Fox in the Forest

In the middle of the night, everyone woke up.

However, although the young prince reacted quickly, they still lost him.

"Could it be that this is a warning from the Fox Fairy?"

The accompanying official was overwhelmed with worry, and could not help but advise the young prince: "Prince, why don't we leave here as soon as possible?"

This time it's a warning, next time they might resort to violence.

It's not worth it to sacrifice your life for a group of villagers...

But the young prince didn't think so.

No.

If the fox wanted to attack, why did he stare at him for so long last night?

He got off the carriage and felt the cool breeze, which made his mind clearer.

Foxes never appear without reason...

The look back must have been trying to tell them something.

"Who remembers the direction the fox last disappeared in?"

After realizing this, the young prince turned around and asked the people who were responsible for chasing the fox.

The guards checked with each other and finally pieced together a conclusion.

"Probably southwest..."

Coincidentally, this is the direction from their camp to the village.

The fox ran towards the village.

Are they trying to lure them into the village?

What is the difference between a village during the day and a village at night?

The young prince frowned and thought for a long time. Finally, he called a team of guards and personally led them to the village.

He wanted to see what kind of secrets were hidden in this village.

"well……"

The accompanying officials could not persuade him and could only join the team with melancholy faces. Although they appeared calm on the surface, they had already recited scriptures a hundred times in their hearts.

Da da.

Da da.

The group arrived at the village quietly under the cover of night.

As soon as they entered the village gate, they stopped.

The fox I was chasing just now is actually here.

It had its back to the people, half of its body hidden in the darkness, and it looked as if it was deliberately waiting for them.

But the most amazing thing was that it was squatting on the ground not far away, and there was a faint fluorescence!

“Woo——”

The fox's two pointed ears moved, as if it sensed someone coming.

It tilted its head slightly, revealing a slender, upturned eye. It glanced at them and then immediately turned and disappeared into the darkness.

"ah?!"

“It glows!”

"What is that??"

Everyone was surprised by the inexplicable light on the ground, and saw the fox took a special look at them and then left. They didn't dare to move, for fear that there was a trap waiting for them ahead.

It was this pause that made them discover other anomalies.

At this time, the moon was covered by clouds and the light from the sky almost disappeared.

However, looking around, there seemed to be a faint light everywhere, with a hint of fluorescent color, almost covering the entire village.

In a quiet village, countless people are suffering from strange diseases. In the dead of night, there are strange fluorescent lights like ghosts everywhere, as if they are invisible surveillance.

This this this——

It can still glow faintly in the dark. In their understanding, the only thing they know about the ghost lights on the graves is this...

Realizing this, everyone's scalps almost tingled.

No wonder the villager firmly believed that he was cursed by the fox...!

Seeing strange lights everywhere in the middle of the night, who would think this is just an ordinary epidemic? !

“King, King, King…”

“Follow it.”

The young prince ignored the panic of the people around him.

He walked straight forward, without hesitation, and quickly chased in the direction where the fox disappeared.

He knew that as long as he moved forward, others would have to follow no matter how reluctant they were.

call--

Da da.

The sound of footsteps and panting disturbed the originally silent village.

To be honest, if I were to ask whether the young prince was shaken by the scene just now, he was a little shaken.

This was the first time he had seen such a faint fluorescent light distributed everywhere, almost covering the entire village.

Indeed, it is quite scary.

Incomprehensible, inexplicable.

Even if the master were present, it might be difficult to tell.

This seems to further prove the extraordinary nature of the fox.

But... he still felt that this was not the truth.

“Woo——”

In the darkness, occasionally a pair of glowing animal eyes would turn to look at him, and sounds that humans could not understand would come out of its throat.

Every time, the little prince looked at it without flinching.

Silent question:

Did you do this?

Where are you taking me?

What do you want us to know?

It was not known whether it was a coincidence or intentional, but after leading everyone to a place, the fox quickly disappeared into the darkness and completely disappeared.

