Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 29
byDeep in the Forest
“What are the growth habits of the Duojun mushroom? Does it have a specific location in the forest? If I search randomly without a clue, I’m afraid it will be a waste of time.” Chen Jin took the green pill from Bai Lao San’s hand, his thumb rubbing the uneven texture on the surface of the pill—the roughness characteristic of a handmade product. The closer he got, the more pronounced the strange herbal scent became.
Dodder seed. Could it be related to the previous grass addiction?
Noticing Chen Jin’s slight hesitation, Bai Lao San flinched and hid behind A Bai, burying his head in his brother’s waist while clutching his clothes. His voice was muffled as he replied, “A maximum of two pills per month. Any more and you get addicted. His poisoning isn’t deep; one is enough.”
Chen Jin’s heart tightened, but the current situation allowed for no delay. Chen Jin lifted Wu Zeng’s chin, using his fingertip to push the pill between his teeth. Wu Zeng’s cold lips unconsciously brushed against his fingertip, leaving only a soft, lingering kiss.
“The Duojun mushroom can grow under any plum tree; there’s nothing else special about it.” A Bai patted Bai Lao San’s head approvingly, but Bai Lao San buried his head even deeper. “The Plum Grove is lush with branches and leaves, and fallen leaves easily accumulate and rot. Where there is rot, fungi thrive. You just need to dig around in the deepest parts.”
“We will definitely come back tomorrow to thank you again.” Going to the Plum Grove was now an urgent matter.
As Chen Jin hoisted Wu Zeng onto his back, Uncle Liao slipped a flashlight into his palm.
“Thank you.”
After they left, Bai Lao Er stood by the door, watching the two figures depart. He turned back and said leisurely to A Bai, “They look so alike.”
The Plum Grove was pitch black. Chen Jin gripped the flashlight, sweeping it across the dense woods. The beam of light split the darkness like a sharp sword. As they walked, the fallen leaves underfoot crunched, startling the caterpillars resting in the humus layer. The air was thick with a sweet, fresh scent, as if they were immersed in a pot of fresh mushroom soup.
Chen Jin raised the flashlight high. The plum trees were so dense that their branches and leaves completely blocked out the sky.
“You’ve worked hard, student Xiao Jin~” The next second, Wu Zeng reached out from behind, took the flashlight, and then flipped over, landing steadily on the ground. He wrapped one arm around Chen Jin’s waist and lifted him up, causing Chen Jin’s feet to leave the ground.
This strength and movement were completely unlike the weak helplessness he had shown moments ago. The medicine’s effect was terrifyingly immediate. Could this person have been faking it?
“What are you doing?” Chen Jin bent his knee to kick the other man’s calf, but his movement suddenly froze halfway. Wu Zeng gently clasped his ankle, and then a gentle but irresistible voice came, “Don’t move.”
The distance between them closed. Wu Zeng’s cold body slowly drew warmth from Chen Jin.
The next second, a rapid “hissing” sound came from the ground. A lightning-fast black shadow darted out of the pile of dead leaves. Wu Zeng stomped down with a gust of wind, crushing a slender snake under his shoe. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.
Only when the commotion stopped did Wu Zeng put Chen Jin back down. He shone the flashlight downward, revealing a thin purple snake, its head a bloody mess, dead on the ground.
“That color looks poisonous, doesn’t it?” Wu Zeng scraped the sole of his shoe against a nearby tree, removing most of the sticky blood and flesh.
Where the purple snake had crawled, a lot of dead leaves had been pushed aside. “Is this an unopened mushroom?”
Chen Jin was sharp-eyed. He bent down and pushed aside the mangled snake body. In the corner of the humus layer was a mushroom that hadn’t yet bloomed. Its cap was tightly pressed against the stem, looking like it was about to open. “Let’s wait here for it to open.”
Wu Zeng squatted down next to the mushroom.
Chen Jin checked his phone. It was half past four in the morning. The night of rushing and panic had left him physically and mentally exhausted. Now that he suddenly relaxed slightly, he uncontrollably drifted into sleep.
