Generally speaking, when night falls, it is not only ti for humans to rest, but also for animals, including chickens. However, today, in the chicken coop of Zhang Hao, the village chief of Chicken Fate Village, all the chickens are huddled in the corner, their eyes fixed on the darkness as if there were sothing lurking within it.
Even so, hundreds of chickens do not make a sound, and in their eyes, one can rarely see the inner workings of a chicken’s heart—fear.
Indeed, it is fear.
They fear the thing in the darkness, so hundreds of chickens cluster together, bracing against a strong opponent, and similarly remain silent, afraid of startling the creature in the dark.
"Hiss~~"
As all the chickens form a defense, a snake’s tongue darts out from the darkness, and simultaneously, a pair of dark-red eyes quietly appear, full of fear for the creatures before them.
Suddenly.
The dark-red eyes in the darkness vanish, and the chickens in the coop can no longer hold it together, starting to panic and scampering in all directions.
"Cluck~~~Cluck~~~Cluck~~~"
Instantly, the sound of chickens crowing reverberates in the coop, startling Zhang Hao, the owner of the chickens.
Zhang Hao picked up the lantern, rubbed his blurry eyes, and ca to the chicken coop, tilting his head to inspect, "What happened?"
When he saw the scene in the chicken coop, his previously blurry eyes imdiately turned sharp, and he quickly walked inside.
Suddenly, a pungent sll of blood overwheld him. Looking down, he saw hundreds of chickens lying on the ground, blood flowing incessantly, dyeing the chicken coop red. Half of the chickens were scurrying around wildly in the coop, and so even ran out of the coop in sheer terror.
"Who is it! Who is it!"
From being awakened from sleep to walking to the chicken coop and seeing this scene, at most, two minutes had passed. In two minutes, to have one’s chickens suddenly drop dead by the hundreds, only a person could achieve this.
So, Zhang Hao was instantly furious.
If it’s done by people, then it’s done by the villagers of Chicken Fate Village.
After all, it’s so late, and what outsider would stay in Chicken Fate Village?
As for the lunatic who ca earlier this evening?
A lunatic, how could he possibly do such a thing? This speculation is even less reliable than an old sow climbing a tree.
"Husband? What happened? What are you doing at the chicken coop in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
At this mont, hearing the commotion, Zhang Hao’s wife ca out.
When she walked into the chicken coop and saw the dead chickens all over the ground, her whole being beca alert, and with a voice even louder than Zhang Hao’s, she exclaid, "Which shaless person dared to touch our chickens? Tired of living?"
Zhang Hao remained silent, just looked down at the feathers on the ground, then squatted down and picked up a dead chicken, inspecting it from all angles.
"This chicken died instantly, with no signs of struggle! No ordinary person could do this!"
Friends who regularly slaughter chickens know that even if you directly cut the chicken’s neck with a knife, the chicken will still struggle for a while, and not until the blood is drained will it calm down completely, this is a physiological reaction after the chicken’s death.
Yet, there are no traces of struggle on the dead chickens in the coop.
"Huh? There are two small holes here!!" Zhang Hao noticed sothing unusual.
He randomly picked up one dead chicken after another and ordered his wife beside him, "Dear, you help, see if each dead chicken has two small holes."
"Alright!"
Imdiately, the couple began to inspect the chicken carcasses together. After a while, the couple stood up together, "Every chicken has them!!"
"Mine too!!"
Now, the two had to take it seriously.
"These small holes, what kind of thing caused them?" Zhang Hao mumbled.
At this mont, his wife seed to notice sothing peculiar, "Huh? When did a black rope appear in the chicken coop?"
Rope?
Zhang Hao heard this and looked up at his wife.
"Rope... Rope..."
While Zhang Hao was still pondering, his wife had already walked towards that black rope, intending to pick it up.
Just when she was about to approach it, Zhang Hao shouted in alarm, "Don’t!!!"
