Song Lian and his group packed up fast and returned back to base.
After arriving , all of them looked for the Village Elder . Spotting her over at the kitchen , they approached her.
" Village Elder , we have something urgent to report." Song Lian exclaimed bowing his head.
" Oh ? What is it Song Lian ? " the Village Elder asked .
" Elder , the group at the village just found a way to clean the water ." Song Lian replied softly.
" They what ?! " The Village Elder was shocked. " How ? "
" They have a member , a woman . She took something out and boiled it for a while and then used it to treat the water. " someone replied.
The Village Elder began to stroke her chin. " A woman ? Did you all see what it was ? "
Everyone shook their heads, while they had seen it was something brown , they couldn't identify what it was.
The Village Elder walked over and sat down on the bench . " Keep an eye on them for longer , we need to find out what that is. Our water sources are dwindling too , so we need to get our hands on that solution. "
Song Lian and the others nodded in agreement.
" You all can go and rest for now," The Village Elder shooed them off.
Song Lian and the others returned to their quarters
They woke up the next day , just before day break, grabbing their equipment , they departed towards the lookout.
Kong , Song Lian's closest aid, finished setting up before the others and he got into position.
Just seconds later , he scrambled to call Song Lian. "Brother Song ! Brother Song , look " he motioned towards the village frantically.
Song Lian immediately grabbed his spyglass and positioned it . He was shocked to see that the whole village was enveloped by a thick layer of corpse miasma again. ' Oh no. ' he repeated in his head. He then spotted the woman stumbling out from the fog , she collapsed on the ground and thrashed around , all of a sudden a shadow limb emerged from the fog , and hooked on her leg . The woman began to claw around trying to fight the force dragging her back , but she was likely weak due to inhaling corpse miasma, so she was overpowered and with a shrill yell , she was dragged by the shadow back into the fog . Soon her yelling was cut off , returning the village back to its eerie silence.
Song Lian clenched his spyglass hard.
" Do you think there are any survivors ? " Kong asked him.
Song Lian just shook his head. " Ling , go inform the Village Elder of what happened , the rest keep watch."
Song Lian resumed his position to observe the situation with the village. Ling returned soon after and informed Song Lian that the Village Elder instructed them to observe the situation for longer and then report back to her .
As morning gave way into noon , no movement was detected from the village. The corps miasma got visibly thinner by noon. While visibility was low , they could vaguely make out outlines of figures scattered all over the village.
Song Lian dropped his spyglass and turned to Kong and Ling , shaking his head at them , " Go inform the Village Elder that all of them are likely dead , but we will keep observing just in case .".
Kong and Lian looked at each other before nodding at Song Lian and went back to meet the Village Elder .
Song Lian stood up and went over to sit alone. He dusted a rock and settled down. He couldn't believe that these people were wiped out so easily .
" Senior Song , should we keep watching ? " a soldier asked him.
Song Lian just nodded at him, and returned to his daydreaming.
After a while Kong and Ling returned with the Village Elder in tow.
Song Lian immediately sprung up to greet her.
" Village Elder , you didn't have to come this far personally."
The Village Elder just waved her hand at Song Lian. Picking up a spyglass , she wanted to observe the situation herself. She was confronted with the same image Song Lian and the others saw.
Throughout the whole village you could vaguely make out figures strewn about.
The Village Elder just shook her head in disappointed , handing the spyglass back to Song Lian.
" I doubt any of them survived , " she said, shaking her head. " I will go back to the village and meet the shaman today , I'll have her calculate when the miasma will disperse . "
Song Lian nodded at her.
" Song Lian , when the miasma disperses , take a group and scout the whole area ,and bring back anything useful." The village reached out to pull Song Lian away. " Lian , I want you to find and bring back the thing they used to purify the water. Today I went to visit the water source and it's almost dried up , so we really need it."
Song Lian nodded at the village elder ," I shall follow your orders Elder."
The Village Elder patted Song Lian on the shoulder. " Then I shall return and I will consult the shaman. You all can come back early today."
Song Lian and the others bowed at the Elder , who turned to leave accompanied by Ling.
Kong moved closer to Song Lian. " Brother Song, how do we proceed now ? "
Song Lian watched the Village Elder's aging back depart. " I don't know , we will have to wait till the miasma disperses anyways. What time is it now? "
Kong looked around , " I'm guessing around 3 hours past noon Brother Song."
" Let's keep observing then." The miasma will grow denser as the sunlight fades , we have another 2 hours max till the village is completely covered by miasma again. Everyone keep your eyes open for any movement." Song Lian instructed while getting into position himself.
Song Lian and the group spent the next 2 hours , without any luck.
As soon as the sunlight began to fade , the corpse miasma slowly began to get thicker. Soon enough the village was once again covered by a heavy cloud miasma.
Kong and Ling stood up and stretched , " Brother Song , let's go back , there's nothing left to see now." the both of them began.
Soon Song Lian also stood up , " Let's move out now. The Crazies are likely back too so we better get back before sunset."
The group nodded and gathered their things to move out. Song Lian stood gazing down at the village for a while.' Something's not right . How were they taken down so easily ?' Song Lian began to wonder . It was unlikely that they survived , but Song Lian couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, these people even found out a way to purify the water , a task deemed impossible by the shaman and even the doctor back at camp. And they even managed to defeat the Crazies that were haunting the village , yet almost all of them were wiped out. It just doesn't make sense that they went down that easily.
