Chapter 205
The old woman carried the child out from the inner room, the small body still wrapped in heavy clothes.
Xu Heng and the other two tried to see the child's face clearly. After all, in such a strange environment, any abnormal existence would be very suspicious.
The old woman carefully tucked the child's clothes, then looked up at them with a vigilant look, but she did not deliberately cover the child's face.
So Yitu still saw the face of the little girl who looked like she had paralyzed limbs, and it was not the bulging eyes and gills she had imagined.
It was just an ordinary child's face, although the facial features looked a little ugly and the skin was a withered blue-gray color.
It was obvious that the child was most likely suffering from a serious illness and looked like he might die at any time.
Perhaps this was the reason why the old woman asked them to kill the fish.
Yitu made a simple guess and had a vague idea in his mind, but he was not sure.
After all, no plot or clues have appeared so far, and his inference is nothing more than seeing flowers in the fog and guessing the outline.
"Those things in the river, we initially called them mermaids."
The old woman sighed lightly and said in a deep voice:
"Although they are called mermaids, they are not the beautiful mermaids of mythology."
"The mermaid has an ugly appearance and a snake-like body, covered in thick, dense scales. It is not afraid of fire, swords, or bullets."
Hearing this, Xu Heng couldn't help but frown:
"So, that thing is impossible to kill?"
The old woman glanced at him, not denying his words, but also not answering. She just continued:
"They have sharp teeth and multiple tongues, and their mouths are like a mouthplate. Once you get sucked in, there's no chance of survival."
"Then where is its human face?" asked Huasan.
According to the old woman's description of the mermaid, it is more like a vampire fish - a lamprey than a mermaid.
But its name contains the word "human face", so it cannot be an insignificant piece of information.
"Human face..." The old woman thought for a moment and said:
"Their beauty is on their backs, and normal people simply can't resist their allure."
Hearing this, Yitu's brows furrowed even deeper.
The old woman must have seen the mermaid with her own eyes, otherwise she would not have been able to describe its appearance in such detail.
However, this conflicted with what she had told the three players at the beginning: they could not see the faces of the mermaids or look them in the eye.
This means that the old woman not only saw the face of the mermaid, but she was also the only one in the village who survived the mermaid's temptation.
Just as the three of them were silently digesting the information, the old woman spoke again:
"The fish you want to kill is not a mermaid."
The three people who heard this were stunned. Yitu asked:
"If it's not a mermaid, then what is it?"
"Abalone." A gloomy look crossed the old woman's face. "They are half-fish that were killed by the human-faced mermaid and mutated. They are called abalone."
"The sharks aren't truly living creatures; they're constantly stuck in a state of being half-dead and half-alive. While eating human flesh can't change their state, it can temporarily relieve them of the pain caused by the shark poison."
"I've said all this just to tell you that the dolphins have a strong desire for human flesh. Don't take chances with them."
At this point, the old woman sighed, and a strange look flashed across her face:
"After tonight, I hope you all survive."
"After all... except for me, everyone in the village has turned into a scorpion."
Yitu was not surprised to hear this. In fact, they had been mentally prepared the moment they saw the empty village.
But he still had a little doubt, that is, the mermaid would come ashore to eat people in order to relieve the pain, so what about the human-faced mermaid that caused this tragedy?
Will it also follow the crocodile and climb up the river bank to devour human flesh?
Yitu raised this question, and the old woman did not hide it and told the truth:
"I have no idea."
"Ever since the villagers turned into mermaids and took over the river, the mermaids haven't appeared since."
"Not a single one?" Huasan asked.
The old woman shook her head. "Not a single one."
After hearing this answer, Huasan and Yitu looked at each other, and both saw doubt in each other's eyes.
If the old woman's description is correct, there is obviously more than one human-faced mermaid that can slaughter the entire village.
However, when the mermaid appeared, all the human-faced mermaids disappeared.
This made Yitu start to suspect that the mutated mermaids of the villagers were actually mermaids with human faces in disguise.
As the guide of the plot, the old woman may have lied and conveyed false information in principle.
Even if we put aside her purpose in lying, it could not be a beautiful white lie.
The old woman gave the three of them some more words of advice, and even told them the only weakness of the three-legged beast.
This surprised Yitu and the others, after all, they had not classified the plot NPCs into their own camp at all.
