Chapter 44 Section 3, Paragraph 4

  34、

  Auntie Lyu saw Fang Yuan and seemed a bit surprised: "Huh, didn't you take a bath this morning? What are you doing here again?"

  "I... " Fang Yuan quickly found a reason, "I dropped something while taking a shower this morning and came here to look for it."

  "Oh, have you found it?" Aunt Lü looked up and down at Fang Yuan, as if searching for something on her.

  "Found it."

  "That's good." Aunt Lü retorted: "Then why don't you go back? What are you yelling about here!"

  "Just now, I was about to go out, but was stopped by a man in black!"

  Aunt Lu was also startled: "Black-clad man? Where?"

  "I don't know. Just as the light came on for a moment, he vanished."

  Lü Ayi casually picked up a long bamboo broom for cleaning and warned the people surrounding the bathhouse by walking around it once.

  There is no one else around.

  Aunt Lü returned to Fang Yuan's side, her mouth twitching with anger. "What black-clad person? In the bathhouse, besides me and you, there isn't even a ghostly shadow! Are you seeing things?"

  "Miss Lu, just now there really was a man in black clothes here, he's young! I'm not lying to you!"

  "Men?" Aunt Lü's mouth curled up in a smile. "Girl, can't you find a boyfriend? Are you thinking about men until you're crazy?"

  Fang Yuan was completely speechless.

  "Alright, alright!" Aunt Lü waved her hand magnanimously. "I don't care about any black-clad men or what secrets you're hiding. Now that you're fine and the lost items have been found, get out of my sight!"

  Fang Yuxin's heart slightly stirred. Could it be that Aunt Lu was also an accomplice of the black-clad men? Perhaps, he was hiding behind some wall, and Aunt Lu deliberately pretended not to see him?

  Fang Wan really wanted to search for it herself again. But reason told her that now, the most important thing was to leave this place.

  If Lü Auntie is really an accomplice of the black-clad people and the scam is exposed, they might go berserk and do who-knows-what to her.

  "That... might be true. I must have been seeing things." Fang Yuan smiled apologetically, "Aunt Lu, sorry for scaring you. I'll leave first."

  Fang Yuan was just about to leave when all the lights in the bathroom suddenly went out at once!

  Fang Yuan's eyes went dark and she couldn't see anything.

  She felt as if a hand was coming out from under the ground, grabbing her foot and pulling her down with all its might.

  Fang Yuan lost her balance and fell forward, her entire body crashing down.

  Unexpectedly, she didn't fall to the ground but fell into a deep pit instead.

  A sturdy body supported her as she ran wildly in the darkness.

  "Let me go!" Fang Yuan shouted, struggling with all her might.

  "Shut up!" came a hoarse and raspy voice from the darkness, belonging to the black-clad old man.

  "Is it you? What exactly do you want to do?" Fang Yuan gave up struggling. She closed her eyes, letting them adapt to the darkness.

  The man in black seemed to be exhausted too, putting Fang Yuan down and leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

  When Fang Yuan opened her eyes again, she could only see a group of dim black shadows. It was darker here than in the bathroom, and it was clearly an underground passageway.

  It's okay, breathing isn't very difficult, and there's some light shining from a distant place. Apparently, this underground passageway was carefully designed with ventilation openings set up in secret places.

  "Fang Yuan, are you okay?" The black-clothed person's voice was unpleasant to hear, but his tone was very friendly.

  "I'm fine." Fang Yuan gazed at the black-clad man in front of her, secretly pondering in her heart.

  It seems that the man in black has no malicious intentions towards her, otherwise he could have taken advantage of her long ago. Moreover, there are only two people in the underground passage now, and if the man in black had any designs on her, she would be unable to resist.

  "Could it be...?" Fang Yuan suddenly thought of someone.

  "Not bad, it's me." The man in black suddenly laughed, "You didn't think I was still alive, did you?"

  Fang Wei let out a sigh of relief. For some reason, her mood suddenly became very good, as if she had met an old friend she hadn't seen in years.

  "I went looking for you later, but all I saw was some bloodstains. The poison in you... are you okay now?"

  The man in black sighed: "I'm fine."

  It turned out that the man in black was He Jianhui. At first, to save Fang Yuan, he injected himself with lake water containing highly toxic substances. Now thinking back, since He Jianhui was so clever and had carried the poisonous water with him, he must have also prepared an antidote.

  "What place is this?"

  "This is the most important nest of the Moon God tribe. The moon god they worship was resurrected in this very nest." He Yu's voice trembled as he mentioned the moon god, "Have you been to the Sea God Island and found the owner of the Blood Jade?"

