There is a trick

Chapter 115 Paint (4K, 1/2)

"How did he know he was poisoned?"

Zhou Chang frowned as he looked at the bloody donkey driver lying on the ground with his stomach churning, and suddenly asked a question.

Everyone looked at each other in surprise when they heard the sound.

"Has this person been to western Hunan and been exposed to any witchcraft?
If he had never been to those places, he wouldn't have immediately associated them with the Miao people and witchcraft." Zhou Chang said slowly, "There must have been some inducement that planted something related to witchcraft in his mind."

The corpse of the Miao girl was still standing quietly not far away, with the sunlight shining on the corpse.

The various metal accessories on the body slowly rusted, and the dark blue and black highlighted clothes worn by the body also gradually faded.

The corpse of the Miao girl, wrapped in clothes, gradually turned blue and black and began to rot.

Today is different from the era when Zhou Chang lived in the past. People are exposed to all kinds of information on a daily basis. As the saying goes, "A scholar knows everything about the world without leaving home." But now, even if a female corpse wearing Miao clothes appears before people, they are unable to recognize her identity and mostly regard her as a barbarian who is very different from the Han people.

It is rare to see someone like the donkey driver who could say such words as "Miao people" and "poison" at once.

So when Zhou Chang suddenly asked this question, everyone reacted.

Several people who were familiar with the donkey driver followed up and said:

"We are traveling merchants on the Sichuan-Shaanxi Road and have never been to Xiangxi."

"Tie San'er is just like us. He shouldn't have been to Xiangxi. We haven't even seen the Miao people, let alone those witchcrafts."

"It's really strange that Tie Saner suddenly mentioned witchcraft..."

"Did he already know that he was poisoned?
But he knew he was poisoned, so why didn't he tell us right away so we could help save him?"

……

These peddlers were talking at once, and the crowd suddenly became noisy again.

“It’s melted, it’s melted!”

"It stinks!"

"vomit!"

As people were shouting, a gust of wind blew past Zhou Chang, and Zhou Chang smelled a strong stench of corpse!

When he raised his eyes, he saw the corpse of the Miao girl. The silver ornaments and clothes on her body, along with her body, had all melted into a dark green liquid like grease. The liquid slowly seeped into the soil, leaving only faint traces.

Some people smelled the stench of corpses and couldn't help but retching repeatedly.

But they only dry-heaved a few times, then quickly covered their mouths and noses and retreated. They did not vomit out their internal organs like the donkey driver, or even vomit their cavity inside out.

“The stench of the corpse is indeed strong and pungent, making people sick.

But at this moment, the stench of corpses is so strong that there seems to be another smell hidden underneath it.”

Zhou Chang carefully distinguished the rotten smell that faded away with the juice of the Miao girl's corpse. From the stench, he faintly distinguished another slightly sour and more difficult to describe smell.

He didn't have any taboos in his heart.

If the so-called "parasite" was spread through the corpse of the Miao girl, then Zhou Chang would have already been infected by the stench of the Miao girl's corpse and by direct or indirect contact with the corpse.

There is no point in thinking about prevention and isolation at this time.

It would be better to find out the "root cause" of the donkey driver's death as soon as possible, perhaps we can get a glimpse of what the incorruptible corpse has become now.

Zhou Chang lowered his eyes again and squatted down beside the tragic body of the donkey driver.

The merchants who were familiar with the donkey-cart drivers, also known as the donkey-cart drivers, had never been to western Hunan, let alone had any contact with witchcraft.

In this case, there must be another reason why the donkey driver Tie San suddenly uttered those words before his death.

"Is there anything wrong with the triathlon these days?"

Zhou Chang asked the traveling merchants.

"Something's wrong..." Several people frowned and thought for a while.

"Or does he feel uncomfortable in any way?" Zhou Chang prompted, "You can talk about any unusual situation."

"Yes, yes, yes! I remember now—" At this time, one of them said quickly, "It wasn't long ago. During these few hours, Tie San frequently went to the bathroom...

When I went to the bathroom with him, I saw him scratching his crotch or scratching the palms and backs of his hands, so I asked him what was going on.

He said he didn't know what happened. In just one or two hours, many red spots suddenly appeared on the back of his hand, and then the red spots grew into bumps.

It would be fine if it was just some bumps and blisters on his hands, but he said his crotch was also very itchy, which was also very strange.”

"Allergic."

Just as the man finished speaking, Zhou Chang suddenly said something.