"What not?" The wife turned to look at her husband, at this mont, a sharp pain radiated from the back of her hand.
"Ah~~~"
The wife abruptly turned back and saw the black rope on the ground moving, and quickly crawling towards the darkness.
"Snake! It’s a snake!!"
Now the wife also realized what the black rope really was.
Simultaneously, Zhang Hao and his wife understood what kind of creature could instantly kill hundreds of their chickens.
"Husband, I can’t seem to feel my hand anymore!" the wife suddenly said.
Zhang Hao heard this and instantly panicked, "That snake is venomous!!"
In the villages surrounding the Great Mountain, there is a common understanding that the more vibrant the animal or plant, the often more dangerous, while the more pure the animal or plant, the even more dangerous.
Here, dangerous ans venomous.
Zhang Hao promptly picked up his wife and rushed to the village’s Physician.
Poisoned, and snake venom at that, is no laughing matter, even a slight laxity could result in death on the spot.
Thus, his imdiate priority was to find the Physician for an antidote.
Soon, Zhang Hao arrived at the Chicken Fate Village’s only Physician’s place with his wife.
Bang—Bang—Bang—
"Open the door, open the door..."
Zhang Hao used all his strength to knock on the Physician’s wooden door, making it creak.
"Coming, coming." A hoarse voice sounded from inside.
Upon opening the door and seeing the village chief, the impatient expression on his face imdiately vanished and was replaced with warmth.
"Village Chief, why are you here?" At this point, he also saw the person cradled in Zhang Hao’s arms.
He noticed this person’s lips were purple, and a black line had risen on her arm.
As a Physician, he imdiately recognized it as poisoning, and the two of them worked together to carry the person inside.
"Village Chief, tell what happened? What kind of poison is this?"
To detoxify, one must first know the source, in order to target the solution, otherwise it would only worsen.
"It’s snake venom." Zhang Hao answered succinctly, since he witnessed the snake bite his wife.
"Snake venom?" The Physician said with so relief, "If it’s snake venom, then it’s okay."
Saying this, he retrieved a Seven-leaf Flower from the dicine cabinet behind him.
"This was planted by Pharmacist Xie in the Great Wilderness Border Village, it can cure snake venom, extrely effective."
Indeed, this was from Xu Ran’s neighbor, old Xie, a Seven-leafed One-flowered Plant, at that ti, Chicken Fate Village’s Physician exchanged ten chickens for a single herb.
This was before it had been improved.
Hearing this, Zhang Hao also relaxed, "I’ve heard of Pharmacist Xie’s fa, please go ahead, Physician."
Zhang Hao’s voice also beca calm.
The Physician dared not delay, imdiately placing the Seven-leafed One-flowered Plant into a pestle, grinding it into dicine.
After a quarter of an hour, the entire Seven-leafed One-flowered Plant was powdered.
The Physician took a portion, applying it on the back of the wife’s hand, the remaining portion the apprentice took to brew with other herbs for snake venom treatnt. Not long after, the apprentice brought back a bowl of black dicine.
Seeing this, Zhang Hao finally relaxed his tense heart.
Helping his wife up, he fed the dicine spoonful by spoonful into her mouth.
After consuming all the dicine, her face turned from purple back to normal color, though the black line on her arm hadn’t disappeared, its color had lightened considerably.
"Thank you, old Physician." Zhang Hao said respectfully to the Physician.
"It’s my duty as a Physician." he then continued, "However, looking at the wife’s condition, she only passed the danger phase. To completely heal, one might have to go to the Great Wilderness Border Village to find Pharmacist Xie."
Zhang Hao nodded.
Old Xie’s reputation is known for hundreds of miles, everyone knows it.
After all, the Great Wilderness Border Village lives by hunting, this is sothing all the nearby villages envy, even though it is full of perils.
But just considering today’s situation, if it weren’t for old Xie’s Seven-leafed One-flowered Plant, Zhang Hao’s wife would have died on the spot, and could not have held on until now!!
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