Eternal life?

These four words came out of Bai Zhongzheng's mouth, and after being confirmed by Yuan Zhenba, Torture, Yan Gang, Tan Tong, Bai Zhongzheng, and even Xu You by the bonfire outside couldn't help laughing, but everyone laughed very reservedly. Of course, Yuan Zhenba was also laughing, but his kind of laughter seemed to be mocking the ignorance of others.

And Fan Meng and He Yuejia sat in the distance expressionlessly, looking at everyone, not knowing what they were thinking.

When everyone laughed, Samuchuan kept a straight face and stared at Yuan Zhenba, and the torture technique also noticed this, but he didn't ask immediately, just wanted to find out Yuan Zhenba's true purpose.

"Your words can't be convincing, but it's not important, sooner or later you'll be exposed." ”

Yuan Zhenba shrugged: "I didn't plan to hide it at all, it's time for dinner." ”

Since there has been a confrontation, the meals are naturally divided into batches, Fan Meng, He Yuejia, Yuan Zhenba, and Xu You are eating things like squirrels and mountain rats, and they are eating pheasants hunted by Yan Gang and others, He Chenxue has been looking at her sister when she eats, although her eyes can't see clearly, but because she is a sister, she knows that He Yuejia will never be able to eat those squirrels and mountain rats, so she can only eat instant noodles and drink mineral water there.

But before both groups started eating, they did the same thing, which was to test whether anyone had poisoned the food.

The torturer knew that it was the most correct decision to find Tan Tong with him this time, not only to resolve several crises, but also to bring Samuchuan, an expert in medical skills and detoxification.

He Chenxue was eating a piece of roast chicken, which was very unpleasant, so he picked up a chicken leg and handed it to her. He Chenxue immediately shook her head: "I can't eat it." ”

"Not for you." Xingshu glanced at He Yuejia in the distance, "Take it for your sister, you have a lot of physical exertion in the mountains, and if you don't eat meat to supplement protein, you can't live." ”

He Chenxue nodded, walked over slowly with the chicken leg, He Yuejia, who was eating instant noodles, looked up at her, and lowered her head again, until the chicken leg was handed to her eyes, He Yuejia looked up, and was about to wave her hand to refuse, He Chenxue said: "Sister, I know you like to eat chicken the most, because I am too." ”

Fan Meng whispered beside him: "Take it." ”

He Yuejia took the chicken leg: "Thank you." ”

"I brought insect repellent, the kind that is not toxic to people, if you need it, say it." After He Chenxue finished speaking, she slowly walked back to the side of the torture technique, and when she left, she glanced at Fan Meng intentionally or unintentionally.

During the meal, except for Tan Tong, who had been chattering, everyone else was almost silent, because in this environment, everyone felt very uncomfortable, and they were just looking forward to the coming of the morning, so that they could leave this Miao Village and continue to move forward, but everyone didn't dare to think about what would be waiting for them tomorrow, maybe Jiacuo Bao was ten thousand times worse than this Miao Village.

After the meal, it was close to ten o'clock, because only the watchtower had been searched, everyone could only live here, even if they were reluctant, they had to make up for the night, they didn't dare, and they didn't have time to set up tents outside.

Yuan Zhenba proposed that he would keep the first half of the night, while Xu You would keep the second half of the night, because Fan Meng and He Yuejia acted as guides, they needed enough rest, and on the side of torture, the task of keeping vigil naturally fell to Yan Gang, Samuchuan and Bai Zhongzheng, and the three of them started by Yan Gang, each vigil lasted for three hours.

In order to prevent the beasts from sneaking up at night, Yuan Zhenba has been guarding the bonfire outside, and after patrolling around from time to time, he will add some firewood to ensure that the bonfire will not be extinguished.

Yan Gang pinched the dagger, carried the crossbow given to him by Bai Zhongzheng, patrolled around, looked at his Yuan Zhenba from a distance, and slowly stepped forward and said, "You used to be a soldier?" ”

Yan Gang just said "um", and Yuan Zhenba said again: "You are definitely not an ordinary soldier, it can be seen from your physique and behavior that although you have retired, you are still maintaining the previous training intensity and not letting yourself relax." ”

"Mr. Yuan, your words are a bit much." Yan Gang pointed to a hole in the stone house next to him and said, "I don't know you well, if you are really uncomfortable and want to talk to someone, you can say to that cave, because the cave will not make you unhappy after listening to some of your words." ”

Yuan Zhenba just laughed and stopped talking, and the two of them stood one after the other, spending the long night in a static way.

