Bai Tang is delicate and weak, and cannot match an ordinary man in arm wrestling, let alone the masculine and strong Xiangdong.
But now Xiangdong couldn't grab Bai Tang's hand, not at all. His thick and long finger bones turned red due to the force, and hideous blue veins bulged on the back of his hand.
"Sugar! Can you hear me?!"
“Alang hasn’t come back… Alang hasn’t come back…” Bai Tang braided her hair stiffly with a hollow look in her eyes.
"Fuck your mother!" Xiangdong's roar was filled with panic and helplessness. "Let him go!" Xiangdong's breath was as heavy as an old bellows. "Can you let him go? Can you let him go?"
Xiangdong repeated mechanically. The light in the room was dim, the dust was thick, and the cold wind blew towards his face, which was swollen and purple.
"Alang hasn't come back yet... Alang..."
Bai Tang made a mournful and sad sound, and the two strands of hair in his hand kept intertwining, and the braid had been braided to the tail.
The world is dead silent.
Xiangdong's teeth clenched tightly without him knowing when, his expression twisted, what the hell is going on, I don't want to see Tangshui die, I don't want to! He was deceiving himself, covering Baitang's eyes with one hand, and was about to cover his own eyes with the other hand, when he saw a red afterglow passing by the bed, and paused.
The old lady's gray head was tilted on the edge of the bed, her closed eyes were slightly open, and her sight vaguely fell on Bai Tang's hand.
Xiangdong moved the palm of his hand covering his eyelids down little by little. Something flashed through his mind and his movements suddenly stopped.
hand
hand…
hand!
Xiangdong rushed to the kitchen at the fastest speed in his life, took a kitchen knife and went back to the house.
Bai Tang just had a little bit of hair left to braid.
"Click" "Click"
Two severed hands fell to the ground, and warm, bright red blood splashed all over Xiangdong, with a little blood on his face. He opened his eyes wide, his eye sockets twitching as they were about to burst. The kitchen knife he was holding dripped blood, like a butcher.
"Bang" Bai Tang, who lost both hands, fell to the ground.
That bit of hair is not finished braiding.
Xiangdong threw away the kitchen knife and his heart started beating again. He squatted down and stared at Bai Tang who was lying in a pool of blood. He reached out his hand and felt his breathing.
Still alive... Still fucking alive!
You can’t braid hair without hands.
This is a loophole.
Xiangdong reached into his trouser pocket to take out the cigarette case, only then did he realize that his hands were shaking. His whole body was covered in cold sweat, which was densely packed on his muscles that were stretched too hard and now a little sore.
"Didn't you stay by my side last night? When did you get cursed by touching my hair?" Xiangdong's voice was rough and hoarse. He stuffed the cigarette box back into his pocket and searched the whole room. He quickly found a few clean clothes, scraped them with a bloody kitchen knife, and tore them into pieces.
Xiangdong is best at fighting, followed by emergency treatment of injuries, which is a skill he has acquired with countless experiences. He wrapped Bai Tang's bleeding wrist with a rag and strangled it again and again.
The two moves he made with the knife just now were decisive and resolute. If he had hesitated for a second or two, or there was no knife in the kitchen, or the knife was too blunt and the force of the chopping was not strong enough, or he did not run fast enough, as long as any one link was wrong, the result would not be like this.
"It hurts..." Bai Tang frowned while in coma.
"You should be thankful that you still feel the pain." Xiangdong tightened the cloth wrapped around Bai Tang's wound. Blood kept pouring out like rain. He quickly straightened the cloth and tied a knot. "It's reset for the second time. If you die, you're really dead. You won't have the chance to start again."
Bai Tang was still unconsciously crying out in pain, his face was so pale that he didn't look like a living person.
Xiangdong bandaged the wound on Bai Tang's other hand in one breath. After doing this, he let his arms hang down a little weakly, staring at his bloody hands. After a while, he casually wiped them on the torn clothes.
Bai Tang was motionless. He lay quietly with his hands wrapped in a piece of cloth. The bleeding was not as severe and had stopped a lot.
"Damn it." Xiangdong cursed meaninglessly and found something to replace his severed hand. He carried Bai Tang on his back. Just as he reached the door of the house, he heard a rustling sound behind him, mixed with the old man's muttering.
