Grandma Zhang's scream woke everyone who was still asleep.
Soon, people rushed out of the tent to check the situation, carrying various weapons they could grab at hand.
But when everyone saw the bloodied, mangled corpses of the thugs in the corner, even the most composed people screamed in terror, some even vomiting uncontrollably.
Most of the forty-six thugs captured here yesterday by Gou Fugui and Xie Tianlang are dead. The remaining ten or so are either stunned with fear or screaming through their bleeding throats, which are completely unable to make a sound.
Even if they are still alive, they probably won't live much longer. The blood from their bitten throats has already stained most of their clothes red, and even if their wounds are bandaged now, the large amount of blood they have lost cannot be replenished in a short time.
The children who wanted to come out and see what was happening were immediately pulled back into the tent by the adults or had their eyes covered.
Qiang Ge reached out and pressed on Grandma Hua's shoulder, which was trembling uncontrollably, and asked while comforting her, "Grandma Hua! It's alright, it's alright, have some water to calm down! Xiao Yun brought you some water."
"And what did you just see? Did you see who killed these people?"
Although the killing of these villains terrified him, he felt no regret whatsoever. After all, each of them had taken at least one life, and their deaths were simply paying for the lives they had killed.
But if we don't find out who the killer is, this safety hazard might affect the survivors, which is absolutely unacceptable!
But Grandma Hua couldn't give Brother Qiang and everyone a satisfactory answer. This previously strong and opinionated old woman, holding the cup of hot water, still spoke in a trembling voice: "When I came out, I saw this situation... I didn't see anyone killing anyone..."
"But, but Big Yellow and Big Black are not here anymore."
This is a noteworthy point that Grandma Huahua can barely think of, and after hearing his words, everyone immediately thought of the dozen or so dogs led by the lame wolfhound Dahuang who were guarding these people before they went to bed last night.
But now all the dogs that were surrounding those people have retreated to another corner. When Big Yellow saw everyone looking at them, it flicked its tail slightly and purred twice, but it was impossible for it to speak human language.
The atmosphere became tense for a moment, until Xie Tianlang and another person with burn scars walked in front of these thugs and carefully examined their injuries.
The person who examined her even more professionally and meticulously than Xie Tianlang was Xiaoyun's father, a middle-aged man who had previously suffered extensive burns from asphalt road surface and severe injuries from being exposed to high temperatures.
He spent more than a month in the underground world and finally made a full recovery from his previous near-death injuries. To everyone's relief, this middle-aged man turned out to be a doctor who was proficient in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.
In just one month, he has helped many people recover from sudden colds and other ailments.
"If I'm not mistaken... what killed these people was a rodent with sharp teeth. It could be rats, but considering what happened last night... I think it's more likely that those glowing rabbits killed them."
Xiaoyun's father offered his professional assessment, and Xie Tianlang nodded in agreement.
“There were obvious animal bite marks on their necks, and those… body parts, they weren’t clean cross-sections, but wounds from being repeatedly gnawed by something.”
The slightly chubby, food-loving young man instinctively denied it in disbelief: "How could that be? Those rabbits don't look dangerous at all!"
"It won't bite you if you reach out and pull its ear, and it won't run away if you try to catch it. How could they possibly kill someone?"
However, no one could answer his question, because many people, like him, found it hard to believe that those cute and docile rabbits could be murderers.
Bunnies are so cute, how could a bunny kill someone?
At this moment, everyone's eyes were scanning the surroundings, and soon they found the rabbits they were looking for. However, some perceptive people suddenly noticed that the number of these rabbits seemed to have increased?
Gou Fugui's phoenix eyes looked at the ten more rabbits than before, and he also noticed that some of them were constantly making a rolling and shaking motion.
This action is actually quite cute, but animals only shake their fur like that when it's wet... Did these rabbits jump into the river? What would make these rabbits jump into the river on their own?
The answer was obvious, and Gou Fugui was suddenly extremely grateful for his earlier promise to the blue dragon not to kill anyone here.
