nucmednet Chapter 13 Dilemma
Chapter 13 Dilemma
After leaving the village, Ding Yi followed the markings on the quicksand map, observing as he walked, and soon arrived at the outermost edge marked on the map.
"It's an intersection."
At this moment, Ding Yi frowned as he looked at the fork in the road.
In this desolate place, with no road signs, no one to ask for directions, and no map, it was a very troublesome situation.
After all, if you choose the wrong direction and accidentally end up in a place marked with a red cross, you're really asking for trouble.
However, the quicksand map in Ding Yi's hand did not react at all. All the markings stopped here, as if something had forcibly cut off the back of these two roads, which made him feel something was unusual.
After a slight hesitation, Ding Yi decided to choose a path to explore first, otherwise staying here indefinitely wouldn't solve anything.
"God bless you."
Ding Yi tightened the pack on his back, then chose the right fork in the road and resolutely took a step forward.
Ten minutes later...
Ding Yi stared dumbfounded at the same fork in the road in front of him, rubbed his eyes, and then looked at a large rock on the side of the road.
He had a deep impression of this large rock; it was the same large rock that had appeared in the middle of the intersection before. Its reappearance in the middle of this fork in the road gave Ding Yi an ominous feeling.
"No way..."
Ding Yi broke out in a cold sweat. He ran to the big rock and scratched it with his sickle. Then, without thinking, he hurriedly walked towards the left fork in the road again.
About ten minutes later, Ding Yi stood at the same three-way intersection again. Looking at the huge stone in front of him and the familiar patterns carved on it, he finally realized a fact.
He's trapped here!
"I never expected to encounter the legendary 'Strange Wall of Deception' here. No wonder, no wonder the quicksand map couldn't display the icons behind it..."
Ding Yi's eyes were glazed over, and he muttered to himself as his right hand, which was holding the sickle, fell limply to his side.
If he couldn't get out, it meant he would have to face that strange Taoist temple again a month later. Just thinking about the bizarre scenes he would encounter in the temple sent chills down Ding Yi's spine.
"Damn it! All I want is to develop properly! Why are you forcing me?!"
Ding Yi stared blankly at the large rock in front of him. After a long while, the fear in his heart was gradually replaced by a complex emotion.
He is unwilling!
Unwilling to face the threat of death so soon after arriving in this world!
He hates!
I hate myself for being weak, I hate myself for being too cowardly!
He is angry!
It's infuriating that under this bright and clear sky, demons and monsters reign supreme, yet no one seems to care!
"It turns out that the principle applies everywhere: people can only rely on themselves."
After a long while, Ding Yi slowly gripped the sickle in his hand, then resolutely turned around and strode towards Xiaotan Village.
Clearly, Xiaotan Village was sealed off by a mysterious force. Anyone who tried to leave would encounter the so-called "mysterious wall." Ding Yi knew that no matter how hard he tried, it would be useless. His only option was to go back, where he might find a glimmer of hope.
And so, Ding Yi returned to Xiaotan Village. It was already close to noon, and the villagers had already woken up and began to appear in twos and threes on the village roads.
Some of the villagers were carrying machetes, clearly going hunting or chopping wood; others were carrying buckets, seemingly going to the old well in the village to fetch water; and still others were standing blankly in the sun, as if they had lost their minds.
"Those who can still move on their own are those with relatively strong recovery abilities, but they're almost done for. Xiaotan Village is practically defunct now. I just don't know what that Taoist temple is up to."
Seeing this, Ding Yi shook his head and then quietly returned to Old Man Wei's house.
"Crench."
As the wooden door opened, a stench of decay assaulted Ding Yi's nostrils.
"Looks like we need to deal with these two corpses."
Ding Yi frowned. He had originally planned to leave today and not worry about the corpse in the room, but he didn't expect to encounter the strange wall, which left him somewhat helpless.
Fortunately, it was daytime, so Ding Yi went straight into the kitchen, picked up a tinderbox, and then went to the door of the small room where he used to sleep.
Pushing open the door, Ding Yi looked at the deep cave in front of him, then surveyed the surroundings of the room before leaping out and crossing the pit to enter the room.
First, he opened all the windows in the room, and then began to break off the wooden planks of the small bed in the room one by one.
After breaking off more than a dozen pieces, Ding Yi picked up one of them and wrote "Flammable, ultra-high temperature, smokeless, long-lasting" on it with a charcoal pencil. Then he narrowed his eyes slightly.
[Enhancement can be achieved by consuming lifespan. This enhancement will consume 6 days. Enhance now?]
Seeing the familiar words appear, Ding Yi immediately selected "yes".
The next moment, the wooden board in his hand flashed with light and then turned into a dark black wooden object.
[Enhancement successful, remaining lifespan: 4 months and 1 day]
【High burning wood】
[From a type of tree that is highly flammable and continuously releases high temperatures, commonly found in high mountains rich in spiritual energy, it is a rare and valuable fuel.]
"This... his lifespan is only this short?!"
Ding Yi stared in shock at his remaining lifespan, his pupils dilating slightly.
He remembered that he originally had more than five months left to live, and even with the reinforcement of this wooden board, it was impossible for him to only have a little over four months left.
"Yes, that stone statue."
At that moment, the image of the stone statue in the Taoist temple instantly flashed into Ding Yi's mind, and he murmured to himself.
Clearly, if there is any reason for the loss of lifespan, it can only be that statue.
"damn it!"
Ding Yi gripped the wooden board so tightly that the veins bulged, and he gritted his teeth as he muttered to himself in a low voice.
After a long while, he relaxed a little, and then began to repeat the process with a blank expression, reinforcing the remaining wooden planks.
After strengthening seven or eight pieces in a row, Ding Yi stopped. He then carried over some dry grass piled up in the corner of the room, lit it with a tinderbox, and kicked it into the pit.
Immediately afterwards, Ding Yi began throwing the reinforced wooden planks into the pit, and soon flames burst forth from the pit.
A wave of scorching heat hit him, forcing Ding Yi to take several steps back, and he was secretly amazed.
As expected of the enhanced product, just these ten or so wooden boards can raise the temperature to such an intensity that it's practically no different from an incinerator.
Moreover, even though the fire was blazing, it didn't produce any smoke, which eased Ding Yi's anxiety a little.
He stood there in the corner of the room, quietly watching the flames leaping out of the pit in front of him, lost in thought.
After an unknown amount of time, it seemed that there was nothing left to burn in the pit, and the flames finally went out.
At this moment, Ding Yi slowly walked over, stood beside the pit and looked down at the bottom of the pit, which had been burned black and was now empty. Only then did he step over the pit and return to the front house.
"The calendar hanging on the wall of Old Man Wei's house shows that a month here is also thirty days long, which means that there are still twenty-nine days left."
Ding Yi sat at the table, looking at the two oil lamps on it, and fell into deep thought.
He didn't have much time left. He needed to think of a way as soon as possible, either to escape Xiaotan Village or to avoid the bloodsucking of the stone statues when he preached next month.
After all, by then, his remaining lifespan would be far from enough to offset the lifespan loss caused by bloodsucking, that much is certain.
"Killing them is the only solution."
Ding Yi picked up the lamp and looked at the unfamiliar runes engraved on it. Suddenly, a thought came to mind.