The strange story of Huai'an Inn

"What?" Liu Sheng frowned, looking confused.

"Judging from the symptoms of Kenji just now, he is infected with miasma." The shopkeeper Zhu's voice was soft and cold, like a dark river wandering underground, "A special kind of miasma, invisible and colorless, but strange It stinks extremely. Some people say it is just a cloud of poisonous gas, and some people think it has a certain degree of consciousness. All living things will undergo some kind of...transformation in all places infected and eroded by it."

"What kind of transformation?"

"Insects will not be affected, but all birds, beasts and even humans will gradually be transformed into swarms of insects. It's a bit like Cordyceps sinensis, except that Cordyceps turns insects into grass, and worms turn people into insects."

A moment of silence.

Chongliu recalled the death of King Zhong described by Xu Hanke. It seemed to be a bit like the winter worm version of Cordyceps sinensis?

Could such a terrible way of death also happen to Xu Hanke?

Liu Sheng finally asked, "So... what kind of miasma is a ghost?"

"That depends on how you define what is a ghost." Shopkeeper Zhu opened Xu Hanke's eyelids as he spoke, "Many people like to call everything they don't know or understand a ghost. Anything polluted by bad luck can be called a ghost, and some people think that only things that are dead but still left in the human world can be called ghosts. How and when the miasma was produced, it is no longer possible to test. But their numbers have become very rare, and maybe they will disappear completely in another 200 years."

"Then... is there help?"

"He just contracted miasma today, maybe he can be saved. But, you must strictly follow my requirements, and don't let go of a single step. Otherwise, if it drags on for a long time, I won't be able to do anything about it." Zhu shopkeeper looked He looked at Liu Sheng solemnly.

Liu Sheng pursed his lips, and Chong Liu noticed that his hands were tightly clenched into fists.

Liu Sheng seems to be wary of the shopkeeper, why?

If Xu Hanke really had similar symptoms to King Zhong, did King Zhong also go to Baizhuze?But if such a noble person has been to Tianliang City, how come no one has heard of it?

Could it be... that even King Zhong has something to do with the shopkeeper's business?

"You tell me what I should do." Liu Sheng finally made up his mind and said so.

The shopkeeper said, "Miasmus miasmas are most afraid of the cold, and our climate is warm and humid here, which is most suitable for their reproduction. We need to move Xiansi to the vegetable cellar, where it is cooler and drier. I wonder if the magistrate can find a way to get more Ice cubes stored in nearby towns. Put Kenji in a bath tub, and then place the ice cubes around to lower the temperature as much as possible, which can make the miasma go into a temporary slumber."

The county magistrate Xu immediately said, "Okay, I'll do it right away." After speaking, he hurried out.

Chong Liudao, "I'm going to get the bathtub into the vegetable cellar now.

"Liu'er, don't be too busy. You go to my room first, find a medicine cabinet that says 'Musk', take the box inside, and come to us directly in the vegetable cellar. But remember, don't Open."

Chong Liu hurriedly responded, and hurried to the backyard.

The medicine cabinet that occupies the entire wall has too many small grids. Chong Liu Mao searched for a long time, and finally found the one with the word musk written on it at a place diagonally below the medicine cabinet of silkworm chrysalis, the shopkeeper last time. .After pulling it open, there really was a box made of ebony.

The box was locked, and someone carved crooked old handwriting on the surface with a knife: Do not open.

Chongliu was sure that this was definitely not engraved by the shopkeeper, the handwriting was too different...

I don't know if it is the remuneration that I have to come when I do some business.

The more you are told not to drive, the more you will want to drive.Chong Liu simply didn't know whether the person who carved this word wanted to make people happy or not.

He ran to the vegetable cellar with the box, and saw several helpers carrying the bathtub down.And Master Liao stood watching, a tea tray was broken in his hand, and there were several tea bowls on it.

"Master Liao, you want to go in too?" Chong Liu asked curiously.

"Yes." Master Liao heaved a long sigh, "This matter... is becoming more and more common."

The bathtub in the middle of the vegetable cellar has been placed, and Xu Hanke was carefully placed inside by Liu Sheng.The shopkeeper ordered all the officers and soldiers to help move out all the vegetables and wine jars, and the vegetable cellar was emptied soon.

After a while, Master Xu also sent someone back with several large pieces of ice, saying that half of the ice cellars in Tianliang City had been moved here.The ice cubes were piled up around the bathtub, and after a while, the whole vegetable cellar was filled with a bone-chilling chill.Standing inside, Chong Liu could only feel a trace of cold air go straight into the collar of his clothes, and shivered uncontrollably.

"Okay, except for me, Master Liao, Master Liu and Guan Chongliu, everyone else must leave. Keep an eye on the door of the vegetable cellar. Except for the four of us and an alchemist named Song Mingzi, no one can let go. Come in. No matter what sounds you hear or what smells you smell, you must never come in without authorization." The shopkeeper instructed the magistrate Xu, and he was very cautious in every word.

County magistrate Xu nodded with a perplexed and terrified conviction, and after an official ceremony with Liu Sheng, he left, taking all the soldiers with him.