According to that person, the symptoms of triathlon are just like a sudden allergic reaction to something.

But now the servants didn't know what "allergic" meant, and they all looked at Zhou Chang in confusion.

Zhou Chang considered his words carefully and said, "It should be that he was infected by the evil wind and developed a sore."

"Oh..." Yang Xifeng suddenly realized and frowned, "The evil wind that Tie San was infected with might be the 'gu'? After the gu attack, first sores appeared on his hands and his crotch itched, and finally he vomited out his internal organs, and died so tragically like he is doing now?"

Yang Xifeng's words made everyone around him look nervous.

The evil wind he was talking about reminded people of the stench of corpse that had just come with the wind.

"Evil wind is just a saying." Zhou Chang shook his head, "If a gust of wind blows, it will make people poisoned. Then Tie San is not the only one who was caught by the wind. Why is it that only Tie San got hurt, while everyone else is safe?
Don’t think too much.”

Zhou Chang thought for a moment and said, "If there really is such a poisonous insect, it must be closely related to the incorruptible corpse. After all, the corpse of the Miao woman is an incorruptible corpse.

The corpse-driving team had previously had the most contact with uncorrupted corpses, but none of them should have shown the same symptoms as Iron Triathlon.

It can be seen that the incorruptible corpse at that time had not yet cultivated this kind of "insect".

In other words, the 'person' inside the corpse has not yet grown into anything significant.

He must have finally refined this kind of "insect" around the time when we dragged down the coffin and exposed him!"

Zhou Chang's eyes were shining brightly: "Now we have to try to find out how this 'poison' spreads.

What did you come into contact with during triathlons that caused your hands to ulcerate and your crotch to itch? You must find out - that thing may be the key to the spread of the "poison"!

Give me a dagger!
He must have come into contact with something that no one else has yet come into contact with!"

Yang Xifeng, who was standing behind Zhou Chang, immediately handed over a dagger when he heard the sound.

Zhou Chang took the dagger and directly cut open the donkey driver's chest, turning his inner cavity back to reveal his original outer skin.

The crowd covered their eyes and dared not look any further.

Even an old corpse driver like Yang Xifeng had his eyes twitching.

It was obvious that the young man on the ground had never learned how to deal with the corpses, but it was always simple, rough and direct. No matter how brave a person was, after a few years of adaptation, some ripples would always arise in his heart when he saw the corpses of his own kind, not to mention dealing with a corpse with a tragic death by himself.

Zhou Chang seemed to be used to seeing such corpses, and he didn't hesitate or show any fear when it came time to cut the corpse!
Zhou Chang spread Tie San's entire flesh shell on the ground, just like cutting a pig into two halves when slaughtering a pig for the New Year. He carefully examined Tie San's hands and crotch, and indeed saw many red spots and bumps, accompanied by small blisters as big as needle tips.

“It’s probably not a STD.”

Zhou Chang thought to himself.

These red spots and bumps are indeed more like allergies, and are far from the cauliflower-shaped bumps caused by sexually transmitted diseases.

He had never seen cauliflower-shaped bumps, but he had seen what cauliflower looked like.

"Has Tiesan slept in the same bed with any of his companions in recent days?"

In order to ensure that nothing was missed, Zhou Chang asked the people around him without even raising his head.

Most of the people who go out to do business are men.

At this moment, there were only Bai Xiu'e, who was equivalent to about nine women in the crowd. It was probably impossible for Tie San to find a woman, but there were men everywhere.

"No, never!"

The people around him shook their heads in disgust.

"It seems that there is indeed a sore." Zhou Chang stood up and walked towards the open space where the Miao girl's corpse disappeared.

There were only faint traces of corpse fluid on the soil of the open space, and parked next to it was Tie San's donkey-less cart.

When people saw Zhou Chang walking that way, they felt a little uneasy and after following him for a few steps, most of them dared not follow him anymore.

Only the Zhou family, Yang Xifeng, and Wang Tiexiong came over.

"If he was poisoned, I would have been poisoned by now since I'm so close to him!
What's the point of hiding?!" Wang Tiexiong sneered.

Yang Xifeng probably thought the same.

Zhou Chang worked with a few others to unload the goods from the donkey cart and checked them one by one.

On the donkey carts were mostly unsold tea cakes and tea bricks, as well as various furs and Tibetan medicines that were exchanged for tea cakes and tea bricks from the secret Tibetan area.

