Chapter 105: The Lost Deserted Village (Part 9)

Chapter 105: The Abandoned Village (Part Nine)

"Mental Value Decreased by 3%"

The moment Zhu Ning pulled out the long worm, she heard the system notification about her mental value dropping.

Wireworm.

Zhu Ning's mind was filled with this thought. Such a long worm reminded her of wireworms.

This parasitic worm can reside inside a mantis, draining its nutrients without immediately killing it, instead turning the mantis into a puppet.

It can even make the mantis jump into water to commit suicide, completing its own reproduction cycle.

Zhu Ning had once seen a video online where a blogger extracted a wireworm from a mantis. Watching it, one couldn't help but wonder how such a small mantis could contain such a long worm.

Now, the red worm in Zhu Ning's hand was wriggling, as if searching for its next host.

Is this thing a parasite? After being contaminated in the wasteland, humans have mutated, and so have parasites.

What makes the countryside more terrifying than cities is the prevalence of parasites, due to its closer proximity to nature. In the past, when medical standards were not advanced, entire villages often suffered from parasitic diseases.

Zhu Ning looked up at Grandma Afen, whose eyes were distorted, with half of a worm hanging from the corner of her eye, crawling down to her cheek.

Have all the villagers been parasitized?

Zhu Ning carefully recalled the story in the diary. At first, people in Happy Village frequently went missing. Old Zhang, to uncover the truth, mobilized the villagers who had equipment to monitor, while those without used their naked eyes. Thus, everyone began to watch over the village, hoping to find the culprit.

The diary's owner had been monitoring the village, and during her surveillance, more villagers went missing.

But after more than a week, the missing Old Wu suddenly reappeared, behaving differently from before, even having to relearn how to play the piano.

Was Old Wu infected by a parasite?

After being infected, the parasite and Old Wu's body had to readjust, but perhaps they didn't fit well together, making his piano playing clumsy.

Old Wu's strange behavior increased; he visited Grandma Afen's house late at night, staring at her camera like a ghost, and also wandered around Afen's door. Was he trying to infect new hosts?

Afen must have been infected; just looking at her eyes revealed that the worm had already fallen out of her eye socket. What about the old lady next door?

In the diary, she wrote about her eye pain. Was she also infected? Where did she go?

A wriggling worm lay in Zhu Ning's palm, trying to find a way through the gaps in her protective suit. Although Zhu Ning knew the parasite couldn't harm her because of the suit, she couldn't help but worry.

If such a long worm moved, it could even strangle her.

Afen continued to look at her, wanting Zhu Ning to eat the apple.

Was she trying to infect Zhu Ning in this clumsy way?

Suddenly, Xu Meng, sitting on her left, stood up abruptly. "I'm sorry, grandma, I ate something bad. Can I use your toilet?"

Xu Meng broke the deadlock smoothly. She wasn't very noticeable, and Zhu Ning saw her act for the first time, finding it quite convincing.

Afen's eyes moved, revealing an unhappy expression. She pointed to the backyard. "Over there."

Zhu Ning hadn't worked closely with Xu Meng before, and now they weren't communicating, but Zhu Ning immediately understood Xu Meng's intention.

Xu Meng probably wanted to search for clues, and Zhu Ning needed to think of a way to escape.

Li Nianchuan sat stiffly, doing his best to prevent his mental value from dropping, but he couldn't stop glancing at Zhu Ning.

The parasite crawled on Zhu Ning's thigh, twisting like a blood vessel. Even though it was on Zhu Ning's leg, Li Nianchuan felt as if it were crawling on his own.

For a moment, the apple in Li Nianchuan's hand felt scalding hot, as if he were holding a beating heart, and any moment now, a worm would crawl out of the apple.

Li Nianchuan's hand trembled, and the apple rolled off.

The apple made a peculiar sound as it hit the ground, like a piece of meat plopping onto the floor and rolling away.

Afen clicked her tongue, disapproving of waste, and instinctively bent down to pick it up.

Li Nianchuan was about to do the same, but suddenly, he froze.

When Afen bent down, a thumb-sized bloody hole appeared at the back of her neck, with a blood-red worm already emerging, half of its body wriggling.

Li Nianchuan could imagine that if he pulled the worm's head, it would seem endless, like the two-meter-long worm in the apple. How many meters of worms were inside Afen's body?

Twenty meters? A hundred meters? A thousand meters?

Would the worms fill the entire room, writhing like flowing blood?

Would Afen, once the worm was extracted, be like the collapsed apple, leaving only a soft, empty shell?

