Chapter 209 Jinjiang
No one expected that when their attention was drawn to Nantian, Song Ci was actually lying under the dark and cold bed, unconscious.
If Zhao Zhen hadn't reminded him, in such a chaotic time with so much war and darkness everywhere, it would have taken someone an unknown amount of time to realize that Song Ci was missing.
It’s winter!
Song Ci was wearing such a thin pajamas, with the cold and hard floor beneath him. The damp and cold air coming up from the river and the land was constantly eroding his thin body through the floor.
Unfortunately, the windows in the room were wide open, and the cold mountain breeze caused the indoor temperature to drop significantly.
When Lu Xingxing saw Song Ci's current appearance, her heart stopped beating.
He looked at the young master who used to make him angry to death when they argued with each other. Now he was lying lifeless under the bed, with no blood on his face, as if he was dead.
On the contrary, the chrysanthemum blooming upside down right above Song Ci's face looked so enchanting, beautiful and full of vitality.
The strong visual contrast is shocking.
Without saying a word, Lu Xingxing slid under the bed like a loach and reached out to quickly carry Song Ci out.
As soon as Lu Xingxing touched Song Ci's skin, she was startled.
It's too cold.
It didn't feel like the warm and soft touch of a normal person, but rather like ice. Lu Xingxing could hardly even feel Song Ci's pulse.
"Xingxing, how is Song Ci?"
There was little space under the bed, so Zhao Zhen could only wait outside, and couldn't help but ask anxiously.
Lu Xingxing didn't want to answer Zhao Zhen.
Song Ci...can’t hold me up.
The young master was delicate and petite, and was usually lazy and didn't like to exercise. For Lu Xingxing, carrying more than 100 pounds on his thin body was as easy as carrying rice.
But now, for some inexplicable reason, Lu Xingxing tried several times but failed to pick up Song Ci from the ground.
It’s not that he couldn’t hold her, but it seemed like something was blocking Lu Xingxing.
He was confused. He was racing against time to get Song Ci out from under the bed and quickly restore the temperature, so he paid attention to the situation under the bed that he had ignored.
After several failed attempts, Lu Xingxing discovered the reason.
Every time he wanted to pick up Song Ci, he could only move his arms. When he moved up to his body, it became extremely heavy.
As for Song Ci's head, it seemed as if it was grown on the floor, not moving at all.
"Zhang Dabing, throw me the flashlight!"
Lu Xingxing shouted outside the bed, and Zhang Wubing almost thought it was his brother Yan calling him. He startled and quickly threw the flashlight under the bed.
Lu Xingxing didn't have time to explain the current situation to the outside world. He quickly shone the flashlight at Song Ci's head, leaned forward and squinted his eyes to see clearly what was going on.
Upon closer inspection, Lu Xingxing felt that his own temperature was dropping rapidly, and the blood in his body seemed to have solidified.
In Song Ci's hair... there are many tiny golden threads scattered.
Lu Xingxing touched the golden threads and traced their direction through her hair bit by bit.
The golden threads finally extended towards the floor, disappeared into the cracks in the floor, and continued to go downwards.
It seems that the main body of the golden threads is under the first floor.
As he touched it, Lu Xingxing finally understood where the strange feeling in his heart came from.
These golden threads are just like the thin roots of plants spreading in the soil.
What is this plant...
Lu Xingxing raised his head and shone the flashlight in his mouth directly at the chrysanthemum bush above Song Ci's head.
Right in front of his eyes, those slender and beautiful petals stretched out little by little, shaking their bodies wildly and making tiny sounds.
Then, it blooms even more beautifully.
It was like a person stretching his waist, laughing at Lu Xingxing.
It seemed to be saying: Want to save him? What are you going to do? Trash.
Lu Xingxing had never known that plants could make sounds when they bloomed, and that the sounds were so horrifying.
He felt it was weird just looking at it.
After a brief moment of distraction, Lu Xingxing immediately adjusted his plan and shouted outside, "Song Ci can't be transported out for the time being. He's tied to the floor! Hurry and throw the quilt and clothes in for me."
Because those root-like golden threads fixed Song Ci's head firmly to the ground, Lu Xingxing didn't dare to act rashly, so he could only wrap the young master with thick clothes to prevent him from being frozen to death.
