Chapter 45 Fungal Remains Frenzy 6 "Brother Nanmen, I'm so scared."...
The pickup truck, carrying the wealthy and willful Nanmenjue, sped along the national highway.
Zhang Zhi was, after all, just a little girl. Having just gone through so much and returned to the side of someone she trusted, she was so tired that she fell asleep in Nanmen Jue's arms. Nanmen Jue adjusted his position and let her rest her head on his lap.
Lu Yunxiao's gaze fell on the little girl's peaceful sleeping face. "Why would she trust you so much? Could it be that..." The quest given by the NPC was one you accepted.
He suddenly remembered Nanmen Jue's obsession with "authenticity" and didn't say it aloud.
"Because I'm good-looking, I guess." Nanmen Jue leaned against the car, playing with a scalpel, his voice languid.
These words left everyone speechless. Guan Junren's face immediately darkened, and he lowered his head.
Ji Chengying nodded in agreement.
Lu Yunxiao glanced at Nanmen Jue's expression and, sensing that she didn't seem to be angry, asked again, "Is your mission to bring her to the Forge Base?"
“No, my mission is the quarantine facility,” Nanmenjue said frankly.
The group was surprised, and Deng Erhuai said, "I thought you had changed your mind."
Lu Yunxiao asked, "Then why go to the Furnace Base?"
As expected, these reincarnators didn't believe that the so-called NPCs were actually living people, and that these reincarnation worlds weren't just data. In their eyes, Zhang Zhi was just a mission target. No matter what she said, they wouldn't believe that she only wanted to take her to Ningde Town.
These people are already considered good people, especially compared to all the villains in her first world. They even take care of newcomers.
But they just won't believe it.
An indescribable sense of irritation welled up inside Nanmen Jue. He lowered his eyes, remained silent, and spun the scalpel between his fingers rapidly.
Seeing that she didn't answer, and that no one else could force her, the atmosphere fell silent again, and Lu Yunxiao's attention shifted to the knife in her hand.
"Is this... also a prop?"
“This is my rib.”
Everyone: "?"
What did they hear?
Even Deng Erhuai, who was driving, couldn't help but look back. The double-headed sword in Nanmen Jue's hand was as white as jade, with a cold glint in its eyes. It was clearly not an ordinary weapon.
Ji Chengying's tone changed: "Ribs?! Sister Deng, do all reincarnators have to use their own parts to make weapons?"
Deng Erhuai: "...No, it's not necessary. This is the first time I've seen someone use their own...ribs as weapons."
Nanmen Jue noticed that everyone's gaze towards him had changed again.
Can it remain unchanged? Since arriving in this world and meeting Nanmen Jue, the group's emotions have been on a rollercoaster. Just when they finally felt that she wasn't so much like a fierce madman, she turned around and started playing with her own ribs.
This isn't just a matter of having some mental issues; it's something beyond ordinary people's comprehension. In any case, people will keep their distance and avoid them.
They had nothing to say, and Nanmen Jue had even less to say. Not to mention that she was in a bad mood, she was too lazy to even utter nonsense. Even when she was in a good mood, she wasn't very good at interacting with people normally. In the previous world, she was able to get along with Zhang Chuxi entirely because Zhang Chuxi tolerated her. She herself knew that her personality wasn't very likable.
Moreover, given the current complex situation.
"Don't worry, I won't stay with you for long." Looking at the rolling plains in the distance, Nanmen Jue said in a calm tone, "Children can't go far. Once we find a means of transportation, I'll take Zhang Zhi away."
Lu Yunxiao hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed softly.
...
Nanmen Jue hadn't expected that he would encounter nothing along the way except for a few scattered parasites, until dusk when he finally passed by an abandoned gas station.
Deng Erhuai checked the oil pump and shook his head at the others.
This world has been in the apocalypse for three years, and most of the resources that are openly available have been looted, let alone hard currency like oil.
Nanmen Jue didn't even look in that direction. She took Xiao Zhangzhi's hand and pushed open the dusty door of the rest station.
