Chapter 29: Zombie Flesh

  As soon as I heard it was human flesh, I burst out laughing, had he eaten it before?

  I thought there was a commotion just now, and Yu Wu deliberately made a scene in front of Xu Qi to annoy Jiu Ge, but when Xu Qi picked up the plate of steamed meat and smelled it, his face suddenly changed.

  He took out a small handful of glutinous rice from his cloth bag and sprinkled it evenly over the steamed meat. The hot air that had just been rising faintly seemed to come alive, threading into the glutinous rice in strands, and the white grains turned dark at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  I was just about to ask him what's going on when Xu Ji gave a sharp reply: "Zombie meat?"

  After finishing speaking, he stretched his hand under the table and with a swoosh, pulled out a meter-long treasured sword. He shouted: "Let's chase!" Then he jumped out of the temple first, without even opening the gate, ran two steps in the courtyard, made a beautiful swallow dive, flipped over and jumped onto the wall head, and in the blink of an eye, disappeared from sight.

  I don't know if that's a somersault or what, but his movements were swift and neat, just like in a martial arts movie.

  The three of us stared at each other in silence for over ten seconds before Yu Wu asked me, "Why didn't you chase after her?"

  I replied to him: "Then why don't you chase her?"

  "You think I'm stupid? I've already drawn my sword, do you want me to go out and get myself killed? Give me back the gun, besides, they wouldn't even take me as a disciple anyway. On the contrary, it's you who disrespects your master's orders, just wait for the heavens to strike you with lightning!"

  I sneered at him and said that being struck by lightning was better than eating zombie flesh.

  Youmu's face instantly turned a deep purple color, her lips tightly pursed as she struggled not to throw up.

  The glutinous rice sprinkled on the steamed meat crackled and burst into powder like firecrackers, thoroughly dyeing the white and oily slices of five-flower pork black. I had just leaned over to take a sniff, and now my stomach churned with wave after wave of nausea.

  Don't even ask me what I just did.

  I said Ninth Brother is no good, fortunately I went back in time, otherwise Ninth Sister would have been ruined by him.

  Yu didn't dare to glance at Kang Jiuxiang with a subtle gaze, shouting loudly and calling for someone to collect debts from Jiu Ge. I reckon he's just loud-mouthed, but once he finds out that Jiu Ge isn't an easy target either, he'll definitely retreat quietly.

  After scolding for a while, Yu Wu suddenly stopped talking, thought for a moment, and asked: "You ruined his good deed, so he gave you zombie meat to eat? Impossible?"

  I also think it's impossible, I've only heard that people bitten by zombies will become zombies, but I haven't heard that eating zombie meat will also turn you into a zombie. Of course, this is just something I haven't heard of, after all, no one would have the appetite to try the taste.

  Even if zombie flesh is highly toxic, Ninth Brother still has to catch the zombie first. If he's capable of that, can't he just kill me directly?

  We can't think of a reason, so we'll stay in the ancestral hall and wait for Xu Qi to come back.

  Anxiously waiting for half an hour, a commotion broke out outside the temple hall, and as soon as we stood up, more than a dozen villagers rushed in.

  Everyone was furious, with pickaxes in hand. The leader was one of the young men who had followed Jiuge at the reception hall. He turned around and shouted: "It's that man! Beat him to death!"

  He wanted to beat to death was me, I slightly stunned, just about to go forward and ask, more than a dozen villagers had shouted and rushed up, Yu Wu grabbed my collar and dragged me behind him, hastily closing the temple door, frantically shouting at me: "Don't be stunned, hurry up and push the table over to block the door, who's bullying who? How does it look like you're bullying their old mother?"

  The temple had no door bolt, and Yu Wu was leaning against the two wooden doors with his back. I was just about to push the table over when the people outside used all their strength to push the doors open. A group of people rushed in, shouting slogans to beat him to death. Several men pinned down Yu Wu, while the rest charged towards me.

