Chapter Fifty: Zombie Toxin! They Must Be Burned to Ashes!

Actually, Fan Wu did not need to enter the thatched hut. He could smell a strange odor from outside—a nauseating stench of pus and blood mingled with rotting flesh.

And when he lowered his head, stepped over the threshold, and entered the thatched hut, he saw a horrifying scene.

There were... more than a dozen straw mats spread across the floor of the hut.

A person lay on each straw mat.

They were all extremely weak.

They looked as though they would not live much longer.

The dozen or so people lying on the straw mats were probably all villagers from Nie Village.

There were both men and women.

The old and the young.

Their skin was covered with sore after sore, each one resembling a volcanic crater.

Inside the sores was foul, nauseating black pus and blood.

The pus and blood slowly trickled down their skin.

Fan Wu also noticed that their fingernails were all black. Their faces were bluish, and even their lips had turned purple.

Every one of them was terribly emaciated, reduced to skin and bones.

With those skinny little arms and legs of theirs...

Fan Wu suspected that if he pressed down with just one finger, without even using much force,

he could crush their bones.

[Nie Village Boy A--Life: 18--Strength: 0.1--Skills: None]

[Nie Village Pregnant Woman...]

[Nie Village...]

Fan Wu could see the attribute information of the dozen or so people lying on the ground.

Their [Life] and [Strength] attributes were absurdly low.

They were even frailer than Wang Lao Er from Prison Dragon County, the man who had encountered a ghost!

Most of them had only 0.1 in [Strength]. Even a newborn baby would have been about as strong, right?

No wonder they were all paralyzed and unable to move.

With that little [Strength]...

They could not move for shit!

"Hm?" Sharp-eyed Fan Wu suddenly noticed that something was off. He squatted down and stared at a critically ill villager from Nie Village, examining the person's palm.

More precisely...

He was looking at the fingers.

The old Village Chief had come back in at some point. Seeing what Fan Wu was doing, he could not help but continue urging him, "Daoist..."

But before he could say more than two words, Fan Wu interrupted him. "How fast do their fingernails grow... Have they always grown this quickly?"

"Huh?" The old Village Chief froze.

He answered instinctively, "Before they contracted this strange illness, they were normal. Afterward, they became very strange. Not only did their entire bodies become covered in sores, their limbs also grew cold and stiff. Their fingernails and toenails all turned black."

"Their fingernails and toenails really do grow very quickly. I have to get someone to trim them every day. Stranger still, their black nails are as hard as wood."

At this point, the old Village Chief suddenly realized something. A trace of excitement entered his voice. "Daoist, could it be that you have discovered something?"

"No."

Fan Wu's answer was blunt and direct. He did not care in the slightest whether those two words would stab the old Village Chief in the heart.

He asked again, "About how long ago did they contract this strange illness?"

The old Village Chief thought for a moment before replying, "It seems to have been five or six days ago."

Then he saw that this extraordinarily burly Daoist before him...

had actually reached down and prodded one of the patients on the ground!

The old Village Chief's eyelids twitched.

These patients were all incredibly weak! If the Daoist used too much force, it could cost someone their life!

But before he could stop him,

Fan Wu's hand had already touched a patient's lips and pulled them upward.

Two absurdly long fangs immediately entered his view!

Oh, damn!

The limbs throughout their bodies were all stiffer than before.

Their faces were bluish.

Their lips were purple.

Their fingernails could grow extremely long in a short time, and they were exceptionally hard.

The fangs in their mouths were far longer than an ordinary person's.

A peculiar, fishy stench emanated from their bodies, like the smell of a rotting corpse.

Yet the people were still clinging to life.

All these signs combined...

made Fan Wu think of one species.

--Zombies!

Fan Wu was not entirely sure whether zombies existed in the World of Gods and Anomalies. After all, the first real ghosts and monsters he had encountered had only appeared around the time his con-artist master died.

"This..."

Though the old Village Chief was advanced in years, he was not yet so old that his eyesight had failed him.

He had also seen those beastlike fangs.

They were enough to make one's hair stand on end.

"Daoist, I come to examine their condition every day, and I have never seen their teeth grow this long."

The old Village Chief secretly swallowed. "This... this reminds me of a poison mentioned in an ancient medical text!"

"Hm?" Fan Wu turned to look at him.

The old Village Chief continued, "It was a deadly poison called 'Zombie Toxin.' Within seven days of being poisoned, the victim's entire body would become extremely stiff, black armor would grow on them, and canine teeth would lengthen. Once seven days had passed, they would lose their memories, lose their reason, become deranged, and turn into walking corpses."

"That was a medical book I read a long time ago. If you had not pried open his mouth just now and let me see those fangs, causing something to suddenly flash through my muddled mind... I probably would not have remembered."

The old Village Chief paused. Recalling the memories of his youth, he said, "I remember the book recorded... Those afflicted with Zombie Toxin had to be treated within three days. Glutinous rice was to be used as the main ingredient, rooster's blood as a supplement, and the mixture stirred evenly and spread over the victim's entire body."

"During that time, the victim had to be taken outside during the day to bask in the sun. At night, they could not be disturbed by the cawing of crows. If the optimal three-day window was missed, a local mage had to be summoned immediately to dispel and cure the Zombie Toxin."

"If the optimal three-day window was missed and there was no mage... the victim had to be bathed in the blazing sun and left to die beneath it. Or the victim had to be placed in a raging fire and burned until only bones and ashes remained."

"To prevent them from becoming zombies and bringing calamity to the countryside."

At this point,

the old Village Chief fell silent.

His lips trembled slightly, as though he still wanted to say something.

But all those words clogged his throat, and not a single one came out.

He looked at the dozen or so villagers from Nie Village lying there and slowly closed his cloudy eyes.

He let out a helpless sigh.

After hearing this,

Fan Wu fell into thought.

If the medical book the old Village Chief had read in his youth was not fabricated, then that meant zombies truly existed in this World of Gods and Anomalies.

And it was unlikely that the medical book had been fabricated. After all, this was the World of Gods and Anomalies!

There were demons, monsters, ghosts, and strange beings everywhere!

Gods and Buddhas existed too!

Who would dare fabricate such a thing?

Would they not fear that, after it spread and harmed countless people, Heaven would punish them?

Oh!

His con-artist master would dare to fabricate it.

Then that was fine!

"Wait for me a moment." After saying this, Fan Wu walked out of the thatched hut.

He went to Old Green Ox and took an iron canister from the pile of luggage strapped to Old Green Ox's back.

Then he walked back.

"Daoist, what is that?" The old Village Chief saw Fan Wu holding an iron canister in one hand and did not know what he intended to do.

Fan Wu calmly said, "Old Village Chief, have some people smear the Incense Ash from this canister over those afflicted with Zombie Toxin. Then soak some of the Incense Ash in water and give it to them to drink. If they cannot swallow it, force it down their throats with a tube."

A glimmer of hope appeared in the old Village Chief's eyes. "Daoist, you... You have a way to cure them?"

"No."

Fan Wu answered with utter frankness. "It might even cause them to die prematurely."

Old Village Chief: "...Ah?"