He was even relieved that they had raised fish and shrimp themselves and hadn't eaten too many of them from the river, so that the fish and shrimp wouldn't jump out of the river in the middle of the night to take revenge.
Everyone looked at the adorable rabbits with mixed feelings, unsure of how to react. However, a few people reacted very strongly, completely disbelieving the claim that rabbits could kill people.
"Impossible! No, no, absolutely impossible! How could these rabbits kill someone? Look at their stupid and dull appearance! How could they, so weak, possibly kill someone?!"
The first to speak was a middle-aged woman. Her face was deathly pale. Despite the fact that it wasn't hot at all in the 20-degree underground temperature, she was sweating profusely.
After she finished speaking, the other three young men living in the same tent also loudly denied it:
"Yeah, they couldn't possibly kill anyone! How sharp could these rabbits' teeth be? They eat carrots and grass all day, how could their teeth possibly bite through human bones?! It's a joke!"
"It must be some kind of monster! A really terrifying monster! Yes! It must have been the giant snake at the bottom of that pool that killed them! That giant snake could come here by following the river, and its mouth is so big it could swallow a person whole!"
"...It absolutely couldn't be a rabbit, it definitely couldn't be a rabbit!! How could it be someone these rabbits ate?!"
By the end, everyone had noticed that something was wrong with the three young men's outbursts. Gou Fugui frowned slightly, then his phoenix eyes widened suddenly, and his face darkened.
"You killed the rabbit."
The phrase "wealthy and beautiful" is used in a declarative tone.
The three young men, who were still angrily denying that the rabbit had killed anyone, froze instantly.
Even Aunt Liu, the middle-aged woman, clenched her fists immediately.
"...No! We didn't kill any rabbits, don't talk nonsense!"
A young man denied it quickly and loudly.
But Song Sanchuan's two questions froze him in place: "If there's nothing there, why are you so afraid? Do you dare let us search your tent?"
The young man turned around and his expression suddenly turned ferocious: "No one is allowed to search our tents!!"
Song Sanchuan chuckled and said nothing more, but everyone understood why these four people were so nervous—
Yesterday, all those who killed and ate rabbits died under the rabbits' teeth and mouths. So, will these people who secretly killed rabbits in the early hours of this morning also be killed by rabbits tonight, just like these villains?
These people are probably afraid of this outcome, which is why they are doing everything they can to deny that the villains died from rabbits.
But everyone knows that no matter how much they deny it, it's useless, because rabbits never understand human speech.
The next day, everyone felt somewhat heavy-hearted, lacking motivation and trembling with fear no matter what they did.
Even today's lunch and dinner were specially changed by Chef Pang from fish and shrimp to all-artificially grown vegetables and some dried meat, as if eating any of the live animals here under the watchful eyes of those seemingly docile rabbits would invite retribution.
When it was time for dinner, the rabbits didn't leave. What made Aunt Liu and the three young men almost collapse was that more than a dozen more rabbits came.
At first glance, there are now more than forty glowing rabbits in this area. Even the cutest animals can create an invisible sense of oppression when there are too many of them.
After dinner, it was everyone's free time. The wealthy beauty looked at the several rabbits surrounding him and was somewhat speechless.
"Don't all crowd around me, you know I'm traumatized by being surrounded by furry things?"
He reached out and grabbed a rabbit by the ear, tossing it aside. The large rabbit flipped over more nimbly in the air before landing steadily on all fours, without damaging the shiny little carrot it was carrying in its mouth.
Several people who were secretly watching him couldn't help but gasp in surprise:
"Why,"
"Brother Gui, don't you dare touch the rabbit!"
"Big Brother Fugui!"
Gou Fugui smiled at everyone's worried expressions: "Don't worry too much. We've been here for over a month. If doing anything would invite the animals here to kill or retaliate, they would have done it long ago."
"But they haven't attacked us yet, have they?"
"Oh, except for that Golden Horned King, but the reason it's so fierce is probably because we kept jumping into its pool and disturbing it, right?"
