.
No one would have thought that the originally strong muscles on the man's body were now like dough with too much water. With a little force, a large mass of bloody flesh could be torn off, revealing the white bones underneath!
Many people in the team vomited on the spot, but no one dared to step forward to stop him. Wherever the patient rushed, the crowd immediately retreated to both sides. Just like this, in full view of everyone, Cheng Blacksmith actually scratched himself alive.
A set of white bones, internal organs bleeding all over the ground, and finally died.
"Immediately send someone to set up firewood and burn the body, including everything in this room!"
Leng Jiayun had never seen such a gruesome and terrifying scene. But although her face was pale, she still tried her best to stay calm and ordered.
Qi Ziyin also vaguely felt that his stomach was turbulent, but he did not dare to pull off the square scarf on the spot to vomit, for fear of inhaling something unclean into his body. As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled the woman in purple away a little further.
place, just now he whispered in the other person’s ear:
"Sister Jia, you can move the nearby residents away, but this house and the corpse cannot be burned yet!"
"Why not burn it? At present, we have no way of telling whether this strange disease will spread. Leaving the body behind cannot guarantee that it will not harm other people on the island!"
"This disease does not happen by chance. If the house and the body are burned down immediately, even any clues left in it will be destroyed. And this may be what the murderer wants us to do!"
"You mean, someone deliberately let Blacksmith Cheng get this disease? How is this possible?"
Leng Jiayun did not believe the young man's guess.
"In the past twenty years, the islanders were all in peace, but now we have just been on the island for half a year and this epidemic has occurred. Moreover, there are more than ten thousand people in Qingwan City, a mixed bag. Sister Jia has not been with them in more than twenty years.
What kind of interactions have we had, and how can we be so sure that there are no evil-minded people using any means? I am afraid that if someone is targeting-"
Qi Ziyin did not dare to continue talking. At this time, he just vaguely felt that this strange disease was so sudden and fatal that it seemed to be caused by deliberate poisoning. If it was true as he had guessed, Qi Shouyu might have already died.
The agent who was sent followed their ship to the island. After experiencing the incident in Yunzhi City, he became more and more convinced that Liusha Camp definitely had such ability.
However, the young man still thought everything was too simple. The connection between the two things was far more complicated than he feared. But it was simply impossible to understand and unimaginable at the moment.
"But we can't just leave the body like this, right?"
"Uncle Cheng's residence is remote. You can first move all the residents within a mile to other places, then build a fence around the stone house and send people to patrol it day and night to prevent stray intruders. Then, it must be carried out as soon as possible.
Investigate, it’s not too late to start burning after you have clues.”
Hearing what the young man said made sense, Leng Jiayun finally nodded in agreement.
For the next few days, she and Qi Ziyin risked getting sick and personally explored the cause of the disease at Cheng Blacksmith's home. However, the young man's inference seemed to be incorrect. The water, food, clothing and utensils in the house were
, none of them could find any clues about the poison. The investigation hit a dead end for a while. The cause of Uncle Cheng's death also became more confusing because of the rumors.
As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. During the days of the investigation, many people on the island were infected one after another, and the epidemic was getting worse. Gradually, panic finally spread in Qingwan City. Whenever they went out, the islanders would get angry on their faces.
Covering it with a thick layer of fine cloth, but this has no effect at all on this strange disease.
There is no pattern to the disease. Even a newborn baby may become seriously ill overnight. Soon, there are more and more patients in the city, and even caring for them is very difficult. At the same time,
The weather is getting colder and colder, and it is impossible to even break through the ice floes and take refuge at sea.
Finally, under the pressure of the islanders, Leng Jiayun had to agree to burn all the stone house and blacksmith Cheng's relics that had been searched inside and outside. This move made Qi Ziyin deeply uneasy.
A few days later, the young man was alone that night, and went to investigate near the stone house that had long since turned into a piece of scorched earth. When he reached the cliff half a mile away from the back of the house, he suddenly saw a dead tree sticking out of the cliff at his feet.
There seemed to be something hanging on the branches.
He immediately tried to fish the thing out, but found that it was actually a piece of humanoid skin that had dried long ago! The incomplete skin obviously didn't look like ordinary human skin, because it looked like a fish swimming in the sea.
There is a layer of fine scales, but the appearance of the face can still be vaguely recognized. It is exactly the same as Cheng Blacksmith!
This discovery made Qi Ziyin suddenly think of the deceased islander named Quanfu whom he had witnessed half a year ago when he first entered Qingwan, and he couldn't help but make the hairs on his body stand up. Now he was almost certain that the man he had found
The skin membrane was shed from the body of Zi Cheng Blacksmith. But for some unknown reason, these originally normal islanders gradually turned into half-human, half-fish monsters!
The young man suddenly realized that this incident might have nothing to do with Qi Shouyu who was far away on the east coast of the Chanying Sea. Instead, it might have something to do with the murlocs that Sister Jia said had attacked Qingwan and the mysterious black people buried on the island.
Crystal related!
Qi Ziyin immediately folded the piece of skin into a small piece and wrapped it with the cloth handkerchief he carried with him. He planned to go back and tell Leng Jiayun the discovery. Unexpectedly, before he could stand up, he suddenly felt a scratch behind him.
There was a gust of cold wind, and he was knocked down on the spot and pressed heavily to the ground.
"That's this kid! He was the one who stopped Miss Leng from burning down the blacksmith's house. He must have had no good intentions. So many people are suffering from that strange disease now, and it's all because of him!"
There was more than one person who attacked the boy. They cursed in a low voice, obviously blaming him for the disaster that happened on the island.
"That's right! Ever since this boatload of people followed Miss Leng to the island, the city has become uneasy! What's more, Miss Leng followed General Baili away from the island for many years. Who can guarantee that the person standing in front of us now is not her.
!”
"What's even more disgusting is that silver-haired brat! I remember that not long before Blacksmith Cheng fell ill, he had said that a terrible disaster was about to happen on the island! Maybe all of these people were sent by the emperor of Yu Jingli
The secret agent plans to take this opportunity to catch us all!"
"If I had known this, I shouldn't have let them come to the island in the first place! Now we are about to be trapped and die in Qingwan City. Those who want to survive, now follow me to capture all those outsiders and torture them severely! They
The vast majority of them have not contracted the disease so far, so the antidote must be hidden somewhere!"
The islanders, who had lost their minds because of fear, seemed to have come up with what they thought was a reasonable explanation. Now they did not allow Qi Ziyin to make any more excuses, so they tied the young man's hands behind his back and tied them with cloth.
They blocked his mouth, pushed him like a prisoner, and pushed him down from the top of the cliff.
The starting point is not the first release, and all copies are free.
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