236: Rural Transformation

The banishment of the magic bottle concept was like scooping the hottest ladleful out of a boiling pot; the atmosphere of the consciousness pastoral truly seemed to become purer and more tranquil.

That frantic obsession with "encounters" and "shortcuts," deeply rooted in the bones and blood of civilization, was forcibly extracted, leaving behind a more grounded, and perhaps even slightly dull, peace.

Life in Xishi Village, under this peace, was like a precise pendulum, regular to the point of being rigid.

At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the weather still carried its lingering heat.

In the wild woods on the edge of the village, the vegetation was exceptionally lush, serving as a paradise for the village's mischievous children to run wild and explore.

This afternoon, a few half-grown children led by Huzi, unable to bear the sweltering heat, burrowed deep into the woods again, thinking of finding some wild fruits to satisfy their cravings, or perhaps playing in the water at that shallow depression they had secretly discovered, which hid a small spring.

Han Erniu had also been dragged along by Huzi.

He was reserved by nature and hadn't wanted to come, but he couldn't resist Huzi's enthusiasm, or perhaps that little bit of childlike curiosity in his heart had been stirred, so he followed silently behind the group.

The shade in the woods was dense, making it much cooler.

The children were noisy, searching everywhere.

Huzi had the sharpest eyes; under a slope covered in rotting leaves and scattered stones, he suddenly let out a cry of surprise: "Hey! Come look! What is this thing? It's shiny!"

The children swarmed over.

In the gaps between the rocks, half-hidden in the dark brown, damp, rotting leaves, an object was reflecting the sunlight leaking through the branches, emitting a dull yet alluring black light.

Huzi was the boldest; he reached out, dug it out, and placed it in his palm.

It was an object only the size of an infant's palm, pitch black all over, icy to the touch, with a texture that was neither metal nor iron, and it felt heavy.

Its shape was somewhat strange, with rounded edges and a slightly raised center. It seemed to be carved with some extremely fine, twisted, and hard-to-distinguish patterns that made one feel dizzy if looked at for too long.

"Looks like a... bottle cap?" one child said uncertainly.

Indeed, its shape was very much like a shrunken, exceptionally exquisite bottle stopper or lid.

"It's all black and ugly." A girl pouted, losing interest.

But Huzi felt this thing was very special; that heavy feel and icy touch were completely different from the ordinary stones or tiles he usually picked up.

He proudly weighed it in his hand: "It's mine! Maybe it's a treasure!"

Han Erniu also leaned in to take a look; the pitch-black lid looked exceptionally out of place in Huzi's dirty palm.

For some reason, a faint, almost imperceptible prickling sensation came from the leaf-shaped birthmark on the center of his right palm, even slighter than last time, vanishing in a flash.

He subconsciously clenched his fist.

"What treasure, it's just a piece of scrap metal." The other children quickly lost interest and clamored to go play in the water by the spring.

Huzi chuckled, casually stuffed this "black bottle cap" into his pants pocket, and skipped after them.

The children splashed and played by the spring, having a great time, and soon threw this little episode to the back of their minds.

However, a change was brewing in silence.

The pitch-black bottle cap in Huzi's pocket, pressed against his leg that had heated up from running, not only failed to warm up from the heat but instead became increasingly cold.

The fine patterns on it seemed to be absorbing the vibrant yet faint aura of life from the child, beginning to become increasingly profound at an extremely slow speed.

At dusk, the children went home one by one.

Huzi, carrying that "treasure" he had picked up, ran back to his courtyard, soaked through.

At night, Huzi did not sleep soundly.

He always felt that the thing in his pocket was uncomfortable, and an indescribable coldness was seeping out. In his daze, he took it out and casually threw it into a corner under the windowsill where sundries were piled up.

There, coincidentally, were some weed seeds covered in soil that he had brought back from the woods during the day, as well as half a basket of somewhat shriveled wild berries his mother had prepared to feed the chickens the next day.

