Ancient Country Returns to Ruins: Strange News from the Western Regions

  It wasn't until now that I realized, these weren't villagers at all, they were clearly ghosts. No wonder the clothes from past dynasties were all here. I reckon these people were probably once lost in this oasis and left behind, unable to leave again. Wu Ziheng kept winking and making eyes at us, guessing he had already sensed something was off.

  Only to see Wu Zihan already standing behind the clan leader, that old clan leader seemed to feel something wrong behind him, his head made a 180-degree turn, directly facing Wu Zihan behind him. I suddenly shuddered all over, touching my own neck.

  "Young man, what brings you to stand behind my back? We'll be one family soon." He said with a smile, the sound of which seemed to be squeezed out from his throat, and was particularly jarring.

  Wu Zihan glared at the old man with a fierce gaze, disdainfully saying: "Who is one family with you? Leaving you here will only bring disaster!" He pulled out a silver-glinting dagger from his waist, grabbed the clan leader's hair with his left hand, and swung the dagger towards his neck with his right hand. In an instant, a black smoke burst forth, and the clan leader's body fell to the ground, immediately turning into a white skeleton. His head, however, remained in Wu Zihan's hand. This entire series of actions was almost completed in the blink of an eye, leaving me staring in shock.

  That one-eyed monster grinned and shouted loudly: "Once you enter, no one can leave!" He muttered a few words that I didn't understand, which sounded like an incantation. Wu Zihan's face changed greatly after hearing it, and he yelled at me: "Quickly give your blood to everyone to drink, quickly!" I was still puzzled, they wouldn't turn into vampires or something, why would they want to drink my blood? Wu Zihan looked up at the sky, and immediately added emphasis: "Quickly!"

  Then he threw the dagger in his hand to me, and I didn't have time to think much, so I quickly cut a slit on my left hand, used a bowl to catch the flowing blood, and gave it to Lao San and Karamay who were closest to me. They two had already fainted on the table. I rushed into the crowd, pulled out Xiao Lao and Fu Ma, they two were still dancing with all their might, saying nothing would come out, Fu Ma's strength was surprisingly great, and he suddenly threw me to one side. Seeing this situation, Wu Ziheng hurriedly threw down that one-eyed monster head, came over to help me hold down Fu Ma, after much effort finally managed to pour a mouthful into him, Wu Ziheng hastily went back into the crowd to find Xiao Lao.

  Karamay, Lao San and Fu Ma started vomiting non-stop after drinking my blood. What they vomited out was black blood and lumps of things that looked like rotten flesh, emitting a strong stench that was extremely nauseating. The three of them gradually regained their consciousness, none of them knowing what had just happened.

  Wu Zihan ran out of the crowd, shaking his head and saying: "Xiao Lao doesn't know where he went, is everyone okay? This place isn't suitable for staying long, let's hurry up and help find Xiao Lao." At this time, that strange head on the ground burst into a sinister laugh again: "It's too late, it has already been offered to the divine tree, you all come together too." Then it dispersed into thin air, without even leaving behind any bones.

  At the same time, outside suddenly darkened, wind and clouds surged, just a moment ago it was still a scorching sun, in an instant it became night, under the moonlight, the small stream that was flowing beside us turned into a pool of blood, the fragrance that refreshed our hearts in the oasis transformed into waves of stench, the dishes placed before us also turned into black mixed with bloody rotten flesh, thinking that I had just drunk water and eaten meat, my stomach churned with spasms, unable to hold back, vomiting uncontrollably.

  Wu Zihan's face turned solemn, and he shouted: "It's bad! Get away from that tree quickly."

  Just now, I didn't carefully observe that tree, it seems to be a poplar tree, but the trunk is very thick, at least ten or more people can hug it together, about five stories high, with lush branches and leaves. I've heard that poplar trees have a lifespan of three thousand years, and this tree is likely to become immortal. What's different from other poplar trees is that its top is full of red flowers.

  I only heard a series of "gurgling" sounds beneath my feet, accompanied by slight tremors. I looked around and shouted: "It's probably going to be an earthquake, let's find Xiao Lao and retreat quickly."

  Wu Zihan squinted his eyes beside me and shook his head: "It's the heart of that tree beating."

  Lao San shouted from over there: "We've found Old Xiao, bring the camels, let's get out of here quickly!"

  Suddenly, the tree seemed to come alive, its branches and leaves shaking non-stop. The group of people who were singing and dancing below looked up at it with stunned expressions. Karamay, Lao San, Fu Ma, and Xiao Lao joined us, bringing Xiao Lao along. Xiao Lao had drunk my blood and was now vomiting violently.

  Only a faint, indistinct voice like an old man's sighs echoed in our minds, "Living people, it's been a long time since we've eaten, catch them!" The voice wasn't coming from my ears, but was always wandering in my mind, making my head ache.

  "Who's speaking?" I looked at them in puzzlement.

  "It's that tree, run quickly!" Wu Zihan's face was deathly pale, he had always been the calm and collected one in our group, but now he was so tense that it made me feel uneasy.

  The crowd that was just gazing up at the tree, to be precise, a horde of corpses, suddenly seemed to have received an order, their eyes glowing with green light, like zombies they rushed towards us. Puma shouted loudly: "Everyone run quickly, the tree is going to eat us."