Li Nianchuan's mind was racing with these thoughts, and just seeing it was causing his mental value to drop. He quickly tapped his left arm, and a fine needle pierced his muscle, releasing a mental healing agent. Li Nianchuan closed his eyes, feeling his mind stabilize slightly, but he couldn't stop shivering when he spoke.

"We... we need to leave, it's getting dark." Li Nianchuan stammered, unable to stay any longer regardless of what Zhu Ning intended to do. If they stayed, he might go insane and start shooting wildly.

Zhu Ning also stood up, and as she did, the worm on her leg fell to the floor. The house was already abandoned, and the floor was covered in dust.

The worm, now covered in dust, wriggled like a maggot in mud.

Zhu Ning could see that Li Nianchuan was on the brink of madness and immediately said, "We're sorry for the disturbance, we'll take our leave."

As she spoke, she moved toward the door. Uncertain of Afen's reaction or whether the worm on the floor would suddenly attack, Zhu Ning moved cautiously, trying to leave quickly while avoiding alarming Afen.

Afen's hand had just touched the apple, and her bent waist remained lowered, but the parasite on the back of her neck stood straight up.

It seemed the controller behind the puppet had given up control, and the parasite directly faced Zhu Ning.

The worm was watching her.

It was an eerie feeling, being seen by a worm.

Zhu Ning could still control her movements, but Li Nianchuan had almost lost all control. His entire body screamed to run, a fear that even the mental healing agent couldn't soothe.

Li Nianchuan's legs wouldn't move smoothly; his feet tangled and nearly tripped him on the spot.

He didn't know what he was doing, only that he had to escape. He burst through the door and ran out, clearly having stepped over the threshold, yet he felt as if he had brought something out with him.

He fumbled over his back and body, searching everywhere, trying to get rid of the invisible worm.

Perhaps the worm had already burrowed inside him, but he didn't know. The worm would invade his brain, take over his body, and reproduce within his shell, leaving him nothing but an empty husk. If someone were to lightly slice his skin with a knife, the thin layer would immediately fall apart, revealing writhing red worms inside.

They looked like many, but when lifted, there was only one, very long, seemingly endless.

Li Nianchuan glanced back; Old Lady Afen hadn't chased after him. She stood at the window, her eyes filled with red worms, spilling over like tears, dripping down.

Those eyes were staring at Li Nianchuan.

Afen wasn't angry; she even smiled, a smile that was more terrifying, as if you couldn't escape, no matter where you went, her gaze would stick to you, and a worm would always be chasing you from behind.

Panic built up to its peak, like a tide reaching its crest. You needed to find a way to release it, or you would go mad and die.

Li Nianchuan's first reaction was to grab his gun. He felt he couldn't bear it anymore; his movements were faster than usual due to extreme fear, quickly loading and aiming.

He was about to fire.

A hand pressed down on his gun, exerting an indescribable force. Zhu Ning stood in front of him, not afraid that Li Nianchuan might accidentally discharge the weapon.

Zhu Ning's deep voice came: "Don't move."

Don't move, don't act rashly until you understand what's happening.

Li Nianchuan looked at Zhu Ning in front of him. She wore a helmet, so he couldn't see her eyes, only hearing her voice, which conveyed a firm confidence.

Li Nianchuan's hands trembled, and he blinked, seeing the red worms flash before his eyes, as if they had already crawled into his vision, making everything look infested.

Zhu Ning was covered in worms, and he was too; they had been overwhelmed by parasites long ago.

A wave of nausea rose, driving him to the brink of madness.

"Don't move," Zhu Ning reassured him, "There are no worms on you. I've checked."

Li Nianchuan steadied himself, carefully examining Zhu Ning's body. There were no parasites, just a clean, ordinary black protective suit.

"Put the gun away," Zhu Ning said.

Zhu Ning didn't confiscate Li Nianchuan's weapon; she didn't deprive him of his right to defend himself. She meant to put the gun away.

Li Nianchuan's trembling hands stopped. He didn't know how Zhu Ning could remain so calm, but the gap between genius and mediocrity was clear. Li Nianchuan saw this gap, but Zhu Ning's voice was so clear, more soothing than the mental healing agent.

Can someone with strong mental fortitude calm others? Do they continuously emit a calming influence?

Li Nianchuan didn't know about others, but he could feel Zhu Ning's power. His shaking hands slowly stilled, and he holstered his gun.

"Good boy," Zhu Ning said.

She calmed him like a dog, but Li Nianchuan was strangely soothed.

Li Nianchuan's reaction was normal. He hadn't done anything wrong; surviving in this A-level contaminated area was already a feat.

Zhu Ning turned around. Afen still stood at the window, casting a sinister shadow, smiling at them. Gradually, others emerged, the villagers seemingly responding to a common call, gathering at their windows.