  To be honest, if I had the chance, I would have fought back fiercely if it was just a few people and things escalated gradually. But in that instant, over ten people rushed in, without saying a word, and started smashing my head with hoes and pickaxes. I have to admit, I was completely terrified.

  My heart stopped, my brain didn't turn, I stiffened my neck and closed my eyes, even forgetting to dodge. At the critical moment, it was Kang Jiuxiang who pushed me to the ground and then pounced on me, only then did I subconsciously turn around and press her down to prevent her from getting hurt.

  It was during this brief moment that someone stopped those who were about to take action, a man in his forties or fifties, with a serious expression, said: "Xiang, move aside, don't get hurt."

  I quickly got up, grabbed a stool with one hand, and tried to pull Kang Jiuxiang behind me. However, she refused stubbornly. I didn't bother with her, lifted the stool, and pointed at the man, asking if they were crazy?

  The man ignored me and impatiently told Kang Jiuxiang to hurry up and leave.

  Kang Jiuxiang was frightened by this scene and lost her composure, but she still supported herself and asked them what they wanted to do.

  I'm also wondering, since I entered the village of Guanxi, it's either been zombies bullying me or being beaten by people. Who did I provoke?!

  The young man following Jiu Ge jumped forward, pointing at Kang Jiuxiang's nose and said to the man: "Uncle, this cheap goods must have colluded with him, can't let her go."

  When those people rushed in, the momentum of their shouting and killing terrified me. After all, I wasn't a member of the Black Snake Society, and I hadn't experienced this kind of scene before. But I wasn't someone who could be easily bullied either. That little guy was pointing at Kang Jiuxiang and cursing him, so I directly threw the small stool over to him, smashing his face open and making him cry out in pain while covering his nose.

  A spark will set off a prairie fire.

  I was no match for these villagers who had been farming for years, so I simply pushed Kang Jiuxiang and rushed forward, my goal being the man who made Kang Jiuxiang leave, to pull him down with me even in death.

  After all, it's a young man, after rushing to the front of that man, I hugged his neck and shook left and right. Others were worried about being injured and didn't dare use hoes again, they rushed up to separate us, but they were no match for me. Just as my arm was about to be twisted open, I suddenly turned my head and spat a mouthful of saliva at the person who grabbed my wrist.

  This trick is disgusting, but it works.

  He cursed and let go, wiping the spittle off his face with his sleeve, while I took advantage of this opportunity to bite the man's ear in my arms.

  Spitting saliva, biting ears, this is a woman's fighting move.

  The man I bit cursed loudly, and I also got fierce, with blood staining my teeth, a mouthful of hot **slipped into his throat, and he immediately lost his dignity, saying that he would hurry up and let go, and quickly bite off my ear.

  I sneer inwardly, if I say hurry up and stop, quickly kill me, will they listen?

  Someone was punching and kicking me, I bit back hard every time they hit me, after a while everything stopped, they begged me to let go, but I ignored them, and then some bastard dragged Youmo over.

  "You can beat me up if you want, but it won't work... I don't know him..."

  The words were not finished, and I was beaten. I sighed in my heart, knowing that continuing to bite was the best way, but I couldn't bear to watch You Wu take a beating for me, so I loosened my grip. The man hurriedly pushed me away, his face covered in blood mixed with tears of pain, looking very wronged, and picked up the hoe to strike back.

  A loud shout came from outside the door: "Halt."

  Xu Qi is back, his face as cold as frost, still gripping the sword in his hand. He stands outside the door, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces, his tone icy enough to drop icicles. He asks the villagers, "What do you mean by this? Don't you know these two young men are my guests?"

  The young man who followed Ninth Brother fell to his knees in front of Xu Qi, crying and wailing: "Elder Xu, you have to take charge for us! These two outsiders killed Ninth Brother!"

  Xu Qi's eyes widened as she hastily asked him what was going on, and then she said in shock and uncertainty that it was impossible, as she had just seen Xiao Jiu.

