Chapter 343: The Chaos in the Northwest (Part Six)

It is located in the deep mountains a hundred miles north of Fugu City.

There are two villages with the surname Zhou located nearby.

The village on higher ground is called "Shangzhou Village".

The low-lying area is called "Xia Zhou Village".

The two villages originally had more than 130 households.

The original site of the village was a hundred feet away.

The path leading to the village was overgrown with weeds. A burly, dark-skinned man, dressed in coarse linen clothes, had a sharp wood-chopping knife tucked into his waistband. The waist-high, dense weeds were flattened by the knife, clearing a path.

The burly, dark-skinned man led the way, followed by the man in the scholar's robe.

Not long after, two or three years after the outbreak of the epidemic, unfamiliar faces set foot in this desolate village again.

There was no sign of human habitation, and not a sound of human voices.

The common people's original houses, long neglected and devoured by insects and ants, collapsed under the erosion of wind and rain, and were finally covered by rampant overgrown vegetation, draped in green. This scene inexplicably sent a chill down one's spine.

The burly, dark-skinned man casually wiped away his sweat.

He tucked the machete back into his waistband.

"Sir, this is the former Xia Zhou Village."

Two villages were sealed off after an outbreak of disease. Of the more than 130 households, only a dozen or so survived. The former prefect, fearing that the disease might still be lingering in the villages, forcibly relocated the surviving commoners to other villages.

Last week's village and next week's village were forcibly sealed off.

The young man frowned, glanced around, and raised his hand to clear the stale air from his nose: "Shousheng, let's look around."

The burly, dark-skinned man, addressed as "Shousheng," nodded in agreement.

These two men were Gu Chi and Li Li, who had come to investigate the plague-stricken village. "Shousheng" was the name given to Li Li by his wife. Li Li's original surname was "Lü," and he did not have a proper given name, so his wife gave him the character "Jue," with the courtesy name Shousheng.

It comes from "finally overcoming extreme danger, which was unexpected".

It also carries the implication of finding a way out of a desperate situation.

Tanuki is actually a nickname.

It was a little pastime he shared with his wife.

Now that he had a proper name and courtesy name, the nickname "Li Li" was no longer suitable, so Gu Chi and the others called him by his courtesy name.

Li Li, also known as Lü Jue, dared not stray too far from Gu Chi. The abandoned village was not large, and the two of them spent only a quarter of an hour to explore it, without finding anything unusual.

Gu Chi said indifferently, "Let's go to Zhou Shang Village."

As usual, Lü Jue took the lead.

Before long, the two figures gradually disappeared into the distance.

About fifteen minutes later, two figures emerged from a corner of the previously empty ruins of the dilapidated house. The two were disheveled and haggard, their faces covered in greasy grime, their long hair specks of yellow and white skin flakes, and their clothes, though old, were clearly well-made.

One of them still had lingering anger on his face.

Only after Gu Chi and the other person left did he whisper angrily.

"Why didn't you kill him just now?" He had wanted to stab Gu Chi in the back several times, and the two were only three steps apart at their closest! If he had acted quickly enough, Gu Chi would have been dead for sure!

Unfortunately, the person next to him, who was afraid of death, tried to stop him.

"If we could kill him, we would have done it already!"

The problem is that Gu Chijin is very vigilant and always on guard! If they can't kill him with one strike, they will be the ones who die.

"Clinging to life and fearing death!"

"Who are you calling a coward who fears death?"

However, what the two of them didn't expect was—

"Is this epidemic caused by you?"

An unfamiliar, indifferent male voice quietly entered my ears.

Terrified by the voice, the two didn't even bother to identify the male speaker, and instead ran for their lives in the opposite direction. One of them even used a spell to aid their escape.

"Do you think you can escape?"

As expected, the two hadn't gone far when they were entangled and thrown off by the rising spiritual energy beneath their feet. Another burly, dark-skinned figure blocked their escape route—it was Gu Chi and Lü Jue, who had just left. Before the two could even despair, Lü Jue grabbed one of them by the neck like a chicken and slammed him to the ground with all his might.