The contamination moved.

Zhu Ning could imagine them all converging on those footprints, as if drawn to a predetermined anchor point.

Looking around, shadows appeared in the rows of houses in the desolate village, standing at the windows, watching them like sentinels.

Their faces almost touched the glass, but there was no warmth; they were truly dead.

Zhu Ning glanced back. The house where they found the diary was empty; the old lady who wrote the surveillance log hadn't appeared.

She seemed to have vanished into thin air.

The logic of the contaminated area was to drive you mad. As a normal person, Li Nianchuan was already on the edge, while Zhu Ning and Xu Meng might hold on longer.

But for how long? Even if Zhu Ning could endure, Xu Meng might not.

Based on Zhu Ning's frequent visits to contaminated areas, once the area sensed you were unbreakable, it would resort to physical attacks.

Li Nianchuan took deep breaths and asked, "Where's the captain?"

Zhu Ning frowned, looking back at Afen's house. Xu Meng had said she was going to the bathroom and hadn't come out.

Xu Meng was still in Afen's house.

She had used the bathroom as an excuse to explore. Afen, distracted by Zhu Ning in the living room, hadn't paid much attention to her.

Afen's house shared a wall with the neighboring old lady's home, and their small courtyards were connected. From the dusty decorations, one could infer the personality of the occupant—her home was filled with embroidery and flowers.

If the neighbor was a grumpy old woman, then this was a gentle and kind old grandmother.

The surveillance equipment was not in the backyard but next to the bedroom. Xu Meng tried to turn it on, but it didn't work; the village was completely without power.

Xu Meng examined the surveillance system and found the wires behind it were cut.

Had someone deliberately severed them?

Who did it? Old Wu? Did he tamper with the surveillance before he acted?

The desk was empty; this family didn't have the habit of keeping diaries, probably because Old Zhang hadn't asked Auntie Ah Fen to monitor them, and she installed the devices purely for self-protection.

She was different from the old lady next door.

There were no written records in the monitored room, not even a single photo.

Perhaps because Auntie Ah Fen had been parasitized, her first act as the new host was to destroy any evidence, so nothing was found here.

Xu Meng heard movement in the living room; Li Nianchuan stammered about leaving, apparently an apple had fallen on the floor.

Xu Meng had only been out for two minutes. She sensed that Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan were about to leave. Xu Meng didn't have time to go through the front door; she planned to climb out through the back yard.

This contaminated area was very peculiar. Xu Meng had entered many A-level contaminated zones, but none were as strange as this one.

Her intuition told her she must find the source of contamination and leave immediately; there might be greater danger waiting for her.

Auntie Ah Fen's house and the old lady next door shared a yard. The old lady's house was empty, making it relatively safe to escape this way.

Xu Meng was agile; if she wanted to disappear from somewhere, it would take just a second, and no one would even see her shadow.

She was about to move when she suddenly stopped.

There seemed to be a small hole in the wall, sealed with a piece of paper.

Xu Meng pulled out the paper ball and found it wasn't a single sheet; it was like she had accidentally disturbed a hibernating hamster's stash of nuts, causing a pile of crumpled paper balls to roll down.

The hole was filled with paper balls of various sizes.

What was this for? To send a message to the old lady next door?

Xu Meng could imagine Auntie Ah Fen standing by the wall, passing papers one by one to the other side. This might have been a tacit way for the two elderly women to communicate.

Xu Meng unfolded a paper ball and read: "Shengxin, run! Old Du has gone mad!"

Shengxin? Was that the name of the irritable old lady next door?

And who was Old Du?

Xu Meng unfolded another note: "Shengxin, Old Du is no longer Old Du. I suspect he has parasites."

A third note: "He has a huge worm in his ear, several meters long. Old Du keeps staring at me; run!"

A fourth note: "Shengxin, my eyes have been hurting more and more lately. I suspect Old Du's worm has crawled into my eye. I'm going to become like him."

A fifth note: "Shengxin, run! Don't try to save me, just run!"

The following notes repeated the same message, all conveying the same information: Old Du was infected, and Auntie Ah Fen suspected she was too. She wanted her neighbor Shengxin to flee quickly.

She didn't know how much longer she could maintain her sanity. Before completely losing control, while still under Old Du's watch, Auntie Ah Fen continued to pass messages.

Xu Meng frowned. The repeated mention of Old Du suggested that this household wasn't just an elderly woman living alone; she had a spouse.

There was someone else in the house, or perhaps another contaminant.

Crack—

Xu Meng heard a sound behind her. Someone had stepped on a branch, making a sharp noise. He was right behind her.