A cloud of dust swept over them in silence. Before anyone else could react, the scalpel in Nanmen Jue's hand had already flown out. A dozen meters away, the head of a parasite was severed cleanly. The scalpel then returned to his hand.
If they didn't know what the knife was made of, they would have praised it as really cool. But now that they know, they can't bring themselves to say anything, leaving them with a feeling of unease.
This is a fairly large rest stop, with not only restrooms and a supermarket, but also an indoor food street. The parasite that Nanmen Jue just killed was behind a counter, and the words "soy sauce sesame cake" could be vaguely seen on the desolate and dilapidated sign. You can imagine how lively this place would be in peacetime.
There were a few fungal filaments on the ground, not too many. Just as Lu Yunxiao was about to go forward to clean them up, Nanmen Jue stepped right over them.
She used some force, and the mycelium burst under her feet like a shattered ketchup bottle. Guan Junren swallowed hard behind her.
Nanmen Jue looked down at the little girl he was holding hands with, "Are you scared?"
The girl shook her head, looked up at her, and gave her a sweet smile.
Nanmenjue vaguely felt that something was wrong. A seven or eight-year-old girl had suddenly experienced a change, but instead of crying or making a fuss, she smiled normally. However, she remembered that the priest had emphasized that this girl was unusual, so she took it as normal.
If nothing unexpected happens, this place will become our shelter for the night. Most of the group are experienced reincarnators, so without much explanation, they spontaneously disperse to clear the area and search for supplies. Nanmen Jue glanced back and saw that Lu Yunxiao was with Guan Junren and Deng Erhuai was protecting Ji Chengying. The two weakest members of the group were well taken care of.
Zhang Zhi turned around and looked back. "Brother, what are you looking at?"
"Keep an eye on him," Nanmen Jue said.
Zhang Zhi glanced back again, her round eyes reflecting the figures of the group. "Are they good people?"
Nanmen Jue was a little surprised, "Aren't they?"
The girl pursed her lips, and from Nanmen Jue's perspective, her cheeks puffed out, looking round and cute.
“Only Brother Nanmen is a good person.” Zhang Zhi pressed her leg even closer to Nanmen Jue’s and gripped her hand tightly, like a little monkey clinging to a banana vine, as if afraid that she would lose her.
Nanmen Jue crouched down, looking directly into her eyes. "What did they do to you?"
Zhang Zhi lowered her head, neither shaking her head nor nodding.
Nanmen Jue's heart sank. Even though she felt from their brief encounter that Deng Erhuai and the others wouldn't do anything to a little girl, the premise was that Zhang Zhi was just an ordinary little girl. Now that everyone knew she was the target, wouldn't the reincarnators who didn't treat the natives as human beings do something?
Nanmen Jue suddenly stood up, intending to go directly to ask those people, but her resolute action caused Zhang Zhi to misunderstand. She burst into tears and hugged Nanmen Jue's leg while crying.
"They didn't do anything. I'm sorry, brother. I didn't want to lie. Please don't abandon me..."
Nanmen Jue frowned, then squatted down again, displaying a patience beyond her own expectations, and asked gently, "What's wrong?"
The girl bit her lower lip with her small, pearly teeth, looking at her timidly.
“Zhang Zhi, if you trust your father, or if you truly have the ability to sense people’s hearts, then you should know that you can trust me,” Nanmen Jue said. “You need to tell me your problems so I can solve them; otherwise, do you expect a child like yourself to handle your issues?”
The girl hesitated, her eyes flickering as she lowered them. Nanmen Jue thought the talks had broken down. She didn't want to use coercion to force a child, so she decided to put it aside for now. Unexpectedly, just as she was about to stand up, the girl thought she was disappointed and blurted out anxiously.
"It's because they did nothing!"
Nanmen Jue paused, then squatted back down and looked at her intently.
“They did nothing, and they didn’t want to do anything. Brother, you risked your life to go back to the church to save others, and they didn’t help you at all. They are clearly very capable, much more capable than Sister Lili and the others, but Sister Lili just died right in front of them, and not a single one of them went to save her.”
The girl spoke in a childish, tearful voice, without hatred, only the purest confusion and sadness. She raised the back of her hand to wipe away her tears.
