Deities Are All Just My Food
Chapter 572 - 280: God’s Game, Zombie Plague!_1

Chapter 572: Chapter 280: God’s Game, Zombie Plague!_1

"I smell it too!"

Kim Myungjin, holding a handkerchief over his mouth and nose, could still perceive the strong stench of decay.

"You all go out, I’ll take a look around by myself!"

Lin Baici had a keen sense of smell, so he could gather more information through scents than others could.

The foul smell drifted from every household, indicating that most homes must contain something dead. Yet, these humble farmhouses showed no signs of being plundered. There was only one answer left: the dead were chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs.

With Lin Baici’s sharp olfactory senses, he didn’t even have to inhale deeply to effortlessly locate a farmhouse emitting a particularly intense odour.

He walked over, stood outside the fence, and swept a glance inside.

The ground was littered with dead chickens, their bodies swarmed by flies the size of soybeans, covering them thickly and looking like a layer of armour, which was extremely disgusting to behold.

"Little Bai."

Hua Yue Yu pointed to a gap in the fence and called out.

There lay a dead dog, stuck in the wood as it tried to pass through the fence, now severely decomposed with pus pooling on the ground.

"This looks like a plague; have the villagers fled for their lives?"

Gu Qingqiu intended to enter the houses to deduce the era based on the daily objects, but now she refrained from doing so.

"You all go out first!"

Lin Baici took out a box of N95 masks from the Black Tripod Bowl and distributed them among the group.

Quan Sangin had not expected to receive one and expressed his gratitude, his heart also filled with envy.

Having space-containment equipment sure was fantastic, allowing for a substantial amount of supplies.

"No need to thank me!"

Lin Baici would need these people as cannon fodder, so naturally, he offered some small favors to lower their vigilance and to prevent meaningless deaths.

"I’ll explore with you!"

Quan Sangin had actually wanted to assign a team member to investigate the village, but since Lin Baici personally took the initiative, he could no longer just stand by and wait.

The others left, and neither Lin Baici nor Quan Sangin wished to linger in the village that had suffered an outbreak of plague. They moved quickly, intending to scout the area and leave if they found nothing.

However, by a stroke of luck, they suddenly heard a deep coughing sound as they approached the north side of the village.

"There’s someone!"

Quan Sangin immediately gripped his dagger.

Underneath the thatched roof of a hut, an emaciated elderly man lay in a bamboo chair, covered with a quilt patched in many places.

"Xiba, we’ve really travelled to ancient times!"

Quan Sangin cursed under his breath; the old man was sporting an ancient hairstyle.

"Old man, where are we?"

Lin Baici shouted to the elder from across the fence.

"Hurry up and leave, cough cough, there’s a plague here!"

The elder’s voice was weak. Those in the village who could move had already fled. He didn’t have many days left, and not wanting to die away from home, he chose not to leave.

"What plague?"

Quan Sangin pressed the question.

"Cough cough, Li God Doctor from Shangqing Mansion said it’s leprosy. You better leave quickly."

The man’s eyelids drooped, not lifting, perhaps from lack of strength.

"Leprosy?"

Quan Sangin sighed in relief. Although dreadful, it wasn’t as frightening as the plague or malaria, and as for smallpox, they were vaccinated, so it wasn’t a concern.

"How do we get to Shangqing Mansion?"

Lin Baici took out a box of bread and a box of mineral water from the Black Tripod Bowl and flung them towards the old man: "This is food."

Thump! Thump!

The two boxes landed next to the elder.

It wasn’t that Lin Baici was disrespectful; the old man must have contracted leprosy, and even as a God Hunter with a robust body, Lin Baici wasn’t willing to take the risk.

"South!"

The elder spoke feebly.

"What’s the name of that God Doctor you mentioned? Is he currently in Shangqing Mansion?"

Lin Baici inquired further, sensing this person might be significant.

But the elder seemed to have fallen asleep and did not respond any longer.

"Hey..."

Quan Sangin called out, saw the old man motionless, and even contemplated throwing a stone to wake him.

"Don’t disturb him!"

Lin Baici stopped Quan Sangin: "Thank you, elder!"

After obtaining the information, Lin Baici and his companion quickly left the village to meet up with their team.

"Leprosy?"

Gu Qingqiu frowned, knowing that even if one survived the disease, they would end up looking terribly disfigured.

"Let’s head to Shangqing Mansion first!"

Lin Baici urged everyone to set out on their journey.

His Black Tripod Bowl contained an electric scooter, two bicycles, but the road was too treacherous to ride on. He could risk it, and the road would punish him by jolting his rear end, and with too many people, there weren’t enough vehicles to go around anyway.

The team could only travel on foot, but since they were all God Hunters, they had enough stamina for the journey.

After traversing mountains and valleys for three hours, they finally saw the silhouette of a city on the horizon.

The three-meter-high earthen wall exuded an air of long-neglect, and through the city gate, a funeral procession carried a coffin, their mournful cries piercing the air.

They planned to wait for the procession to pass before entering the city. However, once that one had passed, another followed, thus dragging the wait out for half an hour.

"Xiba, how inauspicious is this?"

Kim Jinsoo complained.

The group finally entered the city. The first impression was of filth and disorder, with many houses displaying white banners typically used for mourning, and the earthen roads strewn with ceremonial paper money.

