Chapter 160 The Infected
The old man panted, his eyes wide open, staring at Su Ming: "Don't get close to those corpses!... Otherwise, you will become like this. I'm done, this place is done... You must burn this place clean, otherwise the plague will spread."
Su Ming did not interrupt, he knew that this was the old man's last words. If he said one more word now, the other party would reveal less information.
"These are the work of the infected, who worship the god of plague.
If you see them, you must stay away from them, because encountering them will only lead to death!
They are all messengers of the evil god, and only fire can fight them! ... Ugh, it hurts!"
The old man groaned in pain, and the wrinkles on his face twisted into a ball.
The black spots have infected the old man's calves. Su Ming couldn't tell where exactly they had spread to. Perhaps it was his thigh, or perhaps it had reached his waist.
Su Ming had never heard of this plague. It broke out so quickly that it no longer seemed like a disease but more like an evil magic.
"And... go east! There... there is a second village... No, don't let anyone else see you."
The skin on the old man's arms began to fester and turn black. The loose rotten flesh peeled off the bones under the action of gravity. Black pus and blood spread under his body. The cloak shriveled up, and the body and internal organs inside had melted, leaving only hard bones. He stared at Su Ming with his only remaining eye, opened his mouth, and uttered his last words.
"May the God of Hope...bless you."
After a few seconds, his entire body turned into a mass of black pus and flesh, and even his human form could not be seen.
"What the hell is this thing?" Flora looked at the old man's body with lingering fear and had a new assessment of the danger level of this mission.
This old guy was just touched by those bugs, and he turned into this in just a few minutes. Obviously, the infected people he mentioned are much more powerful than the bugs. What should they do if they encounter those infected people?
However, as the old man just said, the infected are not without weaknesses, and their weakness is fire.
flame?
By the way, can’t Su Ming use fire?
"Fortunately, you can use fire." Flora said.
Su Ming shook his head: "I can no longer use fire."
"Why!" Flora looked at Su Ming in surprise.
"No reason. I told you that I can take away a person's abnormality. In fact, that means taking away the other person's superpowers. But there is a limit to the number of superpowers, so I have given up the fire superpower."
Flora nodded thoughtfully, not seeming too surprised.
"That's a bit of a troublesome situation." Flora murmured to herself, stroking her chin.
"I do have gasoline in my backpack, but I don't have a flamethrower... It seems I need to buy a flamethrower next time." Xia Xiaoyu said to herself.
Su Ming remained silent, thinking about the old man's last words.
Suddenly, he smelled a strange smell, a slight rotten smell with a hint of fishy smell.
Then he noticed a hostile gaze coming from the bushes .
"It stinks! What's that smell?" Xia Xiaoyu said, pinching her nose.
"Su Ming, do you smell a strange smell?" Flora also noticed it.
"Come out!" Su Ming turned and faced the bushes.
The person who was waiting inside seemed to understand Su Ming's words and slowly walked out of the bushes.
The man was not wearing any clothes. His skin was swollen all over and covered with purple-red blisters. The surface seemed to be filled with fluid under the epidermis. His skin did not look like skin, but more like a piece of clothing.
The clothes trembled as he walked, as if they would fall off at any time.
If you look closely, you can vaguely see parasitic strips crawling under his skin.
Su Ming frowned and looked at the other person's face, and regretted it as soon as he saw it.
This guy's mouth was full of rotten teeth. His upper and lower lips had disappeared, and his pink and white gums were exposed to the air. His gums were covered with dense tiny tumors, and his sticky saliva was hanging long like a Komodo dragon, about to fall.
"Is this an infected person?" Xia Xiaoyu frowned in disgust and couldn't help but swear. The monster in front of her was really disgusting.
Flora took two steps back and looked at Su Ming, trying to see his decision from his expression, but Su Ming just stared at her.
“Kuris la Moliguado… Siru la Casada… Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo!”
The infected person spoke a few words in a language that Su Ming could not understand, and a bellows-like laugh came from his throat.