"They don't want to save people, and they don't want you to save people, I feel, I feel,"
Nanmen Jue's tone softened, and his gaze lost its sharpness. "Feelings?"
"I felt like they didn't treat Sister Lili and the others as human beings, nor did they treat me as a human being," the girl said in a soft voice. "I was afraid of their eyes."
Nanmen Jue fell into a long silence.
She couldn't explain this to a little girl because the girl was right.
She wanted to say that they weren't bad people, they were just... just? In the eyes of these natives, even if the reincarnators weren't bad people, they were still people who were high and mighty and indifferent to their lives and deaths.
She couldn't change the deeply ingrained concepts that the main god had implanted in everyone. She could only do her best. She wouldn't treat the natives as lifeless programs like other reincarnators, but... that was all she could do.
In a moment of slight surprise, a small body nestled into Nanmen Jue's arms. It was soft and delicate, and with a gentle pull, the soul bound within that body would vanish with the wind.
"Brother Nanmen, I'm so scared." The girl cried, burying her wet face in the crook of her neck. "I want my daddy..."
Nanmen Jue patted her heaving back awkwardly, "It's alright, I'm here."
“Dad said that people change. Will you change too?” Zhang Zhi straightened up, looking timidly at Nanmen Jue. “You and they are companions. One day you will become like them... looking at me with those eyes?”
Nanmen Jue opened his lips, his voice dry, "I don't know how."
Others may not know the truth, but she does. She can't imagine herself becoming like Zhu Wenjie, Xu Yang, or Shan Peng. She can't accept a version of herself that doesn't treat people like human beings. If that day ever comes...
“If one day I really change, then tell me.” Nanmen Jue said this not to Zhang Zhi, but to the crow on her shoulder. However, she was still looking at Zhang Zhi, knowing that the crow could understand. “I will not accept that version of myself. I will deal with myself when the time comes.”
A glimmer of light appeared in the girl's timid eyes. She cautiously extended a finger, and Nanmen Jue grasped it.
“Let’s go,” Nanmen Jue said, noticing the girl trembling slightly, clearly still shaken by fear. She added, “I won’t let them take you away.”
These words reassured the little girl, and Zhang Zhi's trembling subsided. She held Nanmen Jue's hand tightly, acting as a quiet little ornament.
This service area had clearly been ransacked several times. Not only were all the supplies gone, but there were also very few parasites left. Nanmen Jue dealt with it without any trouble. He led Zhang Zhi deeper and deeper into the area, and when they parted the tattered curtain, there was a staircase leading downwards. The air suddenly became a bit chilly.
Cold storage?
Nanmen Jue sniffed, noticing a faint smell of decay in the air. She considered turning away, but after thinking for a moment, she went downstairs anyway.
Surprisingly, there was still electricity in the basement. Several thin incandescent bulbs flickered, making the entire corridor appear even more eerie and ominous. Sure enough, at the end of the corridor, there was a cold storage door.
The person who left seemed to be in a hurry, and didn't lock the gate, only bolted it. Nanmen Jue leaned in to listen, and raised an eyebrow slightly.
Zhang Zhi asked softly, "Brother, is there anything inside?"
"Yes, there are many good things."
Zhang Zhi looked confused, but Nanmen Jue just smiled. To the reincarnators, weren't parasites a good thing? They were all just gleaming points.
Nanmen Jue released the girl's hand, grabbed the crow from her shoulder and stuffed it into her arms, pointing to a corner a little further away, "Go and stay over there. If there's any danger, shout for me, understand?"
She gave the crow a warning look, making it clear to whom she was referring to.
The crow rolled its eyes slightly and obediently nestled in the girl's hand.
Zhang Zhi instinctively hugged the crow in her hands, her eyes filled with terror, but since Nanmen Jue had spoken, she did not argue and walked towards the corner, looking back every step of the way.
Nanmen Jue smiled reassuringly at her and waved, then she turned around and her expression changed instantly.
"I was just worried about what to do with the five thousand points for those two people after taking Zhang Zhi away," Nanmen Jue muttered. "Speaking of which, how many points is a parasite again? I didn't remember."
