Chapter 421 The epidemic is rampant (19)
Xia Yuke and a few others took the old witch doctor to their cave. After all, it was the most secluded and difficult to get to. There was some food there, so they could hide there.
On the road, there were many people who had escaped from the tribe like them. Some orcs' eyes lit up when they saw the old witch doctor, and they wanted to come over to ask for some medicine, but at this time, Old Wu Yiyi's medicine was not enough, so how could he give it to them? They could only helplessly do nothing.
"You two should hide first. I'll bring out the antidote once I develop it. For now, just take good care of yourselves. There are many herbs in this forest. If you see any that look familiar, it's okay to drink a little. As long as it can suppress the disease, it'll be fine."
Those people were embarrassed, but still worried. The old witch doctor disappeared before their eyes, so they followed him, wanting to see where he lived now. If they were infected in the future, they could come and ask for help.
Cangwu was very impatient and wanted to chase them away, but the old witch doctor said, "It's okay, kid. Just let them follow. They'll feel more at ease knowing I'm there. After all, they are my people. I hope to quickly develop an antidote to save them."
There was sadness in the old witch doctor's eyes. It had only been half a month, and their tribe had already gone into decline. Even if they cured the remaining people, it would take at least a hundred years for them to return to their previous state.
Xia Yuke nodded, pulled on Cangwu's clothes, and signaled him not to worry about it.
The few of them moved quickly and arrived at the destination after walking for more than an hour. The familiar steep mountains came into view. Cangwu took Xia Yueke up first, and then brought the remaining two people up.
The people behind him determined where the witch doctor was and left quickly without doing anything.
Xia Yueke, who was inside, had never seen this cave before. Now he saw that the place was very big, enough for the four of them to live in. Fortunately, Xia Yueke had acted decisively before and brought most of the food, animal skins, medicines, etc. with him, which saved him from the situation of being reluctant to leave his things behind when escaping.
The entrance to the cave was rather narrow, only allowing two people to pass side by side. Once inside, a damp and decayed smell hit them in the face, as no one had ever lived there.
Walking in, the space suddenly opens up and the cave ceiling is uneven.
On the left side of the cave, there is a naturally formed stone bed with a rough surface and some dry moss mixed in the cracks of the stone.
There were a few irregularly shaped stones scattered around the stone bed, which could barely serve as simple stools.
In the right corner were piled up the supplies they had brought with them. Food was piled together in a mess, animal skins were casually placed aside, and medicines were wrapped in tattered cloth and placed on top.
The old witch doctor looked at the items above, quite surprised. "I didn't expect you to have so much prepared. Now we don't have to worry anymore. I will seize the next few days to study what went wrong and make an antidote as soon as possible. However, I just made the antidote for the plague, and I didn't expect these zombies to appear."
As the old witch doctor said this, he put his things aside, sat down on a stone, and sighed.
Lu Chunlai and Xia Yueke began to clean up the cave and threw out the weeds. Cangwu also came to help. After a while, a cave that was finally cleaner was cleaned up.
Cangwu spread three more animal skins on the ground and said, "We'll sleep on the ground tonight."
Xia Yueke nodded, thinking that he really had to sleep on the floor. The old witch doctor was already old, and if he continued to sleep on the floor, his old bones would probably fall apart, and how could he prepare the antidote?
But unexpectedly, Cangwu didn't mean that. He looked at Xia Yueke and said, "You sleep on the bed."
"Ah? Me? Let him sleep."
Xia Yueke could decline.
Cang Wu shook his head, staring at the old witch doctor. The old witch doctor suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and then quickly shook his head, "It's okay, good female, you should sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor. Anyway, there's a layer of animal skin, so it won't be a problem for people."
After hearing the witch doctor say this, Xia Yueke didn't know what to say. Cangwu was very satisfied anyway and happily cooked.
But Lu Chunlai was ordered around by him, and became a complete handyman.
After eating the hot meat cooked by Cangwu and a large plate of dried fruits, the few of them finally went to bed contentedly.