At three o'clock in the morning, Yan Gang, who should have changed the guard a long time ago, slowly walked to the watchtower, ready to wake up Samuchuan, who should have come to replace him, and Yuan Zhenba, who still had to wait for more than an hour, returned to the bonfire and sat down, stretched out his hand to bake the fire, and the moment he stretched out his hand, he saw a few dried toad corpses next to the bonfire, as well as a dozen dried flowers.

The toad corpse and dried flowers were placed on the side of the bonfire on the side of the watchtower gate, if it weren't for Yuan Zhenba's desire to avoid the wind and change his position, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to see it at this end.

"Don't breathe!" Yuan Zhenba suddenly shouted, took out two cotton masks from his bag, took out a bottle, sprinkled some liquid on the mask, and threw one of them to Yan Gang, who stopped at the door, "Put it on!" Fast! ”

Yan Gang frowned, he naturally held his breath, but he didn't dare to put on the mask that Yuan Zhenba gave him, he couldn't be sure if Yuan Zhenba was playing tricks.

Yuan Zhenba, who had already put on a mask, squatted on the other side of the bonfire, pointed to the toad corpse there and said: "This is the spotted toad, a special product of the damp and rotten land in the deep mountains of Xiangxi, which is poisonous in itself, and these dried flowers placed next to it are goldenrod, that is, mandala flowers, after these two things are close to the high temperature, the temperature emitted will cause people to be dizzy and nauseous, lack of concentration, if you inhale too much, people with slightly poor physical fitness will die on the spot!" ”

Yan Gang heard Yuan Zhenba say so seriously, so he put on the mask, Yuan Zhenba also used his foot to remove the toad corpses and dried goldenrods around him, and took out a bottle and said: "It's weird, you take the bottle in, call the people inside one by one, if you don't wake up, let the bottle open, put the bottle close to their nose, you should be able to wake up." ”

Yan Gang frowned: "How do I know if these things were arranged by you?" ”

"It's up to you to do it or not!" Yuan Zhenba said coldly, "Don't forget, Fan Meng and they are also inside, tonight is blowing the northwest wind, the wind direction is just rushing into the watchtower, someone is calculating us, I estimate, it should not be our own people." ”

Yan Gang didn't say anything, he immediately went in, and first went to shake Samuchuan awake, because Samuchuan understood these things, but when he was about to shake Samuchuan awake, he found Samuchuan lying there leaning there, staring at him, his lips trembling slightly.

Yan Gang immediately asked, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Samuchuan couldn't speak, and he couldn't make an expression, because his whole body was already paralyzed, Yan Gang immediately took out the bottle and asked Samuchuan to smell it, but after smelling, Samuchuan still couldn't speak, and he still maintained his previous appearance. Yan Gang had no choice but to run to the door and said, "It's really poisoned, Samuchuan can't move!" What the hell is going on? ”

Yuan Zhenba got up, while observing the surroundings, he opened his clothes, took out two small bottles, and threw them to Yan Gang without looking back: "Dilute the medicinal powder in the right bottle and the medicinal wine in the left bottle, and apply it to the poisoned person's center and on both sides of the mouth." ”

Yan Gang saw Yuan Zhenba's appearance, it didn't look like a trick he played, took the bottle and returned to Samuchuan's side, as he said, less than a minute after applying it, Samuchuan was finally able to speak, and the first thing he said when he opened his mouth was: "Someone poisoned!" The wind blew in, I found out that it was too late, my body is not very flexible, I will fall when I get up, you go to save the others first, hurry up! ”

Yan Gang, who was holding the three bottles, turned around and began to wake up from the torture technique one by one, smearing them with diluted medicinal powder, judging from the performance of the awakened people, there was no doubt that the people in the room were poisoned.

Samuchuan gathered strength and shouted outside the house: "Yuan Zhenba! ”

Yuan Zhenba tilted his head and said: "Shh, don't speak, there is movement around, you are the poison of the spotted toad and the goldenrod, mixed with poison, it will cause paralysis of the body." After Yuan Zhenba finished speaking, he took a torch from the campfire, because although the flashlight shone farther, the range of illumination was limited, and it could not be a more effective weapon.