Although Su Ming could not understand, he could feel the other party's emotions. The other party was happy because he found them, and he regarded them as new prey.
This zombie-like man looked like he could be wiped out with just a volley of bullets, but Su Ming would never underestimate his danger.
Just now, those poisonous insects touched the old man and turned him into a pool of black water. The poison of the infected person must be much more poisonous than the insects. Touching him or fighting him at close range is a very unwise choice.
Su Ming stretched out his hand to hold Xia Xiaoyu's gun muzzle and said, "The distance is too close. If body fluids splash on us, we might end up like that old man just now."
Xia Xiaoyu observed the distance and said, "It shouldn't splash at this distance."
"No, look at his skin. It's full of fluid. We can't treat it as an ordinary human body. We should think of it as a big balloon filled with water. Once the skin pressure is released, it will explode."
As he spoke, Su Ming activated [ Blood Blade]. Blood flowed out of his palm and turned into a long sword in the air.
Seeing Su Ming suddenly take out a long knife, the infected person did not look scared at all. Instead, he laughed again and then walked towards Su Ming step by step.
"See, he's not afraid of us attacking him at all," Su Ming said.
The next second, a terrifying aura of intimidation emanated from Su Ming.
In an instant, Xia Xiaoyu and Flora both felt a creepy chill, as if they were lambs being stared at by hungry wolves, making their hands and feet cold.
But soon, the chill faded rapidly and finally disappeared completely.
The feeling of oppression on Xia Xiaoyu and Flora disappeared, but the feeling of oppression exerted on the infected people did not disappear.
At this moment , the prey in front of the infected person turned into a hunter. He felt that the person standing in front of him had the power to kill him instantly. This feeling was very real, and it reminded him of the days when he was lying on the sickbed, with no one to take care of him and could only wait for death silently.
The infected person took a small step back, wondering whether he should pounce on him.
The Mother of Plague gave him a strong body and let the deadly germs become his weapons. As a believer, his mission is to spread the glory of the Mother in the world. According to reason, he should not retreat, but the man in front of him...
The infected person stared into Su Ming's eyes, and actually began to have the idea of retreating.
He couldn't imagine that there were people in this world who were not afraid of him. Judging from the way these people were dressed, they must be outsiders... These outsiders were the ones his mother wanted to kill desperately.
The mother said that they were as weak as babies in front of her virus, so they had the right to be afraid of themselves.
But why did this outsider exude a terrifying aura that made him feel like he would be killed! It was just like the day when the mother's messenger came!
Su Ming activated [Cold] and was in a stalemate with the infected person. Xia Xiaoyu reacted and reached into storage box No. 7.
"Wait a minute, hang him up!"
Xia Xiaoyu took out a rope, made a noose neatly, and then threw it out like lassoing a horse. The rope loop was accurately wrapped around the infected person's neck, but the infected person was completely unaware and still stared at Su Ming, hesitating whether to move forward.
"Su Ming, what should we do?" Flora asked.
Flora was keenly aware of the danger of the infected person, and had no intention of using her superpowers to kill the other party from the beginning. Her superpowers must touch the target, but obviously, the infected person in front of her cannot be touched.
Flora held the rifle but did not raise the muzzle. Her judgment was the same as Su Ming's, that this person could not be attacked at will.
But if he doesn't attack, will he turn around and run? Looking at the infected person's appearance, he shouldn't be able to run fast, right?
If you run with all your strength, there is a high chance that you can escape.
"Should we run away?" Flora asked Su Ming for his opinion.
"Wait a little longer."
After saying that, Su Ming glanced in the direction of Xia Xiaoyu.
At this time, Xia Xiaoyu had already taken the other end of the rope and started walking in the opposite direction. The more than ten-meter-long rope maintained a safe distance very well. When the distance was almost right, Xia Xiaoyu found a big tree, threw the rope over the branches of the tree, and immediately pulled it tight!
Then the infected person was dragged directly over. Under the pull of the rope, the infected person fell to the ground, and his back rubbed against the ground, leaving a long sticky mark. The blisters on the surface of the skin burst, and worms popped out of the burst blisters of the infected person, twisting and struggling on the ground.
