I want to embrace the moon for nine days

Chapter 234 Visitors from the East China Sea
When the Yangtze River rushes eastward and flows into the shallow sea area, due to the reduction of the specific drop and the slowdown of the flow speed, it carries a large amount of sediment and gradually deposits it here.

This phenomenon, on the one hand, creates coastal plains on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River Estuary; on the other hand, it forms dotted estuary sandbars in the middle of the river.

Chongming Island is a typical sand island in the mouth of a river.

It has experienced more than a thousand years of ups and downs from emerging from the water to finally forming a large island.

Today, this island is nearly two hundred miles long from east to west and nearly forty miles wide from north to south. It is shaped like a lying silkworm and is the largest sand island in the country.

According to the household registration records from a few years ago, there are more than 10,000 households living on the island, about 80,000 people.

Due to the expansion of trade in Songjiang Prefecture in recent years, the atmosphere on Chongming Island has also been greatly affected, and there are many people doing business.

For example, the sand ship industry that existed during the Song and Ming Dynasties was revived and developed vigorously. It transported white salt and yellow sand between the north and the south, and the profits cannot be underestimated.

There are more than a hundred medicinal materials produced on the island, and there are many people making plans and doing business in this area.

But no matter whether the people on the island are farming, selling medicine, or sailing on boats, they still have the same identity, that is, fishermen.

A majestic cold shout made the woman open her eyes.

Children as young as seven or eight years old know how to use a net bag to hold live fish, tighten the rope at the mouth of the net, and tie it to a stake by the river, so that these fresh fish can be raised directly in the river.

The woman was so frightened that she immediately lost her voice, held her breath, and stared at the man.

The man outside the house had already eaten all the fresh fish in the tank. He made a strange sound from his mouth, got down on all fours, and turned to look at the house.

He had eaten so much just now, and his belly was obviously bulging, making his limbs even more skinny.

His eye sockets were deeply sunken, his cheekbones were high, and there were many cuts on his ragged lips. There must have been a lot of cuts in his mouth, but there was not much blood leaking out. It seemed that as soon as the blood flowed out, it was cut again. He swallowed it.

The dried fish, which had to be boiled in water for half an hour before they could be poked with chopsticks, were bitten open and swallowed indiscriminately. They choked until their faces turned red and their necks became thick, and they rolled their eyes, but they continued to eat.

But this time she hit it, she missed it. Her body stumbled forward, and a hand hit her shoulder.

The woman was startled, and quickly pressed her daughter's head into her arms. She stared at the man, her teeth trembling with fear and gradually clenched.

The man's roar interrupted her words and he rushed over.

The man who suddenly went crazy, broke the door panel, fished out live fish from the water tank and ate them until his mouth was full of blood, his lips were pierced by fish bones, but he still kept eating, it was her husband.

The aunt who kept the house in order and spoke softly on weekdays actually smashed the bridge of her son's nose with her head and snatched food.

They can steam fish, cook fish, braise fish, and make fish rice, and there are many ways to eat it.

The man's Adam's apple slid up and down, his eyes wandering hungrily on his wife, as if he was a hungry beast sizing up an adult antelope, and finally focused on the cub.

But holding a live fish and chewing it is still a bit beyond the tolerance of a woman in a fishing village.

Ling Duxian frowned and looked the woman up and down, "Many people in your village have already fallen into madness. You and this little girl are just ordinary, so why are you not harmed at all?"

Ling Duxian's scrutinizing eyes suddenly showed a hint of impatience, but he glanced at the sky in the distance and unconsciously pulled the corners of his mouth downwards.

Half-eating and half-selling these aquatic resources has been the greatest guarantee for the survival of Chongming Island residents since ancient times.

"Open your eyes!"

She screamed, but did not wait until the neighbor villagers, who liked to inquire about other things, came over to check on the situation.

Instead, similar screams and shouts soon came from all over the village.

Here, you can see dried fish and pickled salted fish in front and behind the eaves of every house.

The aquatic products of the Yangtze River include river eels, anchovies, catfish, perch, mullet, crabs, white shrimps, green shrimps, crab fry, eel fry, etc.

At the beginning, when the woman saw such a scene, she quickly tried to dissuade her, but her husband pushed her down.

The woman was helpless, with tears streaming down her face. She huddled in the door frame to protect her daughter, muttering some prayer words over and over in her mouth.

The woman froze on the spot, at a loss.

"I am Songjiang Magistrate, what exactly happened here?"

That was her husband. Of course she was very aware of his figure and facial features, but that man was obviously much thinner than the woman remembered.

Marine aquatic products include large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, hairtail, pomfret, catfish, cuttlefish, jellyfish, swimming crab, etc.