Yuan Zhenba stood there, slowly moving his gaze, he didn't want to believe that there was really someone who could be so powerful that he could silently put down the toad corpse and the golden flower behind him and Yan Gang and retreat again, surrounded by rubble and dry branches and other things, if someone stepped on it, it would definitely make a sound.

Finally, Yuan Zhenba's eyes moved back to the side of the bonfire, and then he found that most of the bones of the roasted squirrels and mountain rats thrown there on the side of the bonfire had disappeared, he realized something, and immediately climbed up to the stone house next to him, looked around, and then jumped down again, while desperately adding firewood to the bonfire, while shouting towards the watchtower: "Yan Gang, hurry up!" Samuchuan, you can also get up and stick to it, otherwise it will be too late! ”

Samuchuan had barely stood up at this time, although he felt that his limbs were still a little disobedient, but he still gritted his teeth and stepped forward to help Yan Gang wake up the others, at this time, except for He Yuejia and He Chenxue, everyone else was already awake, but they couldn't get up, although He Yuejia and He Chenxue opened their eyes, they were still in a daze.

Yuan Zhenba of the watchtower has already burned the bonfire to the maximum, and the surrounding things that can be thrown in to burn are thrown in, and at the same time he is also making torches, making five torches in one breath, standing at the door, rushing to the door and saying: "If you can stand up, stand up quickly, if the body still feels paralyzed, move more, so that you can soothe the paralyzed muscles, we all have to escape!" ”

Torture Shu and Tan Tong stood up with each other supporting each other, and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"It's a stone rat!" Yuan Zhenba turned around and looked, and he had already heard the terrible sound of those huge number of stone rats running on the ground, as if thousands of troops were about to attack, "I now know why the people in this Miao Village disappeared mysteriously back then!" ”

Tan Tong's face changed, and he realized what Yuan Zhenba was talking about, so he walked towards the door with the help of the torture technique, and when he walked to the door, Bai Zhongzheng and Yan Gang also limped over, Xu You and Fan Meng also struggled to climb up to the window and look out, at this glance, they saw that everyone present had goosebumps, and their scalps were about to explode - outside the watchtower, five or six meters away from the other end of the bonfire, the one and the same size as an adult rabbit gathered there, after seeing the people at the door and window of the watchtower, The huge stone rats stood upright, like people who had to look at the live chickens and ducks in the backyard before eating in a restaurant.

The torturer was stunned for a few seconds before he said, "How can this be?" ”

Yuan Zhenba walked to the bonfire step by step, lit the torches, and handed them to the people at the door one by one: "You are carrying people who are not awake, holding torches, everyone must not separate, get together, prepare the burning stick, although these stone rats are not too afraid of fire, but the torch is our most useful weapon now." ”

Xu You walked out quickly and took one, while Fan Meng and Xingshu turned around and went back to carry He Yuejia and He Chenxue on their backs respectively, and the remaining three torches, one for Yuan Zhenba, Yan Gang and Bai Zhongzheng, and then everyone stood back to back by the bonfire outside the house, not daring to move.

Those stone rats did not immediately attack, but surrounded them, and at this time there were countless stone rats in the watchtower, some of which lay on the outside of the watchtower, looking at them from top to bottom, and from time to time they made a shrill cry like a whistle.

"What the hell are these rats!?" Tan Tong, who was fully awake and his body was no longer paralyzed, asked, holding the burning stick in his hand, but he didn't pull it away.

Bai Zhongzheng on one side explained: "I've seen it before, at most twenty or thirty of them gathered together, because this kind of stone rat is not the kind of mole rat that is usually said, but one of the types of mountain rats, a kind of rat that lives in the karst landform environment, omnivores, in addition to plants, also eat meat and carrion left over from other large prey, it should be said that I prefer carrion, the last time I saw it, it was near the Tianshan Mountains, but it should not be aggressive towards people." ”

Yuan Zhenba shook his head, shook the torch in his hand, and forced back the stone rats that were close to him: "In short, the people in Miao Village disappeared mysteriously back then, it must be because of these things, if I guess correctly, after the 'Wrath of the Witch God' poisoning incident occurred in Miao Village back then, most of the stone rats here ate the corpses of those poisoned people, resulting in changes in their bodies......