Lu Xingxing held his breath, his muscles stiffened, for fear that a tremor in his hand would hit Song Ci's head.
It was fine when he didn't know before, but after he found out, Lu Xingxing was extremely nervous. Even though the room was so cold, he broke out in a hot sweat.
The head is not only the center of the body, but also the seat of the soul.
Lu Xingxing didn’t know what those golden threads were, but he was sure of one thing—that thing was related to Song Ci’s soul and body.
He didn't know what would happen if the seemingly thin gold thread was broken, and he didn't dare to gamble.
Lu Xingxing carefully stuffed the quilt from under Song Ci, and wrapped Song Ci tightly like a cocoon with thick clothes. After making sure that Song Ci would not be frozen, he spared the energy to look up at the cluster of strange chrysanthemums.
He is not a man who likes romance, and he doesn't know much about flowers and plants, but he still has some common sense.
Winter should not be the season for chrysanthemums, and chrysanthemums will not bloom on anyone's bed.
Besides...chrysanthemums can't be so strange.
It was like a monster that had absorbed enough vitality, with a vitality far beyond the normal limit. Each slightly trembling petal seemed so ostentatious and wanton, as if it was above life and despised life.
Lu Xingxing looked serious. He reached out to touch the petals of the chrysanthemum. At the same time, he silently chanted a spell in his heart to mobilize the power lent to him by Ye Li.
A spark of fire soon burned at his fingertips, and the flames fiercely rushed towards the flowers, engulfing the chrysanthemums in an instant.
The originally beautiful petals danced wildly in the flames, like a fireman covered in flames struggling to survive, but soon turned into black ashes.
Lu Xingxing didn’t know if it was an illusion, he actually heard screams coming from the flames.
But when he listened more carefully, all he could hear was the sound of burning flames.
After all the petals were burned, the flames quickly went out.
The smell of burnt wood and roasted boards filled the air.
Lu Xingxing put his hand in front of Song Ci's face to prevent the falling ashes from hitting him.
Then he saw that after the flames, the place where the chrysanthemums were originally blooming had not only the scorched black color, but also large patches of floral patterns.
Even the most skilled craftsmen would find it difficult to carve such vivid and exquisite patterns, so lifelike that it seems as if there is really a bunch of chrysanthemums blooming there.
Lu Xingxing stared and stared, and suddenly found that his vision had changed.
——The pattern that should have been a dead object was actually shaking and rotating, and then a bit of tender yellow grew out from the stamen part of the pattern.
A faint fragrance wafts in the air.
Lu Xingxing was shocked.
He immediately looked at Song Ci subconsciously, but this look made his heart sink to the bottom.
Song Ci's already pale face became even more gray, and he began to age visibly, with his vitality rapidly fading away.
Lu Xingxing grabbed Song Ci's hand, pressed his meridians and began to recite a spell silently, trying his best to restore Song Ci's life.
However, what Lu Xingxing didn't know was that Ye Li was the god in charge of death. His power was naturally closely related to death and was filled with a gloomy and ghostly aura that was different from that of the human world.
Apart from someone like Yan Shixun who was born with an evil spirit in his bones, no other living person could take on the power of Ye Li.
Therefore, before leaving, Ye Li restricted the power he lent to Lu Xingxing so that it could be used by Lu Xingxing, a mortal.
But this will inevitably mean that its power will be greatly reduced.
Unlike the situation when Ye Li entrusted all his power to Yan Shixun, Lu Xingxing was unable to truly master the power that Ye Li temporarily lent him, nor could he exert the full effect of the power.
He could only grit his teeth and put all his strength into saving Song Ci regardless of the consequences.
Unlike Nan Tian who was unconscious on the bed but still full of yang energy, Song Ci's vitality and yang energy were rapidly declining as the chrysanthemums bloomed.
In just a moment, the chrysanthemums on the bed sprouted and bloomed again, one after another, in clusters, so beautiful.
In contrast, Song Ci's face looked more and more like a corpse in a funeral home.
Lu Xingxing has never been a master and has no experience of being independent.
He never made any decision on his own.
