Decaying World

Chapter 35 035 Change of Heart (Part 3)

The dark wooden houses are scattered haphazardly, like black stones on a beach.

Faint groans could be heard from some of the wooden houses, as if they were dying from illness that had tormented them for a long time.

Lin Hui and Deng Mingchao carefully entered the gap between the two dark houses, one carrying a sword and the other holding a sword horizontally.

The ground was covered with piles of black mud and messy filth in the corner, and a faint stench wafted in the air, the stench of some kind of protein rotting for a long time.

The two continued forward, and within a few seconds, they discovered a dark brown female corpse that was mostly rotten in a corner on the right.

The upper half of the female corpse had been gnawed away by something unknown, and some of the white bones under the skin were clearly visible.

She sat crookedly against the corner of the wall, her eyes listless and purple, with thin, milky-white maggots occasionally crawling from the corners of her eyes into her nostrils.

She was still wearing a tattered brown cloth dress, and her right hand was holding something that looked like a stone.

“She’s been dead for a while now. How come the night here hasn’t completely swallowed her up?” Deng Mingchao frowned and stepped forward, gently poking the female corpse’s thigh with the tip of his sword.

“Junior brother, come and look at this corpse. Here, people with tumors or lesions are not eligible for the 'Ten Thousand Blessing Meat,' so all food here is extremely precious. Corpses, under normal circumstances, wouldn't be carelessly discarded outside, except for one possibility.”

"What's possible?" Lin Hui asked, frowning despite the stench.

"The body died of illness," Deng Mingchao said in a deep voice. "Otherwise, a normal corpse here would be dragged away as food and stored up."

Lin Hui was speechless. Looking at the corpses on the ground, a doubt arose in his heart. "There is no obvious separation between here and the suburbs, so why don't the people here go to the suburbs to steal food?"

"How do you know they didn't go? How do you know there's no barrier over there?" Deng Mingchao retorted. "On our way here, we were surrounded by a special power that ordinary people couldn't sense. The closer we got to the fog area, the weaker that power became; the closer we got to the city, the stronger it became. In fact, it was precisely because of this power that the fog had been kept out."

"Senior brother, are you saying that the invisible force blocking the fog also blocked these patients? Making them afraid to approach?" Lin Hui asked.

"That's right. But it's undeniable that having too many patients can also threaten the safety of the surrounding residents, so we need to go out to clear them every now and then. We are just one part of the clearing force," Deng Mingchao explained. "There are also many other forces that have taken on the clearing task and will come to deal with the patients regularly."

“Next, let’s see why we martial artists need to clean up these patients, and why even the head constable is being so cautious.” Deng Mingchao sheathed his sword and exhaled.

Suddenly, he slashed to the left, actually using his sword like a knife to cut vertically into the shadowy area on the left.

At the same time, a red light rapidly approached from the shadows, and soon it was revealed to be a person's eye.

A one-eyed man, dressed in tattered black hemp clothing, his exposed grayish-white skin covered in festering sores, roared and lunged at Deng Mingchao with a ferocious expression, only to be met head-on by the blade of the longsword that was slashing down.

puff.

The one-eyed man and Deng Mingchao passed each other, and a spray of blood rose into the air.

Immediately afterward, blood splattered on the ground, and the one-eyed man fell heavily to the ground, lifeless.

“One,” Deng Mingchao said calmly, “one patient with bloodshot eyes.”

"The speed is very fast. Compared to ordinary people, those who haven't been trained would probably find it difficult to react in time," Lin Hui commented with a slightly serious expression.

“This is just the lowest level of Blood Eye. According to the condition, there will be Blood Body after Blood Eye. Let’s go, let’s continue in.” Deng Mingchao shook the blood off his sword and slowly moved forward.

Behind him, a crack slowly appeared in the head of the one-eyed man's corpse.

"That wasn't the Nine-Section Quick Sword just now, was it?" Lin Hui asked in a low voice.

"Of course, I just slightly modified one of the moves, turning the point into an extended slash. Sword techniques are flexible and varied, not static," Deng Mingchao replied.

The two continued forward, and this time, before they had gone ten meters, two more patients with bloodshot eyes appeared.

This time it was an old man and a young man, both male, who were even holding farming tools like hoes.

"Meat, meat!! I want to eat meat!!" The two patients pounced on Deng Mingchao as soon as they saw him.

"One for each of us." Deng Mingchao dodged to the side, jumped to the only empty space, and pulled the old man away.

He left a teenager who looked to be Lin Hui.

In an instant, the young man pounced on Lin Hui, the two of them less than two meters apart.

The other person's hands were already reaching for Lin Hui's face.

"Try not to get touched, so as not to spread the disease." The constable's advice flashed through Lin Hui's mind.

He took a step back, and the blade in his hand suddenly came out of its sheath.

laugh!
The silver sword tip pierced the opponent's throat with pinpoint accuracy the instant the opponent lunged forward.

Then the sword tip slashed upwards, slicing the opponent's throat and chin in two with a sharp slash.

Black blood splattered.

Despite his severe injuries, the boy didn't even cry out, but continued to lunge forward, trying to grab Lin Hui with both hands.

puff.

Just then, Lin Hui delivered a second strike.

The Qinghe Sword retracted, then thrust forward again, piercing straight through the opponent's right eye socket and exiting from the back of the head.