  "Uh-huh."

  "What did he say to you?"

  Fang Wan simply repeated what Grandfather Qin had said.

  He Jianhui muttered to himself: "So, the remnants of the Moon God tribe really want to revive the Moon God?"

  "Do you really believe there will be an immortal moon goddess?"

  "No, I don't believe it." He Jianhui's words took a turn, "But the remnants of the Moon God tribe do. So, they want to revive the Moon God, that's the key point."

  Fang Wan remembered Grandfather Qin's warning: The Moon Goddess wants to destroy human civilization! She wants to destroy the entire human society!

  But can she really achieve this with her own strength?

  Even nuclear weapons can only destroy one city at a time. With so many cities on Earth, how many nuclear weapons would be needed?

  Fang Wei didn't believe it. But Grandfather Qin, such a formidable figure, firmly believed that the Moon Goddess had such abilities.

  Fang Yuan asked cautiously: "Is the Moon Goddess very terrifying? Can she really destroy human civilization?"

  He Jianhui hesitated and said, "I'm not sure. However, I've heard from the Moon God tribe that the Moon God indeed has some incredible abilities. To destroy an entire human civilization with one person's power is very difficult, unless..."

  "What if?"

  "Unless she can spread some kind of highly contagious virus that humans cannot cure."

  Fang Yuan suddenly enlightened.

  Human civilization has encountered many natural and man-made disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, wars, and plagues. However, the single deadliest event was a mysterious cold.

  In 1918, the mysterious Spanish flu swept across the world, infecting about half of the global population and killing at least over 20 million people. According to scientists' analysis, the culprit behind that flu was a mutated influenza virus.

  Later, more and more viruses spread to human society through other channels. AIDS, bird flu, SARS... any one of these viruses makes human civilization shake.

  Since the dawn of human civilization, humans have been waging a protracted and invisible war against viruses. In human eyes, viruses are just the most primitive tiny living organisms, but they have strong vitality, constantly mutating and enhancing their drug resistance under repeated attacks by drugs. Until today, humans still have no effective means to deal with many infectious viruses.

  "What can be done to stop the resurrection of the Moon Goddess?"

  He Jianhui said: "After I subdued Xiaogu, I learned from his mouth that the Moon Goddess is about to be resurrected every sixty years. But now, for some reason, she has not been resurrected. Perhaps it's because after the chaos of the altar sixty years ago, the Moon Goddess tribe no longer had the ability to set up the Seven Stars Soul Array."

  "Seven Stars Soul-Seizing Formation?" Upon hearing this name, Fang Yuan's back felt a chill.

  "Uh-huh. The Lunar Tribe believes in the existence of spiritual power, thinking that it is eternal and indestructible. Humans are alive because of the existence of spiritual power. After the Moon Goddess fell asleep, her spiritual power weakened, and to revive her, she must absorb enough spiritual power. This is the same principle as our ancestors' sacrificial rituals requiring offerings. The Seven Stars Soul-Seizing Array is set up around the Moon Goddess, with seven high priests laying down the array, simultaneously seizing the spiritual power of seven young girls, allowing the Moon Goddess to absorb it and revive."

  "Why young girls?"

  "I don't know either. Maybe they think that young girls have stronger spiritual power. I heard that the Moon Goddess is a young girl, forever youthful and beautiful. According to Xiaogu, several years ago, the successor of the Minghuo Festival tried once, tricking seven students into the underground room of the dissection building, letting them die simultaneously by self-ignition, but the Moon Goddess still didn't appear. Now it seems that the remnants of the Moon Goddess clan haven't fully set up the Seven Stars Soul-Seizing Array. Maybe the real Seven Stars Soul-Seizing Array has already been lost."

  "So, the female students of the medical college became their test subjects! Today, five young girls died at the same time!"

  "Yes." He Jianhui said coldly, "Originally there were seven, I don't know where the mistake was, only five died."

  "Why don't they just give up?"

  "Give up?" He Jianhui sneered, "Do you think everyone is as kind and selfless as you? As long as they revive the Moon Goddess, they will grasp absolute power, possess unimaginable wealth, and may even be able to stay young forever and live eternally! If I'm not mistaken, they'll make another move with the Seven Stars Soul-Seizing Array tonight!"

  He Jianhui was speaking when the ground above the tunnel suddenly opened a hole, and a pair of thick arms stretched down, pinched He Jianhui's neck, like grasping a small chicken, and lifted him up with great force.