Even after meeting Yan Shixun, Lu Xingxing slowly began to come into contact with real ghosts and gods, but most of the time he just did whatever Yan Shixun said, or his master made the decisions and he was only responsible to obey.
——And often only listens half of what is said.
Until now, looking at Song Ci's increasingly lifeless face, Lu Xingxing's heart was in a panic and she realized how difficult it was to make a decision.
Being able to stand on one's own is far from being as easy as he imagined.
He is responsible for protecting everyone's life, so every decision he makes concerns everyone's life.
If he makes a wrong decision, then if someone gets hurt or even dies, it will all be his responsibility.
It was so heavy that Lu Xingxing couldn’t breathe.
If Song Ci really had an accident... he would be the indirect murderer of Song Ci.
Lu Xingxing never expected that the chrysanthemum was actually absorbing Song Ci's vitality. If this was the case, then the root-like golden threads on Song Ci's head could be explained.
——Those are the roots of chrysanthemum.
It took Song Ci as the soil to take root, wantonly absorbing Song Ci's vitality to nourish itself. And Lu Xingxing's action of burning all the chrysanthemums with fire made the chrysanthemums need more vitality to bloom again.
Therefore, Song Ci's situation is even worse than before.
Zhang Wubing and Zhao Zhen couldn't see what was happening under the bed, so they could only wait anxiously for Lu Xingxing.
Fortunately, Lu Xingxing discovered it in time. As soon as Song Ci showed signs of decline, he took action immediately and used his own strength to fill the gap left by Song Ci, stabilizing his life.
However, when Song Ci's brows, which were subconsciously furrowed because of pain, slowly relaxed, his pale complexion gradually improved, and his cheeks became rosy and warm again, Lu Xingxing seemed to have lost his strength and suddenly fell backwards to the ground.
He stared at the bunch of chrysanthemums facing Song Ci, and was so angry that he wanted to reach out and tear those beautiful flowers into pieces.
As if sensing Lu Xingxing's emotions, the chrysanthemums shook their petals to show off, as if to say proudly: What's the point of hating me? You still can't kill me.
Lu Xingxing gritted his teeth.
He took a last look at Song Ci, whose breathing was gradually calming down, and reached out to check Song Ci's temperature. After confirming that the other party's condition had improved and stabilized, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he supported himself on the floor with his limp hands and crawled out from under the bed tremblingly.
Zhao Zhen, who was guarding the bed, had already prepared to pick up Song Ci, but he didn't expect that it was Lu Xingxing who came out.
Zhao Zhen suddenly bent down suspiciously, lowered his body and looked under the bed: "Where's Song Ci? Why did you come out?"
Lu Xingxing’s face darkened and he almost wanted to curse.
Brother, do you know what kind of life I just went through? It almost drained me dry. Now my meridians are empty, and my hands and feet are so weak that I have no strength at all.
You didn't even bother to show concern for me, but you actually questioned me? Are we still friends?
However, Lu Xingxing was so weak that he didn't even have the energy to argue.
He rolled his eyes at Zhao Zhen gracefully and forcefully, then reached out to Zhang Wubing: "Hurry up and give me a hand, it's not easy for me to climb."
Zhang Wubing passed his arms under Lu Xingxing's armpits and half dragged and half hugged him up from under the bed.
Lu Xingxing didn't care that he was covered in dust, and quickly dragged his weak legs to where his backpack was. With trembling hands, he took out two pieces of chocolate from it and stuffed them into his mouth greedily, as eagerly as if he hadn't eaten for hundreds of years.
Zhao Zhen was puzzled, but seeing that Lu Xingxing was indeed in bad condition, he did not say anything. Instead, he looked at Lu Xingxing worriedly, then looked under the bed worriedly, wanting to see what was going on with Song Ci.
After eating two pieces of chocolate, and with the support of the strength lent by Ye Li, Lu Xingxing finally recovered.
"Song Ci is under the bed and cannot be moved."
Lu Xingxing looked at Zhao Zhen and said seriously, "The chrysanthemum under the bed is connected to Song Ci, and I can't fix it. I tried just now, but I almost hurt Song Ci... I'm afraid I can only wait for Brother Yan to come back."
"So Song Ci is just lying there all the time?"
Zhao Zhen was surprised: "It's so cold!"