  As they spoke, a large group of villagers rushed in, led by the village head, and entered the ancestral hall. They saw that his eyes were red, trembling as if he was about to collapse, and after shouting "Permit Daochang", he burst into tears, knelt down with his head bowed, and said that his nephew had died a terrible death, bitten to death by a zombie, not to mention that more than half of his flesh had been gnawed away.

  Xu Qi was shocked and walked around the village chief to the stretcher carried by the villagers, lifted up the white cloth, and exclaimed: "Good heavens."

  At this time, no one stopped me, and I wanted to see what Nine Brother looked like when he died. The village chief saw that my nose was blue and my face was swollen, and he even forgot to cry. He asked me who had beaten me into such a state. That young man accused me of killing Ninth Brother and bringing people to take revenge on him.

  The village chief slapped him and he fell to the ground, wiping away tears, then began to apologize to me, saying that adults don't remember the mistakes of children, it's all his fault, this matter will be settled with you, hoping you won't hold a grudge against him, and save the people of Guan Cun Village.

  By this time I was a bit puzzled, the village head had always been very respectful to me, could it be that he thought I was the key to controlling the zombies?

  I don't know if he's gone mad or what Xuzhi said to him, but at this moment, I didn't care about anything else and asked him how Ninth Brother died.

  The village head said he was bitten by a zombie.

  Xu Qi waved his hand and said: "Whose family in the village has given birth to a baby boy, go find some unwashed diapers, cut them into strips, tie Xiao Jiu's body to the willow tree at the village entrance, and burn it with the willow tree when the sun comes out tomorrow morning. Otherwise, there will be one more zombie."

  After finishing speaking, he had an angry expression all over his face and told the villagers who surrounded me that they had already taken me as their apprentice. What happened earlier must be accounted for.

  Everyone looked at the young man, he couldn't help but take a few steps forward, and said in a low voice that at more than 8 o'clock in the evening, he was drinking with Ninth Brother, I took a knife to his house and settled Ninth Brother.

  The village chief slapped him again, knocking him to the ground. Still not satisfied, he raised his hoe and beat him while scolding him. The people around tried to intervene, but the village chief shouted angrily: "There are still bullet holes on Xiaojin's body, how dare you speak nonsense here? Why did Xiao Wang kill Laojiu when he was fine? Why didn't they cut off your head at the same time?"

  A group of people asked the young man if he was crazy, and he explained with a look of grievance on his face.

  Tonight, his mother made dinner for Xu Daochang, the wine and dishes were not bad, so he pulled Ninth Brother back home to eat. Because only the last dish of steamed meat was left, he let his mother rest early. When they had drunk halfway through, he went to the kitchen to add firewood and heard someone knocking on the door. Ninth Brother went to open it, and when he returned to the main hall, he saw me holding a steel knife, frantically hacking at Ninth Brother's corpse. At that time, Ninth Brother was already dead. He was also afraid and didn't dare make a sound, hiding in his mother's room for half an hour before daring to come out.

  The village chief coldly told him to get out of there quickly and stop losing face.

  But someone else advised against it, saying I killed Ninth Brother and disguised myself as a zombie to bite him to death.

  The village chief roared: "I'll give you a pig's head, chop it into mush and then disguise it as if it was bitten to death by a zombie. Let me see it! Wang Xiao and Xiaojiao had no grudges or grievances, why did you kill him?"

  The young man thought for a moment and acknowledged, "Jiuge has a crush on Xiangjie. During the day, I heard you and Xu Daolong discussing using Xiangjie to keep this outsider in town. At night, he took us to rob Xiangjie and even beat him up."

  These words made the village chief and Xu Qi's face red with ears, Kang Jiuxiang simply shrunk his head into the wall corner, the village chief was embarrassed all over his face, asking me if it was true.

  I'm telling you indifferently, I was indeed beaten up, but I didn't kill anyone.

  Xu Qi took the opportunity to change the subject: "Wang Zhen must not be the murderer, and we all saw Xiaojiao bring a bowl of steamed meat. Now it's certain that the meat was cut from Xiaojiao's thigh!"