At 7 AM, in the faint morning light, Chen Jin was woken up by the sudden drop in temperature. He opened his eyes and found himself encircled in Wu Zeng’s arms. Chen Jin moved his numb arm. The morning frost had dampened their clothes. The chilling sensation where their bodies touched was even colder than being submerged in water; Wu Zeng truly couldn’t provide him with much warmth.
“Awake?” Wu Zeng’s smiling nasal voice came from above, sending a shiver down Chen Jin’s spine.
In just two hours, Chen Jin had two long and completely contradictory dreams. The scenes kept replaying in his mind.
First, it was a hazy, moonlit night. The Reservoir in Mengle Village shimmered with ripples. Beneath the surface were thousands of man-headed piranhas. A Qing from the card hall controlled Wu Zeng, and the two embraced as they walked step by step toward the reservoir. The man-headed fish swarmed them, their human teeth scraping against the two men’s necks. In an instant, the fish bit them until they were bloody and unrecognizable.
Before Chen Jin could react, the scene shifted to his childhood. Chen Jin was playing in the yard with his friends. Toys were scattered across the ground. His parents watched him tenderly from the side. The scene was warm and beautiful, but the only person missing was the perpetually cold but always teasing Wu Zeng. It was a happy scene, but there was an empty space in his heart.
The two dreams cycled and alternated. Chen Jin felt as if he had fought a fierce battle. The moment he truly woke up from the dream, he couldn’t tell whether Wu Zeng’s departure was more painful, or Wu Zeng’s never having existed was more unacceptable.
Returning to the present, he only knew that Wu Zeng could not be harmed.
Chen Jin remained silent for a long time. Wu Zeng couldn’t help but ask, “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m going to see A Qing.” Chen Jin checked the time, then knelt down by the tree. He dug twice on the left and twice on the right in the mud, exposing more of the Duojun mushroom.
The Duojun mushroom they found last night had already spread its cap outward, like a skirt unfurling at a dance. Tiny water droplets condensed on the edges, now gleaming with a translucent luster. Chen Jin spoke with a slight tremor in his voice, his back to Wu Zeng, “Digging down from this spot will allow you to take it out whole. Once you’ve used the cap, find me at the entrance of the Plum Grove.”
If A Qing didn’t see anyone at the appointed time and decided to directly control Wu Zeng, wouldn’t this entire night’s effort be wasted?
Footsteps approached from behind. Before Chen Jin could turn around, Wu Zeng suddenly grabbed Chen Jin’s wrist. All the heat at the point of skin contact was sucked away by Wu Zeng. “Wait for me right there. Don’t go anywhere.”
The sudden force caused Chen Jin to stumble. He looked up and saw that the man opposite him was deathly pale, with the pallor only a corpse would possess.
Chen Jin violently shook off Wu Zeng’s hand, dropped a sentence, and walked away without looking back, “I’m not you.”
Wu Zeng curled his lips and shouted loudly at his retreating back, “That was my mistake.”
The moment the words fell, Chen Jin had already disappeared deep into the Plum Grove. The smile on Wu Zeng’s face faded little by little. He expressionlessly glanced at the purple snake’s corpse, then raised his foot and stepped on the Duojun mushroom that was about to bloom. The nascent fungus instantly scattered and withered. Purple fluid burst out, and spores erupted with it.
As the splashing spores landed on Wu Zeng, an eerie red light traveled from his neck vein throughout his body. Countless characters spelling “Chen Jin” seeped out from deep within his skin, like a curse carved onto him, circulating relentlessly across every inch of his skin, biting him and denying him peace for all eternity.
The sound of birds flapping their wings echoed through the Plum Grove. Wu Zeng looked up at the gradually dissipating morning mist, his pupils dark and inscrutable. “I don’t need to be right, either.”
Then, Wu Zeng strode off in the direction Chen Jin had gone.
The morning mist drifted through the forest, shrouding the entrance to the Plum Grove in a grayish-blue hue. A broken wooden sign hung precariously on the iron fence— “No Entry.” A flower-headed spider huddled in the corner of the fence, its eight slender legs covered in condensed dew.
