Chapter 190: Hallucination

Zhang Erniu knew he was about to turn into a monster.

After extreme panic and fear, he had now been sent to this strange little farmhouse courtyard, brought into this room, and faced with an unfamiliar environment and furnishings he could not understand. Yet as time passed, his emotions unexpectedly calmed down.

He did not know what he would face next, but it did not matter; it was a dead end anyway.

He even wondered if the grain he had sold himself for had been delivered to his family.

His name was Zhang Erniu.

It was not because he was the second child in his family, but because at the time of his birth, there happened to be two cows in the village.

This name was filled with his family's expectations for wealth!

They hoped that their impoverished Zhang Family might one day own two cows.

For a remote village household, two cows were absolutely immense wealth; this name was filled with a strong prayer.

To put it another way, the meaning represented by the name "Zhang Erniu" was about the same as "Zhang Millionaire."

As for a larger number of cows, things like "Ten Cows," "Hundred Cows," or "Thousand Cows," their experience was limited, and they dared not even choose such names; they only dared to think this far. Choosing a good name could not change anything; an impoverished household remained an impoverished household.

After the chaotic times, their village met with disaster. When his family and the villagers were fleeing, they encountered the Xinzhou Army and were eventually assigned to a village near Xinzhou City, where they were also allotted land. His family members farmed, while he would run out from time to time, seeing if he could hunt wild game while gathering firewood, either to eat himself or to sell for grain. During the hottest times, he dared not run far, just staying nearby to see if he could pick up firewood. Now, feeling the temperature start to drop at night, he craved meat, so he arranged with a few partners in the village to run a bit further to hunt. They had lived in this area for generations, and if there was wild game activity, they would soon notice it.

While tracking and watching for prey, they ran too far and encountered a Plague Ghost.

Zhang Erniu was closest to the Plague Ghost at the time and was the first to be injured. So, he tried his best to hold the Plague Ghost back; he was already injured anyway, with several bleeding claw marks on his body, and he had even been bitten once. It was highly probable he would be cursed, so he simply gave up on himself. This also gave his partners more chances to escape.

With this favor, his partners would, to some extent, look after his family.

Fortunately, the temperature was not too high at that time, the Plague Ghost was not at its peak state, and his partners did not flee. They worked together to kill the Plague Ghost. Zhang Erniu had originally intended to find a place to end his own life.

The army patrolling that area heard the commotion, found them, and after learning the situation, told Zhang Erniu: there was a place nearby that took in the wounded, and if he voluntarily cooperated, he could trade for some grain. Zhang Erniu agreed as soon as he heard it.

Since the start of the chaotic times, survivors had already accumulated much experience in survival. Being injured did not necessarily mean being cursed, but if the wound was stained with filthy blood, or stained with the blood or saliva of those monsters, then there was no need to harbor any wishful thinking. It was death anyway; his life was cheap, so it was better to trade it for more food for his family.

After Zhang Erniu agreed, the leader of that patrol squad took out grain on the spot and, in front of everyone, had the villagers take it to Zhang Erniu's family. He also said that they would return to verify it later, so they shouldn't think about pocketing it privately! Seeing this situation, Zhang Erniu felt even more at ease and willingly followed them, doing whatever he was told.

On the way, that soldier even gave him dry rations and water, saying it was to keep his body from being too weak.

Zhang Erniu was incredibly moved. He was already a man who was bound to die; eating grain was a waste.

But when there was grain, who wouldn't want to eat it?

Subsequently, after traveling on horseback, he was brought to this courtyard.

In less than two hours, he was brought to this small courtyard.

Inside the room, a narrow wooden bed had been simply put together, and wooden stakes were nailed to the side of the bed; he was tied to them.

Zhang Erniu could understand. If he turned into a monster, being tied up meant he could not harm people.

His clothes were all removed.

It was a bit hot in the room, and sweat began to appear on the surface of his body.

The people here gave him a pill to eat. He did not know what kind of medicine it was; he felt a bit uncomfortable after eating it. But soon, sleepiness struck.