Someone pushed a flat cart past, covered with straw sandals, beneath which two bare feet could be seen.

Without asking, it was clear this was a family without money, unable to afford a proper funeral; they had no choice but to haul the body out and bury it haphazardly, or even just dump it at a mass grave.

"Should we get out of here?"

Hua Yue Yu was somewhat panicked. After speaking, she felt an itch in her throat and started to cough.

No one thought much of it at first, but her coughing persisted for half a minute without stopping, drawing everyone’s concerned glances.

"You haven’t been infected, have you?"

Kim Jinsoo was worried, knowing that if this girl fell ill, it would certainly delay the team’s progress in purifying the rule contamination and might even spread to others.

"I haven’t had contact with other people, how could I be infected?"

Hua Yue Yu was startled and argued quickly, also trying to reassure herself.

"Isn’t leprosy spread through contact?"

Xia Hongyao wasn’t familiar with this disease, as it had long been eradicated in the Nine States.

"It can also be spread through the respiratory tract!"

Quan Sangin pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling overwhelmed, "And there’s another problem: what if it’s not leprosy?"

The doctor’s diagnosis could have been wrong.

With those words, the Goryeo people subconsciously backed away a few steps, distancing themselves from Hua Yue Yu.

"..."

Hua Yue Yu’s lips trembled.

"Is anyone else feeling unwell?"

Lin Baici turned his head to survey the group.

"I...the way I feel, I think I have a fever!"

Li Zaicheng licked his lips. He was still feeling dizzy and weak in his limbs.

"Is it because of the severed hand?"

Choi Sunsil extended her hand, intending to check Li Zaicheng’s forehead temperature, but she pulled back her hand halfway.

Quan Sangin rubbed his chest. He was feeling slightly unwell too, though it might just be psychological, "What kind of rule contamination is this?"

Quan Sangin turned to Lin Baici, waiting for an explanation.

As an experienced figure who had been through seven God’s Ruins, he had never witnessed a rule contamination of this scale that had transported them to ancient times.

[The deity living in the Busan Divine Ruins enjoys watching Korean dramas, hence creating a similar role-playing game. The God Hunters must survive until the final scene to advance to the next round.]

Eater God commented.

"What’s the final scene?"

Lin Baici quietly asked in his mind.

The Eater God gave no response.

"Let’s find the god doctor first to treat Yue Yu and Li Zaicheng, and we can’t be sure we won’t be infected either, so we need to get some medicine!"

Gu Qingqiu suggested.

The group immediately sprang into action and after asking around, they learned that Li God Doctor was not in Shangqing Mansion but had gone back to his hometown.

His hometown was in Wo Niu village, a good half-day’s walk away.

"Let’s buy some horses to get there faster!"

Gu Qingqiu didn’t fancy taking "Bus 11", lest their feet wear out from walking.

"Where do we get the money?"

Kim Myungjin was concerned. If this was outside the Divine Ruins, she could have afforded to provide each person with a million-dollar luxury car, but here, she didn’t even have a single copper coin.

Gu Qingqiu looked at Lin Baici; with his fighting ability, was there any fear of having no money?

She just hoped Lin Baici wouldn’t be too obstinate, trying to act like some upstanding citizen.

"Money is not the problem, getting enough horses is!"

Choi Sunsil, being Korean, knew how poverty-stricken the past was; only an official residence could afford a dozen or more horses.

Lin Baici was about to speak when his brow furrowed, and he quickly scanned the surroundings.

The pedestrians on the street hurried away, but there was also a growing sound of footsteps not departing but approaching, seemingly trying to covertly surround them.

"What’s going on?"

Quan Sangin heard it too, and immediately, some soldiers wearing dark cyan clothes appeared on the buildings’ rooftops on both sides of the street, bows in hand, aiming at Lin Baici and his companions.

On both sides of the long street, and also in the alleys, soldiers appeared. They were armed with spears and swords, blocking off the way out.

"Drop your weapons!"

A bushy-bearded officer stepped forward.

To the locals, the appearance and clothing of Lin Baici and his group were peculiar, naturally leading to someone alerting the authorities, hence the arrival of the officers and soldiers.

"Are these government soldiers?"

Kim Jinsoo was speechless, "If we kill them, will we become wanted fugitives?"

"We fight our way out first!"

Choi Sunsil urged, in the past, peasants were nothing but subjects of abuse in the eyes of the soldiers, and without any household registration, they were worse off than even the lowliest slave.

"Lay down your weapons, or face death without mercy!"

The bushy-bearded man was the head of the Shangqing Mansion’s guard, responsible for public order; he first thought these strangers might be Japanese pirates, but dismissed that thought as they were too tall, and the women were exceptionally beautiful, surpassing even the Mid-Hall Empress.

Could they be noble people from the Heavenly Dynasty?

Not certain, the bushy-bearded man hesitated; otherwise, he would have already ordered these people to be shot.

Lin Baici, seeing that Quan Sangin hadn’t yet thought of an excuse, had no choice but to step up, proclaiming loudly, "I can eliminate the epidemic!"

This statement instantly caused a stir among the soldiers.

"Such an arrogant claim when even the Big Doctor is powerless, what can you do?"

The bushy-bearded man was skeptical, eyeing Hua Yue Yu and Li Zaicheng, "And those two with you appear to have the plague. If you can cure it, why are they still thus affected?"