And in fact, this is indeed the case. Even if most of the plot NPCs in the card field do not actively frame the players, they will definitely not stand on the same side with the players.
But the old woman at this code point was a little different.
She told Yitu and the other two that the crocodile was a living creature formed by the mutation of dead villagers. Even though it had lost its human thinking, it still retained some of its memories from its previous life.
Some of them can remember fragments of their human nature, and some can even move their abdominal cavities, simulate human speech, and retain the ability to disguise themselves as humans.
The differences between different species of catfish vary, but without exception, they will firmly remember the two most important things about being human in their lifetime.
That is, their names and the way home.
The old woman pointed to the willow tree outside the window that was covered with human skin and told them:
The first thing the fish did after coming ashore was to put on the human skin that he had shed.
Then they will follow their memory, sense of smell, etc. and grope their way back to their home.
So this is why the doors of the entire empty village are open.
"I hung those human skins on the trees. The crocodiles are very sensitive to human scent and heat, but their vision is very poor."
"Those human skins are all concentrated together, so even if they want to find the one that suits them, it will take a lot of effort."
This period of time was enough for her to prepare the fishing hooks and countermeasures at home alone.
When the old woman said this, a smug smile flashed across her face.
Although the snails are somewhat paranoid about the sense of personal belonging they had in their lifetime, many of them will forget the direction.
And these fish that have forgotten the way will instinctively come up and knock on the door.
So the old woman would not allow them to close the door, even if it was dangerous.
Because once one of the snipe knocks on the door, all the other snipe will be attracted.
They know that there are living people in the house with the door closed.
The old woman told Yitu with a serious look that if things really came to a critical juncture and he was on the verge of life and death and could not escape, he should try to call out the name of Yu.
When the old woman said this, Huashan and Xu Heng were both stunned.
You have to know that there are at least hundreds of villagers in this village, if not thousands, and each of them has been transformed so much that they are unrecognizable from their pre-birth appearance.
But the old woman tried to make them remember the names of some of the fish.
"... Zhang Laoda was born with a disability in his right leg. Zhang Laoer is a child with a gap in his teeth. Han Yun's family to the east has an older daughter and a younger daughter. The older daughter loves to laugh, while the younger daughter is only seven years old. Even if she were to turn into a pig, she would only be as tall as a human waist..."
The old woman didn't speak very fast, but the unremarkable features included a lot of names. Even Hua Shan and Xu Heng, who had good memories, could only remember a small half of the first half.
Yitu is slightly better than the other two, and can remember about 60% of the names, although he may not be able to really remember them in a critical moment.
The old woman only said this once, and there was no paper or pen in the room to record.
No matter how many things they couldn't remember, the three of them had no choice but to accept the defeat.
As the sky grew darker and darker, the crescent moon slowly rose and gradually hung high in the sky. Only then did the old woman carry the child into the inner room.
She did not tell Yi Tu and the other two when the abalone would come ashore, but only asked them to keep an eye on the old willow tree behind the house.
After the whole world fell silent, it gave people an inexplicable feeling of deep oppression.
Especially in the house where they lived, all the doors were open.
This means that a person's instinctive defense to seek a sense of security no longer exists.
Yitu and Xu Heng sat on the bed in their room, one at the head and the other at the foot.
From the head of the bed, you can just see the strange willow tree in the back village that is covered with human skins. The white clothes flutter in the wind under the moonlight, which is particularly creepy.
At the end of the bed, you can see several houses in the village with their doors wide open. The dark openings look as if man-eating monsters can crawl out of them.
Xu Heng touched his cold arm, withdrew his gaze, and looked at the room they were in again.
He suddenly realized that the old woman did not place fish hooks for catching mullet in this room.
What does this mean? It means that the three of them themselves are the trap of the oyster.
Xu Heng belatedly pointed to the ceiling. Huasan glanced at him, then understood and whispered:
"You just discovered that?"
He was about to say something else when Yitu, who was sitting at the head of the bed, suddenly turned around and said in a low voice:
"Hush, they're coming."
Xu Heng and Hua Shan felt their hearts tighten, and they only heard the sound of the water surface being broken in the pitch-black world.
Not big, but creepy enough.
The author has something to say:
To be honest, sisters, my efficiency is really not that high.
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