It really seems to be leading the way.

So--

Is this what it wants people to know?

Everyone's eyes were fixed on this mansion which was as simple as a shabby house compared to the royal palace, but was one of the most luxurious in the village.

This is the Chen family.

They were the first family to be infected with the strange disease, and their symptoms were the most serious, with the entire family falling into a coma.

The doctors also came to check on him during the day, but they only confirmed that this was not an epidemic after seeing the master was unconscious and the servants were awake, so they did not stay for too long.

"Go, open the door."

The young prince signaled the guards to break open the door.

There were only a few servants guarding the house, and the door was not locked, so it was easily opened.

call--

The wind blew.

At this moment, the bright moon was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and the whole world became dark again.

But the courtyard behind the gate is not like that.

"……ah!"

When they saw the scene in the courtyard clearly, someone let out a small cry of surprise.

There was clearly no moonlight, and the courtyard should have been dark, but the well at the edge was faintly flashing with a translucent green light, which was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, as if it was breathing, dotted in the darkness and looked particularly strange.

The same is true everywhere in the courtyard. Compared with the faint light in the village, the fluorescence here is more intense.

Everyone took a step back, their eyes solemn.

Could it be that all the troubles come from this?

Hmm?

The little fox ran out of the village, sniffing his nose in disgust.

What's wrong with this place!

Why is there a nasty smell everywhere?

The little animal's instinct made it feel something was wrong, so it stopped looking for food and, feeling the slight reaction in its body, quickly ran to the woods, found a herb, chewed a few bites, and swallowed it.

Since one plant was not enough, it ate several more.

After a while, the fox shook its shoulders, scratched the ground, and vomited something.

The audience immediately showed concern.

[Huh? ? Why is the little fox eating grass? Why did it vomit? Could the strange disease in the village be transmitted to the fox? ? ]

[Hmm... I feel like their behavior isn't affected that much. Maybe it's an animal's instinctive self-protection behavior? A puppy in the countryside will run out to find herbs to treat itself when it feels unwell. I think a fox can do the same.]

[So there really is something wrong with that village! The young prince and the others have all gone in. Oh no, will anything happen? ? ]

[If something happens to the little prince, then the little fox won’t be able to take the blame, no, no!!]

"Hmm..."

After vomiting, the little fox felt less nervous.

But tonight's foraging has come to an end.

The fox lay under a tree hole in the forest, pressing his ears listlessly.

All went wrong that night.

Originally, it didn't want to go to the village that made the fox feel uneasy. It just wanted to rob some food near the carriage. Who knew that there were still so many people awake at this time and chased it for such a long distance.

mean!

It didn't even get that close!

The fox had no choice but to risk running to the nearest village to find food. But who would have thought that not long after entering, it would run into that group of people again.

And was chased all the way!

angry!

Very angry!

The little fox couldn't stand it anymore.

It couldn't stand being targeted twice in one night.

So, halfway through the run, it led the group of people to the place it thought was most dangerous, and looked back from time to time to confirm whether the group of people were following it, and then quickly ran away when they reached the place.

Great, now no one is chasing it.

Physically and mentally exhausted.

The little fox found a safe hole nearby, curled up into a ball listlessly, yawned, and planned to rest early.

Uncomfortable.

I originally planned to eat some human food along the way, but I ended up being chased all night and didn't get to eat anything, and my stomach was empty.

The fox pressed his ears with his paws, hugged his tail, and fell asleep in a depressed mood.

Forget it, I don’t expect people to feed it, it just goes on its own.

After getting the things, it hurried back to the city.

On the other side, a group of people were outside the Chen family, looking at the Chen family servants who were awakened by the noise and gathered in panic when they heard that the officials and the young prince were outside the mansion.

When the group of people saw the light in the yard, they seemed surprised and panicked.

They don’t know either?

The young prince groaned.