The woman didn't know where she got the strength. She hugged her daughter with her eyes closed, leaned forward, and bumped her head forward.

She saw a strange man standing outside her door, holding her husband in one hand.

There was fear and confusion in the woman's eyes, but they were also filled with tears that kept falling.

That kind of movement and the sound coming from his throat were like a big dog guarding his food. In his cloudy eyes, it was as if he couldn't recognize the wife he had been with for so many years.

Because that's her husband.

Those broad and strong hands that could hold the oars and move the cargo, but were covered with calluses and old scars, had now become skinny and bony, as if there were only bones left under the skin.

"A Sheng, this is you..."

"The Great Merciful and Great Compassionate Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, City God Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva bless you! Bodhisattva bless you!"

When the woman ran back into the house in fear, she took one last look and vaguely saw the neighbor's husband and wife rushing out and biting the stored grain hanging by the window.

She covered her daughter's mouth, hid behind the door frame of her house fearfully, and secretly looked at the man squatting next to the big water tank outside.

Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to eat water, Chongming Island is a place where salt water meets fresh water, and it is especially rich in fishery resources.

The woman even thought that the man with his mouth full of blood might pounce on her and bite her neck.

His mind wandered between giving up and being unwilling for a long time, but he decided not to deal with it anymore, and to work hard, he might be able to get a chance to receive a severe sentence in labor camp.

Before the woman came back to her senses, Ling Duxian had already inspected the entire house, inside and outside, with a single glance. It was just an ordinary fisherman's house.

However, there is a piece of yellow paper pasted at the root of the wall. The paper was probably painted with fish blood and painted with a touch of red, roughly to resemble a small boat.

"Um?!"

Ling Duxian immediately asked, "Are you a member of the Blood Pond Club?"

When the woman heard the familiar words, she woke up and nodded repeatedly.

Although the Blood Pond Society sounds like it is full of evil and cruel connotations, it is actually just a very loose folk sect that encourages people to do good. It is mainly popular among the women of Songjiang Prefecture.

Members of this association believe that after death, the bad things they did during their lifetime will be liquidated in the blood pool of the underworld and tortured.

If you kill less animals, eat less meat, encourage people to be kind, and recite scriptures, you can avoid the blood pool after death and be reincarnated earlier.

However, ordinary people in Songjiang Prefecture do not have much meat to eat, and it is unrealistic to ask them not to eat fish and shrimp at all.

The rules of a small sect like the Xuechi Society, which was spontaneously formed in the countryside, were naturally relaxed again and again. Finally, it became like, eating less fresh fish, eating dried fish or salted fish, it didn't matter.

Although Ling Duxian first got into the position of Songjiang Magistrate mainly for making money and enjoying himself, he only liked the kind of grand entertainment and was too lazy to go to private banquets for three or two people.

He had too much free time, and after drinking and having sex, he liked to collect folk customs and rumors for fun. From a strange perspective, he had a good understanding of some people's livelihood in Songjiang Prefecture. Think of the key. "Is it possible that people who eat fresh fish have a problem recently, but those who eat salted fish are fine?"

Ling Duxian's thoughts changed rapidly and he said, "Everyone who has become insane in your village has had their acupoints tapped by me."

"But the cause of the problem is unknown. You'd better stay away from them and wait at the entrance of the village. Someone from the Yamen will deal with it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ling Duxian's figure flew away in the sky.

In one stroke, he was able to glide at a low altitude of more than two hundred meters. In a few ups and downs, he had already passed the entire village and reached other places, observing those who were not crazy along the way.

Although his volley acupuncture method was fast enough, it was still far behind the two men far away.

High in the sky, a plain white vitality spear silhouette more than three hundred meters long was seen.

He Zong stood on the metal disk, pushing the middle part of the spear with his right hand and flying at a constant speed.

The gun body, which is a hundred feet long and as thick as a bucket, continuously emits white air droplets from the downward side.

The high-altitude spears pushed across, and all the sick people on the ground within the coverage area were caught.

In another direction, the temperature dropped sharply and heavy snow fell in the sky.

Thin needles made of ice and snow, as thin as cow hair, flew through the air.

Even if the needle does not hit the acupuncture point exactly when it is pierced into the body, the ice needle will turn into a cold current that travels along the acupuncture point, sealing off the five senses and seven emotions, causing the person's whole body, inside and outside the body, to fall into a kind of dormancy. in the state.

The gray-white snow clouds billowed endlessly, like a layer of fog, sweeping over the villages.

Soon, Xueyun and Changqian met in the heart of Chongming Island.

The snow clouds gathered, revealing Su Hanshan's figure, and the spear also faded away.

"It's mainly the fishing villages to the east that have a lot of sick people. In other places, there are basically no problems."