As she spoke, she opened the cold storage door with one hand and twirled a scalpel in the other. A rush of cold air hit her face. Nanmen Jue and the parasites filling the cold storage met her gaze, their smiles provocative and arrogant.
"Surprise."
With Nanmen Jue's strength, dealing with these parasites was like cutting melons and vegetables. She didn't move, but stood guard at the door with a knife. The parasites swarmed in, and she killed them one by one with a knife. However, she didn't kill them, but cut the ligaments in their legs, rendering them unable to move.
Soon, a horrifying mountain of corpses piled up in front of the cold storage. They wriggled and roared, raising their skeletal faces toward Nanmenjue, their mycelium spreading outwards.
However, because the energy that humans can provide is limited, these mycelia cannot grow too long no matter how hard they try, and therefore do not pose any threat.
Nanmen Jue crouched down and stared at the parasite that was being pressed beneath her, or rather, she was staring at it from the other's side, because the other's eye sockets were empty, with only the mycelium growing out of them trembling and swaying.
"It's really an eyesore," Nanmen Jue said casually.
Suddenly, Zhang Zhi, who had been left outside, screamed, "Brother Nanmen!"
Nanmen Jue was careful about the distance; at this distance, the sounds from the other side wouldn't escape her ears. She didn't hear anything, but her eyes sharpened, and she flashed out almost instantly, appearing in front of Zhang Zhi.
Zhang Zhi immediately threw herself into her arms. Nanmen Jue looked up at the crow that had flown back to her shoulder, and the crow gave her an innocent look.
It seems everything is alright.
Nanmen Jue's tense jaw relaxed slightly, and he casually patted the little head in his arms. "What's wrong?"
“I sensed a lot of malice.” Zhang Zhi trembled as she huddled in her arms. “It seems like there are a lot of bad people.”
Nanmen Jue looked around. The incandescent lights were still flickering, and apart from the roaring sounds coming from the cold storage, there was no one around.
"Where?"
"Upstairs," Zhang Zhi said softly.
Nanmen Jue realized the problem. She originally thought that Zhang Zhi's special ability was to perceive people's inner emotions, but if that was all, why would Zhang Jinghe protect her so tightly? And why did she become the target of the Reincarnators' missions?
Seeing that she could sense the situation upstairs even from a floor away, she suddenly realized the importance Zhang Zhi might play.
She pursed her lips, patted Zhang Zhi's head reassuringly, then took her hand and led her upstairs.
Zhang Zhi was very scared when she was alone, but when Nanmen Jue led her towards the source of her fear, she was less afraid.
Nanmen Jue returned to the first floor, walked through the snack street, and saw Deng Erhuai and others confronting a large group of people. Although they were still some distance away, Nanmen Jue could see a line of purple characters floating above the head of the leader on the other side.
Wei Chongru, entropy ashes.
The Reincarnator, and another one of Entropy Ash.
Because of Zhu Wenjie and Shan Peng, Nanmen Jue now has a very bad impression of the Entropy guild. She curled her lips and strode over with Zhang Zhi.
If you get closer, you can hear Deng Erhuai speaking.
"It's not that I don't want to believe you, but your people just tried to kill me, and I simply can't trust you right now."
Wei Chongru said helplessly, "I know nothing about this matter, nor do I know the Shan Peng you mentioned. I only know that we are partners. It is inappropriate for you to point a gun at me like this."
"I need to report this to our leader. As for the cooperative relationship, we can discuss that after we leave here," Deng Erhuai said coldly.
There were too many indigenous people here, and they didn't speak clearly. Wei Chongru's expression became even more helpless. Just as he was about to speak, his pupils suddenly contracted.
He suddenly raised his head and stared straight at Nanmen Jue as she approached, or rather, at the top of her head.
He suddenly stammered, "South...South Gate...?"
Seeing this, how could Deng Erhuai and the others not know who had come? The moment they realized that Nanmen Jue was coming, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Nanmen Jue was a dangerous red-named individual, her arrival still brought a strange sense of security, as if they had subconsciously trusted Nanmen Jue more than the "partner" in front of them who was leading a group of people.
