"We don’t have it, but we can go to Great Wilderness Border Village and ask for it. If it cos to it, we can buy it with money—life is more important."
"Go to Great Wilderness Border Village? It’s already noon now, going there and coming back would take a whole day. By then, everyone in the village will be gone!"
A village might lose half its people in a single night, what about tonight? Maybe everyone will die!
By then, even if we bring back the dicinal herbs, it will be of no use!!
"Village Chief, are you sure it’s Poisonous Snake bites?" soone asked at this mont.
Tian Yong, who had been silent for a long ti, finally snapped back to reality, recalling the appearance of all the corpses he had seen earlier.
"Everyone I saw was completely blackened, their veins and eyeballs protruding, looking terrifyingly dead. It might not be snakes, but they were definitely poisoned."
Standing in the center of the temple, Tian Yong finally regained a bit of his Spirit as the village chief.
"Let’s do this: move so corpses into the temple and check carefully for snakebite marks. If there are any, then they are Poisonous Snakes, and we can prepare accordingly."
"If not, maybe they consud so toxic substances to end up like this."
Tian Yong’s words quickly gained the support of the remaining villagers.
Soon, led by the initial young man, a few brawny youths moved the corpses into the temple.
The entire temple, originally filled with the scent of incense, suddenly beca overwhelmingly foul.
Moreover, the bodies, initially just blackened, had started to fester. So blisters broke during transportation, with black pus flowing out, making everyone extrely nauseous.
So people, upon seeing this scene, rushed outside to vomit!! Tian Yong did too!!
It took a while to recover from the retching.
"Okay, let examine the bodies!!"
Saying this, he put on gloves and inspected each corpse carefully.
"There are snakebite marks."
"There are snakebite marks."
"There are snakebite marks."
"There are snakebite marks."
All five corpses showed snakebite marks, making the situation evident enough that the remaining corpses didn’t need checking.
"What do we do, Village Chief?"
At this mont, the villagers were panic-stricken, all asking Tian Yong what they should do.
Taking a deep breath, Tian Yong said, "Today, don’t go farming anymore, and tonight, everyone should sleep inside the temple. We’ll arrange people to keep watch, and if anything suspicious happens, alert everyone imdiately!!"
Right after he spoke, several won stood up and said, "Village Chief, my husband went to farm early. He doesn’t know what’s happening in the village. Will he be okay?"
"Village Chief, mine too!"
"Village Chief, too!!"
Suddenly, a few won were nearly in tears.
If their husbands were bitten by Poisonous Snakes like Old Zhao while farming, even these won survived, they would have no ans of livelihood, and having their children with them wouldn’t make any difference from a death sentence.
Hearing this, Tian Yong’s face beca solemn, "Quickly, everyone go to the ridges and find them; delay could bring disaster!!"
"You know where they’re farming, lead the way!"
"Okay, Village Chief!!"
Instantly, the remaining villagers sward toward the ridges, hurrying as if fearing sothing terrible might happen.
Soon, everyone arrived at the ridges, and upon seeing the scene before them, all closed their eyes.
The won sat down and wailed loudly.
Tian Yong looked gravely at the scene on the ridges. The short seedlings revealed the shadows of several people, each with their heads down, motionless.
It was clear that they had already t tragedy.
"Quick, retrieve the bodies and see if they’re like those in the temple!"
A few brave souls went into the fields and lifted the bodies out; there was no need for close inspection—all blackened, resembling the village’s deaths.
"Bring them back to the temple, gather the bodies together, and burn them; otherwise, a plague might break out!!"
After speaking, Tian Yong turned and left, his back sowhat hunched.
...
Soon, night fell.
According to Tian Yong’s orders, ten young n were appointed to keep watch. The small temple was crowded with people sleeping, though there was no alternative.
Outside the temple, torches were laid out, and each of the ten watchn held a torch.
Even at night, they could see what was happening ten ters away.
"How’s it going, anything unusual?" Tian Yong stepped out of the temple, looking at the ten watchn.
"Village Chief, there’s been nothing out of the ordinary."
"No abnormal sightings at all."
"Village Chief, could it be that our presence scared the Poisonous Snakes away, afraid to co near?"
"That’s likely; we have torches and people—the snakes are just snakes; it’s normal for them to be scared."
...
The ten individuals exchanged words, their tense nerves relaxed at that mont.
"I hope that’s the case," Tian Yong nodded, shifting tone, "But tonight, keep your vigilance tight; we can’t have any more incidents in Stone Village."
Losing half the village’s population overnight was sothing no one could accept. His ability to maintain composure now showed good self-adjustnt.
"Tonight, bear the hardship; I’ll have soone help with your seedlings," Tian Yong said.
"Thank you, Village Chief!"
After speaking, Tian Yong returned to the temple.
Late at night.
Outside the temple, relentless frog croaks echoed, but such sounds had long beco familiar to the Stone Village villagers.
The ten keeping watch outside remained in high spirits.
Suddenly.
Originally, the croaking frogs fell silent, abruptly turning the once noisy night into an eerie silence, as if plunged into eternal night.
"What’s going on? Why did the frogs stop croaking?"
"Could sothing have happened?"
"Should we call the Village Chief??"
Just after speaking, the vanished frog croaks returned to normal.
"Oh! They’re back."
"Seems like there’s no problem."
"Doesn’t seem necessary to call the Village Chief, let them rest well."
....
anwhile.
Inside the temple.
On the beams, ten pairs of eerie green eyes moved, their gaze fixated on the sleeping villagers below as if they’d marked them as prey.
"Hiss~~~"
With a sound from the leading snake, the remaining nine serpents turned into killers in the darkness, moving swiftly around the temple.
As each slithered past, it left a bite mark on each sleeper.
These ten snakes, in the night, resembled black Lightning, elusive.
Anyone marked by their bites instantly lost all breath, with blackness spreading over them, visibly frightening even in the dark.
Within rely fifteen minutes, everyone sleeping in the temple was dead.
The ten snakes, seeing this, retreated, yet the ten individuals outside the temple miraculously survived the night.
...
Next day at noon.
The sun shone bright.
The harsh sunlight made the watchn squint.
"It’s already noon, but why hasn’t everyone inside the temple woken up?" soone asked.
"Maybe after going through so much yesterday, they didn’t sleep well last night and are catching up on rest now."
"But it can’t be like this for everyone, right?"
"Do you think sothing might have happened?" soone speculated.
"That’s impossible."
Imdiate opposition followed these words.
"Nothing happened during our night watch. We surrounded the temple. There was no trouble outside—how could there be any inside?"
"Exactly, there’s no way anything happened inside the temple, just... I’m struggling, I need sleep," soone said.
"I’m also sleepy."
"Since that’s the case, let’s inform the Village Chief; everyone’s tired," soone suggested.
"Alright!"
With unanimous agreent, the ten of them pushed the temple doors open.
Instantly, a foul rush hit them like month-old uncleaned refuse, inducing nausea.
Words stuck as they saw an unforgettable scene.
All the villagers who had been sleeping in the temple now lay as blackened corpses, oozing black pus and emitting a stench.
Witnessing this, everyone broke down, clutching their heads and crying.
"What happened? How did everyone die?"
"We were watching all night; how did everyone die?"
"How co nothing happened outside, but inside did?"
"When it happened, why didn’t we hear anything from inside?"
"Ahhhhh~~~~"
All ten couldn’t believe the horror before them, muttering impossibly.
What had occurred unraveled their sanity.
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