Chapter 95: Thick Fog, Corpse Poison

  "Stop it!"

  This thunderous sound pierced into Shi Jin's ears, causing his whole body to stiffen involuntarily, and the hand that was about to uncover the corpse also trembled. Before Shi Jin could see the true appearance of the deceased person, a pair of arms suddenly stretched out from behind him. In an instant, Shi Jin was grabbed from behind and held in a tight waistlock, as if afraid of being contaminated with something, and was roughly pulled backwards.

  Shi Jin was dragged back a few steps while turning his head to look at the newcomer, who turned out to be Li Bai Cao.

  "You're really bold! This quilt can't be lifted, you're trying to get yourself killed!" Li Baicao anxiously said to Shi Jin.

  Shi Jin, however, seemed to be not as cautious as Li Bai Cao and still wanted to lift it up to take a look, to see if it was really as terrifying as the rumors said. But just as Shi Jin took a few steps forward and hadn't even lifted a corner of the cloth, Li Bai Cao rushed in front of him again, one hand pressing down on Shi Jin's hand that was about to lift the shroud, while the other hand already held a thick gauze covering Shi Jin's mouth and nose.

  "Be careful, you've been poisoned by corpse toxin!" Lei Baicao hastily pulled him into the house while saying: "Do you know how terrifying corpse toxin is? I just sealed it with white wax and you went and opened it again. The corpse energy that's coming out now is unbearable!"

  "I just want to take a look..."

  "Alas!" Li Baicao didn't care about Shi Jin anymore, and hastily ordered the new apprentices at several medicine shops: "Quickly chop down some peach trees, set up a wooden tower, and hurry to burn those corpses!"

  Those two servants nodded and quickly left. At this time, Li Baicao's expression slightly eased up, and he was facing Shi Jin, but because things were too complicated, he didn't know where to start for the moment.

  But Shi Jin's heart had many concerns and he couldn't help but ask first, "Where is Chen Da?"

  "He's recovering from his injuries in the secret room in my backyard, Master. If there's anything you need, just call me." Li Baicao said quietly into Shi Jing's ear while pointing to the back.

  Shi Jin shook his head and said, "I also heard from the little servant that Chen Da ordered to seal the well. I thought he was not taking good care of his injuries and was struggling again. He is still recovering now, which is good. But... what's going on with this corpse?"

  When it comes to this, Li Baicao's eyebrows are tightly knitted together again, and he says seriously: "This is not called corpse transformation, but corpse poison!"

  "You mean this is poisonous?"

  Lí bǎi cǎo nodded and continued: "That's right, I used a silver needle to test it. The source of the poison is in the well at Kongji Dye Workshop. Whoever drank from that well has been poisoned to varying degrees. At first, several villagers came to see me for treatment, and I thought it was just ordinary rheumatism blocking the flow of qi, causing swelling all over the body. I was busy treating the wounded and didn't pay much attention. But..."

  Li Baicao sighed and saw that Shi Jin was listening carefully, so he continued to say: "But soon after, several families came one after another to ask for medical treatment, and some even carried the patients directly. I thought it was a disease caused by those who were buried too shallowly. But when I saw the later patients, they all had stiff bodies, and I suddenly remembered that my master had mentioned a strange and terrible disease, which is this corpse poison."

  "Poison of the hundred herbs, if one is poisoned, will they become a zombie?" Shi Jin's heart also had 80% worry, those rumors he had heard before again crawled into his mind.

  Li Bai Cao shook his head, but the worry on his face did not disperse. He sighed and said: "Zombies aren't formed this way, however, those who are infected with corpse poison will eventually rot all over their body and die in agony. What's even more frightening is that this toxin can spread through water and wind, and the onset of illness is extremely fast..."

  "Ah——!" Shi Jin listened, and his heart secretly took a fright. No wonder Li Bai Cao was so flustered just now, and no wonder he wanted to use another layer of thin wax to seal the shroud from the outside. Now that such a terrible thing has happened in the city, not to mention shaking the military's morale, if this spreads and becomes a vicious cycle, this city will become a dead city with corpses lying all over.

  "Hundred Herbs, then do we have an antidote for this corpse poison? Is it that the medicinal materials are insufficient and can't be mixed together?"

  Lí Bǎi Cǎo nodded and then shook his head, saying: "The medicinal materials are almost sold out, let alone the medicine to detoxify corpses, even the military pills are almost impossible to make, however..."

  As soon as Li Bai Cao finished speaking, he took three steps back, and every "but" pulled Shi Jin's heart up to his throat again.

  At this moment, Shi Jin heard another "but", his heart beat accelerated by one more beat. He knew that the meaning of this "however" was that the difficulties facing him were not just a shortage of medicine, but even greater troubles lay ahead.

  At this time, Li Baicao paused and said: "However, I have never treated corpse poison before, nor do I know how to configure the antidote for corpse poison."

  Shi Jin heard this, the heart that was jumping wildly just now suddenly cooled down by more than half, gritted his teeth and said: "In that case, we must consider the overall situation, be ruthless... Burn all the poisoned people to ashes!"

  "The dead are to be cremated, but what about those who are still alive? My master left me a book called 'Shun Tian Shu', which covers all sorts of difficult and complicated cases. In my daily life, whenever I encounter any puzzles, I would take out this book to seek unconventional solutions."

  Shi Jin's eyes lit up as soon as he heard this, and he said, "Baicao, could it be that the solution to the corpse poison is also in this 'Shun Tian Book'? Hurry up and bring it to me, I'll think of a way to help you collect the necessary medicine." Shi Jin said, and then put his hand on Lei Baicao's shoulder, wanting to go with him to get the book. However, Lei Baicao didn't seem to want to move, and when Shi Jin turned to look at him, he saw that Lei Baicao had a troubled expression. Shi Jin was somewhat puzzled by this, and quickly asked, "Could it be that this book can't be shown to outsiders?"

  "Not that, but... I usually put it on the bookshelf in the middle of the back room for easy reference and browsing, but when I went to get it again today, however..."

  "What's going on?" Shi Jin was once again intimidated by Li Bai Cao's words and didn't dare breathe.

  Li Bai Cao sighed deeply and said, "But it's gone!"

  "Ah! How could this be......" Shi Jin was shocked and widened his eyes, having finally heard a breakthrough, but was again blocked by Li Bai Cao's single word "however".

  Although Shi Jin's face was gloomy, he had a hunch that these unexpected events were not just a series of simple twists and turns. The underlying connections formed an organic whole, and behind them, there must be some kind of conspiracy. At this moment, there must be someone or a group of people quietly watching in the shadows, watching as one innocent person after another fell, watching as the city became increasingly chaotic, watching as Shi Jin and his companions struggled desperately in this worsening situation.

  They must be smiling with schadenfreude at this moment...

  But your smugness won't last!

  Shi Jin clenched his fist and said to Li Bai Cao, "Let's go, we'll take a look at the well in Kongji Dye House!" After that, he led a group of people to mount their horses and gallop quickly towards Kongji Dye House.