Compared to Wei Chongru's utter shock, Ji Chengying's expression as she turned around was lively and cheerful. "Brother Nanmen, you're back!"
Wei Chongru then suddenly looked at Deng Erhuai, "You're cooperating with Nanmen Jue?"
His voice became shrill, and from his expression, it was clear that he had lost trust in Deng Erhuai and even suspected that she and Nanmen Jue had conspired to kill Shan Peng.
"Why would we need to cooperate to kill that thing?"
Nanmen Jue came into view, a smile on his lips and a gentle tone, but the words he uttered were truly vicious.
Wei Chongru's face darkened. He took a step back, and the men behind him all raised their guns, pointing them at the man in front of him.
“Since he is Nanmen Jue’s collaborator, everyone has the right to kill him. Deng Erhuai, I will explain the situation to your boss after I leave.”
Deng Erhuai and the others became tense. With so many guns pointed at them at the same time, there was no way they could escape unscathed.
Deng Erhuai gritted her teeth. Even her best protective gear couldn't guarantee invulnerability, let alone others... In a flash, she had already prepared for the worst.
However, her vision suddenly went black as a figure blocked her way. She was startled and stared at the familiar figure in the suit with mixed feelings.
Nanmen Jue stared into Wei Chongru's eyes, unafraid of the gun pointed at his heart, and leaned forward with a smile, almost touching his nose.
"Your logic is flawed. Why kill people who cooperate with Nanmen Jue? If you're going to kill someone, kill Nanmen Jue."
Wei Chongru's pupils suddenly contracted.
They were so close that he suspected he could touch her red lips if he moved even slightly.
His gun was pointed at Nanmen Jue's heart. He knew that firing the gun would either kill or cripple her, but she leaned forward, her dark phoenix eyes filled with a deep smile. He actually felt like he was the one being controlled.
Wei Chongru had certainly heard of Nanmen Jue's great name. He knew that this man was the number one wanted criminal in the Reincarnation Space, and he had also heard about the evil deeds he had committed. He thought that when he faced this man, he would not hesitate to rid the people of this scourge. Points, fame, respect... all rushed towards him like snowflakes.
Just one shot! Just the moment he presses the trigger!
He had reached a turning point in his destiny, but his fingers were stiff as if petrified. The moment his fingers twitched slightly, Nanmen Jue smiled, a smile of unparalleled elegance that dazzled his eyes at close range.
"Or are you saying you don't dare to kill Nanmen Jue?"
Nanmen Jue raised his hand and grasped it. Wei Chongru felt as if his hand was being coiled by a cold snake. Nanmen Jue's slender fingers squeezed between his fingers on the trigger, and his hand trembled involuntarily.
"Why are you shaking?" Nanmen Jue said gently. "Are you afraid, or do you not know how? I'll teach you."
She applied pressure with her fingertips, about to press his finger down to pull the trigger. Wei Chongru's eyes revealed undisguised terror, and he even tried to pull his hand away, but Nanmen Jue firmly held his hand, and it was about to be pressed down—
"You can't kill him."
In the silence, Lu Yunxiao's slightly hoarse voice rang out.
"His clothes are unusual. Be smart and don't do anything."
Upon hearing the sound, Nanmen Jue loosened his grip, and Wei Chongru immediately pulled his hand back forcefully. He even staggered back a few steps due to the excessive force, only managing to avoid falling to the ground thanks to his upgraded physical abilities.
He was panting heavily, his eyes filled with fear, and cold sweat trickled down his neck, which felt cool in the night breeze.
He suddenly shivered and looked in horror at the person whose face was pale, as if emitting a faint glow in the night.
Nanmen Jue chuckled softly, "Consider yourself lucky."
The gentle smile in her eyes vanished, leaving only a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth, a smile that was both sharp and mocking.
At that moment, Wei Chongru realized with absolute clarity that if he had actually fired the gun, he would have been the one to die.
Nanmen Jue had already turned around and said lazily to Lu Yunxiao, "You saved his life, but I don't know if it's a case of the farmer and the snake."
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