Miao Yue took a step back with a cold expression, putting some distance between them, then called Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi over.
Like a believer granted holy water by a deity, the little girl seemed not to notice Miao Yue's expression at all. She simply raised her bottle of filthy water and began drinking again. As the water entered her stomach, her face grew increasingly radiant, her complexion so rosy that she looked as though she had been nurtured with exceptional care.
"Her stomach," Qi Gu said succinctly.
Lin Hanzhi and Miao Yue looked over at the same time and saw that the little girl's belly, hidden beneath her filthy, disheveled clothes, was swelling abnormally. It even gave the impression that something was writhing inside, with uneven bulges rising here and there.
Everyone present looked grim at the sight.
The staff covered their mouths and dry-heaved. Some rushed straight out of the classroom.
Yet the children present remained perfectly calm, as though everything was entirely ordinary.
"How long has she been drinking water like that?" Lin Hanzhi asked the little boy making the grave.
"We've always drunk water like this." The boy thought Lin Hanzhi had asked a stupid question. To prove his point, he took his own water bottle out of his schoolbag. All kinds of baleful matter likewise floated in it, sinking and rising.
At the sight, the other children seemed to have their desire to drink triggered as well. They took out their own bottles, unscrewed the caps in perfect unison, and made swallowing motions.
Qi Gu suppressed the urge to vomit, recalling that back at Juanjuan's house and the village chief's home, the water they used for drinking, brewing tea, and washing vegetables had all been normal and clean.
Why, then, were these children different?