The Last Alchemist

On the muddy road, the woman who looked like a corpse walked at the front, followed by Rosen, and finally followed by Annie.

"Mary, is your leg okay?" Rosen asked.

Mary was the name of this peasant woman. Along the way, she limped forward. Although the wound was briefly bandaged, blood still continued to seep out of the cotton and flow down her leg.

"This little injury is nothing serious. It's nothing compared to the abscesses on her body." Mary grinned, and a lot of pus was squeezed out of the abscesses on her face, which looked very oozing.

Her words make people feel cold in their hearts. Think about it, a person's skin is covered with abscesses, his bones are eroded and deformed by germs, and even his nerves are damaged. The pain he feels every moment, Even more than the arrow wound that almost penetrated the thigh.

Rosen asked himself, if he suffered such inhuman pain, he would definitely have found a way to kill himself early on, and there would be no way he could drive away the robbers alive.

After a moment of silence, he asked again: "Is the village where you live far away?"

"It's not far. There is a path that turns left in front of you. After you turn it, walk for more than a mile and you will be there." After Mary finished speaking, she sucked the saliva leaking from the corner of her broken mouth.

After hearing this, Anne said: "Mary, do you live in Caopo Village?"

"Yes, yes, it's Caopo Village!" Mary nodded repeatedly.

"Have you been there?" Rosen turned to look at Annie.

Annie nodded: "That time I passed by a year ago, the villagers there were very enthusiastic than other villages. I remember it rained heavily that night, and they agreed to let me spend the night in the stable. There was a young man named Cade. He specially gave me a bowl of potato soup, and I still remember the delicious taste of that bowl of soup. Oh, by the way, Sister Mary, how is Cade now?"

Mary responded calmly: "He is dead. He died two months ago."

Annie was shocked: "How could it be? He seems to be less than 17 years old, right? How could he die at such a young age? Could it be that he was attacked by a monster?"

"It's not a monster." Mary shook her head.

"What's going on?" Annie asked.

"It's a disease, the same disease as mine. About nine months ago, he also contracted the disease. His disease was much more serious than others. Within half a year, he was already covered with abscesses. Young people can't stand the pain. When the pain was too much, he stabbed a sickle into his own eye. He was not the first to do this. Eight people had died in the village because of this damn disease, and each one committed suicide. "

When speaking, Mary's tone was always calm. It was obvious that for her, all this was normal.

Anne sighed sadly: "Hey~ How could God punish him? He has a kind heart. When I said thank you to him, he still smiled shyly at me."

"Bah!"

A look of deep resentment appeared on Mary's face. She spat a mouthful of bloody saliva on the ground and said angrily: "Who knows what God thinks? Maybe he is blind!"

Seeing her insulting the gods, Anne subconsciously wanted to refute, but when she opened her mouth, she found that she couldn't say anything. Yes, tragic things happen in the world every moment. If there is a god, then he must have a Heart of stone.

Rosen had been listening. When he heard this, he suddenly asked: "Sister Mary, can I ask you a few questions?"

Mary immediately said humbly: "My lord, just ask."

"You said your daughter has the same disease as you. When did she get it?"

Mary sighed: "She had it since she was born. It wasn't serious at first. Until last year, when she was four years old, a lot of red patches came out of her body, and then they started to rot, as if her body There is a devil living in it.”

Rosen was slightly surprised: "You got it as soon as you were born? Did you get the disease from your mother's womb? Did you get the disease before she was born?"

Mary nodded with a painful look on her face: "It is indeed my fault."

Rosen thought quickly and then asked, "Then where did your illness come from?"

As soon as this question came up, Mary's face once again showed strong resentment: "My disease was passed on to me by the devil in my family. He went to Sunderland to mess with those coquettish women, and he didn't tell me he was sick, and he hurt me. He also killed our daughter. This fucking bastard!”

"In other words, your husband got sick before you, so he should be more seriously ill than you, right?" Rosen suddenly remembered the rotting corpse he encountered on the road before. That corpse was also covered with abscesses. Now he looked carefully Looking back, he realized that the abscess was similar to Mary's.

After this association, he asked cautiously: "Mary, are you sure your husband is dead?"

"I don't know." Mary shook her head, with a trace of sadness in her one eye: "He has been out for five days. He is so seriously ill. How could he stay in the wild for so many days? I think he either can't survive it. If you go there, you might encounter a monster."

When she spoke, Mary's tone was calm, but there was still a hint of hope in the calm. She still hoped that her husband was still alive.

Rosen and Annie couldn't help but look at each other, and they both saw a trace of unbearability in each other's eyes. Apparently, Anne had guessed it too.

After a few seconds of silence, Rosen felt that he should tell Mary the truth, but as he spoke, he saw Mary's one eye and the abscess on her body. For some reason, he couldn't say it out, and the words were on his tongue. After going around for several times, it finally turned into: "Sister Mary, what does your husband look like? I will help you find out when I have the opportunity."

Anne was stunned for a moment. After glancing at Rosen, she understood what he meant. She lowered her eyes and sighed softly.

Mary was completely unaware of the eye contact between the two people around her. She said happily: "Okay, that damn guy in my family is just like me. He is covered in abscesses. He is very thin and not tall. He is not even as tall as this girl's shoulders." . Sir, if you find him, tell him that he will never come back if you can!"

Rosen became increasingly unbearable and did not dare to look into Sister Mary's eyes. He could only look down at the dirt road under his feet: "Don't worry, I will definitely do it."

After walking for a while, the three of them found a steep grassy slope in front of them. There was a steep path on the grassy slope and a mountain stream on the side of the road.

Mary stretched out her hand and pointed forward: "Over this slope, we will arrive at Caopo Village."

Rosen nodded and continued the previous question: "The robber just said that seven or eight out of ten people in the village are sick. Is it really that serious?"

Mary shook her head repeatedly: "There are only about a hundred people in the village, and there are a lot of people who are sick, but not as many as the bandits said, only 23 in total. Once they get sick, the elders will lock them up in the west end of the village. They are not allowed to leave the big shed.”

"That's it~"

Rosen was lost in thought. A few minutes later, he suddenly asked again: "Sister Mary, you just said that a magician came to the village a year ago. When did he come? Can you still remember?"

"It should have happened after the Bonfire Festival last winter, but I can't remember the specific date clearly."

"Who was the first person to get sick in the village? How long ago did he get sick?"

Mary knew everything and said: "My husband was probably the first one, then me, and then my daughter. After that, no one in the village got sick. After more than three years of peace, the number of sick people in the village suddenly increased, and again After about half a year, the magician came. "

"Oh~ I know." Rosen thought thoughtfully and suddenly asked: "After your family got sick, did the village elders take any measures?"

This seemed to touch Mary's sadness. She pursed her lower lips, and after a while she said: "The elders don't let us have contact with other people, and they don't let other children in the village play with little Alice. Oh, by the way, Alice is my daughter's name."

"What a good name." Rosen praised, and then asked: "Has the elder never allowed you to have contact with me?"

"Yes, he was very strict. Once when little Alice crossed the line, he beat her hard with a bamboo stick. It took a full week for the injury to heal." Mary was very sad.

"Is this still the case until now?"

"Well, it has become a little stricter recently. The elders asked all those who were sick to stay in the hay hut, and specially asked the strong men in the village to watch the door and prevent people from going out." Mary gave more information.

Hearing this, Rosen's eyebrows knitted together.

"Rosen, what's wrong?" Annie leaned close to Rosen, her voice was very soft.

Rosen also replied in a voice that only two people could hear: "Things are a little strange."