"My clothes are all messed up..."
"Why hasn't Xiaomei come back yet... This dress is dirty, I need to wash it..."
Xiangdong stopped walking, turned his head and saw the white-haired old lady picking up clothes by the closet tremblingly.
Can you get out of bed
Bai Tang was injured and bleeding all over the floor, which woke up the old lady
Xiangdong suddenly had an idea when he thought of the old lady looking at Bai Tang's hand. He was about to apologize and mention that he would clean up the blood on the ground later, but the sound in his throat was stuck.
A skinny and shrunken body of an old man was lying on the bed, with his head tilted against the edge.
At this time, without Xiangdong and Baitang blocking the way, the old woman was looking towards the window, which faced the courtyard gate. She seemed to be waiting for her daughter-in-law to come back.
The old lady is dead!
Xiangdong's gaze swept across the ghost of the old man who was still sorting clothes. He walked into the yard with Bai Tang on his back, stood in the sun and exhaled, with the smell of smoke and rust in his breath.
The person on his back breathed weakly, spat on the ground to the east, and left quickly.
When Xiangdong carried Baitang back to the taskers' residence, the reactions of several taskers who had not gone out were quite strong.
The banished beauty had a broken hand and was dying. She looked extremely miserable. They couldn't help but feel suspicious and cast all kinds of subtle glances at Xiangdong.
"Mr. Xiang, what happened to Professor Bai?" Jiang Jiang, who was outside the courtyard, ran in with a glare.
"She's been cursed." Xiangdong untied Bai Tang's unfinished braid.
These words were like a hot boulder dropped into the water, hissing thick smoke and scalding water. Everyone looked at Bai Tang lying on the bed. He was still breathing! They all couldn't help but move closer.
When the first batch of teammates cursed, they tried to stop them while they were braiding their hair, for example, several people pulled each other's arms hard and wanted to tie each other's wrists with ropes, but they couldn't do it.
The cursed person has terrifying strength, to the point where hundreds of people cannot restrain him.
When the second group of teammates got into trouble, they thought of another way, which was to knock them unconscious. However, even though their teammates' heads were bleeding, they were still able to get up and continue braiding their hair.
It's like being possessed by an evil spirit.
That's why everyone is so shocked that Bai Tang, who was cursed, is still alive. How did he survive
"Professor Bai escaped, that's great." Jiang Jiang looked at Bai Tang's bloody wound, and the scene of his companion having half of his palm cut off by a pair of scissors appeared in his mind. He shuddered and suddenly shouted, "Mr. Xiang, you found a loophole in the rules!"
Jiang Jiang's voice was loud and everyone around heard it. Their eyes immediately focused on Xiangdong.
Xiangdong sat on the bed and lit a cigarette without answering.
The boy who said on the ridge that he felt cursed and was about to die rushed to Xiangdong madly: "Is this true or not? Are you deaf?!"
"Snap" Xiangdong snapped the cap of the lighter, "Who the hell are you talking to?"
The boy's out-of-control emotions were immediately brought back under control.
Xiangdong stood up with a cigarette in his mouth: "I'm asking you a question."
The boy was a little timid when facing a ferocious man who was much taller and stronger than him. Before he could say a word, he was kicked away. After struggling for a few times, he spat out blood.
It was very quiet.
"I'm in a bad mood. This is what will happen to anyone who bullies me in front of me." Xiangdong took a puff of cigarette and smiled coldly.
The atmosphere in the room was dull and suffocating. Jiang Jiang tugged at his companion's clothes.
"Isn't the answer obvious?" Qi Bei rubbed his brows, "Chopping off the hand is a loophole."
Everyone woke up in shock. Yes! How can you braid hair without hands
Jiang Jiang muttered quietly: "Why didn't I think of it?"
Qi Bei chuckled: "You are stupid."
"..." Jiang Jiang also laughed, if you choose a stupid companion, then wouldn't you be even more stupid
Jiang Jiang glanced at Xiangdong. It was obvious that he was not the type to solve puzzles. He was the first one to think of the loophole, which must have stimulated his potential.
Love can stimulate potential.
Jiang Jiang was about to ask a few gossipy questions, but Qi Bei covered his mouth and warned him not to get into trouble at this time.