No one noticed that the moment the pitch-black bottle cap settled, the fine patterns on it glowed slightly, and a formless, intangible radiation, yet filled with twisted vitality, quietly spread out, shrouding that small corner.

The next day, the sun rose as usual.

Huzi had long forgotten about that black lump and ran out to play again after breakfast.

It wasn't until noon, when Huzi's mother went to the chicken coop to feed them and passed by that corner of the windowsill, that she let out a terrified scream! "Ah—! What, what is this thing?!"

She saw that the area under the windowsill had been covered overnight by an extremely strange, never-before-seen plant!

The plant did not grow out of the soil but spread directly from those weed seeds, shriveled berries, and even the wooden window lattice!

Its main stem was like a twisted, coiling pitch-black vine, its surface covered in a cold, smooth cuticle similar to the material of the bottle cap, while its branches and leaves were a deeply uncomfortable dark red, as if soaked in pus and blood, shaped like rotting feathers, with edges still slightly wriggling!

Even more terrifying was that at the top of this strange plant, a huge flower bud was growing, pulsating like a heart.

The flower bud was also dark red, its surface covered in purple-black twisted blood vessels, expanding and contracting, emitting a sickeningly thick, sweet, and cloying smell mixed with rotting flesh and honey!

The demon flower's roots (or rather, tentacles) were spreading wildly in all directions at a speed visible to the naked eye; wherever they passed, whether wood, stone, or the occasional crawling insect, everything was rapidly covered, decomposed, and absorbed! It was devouring all reachable matter to strengthen itself!

The terrifying scene and eerie smell immediately attracted the neighbors.

People gathered around, and upon seeing this unimaginable, terrifying plant, everyone's faces changed greatly in extreme terror.

"Mon, monster!" "Quick! Quick, get a hoe and chop it down!" A few brave men, suppressing their fear, grabbed farm tools, rushed forward, and struck hard at the demon flower!

Clang! Clang! The hoes struck the pitch-black vines, actually sparking as if metal had collided, leaving only a few shallow white marks!

Instead, the demon flower was enraged, and the huge flower bud at the top suddenly opened! That was no flower at all! Inside were dense, layered, pale, sharp teeth like saw blades! A thicker, dizzying, sweet-rotten smell gushed out!

Splat! Several dark red, tongue-like vines shot out from the flower's core, instantly wrapping around the man closest to it!

The man let out a shrill scream, and people watched in terror as his body withered at an astonishing speed, as if all the flesh and essence of his body were being sucked away by the vines! In just a few short breaths, only a skin-and-bones corpse remained!

"Ah—!" The crowd completely collapsed, screaming and fleeing in all directions!

And after devouring a living person, the demon flower's body suddenly expanded in size, and its spreading speed became even faster! More bloodthirsty vines darted out like poisonous snakes, chasing the fleeing villagers!

The screams and wails instantly broke the tranquility of Xishi Village, and the peaceful pastoral instantly turned into a bloody Hell!

Han Erniu was chopping wood near his home; hearing the commotion, he ran over and happened to see the terrifying scene of the demon flower devouring the man, his face turning deathly pale with fear, his whole body stiffening.

In the chaos, no one noticed that the leaf-shaped birthmark on the palm of his clenched right hand was emitting a scorching temperature, trembling slightly, as if issuing a silent warning.

Meanwhile, in a small courtyard in the village, A Xue (Ink Snow), who was bowing her head to mend clothes, suddenly raised her head!

She clearly felt an extremely cold, greedy, and twisted fluctuation of Law erupting somewhere in the village, madly devouring all vitality in the vicinity!

This fluctuation... was definitely not something that should exist in the consciousness pastoral! This was... the residual power of some evil entity from the real Universe?!

Her eyes instantly became as sharp as ice, and the needle and thread in her hand slid silently to the ground.

The peaceful pastoral life was over. The true crisis had already arrived.