He Zong clasped his hands on his chest, overlooking the entire flat island terrain, and said, "But conservative estimates suggest that nearly two thousand people have died."

The people he said were killed did not mean those who were attacked by sick people.

In fact, most of those who are sick are still eating fresh fish and live animals near their homes, and do not immediately target living people of similar size to themselves.

Su Hanshan and the others came quickly enough.

So so far, almost no living person has died due to attacks by patients.

However, those patients who can still breathe, eat, and move are likely to be dead, judging from the meaning of death reflected in the evil spirits of Feng Shui.

"They were able to be restrained by acupuncture, which shows that the blood in the body is still flowing normally, the five internal organs are still active, and the physique is no different from that of normal people."

Su Hanshan's tone was solemn, "The evil spirit in Feng Shui reflects a general trend, with lag and ambiguity. Although Feng Shui reflects the meaning of death, it does not necessarily mean that these people have no chance of survival."

Ling Duxian shouted from below: "You two, I have discovered something!"

Su Hanshan landed immediately: "Say."

"If there are both sick and healthy people in the same household, one can tell that the biggest difference is that the sick people have all eaten the fresh fish caught in the past two days, while the healthy people often die due to various reasons. Not eaten."

Ling Duxian held a net bag in his hand, "A certain family has kept all the fresh fish they have eaten in the past few days in this net bag. I brought the remaining fish over."

Su Hanshan turned his hand and grabbed it, and fished out a live fish from the net bag in a ball of golden light.

The pure Yang Qi penetrated the whole body of the fish in the softest and most sensitive way, sensing something fishy.

Even if you try your best to soften it, if you want to observe it to the most detailed level, this kind of penetration will inevitably cause some damage. It cannot be used on humans, but on fish, there is not so much concern.

"There's something in the fish's belly."

Su Hanshan flicked his fingers, and the fish's belly suddenly deflated, and its mouth opened as if it was about to spit out something, but it didn't.

"It seems that it is not just attached to the fish's intestines and stomach, but has been absorbed and penetrated into the fish meat."

As he spoke, Su Hanshan turned his palm, and the golden light turned blue and suddenly cracked, freezing the whole fish into ice crystals and splitting it in half.

All the fish's internal organs are in half of the fish, and the other half only has the bones and flesh.

Ling Duxian looked carefully and noticed that the color of the fish maw was slightly different from that of raw fish.

He Zong has also landed, and with his eyesight, he can see in more detail.

"It seems to be the eggs of some kind of underwater creature."

Those things that penetrate between the fish flesh are indeed tiny, gelatinous eggs.

But the surface of the egg is not smooth, but has many tiny hairs that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Obviously, even in the egg state, these things can already move with the help of barbel hairs, parasitize the fish's body, and penetrate into the fish's flesh.

Su Hanshan once again turned the blue light into gold and heated the fish.

The fish meat quickly turns mature white, and even has a light brown color, revealing the aroma of fried fish.

Those eggs are even more inconspicuous among the cooked fish meat, and ordinary people can't distinguish them at all.

However, with the eyesight of the three people present, they could all see that the eggs did not die under such high temperature, but instead became more active.

Su Hanshan stared at the eggs. The temperature of the golden light continued to rise. It was not until the fish flesh turned into charcoal and even started to burst into flames that the eggs died completely.

"Since it is parasitized by being eaten, the root of the disease in those patients should also be in the stomach."

Su Hanshan came to a nearby village, reached out and touched a man who was standing still in a dormant state.

With this hand, there is a slight shock and squeezing force. Even the things that are rooted between the stomach meat will be smoothly shaken off by this hand and squeezed out from the esophagus.

The man's throat bulged, his mouth opened wide, and a black and fleshy flower seemed to grow in his mouth.

It has a pure black background, silvery white spots, five petals of flesh, and a mouthpart that looks like a sharp tooth or a flower stamen in the center.

That's a starfish!
Su Hanshan's eyes darkened and he felt the life in the man's brain disappear.

He used the method of sealing dormancy with black ice. The frozen state can delay any damage, but the sudden disappearance of the vitality shows that this man's brain was dead long before it was frozen.

The vitality Su Hanshan felt before was not the patient's own brain activity, but the starfish disguised as a parasite in his stomach.

It grows rapidly in the human stomach, and after destroying the human brain through neurotoxins, it continues to stimulate the brain in its own way and forges a set of instructions to control body activities.

"Hey, how could it be this kind of starfish?"

When He Zong saw the egg just now, he couldn't distinguish it. Now that he saw the complete body, he used his skills again. After careful inspection, he remembered a past event.

"It shouldn't be a creature of this era. The only complete corpse I saw at an overseas auction back then was soaked in an ultra-ancient crystal container."

(End of this chapter)