Seeing the door of the vegetable cellar being closed, and the last light coming in from the outside being cut off bit by bit, Chong Liu suddenly felt a kind of dense coldness pushing in layer by layer, quickly flooding the entire vegetable cellar.

He was suddenly nervous and afraid of what he was about to see.

The shopkeeper winked at Master Liao.Master Liao took out his purple sand pot and began to pour the "tea" in the pot into the three tea bowls.The tea is dark amber, but not as clear as ordinary tea, and looks very cloudy and thick.

The shopkeeper suddenly came to Chong Liu's ear and whispered, "Didn't you always want to know what's in his pot?" Chong Liu suddenly turned to look at the shopkeeper, like a deer suddenly found in the forest.

The shopkeeper chuckled twice as if he was in a good mood, and walked towards Mr. Liao as if nothing had happened.He picked up a bowl of tea and looked at Liu Sheng and Chong Liu, "I will open this box in a moment, and before I close it again, all of us must take a sip of Master Liao's tea in our mouths. But, don't worry." Remember, you must not swallow the tea, not even a little bit. If you need to leave, you must wait until you step out of the door of the vegetable cellar and spit the tea on the ground. If any accident occurs, causing you to swallow the tea , let me know immediately. It's a matter of life."

A matter of life?

Doesn't Master Liao drink this tea every day?Why is it a matter of life?

Chong Liu stretched his neck and looked at the liquid in the cup, but couldn't see why.

Liu Sheng frowned and looked at the tea in the tray, "What is this?"

"Tea." Master Liao replied simply, with a deterrent force that cannot be disputed.

Liu Sheng showed no sign of taking tea.

Seeing this, Chongliu hesitated for a moment, and went forward to get a bowl of tea first.Just as he was about to bring it to his lips, the shopkeeper suddenly pressed the back of his hand and reminded, "By the way, I forgot to tell you that this thing might not taste very good."

Chong Liu looked at the turbid and viscous color of the tea. Under the dim candlelight, there seemed to be a layer of greasy color floating on the surface, as if covered with a layer of oil.

Feeling... a little sick...

He tried to sniff it close to his nose, and he smelled a strange smell that seemed to be like over-steamed overnight black tea and rapeseed oil.

Chong Liu glanced at the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper raised the corner of his mouth, and took a sip of tea into his own mouth first.

Chong Liu shook his heart and took a sip of the thick oily liquid.

In the next moment, Chong Liu's entire face was wrinkled like a ball of paper randomly thrown out by a pair of angry hands.

Before that, if someone asked Chong Liu what the most unpalatable thing in the world was, he would answer the heat-clearing and detoxifying medicine from Tianji Pharmacy on Dongwang Street.But now, the horror of the taste of this bowl of tea has refreshed his understanding of the concept of "drinkable".

The first impression is sour and bitter, sour to the point of top, which is also mixed with a strong astringency and a hint of spiciness.If it’s just the taste on the tongue, the most unbearable is the sour smell that rushes into the nasal cavity and is entangled with the taste. Dead fish that were white and frothed by the sun on the shore.

Chong Liu's first reaction was to vomit, not only wanting to spit out the liquid in his mouth, but also the liquid in his stomach.His whole body was as tight as a bow, and he tried his best not to vomit.

After the feeling that life was worse than death passed, Chong Liu realized that he had been holding on to the shopkeeper's hand for a long time, until his skin turned red.Chong Liu was shocked and quickly let go, raised his eyes cautiously, but found that the shopkeeper's face was not angry, he just raised an eyebrow at him, and looked at his hand with a slightly exaggerated movement.

Seeing this, Liu Sheng had no choice but to take a sip of "tea" tentatively, and then immediately squatted down with his head in his arms, almost as if he was about to beat his chest and stamp his feet.

Chong Liufen can understand his current mood.

On the other hand, looking at Liu Sheng's appearance, the shopkeeper seems to be a little gloating?

Only Master Liao did not contain tea, and only occasionally took a sip from the pot to his mouth.Now Chongliu knows why Master Liao always has such a murderous aura. Anyone who drinks this stuff every day will be in a bad mood and want to kill...

Everyone couldn't speak with tea in their mouths, and the vegetable cellar was extremely quiet for a while.The shopkeeper picked up the ebony box, pulled out a brass key tied with a red string from his collar, and opened the lock on the box.

In an instant, a strange fragrance rushed to the face, filling the entire vegetable cellar.The scent was so strong that it was almost stinky, but it was not unpleasant.Chong Liu saw a black thing in the box, which seemed to be covered with hair.

The next moment, both Chong Liu and Liu Sheng almost spit out the tea from their mouths.

As the fragrance diffuses, something is added to the air.

It was as if something that was invisible at first gradually separated from the darkness. They noticed that they were not the only ones in the cellar.

There are some hair-like shapes floating in the air, which seem to be smoke, but also seem to have entities.They twisted and curled up in the air, intertwined and separated.And the roots of all these filaments are all connected to Xu Hanke in the bathtub.