Anyway, it's been over a month and it hasn't bitten us, which proves we've done a good job this past month.
"And did I forget to tell you? I feel that the planting of more plants and the improvement of the ecological environment here have already had a positive impact on this place. You all know that huge white tree in the center of the central area, right?"
Its leaves were originally white, but I noticed recently that the edges of the leaves have turned green. Perhaps the tree is sick and needs a better growing environment.
"If we work hard to plant more plants in this underground world, and if all the leaves of that giant white tree turn green, perhaps this world will change?"
And that change is the lifeblood of this world.
Gou Fugui's words made the previously uneasy crowd's eyes light up, and they couldn't help but lean forward excitedly to ask:
"Really, Fugui? What we're doing is good for the world?"
"So that really big tree was sick?! And we're the ones who cured it?"
"What nonsense are you spouting! We haven't even cured it yet! We've been planting crops for a month and leaving the land fallow for a month, and it's only just that the edges of the tree's leaves have turned green. It'll take at least a year or two for the tree to fully recover, won't it?"
"What does it matter! It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person, right? Hahaha, as long as it can have a good impact on the world and make a contribution to our future generations, I'm willing to plant trees for a lifetime, let alone just for a year or two!!"
"Hehe, the way you're making it sound like we're unwilling."
Reassured by the presence of the wealthy and beautiful woman, the survivors, who had been uneasy because of the rabbits, regained their spirits and set their sights on even greater goals.
They can't just limit themselves to farming their own land here. To make this underground world better, they also need to plant flowers, grasses, or glowing shrubs in the deep passages or on the edges where no plants can survive!
In that case, perhaps in just a few years, this place will become a beautiful and vibrant world, even though it may not see the sun!
So everyone went to sleep full of their own thoughts and wishes.
Even when the rabbits lay in front of their tents while they were sleeping, they were no longer scared. Instead, they reached out and stroked the rabbits' soft, smooth fur until the rabbits hopped away in disgust before they chuckled and went into their tents.
It was around nine o'clock at night when everyone went into their tents.
Normally, no one would easily come out of their tent after this time, but three people still came out.
The first to emerge was Aunt Liu, who looked haggard and worried all day. She carried the big, fat rabbit she had killed the night before, walked shakily to the riverbank, threw the rabbit into the water, and then turned to go back.
Just as she turned her head, she saw the dozens of rabbits that had somehow all raised their heads and were looking at her, their lights faintly glowing in the darkness. She almost screamed in fright, but at the last moment she bit her lip tightly.
She even knelt down silently before the rabbits at the end, tears streaming down her face, and kowtowed to them:
"I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry! Please forgive me, please forgive me! I didn't mean to kill you, it's just that my son wants to eat meat! My son wants to eat meat, he's only seventeen! He's not even an adult yet. Before, he lived a life of luxury at home and could eat whatever he wanted. Now he's so pitiful! He can't even get a bite of meat!"
I'm his mother! My child wants meat, so I'm going to find him some! Who told you rabbits to be eaten? Who told me I didn't know you glowing things aren't edible?!
"Spare me! Spare me! Don't eat me! Don't eat me! I promise I'll never kill you again! I'll never let my children be any rabbits again!"
Aunt Liu silently kowtowed several times, pleading with tears streaming down her face, but the rabbits in front of her just watched her quietly, without giving her any answer.
However, when Aunt Liu tried to return to her tent, the rabbits that had been blocking her way suddenly made way for her.
Aunt Liu's eyes suddenly lit up with joy. She quickly walked past the rabbits, thinking she had escaped with her life.
When Aunt Liu returned to her own tent and was comforted by her worried son and husband, two young people, a man and a woman, came out of another tent.
They were the first to come out and kill rabbits last night, and they haven't given themselves away or let anyone discover that they also killed rabbits all day today.
They were also carrying a rabbit that was already dead.