It rolled several times on the ground before finally landing at Gu Chi's feet.

As for the other person?

Lu Jue kicked him directly in the back of the knee.

Remove the other person's jaw.

He threatened in a cold voice, "If you dare to run away, I'll cut out your tongue!"

Gu Chi walked over, sword in hand, and glanced at the man with disdain. The blade was pressed against his throat. "I thought you were someone important, but you're just a half-baked scholar. It's rare to see you in such a sorry state. Confess, how did you spread the plague?"

"Pooh!"

He spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling saliva.

Clearly, they are unwilling to cooperate with Gu Chi.

"Hahaha, you want to know? I'd tell Yama, the King of Hell, but I wouldn't tell you, you lackey of a traitor!"

Even on the verge of death, he still wanted to humiliate Gu Chi, but Lü Jue was not one to mince words. Seeing him insult Gu Chi, Lü Jue raised his hand and slapped him across the face. *Smack!* The man's head rang, and the force of the slap almost ripped his head off his neck.

Heaven and earth spun, colors reversed.

A winding red snake flowed from his ears, nostrils, and mouth. He lost his hearing instantly and it took him a long time to recover.

Gu Chi said, "Shousheng, don't kill him."

He is only good at extracting secrets from living people.

It becomes difficult to operate once the person dies.

"Rest assured, sir, we will be very careful with our actions."

You won't die.

They won't die anytime soon.

Gu Chi used his Word Magic to extract the secret from them with almost no effort—unsurprisingly, the two were "escaped fish" from several local gangs in Fugu City who had been roaming outside.

They harbored resentment and were always plotting to kill Shen Tang.

However, Shen Tang governed Fu Gu better and better, and the common people wholeheartedly supported him. Their attempts to incite unrest among the common people failed several times. Not only could they not incite rebellion, but they also almost exposed themselves. Unwilling to leave for distant lands, they lingered nearby, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Last week's village and next week's village have been abandoned for many years.

Ordinary people would not usually come near it.

It's perfect for hiding.

Just as they were cursing the heavens and the earth, it seemed that the heavens responded to them. After the start of summer, a torrential rain fell, and in the middle of the night, the rain washed away a grave, revealing the burial pit beneath the mound.

The corpses in the pit were those of commoners who had died from the last plague. Upon seeing this, the two conceived a wicked idea: to spread the disease emanating from the corpses to Fugu City! Even if they couldn't kill Shen Tang in one fell swoop, they could still take revenge on the heartless and ungrateful commoners of Fugu.

These common people depended on them for survival, and now that they've fallen on hard times, they've kicked them while they were down. They truly deserve to die.

Relying on their supposed literary aura protecting them, they collected rotting flesh and strange insects from the corpse pits, fed them to the rats they had captured, and then threw the rats into the well water connected to the administrative office.

Then we waited for good news.

So, the plague in Fugu City was their doing?

Upon hearing these words, Lü Jue was so angry that he wanted to punch them in the head. Did these bastards even know how many people would die from the epidemic? How could they be so heartless and insane! He was so angry that his cheeks were clenched and his eyes were glaring.

His anger was so intense that it was impossible to look him in the eye.

Compared to him, Gu Chi was much calmer.

He wasn't surprised!

These people, who have lost their wealth and status and fallen into poverty, have never cared about the lives of ordinary people. They only vent their hatred and implicate everyone they deem deserving of death. They slaughter entire families at the slightest displeasure, showing no humanity whatsoever.

If the plague is unleashed, only ordinary people and enemies will die.

They feel relieved when their enemies die, but what about when ordinary people die?

Can the lives of ordinary people be considered lives?

()

The fan title event starts this month!

This is outrageous! I actually got stuck on Tanuki's name and village. That's all for today. I'm still short 2,000 words. I'll make up for it with a 10,000-word update on Sunday (I'm sure I can make it this time)!

(End of this chapter)