The weak scholar in the end of ancient times

Chapter 19 Station
After leaving Tianzhuang, the road we took was actually very close to the county seat, but Wen Gu had no intention of going there.

The county town was not taken into consideration when planning the itinerary.

The survivors in Ge Village had escaped from the county town, which had already fallen.

As the weather gets colder, evil creatures need to find caves to avoid the cold like wild beasts. The fallen county town is a good "cave" for them.

It cannot be said that most of the people who originally lived in the county town were unable to escape, but most of them had only two fates: either they became food or they turned into evil creatures.

Today, that county town has become a den of monsters. As the locals say, the evil spirit is too strong.

Knowing that it was more dangerous there, Wen Gu would never go there.

There must be a lot of supplies in the county town, but unless the weather gets very cold and there are sufficient armed forces, we would not dare to go in and search.

Otherwise, stay away from it.

On a cold morning, they took a long look at the section of road closest to the county town from a high point.

At this distance, the entire county was a blur, even beneath the morning sun, it seemed covered in dust. An invisible fear and despair enveloped the area, and one could almost hear the groans and cries of its residents.

Wen Gu and other outsiders were not deeply touched, but Xiao Liu was stunned for a long time, without looking at them again, and continued to follow Wen Gu and the others with firm steps.

The once bustling county town, the once dreamland, has become a thing of the past.

Let that vibrant county town remain in our memory, and don’t let it become dilapidated and gloomy like the town itself.

We walked and stopped for another two days.

They had already left the area that Liu the Hunter was familiar with, so reviewing the local map he had drawn before was no longer of any use.

Xiao Liu had never been to the neighboring county before. He only heard from his father that this county was not as prosperous as their county, was relatively far away, and had little presence in normal times.

I don’t know which roads are safer, and I don’t know what the conditions are like in the villages and towns here, so I don’t dare to visit them one by one.

You can only choose the route based on the terrain and see which one has a wider view and can be reached by donkey cart.

Even if they couldn't find a place to rest, they would light a fire, sprinkle some medicine to drive away wild beasts and evil spirits, and then light a stick of incense. Two people would take turns guarding the fire and then take turns resting on the donkey cart.

The donkey cart moves slowly on the road, not because the donkey is slacking off, but because there are many obstacles on the road.

Human bones, skeletons of animals pulling carts, abandoned vehicles or scattered debris will all interfere with their forward speed.

Wen Gu and his three companions took long-handled modified farm tools and pushed the lighter obstacles on the road to the sides. Those that were inconvenient to move were avoided if possible, and those that could not be avoided had to stop and the four of them worked together to clear them.

Of course, it’s not all trouble. Occasionally you can pick up some practical tools, such as knives, sticks, etc.

In the shabby carriages left on the road, you can still find food left by the original owner, but most of it has spoiled due to the passage of time.

"What a pity, it's such a big bag of grain." Xiao Liu said regretfully.

The owner of the carriage came from a well-off family. Wen Gu found a secret compartment in the carriage. The snacks and other dry food inside were inedible, and there was also a small jar. When he opened it, he was delighted.

"Honey! What a good thing!"

High in calories and durable in storage, it is a very good food for emergencies and long-distance travel.

When Xiao Liu heard about honey, he started to feel greedy.

When you are tired from traveling, drink a glass of honey water while taking a break, which can instantly replenish your health!

He found a jar of honey. Although he hadn't yet tasted it, Xiao Liu felt more energetic as he cleared the roadblocks. He would be even happier if he could find materials suitable for making arrows.

During the few days he was away from home, there were some new arrows in his quiver, all of which he made on the road.

Metal pieces and other hard objects were collected from farmhouses to make arrowheads, and materials for arrow shafts and feathers could also be found.

Given limited resources and limited skills, these new arrows were crudely made, but they were serviceable. Every day during his rest time, he would take the time to make some.

The humanoid creatures they encountered along the way were not all evil.

When they passed the outskirts of a village, there was a tea stall where they could rest.

It has been unattended for a long time, so it is impossible to expect it to block the wind and rain. Fortunately, the weather has been good recently and it has not rained, so it can just block the wind and provide some shelter.

When they discovered the tea shed, they also saw a big tree not far away with a person hanging on it.

The surrounding view was wide and there were no other evil creatures nearby, so Wen Gu and the others walked over to take a look.

Judging from his clothes and figure, the person hanging on the tree should be a villager from a nearby village.

It's been hanging here recently.

To be exact, he committed suicide.

Wen Gu looked at his hanging arms, the half of his forearm that was not covered by his sleeves, with a purple-brown spot on it.

When a person is possessed by an evil spirit, these markings will appear on their body. They will spread from their limbs to their entire body, until they completely lose their human consciousness, and their entire body will be transformed into a bloodthirsty and brutal monster at an accelerated rate.

Being possessed by evil spirits can be roughly divided into three stages:
Changes in sense of smell - purple-brown spots appear on the limbs - the whole body changes into a monster
When they were in Ge Village, after Liu the Hunter and his companions came back from going out, they would be isolated in a house that had been fumigated with medicinal herbs for a night to determine from the first stage whether they were possessed by evil spirits.

People who are infected will suddenly hate the smell of those drugs.