Unlike Aunt Liu's choice, the two looked around and finally gritted their teeth, throwing the dead rabbit behind Gou Fugui, Xie Tianlang, and Song Sanchuan's tent under the watchful eyes of the rabbits.
After doing this, the two of them quickly returned to their tent, thinking that apart from the rabbits, their actions were completely unnoticed.
"...Honey, is this really okay? Won't the rabbits retaliate?"
"It definitely will! Those rabbits are so stupid, we didn't eat them, and their carcasses are right behind Gou Fugui's tent. Even if they want revenge, they'll come after Xie Tianlang and Gou Fugui first! Definitely!"
The man gritted his teeth and comforted his girlfriend and himself: "Xie Tianlang is so capable, he can definitely handle those rabbits! Besides, they're the ones who brought us here, so they should be responsible for our safety! They should have taken the initiative to help us solve this problem, but they just ignored it! We'll have to do our best ourselves!"
Hearing the man's words, the young woman bit her lip and nodded.
Her husband was right; those two were the ones who brought them here, weren't they? Since they brought them here, they should be responsible for them. And they're working hard every day!
Meanwhile, the people in charge, Gou Fugui and Xie Tianlang, were still awake, and even Song Sanchuan was typing on his computer keyboard.
"Did someone just throw something behind our tent?"
"Yes. Two people. Judging from the sound of what they threw, it was probably... a rabbit carcass."
Song Sanchuan's fingers paused on the keyboard: "Holy crap?! Is this an attempt to shift the blame?! Those survivors didn't seem this wicked at all!"
Xie Tianlang scoffed: "Having lived in two different worlds, you still don't know what humanity is?"
"But will that be of any use?" Song Sanchuan muttered to himself.
The wealthy beauty beside her lovingly combed her hair: "Whether it works or not, we'll find out tonight."
"Hmm, I think I'll go out first and bury that rabbit."
They've already thrown it behind their tent; it's not good to leave it to rot in the wilderness.
Then Fugui went out and dug a hole, burying the rabbit that had died in a rather unsightly way.
As he buried the rabbit, dozens of rabbits gathered around watching him. After he finished burying the rabbit, suddenly a lead rabbit with a glowing carrot in its paw hopped in front of him and gave the carrot to Gou Fugui.
Perhaps it's because he's transformed so many times? Anyway, Gou Fugui saw the words "thank you" in the rabbit's red eyes.
He was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and accepted the glowing little radish.
He returned to his tent at 10:45 p.m.
0:00.
The rabbits gathered in front of the three tents.
Those inside, still awake and trembling with fear, wanted to peek out of the tent, but dared not.
2:00.
Two of the people in the three tents were fast asleep, but Aunt Liu was still terrified and dared not close her eyes.
One by one, the rabbits silently entered the two tents.
At this moment, Gou Fugui, Xie Tianlang, and Song Sanchuan suddenly came out of the tent, trying to stop the rabbit that had entered the tent. But at that moment, a huge serpent with a golden horn on its head suddenly emerged from the underground river next to them. It had already emerged halfway out of the river and was silently roaring at Gou Fugui and the other two on the bank.
Only then did Gou Fugui understand why Dahei and Dahuang had failed to stop the rabbits.
The three of them paused, sighed softly, and turned back to their tent.
After they left, the somewhat agitated serpent slowly sank back into the river.
4:00.
Aunt Liu couldn't take it anymore and drifted off to sleep in a daze.
At this moment, the rabbits, already stained with blood, began to line up to enter the last tent.
5:00.
The screams rang out again, but this time they came from Aunt Liu's tent.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, besides a young boy's voice, Aunt Liu's own voice was also heard screaming.
They called out "Doctor!" and "Xiaoyun's father!"
Xiaoyun's father rushed out of the tent and into Aunt Liu's tent, where he found that Aunt Liu's entire left arm had been bitten off.
Fortunately, the wound on Aunt Liu's left arm seemed to be sealed by some kind of sticky substance, which restricted the flow of blood; otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.
