Chapter 109: The Lost Deserted Village (Part 13)

Chapter 109: The Abandoned Village (Thirteen)

Rustling—

A fierce wind blew, causing the corpse hanging from the tree to sway, tilting this way and that. Even standing under the tree, one could clearly see something hanging there.

Jiang Ping looked up and saw dozens of feet dangling in the air.

This time it was not Cui Kai but Jiang Ping who spoke, "Your human race is really arrogant, aren't insects also capable of being sources of contamination?"

Zhu Ning's heart skipped a beat. Jiang Ping was indeed a source of contamination, no, insects were indeed sources of contamination.

Zhu Ning had entered contaminated zones several times, and the sources of contamination were always humans. The only non-human was Test Subject 777, which theoretically had no source of contamination, hence why someone could be trapped inside.

Moreover, Test Subject 777 did not have very complex thoughts.

Chu Qing forcibly bound Huang Yaruo as the mother of Test Subject 777, raising it for so many years. Its intelligence was at most that of a four- or five-year-old child, calling out for its mother every day.

It was completely different from the person in front of her. If insects could become sources of contamination, it almost shattered Zhu Ning's long-held beliefs.

Could insects possess human intelligence and emotions? Could they even form their own contaminated zones?

Forming a contaminated zone was extremely complex; all the pollutants within had to be self-consistent, logically coherent.

Zhu Ning had always thought that such a complex village would have a human as the source of contamination, because such complex emotions were originally unique to humans.

Zhu Ning saw Xu Meng pause in the shadows, knowing that Xu Meng shared her thoughts.

If the insect before them could become a source of contamination, the logic behind it was even more worthy of exploration by humans.

Zhu Ning continued along her train of thought, "You used some means to come to Bliss Village, first parasitizing on Old Wu, then returning to the village. But when you first parasitized, your movements were clumsy, you weren't quite adapted to the human body, so you practiced playing the piano clumsily every day."

Jiang Ping looked down at his hands, "Human limbs are really hard to control."

Cui Kai and Xiao Yilei also lowered their heads, saying simultaneously, "Human limbs are really hard to control."

The three of them said the same thing, with identical actions and tones.

Cui Kai was truly dead.

Cui Kai and Xiao Yilei had become puppets of the insect, despite having communicated just moments ago. Cui Kai genuinely wanted to lead them, the cleaners, back home.

Now he was not only dead but also controlled.

If these three people acted together, they might possess terrifying coordination, not to mention the villagers, who were all part of the same entity.

All the villagers were its eyes, and Zhu Ning finally understood the feeling of being watched when she first came to Bliss Village.

She had walked into a trap from the beginning.

Dozens of pairs of villagers' eyes turned to look at her, the three stationed soldiers standing in front of her moving in perfect unison.

Looking at them for too long felt like mental pollution.

Suppressing the urge to run, Zhu Ning asked, "You didn't understand anything at first?"

Jiang Ping spoke like a mischievous child, "At first, I wasn't much different from an insect."

So it struggled to impersonate Old Wu, making countless mistakes.

The first time it merged with a human was the hardest. It suddenly had a brain, absorbing vast amounts of information, reading all of Old Wu's memories.

It knew it had to play the piano but couldn't control human fingers.

It couldn't play a complete tune or write legibly, and during that time, it was in a daze, always afraid of being discovered.

Every villager who showed concern was seen as an enemy.

"Jiang Ping" moved its fingers, and Cui Kai and Xiao Yilei also moved their fingers, perfectly synchronized, thirty fingers moving in unison.

The three of them connected like a writhing insect.

Its voice sounded puzzled, "Humans only have ten fingers, how can it be so difficult?"

It spent a lot of effort adapting to the human body, like driving a car where you know where the steering wheel and accelerator are, but you can't drive well.

Zhu Ning: "What do you feed on? Human spirit values?"

Dr. Fu had once mentioned that if a contaminant parasitizes a human body, the only thing it can eat is human spirit values.

These things Dr. Fu had casually mentioned now came back to her.

"Jiang Ping" exclaimed, "Has the technology inside the walls developed to this extent already?"

Was this an admission?

So the insect initially parasitized Old Wu's body, suddenly gaining intelligence and human emotions, feeding on Old Wu's spirit values.

Zhu Ning: "Gradually, you found Old Wu's body inadequate, and you set your sights on Shengxin, right?"

Zhu Ning didn't know Shengxin, but based on her understanding, a hunting old lady like her would have a stable spirit value.

"Jiang Ping" clicked its tongue, "She was too cautious, I couldn't even get close to her at first."

So it didn't immediately target Shengxin. It slowly infected the entire village, and Zhu Ning couldn't guess exactly how, perhaps by laying eggs and letting them parasitize first.