Chen Jin surveyed his surroundings, but something in his pocket suddenly fell out on its own. He picked it up and saw it was the alligator snapping turtle shell left over from the previous world. Chen Jin clenched the item in his palm; the smooth edges rubbing against his skin inexplicably brought him a sense of peace.
“You’re here?” A Qing had changed into a green dress, outlining her graceful figure. “Where is he?”
“On his way,” Chen Jin said grimly.
A Qing was tall, and even wearing ordinary flat shoes, she possessed an outstanding demeanor. She raised her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing several parallel purple circular bumps on her neck. “Do you see this? He carries my Duojun Mother Gu. Wait another half hour, and you won’t even have a chance to collect his corpse.”
Chen Jin’s expression hardened, unsure how much of her statement was credible.
A Qing sized him up and smiled, “You didn’t think that any Duojun mushroom in the Plum Grove could neutralize the poison I laid, did you?” A Qing’s voice was sweet and charming, as pleasant as the morning sunlight, but her words were anything but cheerful.
Chen Jin stared intently at her actions. “What do you want?”
“I don’t want anything in particular. He was supposed to come himself. Now, if you want to save him, you can only come with me.” A Qing paused, tracing her jadeite earring. “Of course, you don’t have to believe me. For me, there is no loss.”
A mosquito suddenly flew into the web spun by the flower-headed spider, instantly immobilized.
Chen Jin put the alligator snapping turtle shell back into his pocket and uttered a single word, “Go.”
Wu Zeng threw Sister Li, who was tied up with ropes, onto the ground. The sound of her landing was deafening. Sister Li’s mouth was stuffed with cloth, and she could only make muffled “woo-woo-woo” sounds.
Wu Zeng used a small, mud-stained knife to cut open Sister Li’s sleeve, revealing burn marks from cigarette butts all over her forearm—the signs of abuse.
“Everything you experienced when you were sold to Sha Country back then, are you now turning around and inflicting it on the villagers of Mengle Village?” Wu Zeng used the knife to pull the cloth out of her mouth, waiting for her to say something.
This woman was extremely stubborn, biting her lower lip and remaining silent, though tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.
Wu Zeng poked the tip of the knife into the woman’s neck, asking word by word, “Is being A Qing’s lookout very enjoyable?”
“No… no.” Sister Li’s eyes were filled with terror. She gritted her teeth and shook her head frantically.
“Ah!” Wu Zeng had no patience. He violently plunged the knife into Sister Li’s thigh. A heart-wrenching scream instantly erupted.
“Without your information, how could A Qing know the habits of so many incompetent old men?”
“Without your persuasion, how could the villagers so easily let people go out to work?”
“Without your guidance, how could the human trafficking route between Mengle Village and Sha Country become so smooth? After all, you might be the only one who knows the route, right?” Wu Zeng paused, a smile curling his lips. “Those severed limbs discovered by the Changlin people back then, they were the matchmakers (traffickers) you led into the minefield, weren’t they?”
With every additional sentence, the knife went deeper. Sister Li eventually couldn’t make any sound, only gasping for air with her mouth open.
After a long while, Sister Li collapsed on the ground. “How… how do you know?”
“Clatter.” Wu Zeng dumped out the files he had taken from the village office. Inside, page after page, were records about Sister Li.
“Do you know what the biggest problem is?” Wu Zeng pulled out the knife and patted Sister Li’s face with it. “You said your Old Zhang disappeared after A Qing tricked him, but he was clearly gone before that. Who exactly got rid of him?”
“You always talk about the Changlin curse. For you, it truly is a curse. Their clan records clearly state that when the severed limbs were discovered, there was also a young girl nearby who couldn’t speak. Tell me, was that you?”
A gust of wind blew, scattering all the files. Sister Li lay sideways on the ground, her eyes unfocused. “What do you want me to do?”
“Take me to the minefield now, or you’ll be useless.” Wu Zeng abruptly hauled her up from the ground.
The deeper they went into the forest, the thicker the fog became.
A Qing’s laughter drifted eerily from ahead: “Student Chen, you must keep up…”