Corpse Poison

After dawn.

By a side door of the Blackwater County government office.

Liu Quan, the bailiff in charge of miscellaneous affairs, a middle-aged man with a brutish face, didn't even bother to lift his eyelids when he saw Lin Guanhuo and the other man return.

"Steward Liu, the matter at Widow Sun's house is settled," Lin Guanhuo stepped forward, cupping his fists. "There was indeed a death, a terrible one. Two people died, reduced to skin and bone. It looks like demons and monsters did it."

"Oh?" Liu Quan took a sip of tea and glanced at the two shriveled figures wrapped in sheets on the cart. "How long have they been dead?"

"Looks like some time."

"Then take them to the Yi Zhuang (charity morgue) and burn them," Liu Quan waved his hand as if shooing away a fly. "A widow and a rogue monk, there's no profit to be made. Record it as sudden death and close the case."

In this world, two deaths were as common as two chickens.

As long as no wealthy household in the city was involved, the government office simply couldn't be bothered to investigate further.

"Yes."

Lin Guanhuo responded and turned to pull the cart.

Meanwhile, Zhou Kai's expression was somewhat grim. He kept scratching his left arm with great effort.

That was where the gray fox had scratched him. Although it was only a few bloody marks, it was now itching unbearably.

"What's wrong?" Lin Guanhuo asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, it's so itchy, like insects are burrowing into my flesh." Zhou Kai gritted his teeth and rolled up his sleeve to take a look.

There was no redness or swelling around the wound. Instead, it had taken on a strange bluish-gray color, and the granulation tissue at the edges of the wound was wriggling slightly, which was rather unsettling.

"Let's go to the apothecary and get some powder to apply," Lin Guanhuo frowned.

Zhou Kai gave a wry smile. "Where would we get the money... I've already sent the few rewards we got home. It's probably just that beast's dirty claws. I'll just bear with it."

They, as low-ranking officials, were not formal employees of the government office and received no salary or stipend.

Only during festivals and holidays would the government office issue some reward money, and the amount was frighteningly small.

The two men pulled the bodies to the Yi Zhuang on the west side of the city. After handing them over to the corpse keeper there for processing, they immediately returned to the government office and spent the day doing miscellaneous chores.

It wasn't until dusk that they dragged their exhausted bodies back to the Miscellaneous Room compound.

The autumn night wind was bone-chillingly cold.

Lin Guanhuo fetched a basin of warm water from the kitchen and poured it over himself from head to toe.

The fatigue of the day and the bad luck he'd encountered at Widow Sun's house seemed to have been washed away.

"Hoo... refreshing!" Lin Guanhuo shouted with satisfaction.

Dinner was, as usual, a basin of congee that resembled swill.

After eating, Lin Guanhuo returned to his room.

He felt the hard book cover in his pocket – it was the martial arts manual, Precept Breaking Saber Art, that he had obtained earlier.

Just as he was about to sneak a few glances by the moonlight.

"Ah--!!!"

An extremely piercing scream suddenly erupted from the next room!

Following that was the chaotic sound of overturned tables and chairs.

"What's wrong?!"

"What happened?"

The low-ranking officials in the Miscellaneous Room compound were all startled awake. They grabbed their pants and rushed out with sticks.

Lin Guanhuo was startled by the sound. He recognized the voice – it was Zhou Kai's.

Lin Guanhuo immediately walked out of his room.

The door to the adjacent room was kicked open, and Zhou Kai stumbled out, rolling frantically in the center of the courtyard, letting out beast-like wails:

"Save me! Save me! It's so itchy! It hurts so much!!"

If you like this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf to avoid losing it next time.

Under the light of the lanterns in the courtyard, everyone gasped and instinctively retreated, leaving a large empty space.

Zhou Kai's left arm, which had only been scratched before, had now turned completely black!

The flesh was rotting and dissolving at a visible rate, with large chunks of black flesh falling off.

And between the rotting flesh, the white bones were already clearly visible!

Utterly terrifying!!

Even more horrifying was that the black rot was spreading along his shoulder towards his neck and chest like a living thing, moving rapidly.

"My hand! My hand is gone!" Zhou Kai cried in horror, holding up the bone-white arm and begging the people around him for help. "Help me!!"

"Help me!"

At this moment, some low-ranking officials at the scene seemed to have noticed something strange about Zhou Kai.

"Don't go near him! It's corpse poison entering the body! It's contagious!" an elder low-ranking official shouted in terror, holding back his companions who wanted to approach.

"This isn't corpse poison... it's demon poison! He's been cursed!" another person stammered.

Demon poison!!

Hearing those two words!

Fear and an indifferent desire to stay far away filled the crowd at the scene.

Just then.

"Move aside! Everyone move aside!"

A booming shout came.

The crowd parted, and a burly man in the uniform of a bailiff, with a face full of flesh, walked over.

He was the assistant foreman of the Miscellaneous Room, Zhao Sihai.

In this small territory, he was the one in charge.

Zhao Sihai frowned, covered his nose, and glanced at Zhou Kai on the ground. There was no pity in his eyes, only deep disgust.

"What rotten luck! What the hell are you screaming about in the middle of the night!" Zhao Sihai cursed.

However...

When he saw Zhou Kai's condition, his expression changed drastically, "This... is demon poison?"

In the next second, Zhao Sihai's face contorted, and he hurriedly covered his mouth and nose, as if he had seen the god of plague.

At the same time, he waved his hand and signaled, "There's no saving him! Someone, throw him out! Don't let him die in the courtyard!"

"Bad luck! Damn it, such bad luck!!"

"What?"

Lin Guanhuo heard this and frowned, "Foreman Zhao, he's still alive! He's one of our brothers, no matter what. Can't we find a way to save him?"

"Save my ass!" Zhao Sihai glared fiercely at Lin Guanhuo, then said, "Do you know how much silver it costs to treat this kind of demon poison? Selling his entire family wouldn't be enough!"

"And if this thing spreads, everyone in our courtyard will have to pay with their lives! Do you want to get everyone killed?"

Although Zhao Sihai's words were cold-blooded, they made the surrounding low-ranking officials, who had been hesitant, lower their heads.

Better a dead comrade than a living self. No one wanted to be infected.

In the end, they were just ordinary people trying to survive in this chaotic world filled with demons and monsters.

Today Zhou Kai died, tomorrow it might be them.

No one would sympathize with anyone else; they had long since become numb.

"What are you waiting for? Throw him out! Throw him far away!" Zhao Sihai roared impatiently.

Two brave low-ranking officials found two long bamboo poles, speared Zhou Kai's waist and legs like a dead dog, and, ignoring his wails and struggles, dragged him forcefully towards the main gate.

Seeing this, Lin Guanhuo was about to say something, but Zhao Sihai shoved him aside, "Lin Guanhuo! You don't want to work here anymore, do you? I'm warning you, if you don't want to work, get out with this dead ghost!"

"Damn it, I lost a few taels of silver playing cards during the day, and now this bad luck at night, I'm truly f*cking unlucky!!"

To Zhao Sihai, the death of Zhou Kai was less important than the silver he lost during the day. After a few grumbles, he returned to his room.

And Zhou Kai, who was thrown onto the street like a dead dog, soon stopped moving.