If there are no conditions for medicinal fumigation, then look at the changes in the second stage of possession to see if evil spots appear on the limbs.

At the beginning of being possessed by the evil spirit, they can still retain their consciousness, but they cannot see the markings on their arms.

The evil poison that was parasitic in their bodies had already begun to affect their consciousness, making them feel that the markings on their arms were normal and belonged to them, without them having the thought of "I am turning into a monster".

For those who don't want to turn into monsters, if others tell them that evil spots have begun to appear on their arms, they will choose whether to commit suicide.

At the beginning of the chaos in Ge Village, some villagers who were possessed by evil spirits committed suicide after learning that they had been possessed.

This situation is not uncommon.

Having seen this so many times, the four of them were relatively calm.

"There are still survivors in the nearby villages," Wen Gu said.

However, they didn't plan to confirm it because there were too many variables.

Preserving oneself is more important now.

We stayed quietly in the tea shed for one night and set off again early the next morning.

After another day of intense travel, they came across a small post station before sunset. Compared to the leaky tea shed, the accommodation in the post station was much better.

Just beware of the dangers that may exist inside.

There were some old bloodstains outside the post station, both from humans and evil creatures, left there at different times.

There are human bones and the corpses of evil creatures on the ground.

After quietly observing the post station from a distance for a while, Wen Gu signaled to the Taoist priest: Go ahead, it's time to follow the procedure.

Taoist Qingyi had an expressionless face as he threw a smoking rattan ball into the inn. Then a voice came from the inn.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

It's the voice of human beings!

The four of them became alert instantly.

In troubled times, the enemies you face are not just evil creatures. Sometimes, living people are more terrifying than monsters.

After a brief observation, Wen Gu raised his voice and said:

"Excuse me, it's getting late, we would like to stay here for one night."

As he spoke, Wen Gu listened carefully to the movements inside to determine how many people were there.

The person inside didn't intend to hide anything and immediately replied:

"Come in, ahem! Don't worry, ahem, I'm alone here."

The people inside were choked by the smoke and their speech was incoherent.

Wen Gu and the other three did not let down their guard. They waited for a while until the smoke inside became lighter before entering the post station.

The post station is not big. You can see the situation inside the hall at a glance by entering through the main gate.

A young man in his twenties was sitting casually on the ground, leaning against a table.

He looked a little weak. He should have been a tall and strong man, but now his cheeks were sunken and he was very thin, but he still had the solidity of a warrior.

Only his forehead was slightly red, as if he had just been hit by something external.

Review: "..."

Continue to look at each other.

Perhaps this person held an official position before?

An idea suddenly came to my mind.

In today's world, due to food shortages, most people are starving. However, compared to the emaciated villagers Wen Gu had seen in Ge Village, this person seemed a little too negative.

He was the kind of depressed and self-destructive person who reeked of alcohol and had a pot of wine beside him. When Wen Gu came in, he took a few gulps of wine from the pot.

A lot of wine spilled on the ground.

The big donkey smelled the scent and was about to go over with the clatter of its hooves, but when it was pulled away, it started to bray and become stubborn.

Wen Gu asked Xiao Liu to find a pot of thick wine in the station and feed some to the big donkey.

When they had searched for wine at the farm before, they had found this kind of turbid wine in the servants' rooms, some of which was even more turbid than the one in the post station.

People from better-off families would drink clearer wines, which had gone through an extra filtration process and were more expensive. For example, the wine that Big Donkey drank a lot of was from Mr. Li's collection.

As for those who are not well-off, they mostly drink turbid wine.

Of course, there are also some literati from well-off families who like to drink some wine when they feel like a literary youth.

At present, small inns in remote areas cannot expect to get good wine, and most of them only have muddy wine.

It's enough to fool the donkey.

When the donkey quieted down, Wen Gu, with his scholarly air and a slightly apologetic expression, bowed elegantly to the man sitting on the ground and said, "Sorry to bother you."

The Taoist priest Qingyi next to him rolled his eyes secretly.

The young man sitting on the ground looked at Wen Gu and the other three. His eyes moved slightly, but then turned sad, and his voice was hoarse:
"Please feel free. But I advise you to stay away from me."

As he spoke, he lifted his sleeves and extended his arms towards Wen Gu and the others.

The four people looked at each other's exposed arms and then back to each other's faces.

Look at the arm again, then look at the other person.

His gaze shifted back and forth several times.

Tietou: Confused, really confused. Not knowing what to do, he looked at Wen Gu.

Xiao Liu: He wants to say something but stops himself, and he stops himself from saying something but still wants to.

He was happy to see a survivor, but he didn't understand what the man in front of him was trying to say. "What's wrong with your arm? Are you a little hairy?"

But he remembered his father's advice: don't talk nonsense when you go out, and do what your boss says.

So he also looked at Wen Gu.

Wen Gu and the Taoist priest exchanged glances, and in a short moment they guessed all the possibilities.

Doubt, sympathy, emotion, and melancholy.

The Taoist priest chuckled, then sighed like a master.

The mixed emotions of human nature in troubled times seemed to be reflected in his voice.

Looking at the reactions of Wen Gu and the other three, the young man's originally sad and decadent expression seemed to gradually freeze.

He realized something.

The air was suddenly quiet.

(End of this chapter)