Speaking of this, Yuan Zhenba stopped, turned his head to look at him with a strange smile on his face, and immediately said, "Yuan Zhenba, do you really think that these big rats have mutated after eating the corpse containing toxins, and this mutation is similar to the elixir of life, right?" ”

"Who knows?" Faced with this grim situation, Yuan Zhenba still smiled, "But we have to leave this place first, or wait for dawn, as long as the day dawns, these rats will definitely disperse." ”

Xu You stared at the bonfire and said, "If you didn't throw all the firewood into it, maybe you could support it until dawn, but now you can still support it for half an hour." ”

Yuan Zhenba looked at Xu Youdao and said, "I threw in the firewood, but I also wanted to stop these mountain rats, because you have all been poisoned!" ”

Xu You smiled: "We were poisoned, that's because you, the night watchman, were negligent, and you are still a pharmacist, so you will be calculated by a mouse whose IQ is lower than you!" ”

Yuan Zhenba glared at Xu You, Xu You kept looking at him with a strange smile, although their infighting was a good thing for the torture technique, but in the current situation, it was the worst situation.

The torturer immediately said: "Don't fight! We've got to figure out a way to get out of it. ”

After the torture was finished, Fan Meng immediately said: "The only way is to get out of the stockade and run in the direction of the cliff." ”

Tan Tong hurriedly said: "If you want to commit suicide, go by yourself, don't drag us along." ”

At this time, He Yuejia, who was already able to speak, but was still a little weak, said: "It's not suicide, when we went to explore the road before, we tied ropes to the two trees there, and we can go down from the cliff along the ropes to reach the periphery of Jiacuo Fort, other than that, we have no other way, we have not lived in this village before." ”

Saying that, He Yuejia subconsciously glanced at Yuan Zhenba, it was obvious that he was the one who proposed to spend the night in the village this time, and his purpose was to study the "wrath of the witch god" related to the village.

Xingshu looked at Fan Meng and asked, "Is there really a rope?" ”

Fan Meng nodded: "Now that it's over, it's impossible for me to lie to you anymore." ”

Torture nodded: "Okay, let's go out of the stockade, everyone gathers together and moves slowly, and at the same time prepares the food in the bag, and when in danger, throw the food out to divert the attention of the stone rat." ”

Bai Zhongzheng squatted down at this time, took out some of the burning firewood inside with his hands, and threw it towards the road leading to the outside of the village, Samuchuan also realized what he was going to do, and together with Tan Tong, he threw it there, and used the burning firewood to open up a way for everyone to leave.

But from the watchtower to the gate of the stockade stone road, there are at least two hundred meters, and these two hundred meters are just the beginning, because no one knows whether the stone rats here will catch up again after they run out of the stockade.

Everyone threw the firewood almost, but because those sticks and branches were very light, even if they were thrown out, they would be thrown to a position of about twenty meters at the farthest, and it was impossible to go far, and then Yuan Zhenba held a torch to open the way, slowly moving his steps, and the others followed, walking slowly, and those who did not have torches took out incendiary sticks, ready to pull and burn at any time.

10 people back to back, staring at the direction they were facing, under the guidance of Yuan Zhenba at the front, they walked at a constant speed outside, and the stone rats around them also changed their positions with their movements, and after walking ten meters away, Tan Tong turned on the strong flashlight and shone towards the door of the village, only to find that on the stone road, the surrounding stone houses were densely packed with those stone rats, not to mention thousands.

Tan Tong said with a sad face: "I think the best way is to use a plane to throw incendiary bombs down!" ”

"It's nice to leave alive, but what about the plane?" Yan Gang said on the side, "Don't fantasize, concentrate!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a bold stone rat pounced directly, and was directly cut in half by Yan Gang's dagger, and after the body of the stone rat fell to the ground, the other stone rats immediately dispersed, and did not show much interest in the corpses of their companions, but continued to follow everyone after bypassing.

"Luckily, these rats don't eat each other." Fan Meng whispered, and as soon as he finished speaking, another one jumped down from the end of the stone roof, trying to jump directly into their crowd.

Bai Zhongzheng's eyes were quick, and he raised his hand to shoot a crossbow arrow, which pierced the body of the stone rat, and nailed its body directly into the crack in the stone bricks of the stone house.

However, the death of the two stone rats did not quiet the other stone rats, but more and more stone rats began to jump towards them one by one from the end of the stone roofs along the way!