Chapter 198 Totem

When the slightly scorching sunlight hit the ground, Xu Que no longer had the excitement he had when he first arrived in the Primitive World.

He simply sat by a wall he often leaned against when he had nothing to do, continuing to hold a glass of water and bask in the sun.

Without the pressure of life, he also lost the motivation to live. He didn't know when this would end! So during this period, Xu Que usually entertained himself by himself. To kill too much boredom, he went to the empty square to practice playing with his superpower.

The refugees in the open space in front of the Hagang base have finally all moved away.

"Oh my god! As soon as these people moved away, I felt the air was several times better! To put it bluntly, when these people were here, there was always an indescribable smell! It was really unpleasant!" Ha Gang said with a smile to Pingyao and Xu Que.

Xu Que hadn't used the AWM heavy sniper rifle in his inventory for a long time, and now he was starting to miss the days of sniping! The sight of blowing the invaders' heads off with a heavy sniper rifle was truly exhilarating!

Xu Que took out the sniper rifle that had been with him for a long time, attached an 8x scope, and aimed at the distance.

Suddenly, Xu Que noticed a group of shirtless laborers standing on a distant mountaintop, laborers who had once been enslaved by foreign tribes to dig sand.

Upon closer inspection through the magnifying glass, it became clear that these men, who had once dug in the sand, seemed to have contracted some kind of disease; their gait and revelry resembled those of someone infected with a virus.

Hagang was then called back to base by a repairman who was repairing armor in Pingyao.

While Ha Gang was away, Xu Que handed the sniper rifle to Pingyao, letting Pingyao see the group of laborers who used to dig sand on the mountain.

Upon hearing Xu Que's words, Pingyao realized this was no simple matter! He quickly pressed the sniper rifle scope close to his eye and exclaimed, "Good heavens! What's wrong with these laborers? They're all acting like they're drunk. What are they doing? What exactly happened over there?"

"Hurry up, everyone! Let's go! We can't just abandon our old base!" Pingyao said, then returned Xu Que's heavy sniper rifle to him and went back to where the laborers were with his wife and son.

The workers are going crazy one by one! I don't know why! It's just so strange! They all seem so anxious and distressed.

"What's wrong with them? What kind of illness have they contracted? Of course, there's no smoke without fire. Nobody knows whether the laborers have suddenly fallen ill or are possessed by evil spirits."

“Pingyao, you and Captain Wang, come here quickly! Look at them, why do they all have a Zerg pattern on their backs? This pattern has too many similarities to a miniature version of the Zerg hive,” Pingyao said.

Upon hearing what they said, Xu Que and Pingyao rushed over to see what kind of pattern was on the laborer who had been pinned to the ground by Hua!

Upon seeing the Zerg hive pattern on the laborer's back, which was as clear as a tattoo, Xu Que felt a chill run down his spine: "Looking at such a magical pattern on his back, could it be that the Zerg hive we've been searching for for so long will one day suddenly burst out of someone's body?"

Believe it or not, only the Zerg hive would come up with this new trick.

"What am I going to do? They're all acting like they've caught some kind of illness. They won't answer my questions, and they're all staring at me. I'm so nervous. Am I going to turn into a zombie again if they keep staring at me like that?"

“Oh my god! This is bad! Every single worker here has a Zerg hive pattern on their back, it’s all of them, not just individuals!” Pingyao’s son said.

Xu Que noticed that everyone had a Zerg hive pattern on their backs. It seemed that this group of laborers was going to be wiped out!

Pingyao was also at a loss, not knowing what to do.

The laborers here, besides yelling, shouting, tearing, and biting, couldn't get a single word out of them. They probably didn't even recognize people anymore!

"Hey! Uncle! Uncle! What's with the Mother Nest tattoo on your back? Do you know what happened? If you know, tell me! And why did you suddenly become like this?" Xu Que gently shook a middle-aged man in his fifties or sixties.

The middle-aged man was like an animal; he could only make simple sounds, and seemed to know nothing else.

"Hey! Pingyao, do you have any of the crystals you gave them? Did someone steal them? I think the person who stole them must have poisoned them; they must have been poisoned."

Hua was speechless: "This really looks like they've been poisoned! Look, the zombies finally passed, and now these laborers look like man-eating zombies! What kind of poison is this? It's so potent! It could kill someone in a minute!"

Pingyao and Hua checked the clothes, shoes, masks, and even the place where the sand-digging workers lived, including under the beds, several times. But after checking everything, they still couldn't find any Zerg hive tattoos.

"Can this person still be saved in this state?" Pingyao was starting to feel like giving up, but Xu Que, Pingyao's wife, and Pingyao's son all vowed to persevere and treat every employee who was digging sand.

But reality is always cruel. Soon, the limbs and bones of the sand-digging laborer with the tattoo on his back began to shrink toward a certain part of his body.

For example, their feet and legs fold and wriggle towards their hearts, and their hands and arms can also fold in reverse towards their hearts.

The family in Pingyao saw many older laborers, especially those exhibiting these symptoms!

Helpless, Pingyao, Hua, and their son could only use their own powerful strength to hold their bones together, preventing them from approaching or rubbing together at a specific point.

"Oh no! Dad! Help me! I can't hold on much longer! This old man is incredibly strong! If all his bones keep fusing together like this, he'll be completely ruined! Even if they eventually have the means to treat this condition, he'll be disabled for life and will most likely spend his life in a wheelchair." Pingyao's son, disregarding his own safety, desperately tried to hold down an old man who was about to undergo bone reduction surgery! He managed to prevent the old man's limbs from fusing with his other bones. This saved his life to a great extent.

Hua was older than her son, so she didn't find it too strenuous to pull the laborers' limbs closer to certain parts of their bodies.

She had just managed to forcefully pull back the limbs of a relatively young man that were about to merge together, and then used ropes she had prepared beforehand to tie his hands and feet up. She had just rescued him, only to have his limbs retract again the moment she turned around. Wouldn't that be a complete waste of her efforts?