Zombie Toxin! It Must Be Burned to Ash!

You didn't even need to step inside the thatched hut to know something was wrong. Fan Wu could smell a foul odor from outside, a mixture of pus and rotting flesh that made him gag.

As he lowered his head and crossed the threshold into the hut, he was met with a shocking sight.

Inside, spread across the floor, were over a dozen straw mats.

A person lay on each mat.

They were all extremely weak.

They looked like they were on their last legs.

These dozen or so people lying on the mats were likely all villagers from Nie Village.

There were men and women.

There were old and young.

Their skin was covered in sores, each one looking like a volcanic crater.

Inside, the wounds oozed a foul-smelling, black pus.

The pus slowly dripped down their skin.

Fan Wu also noticed their fingernails were black, their faces were pale green, and even their lips were purple.

Each person was incredibly emaciated, little more than skin and bones.

With their scrawny arms and legs...

Fan Wu suspected that if he just pressed a finger against them, without even using much force...

He could snap their bones.

[Nie Village Youth A -- Vitality: 18 -- Strength: 0.1 -- Skill: None]

[Nie Village Pregnant Woman...]

[Nie Village...]

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

Their [Vitality] and [Strength] stats were ridiculously low.

Even weaker than Old Wang Er from Prison Dragon County, who had encountered a ghost!

Most of them only had a [Strength] of 0.1, barely more than a newborn infant, surely?

No wonder they were all paralyzed and unable to move.

With this little [Strength]...

They couldn't move for the life of them!

"Hmm?" Fan Wu, with his sharp eyes, suddenly noticed something was off. He squatted down, staring intently at a severely ill Nie Village villager, focusing on the person's hand.

More precisely...

Their fingers.

The old Village Chief had re-entered the hut at some point. Seeing Fan Wu's actions, he couldn't help but try to persuade him again, "Daoist Master..."

Before he could even finish two words, Fan Wu interrupted him, "Has the growth rate of their fingernails... always been this fast?"

"Ah?" The old Village Chief froze.

He instinctively replied, "Before they got this strange illness, they were normal. After falling ill, they became very strange. Not only are they covered in sores, but their limbs are also very cold and stiff, and their fingernails and toenails have turned black."

"Their fingernails and toenails do indeed grow very quickly; I have someone shave them every day. Even stranger is that their blackened nails are as hard as wood."

As he said this, the old Village Chief suddenly seemed to realize something, and his tone carried a hint of excitement, "Esteemed Daoist Master, have you perhaps discovered something?"

"No."

Fan Wu's reply was blunt, not caring if those two words stabbed the old Village Chief in the heart.

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

The old Village Chief thought back and replied, "It seems like... five or six days ago?"

Then, he saw the incredibly burly Daoist Master before him...

Reach out and prod at one of the patients on the ground!

The old Village Chief's eyelids twitched.

These patients were all so weak! If he wasn't careful, he could end up killing one of them!

But before he could stop him.

Fan Wu's hand had already touched a patient's lips, lifting them up.

What he saw... were two ridiculously long, sharp fangs!

Oh dear!

Their entire bodies were more rigid than before.

Their faces were pale green.

Lips were purple.

Fingernails could grow very long and hard in a short amount of time.

The fangs in their mouths were much longer than those of ordinary people.

Their bodies emitted a special foul odor, like that of a rotting corpse.

Yet, they were still clinging to life.

All these signs combined...

made Fan Wu think of a species.

--Zombies!

Fan Wu wasn't entirely sure if zombies existed in the World of Gods and Anomalies. After all, the first time he encountered a real monster was only after his con-artist master died.

"This..."

Although the old Village Chief was advanced in years, his eyesight wasn't so poor that he couldn't see clearly.

He too had seen the beast-like fangs.

It sent shivers down one's spine.

"Daoist Master, I come to check on their condition every day, and I've never seen their teeth grow this long," the old Village Chief said.

He swallowed nervously. "This... this reminds me of a poison mentioned in an ancient medical text."

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

The old Village Chief continued, "It's a potent poison called 'Zombie Toxin.' Those infected will become stiff all over within seven days, develop black armor, and grow canine teeth. After seven days pass, they will lose their memory, their reason, and become frenzied, like walking corpses."

"I read that in a medical book a long time ago. If you hadn't opened his mouth just now, Daoist Master, and let me see those fangs, my mind wouldn't have suddenly sparked... I probably wouldn't have remembered."

The old Village Chief paused, recalling memories from his youth. "I remember the book stated... those infected with Zombie Toxin needed to use glutinous rice as a primary agent and rooster blood as a secondary agent, mixed thoroughly and applied all over the infected person's body within three days."

"During this time, the infected person must be exposed to sunlight during the day; at night, they must not be disturbed by the crowing of crows. If the three-day optimal window is missed, a local pháp sư must be immediately sought to dispel the Zombie Toxin."

"If the three-day optimal window is missed and there is no pháp sư... the infected person must be bathed in scorching sunlight and left to die from the sun. Or, the infected person must be placed in a raging fire and burned to ashes."

"This is to prevent them from becoming zombies and harming the countryside."

At this point.

The old Village Chief fell silent.

His lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say more.

But all those words were stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered.

He looked at the more than a dozen Nie Village villagers lying there and slowly closed his cloudy eyes.

He let out a sigh of helplessness.

Fan Wu, hearing all this.

Fell into deep thought.

If the medical book the old Village Chief saw in his youth wasn't fabricated, it meant that zombies truly existed in this World of Gods and Anomalies.

And the possibility of the medical book being fabricated was slim, considering this is the World of Gods and Anomalies!

There were plenty of demons and monsters!

There were also gods and Buddhas!

Who would dare to fabricate such a thing?

Weren't they afraid of harming countless people after it spread and then facing heavenly retribution?

Oh!

His con-artist master would dare to fabricate it.

Never mind then!

"Wait for me a moment," Fan Wu said, then walked out of the thatched hut.

He went to the Old Green Ox and took out an iron jar from the pile of luggage on the ox's back.

Then he walked back.

"Daoist Master, what is this?" The old Village Chief saw Fan Wu holding an iron jar in one hand and didn't know what he intended to do.

Fan Wu said calmly, "Old Village Chief, have some people smear the incense ash inside this jar onto those infected with Zombie Toxin. Then, mix some of the ash with water and have them drink it. If they can't drink it, force-feed it to them with a tube."

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

"No."

Fan Wu's answer was frank and direct. "It might even cause them to die prematurely."

The old Village Chief: "...Huh?"