Lu Xingxing shook her head: "Do you think I don't want to? The roots of the chrysanthemums have extended through Song Ci's head and are probably already under the wooden planks on the first floor. If you want to see what's going on, you need to go downstairs and check."
"But I'm alone now, I can't leave you guys behind."
Lu Xingxing had never looked so serious before.
The fact that Song Ci almost died because of his decision just now made him truly feel what responsibility is.
And the heavy pressure that corresponds to the responsibility.
Every decision must be made with care, or it may harm the lives you want to protect.
At this moment, Lu Xingxing suddenly understood Yan Shixun a little.
Brother Yan has always stood in front of everyone, resisting the threat of death for everyone and protecting them as they move forward.
He is the sky that cannot fall, and he is the man who cannot make mistakes.
Lu Xingxing didn’t know how Yan Shixun had managed to hold on for so many years. He himself found just these few short hours difficult. But he heard from his master that after the death of Master Chengyun, Yan Shixun had left home and traveled all over the country.
For so many years, Yan Shixun has made decisions alone to protect lives and drive away ghosts...
Lu Xingxing was stunned for two seconds, and his admiration for Yan Shixun reached its peak.
He calmed himself down and spoke to Zhao Zhen again: "I can't be sure if this is a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. If you are attacked while I am out investigating, I won't be able to get back in time to protect you. So..."
Lu Xingxing turned around and looked at the bed, gritted his teeth and said his decision: "Song Ci can only lie here for now, and wait for Brother Yan and the others to come back before discussing it."
"But don't worry, I have stabilized Song Ci's vital signs. He will be fine."
Lu Xingxing looked at Zhao Zhen's face that was unable to hide his concern, and said, "Nantian won't wake up anyway, so we have to leave someone here to watch over them. Otherwise, Zhao Zhen, you should stay here to watch over them."
Zhao Zhen glanced at Zhang Wubing, who understood the emotion in his eyes and nodded, "Don't worry, you're right, there are so many of us, we have hands and feet, we can always protect ourselves."
"Just stay here with peace of mind, otherwise we will also have to worry about the situation of Song Ci and Nan Tian."
Zhao Zhen responded with a smile, then crouched down and slid under the bed to check on Song Ci's condition.
Lu Xingxing turned back seriously and said to Zhang Wubing, "Dabing, we need to check the bottoms of the beds in all the rooms, as well as all the wooden boards, to see if there are chrysanthemums under other beds, and if there are chrysanthemum patterns on the wooden boards."
The scene of the chrysanthemum blooming after absorbing Song Ci's life just now really scared Lu Xingxing, and he didn't dare to be negligent at all.
He also suddenly realized that the abnormality in Changshou Village might be related to chrysanthemums.
If the chrysanthemums in the small wooden building are not checked out one by one and stopped before they attack other people, I am afraid that more people will become like Song Ci.
What’s even more terrifying is that once the chrysanthemum takes root in someone, it will be connected to that person’s life. All attacks on the chrysanthemum will become attacks on the person, accelerating the person’s decline and death.
This made Lu Xingxing feel helpless and she didn't dare to touch the bunch of chrysanthemums above Song Ci's head.
And if everyone becomes like this, there will be no protection at all.
Not only that, Lu Xingxing also found the same black ashes under the bed.
What does this mean?
This means that before his aunt took action, some of the rotten corpses were hiding under the bed, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Even more so, the inexplicable appearance of Song Ci under the bed might be the work of those rotten corpses.
The danger of the small wooden building was far beyond Lu Xingxing's original imagination.
Lu Xingxing is young and has not experienced much, but he is also smart.
——It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know how to do it. He can just watch what his elders do and then draw a cat based on the tiger.
Lu Xingxing put himself in Yan Shixun's position and used the behavior of Yan Shixun that he had seen in the past to try to figure out what Yan Shixun would do if he were here now.
And with Yan Shixun's personality...
Of course, eradicate all dangers at the source!
Wouldn't it be safe if the chrysanthemums were uprooted from the beginning?
Lu Xingxing quickly told Zhang Wubing what he saw under the bed and his own guesses.
Zhang Wubing felt dizzy after listening to this and felt that his thoughts were all confused by Lu Xingxing.
