Chapter 174: No Wasteful Burial

At night, Chu Qiao dozed off under a mosquito-repellent tree next to the living area, and intermittent sobbing sounds came into her ears.

Chu Qiao always had a light sleep in the wild, so he stood up and looked in the direction of the sound.

Hank was seen covering his face and sobbing outside the tent.

There was a lot of noise in the quarantine area.

Chu Qiao walked over, patted Hank's shoulder, and said softly, "What happened?"

Hank didn't want to be seen like this, so he quickly wiped away his tears: "The old patriarch is gone."

The old patriarch is the father of the current patriarch, Wayne. This virus is very unfriendly to the elderly with low immunity, and two of them have passed away today.

Chu Qiao didn't know how to comfort Hank, so he could only pat his shoulder, stand beside him, and accompany this big boy.

Hank spoke slowly, "When I was little, I was the most mischievous kid in the village. To prevent me from getting into mischief, the old village chief took me with him wherever he went and kept me in check..."

Hank suddenly raised his head and said, "I won't cry anymore. Tomorrow is the old patriarch's funeral. I can't let him see my swollen eyes. He'll laugh at me and think I'm not a man."

Chu Qiao: "Okay, I'll join you tomorrow."

The next day, Chu Qiao went with Hank to see off the old patriarch.

On the open grassland beside the village, several men with oil paint on their faces sat on the ground with their upper bodies naked, singing obscure scriptures. The extremely sharp voices produced by their strained throats instantly aroused Chu Qiao's inner sadness.

Standing at the front was the team leader Wayne. He lowered his head, his shoulders shaking like a sieve, and the mud at his feet became wet little by little.

The voices of several men who were chanting suddenly stopped. Wayne took a step forward and said in a hoarse voice, "The funeral begins."

There is only cremation on Mars, and Beidou Country also practices cremation. Chu Qiao instinctively thinks that there is only one kind of funeral, which is cremation.

However, here, Chu Qiao did not see any torches or anyone who lit the fire.

In the distance, a man was walking slowly towards them, leading a skinny white horse.

Several big men wearing masks lifted the neatly dressed old patriarch up and placed him on horseback.

The white horse's body swayed, and the man next to him cursed, and the white horse stabilized his body.

Chu Qiao frowned: "Hank, what does this mean?"

Hank: "We practice 'wild burials'. The deceased are pulled by white horses and taken to any place they like, returning to nature."

The man leading the horse loosened the reins and whipped the white horse's buttocks. The white horse galloped away like crazy, and the corpse bounced up and down on the horse's back.

Chu Qiao didn't expect the funeral here to be so different, and it was too late to stop it.

She suddenly ran towards the grassland like an arrow.

The villagers around looked at each other, not knowing what she was going to do, and Hank also opened his mouth wide.

"Sister Chu Qiao, what are you doing? This is a funeral."

"This... Hank, disrupting a funeral is disrespectful. Is the person you brought back crazy?"

"Old Patriarch, why is your life so miserable..."

There were people wailing constantly, but Chu Qiao could only hear the sound of the wind. She quickened her pace and ran forward. The white horse ran for a while, and since no one was urging it, its pace slowed down.

Chu Qiao was about to catch the white horse, but the horse seemed to sense someone was following it and suddenly accelerated.

Chu Qiao was breathing heavily. No matter how fast a person ran, he could not outrun a horse. He had to think of other ways.

Chu Qiao stopped, picked up a stone from the grass, narrowed his eyes, and threw it at the horse's leg.

Suddenly, a horse not far away neighed, obviously frightened. Its front legs were raised high, and the corpse on its back slid down.

The white horse rushed towards the forest next to it. Chu Qiao jumped and caught the old patriarch's body in his arms.

Wayne and his group caught up and saw this situation.

Chu Qiao placed the body in the grass in front of him and bowed to it.

Wayne: "Chu Qiao, what are you doing?"

Although Chu Qiao found it difficult to speak, he still had to say: "I know that this kind of burial method is the tradition here, but... all the dead who are infected with the disease must be burned to prevent people or animals from coming into contact with them and being infected with the virus. Even more terrifying, it will cause a new round of infections."

Chu Qiao tried to slow down his voice when speaking so that everyone would be more receptive.

Wayne obviously didn't expect that Chu Qiao's gentle words actually contained...

He clenched his fists and glared at Chu Qiao like a snake: "You want me to burn my father's body?"

The villagers nearby surrounded Chu Qiao.

"Ignore this crazy woman."

"She must be trying to get us punished by God."

"Let's go on and find another horse."

Chu Qiao walked to within half a meter of Wayne, stared at his resentful eyes, and said word by word: "The living are always more important than the dead."

Wayne yelled, "My dad is important." Then he punched Chu Qiao in the face.

Hank pushed through the crowd and stood in front of Chu Qiao.

Chu Qiao pulled Hank away, his fist already in front of him.

Chu Qiao had no intention of dodging the punch, and as he moved, the fist landed on his shoulder.

"Is the fight over? Have you let out your anger?" Chu Qiao said coldly, "Your father is important, but aren't other people's relatives important? If this disease continues to spread to other villages, how many people will end up like the old patriarch..."

Wayne knelt on the ground, two lines of clear tears dripping onto his dark skin.

The fans in front of the screen saw Chu Qiao being beaten and started cursing.

"Master Chu, let them fend for themselves."

"Ignorance."

"Master Chu, forget it. Let's not watch the live broadcast room. Let's go back to the country."

"That's right, that's right. It's so suffocating. Let's go back home."

…

Chu Qiao shook his head at the light curtain, walked towards Wayne, and silently took out the flint: "The old patriarch is very powerful, a hero, even in death."

After saying that, she stubbornly pushed the crowd away, walked to the corpse, and covered the area with thatch.

Wayne seemed to have mustered up the courage and rushed over, his eyes red: "I'll come in person."

Chu Qiao handed him the lit torch. Wayne's hands were shaking, and he kept muttering, "Father, have a safe journey."

The torch ignited the spiky grass, and almost instantly, the red and blue flames surrounded the emaciated corpse, devouring it bit by bit.

As the patriarch, Wayne has taken the lead in compromising, and others dare not speak out.

The three bodies were cremated one after another that day. Except for Wayne Good Hank, all the villagers looked at Chu Qiao with hatred.

Chu Qiao knew that it would be difficult for everyone to accept it for the time being, so he smiled bitterly and dismantled the shelter that was originally next to the living area. He then found a place that was farther away but could observe the isolation area and rebuilt a new shelter.

Hank brought some mosquito repellent grass to help Chu Qiao smoke out the mosquitoes. There were seven or eight skinned mice on the fire nearby.