This sword strike finally immobilized the young man completely.

He fell heavily in front of Lin Hui, propelled by his forward momentum.

"Hmph, no pain?" Lin Hui drew his longsword and looked at his senior brother Deng Mingchao, who had also finished his battle.

“Yes, those who fall ill become faster and stronger, and lose their sense of pain. Their only weakness is their head. Even if you cut their other limbs to pieces, it won't help. They can still attack and live for a long time.” Deng Mingchao’s expression was somber. “So don’t be careless. Try to kill them with one blow.” He glanced at the wounds on the boy’s corpse on the ground and nodded.

“You did very well. Next, we may encounter patients with blood bodies. These patients are much faster, stronger, and more defensive than those with blood eyes. Once we start fighting, I may not be able to protect you. Be careful and hold on. I will come back to help you after I finish this battle.”

"Don't worry, senior brother, I won't hold you back," Lin Hui nodded solemnly.

Without another word, the two drew their swords and continued deeper inside.

The narrow alleyway twisted and turned, and soon they encountered two more blood-eyed people, who easily dealt with them.

After killing so many people in one go, Deng Mingchao paused to rest for a moment, wiped the blood off his sword to prevent it from rusting, and then continued to lead Lin Hui deeper into the territory.

This time, however, they had only walked less than twenty meters.

A strange man, completely different from the previous blood-eyed patient, appeared in front of the two.

On the dark alleyway floor, a bald man covered in blood red stood motionless in the middle of the road, his hands hanging down.

The bald man was naked, and his skin seemed to have been peeled off, revealing his muscles and tendons underneath.

"This is the Blood Body, step back a bit." Deng Mingchao lowered his voice and reached out to stop Lin Hui behind him.

"Keep watch on our surroundings for me," he instructed, then slowly approached, sword in hand.

Lin Hui responded with a shout, gripping his sword and keeping watch on both sides.

But his gaze had only flashed for a moment before he lost sight of his senior brother and the blood-covered patient.

clang!
Clang, clang, clang! !
In an instant, five sounds rang out in succession, and five sparks flew up in the alley.

Deng Mingchao and the blood-skinned patient were locked in combat in the blink of an eye.

Both were extremely fast, attacking more than ten times per second, engaging in a frenzied battle like the wind.

Attack, block, attack, block.

No dodge.

There's no time to dodge. In this high-speed exchange of attacks, the goal is to seize the initiative. Once you dodge, you'll be on the defensive and trapped in a vicious cycle of constantly dodging and defending.

Deng Mingchao's face was ferocious as he unleashed the Nine-Section Fast Sword to its fullest extent, the sword shadows blurring, giving the faint illusion of being as swift as the wind.

The gray sword shadows kept flying towards the opposite side, only to be blocked by the blood-covered patient's hands at high speed.

The patient's weapon was his two black fingernails, which resembled ten sharp black spikes, sharp and clearly poisonous.

A violent impact occurred, accompanied by continuous explosions of sparks.

Lin Hui took another step back. In this dim environment, his eyesight was no longer able to see the specific details of the fight between the two.

Deng Mingchao's nine-section fast sword was more skillful and perfect than his, and his moves were more stable and powerful. Without special effects and seals, he felt that he wouldn't last more than a hundred moves against that sword speed.

But the fact that the blood-covered patient could withstand the sword shadows for so long made Lin Hui realize that the threat posed by him was extremely high.

Not long after.

puff!

Deng Mingchao beheaded the blood-covered patient with a single sword stroke.

His sword seemed to have been modified, not only suitable for thrusting but also for slashing.

He was slightly out of breath at this moment, and shook the blood off his sword.

"See that? That's the Blood Body. Normally, within our sect, without the strength of someone in the top ten, you wouldn't even last ten seconds against them. That's why the Emergency Braking Team has such high standards for strength."

"I understand," Lin Hui said, looking warily at the patient's corpse on the ground. "How many patients are like this? What's the proportion?"

"Of course not many. About one in twenty or thirty blood eyes will have a blood mutation. It depends on the patient's physical condition before death," Deng Mingchao explained.

He examined the bloodied corpse, confirmed it was dead, and then stepped over it.

"Let's go on."

"Do you need to rest?" Lin Hui asked worriedly.

"Need not."

"Junior Brother Deng would be better off taking a rest."

Suddenly, a familiar voice drifted from not far behind.

Deng Mingchao and Lin Hui's expressions changed slightly, as they both recognized the voice.

Mu Qiaozhi!
"Senior Sister Mu, I'll call you Senior Sister one last time. Weren't you assigned to another team? Why aren't you cleaning up the patients? Why are you here with us instead?" Deng Mingchao's face tightened, and he had a bad feeling.

"I just had some free time and wanted to see how my former fellow disciples were doing. I also wanted to show them my newly acquired skills in the Black Dragon Sect's martial arts."

Mu Qiaozhi's figure suddenly emerged from the shadows behind her.

She was dressed in a dark brake team uniform, carrying a black sword on her back, and wearing a set of black metal arm armor on her right hand, with sharp metal claws on her five fingers, completely changing her style.

"Junior Brother Deng, Junior Brother Lin, what was the purpose of your previous martial arts training?"

(End of this chapter)