He did not know if the medicine was starting to take effect, or if it was a reaction to being cursed; he wanted to sleep but could not fully fall asleep, and he still maintained a vague sense of his surroundings. The people who brought him here left quickly.

The room was quiet for a while, then another person entered and sprinkled some kind of medicinal liquid on him; the scent was not obvious.

While his consciousness was hazy, he suddenly heard the buzzing sound of mosquitoes flying.

Perhaps there were mosquitoes sucking blood from his body, but he could no longer feel it at this moment.

Whatever.

Even if he wanted to swat the mosquitoes now, he could not move; all four of his limbs were tied.

Pei Jun still observed that small courtyard from time to time; although he knew that there might not be any obvious movement for the next few hours, he still could not help but take a look. In his spare time, he called over the Coroner and the Skin Stitcher to ask questions.

After the chaotic times, the Patrol Guard Division recruited quite a few Coroners and Skin Stitchers.

The so-called Skin Stitchers were corpse sewers. These people of the "Shadow Gate" were shunned by the public wherever they went.

It was even said that these "Shadow Gate people" did not do "work of the living world."

They did not care; as long as they could make money, it was fine.

Unexpectedly, after the chaotic times, they were actually recruited by the "government"!

Even if there was no work to do, they could still get a base salary!

If there was work to do, it was even better; they could get bonuses!

The tasks assigned to them, although not what they were most proficient in, involved their own professionalism, which could minimize the risk of being cursed to the greatest extent. This time, Pei Jun took on the heavy responsibility of the experiment and also brought several Coroners and Skin Stitchers when he came.

For this courtyard used for medical experiments, the wounded sent over were all handled by the Coroners and Skin Stitchers.

At this time, they were brought to Pei Jun, with a distance of a few steps between the two sides. Having just been in contact with that kind of wounded person, they did not dare to get too close to Pei Jun. A Coroner respectfully replied: "The wound on Zhang Erniu's body was stained with filthy blood; he is definitely cursed! The wound has already been cleaned and medicated; everything after this will be handled by Huang Gushi." Zhang Erniu was not the first wounded person sent here, but the previous few had all failed.

Huang Gushi did not think it was his own problem. The treatment plan was absolutely correct, but those few wounded had been injured for too long, which was why they failed. According to the projections, the shorter the time since the injury, the higher the success rate of the treatment.

The previous few wounded were injured in places too far from here, or the patrols nearby discovered them too late, and by the time they were sent over, they were already close to mutating; some were even sent into the room without mosquitoes biting them. So Pei Jun reassigned a portion of people to strengthen the patrols nearby and also notified other patrol squads: once discovered, send them over immediately! He even tidied up the dirt road leading from the official road to this small courtyard and cleared obstacles nearby so that horses or vehicles could arrive as quickly as possible. "This Zhang Erniu sent today, from injury to being sent here, was less than two hours. I see that Huang Gushi is quite confident," another Coroner said. "Less than two hours; compared to the previous few, he has the shortest time since injury," the Skin Stitcher next to him also highlighted his own presence. Pei Jun asked questions while recording.

He had a dedicated record book in his hand, which was also given to him by Wen Gu.

It even had tables drawn on it, so Pei Jun did not need to think for himself; he could directly check or cross out based on the actual situation.

Regarding the time the wounded were injured, there was also a detailed breakdown.

For the Zhang Erniu case, Pei Jun added a mark on the two-hour option. It meant less than two hours, between one and a half to two hours. Pei Jun filled in the records and looked at that side with the Telescope more frequently.

In the wounded's room.

Perhaps due to the wound infection and fever, Zhang Erniu's consciousness was hazy.

He did not know how long he had maintained this state; he could feel someone coming in to apply medicine to his wounds again and pouring medicinal soup into his mouth. The mosquitoes had decreased, and he no longer heard that buzzing sound flying around.

But his perception of everything around him remained blurry, and he was in a dreamlike state, even having hallucinations.

At times he saw the baring fangs and brandishing claws of a Ghost, and at other times he seemed to see God and Buddha radiating holy light.

He seemed to hear the call of his great-grandmother, whom he had never met.

And he seemed to see two cows appearing in his own farmland.