Since the fox led them here, this matter must be related to the Chen family.

So, it was this family that offended the fox?

When this conclusion came out, all the servants of the Chen family looked at each other in bewilderment, but they also tried to recall vaguely after being asked:

"That night, the master did get up to sleep, but I don't know if he went out to the suburbs..."

"Mr. Qi came to visit the next day. They had a big fight at that time. Although we were not allowed to serve, we heard it all."

"Our master was the first to fall ill, and his symptoms were severe. He fell into a coma a long time ago..."

very good.

Not only did he find out who went out that night, but he also got a new character - Mr. Qi.

At daybreak, the group rushed to where Old Qi was.

Old Qi was the one who stood up and said that someone in the village had offended the fox. He was also the one who called on everyone to apologize to the fox. He has always enjoyed a high reputation in the village and is an old man respected by everyone.

When he opened the door and saw a crowd of people gathered at his door, the frail old man said in a panic: "What, what is this?"

After learning about the fox's guidance for them last night, Mr. Qi was somewhat dazed:

"You, all of you, know everything?"

"Still, or was it the fox who took you there?"

"Sure enough, I can't fool it..."

The old man himself was suffering from illness, and when he learned that it was the fox that led people here, his psychological defenses completely collapsed. He stopped struggling and calmly recounted the cause of the incident.

At first, when the villagers heard the news that the fox demon had appeared in the distant suburbs, they were all on guard and stayed away from that place when entering or leaving the city.

But later, some people came back from the city and said that the fox had already reached the city and did not seem to intend to go back.

Suddenly, many people began to feel uneasy.

Not everyone is full of awe and even stays away from demons and ghosts. There will always be people who are tempted by the power they contain.

Word of mouth spread among the people, and everyone believed that there must be treasures hidden in the demon cave.

Now that the fox was having a great time in the city and had never returned to the suburbs, some people thought that it would neglect the supervision of its cave in the suburbs, so... they began to have an idea.

During that time, people would occasionally go in groups to search near the ruined temple where foxes were said to appear.

Not long after, the Chen family actually found the thing that looked magical.

——Some strange stones that glow in the dark.

These things were hidden underground. If someone hadn't followed the faint light to dig them out, they would probably have returned empty-handed.

With a longing for mystery, they guessed that this might be a magic elixir, so they stole all of it and prepared to take it secretly, hiding it in the well, beside their pillows, or in the granary.

As the village manager, Mr. Qi went to the Chen family to ask for more water after hearing the news, and put it into the village's shared well, hoping that all villagers could benefit from it.

As a result, no one escaped the fox's punishment.

The little prince's expression was indescribable: "You..."

Under such a gaze, Mr. Qi lowered his head and continued to explain in a whisper.

The reason why he said that after the strange disease spread was that he hoped to deceive the fox and tell it to punish only one family, so that the other families would not have to return the things they had coveted...

Unfortunately, I couldn't fool it.

Little Prince: ...

He was almost laughing out of anger.

absurd.

It's really ridiculous.

But this trend is consistent with the fox's previous style.

It will not affect the innocent;

But there are no innocent people in the village.

Old Qi had a painful expression on his face: "But in fact, after we found out that we couldn't fool it, we returned all those things a long time ago..."

The Chen family was in trouble because the whole family had fallen, and the servants didn't know about the strange stone, so no one could return it.

But even though the rest of them had returned all the strange stones, their symptoms did not improve.

In fact, everyone who knew about it has already regretted it.

But they were all the ones with the most severe symptoms, either fainted or could not speak, and could not explain. Only Old Qi, who wanted the whole village to benefit, selflessly put his share of the strange stone into the well, and perhaps was ignored by the fox, so his symptoms were milder, and he was able to reveal the truth now.

"My life is not worth it, but there are still many children in the village..."

Since the matter had been completely exposed, Old Qi had no other ideas and just kept begging, hoping that the young prince would ask the fox to spare them.