  "Damn, everyone knows now." Fu Ma carried Xiao Lao on his back, and I pulled the camel to run, but those thousands or even tens of thousands of zombies had already surrounded us, leaving no place to escape. In my previous CF games, I was most accurate at shooting zombies, one shot to the head. I took out the pistol from my waist, released the safety catch, took a deep breath, and shot the zombie closest to me, who fell to the ground with a loud thud, turning into a pile of white bones.

  "Jun Yang, don't waste bullets anymore, just go straight to explosives." Karamay rummaged through the bag.

  "No way, the zombies are too close, do you want to blow us up together?" Lao San picked up his military knife and chopped the zombie in front into two pieces. Karamay pulled out a telescopic rod and joined the fight. The only weapons I had left were the gun and the dagger Wu Zihan gave me earlier. The zombies were getting closer and closer, more and more of them, wave after wave, it was endless. Even if we weren't eaten by them, we'd probably die from exhaustion sooner or later. Just as Director Mu said, this trip is perilous, we haven't even seen the gates of Mount Tai yet, I'm afraid we'll be sacrificed here.

  I glanced at Wu Zihan, who was still standing in place, his eyes tightly closed, muttering something to himself. Was this kid waiting for death or what? I was almost exhausted, and Old Three and Karamay's movements had slowed down a lot as well. With Fuma carrying Xiao Lao on his back, he couldn't participate in the fight, and the zombies were getting closer and closer - were we really going to die here?

  At this moment, Wu Zihan stopped muttering and opened his eyes. From my angle, I clearly saw a six-sided white light emanating from the left side of his chest, slowly spreading out and enveloping us, instantly making people feel very warm and serene. The group of zombies that were enveloped by the white light all stopped in their tracks, and yellow-green light spots floated out of their bodies one after another, like thousands of fireflies dancing in the night sky, drifting towards the farthest reaches of the sky and dissipating. Just a moment ago, they were still a group of ferocious zombies, but in an instant, they had transformed into piles of white bones.

  We were all stunned, Karamay still maintained the posture of hitting zombies just now, with his mouth wide open: "Is this...?"

  "...to...be reborn...in the aurora." A very weak voice came from the back of the horse.

  "This old man, so weak and yet still showing off," I thought to myself. "Zihan, why didn't you use this big move earlier? Show us a few more tricks." I laughed and patted Wu Zihan's shoulder.

  Wu Zihan turned around, his face was pale white, and his nose and eyes were constantly bleeding. He moved the corner of his mouth and fainted. "It's really hard for him, if it were someone else, they would probably die on the spot. The Extreme Light Reincarnation is a spirit technique that exchanges life for life, he has helped so many zombies, I'm afraid he himself won't live much longer." Kalamayi sighed, and together with Old Three, they lifted Wu Zihan onto the camel. In my heart, I felt a sense of gratitude towards him.

  We were just about to leave when the tree started shaking violently again, and even the ground was trembling. "No one can get out of here alive." The voice of that weathered old man echoed in my mind.

  "What other tricks do you have, old tree spirit?" I shouted disdainfully.

  All of a sudden, the old tree that was in full bloom with red flowers earlier now had its blossoms beginning to wilt, and on the branches above, it seemed as if fruits were starting to form.

  "This... could this be a Bodhi tree?" Xiao Lao's eyes widened in disbelief.

  About a minute later, the old tree was full of fruit, which was blood red in color and about the size of a watermelon. The shape resembled a human face, with concave and convex features, looking like a bunch of bloody heads hanging from afar, extremely terrifying.

  "Isn't that Old Village Chief?" Lao San said, pointing at one of the larger fruits. Indeed, it turned out that these fruits didn't just resemble human faces, but were actually the reflections of those zombies' faces on the fruit. I shuddered all over my body.

  "You will also become one of them," said the old tree.

  Suddenly, countless human hands grew out of the fruit and reached for us. Wu Ziheng was still unconscious, so I quickly pulled the camel to run outside. The hands moved too fast, knocking over the camel and grabbing Wu Ziheng away from me. When I turned back to look, the other people had also been grabbed by the strange hands and were being tied up like bundles of hemp by the old tree spirit using vines wrapped around the trunk. I was stunned on the spot.

  "Second brother! Hurry up!" Old Three shouted.

  A thought flashed through my mind, I absolutely couldn't abandon them, "If we're going to die, let's die together!" I shouted loudly, pulling out my pistol and firing two shots at the old tree spirit. The bullets got stuck in the trunk, not even penetrating five centimeters, let alone passing through it. That old tree spirit was enraged, several of its hands reached out to grab me, but strangely, as soon as those strange hands touched my skin, they turned black as if they had been burned and quickly withdrew.

  "Brother Xiao, you have the protection of the Raksha ghost's curse, ordinary spirits can't get close to you. However, this person is a favorite of the Raksha ghost, and with just your own strength, you can't resist. You've understood my intention, hurry up and run! In 50 years, I'll be a good man again!" Old Xiao said, crying and laughing at the same time.

  Suddenly, a loud noise came from the sky, and a group of black shadows were approaching us.

  Karamay shouted in a crying tone: "Luo... Sha... Gui!"