Xiangdong leaned on the bed, smoking a cigarette. The blood between his fingers had not been wiped clean and had dried up. He rubbed it and ignored the discussion in the room.
What everyone was discussing was chopping off hands. They couldn't help but glance at the bag containing Bai Tang's hands. They trembled every time they glanced, it was too bloody.
"Will there be more than one loophole? Does shaving your head count?"
"The head is still there, so touching it is still a taboo."
"But now I have no hair, so I can't braid it, right?"
"… "
Jiang Jiang reminded: "Even if there is no hair, there are still hair follicles and roots. Pull the skin and flesh out and twist them together."
This is disgusting, and even those with a rich imagination are retching.
It seems that in order to get rid of the trouble once and for all, I have no choice but to cut off my hands.
But if they all cut off their hands, that means everyone is injured and half dead, who will fight the main force next? Ah Lang has not been found yet.
The couple in the love triangle walked out with pale faces, followed by the other people. They didn’t care about anything else and decided to cut off their hands first.
The long-term collapse made their thinking derailed, and they could not consider anything else. They also chose to ignore that this was a group task. No one was checking the clues, or there were not enough people, so the progress bar moved slowly. If the broken hand injury was not treated for a long time, they would still die.
In the entire team, only Xiangdong, Qibei and Jiang Jiang did not go out.
Jiang Jiang is already a mature tasker. He has to consider the overall situation and cannot cut off his hands to protect himself or relieve his anxiety.
Otherwise, the only ones who could work would be his companions and Xiangdong, but that wouldn't work because they would be too busy.
Several screams were heard outside the courtyard. After a while, the taskers who had their hands chopped off came back staggering. They also bandaged the wounds like Bai Tang, but their techniques were very rough and far from perfect, and the bleeding could not be stopped. A pair of hands drained away two-thirds of their vitality, and they were almost dying.
Jiang Jiang looked at his teammates' broken hands and muttered to himself: "As long as we tie our hands after dark, we won't touch our heads at night..."
The girl who passed by him trembled her lips: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Sorry, I just thought of it." Jiang Jiang apologized.
The girl glared at him resentfully: "My hand has been chopped off!"
"Just chop it off. It's too late to say anything now." Jiang Jiang is a good kid. He didn't complain, "You chose to chop off your hand, who can you blame?" He just consoled her, "Besides, even if you tie your hands at night, you still have to untie them when you go to the toilet or run away in an emergency. What if you touch your head unconsciously during that process? It's not safe."
"Besides, maybe you are like Professor Bai, who unknowingly violated a taboo last night and was cursed. The curse has not erupted because the time has not come yet. Now that your hand is gone, you are safe, completely safe, and you can sleep well at night."
The girl looked a little better, and she sat down against the wall: "I'm safe... I'm fine..."
But after she said that, she twitched in pain, groaned a few times, and then fainted.
The other few were also fainting or crying out in pain. There were no medicines for them to use, so they had to hold on on their own. Those with weak constitutions could even die from the pain.
There was blood on the walls and the floor of the room, like a crime scene. Xiangdong moved Baitang to the next room.
Bai Tang was awakened by the pain. He trembled and slowly opened his eyelashes, and saw an enlarged handsome face in his field of vision.
"Wake up, Professor Bai," Xiangdong said, "I thought you were Sleeping Beauty, waiting for a kiss from the prince."
Bai Tang looked at Xiang Dong steadily: "You..."
The severe pain from the wrists of both arms made him groan. He didn't know what was wrong with him. His cheeks were cold and he looked a little dazed.
"Your hands are gone." Xiangdong grabbed his arms and lifted them up, letting him see his empty wrists.
It took Bai Tang a long time before he moved his eyeballs.
Xiangdong moved closer to him and said word by word: "I chopped it."
Bai Tang closed Wu Qing's mouth. He did not question him hysterically, but looked at Xiangdong quietly.
"I chopped it with a kitchen knife. Why don't you get up and fight me to the death?" Xiangdong threw Bai Tang's two severed hands into his arms.
Bai Tang said: "You must have a reason to do that."
Xiangdong looked down at him for a few seconds: "Tsk."