Most of what Tie San obtained were furs, and only a few were Tibetan medicinal herbs.

Zhou Chang suspected that those medicinal herbs were the cause of Tie San's allergy, so he took them out one by one and checked with the people around him.

Most of the medicinal materials are commonly used medicines. Everyone around me carries them with them. There is nothing special about them.

Until the end, Zhou Chang brought a gourd.

He shook the gourd and heard some liquid rolling slowly inside.

The liquid must be very viscous. Even if he shook it violently, the liquid did not shake violently like water.

Zhou Chang slightly unscrewed the cork of the gourd.

A sour smell wafted from the gourd stopper stained with yellow mud liquid. When Zhou Chang smelled it, he suddenly felt certain in his heart -

He probably found the key to the spread of the "poison".

It should be the liquid in the gourd in your hand.

When the corpse of the Miao woman was decaying, it gave off a strong stench. Hidden within the stench was another slightly sour, indescribable smell.

The smell of the liquid in the gourd is exactly the same as that sour smell.

"Have you ever seen this gourd?"

Zhou Chang closed the cork again, held up the gourd, and asked the merchants who were familiar with Tie San.

Several merchants nodded: "I have seen it, I have seen it!"

“This is a water bottle for triathlons!

Usually they are either pinned on the waist or hung on the donkey cart!"

"I use it to get some alcohol sometimes, but I don't drink much alcohol during triathlons, so I don't use it much."

"Oh right - a few hours ago, when we were hiding in Qingyi Town, I saw Tie San carrying this gourd into a house. I thought he was using the gourd to collect water to drink, but looking at the house and yard of that family, it was obvious that they had been abandoned for a long time, and the house should have been empty a long time ago..."

"When we were hiding in the deserted house with a pair of broken millstones placed on the outer wall of the door, did you see Tie San go to get the water from the gourd?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"Did Tie San go out to fetch water from the house across the street? This is the only abandoned house in that area."

"Correct!"

"That's it—there's no trace of anyone in that household!

There were only a few unpainted coffins in the main hall of the house, and I went to see them!"

Everyone talked at once and actually explained the triathlon's movements and locations in detail!
When Tie San was still alive, he probably didn't think about hiding his whereabouts, so the people who traveled with him each knew a little about what he did, and after piecing together the information, they finally pieced together the true situation at that time!

After listening to the conversation among the crowd and shaking the liquid in the gourd, Zhou Chang also had some guesses in his mind.

He took out a piece of wood, asked everyone around him to move away, unscrewed the stopper of the gourd, and slowly poured out some of the liquid.

The liquid slowly spread out on the wooden board like sticky glue, reflecting a bright and smooth light under the sunlight.

Everyone was stunned for a while as they looked at the liquid poured on the wooden board.

Some people who knew him started shouting:
"Lacquer! This is lacquer!"

"Tie San went to someone's house but couldn't get any water, so he stole the coffin paint they were using to paint their coffins!"

"What kind of coffin paint can last for so many years? I see that family's house is about to collapse. It must have been abandoned for 10 to 20 years..."

"This is raw lacquer - from this perspective, the sores on Tie San's back of his hands and crotch were actually caused by 'lacquer bites'?!"

The sour smell became stronger at this time.

Suddenly, a cold breath emanated from the bright liquid called 'raw lacquer'.

Immediately afterwards, a black and yellow arm emerged from the raw lacquer and suddenly grabbed the neck of Zhou Chang who seemed to be in a daze in front of it!
Zhou Chang watched the arm emitting an indescribable smell approaching him. His empty eyes suddenly gained focus. When the arm approached, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Huh..."

The evil energy flowing in his blood vessels was instantly drawn out by him, turning into billowing red flames that pounced on the black and yellow arm!

"Ah ah ah ah ah--"

Screams were heard from the black and yellow arms!

Layers of dry and mottled 'lacquer leather' fell off from the arms!
The lacquer arm missed the target and immediately retracted into the lacquer liquid. The lacquer liquid immediately began to wriggle rapidly, trying to penetrate into the surrounding soil!

"Shh!"

At this time, Zhou Chang spread out his five fingers, and the iron thread burst out from between his fingers, entangling the piece of raw lacquer!
The silk threads are woven denser and denser, becoming airtight!

The raw lacquer was completely absorbed in it, and simply flowed along the thread of thought towards Zhou Chang's face!

(End of this chapter)