The infected person had no idea that it was weird that he was being dragged on the ground like this, and all he wanted to do was keep rushing towards Su Ming.
But unfortunately, the noose around his neck did not let him do what he wanted. He was pulled all the way over and finally hung high on the tree, struggling continuously.
As the infected person's skin burst, an unbearable stench spread. Flora beside him vomited directly. Su Ming also felt nauseous and a little dizzy.
Is it poisoned? If just smelling it can cause poisoning, that's too scary.
"Dad, Alice...it's so uncomfortable."
Alice sat on the ground, her little face full of fear, gasping for breath.
Su Ming picked up Alice and ran a few steps away with Flora. He took a few deep breaths of fresh air and felt a little more comfortable.
Su Ming activated [Xia Xiaoyu's Exclusive] and slowly absorbed the negative influence of Alice into himself. Within a few seconds, Alice returned to normal, and Su Ming became even more dizzy.
"It seems to be fine," Su Ming said, holding his forehead. "The more serious the negative effect, the longer it takes to transfer. Alice has returned to normal so quickly, which means that this is just a temporary side effect. It will be fine after a while."
After a few minutes, Su Ming stood up and walked towards the tree where the infected person was hung. Xia Xiaoyu was staring at the infected person more than 20 meters away. If the infected person showed any signs of breaking free from the rope, she would not hesitate to use the rifle in her hand to shoot him into a sieve.
"How is it?" Su Ming asked.
"It's so disgusting." Xia Xiaoyu frowned and handed the telescope to Su Ming.
Su Ming looked at the infected person. He was hanging, but there was no sign of suffocation. He just kept struggling, trying to break free from the rope around his neck.
The blisters on the infected person's body were all worn out, and wavy lines were visible to the naked eye, rolling and wriggling on the surface of his body. Those were the parasites living in his body migrating madly.
"A tricky thing." Su Ming handed the telescope to Flora.
"It doesn't need to breathe, it's very strong, and it has a large number of parasites and viruses in its body. Tsk! It's simply a conscious zombie." Flora commented.
"But he obviously still has emotions, at least he can be afraid, and... he's still human."
"The investigation bureau previously revealed that some of the people had special beliefs and abilities. Perhaps some of them believed in the so-called God of Dreams and God of Plague. Such important information was actually omitted in such a light-hearted way. How careless!" Flora said dissatisfiedly.
"It may also be because the people who went out were obviously mentally unstable and had serious problems in their expressions. In short, we must be cautious in our next actions."
"We will definitely encounter more people like them in the future. We have to be prepared." Flora sighed and said regretfully, "It would be great if your fire ability was still there."
Su Ming could understand Flora's depression. He himself felt quite depressed as well. If he still had the ability to control fire, he would be much more comfortable now. He wouldn't have to worry about body fluids splashing during high-temperature burning, and he could kill the infected from five or six meters away. It would be much more convenient for him to travel and do things.
Su Ming had to admit that there was something wrong with the order in which he absorbed the superpowers before and he made a strategic mistake.
But past mistakes cannot be corrected, and now they can only seek other means.
First of all, we need to determine the distance at which body fluids splash when the opponent is injured, and verify the killing efficiency of modern thermal weapons on the opponent. If modern thermal weapons can make the infected lose their combat effectiveness within two or three shots, then they still have the ability to fight.
Su Ming stood thirty meters away, aimed his rifle at the opponent's abdomen, and fired!
After a gunshot, a big hole appeared on the infected man's stomach. A long pink worm as thick as a small snake crawled out of his stomach, twisting wildly. Pus and blood splattered in the process.
The infected person seemed to be frightened by the big hole in his stomach and struggled violently on the tree.
"The surface of the skin is very soft. One shot can cause a larger wound than that of an ordinary person, but he has not lost his mobility and seems to have no sense of pain." Su Ming said, "Continue to fire a few more shots and observe."
