Chapter 282: The Second Village |
More than half of the Witch's hair had turned black. Those white fluffs fell off her body, exposing her cold, pale skin to the air once again.
The changes stopped here. She woke up from her sleep and looked at Bai Mu somewhat blankly.
The entire process took about 2 hours. Judging from her appearance, she hadn't completely transformed into a Black Zombie, but the feeling she gave off was also completely different from before.
Because her hair had turned black, viewed from the side and back, she looked more like a human. The fingernails on her hands had turned a cyan-green color, as if coated in a deadly poison. When observing with the night vision camcorder, one could see traces of black mist rising from her nails. Two fangs protruded from her mouth. The clearly visible blue veins under her skin were now hidden. Her first impression was no longer that of a hideous monster, but rather a female ghost that sent chills down one's spine.
However, in Bai Mu's eyes, she was still a bit slow-witted. After waking up, the first thing she did was stare blankly at Bai Mu, her eyes emitting a red glow in the darkness. After looking at Bai Mu for a while, she looked at her own hands again and scratched her hair with her nails, her eyes revealing some kind of confusion, as if she didn't quite recognize her current self.
She even unzipped her rabbit doll backpack, took out the photos Bai Mu had taken of her before, and stared down at them. It was a bit like an animal that had never looked in a mirror suddenly seeing its own reflection one day.
Bai Mu noticed that her hand movements were more nimble than before. Because her fingernails were very long, she used to have to put in some effort when unzipping the backpack in the past; otherwise, her sharp nails would puncture the backpack. But just now, she easily clamped the zipper's pull tab with her nails and pulled it open. Her movements were also very fluent when taking out those photos.
Bai Mu opened the summon panel to check the Witch's condition. Her panel wasn't as detailed as Xiao Wei's; he could only see rough data, showing that she had gained several new skills.
They were respectively 'Corpse Poison Claws', 'Blood-Sucking Fangs', and 'Bronze Skin Iron Bones'.
After a long time, Bai Mu once again felt an instinctive aura of danger from her, just like when he first heard that faint crying sound and saw her figure in the Children's Playground.
He aimed the camcorder at the Witch and took a new set of photos of her in succession under the flash.
The Witch was a bit unaccustomed to the light, but since the person taking the photos was Bai Mu, she didn't react too strongly, only looking up a few times.
"This is what you look like now," Bai Mu handed the developed photos over.
So she held the new photos and the old photos, staring at them blankly.
Bai Mu didn't disturb her. He put away the camcorder and wrapped his down jacket tightly. It was already very late, and it was completely dark outside. Except for the howling wind, nothing could be heard.
He had to conserve his strength; he still had to continue crossing the snowfield tomorrow.
If it weren't for guarding the Witch's evolution, he should have closed his eyes and rested two hours ago.
Seeing him lie down, the Witch put the photos back into the doll backpack and went to guard the entrance under the stone eave. Without needing an order from Bai Mu, she went to keep watch on her own.
"I'll leave it to you."
Bai Mu smiled slightly and went to sleep.
Cold wind poured in through the gaps in the stones, but it was still within a tolerable range. Even in this harsh environment, he quickly fell asleep. That pair of wool socks and the felt hat were very warm, and the brand-new down jacket also locked the hot air inside the clothes. Since he had replenished enough food and water before sleeping, his physical condition was very good.
Nothing happened all night; he didn't even get up to relieve himself.
But when the sun rose, he still felt his hands and feet a bit numb from the cold. So he threw last night's charcoal together with some odds and ends, and used the flint and steel to start a small fire to warm his body. Since he had picked up a fire-starting tool, he naturally had to be a bit frugal and save his fire talismans.
The Witch still had no intention of warming herself by the fire; it seemed her tolerance for low temperatures was very high.
The remaining hot water in the canteen had already frozen into a solid block of ice. Bai Mu tossed the canteen next to the fire, then cut another slice of bread and spread some jam to fill his stomach. After the canteen heated up, he hung it in his arms, carrying it as a warming stone. Then he shoveled some frozen snow to bury the fire pit and pulled out the Guard Mushroom.
He still had no clue about which direction to go to find humans, but by daybreak on the second day, the blizzard had stopped. The sunlight shone on the snowfield, and visibility became very high. He stuck the Guard Mushroom on the Witch's head and had her climb to the highest point of the rock formation.
This kind of errand was very easy for the evolved Witch. Her strength and physical agility had both become stronger. Even a rock wall covered in snow was like flat ground to her; her fingernails were like professional rock climbing tools, and she climbed to the top of the cliff dozens of meters high in a few swift moves.
Through the Guard Mushroom's vision, Bai Mu saw a forest and a frozen river. He felt that the possibility of there being people nearby was higher. Even if there was no one there, he had to consider the issue of firewood, so he walked towards that direction.
He and the Witch walked for most of the day. The snowfield was unexpectedly peaceful; they didn't encounter the kind of monster from yesterday again, nor did they see any wild beasts or magic creatures. A few small birds flew past the sky occasionally; it was exceptionally tranquil.
Towards evening, he successfully arrived at that cedar forest and discovered a small village near the forest.
Because he didn't hear any sounds outside the village or see any signs of human activity, he suspected this place had been attacked just like the previous village and raised his vigilance.
However, he didn't take a detour. He still decided to enter the village to take a look. He didn't smell the scent of blood, which meant that even if people died here, it had already been a while ago.
Since the purpose of those monsters was to eat people, normally speaking, after attacking a village, they wouldn't stay in the same place for very long.
Holding onto the mentality of picking up scraps, he carefully sneaked into the interior of the village and scavenged.
Unexpectedly, he found that someone seemed to have gotten there a step ahead of him and taken the food from the villagers' houses.
In the center of the village, he found a domed stone building. On the roof of the building was an idol similar to the wooden idol he saw yesterday; this was probably a church building used for sacrifices.
Inside this building, he found rows of dead human corpses arranged in lines. Some were missing arms and legs, and some were fairly intact. It was obvious they had been placed together by someone.