It consumed the spirit values of the villagers, including Grandma Afen and Old Du.

It had a strategy, wanting to drive Shengxin to lose her mind, making it easier to take advantage of her.

"A Fen passed a note to Shengxin," Zhu Ning said, "Old Zhang also told her to run."

"Jiang Ping" carefully recalled for a moment; these memories seemed distant to him. After much deliberation, he finally answered Zhu Ning's question, "At that time, I didn't think humans could still struggle even after being infected, but now I know."

"Jiang Ping" spoke with a smile, as if knowing this secret was incredibly valuable.

Zhu Ning suppressed her discomfort and asked, "Did you kill Shengxin?"

"Jiang Ping" paused, his voice deepening, "Her mind wasn't good. She wanted to kill me."

Zhu Ning frowned. So Shengxin had really thought about suicide, already throwing the rope over the tree.

Shengxin tied herself up; it was evening, and the sunset enveloped the large locust tree like blood.

She swayed on the branch, one foot already stepping out, then pulling back.

She couldn't bear it. If she was destined to die, she couldn't bear the thought of the worm living on while she died.

She gripped the gun handle, preparing to strike back, determined to take one down with her.

It was the best opportunity, Shengxin thought. If she didn't kill it now, how many more people would it harm later?

Shengxin jumped down from the locust tree, determined to kill the Queen.

"But she failed."

Zhu Ning had already seen Shengxin's fate; the corpse was still swinging above her head.

"Jiang Ping" raised his head, squinting at the hanging body. From this angle, it was unclear, so he took two steps back, stepping out of the shade into the sunset. From this angle, he could see the body among the leaves.

Every breeze revealed a corner of the corpse's clothing.

"So I fulfilled her wish, hanging her body on the tree."

It had once "helped" Shengxin fulfill her wish, hanging her body on the tree as if completing some predetermined ritual.

"As I met more people later, I hung some of their bodies on the tree too, so Shengxin wouldn't be lonely."

Rustle—rustle—

The corpses above seemed to respond to Jiang Ping's words, swaying as if dancing together. It was a strange dance, performed by the dead, accompanied by the rustling of leaves, like an ancient sacrificial rite.

This wasn't antisocial; it simply had no concept of society.

Zhu Ning still couldn't get used to talking to a worm. Stiffening her resolve, she continued, "You have been evolving and reproducing for seventy years."

Civilians who wandered in, exploration teams, and garrison troops all became its hosts after entering the village.

It repeatedly read human memories, becoming increasingly intelligent and adept at impersonating humans.

Zhu Ning: "Jiang Ping was just a garrison soldier who wandered in, right?"

"Cui Kai misunderstood Jiang Ping," it sighed, "He was a very good person. He never betrayed humanity."

Jiang Ping was always on patrol, a dangerous job with no reward, but he believed that for humanity to survive, someone had to do this work.

He was always dedicated when leading missions, promising to return the cleaners safely behind the walls.

Back then, Jiang Ping was young and full of passion. His enthusiasm was worn down, but he never betrayed anyone.

So he was prepared to die outside the walls. The day he wandered into the contaminated area, the rule for all garrison soldiers was that once you entered a contaminated area, you relied on yourself; no one would come to save you.

Before dying, Jiang Ping received no final care, not even hearing Prometheus' voice. In the desolate village, he gradually lost hope, thinking the worst outcome was death.

But he faced an even worse fate—parasitism.

"I saw his memories and couldn't understand the meaning of his job at all."

All were humans, yet why could some live inside the walls while others had to coexist with contaminants?

"So I helped him fulfill a small wish."

In his final moments, Jiang Ping experienced intense emotions. As death approached, humans tend to think more and struggle more.

Jiang Ping hated his job, cursed his superiors, and damned the world for being polluted.

The world would eventually be polluted, and it didn't mind accelerating the process.

So it deliberately led people into contaminated areas, calculating the probability of incidents outside the walls and keeping it within a certain range. Given the already high mortality rate of external missions, no one except Cui Kai likely noticed.

Zhu Ning clenched her fists, seemingly understanding the deaths of the cleaners. They all died for these absurd reasons.

Just because of a worm.

Zhu Ning: "How did you pass the inspections?"

Jiang Ping had never drawn attention over the years. The cleaning center and the garrison troops had strict inspection procedures after each mission. How did Jiang Ping escape detection?

Snap—

It didn't answer immediately but removed its helmet. It didn't need to wear a helmet in the contaminated area.

Zhu Ning saw Jiang Ping's face for the first time. He looked scholarly, fair-skinned, and appeared to be a shy, well-behaved young man.

Jiang Ping was young, probably around twenty, and had joined the garrison troops early.

Now, "Jiang Ping" held the helmet, looking calmly at Zhu Ning. Standing in the desolate village, feeling the gentle breeze, it watched Zhu Ning with one eye while a worm crawled out of his eye socket, staring at her.