In the past, he was only responsible for clinging to his brother Yan. He did whatever his brother Yan said and only needed to execute, not make any decisions.
"Okay, I kind of understand."
When Lu Xingxing stopped talking, Zhang Wubing was almost crying: "I'll go upstairs and ask everyone to check if there are any chrysanthemums. But Lu Xingxing..."
Zhang Wubing emphasized the last few words.
Lu Xingxing: “? What?”
He shook his head happily: "Do you think I'm very smart? You admire me very much and are willing to admit that I'm better than you?"
Zhang Wubing roared: "Who do you care about calling me a big disease? Wubing, Wubing, Wubing! Don't change other people's names randomly!"
Lu Xingxing: "??? Brother Yan called you, why didn't you see me? Are you angry?"
Zhang Wubi said confidently: "That's my dad, right? It's normal for my dad to call me anything."
“…………”
Lu Xingxing was speechless: "I suspect you are targeting me, Zhang Dabing."
But the tense atmosphere in the room, which was originally so tense that it seemed about to break, was eased.
Even Zhao Zhen, who was lying under the bed, tucked in Song Ci's thick clothes, wrapping him tightly, with a smile on his face.
Zhang Wubing snorted, but the look he gave Lu Xingxing was filled with an unstoppable smile.
He suddenly felt that Lu Xingxing was not an unreliable person...
After hearing what Zhang Wubing said, everyone in the program crew quickly took action.
The beds in every room were turned upside down and every wooden panel was carefully examined.
After such a thorough carpet search, everyone soon made a discovery.
——Under the bed boards in other rooms, there were actually blooming chrysanthemums!
The back panel is painted with lifelike patterns, and in the center of the patterns, the tender yellow stamens are tremblingly opening, looking so harmless and pitiful.
But whenever they thought of what happened to Song Ci, they felt creepy when they looked at the chrysanthemum.
When they are not aware of the danger, the danger is always lurking around them...
If Zhao Zhen had not discovered that Song Ci was absent and Lu Xingxing had not discovered the secret of the chrysanthemum and the pattern, then the people who were unaware of the danger would have lost their lives while lying defenselessly in bed.
Every bed was turned over so that nothing could be hidden under it.
Everyone was still frightened, and looked at the cabinet with suspicion, fearing that there were chrysanthemums hidden inside.
Even the most carefree person would become a little neurotic at this moment, repeatedly looking through every corner where things could be hidden, opening and closing the cabinets.
However, no matter how careful you are, you cannot completely avoid the danger from the patterns.
After checking, everyone discovered that every wooden board in the entire wooden building was engraved with patterns!
This level of density is like a dragnet set up in advance, leaving them with nowhere to escape.
“There is definitely something wrong with the people in the longevity village.”
Lu Xingxing's face turned pale: "This is the house they deliberately arranged for us to stay in. They are preparing to kill us."
People are in panic.
Fortunately, this was not the first time that the program crew encountered danger, so although everyone was afraid, they did not break down or do anything extreme.
After a brief panic, everyone picked up anything that could be used as a weapon, guarded every door and window, and stared at the wooden boards carved with patterns.
They stood back to back, afraid that some ghost would suddenly attack them from behind where they couldn't see.
When checking the patterns, they found a lot of black ash in every corner. According to Lu Xingxing, these were the ashes left after the corpses died.
In other words...those things had been staring at them in the dark.
Everyone was shocked and their hands and feet were cold.
However, although they were uneasy, they still firmly protected themselves and others.
The audience who heard a few words from the main screen felt terrible.
[It’s over, my wardrobe and wallpaper are all covered with patterns, and I’m starting to get scared now.]
[I also……]
[Fuck, is there a ghost hiding in my closet?]
[There is a huge gap under my bed! ! I don’t dare to lie down in bed now, because I am afraid there is something under the bed waiting for me to fall asleep and come out to kill me.]
[I am actually afraid that the flowers I grow at home will also eat people.]
[I'm staring at the floral wallpaper in my house... I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.]
Lu Xingxing was also not planning to sleep.
He sat on the sofa in the living room with his arms and legs stretched out, ready for battle.
Determination and sadness flashed in Lu Xingxing's eyes.
No, no one else can get hurt!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com