Chapter 156: What Am I Supposed To Do If You All Leave?
“They’re still alive, but none of them are in good condition,” the guard replied after checking.
“I’ll go take a look.” Fu Jing volunteered and jumped off his horse, walked over to carefully observe Young Master Qian and his several attendants, and found that it was indeed as the guard had said; those people were all lying on the ground with pale faces, their bodies twisted to varying degrees, clearly having endured intense pain before passing out.
What surprised him even more were the wounds on their bodies—almost their entire bodies were covered in tiny wounds, as if pricked by very thick needles, with bruises around the wounds, but their clothes were very clean, not stained with even a bit of blood.
“What did you notice?” Unbeknownst to him when, Meng Yixuan had also come to these people, and after roughly looking at a few of them, he asked him.
Fu Jing shook his head. “These wounds are very strange. I think we should have Old Cui come take a look to see what’s going on.”
Meng Yixuan hesitated for a moment, then stood up and walked to the front of the group to say to Mo Ziyuan: “Zi Yuan, have Old Cui come take a look. Their condition isn’t right.”
Mo Ziyuan pondered for a moment, nodded in agreement, got off his horse, and went with him to find Old Cui.
“At least thirty percent of the blood in their bodies has been taken away. Like those few,” Cui Shi pointed at the ones twisted most severely, “their blood is reduced by more than forty percent.”
“Blood taken away?” Mo Ziyuan frowned. “How was it taken?”
Cui Shi pointed at the wounds on their bodies and said: “It should have been sucked away by something. Look, these wounds are all blood holes.”
“Blood sucking? What could it be?” Fu Jing asked, frowning.
Cui Shi carefully examined their wounds again, almost stripping those people bare, before discovering a clue at a wound on Young Master Qian’s chest. He pointed at a bluish-green stain on Young Master Qian’s collar and said: “This looks like the sap of some plant. I suspect they were drained of blood by a plant.”
“Drained of blood by a plant? There are blood-sucking plants?” Gao Yong and the others gathered around too, and after hearing Cui Shi’s words, they asked through gritted teeth.
“Why not? This world is full of wonders!” Cui Shi gave him a disdainful glance and said.
“Old Cui, why are they still unconscious? Is it because they lost too much blood?” Mo Ziyuan also wanted to know what had happened to them, but these people remained unconscious, not waking even after Cui Shi repeatedly examined their bodies.
“No, the reason they’re unconscious is because they were drugged with sleeping potion, but I can’t tell exactly what kind.” Cui Shi stroked his beard and said, his gaze full of eagerness: “It would be good if we could find the person who drugged them. I’d love to discuss it with him.”
Mo Ziyuan shook his head helplessly; he understood Cui Shi’s obsession with prescriptions.
“Can Old Cui wake them up?” Mo Ziyuan asked.
“I’ll try! But without knowing what sleeping potion it is, it’s hard to find the right method, and the effect will be somewhat discounted. Be prepared for that.” Cui Shi took out a small bottle of smelling salts from his bosom and reminded them before using it on those people.
“I understand.” Mo Ziyuan nodded.
Only then did Cui Shi uncork the bottle and place it under Young Master Qian’s nose. Soon he reacted, wrinkling his nose forcefully. His face, originally full of both terror and pain, showed disgust, then he raised his hand and waved it in front of his nose, as if trying to fan away the foul, pungent smell. After several failed attempts, he suddenly opened his eyes.
“Ah~” Young Master Qian let out a sharp cry of fright, twisted his body desperately a few times, propped himself up with a breath, and stood up from the ground. He took a few steps to the midst of Mo Ziyuan and the others, grabbed the sleeve of the tallest and most burly Gao Yong in terror, and looked around panic-stricken.
“What are you looking for? Your companions are all lying on the ground! Stop tugging; if you tug anymore, my sleeve will be torn off by you.” Gao Yong snatched his sleeve back from Young Master Qian’s hand and said irritably.
“Snakes, so many snakes, snakes that bite.” With nothing in his hands, Young Master Qian tightly hugged his own shoulders and rubbed them vigorously up and down.
“Snakes?” Cui Shi handed the smelling salts to a guard, stood up, walked in front of him, and asked frowning.
“Yes, so many snakes. They drill into our flesh and bite us.” As if afraid they wouldn’t believe him, Young Master Qian wanted to roll up his sleeve to show them the wounds on his body, only to realize that aside from a pair of white underpants, he was completely naked.
If it were usual, he would probably have been furious with shame by now, but at this moment, likely scared out of his wits by the so-called “snakes” before, he had no time to care about the impropriety of being disheveled. Instead, he pointed at the small holes on his body that were no longer bleeding and said: “See? These are the bites from the snakes.”
“It shouldn’t be snakes.” Cui Shi had carefully observed their wounds and saw not even half a tooth mark, so he felt it couldn’t possibly be snakes.
But Fu Jing believed what Young Master Qian said was true; he didn’t believe blood-sucking plants existed.
Just as Cui Shi finished speaking, a rustling sound suddenly came from the distance, and the grass in the distance shook and began spreading toward them.
“Holy crap, what is that?” Gao Yong looked that way and let out a strange yell.
“It’s coming, the snakes are coming, they’ve come again.” Hearing the familiar sound, Young Master Qian’s face changed dramatically as he tried hard to hide his body behind Gao Yong.
Everyone else also became alert, staring intently at the grass that kept extending toward them, parting and closing again.
Most of them were martial artists with much stronger night vision than ordinary people, but no one could see what exactly was coming, and their previous underestimation vanished instantly.
Lin Xin sat drowsily in the rocking horse carriage, suddenly opened her eyes, glanced in the direction behind her, snapped her right fingers silently, then closed her eyes to sense carefully. After a while, she relaxed, checked on the two little ones, and began to doze off again.
Meanwhile, on Mo Ziyuan’s side, the grass that had been rapidly parting and closing suddenly stopped, with no sound at all, as if what they had just seen was an illusion.
But Mo Ziyuan and the others didn’t dare move recklessly, fearing an ambush since the enemy was hidden and they were exposed.
After waiting a while with still no movement, the most impatient Gao Yong wiped the sweat from his palms on his collar and said softly: “How about we go take a look? We can’t just keep waiting like this!”
It made sense, but at this moment, no one was willing to be the one to go.
“No, don’t go.” Young Master Qian, trembling, grabbed his sleeve again. “What about me if you leave?”
Gao Yong shook off his hand in disgust. “Let go of me! What does it look like for grown men to tug and pull!”
After saying that, to avoid Young Master Qian, he took small tentative steps forward.
“Gao Yong, come back!” Mo Ziyuan wanted to stop him, but they were quite a distance apart. He was a step too slow; by the time he called his name, Gao Yong had already stepped out of the official road’s range.
