Chapter 5: Old Corpse and Venomous Insect

This specific wasteland for burying corpses is divided into eight sections according to the cardinal directions.

When Du En and the others bury corpses, they rotate clockwise; by the time it is their turn again, the corpse buried last time has long since been reduced to nothing but scattered, ominous black soil.

At this moment, Wei Ming's distraction is something he can naturally see, and the others can tell as well, so they have no objections to his arrangements.

In fact, they are eager for it, so as not to have Wei Ming holding them back.

Thus, they pair up and officially begin their work.

Today is another cloudless day; relatively speaking, the humidity is lower than yesterday, so the actual sensation is slightly better.

The sun climbs rapidly, soon becoming scorching hot.

Just a moment ago, at the critical juncture, it was Du En who grabbed a shovel and, with a forward step and a fierce swing, aided by the boost of his magic power, managed to strike first by arriving late, swatting that venomous insect to the ground.

A black shadow arrived late but first, suddenly flashing across Wei Ming's field of vision, covering the venomous insect and landing heavily on the ground, emitting a viscous, splashing sound.

Am I going to die?

Panic fills Wei Ming's heart, and like a revolving lantern, his past life flashes through his mind.

He moves with exceptional agility, leaping out of the overlapping afterimages, dodging all of the venomous insect's splattered fluids, and then directly tackles Wei Ming, stripping off the pants that had been stained by the venom.

Before Wei Ming can even collect his thoughts, he is pushed down, and immediately after, his pants are stripped off directly.

Splat!

It is not until the venomous insect is forced right before his eyes that he is startled and snaps back to reality.

The former is because he lost the initiative, and the latter is because, having only just adapted to the existence of magic power in these past few days and still unable to master his cultivation technique, it was inherently difficult for him to do.

In his childhood, he lived carefree in the countryside, frolicking about, completely failing to understand why his elders looked at him with such anticipation and worry.

As he gradually grew up and entered a formal school to study and understand principles, he slowly began to realize his situation and knew that he would be conscripted in the future.

Du En reminds the distracted, mechanical, and dull-witted Wei Ming.

Until noon, everything remained smooth and calm.

Even when it is Du En's turn, they are watching closely so that if any accident were to occur, they could dodge and escape in time to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

It is even very dangerous!

This can be seen from the fact that the clothes and attire on this old corpse are still very neat, having not been rummaged through by those who handled it before.

"N-no, it's okay, th-thank you, thank you..."

He is like a fool, spitting out only short syllables; the ferocity on his face freezes in its development, leaving him in a state where he can neither advance nor retreat.

The other four talk all at once, making Wei Ming understand the situation.

No!

I cannot die!

"Didn't the guys in the previous step check carefully? To actually let a lively, venomous insect hide inside the corpse like that!"

In the few days before work was assigned, he had thought about working hard to cultivate immortality, to get ahead in the future, find his lover, continue their former bond, and then return home in glory.

But now, it seems that he is the one who will be leaving first?

In Wei Ming's wide-eyed gaze, everything seems to have slowed down; he can clearly see that wherever the colorful venomous insect passes, the air is corroded, emitting wisps of green smoke.

He only sees that at this moment, whether it is the shovel used as a weapon or that stinky pair of pants, they are being directly corroded at a speed visible to the naked eye amidst a hissing sound.

"Cough, cough, cough, anyway, it's good that you didn't die."

Clearly, this old corpse had a rather bad reputation or a deterrent presence while alive, enough to make others afraid to touch or search it.

Later, at the school, he met that young girl, they fell in love, and chose to pledge their lives to each other... then, they were separated, moved to different places, and he came to the Southern End Border City to undergo head-anointing for Qi refining and began this lowly, dirty work of burying corpses.

It was the corpse of an old man, his face covered in age spots, and the exposed skin of his body bore various pustules with strange liquids sloshing slightly inside; it was obvious that if they were broken, it would be extremely disgusting.

"Damn! You scared the hell out of me!"

Just as they had let out a sigh of relief and thought of this, an accident suddenly occurred!

Up until now, the corpse had been successfully placed into the pit without any problems...

"Yeah, it's all thanks to Boss Du's quick reaction that we had a narrow escape; you kid, stop standing there like a fool and hurry up and say thank you!"

It's over!

Lifting the head and shoulders while lifting the feet, they carefully placed the corpse into the shallow pit they had just dug, without letting those strange pustules on its body burst.

Because this old corpse was too eye-catching, they had noticed it as soon as they arrived and remained vigilant in their hearts.

"Be careful."

"Huh? Huh?"

It is twisting its body, opening its mouthparts wide, about to bring an end to a life!

A strange insect!

Its appearance is colorful and mottled, looking like a slug; as its mouthparts open wide, it immediately reveals those lamprey-like multiple circular teeth, and in a spring-like motion, it charges straight toward the distracted Wei Ming, who has no reaction at all at this moment.

"Are you okay?"

Wei Ming already had many problems, and being exposed to the sun like this, he was naturally even more dazed, listening only to Du En's short, flat words while doing his work mechanically.

Seeing this, the others cannot help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Du En and the others are preparing to bury the ninth corpse.

The other party is actually quite obedient at this moment; when told to be careful, he is careful, which gives Du En the feeling that he is even more suited for this job than usual.

Or rather, being able to live to such an old age outside this border city is in itself proof of having extraordinary means!

Digging the pit, lifting the corpse, burying the corpse.

He is screaming in his heart, feeling exceptionally unwilling, his expression beginning to turn ferocious, but the venomous insect has already reached his eyes.

Hiss~

The sound of corrosion rises in wisps.

One can only see that on the chest and abdomen of the old corpse, a fist-sized foreign object suddenly bulges, and as if stimulated by something violent, it twists rapidly and suddenly tears through the skin and clothes.

According to the rules, the corpses were buried normally, without delay or haste; whoever's turn it was, they would go up.

Not until the corrosion was silently absorbed by this wasteland, gradually subsiding and coming to a halt, did Du En move his eyes away, turn his head, and look at Wei Ming.

It was not until others ran over and dragged him away that he gradually came back to his senses.

However, it was already too late!

At this moment, wanting to dodge again, or wanting to mobilize magic power to resist it head-on, were both things he was unable to do.

After officially starting work, he began to feel uneasy and terrified, fearing that his beloved, who was far away, had already died a miserable death, only to be casually buried in the ground by colleagues in that distant place, without even a tombstone.

Really, it is too late...

Wei Ming, having survived the disaster, answered stammeringly, a multitude of emotions surging within him at this moment, and he could not help but shed tears, "Thank you, really; if it weren't for you, I, I would never have been able to see Qiao'er again, thank you."

Watching him like this, the others could not help but shake their heads, each with their own sighs.

(End of this chapter)