Chapter 91

"Is something wrong?" One day, Ben Pingzhi specially called over Zheng Chen and asked. …≦

Ben Pingzhi's expression was serious, without the usual kindness, "There have been some issues nearby recently."

Zheng Chen nodded, knowing that if he was called here, it must be important.

"I also entrusted some outsiders to deal with this matter, but the results were not ideal," Ben Pingzhi continued, describing the situation. Zheng Chen's expression changed slightly; he remembered the place Ben Pingzhi was talking about, which was where he had passed through from the wilderness.

That place was a cemetery, not far from here.

According to Ben Pingzhi's description, something abnormal seemed to have happened there. Some players had told Ben Pingzhi about this situation a while ago, and since it was not far from here, he naturally paid attention to it to prevent the abnormalities from affecting the village.

However, the solution did not have a good effect, and some people were even affected. After describing the situation, Ben Pingzhi shook his head, stood up, and said, "Come with me."

He led Zheng Chen into a room where a young player with a rather pale face was lying. His arm was tightly wrapped in bandages, and some dark, foul-smelling blood was seeping through. It was not a bright red but a dark, almost necrotic color.

This reminded Zheng Chen of the peculiar tomatoes he had eaten a while ago...

"Village Chief?" The young player saw Zheng Chen and looked a bit puzzled.

"Don't worry, I'll check your wound," Ben Pingzhi said, completely ignoring the smell in the room. He unwrapped the bandages, and the wound was fully exposed to the air.

From the appearance of the wound, it seemed to have been caused by something that had clawed him. The wound was gray and necrotic, and the surrounding area was also affected by this gray necrosis.

"This is the effect of a necrotic poison. If it were a common zombie poison, it wouldn't be difficult to treat," Ben Pingzhi explained while applying medicine to the young player.

There are many types of necrotic poisons, such as the common zombie poison... well, this world clearly has such things. It's not difficult to deal with, and glutinous rice is a simple and effective way to do so.

However, according to Ben Pingzhi, the player was not affected by zombie poison but by another type. If Zheng Chen had not seen it wrong, there was a faint, gray necrotic aura continuously emanating from the wound, which the player seemed to be unaware of.

As for Ben Pingzhi, his expression remained calm, and Zheng Chen could not tell if he could see it.

"Rest well, you'll recover in a while," Ben Pingzhi said, then left the room and changed the bandages for a few other players. Not just one player was injured; their wounds varied in severity but were all abnormally gray and necrotic.

"What do you want me to do?" Zheng Chen asked.

After washing his hands, Ben Pingzhi said, "These people were all entrusted by me to investigate the abnormality in that cemetery. As you can see, their injuries are stubborn, and to cure them completely, we need some special ingredients."

Seeing Zheng Chen's calm expression, Ben Pingzhi nodded, "This is just one part of it. More importantly, it's about the investigation of that cemetery..."

Zheng Chen nodded, knowing his character, and Ben Pingzhi did not say more. The purpose of calling him was for help, and since Zheng Chen had no objections, Ben Pingzhi got straight to the point, "Although they didn't find any useful information, I could see something was wrong from their wounds. There seems to be some evil presence there."

"The gray necrotic aura on their wounds is?" Zheng Chen asked, his expression changing when he heard Ben Pingzhi.

"Oh?" Ben Pingzhi looked at Zheng Chen with some surprise, "I didn't choose the wrong person. The gray necrotic aura you saw is an evil aura. Otherwise, I would have removed the ordinary necrotic poison long ago."

Back at the residence, after handing the medicine to Lei, Zheng Chen sat down. The table in the living room, which usually served as a dining table, was more like his workbench. Various parts were scattered on it, almost covering the entire table.

These were preparations for the next day's mission. Zheng Chen was not used to working with others on dangerous tasks, so he directly declined Ben Pingzhi's suggestion. Ben Pingzhi had advised him, but seeing no use, he gave Zheng Chen some pills to prevent necrotic poisoning.

Not long after, Lei, holding a bowl of medicine, saw Zheng Chen's actions and asked, "Are we leaving?"

