Chapter 349: Deterioration 2
“Their wounds are already showing signs of becoming inflamed and infected...”
One day, after the end of their tasks, a member who was responsible for looking after the volunteers slowly stood up and shook his head at Fisher beside him. “If we have no medicine, only a small number of these 30-odd people will survive.”
Fisher’s face was rather gloomy. He looked at the wounded who were laid out in a row. These were the volunteers who had lit the signal towers before. However, just as the Gantz sphere had said, now these volunteers were suffering from a terrifying curse.
In some parts of their bodies, a large patch of black ash had appeared.
This ash continued to spread, eroding every inch of their skin, but the hosts seemed unaware of it. This ash would not be detected until it had eroded deep enough to start affecting the hosts’ movements.
Nonetheless, the Gantz sphere was also right in that, after entering the safe zone, the black ash did not continue to spread. Even so, the wounds under the black ash did not disappear. Instead, they turned into hideous and fatal wounds. Moreover, without antibiotics, these volunteers developed signs of infection due to extensive skin ulceration.
Fisher thought to himself silently.
Their deaths would not have mattered much but Fisher must not let them die because after these people died, the signal towers they had lit would go out again, wasting all of their previous efforts.
Therefore, this group of people must not die, at least not until they had left the d*mn island...
“Send someone to look for herbs. We still need more herbs and water to clean the wound!”
Thinking of this, Fisher ordered again. He added in an inspiringly righteous manner. “We mustn’t let this group of heroes die in such pain, absolutely not!”
At once, members of the Environmental Protection a.s.sociation were half-coerced and half-herded by the mercenaries. They once again left the area of the safe zone to look for water at the mountainside.
“D*mn it, why is it us again?”
On the way, the group of Environmental Protection a.s.sociation members cursed loudly and a blond youth said unhappily, “Didn’t you notice? The group of mercenaries did almost nothing. All they do is eat, drink, and relieve themselves on the top of the mountain. Yet they make us come out and take the risk to collect supplies. It’s not fair!”
“Indeed, we risk our lives to collect these things. Whether it’s gathering supplies or transporting clean water, and it’s almost just us who take care of the wounded. Even with the lighting of the signal towers, it’s our people who voluntarily went. What have they actually done?”
Suddenly, someone chimed in helpfully. “Yes, the weak should receive more protection! When we return, let’s suggest to Fisher that those mercenaries should also do their due duty!”
The group kept on complaining, grumbling noisily as they came to the only river on the island and began to collect clear water.
“If you ask me, we should make a suggestion to Fisher. Let the mercenaries, with their brains and muscles, kill those monsters, otherwise we’ll always be in danger. And isn’t it their job to protect us? Now it looks like we’re protecting them...”
The blond young man kept muttering but at this moment, he suddenly felt a slight itch on his scalp. It seemed as if something had fallen from his head. The young man subconsciously stretched out his hand and scratched it, and suddenly a clump of hair was pulled off and fell into the river.
The young man was startled. He slowly raised his palm in front of him and instantly, a hint of soot-like blackness appeared on his fingers and palm, which was shockingly black.
“Woah, woah...”
Subconsciously, the young man let out a scream. There was a plop as the wooden container in his hand fell directly into the river while he seemed to have turned crazy, turning around and fleeing in the direction from which he came...
When the young man wailed and ran back to the safe zone, everyone heard the commotion and looked over. It was not until a mercenary stopped him that the young man gradually recovered his sanity. He lowered his head and pointed at it, shouting, “It’s a curse, it’s a curse, we’re all cursed!”
“What happened?”
Fisher quickly rushed over. He parted the crowd in front of him and suddenly saw the young man who was lowering his head, pointing to a black stain on his head. Above that black stain, the young man’s hair had almost fallen off completely.
This mark...
Seeing this scene, Fisher seemed to recall something. He quickly turned his head and looked at the dozens of patients lying on the ground in the center of the safe zone. At the same time, an unthinkably horrifying possibility came to his mind!
This thought chilled Fisher’s heart. He instinctively wanted to stay away from this young man, but when the young man saw Fisher’s arrival, he rushed forward as if he had seen a savior. “Mr. Fisher, you must save me. I’m also cursed, think of a way to save me!”