At least, let go of those children who are truly ignorant and innocent.

Otherwise, their village will really be gone! !

The narrator sighs:

"This is another huge black pot."

"Over time, something happened to the place where he was originally staying. It became somewhat dangerous and harboured murderous intentions."

"Originally, if the people around him were as wary of him as before and stayed away from that place, everyone would be happy and no one would get into trouble."

"What's the result?"

"Some people are greedy and want to find treasure in a dangerous place, but they end up finding poison and harming others and themselves."

“…It really has nothing to do with him. If anything, his reputation actually protected the people around him. Who would have thought that the more fearful someone is, the more greedy they become!!”

Audience: …

Suddenly I realized.

[Damn, so it’s poisoning! ]

[Oh, I see! Didn't the little fox build its nest near the graveyard? Weren't there a lot of will-o'-the-wisp before? With that density of will-o'-the-wisp, the phosphorus content underground must be very high...]

[Phosphorus can indeed glow, so the glow on the ground must be something containing phosphorus. Since it's poisoning, it should be vomit or something like that, right? ]

[Wait, what are those strange stones? They were dug out from the ground...hiss! Could they be corroded bones?]

[What the hell?! If you mix this stuff with water and drink it, who will get sick if not you? Ugh! ! ]

[No wonder... Remember what that person said, when they went to worship the fox to apologize, the symptoms got worse when they came back? That place is no longer safe. I guess something happened there after the little fox entered the city, and it became a poisonous place.]

[Hiss, obviously everyone was avoiding that place because of the fox demon. If it weren't for the villagers' greed, no one would have gotten into trouble. The little fox actually reduced the hidden danger.]

[Poor little fox, a good thing turned into a bad thing, and he was directly blamed for it. How unfair~]

“It’s actually like this…”

After learning the truth, everyone was stunned for a long time.

From this perspective, it seems that this group of people have brought this upon themselves, and this is consistent with the fox's previous behavior in the city.

Although the children and women in the village did not participate in the incident, they also drank the water and were considered half beneficiaries, so it was normal for them to suffer retaliation.

"In that case..."

They looked at each other and spoke tentatively:

"Then we will return the things on behalf of the Chen family?"

"After all, they are ordinary people. Although we are greedy for a moment, we cannot just sit back and do nothing..."

"After returning it, and asking Master Xiantong Fox to apologize and lift the curse, things should get better, right?"

The audience was anxious.

[No, no, no, I still need to detoxify. ]

[The water source has been polluted. It is recommended to move to another place. ]

[No, they all believe it is a curse, so they just want to solve the source, not knowing that they also need to detoxify. ]

[Oh, so the little fox probably smelled a little bit last night, so the herbs it ate were used to detoxify, right? All of you are not as sensitive as the little animals (pointing)]

[All their sharp points are probably spent on the Dihua fox ()]

“…Let’s do this.”

The young prince's mind went blank after being overwhelmed by this series of facts, and he could only agree to it for now.

But before leaving, he still asked the doctor to stay in the village and asked him to treat the villagers again: "Even if it is a curse, there must be human intervention. You stay here and see if you can alleviate their symptoms."

Although the doctor was somewhat reluctant, he still agreed.

[Very good, the young prince is very reliable. ]

[I just wonder when this doctor will be able to find the right herbal medicine to detoxify, hmm...]

[I think it's a curse from the bottom of my heart, so it's a bit risky. 】

[Maybe what the little fox gnawed yesterday can be useful to humans! How about a fox fairy come and deliver the medicine? ]

[In suspense, in their minds, the little fox has probably become a moody demon again, how dare he ask for medicine? ()]

[That's right. But since the pollution source is gone, it should be inevitable that things will get better, right? Uh, speaking of which, since the young prince is traveling with that pollution source, he should have taken some protective measures, right? Don't let him faint from the poison...]