The next day, the old witch doctor started studying medicine early in the morning. Lu Chunlai brought him food and drinks. Sometimes the old witch doctor refused to eat, but Lu Chunlai forcefully avoided the potion in his hand, and the old witch doctor started to eat.
This cave was very secretive. Even after they had lived there for three or four days, the outside world remained quiet. Cangwu would sometimes go out of the cave to see what was going on outside.
But every time he came back, he had a heavy look on his face, which made people feel that the outside world was so terrifying.
Xia Yueke actually lived a short period of comfortable life during these few days, without having to worry about anything.
A few days ago, some orcs who were sick came to see the old witch doctor. The old witch doctor threw the herbs he had developed before out of the cave, and those people ran away with the herbs.
From then on, every time Cangwu came out of the cave, he would no longer pass through the place below, but would directly jump to the top of other trees.
The days of peace passed quickly until the afternoon of the fifth day, when the old witch doctor called the three people to his front with a heavy face.
"I need a certain medicinal ingredient and a zombie sample right now. Otherwise, I won't know if the medicine has any effect on zombies. So you have to bring me a zombie."
The old witch doctor also knew that this was a difficult situation and looked at them with a heavy face.
Xia Yueke was puzzled. "You still need another herb? But you didn't bring any herbs with you?"
The old witch doctor sighed softly, "The herbs I brought were only incomplete. Many of them have been used up. And the herb was destroyed by the zombies. It was trampled into pieces and can't be used anymore."
"Where is that medicinal herb? Should we go and pick it?" Lu Chunlai was very anxious and asked quickly.
The old witch doctor nodded, "Not far away, inside the dark forest."
"What does that herb look like? I'll go find it now!"
Lu Chunlai said anxiously.
The old witch doctor took out a dried leaf from his arms. The leaf was slender, with serrated edges and covered with dense white hairs. In the sunlight, one could vaguely see light golden lines flowing through the veins of the leaf.
"This is the leaf of that herb. The whole plant is about a foot tall, with a dark red stem that's tough and resilient. At the top blooms a fist-sized white flower with translucent petals and a deep purple stamen. It also emits a light, pine-like fragrance."
"This herb likes to grow in dark, damp places, usually taking root next to rotten trees or moss-covered rocks. There are many such environments deep in the Dark Forest, but you must be extremely careful when you go there. Besides zombies, there are many unknown dangers."
Xia Yuke nodded. This shouldn't be difficult. The main problem was dealing with zombies.
Zombie orcs always act in groups, so it would be difficult to let them act alone.
Lu Chunlai was very anxious, "How about we set off now?"
The old witch doctor interrupted them, "You'd better hurry. We need both of these things urgently. This herb has a time-limit. It's normal during the day, but at night it will curl up and you won't be able to find it."
Cangwu suddenly spoke up, "We can't delay either of them. I've noticed that the orc zombies have become stronger recently, and even their hearing has improved. Before, they couldn't hear me if I was a little far away from them, but now they can only detect me if I'm about a kilometer away. Their vision has also improved greatly. They couldn't see anything at night before, but now they can actually recognize things."
Cangwu's words were undoubtedly a heavy blow. No wonder he always came back with a heavy face every time he went out these days. It turned out that the zombie orcs were getting stronger and stronger, and even he might have a hard time dealing with them.
Xia Yueke also knew that the longer they delayed, the worse it would be, so the three of them set off immediately.
The three of them left the cave, and Cangwu said, "Xia Yueke and I will go find the zombies. Lu Chunlai, you go collect herbs."
Lu Chunlai was stunned. Although, she still felt that it was safer to stay with Cangwu. After all, he knew light work and could lead people to escape if something happened. She didn't expect that he would let her go to collect herbs alone.
Lu Chunlai suddenly felt that she was not very powerful. After all, she could not withstand the attack of the zombies. If she met a zombie orc, she would have no choice but to run away.
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