“Get away!”
Fisher quickly backed away, but he was still a step too slow. His arm was directly grabbed by the young man. Instantly, Fisher’s wrist was smeared with black ash from the youth!
“D*mn piece of sh*t!”
Fisher’s pupils shrank. He broke away from the other guy’s palm as if he was electrocuted, while kicking him away. “Quickly subdue him, don’t let him approach me. Come on!”
However, at this moment, no one listened to his words. Everyone retreated in unison as if they had seen the plague G.o.d.
No one here was a fool. This young man was a member who took care of the volunteers. As soon as he left the safe zone, he displayed the same symptoms as the many volunteers who had lit the signal towers. This scene suddenly reminded everyone of a possibility —
This curse was contagious!
This news was like a stone that caused a thousand ripples. Everyone subconsciously distanced themselves from others and those who took care of the wounded were washing their limbs madly.
In an instant, the camp that was just starting to see some sort of order had become chaotic again!
“Mr. Fisher!”
Several subordinates who were still loyal to Fisher hurried over. “Mr. Fisher, what should we do now?”
Still, at this point, Fisher did not have time to pay attention to this group of people. He just picked up the kettle and frantically cleaned the parts of his arm that were stained by black ash. His face was pale.
“Fisher!”
Just then, a female voice rang out. Fisher subconsciously wanted to run away after hearing this voice, but after hesitating for a moment, he still stopped and looked toward the source of the sound.
He saw Jennifer being supported by another blonde woman, walking slowly over.
Even so, Jennifer’s once beautiful face was now red and swollen like an inflated balloon. There was almost no blood or flesh on the back of her head and only her pale skull was directly exposed to the air.
From a distance, Jennifer was no longer like a young girl in her twenties, but an ugly red troll.
Seeing this peculiar Jennifer at this time, Fisher’s cheek twitched, but he still smiled reluctantly. “Jennifer, you’re injured, you should rest more...”
“In this situation, I can’t rest anymore.”
Jennifer’s voice was hoa.r.s.e, like metal scratching against gla.s.s. She pleaded, “Fisher, I’m beyond help. You don’t need to care about me, but I have a request, please, no matter what, you must take my little sister away from here!”
“Big sister...”
The blonde woman who was holding up Jennifer whispered in tears.
Fisher looked at the blonde woman who was sticking to Jennifer and could not help but twitched his mouth. “Jennifer, what nonsense are you talking about? We’ll all leave this place, please believe me.”
“Fisher, are you still trying to deceive me at this point?”
Jennifer looked even more miserable. “How many things have we done for you, up to now? You can’t even agree to this simple request?”
“When did I not agree to you? We can all leave safely. I’ve always believed in this and I hope you can believe it too.” Fisher frowned. “Now you better lie back down. It’s disorderly enough as it is. I hope you won’t add to the chaos!”
“Add to the chaos? Heh...”
After hearing these words, Jennifer could not help but laugh in response. Then, a deep bone-rumbling voice came from her mouth. “Hahahahahaha...”
The laughter grew louder and louder. Even her sister began to notice something was wrong and subconsciously moved away from Jennifer.
Fisher only felt an uneasy premonition getting stronger and stronger. He inadvertently looked behind Jennifer, where the huge spire tower suddenly flashed with a red light!
This red glow glimmered across the surface of the spire and then disappeared.
In Fisher’s eyes, it was as if the spire tower was in operation at first, but after the red light flashed past, the operation of the spire was suddenly halted...
“What the h*ll...”
Fisher had no time to think about the meaning of the spire tower’s red light flashing and vanishing. He only noticed that Jennifer trembled suddenly at the same time that the spire seemed to be shut down!
It began as only a slight tremor at first, but as time pa.s.sed, her body’s shaking became more intense. In the end, it was as if she was being electrocuted and even her entire body twitched with afterimages!
At last, before everyone’s horrified eyes, red flesh and blood rapidly grew all over Jennifer’s body. This flesh and blood continued to grow and spread. Finally, Jennifer directly no longer looked like a human being but a monster made of endless flesh and blood!