Kong noticed the conflicted expression on Song Lian's face and decided to approach him. " What's wrong Brother Song, you look conflicted ."
Song Lian just shook his head , " I still can't wrap my head around the fact that all of them likely died." he whispered.
Kong immediately realised that Song Lian was talking about the people in the village. He let out a deep sigh. " Brother Song , while I admit that they were very capable people , this is the northern territory. Over here even the smallest of mistakes and overlooks can be fatal. And from how they look, they're likely people who grew up sheltered. So no matter how capable they were , it's inevitable that they made a mistake "
Song Lian just nodded at Kong , he couldn't argue back because he was right. The group were obviously from sheltered and privileged backgrounds , it was hard for them to adapt to the unforgiving conditions of the North.
Kong patted Song Lian on the shoulder and rushed to catch up with the others , who were about to leave.
" Brother Song , let's go before the sun sets."
Song Lian nodded and turned to follow them. They managed to get back to their hideout before the sun set. When they reached the hideout , the Village Elder was waiting for them, accompanying her was the village shaman , a cranky crow of a woman , well into her 70's who had the energy of a young lady.
" Song Lian , Kong and Ling come here " the Village Elder spotted them and urged them to come closer. " I just finished discussing with Shaman Hu, and she says that it is an auspicious day tomorrow , so the miasma will disperse completely by noon before regathering at sunset . You must seize this chance and prepare to set off to conduct a search of the village tomorrow."
Shaman Hu suddenly threw her hands up into the air and began to shout. " The spirits are speaking to me , they tell me that tomorrow is an auspicious day for all of us. The miasma will lift before noon. The spirits order you to go search the village and bring back the treasure that can clean the water and save us. Tomorrow at dawn I shall perform a blessing ceremony for you all to bless you and protect you."
" That's what I just said , " the Village Elder said softly.
Kong snorted in his heart, Shaman Hu has always been a bit loony , but her calculations were accurate , therefore the miasma will certainly lift tomorrow.
" Understood Village Elder , we will gather at dawn tomorrow to participate in the blessing ceremony ." Song Lian replied.
The Village Elder nodded her head " That's all for now , you all go and rest now , you have a very long day tomorrow."
Song Lian and the group nodded before returning to get some rest.
Song Lian woke up at dawn , and went out to wake the others up. " Kong , Ling wake the others up , we need to participate in the blessing ceremony, I'll go over to see if Shaman Hu needs any help."
Song Lian turned to walk towards the Shaman hut , he found Shaman Hu rushing let and right carrying various bags and boxes. " Shaman Hu , I'm here to see if you need any help." Song Lian interrupted her rush.
Shaman Hu marched over and tossed a bag and some boxes to Song Lian." Here take these to the center of the hideout." she ordered.
Song Lian silently followed her instructions. Shaman Hu followed closely behind.
Once they reached the center of the hideout, the center point in the cave they inhabit, Song Lian placed the things he was carrying onto the ground.
Shaman Hu followed suit , placing the items she was carrying down before whipping around to go back to her hut.
Suddenly she stopped in her tracks , whipping around again , "You , boy ! " She said pointing at Song Lian , " Go tell everyone to gather , make sure all of them are clean for the ritual." Shaman Hu didn't even wait for Song Lian's answer before she sped off.
Song Lian just sighed deeply, and turned to go find the others. He found them in the dining hall , Kong and Lian spotted him and waved. Song Lian walked over to the,. Once he sat down , Kong placed a steaming bowl of porridge in front of him, while Lian passed over some stir fried wild vegetables.
Song Lian ate his breakfast , and he stood up. " Shaman Hu wants us to gather at the center of camp for the blessing ritual. Finish eating and gather there."
" Yes Brother Song ! "
The group began to file out of the dining hall after they were done eating. Song Lian , Kong and Ling were leading the group.
All of them stopped in their tracks when they saw Shaman Hu dancing around crazily , the Village Elder was up too , she was standing nearby.
A fire was lit in the center , and Shaman Hu was dancing around it while throwing something into the fire.
Shaman Hu then began to make some noises that can only be described as screeches of a chicken being strangled.
The group collectively took a deep breath. Ling immediately closed his eyes and clenched his hands , to stop himself from laughing. Kong shot him a dirty look.
The Village Elder turned around and spotted them. " What are you all gawking and snickering at ? Come here quickly , we don't have all day , we need to be done before sunrise."
The group immediately walked over .
Shaman Hu danced off and grabbed a big fan made from crow feathers . Approaching the fire , she grabbed something from the bag hanging from her waist and threw it into the fire again ,only this time , smoke began to bellow out of the fire continuously . Shaman Hu used the big fan to fan the smoke towards the group.
Song Lian , Kong , Ling and the others felt themselves being enveloped by a foul smelling smoke. All of them began coughing hard. The smoke was suffocating , and it just kept coming. After a while the smoke got thinner and just as it began to clear up , they were hit with a spray of liquid.
The group was speechless when they found out how the water was sprayed.
Shaman Hu would fill her mouth with water before running around spraying them with the water in her mouth.
Even the Village Elder was speechless at this.
When the water spraying was done , Shaman Hu handed each of them a small round white object , looking closer , it was a small bone. " These are protective charms to ward off the Crazies." the Village Elder explained. " Shaman Hu , I presume the ritual is done ? "
Shaman Hu nodded at the Village Elder.
" Great , just in time." It was close to day break. " You all go gather your stuff." The village instructed Song Lian and the group. " After gathering your stuff. Come back here."
The group agreed and dispersed.