Zheng Chen shook his head and cleared a small space on the table to place the bowl of medicine, "No, I have something to do tomorrow."

"Oh..." Lei nodded lightly and sat next to Zheng Chen, watching him with focused attention. After a while, she hesitated and asked, "Am I going with you?"

Looking at the gun barrel in his hand, Zheng Chen put it back, "This time, it's not suitable for you to go."

He was just going to investigate, not to fight, and a cemetery was not a place for Lei, "It's not a big deal."

"Then... be careful," Lei said, a bit disappointed, "When will you be back?"

"Before evening."

Zheng Chen answered, putting the two rifles he had made aside. Compared to a pistol, the structure of a rifle was much simpler and had comparable power. After making one, Zheng Chen abandoned the pistol and chose this simple and effective weapon.

Even though the rifle had a slower rate of fire and a smaller magazine capacity, it was not a problem for him.

"Hey? Are you going out?" Xi Ya saw Zheng Chen's preparations and asked a similar question to Lei.

Zheng Chen shook his head, looked at Xi Ya, and his expression became slightly serious before returning to normal.

"Is there anything else?" Xi Ya's expression stiffened under Zheng Chen's gaze, and she asked as if nothing had happened.

"No, I'll be back as soon as possible."

After assembling all the parts on the table, Zheng Chen picked up the bowl of medicine and drank it in one go.

The next day, when the sky was just beginning to brighten, Lei woke up. Zheng Chen had already told her he was going out today...

The morning was a bit cold, and she rubbed her arms, put on a coat, and walked out. Just as she left the bedroom, she heard a faint door closing sound and immediately ran to the living room, where she saw the breakfast laid out and was stunned. She must have woken up too late...

No, no, she had woken up very early, so Zheng Chen must have woken up even earlier. Otherwise, how could she always see warm breakfast every day? It was too coincidental...

"Zheng can go at noon," Ben Pingzhi, who had also woken up early and was exercising at the door, called out to Zheng Chen, seeing his familiar figure in a cloak.

"No problem," Zheng Chen said, and without lingering, he walked out of the village. Ben Pingzhi had said the best time to investigate was at noon, when the evil aura would be suppressed, making it relatively easier.

However, at that time, some things would be hidden, making it easy to miss important clues, so Zheng Chen chose to set out early in the morning.

Watching Zheng Chen leave, Ben Pingzhi shook his head lightly. He did not doubt Zheng Chen's ability to handle the task. Since he had taken it on, he would not fail. However, going at this time was not a good choice.

But there was no one more suitable to do this right now.

Arriving at the cemetery, Zheng Chen stopped far away. The entire cemetery was shrouded in a faint gray mist, giving off an ominous feeling. In the mist, several figures could be seen moving unsteadily.

After checking his equipment, Zheng Chen pulled down his mask and approached. The cemetery was quite large, and when he and the black-haired girl passed by, she had mentioned that such a place with many buried bodies was prone to evil presences.

At that time, everything was normal, and there was no evil aura, so she did not interfere... she couldn't just dig up graves for no reason, right?

And the task would have been too big for her to handle without preparation.

But now, something had indeed happened.

Recalling the conversation with the black-haired girl, Zheng Chen narrowed his eyes and observed the aimless figures moving in the gray mist. He did not approach to test them. When Ben Pingzhi showed him the injured players, it was also a warning.

The players entrusted by Ben Pingzhi to solve this problem were clearly not ordinary, yet they were all injured. Therefore, it was better to be cautious. The figures moving around did not seem as slow as they appeared.

After observing for a while, Zheng Chen raised his hand, and some new parts were shaped. A crossbow was quickly assembled. He would have preferred to shape a more convenient bow, but using a bow required some training, which he did not have time for, so he always chose the crossbow.

Taking out a package hidden under his cloak, which contained only ordinary iron, Zheng Chen controlled the patterns to skip the refining process and directly shaped a small amount into a metal crossbow bolt.

A whistling sound broke the air as the bolt shot out and accurately hit one of the figures in the gray mist, piercing through its body.