Bai Tang would not fail to think of the cause of the incident, so he still asked Xiang Dong. After asking, his eyes trembled slightly. Reason told him that at that critical moment, no matter if it was Pineapple, the painter, or any other friend, Xiang Dong would do the same.
But he was emotionally moved, addicted, and unable to extricate himself.
Xiangdong saw that Bai Tang didn't even fart, so he pulled the coat he borrowed from a villager and said, "Lie down."
"Xiangdong." Bai Tang called him, "The loophole is too unfriendly, what are you going to do?"
"You should worry about yourself." Xiangdong was arrogant and disdainful. With his reaction ability, if he really violated the taboo, he would still have time to cut off his hand to save his life, as long as he kept the knife on him at all times.
There were two sets of footsteps outside. It was Qi Bei and Jiang Jiang, and they were in a hurry.
"There are new discoveries!" Qi Bei said in a deep voice.
Xiangdong looked at them, and Jiang Jiang stayed to take care of the injured Bai Tang.
There's no need to say any nonsense, just an eye contact will do.
Bai Tang's eyes followed Xiangdong's back. He lowered his eyes when he could no longer see him. Then he asked about the other teammates.
Jiang Jiang said everyone lay down.
Bai Tang knew what was going on and his brows furrowed.
"Everyone wants to get rid of the taboo and escape from the danger of the curse, but they never thought that they would fall into another crisis." Jiang Jiang sighed.
Bai Tang closed his eyes. If the injury could not be treated quickly and the bleeding could not be stopped, he would suffer from hypoxia and shock, and in severe cases, he would die.
Jiang Jiang was fastening the mechanical watch on his wrist. Their team was the strongest in the east. It would not be easy for him to die even if he lost his hands and legs, but it was hard to say for others.
"Although I can return home while still breathing when the mission is over, the hot weather and lack of sleep for several days have caused me physical and mental damage. This is not good."
Jiang Jiang took out the fan pinned to his waist and fanned Bai Tang: "Your bleeding has stopped. Your situation is better than theirs."
Bai Tang didn't say anything. He knew his own body best. It was not good. He was not well.
This is his problem. Xiangdong has done what he can. It is just that his physical fitness is not good enough.
"Professor Bai, you have to control your emotions and not get excited. You have to stay calm. That will be beneficial to your wound." Jiang Jiang shared his experience.
Bai Tang understood everything and said thank you anyway. He was silent for a while and then asked abruptly, "Jiang Jiang, do you and your companions always do missions together?"
Jiang Jiang hummed twice: "That's right."
"Then how did you do it?" Bai Tang tried his best to calm himself. He had always wanted to ask Chen Yang this question, but he swallowed the words back several times.
Jiang Jiang was not scheming at all, his world was open, and he told Bai Tang the reason without thinking: "Living together."
"We can become permanent partners just by living together?" Bai Tang looked stunned.
"Let me think about it," Jiang Jiang sat at the table, his hands resting on the corners of his eyes that were drooping, "It seems that there are some requirements for the ID number. Only those with a small number can choose a partner. I heard it from Beibei."
Jiang Jiang scratched his chubby chin and said, "Professor Bai, do you want to be a partner with Mr. Xiang?"
Bai Tang did not answer but asked: "Is a five-digit ID number considered small?"
"Beibei is a five-digit number!" Jiang Jiang said.
Bai Tang's lips curved slightly, that was it. He was happy, the frost on the corners of his eyes and eyebrows disappeared, and he felt warm and glowing.
Jiang Jiang scratched his chubby chin, held his cheek with his hand and looked at the beauty without blinking.
On the other side, Xiangdong and Qibei went to the forest behind the village. They passed by villagers who were digging pits to bury corpses and found Lao Li in front of a grave.
There was some grass growing on the grave mound. Old Li squatted there with his back to them, holding a knife in his hand and cutting the grass in clumps.
Xiangdong was not the type to ask questions patiently, so he let Qi Bei go.
Qi Bei went there, but just as he started, Xiangdong rushed over angrily, dragged Lao Li to a pit, and asked him what he saw at Lao Zhang's house.
"No, I didn't see anything." Old Li stuttered.
"You ran away, and when you came out you looked like you had seen a ghost, and then you were bumped into by me and my companions." Qi Bei exposed him coldly.