It had destroyed the real Jiang Ping.

"Jiang Ping was the most interesting body I ever parasitized. He had no parents, no friends, and no close companions, just like me."

Jiang Ping was extremely lonely, so no one noticed after he was parasitized.

The real Jiang Ping found no support within the walls, merely a solitary worm in human society, just like it.

It tilted its head, its eyeball completely falling out, yet a smile still lingered on its lips, "I also learned how humans deal with pollutants."

Zhu Ning frowned; the pollution incident occurred in New Year 10, and it was now New Year 80. Over seventy years of evolution, the insect had found different hosts during this process.

Jiang Ping was the most satisfactory one.

Because it could fully enter the human world and understand how humans dealt with it.

"I was very afraid during the first inspection. I thought I would be discovered and killed by humans, but they found nothing."

"Jiang Ping" looked at Zhu Ning: "It's strange, according to the inspection data, I turned out to be a qualified human."

The development of technology could not keep up with the speed of pollution, just as the cleaning center could not detect the system in Zhu Ning's brain. Zhu Ning repeatedly evaded the inspections of the cleaning center, and it also repeatedly evaded the inspections of the garrison army.

"My mental state is really stable. From a human perspective, I must be very consistent."

Current instruments can detect pollutants, but they cannot detect psychics because their mental states are more stable.

"Jiang Ping" was a consistent pollutant.

It remained calm, without going mad, naturally evolving into an advanced insect.

Humans were evolving, and insects were evolving too.

Zhu Ning carefully recalled this matter and found it hard to think about.

Now, the existence of "Jiang Ping" proved that trees, flowers, and insects were also evolving. They could integrate with humans, achieving complete consistency and evading all existing technological inspections.

In terms of composition, what difference was there between such a parasite and Zhu Ning, an experimental subject?

Take synthetic humans as an example; wasn't Li Nianchuan a human integrated with canine genes?

Was this "Jiang Ping" considered a human integrated with insect genes?

Such people could enter the walls undetected. This situation couldn't be unique; it might have existed for many years.

Zhu Ning asked, "Do you have any kindred spirits?"

"Jiang Ping" looked at the setting sun, half of its face dyed red, as if painted with a blush.

This polluted area itself was something it didn't fully understand. After living among humans for so long, it never fully understood human emotions; humans were truly difficult to comprehend.

"I guess there are."

If the whole world was evolving, an insect wouldn't be an isolated case. Human and natural genes had been merging for a long time, and natural genes had been reshuffled without human knowledge.

"Jiang Ping" was not alone.

Zhu Ning felt a wave of panic; similar pollutants existed within the walls.

The end of the world was approaching, and we were all mere ants.

What did this sentence mean? If such insects existed within the walls, where should humanity's defenses be established?

If "Jiang Ping" had no hostility towards humans and simply lived in the world, were they enemies or kin to humans?

They possessed powerful abilities, but fundamentally, they were just... insects.

What could you expect from an insect?

Pei Shu said why focus on categorizing people; perhaps there was this meaning: outside the walls, nothing was strange.

What you encountered would easily shatter your common sense; human understanding of the polluted world might be less than half.

Rules, categories—these were the norms inside the walls; outside, there was only chaos and disorder.

Zhu Ning tried to remain calm, the "Jiang Ping" before her took seventy years to evolve to this point.

It could evade all inspections, but it didn't seem stable; this desolate village was the best evidence.

Zhu Ning: "Is Bliss Village your contaminated area, or perhaps your queen's nest?"

For the sake of treating it as a true human, this place held its obsession; there must be something Zhu Ning hadn't figured out.

"All of the above, I like it here. This is probably what you humans call nostalgia?" It smiled, answering with a shy tone.

Zhu Ning frowned when she heard the word "nostalgia"; she always felt insects shouldn't have such thoughts, but it did.

It had traveled so far, yet it still preferred this desolate village.

Zhu Ning: "Did you deliberately lead us here?"

When they arrived, the road was safe, and the Demon Hunters entered and exited twice without incident. The garrison army had patrolled the desolate village multiple times without discovering the contaminated area.

But something went wrong during the retreat.

"Jiang Ping" had a special ability; it could trigger the contaminated area, so when Zhu Ning and her team came, it was triggered.

How did it do it? Was it related to the Queen?

Zhu Ning asked, "Do you want to kill us?"

"No," it immediately denied, looking deeply at Zhu Ning with a very affectionate gaze, "I have my eye on your body."

It could sense Zhu Ning's extremely high mental value, stable emotions, strong core, and... that fragrance.

Very attractive, so fragrant.

Zhu Ning was like the most tempting red apple on a fruit tree, and it wanted to burrow inside.