Chapter 317: Chapter 210: Demon Realm_3
But there was no sign of the living, not a single one.
There was only darkness, a deathly silence, and the vague outlines of buildings.
Was this a fish market, or a Ghost Market?
“Heave, heave, heave!”
In the midst of darkness, in the silence, the sound of panting became exceptionally clear.
Qing, who had come running, looked at the fish market in complete disarray, empty of people, her heart sinking continuously.
Had the fish market always looked like this?
Where was Doctor Mo? Was Doctor Mo still here?
What on earth had happened, how could things have turned out this way?
The girl’s mind was filled with confusion.
But the faint breathing sound behind her bolstered her resolve.
“Go to the apothecary first. Doctor Mo must still be there.”
It was self-deception, but at this point, there was no other choice. Qing gritted her teeth and carried her brother on her back, rushing toward the apothecary.
The apothecary wasn’t far, and they arrived quickly, but the familiar shop door had been smashed open, no light or people could be seen inside.
“This…”
Qing involuntarily slowed down, cautiously approaching the door. Aside from the familiar scent of medicine, there was another strange odor in the air.
A strange, rancid smell.
It was like the stench of fish mixed with rotten meat, making one want to vomit.
Qing’s brow furrowed, she held her breath, and carefully entered the apothecary with her brother on her back.
“Doctor Mo? ”
“Are you there?”
“It’s me, Qing!”
She called out several times, but no one answered, and Qing’s heart sank even further.
Even so, she was unwilling to leave. She reached the counter and, trusting her memory, she fumbled around and successfully found a fire starter.
“Huff, huff!”
She blew on it, and a flame lit up, providing modest illumination.
The inside of the apothecary was in disarray, clearly having been looted.
Qing held the fire starter in one hand and supported her brother with the other, carefully making her way toward the back hall of the apothecary.
Even with little hope, she was not willing to give up.
Upon reaching the back hall, the medicinal scent was stronger, and the stench even more pronounced.
Qing shone the light forward, and her pupils constricted.
Ahead of her was a swath of crimson; the floor was covered in bloodstains, as if a fierce battle had taken place.
But there were no bodies, only a lump of something unknown, curled up in a corner.
Qing held the fire starter, trembling as she shone it toward the front, only to see a set of familiar clothes now drenched in blood, with a large amount of sticky, yellowish fluid releasing an odor that was sickening.
“Doctor Mo!”
Seeing the familiar clothes, Qing cried out in alarm and moved to check it.
But the moment she moved…
“Crack!”
A strange noise sounded, as if something had been torn open.
In the corner, the person curled up into a ball slowly turned their head, revealing an extremely horrifying face.
Hair wild and disheveled, beneath it, the skin was yellow, withered, and diseased, tightly wrapping the skull with no sign of flesh, just a skin-covered skeleton.
The skeleton’s eye sockets were deeply sunken; the yellowish pupils within looked murky and swirled, as if pus was about to ooze out at any moment, the lower half of the face smeared with fresh blood, making the interlocking canine teeth of the gaping mouth look especially terrifying.
It turned around, kneeling in the corner with extremely long arms stretched out from the sleeves, and a huge wound in its chest where masses of flesh were extruding, moving at the edges of the wound like living earthworms, attempting to fill the gap and heal the injury.
However, it was futile, utterly futile. The fierce Sword Qi laid across, shredding the protruding blood strands and flesh buds, with copious amounts of blood and pus flowing out, forming a small puddle at its feet.
“Doctor Mo!”
Qing recoiled, looking at the “person” who was both familiar and strange before her, her body trembling uncontrollably as she instinctively backed away.
“Is that you, Qing?”
“Ha ha… cough, cough, cough!”
At this, the person attempted to laugh, arching their back to stand, but fell to the ground from the immense effort, crawling toward Qing on all fours.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’m just sick, a bit of medicine will do, a bit of medicine will do…”
With that, he fiercely crawled toward Qing.
Qing snapped back to reality, summoning strength from nowhere, pushed herself up and turned to flee.
But then…
“Where are you going?”
A force came from behind her, sending her tumbling to the ground.
“Little Brother!”
The force wasn’t strong, and the fall not severe, but Qing was panicked, crawling on hands and knees to her unconscious brother.
“Little Brother!”
Seeing her brother whose life or death was unknown, Qing screamed, finding strength from somewhere, and turned to face Doctor Mo.
“My medicine, my medicine, give it to me, give it to me…!”
Like an Evil Ghost crawling out from a mass grave, he screeched nonsensically, directly crawling towards Qing and her brother.
Qing clenched her teeth, her body trembling, yet she mustered the strength to draw the short knife from her waist, ready to make a last desperate fight.
“Whoosh!”
A shadow flew at her, the stench overwhelming, as Qing pushed the short knife outward, shaking.
At the same time, within the void, Yin Qi surged and coalesced, a phantom figure took form, mounted on a horse, sword in hand, slashing toward the Evil Ghost.