“I… I don’t know… I don’t know!” Lao Li tried to climb out of the pit, but was kicked back in by Xiangdong, falling on his back.
"This grave is your wife, right? Your daughter is still alive. With the current death rate, how long do you think she can live?" Xiangdong squatted beside the pit. "Think it over carefully before you speak."
Old Li's body began to tremble violently. He curled up in the pit, choked for a while, and then burst into tears: "My daughter didn't come back. She disappeared and she can't come back."
"As long as you haven't seen the body, there is still a glimmer of hope. I advise you to seize the time." Qi Bei said.
"Lao Zhang, Lao Zhang is possessed. That 'he' is staring at me, always staring at me. A Lang, A Lang may be a little bit like me," Lao Li cried and shuddered, speaking incoherently.
Qi Bei understood, and he asked, "Does anyone in the village usually say that you look like someone?"
"No, no, no one said that. We all look the same, with one nose, two eyes, and a dark face. There's no difference. No one would stare at anyone for no reason..." Old Li looked confused.
"Your skin color and clothing are similar and it's hard to tell them apart. Some of you do look the same." Qi Bei took out his cell phone and took a picture of Lao Li. His stupid companion Jiang Jiang usually likes to read melodramatic novels, the most classic of which are the "stand-in" series - do I look more like him/her from this angle
What Lao Li encountered can be considered a hardcore stand-in.
So Qi Bei took photos of Lao Li from every angle and said to Xiang Dong, "Let's look for him door to door in the same way as he did."
"There are not many survivors in the village now..." Xiangdong discovered something and snatched Qi Bei's mobile phone. He stared at the photo of Lao Li. The angle was that his face was facing left about 30 degrees, his head was slightly lowered, and his hands were wiping his face to push the flesh upwards. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were squeezed together, appearing heavy and numerous, and he looked a lot older.
"This is a bit like... Shit, man, hold on for me, my legs are weak." Xiangdong was caught off guard and saw the dawn of victory. The shock was too great.
Qi Bei twitched his lips and stretched out his index finger, poking his back: "Who does Lao Li look like from this angle?"
"Anyway, I'm not like you and me." Xiangdong waved away Qi Bei's hand. "Damn it, you're going to poke a hole in my back."
Qi Bei walked behind Xiangdong to see where he was going.
He went east to the nearest place where corpses were buried. He asked the two villagers who were digging the pit tremblingly: "Isn't the village chief here?"
"No." Both villagers shook their heads. "Why are you looking for the village chief?"
Xiangdong bared his teeth: "Let's chat."
Qi Bei, who was standing behind him, pulled up the photo and said thoughtfully, "Does Old Li look like the village chief from this angle? I can't tell."
"It's a little bit like him." He said as he walked eastward, "but you can't tell with the naked eye."
"Then how did you ..."
"I'm not a human, I'm a genius."
Qi Bei: “…”
Xiangdong went to several burial sites in the forest, but without exception, he didn't know where to find them. This was not a good sign. According to the rules, the village chief, as the main NPC, would have hidden himself at this point in the mission.
He and Qi Bei went to the village chief's house. The door was open and there was no one inside.
Xiangdong kicked the wall, smashed the table and swore at me. After venting his anger, he continued to look for the village chief. He had to hurry up. Professor Bai didn't even have the strength to tickle him and he wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
Qi Bei no longer stayed with Xiang Dong, and the two of them acted separately.
The weather was too hot, and Xiangdong's scalp was burning. He wandered around the village with a scary look on his face, and the jumping locals avoided him when they saw him.
When passing by the lotus pond, Xiangdong paused to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
What is the old lady doing there? Still want lotus
Thinking of the lotus, Xiangdong's face became even uglier. Only Professor Bai would place his hopes on an old man who could not even speak. He had to serve him by the bed, pick lotus flowers under such a hot sun, and get covered in mud.
The old lady saw Xiangdong and wanted him to help her pick a lotus flower, the biggest and most beautiful one.
Sweeping her feet to the east, not touching the ground, floating, he refused: "I don't have time."
The old lady's gray eyes did not move, staring straight towards the east.
Anyone else would be scared to death, but not Xiangdong. He was used to it. He also stepped forward, his eyes almost completely bloodshot. “I’m looking for someone.”