Of course there are.

But the group didn't know that protection was needed, they just simply wanted to wrap it better to show respect to the fox.

But once they reached that remote suburb, they could no longer escape.

Just as speculated in the comments, this place is not safe.

Originally, it was a desolate and remote place with few people. Now, I don’t know if it’s because of people’s psychological effects or something else, but I almost didn’t see any other living creatures along the way. It was completely dead.

"Do you feel..."

"Was it the throat? Or the nose?"

"It's a bit uncomfortable. Is it a barrier set up by the fox fairy?"

"Hoo, hoo, stop talking."

Soon after entering this place, some people began to feel some discomfort in breathing.

The young prince didn't feel it at first while in the carriage, but after getting off, he began to feel a little tired. He pressed his forehead hard, trying to clear his eyes.

Could this feeling of discomfort really be a curse?

With such ability, could the fox’s previous revenge have been just for fun?

"ah!"

Suddenly, there was a cry of surprise from behind. The young prince turned around abruptly and found that the guard who was responsible for returning the strange stone had fainted.

The crowd suddenly became agitated.

Just at this moment, someone caught a glimpse and saw a red shadow disappearing into the forest from a distant hillside.

"Master Fox..."

"fox……"

"Master Fox Fairy..."

They were so panicked that some people even kowtowed three times and bowed nine times towards that place.

They had just witnessed an entire village suspected to be controlled by foxes, a scene under the dim moonlight, which was already frightening.

After rushing all the way and inhaling slightly toxic gas, they saw the fox flash by. The subtle discomfort in their bodies was sharply amplified by the mental pressure, as if they would collapse powerlessly like the group of villagers with their jaws rotted in the next second.

It's normal for them to be afraid.

Most people's first reaction was to bow and beg for mercy, muttering something in their mouths, for fear of being misunderstood and angered by the fox.

“Tsk.”

The only one who still has his sanity is probably the little prince.

But he is not not afraid.

But, rather than being afraid, he wanted to know the truth.

During this incident, the fox looked him in the eye three times.

He didn't believe that a moody monster would have such a look, and he also didn't believe that the fox, which had not taken action in the previous few times, would kill them now.

He said at the time that if it wasn't done, he would clear its name.

The young prince gritted his teeth and followed the fox again.

Enter the forest.

It fled, and he chased it.

The moonlight seemed to make everything in the forest hazy. He was chasing the fox in front of him one second, and in the next second he was distracted and lost in the forest, with no trace of the red shadow.

call--

call--

The forest was very quiet, with only the sound of his own breathing echoing, sending chills down one's spine.

should……

It wasn't the fox that did this.

The young prince's breathing gradually calmed down. He breathed in the exceptionally fresh air in the forest. For some reason, the original feeling of discomfort gradually dissipated, and his mind became slightly clearer.

He told himself this word by word.

If the fox really wanted to hurt him, it would have attacked him long ago now that he was alone. There was no need for him to hide.

Could it be that... it has some unspeakable secret?

Standing alone in the forest for an unknown amount of time, the young prince suddenly heard some noise again.

rustle--

He thought the guards had finally caught up, so he walked towards the source of the sound without thinking, but as he looked at the trees becoming increasingly sparse, he realized that he seemed to be getting further and further away.

Although he was a little hesitant, he still walked through the bushes in front of him and continued walking towards the source of the sound.

What if it's a fox...

As I was thinking, a fox tail appeared in my lowered field of vision.

He raised his eyes with a little surprise, and the next second, several scattered fox tails came into view.

This is--!

He looked up suddenly.

At the end of the field of vision is a red fox bathed in the moonlight.

Let's imagine a big (bushi) foxtail is used here hehe

The young prince will not convert to Dihua easily, but once he converts to Dihua, he will be the number one person in Dihua!

The poisoning incident in the article has fictional elements. It may not be so rigorous due to the plot requirements. Please understand. qwq