Baby with Daoist Monarch System-Chapter 576 - 228: The Serpent Massacre

"We don’t have it, but we can go to Great Wilderness Border Village and ask for it. If it comes to it, we can buy it with money—life is more important."

"Go to Great Wilderness Border Village? It’s already noon now, going there and coming back would take a whole day. By then, everyone in the village will be gone!"

A village might lose half its people in a single night, what about tonight? Maybe everyone will die!

By then, even if we bring back the medicinal herbs, it will be of no use!!

"Village Chief, are you sure it’s Poisonous Snake bites?" someone asked at this moment.

Tian Yong, who had been silent for a long time, finally snapped back to reality, recalling the appearance of all the corpses he had seen earlier.

"Everyone I saw was completely blackened, their veins and eyeballs protruding, looking terrifyingly dead. It might not be snakes, but they were definitely poisoned."

Standing in the center of the temple, Tian Yong finally regained a bit of his Spirit as the village chief.

"Let’s do this: move some corpses into the temple and check carefully for snakebite marks. If there are any, then they are Poisonous Snakes, and we can prepare accordingly."

"If not, maybe they consumed some toxic substances to end up like this."

Tian Yong’s words quickly gained the support of the remaining villagers.

Soon, led by the initial young man, a few brawny youths moved the corpses into the temple.

The entire temple, originally filled with the scent of incense, suddenly became overwhelmingly foul.

Moreover, the bodies, initially just blackened, had started to fester. Some blisters broke during transportation, with black pus flowing out, making everyone extremely nauseous.

Some people, upon seeing this scene, rushed outside to vomit!! Tian Yong did too!!

It took a while to recover from the retching.

"Okay, let me examine the bodies!!"

Saying this, he put on gloves and inspected each corpse carefully.

"There are snakebite marks."

"There are snakebite marks."

"There are snakebite marks."

"There are snakebite marks."

All five corpses showed snakebite marks, making the situation evident enough that the remaining corpses didn’t need checking.

"What do we do, Village Chief?"

At this moment, the villagers were panic-stricken, all asking Tian Yong what they should do.

Taking a deep breath, Tian Yong said, "Today, don’t go farming anymore, and tonight, everyone should sleep inside the temple. We’ll arrange people to keep watch, and if anything suspicious happens, alert everyone immediately!!"

Right after he spoke, several women stood up and said, "Village Chief, my husband went to farm early. He doesn’t know what’s happening in the village. Will he be okay?"

"Village Chief, mine too!"

"Village Chief, me too!!"

Suddenly, a few women were nearly in tears.

If their husbands were bitten by Poisonous Snakes like Old Zhao while farming, even these women survived, they would have no means of livelihood, and having their children with them wouldn’t make any difference from a death sentence.

Hearing this, Tian Yong’s face became solemn, "Quickly, everyone go to the ridges and find them; delay could bring disaster!!"

"You know where they’re farming, lead the way!"

"Okay, Village Chief!!"

Instantly, the remaining villagers swarmed toward the ridges, hurrying as if fearing something terrible might happen.

Soon, everyone arrived at the ridges, and upon seeing the scene before them, all closed their eyes.

The women sat down and wailed loudly.

Tian Yong looked gravely at the scene on the ridges. The short seedlings revealed the shadows of several people, each with their heads down, motionless.

It was clear that they had already met tragedy.

"Quick, retrieve the bodies and see if they’re like those in the temple!"

A few brave souls went into the fields and lifted the bodies out; there was no need for close inspection—all blackened, resembling the village’s deaths.

"Bring them back to the temple, gather the bodies together, and burn them; otherwise, a plague might break out!!"

After speaking, Tian Yong turned and left, his back somewhat hunched.

...

Soon, night fell.

According to Tian Yong’s orders, ten young men were appointed to keep watch. The small temple was crowded with people sleeping, though there was no alternative.

Outside the temple, torches were laid out, and each of the ten watchmen held a torch.

Even at night, they could see what was happening ten meters away.

"How’s it going, anything unusual?" Tian Yong stepped out of the temple, looking at the ten watchmen.

"Village Chief, there’s been nothing out of the ordinary."

"No abnormal sightings at all."

"Village Chief, could it be that our presence scared the Poisonous Snakes away, afraid to come near?"

"That’s likely; we have torches and people—the snakes are just snakes; it’s normal for them to be scared."

...

The ten individuals exchanged words, their tense nerves relaxed at that moment.

"I hope that’s the case," Tian Yong nodded, shifting tone, "But tonight, keep your vigilance tight; we can’t have any more incidents in Stone Village."

Losing half the village’s population overnight was something no one could accept. His ability to maintain composure now showed good self-adjustment.

"Tonight, bear the hardship; I’ll have someone help with your seedlings," Tian Yong said.

"Thank you, Village Chief!"

After speaking, Tian Yong returned to the temple.

Late at night.

Outside the temple, relentless frog croaks echoed, but such sounds had long become familiar to the Stone Village villagers.

The ten keeping watch outside remained in high spirits.

Suddenly.

Originally, the croaking frogs fell silent, abruptly turning the once noisy night into an eerie silence, as if plunged into eternal night.

"What’s going on? Why did the frogs stop croaking?"

"Could something have happened?"

"Should we call the Village Chief??"

Just after speaking, the vanished frog croaks returned to normal.

"Oh! They’re back."

"Seems like there’s no problem."

"Doesn’t seem necessary to call the Village Chief, let them rest well."

....

Meanwhile.

Inside the temple.

On the beams, ten pairs of eerie green eyes moved, their gaze fixated on the sleeping villagers below as if they’d marked them as prey.

"Hiss~~~"

With a sound from the leading snake, the remaining nine serpents turned into killers in the darkness, moving swiftly around the temple.

As each slithered past, it left a bite mark on each sleeper.

These ten snakes, in the night, resembled black Lightning, elusive.

Anyone marked by their bites instantly lost all breath, with blackness spreading over them, visibly frightening even in the dark.

Within merely fifteen minutes, everyone sleeping in the temple was dead.

The ten snakes, seeing this, retreated, yet the ten individuals outside the temple miraculously survived the night.

...

Next day at noon.

The sun shone bright.

The harsh sunlight made the watchmen squint.

"It’s already noon, but why hasn’t everyone inside the temple woken up?" someone asked.

"Maybe after going through so much yesterday, they didn’t sleep well last night and are catching up on rest now."

"But it can’t be like this for everyone, right?"

"Do you think something might have happened?" someone speculated.

"That’s impossible."

Immediate opposition followed these words. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Nothing happened during our night watch. We surrounded the temple. There was no trouble outside—how could there be any inside?"

"Exactly, there’s no way anything happened inside the temple, just... I’m struggling, I need sleep," someone said.

"I’m also sleepy."

"Since that’s the case, let’s inform the Village Chief; everyone’s tired," someone suggested.

"Alright!"

With unanimous agreement, the ten of them pushed the temple doors open.

Instantly, a foul rush hit them like month-old uncleaned refuse, inducing nausea.

Words stuck as they saw an unforgettable scene.

All the villagers who had been sleeping in the temple now lay as blackened corpses, oozing black pus and emitting a stench.

Witnessing this, everyone broke down, clutching their heads and crying.

"What happened? How did everyone die?"

"We were watching all night; how did everyone die?"

"How come nothing happened outside, but inside did?"

"When it happened, why didn’t we hear anything from inside?"

"Ahhhhh~~~~"

All ten couldn’t believe the horror before them, muttering impossibly.

What had occurred unraveled their sanity.