In Shangchong Village, Lu Zhengkang arrived again, but all the Shangchongs seemed to be immersed in a sad mood. Seeing this scene, Lu Zhengkang knew that the infection might have caused harm to these insects.
Walking into the village, there was no laughter in the past. Many insects were gathered in front of a small house. The door was closed. The light inside was shining through, but it was not the pink light that these merchant insects loved, but a light orange light, which was a candle.
of light.
"Who's in trouble?" he asked softly to a certain business insect who was crying beside him.
"It's Sapa, he's dead." This insect seemed to have a close relationship with the deceased, and now his whole body was exuding deep sadness, "Oh, I can't believe it, why did he die?"
"How did he die?"
"I don't know. We found his body outside the village. He seemed to have died of exhaustion!"
"Can I go pay my respects?"
"Wait a minute, his family is still inside, dressing him up, oh, Sapa, you must walk beautifully..." The businessman could not speak completely because he was sobbing.
After waiting for a long time, the door suddenly opened, and two old merchant insects walked out. Their skin was dull and their faces were very sad.
"Brothers and sisters, dear juniors, here we have to sadly announce the sad news that your good partner, our good boy, the loyal, brave, life-loving, childish and lovely Sapa, passed away not long ago.
Leaving us, he fell into eternal sleep and followed our creator, the White King..."
Lu Zhengkang thought to himself, "Is the White King the creator of the bugs? I don't know. The history of Hallownest is too fragmented, so I don't want to draw conclusions too early."
"...Sapa has always had a dream. He hopes to travel around Hallownest and make friends. He wants to become a free insect, but now, he is suffering from such misfortune! If poor Sapa had a spirit, he would also do it for himself.
Those who wept due to the encounter..."
The pair of old businessmen continued to say many condolences, and the audience also burst into tears. Finally, they stepped aside and signaled to relatives and friends that they could go and see Sapa's body.
Lu Zhengkang followed the stream of mourning insects into the house. It was filled with candles, which illuminated the house, but could not illuminate the little insect in the sarcophagus.
The death of Sapa was so sad, as if his inner being had been hollowed out by some kind of monster, leaving only a thin piece of skin lying at the bottom of the coffin, in the shadow as deep as the wings of death.
His parents must have tried their best to decorate his body beautifully. They used a lot of jewelry and various belongings, which reflected a charming brilliance, but Sapa did not add any brilliance because of the decorative effect of the jewelry.
There was no reflection on him, instead it made him look like an ugly jewelry cushion, a silent mockery that contrasted with his pitiful appearance.
It's simply too miserable to look at.
Lu Zhengkang vaguely smelled a pungent smell of decay emanating from Sapa's body. He walked to the parents of the deceased, first expressed his comfort and sorrow, and then asked whether their children's bodies had ever been stained with orange.
The unnatural thick pulp.
"Yes, we spent a lot of effort to remove this disgusting mucus from the child. It is really disgusting and exudes a very unfriendly smell, like corrupt blood."
Lu Zhengkang nodded and said, "Well, you two, I may know what killed Sapa."
"Oh! What!" Er Chong exclaimed, attracting the attention of all the Chong, and they all stared at Lu Zhengkang.
"It's an infection! A plague that expanded in the dream world has infected Sapa!"
All the insects suddenly started to communicate with each other, loudly talking about their opinions and experiences.
It turns out that during this period, many insects saw a bright light in their dreams. This was very abnormal and had never happened before. However, they ignored the light, so they were not affected.
Lu Zhengkang nodded secretly, there was indeed a change. Now it was basically confirmed that the radiation seal was leaked.
Faced with the unknown risks, the business insects lost their minds, and they all expressed their desire to hear Lu Zhengkang's guidance on a clear path. Lu Zhengkang said that the funeral arrangements should be made first, and the insects were distracted and carried out the funeral ceremony.
Sapa was buried in the village cemetery. There are many tombstones here. When you walk forward, you can see rows of epitaphs. On some graveyards, there are souls formed by the dreams of the deceased floating, swaying slightly in the wind.
Like a flag.
Lu Zhengkang went to find the merchant who asked him to investigate the anomalies of Gruz, and told him that unknown warriors had killed the mother of Gruz, so those Gruz were working hard for the new queen to mature.
The businessman gave Lu Zhengkang a hundred euros as promised, and mentioned that before Lu Zhengkang came to the village, another warrior had also arrived here. He wore a helmet-like mask and looked very small.
It's very cute. He didn't stay too long. He took a rest and then headed towards the Blue Lake. But Gruz's abnormality happened after the warrior arrived.
After receiving this news, Lu Zhengkang vaguely guessed that there should be a Hollow Knight heading to the Resting Place. That happened quite a while ago. If he goes to the Resting Place now, he might not be able to see this knight.
Just when he was planning to set off as soon as possible, a group of business bugs found him, hoping to learn more about the infection from Lu Zhengkang.
"Of course there is no problem. At this time, it is the right thing to let more bugs be prepared for infection." Lu Zhengkang promised them in advance to talk about infection-related matters, and of course he would not break his promise.
So he talked about the existence of radiation and the speculation about the leakage of the seal, reminding these bugs to pay attention to their dreams and not to be fooled by that light.
The merchants did not expect that the matter would be so serious, even related to the crisis of the destruction of civilization, so they suddenly panicked and began to discuss countermeasures.
Soon, several respected old businessmen came to Lu Zhengkang and expressed their sincere hope that he could accept a long-term commission, which was to contact more soldiers and let more insects know about the threat of infection, so as to prepare for the future.
Reserve strength for counterattack.
Lu Zhengkang did not expect that these bugs who acted as businessmen did not have any short-sightedness, shallowness, and greedy temperament. Instead, they were filled with a sense of mission that everyone was responsible for the rise and fall of the world.
While lamenting the righteousness of Shang Chong, Lu Zhengkang also said without hesitation: "I will do this kind of thing without your entrustment. However, I have to remind everyone that Hallownest is too desolate now, and it is not simple.
The problem can be solved by uniting the whole country. What we need is to find the Hollow Knight who is destined to end the infection crisis!"
"What if I can't find it?"
"If you can't find the Hollow Knight, then I will solve everything!" Lu Zhengkang's tone was confident and firm, with a sonorous tone that meant what he said.