While Xiaoyun's father was bandaging Aunt Liu's wounds, Brother Qiang and Master Pang walked over, their faces pale. "Xiao Li and the other two are all dead."
"Liu Fei and her boyfriend are also dead."
It wasn't until she heard what Brother Qiang and Master Pang said that Aunt Liu, who had been silently weeping and feeling scared, suddenly burst into tears.
He recounted how he apologized to the rabbits and begged for their forgiveness the previous night.
"If I had known it would turn out like this, I should have told Xiao Li and the others! At least, at least..."
Losing an arm is better than losing your life.
The people gathered together without speaking.
But in my heart, I have become more cautious and have a clearer understanding of this world.
Fortunately, no one else died after that.
The rabbits did not attack or gather together again.
Everyone diligently planted the land, planting glowing little potatoes and carrots, as well as flowers and plants along the riverbank, watching as the leaves of the giant tree turned even greener.
It seemed as if everything had returned to normal, and life could continue peacefully once again.
Until a month later.
It is 5:00 AM on the 75th day of Earth's high-temperature apocalypse.
The alarm on the monitoring computer at the vertical tunnel entrance of Song Sanchuan's company went off frantically.
The entire underground area experienced a terrifying tremor.
At the same time, the sunlight streaming down from the vertical opening seemed to carry flames, directly scorching and killing the plants under the watermelon-sized round hole it was shining on.
"What's going on?! What happened?!"
"Get up! Get up! Earthquake! Earthquake?!"
"My God, what's going on in that area? That light looks like it's smoking!"
"No, no, no! Stop looking at the light and plants! Look around, look around! Animals, animals... Oh my god, why are there so many animals surrounding us?!"
The moment the alarm went off on Song Sanchuan's computer, Gou Fugui felt a chill run down his spine.
It was a profound sense of impending doom, a terror that defied description.
His intuition told him that the end of the world had reached a critical point.
What filled him with despair was that even though everyone had been working hard for a month to plant underground plants that represented life and vitality, the area they could plant them in was limited to the central area, their own area number two, and area number three, where they had discovered the villains and the rabbits.
They haven't even explored the entire underworld to its end.
Not to mention bringing life to every corner of the world.
So, is it too late?
Gou Fugui gritted his teeth.
At this time, the Earth's tremors continued.
Song Sanchuan's voice trembled: "The surface temperature has reached 105 degrees Celsius! And it's still rising!! Fugui!!"
Gou Fugui closed his eyes and rushed towards the central area.
Xie Tianlang and Song Sanchuan followed him, and as the three of them started moving, everyone else present followed suit.
Adults hugged their children tightly, couples and lovers held hands closely, and young and strong children supported their aging parents. Everyone thought that even if they died, they would die together.
But when they reached the most magnificent and mysterious central area of the underground world, they suddenly saw that the fantastical and beautiful world, just like their dreams, was collapsing madly—
The colorful mushrooms on the dome inexplicably shriveled and fell downwards, like shooting stars falling helplessly.
The waterfall, which resembled an inverted Milky Way, rapidly reduced its flow until finally only a pitiful stream of water remained.
Even the giant, luminous white tree at the center of the entire underground world, which seemed to have existed there since the birth of heaven and earth, seemed to have lost its former vitality and power. Its lush, already somewhat green, luminous white leaves began to fall one by one.
But that's not the most despairing thing.
The most terrifying thing is the animals in the entire underground world.
They gathered under the huge tree and began to frantically ram and destroy it.
Every time a rabbit or bird crashes into the tree trunk, one more leaf falls.
Almost instantly, Gou Fugui rushed forward: "Save this tree! Everyone! You must save it!"
Then, the remaining 109 people gathered around the tree and reached out their hands to the suddenly frenzied animals.
"Brother Fugui! Did you kill the animals?!"
Xiaoyun asked.
Gou Fugui's face turned pale as he looked at the suddenly crazed, menacing underground animals and the enormous serpent slowly emerging from the pool.
Kill them?
Kill these creatures from the underworld?!
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