The village chief looked solemn and made a prompt decision. He quickly selected several young and strong men from the villagers who were usually brave and careful, and ordered them to go and carefully investigate the conditions of the bodies.
Although these selected villagers were afraid, they still gritted their teeth and approached the corpses cautiously.
They endured the unbearable stench and examined them one by one.
Soon, the villagers who had been investigating came back and reported the situation to the village chief.
It turned out that the causes of death of these corpses were different. Some were pale and thin, with skin and bones showing, obviously starved to death. The sunken eye sockets seemed to be telling of the suffering they had endured in their lives; while others had obvious knife wounds on their bodies, and it was obvious that they were killed by a single knife. Their deaths were miserable, and all the property around the dead had been stolen, and their clothes were in a mess.
After hearing the report, the village chief clenched his fists and his face became terribly gloomy.
"It seems like there's another group of bandits here killing and robbing people!" he said hatefully, gritting his teeth.
When everyone heard that there might be another group of vicious bandits killing and robbing nearby, they became even more worried.
Everyone looked at each other, with deep worry and fear in their eyes.
"These people won't come to rob us, right?" A timid villager couldn't help but say in a trembling voice. His voice seemed particularly abrupt in the silent atmosphere, but it also expressed what everyone was most worried about.
For a moment, an oppressive atmosphere filled the crowd, as if the invisible bandits would jump out from all directions at any time and take away their hard-earned property and even their lives.
"What are you afraid of? There are so many of us, why should we be afraid of these bandits!" Just when everyone was full of worries, Su Wenjun suddenly stood up. He tightly grasped the shining big knife in his hand, raised the knife high, swung it hard, and said loudly with an indifferent look on his face.
The big knife reflected a dazzling light under the sunlight, as if bringing a glimmer of hope and confidence to everyone.
Seeing this, the young people in the village were also infected by Su Wenjun's momentum. They were ready to fight, their faces full of excitement, and they all looked like newborn calves who were not afraid of tigers.
"Yes, we are not afraid. If these bandits come in pairs, we will kill them in pairs until they are all killed!" A young and strong man waved the wooden stick in his hand and shouted at the top of his voice.
His eyes were wide open, burning with anger and fearlessness, as if the gangsters were standing right in front of him and he was ready to fight them at any time.
The other young people also echoed, "That's right, there are so many of us, united, how can we be afraid of them!"
"Hmph, if they dare to provoke us, we will make sure they never return!"
The shouts of the crowd rose one after another, echoing in the empty wilderness.
The haze of fear that had originally shrouded everyone's heads seemed to dissipate a little with these passionate words.
Yao Qingshuang looked at the tragic scene in front of her with a serious expression. The corpses were scattered all over the ground, lifeless. The scene was unbearable to look at.
A pungent and unpleasant smell permeated the air, like an invisible, foul-smelling net that tightly enveloped the area.
With every breath, the disgusting smell would go straight into the nostrils, making people almost faint.
The terrible rumors she had heard before couldn't help but emerge in her mind. In ancient times, medical conditions were extremely limited. Once a plague broke out, it would almost be a catastrophe.
If these corpses on the ground were left exposed and no one buried them, a terrible plague would likely breed in this harsh environment over time.
At that time, the plague was like the scythe of the god of death, ruthlessly reaping people's lives.
There are almost no effective treatments. Once infected, one can only leave it to fate, watching his or her body being eroded by the disease bit by bit, and eventually dying in endless pain.
At this moment, the people of Sujia Village are still nearby. If the plague really breaks out because of these corpses and the villagers are accidentally infected, it would be very bad.
Thinking of this, Yao Qingshuang frowned even more tightly, her heart filled with worry and anxiety.
Yao Qingshuang anxiously sought out the village chief and Doctor Bai and quickly told them the weight of her doubts. "Village chief, Doctor Bai, I'm worried that if these bodies are left unattended, there's a high possibility of a plague."
When the village chief and Doctor Bai heard this, their faces turned pale. They looked at each other and saw deep fear in each other's eyes.
"Plague..." the village chief muttered to himself, his voice filled with endless fear.
Doctor Bai also looked terrified. He had been practicing medicine for many years and knew how terrible the plague was.
In ancient times, medical conditions were very backward. Faced with the plague, people were often helpless and could only watch patients die in pain one by one.
The village chief's eyes became somewhat empty, as if lost in distant memories. He slowly spoke, "Xinchuan County 40 years ago was truly a devastating disaster. Because of a sudden plague, the entire county was instantly plunged into despair.
The plague was so fierce that no one could resist it. People fell one after another, and the streets and alleys were filled with the bodies of the sick and dead, but no one dared to collect them.
At this point, the village chief's body trembled slightly, as he seemed to see the tragic scene again: "In the end, nine out of ten generations are empty, the entire city is deserted. The once bustling Xinchuan County has become dead silent under the ravages of the plague, leaving only empty houses and a pervasive atmosphere of despair."
Now, the older generation in the village still looks scared whenever they mention the catastrophe that happened in Xinchuan County.
That deep fear seemed to have been engraved in their bones. Even after so many years, they still couldn't help shivering whenever they thought about it. It was a tragic history that no one wanted to recall, but could never forget.
The village chief and Doctor Bai were filled with worry at this moment. They knew that the crisis hidden by the corpses all over the ground was likely to cause their village to repeat the mistakes of Xinchuan County. How could they not be afraid?
The village chief looked at the bodies strewn across the road, his face filled with deep worry. He sighed helplessly and asked in a heavy voice, "But there are so many bodies on the road, we can't bury them all."
His eyes slowly swept over the corpses, full of helplessness and anxiety.
The number of corpses along the way was beyond imagination. They were densely packed and stretched for a long distance. It was roughly estimated that there were tens of thousands of them.
The people of Sujia Village still had to hurry on their way, so how could they have the time and energy to stop and bury these bodies one by one?
This is really a headache-inducing yet unsolvable problem.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
