Free Web NovelChapter 406: Chapter 406: Stench 4
When Evelyn Ford heard the man say there were many dead bodies outside, her expression darkened.
Bodies littered the ground, baking under the sun—a perfect breeding ground for a plague.
"Why don’t you go to the base in Oakhaven?" Wyatt Vaughn asked curiously.
"The base is rejecting refugees. We were living in a small town before. A month ago, we met some other refugees who had gone to the base, but they were driven away."
A flicker of hatred crossed the man’s eyes. "We’re all countrymen, but the people inside that base... they don’t even treat us refugees as human anymore."
"Plus, there are a lot of bandits on the road. They rob, they kill—there’s no evil they won’t do. Half a month ago, some bandits came down from the mountains and kidnapped several women. They especially like to take children."
After listening to them, Evelyn Ford looked at the man. "Do you have any more fragments of those black spheres?"
The man shook his head. "No, I’m all out."
"I have two more here. I picked them up. I saw that they explode, so I kept them for self-defense." The woman who had been crying earlier rummaged through her bag and pulled out two fragments of the black spheres. Evelyn Ford took them and examined them for a long time.
"Can I have these?"
The woman hesitated for a moment, but then she remembered that Evelyn Ford had already given them a bucket of water and a good number of biscuits, so she immediately nodded.
"Take them. But they explode, so you have to be careful."
Evelyn Ford smiled. "Thank you."
"We should be the ones thanking you. If you hadn’t given us water, I’m sure I wouldn’t have survived the night." As the woman spoke, she carefully clutched the bundle containing the water to her chest.
"Me too. Ever since this stench appeared, I’ve been throwing up every day," someone next to her couldn’t help but add.
"Are you native to this area?" the man suddenly asked.
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "Of course not. We’re refugees, too."
Evelyn Ford’s clothes were also rather tattered, so when she said she was a refugee, the man didn’t doubt her.
"Excuse me, are there any rivers nearby?"
Quincy tutted. "I’m afraid all the rivers have dried up. There’s no water anywhere now. The water we gave you was from snow we collected and saved from before."
The man looked at them with a grateful expression. Then, he took a watch out of his bag. It was in terrible shape; the band was gone, leaving only the watch face, and even that was cracked.
He checked the time, stood up, and gave a deep bow to the people from the farm. He then directed the refugees behind him to pick up their luggage.
"We have to go. We need to cover a few more kilometers while it’s still dark. Once the sun comes out, we’ll have to find a place to hide."
Evelyn Ford glanced at the sky, then at the tattered shoes on their feet, but in the end, she said nothing.
The refugees stumbled away. Perhaps the water in their packs gave them strength and hope, because as they left, a new resilience and light had appeared in their eyes.
They headed towards the boundary until their figures disappeared completely. Only then did Evelyn Ford order Chet Lawrence to close the farm’s main gate.
"I wonder if they’ll be able to find a water source," Wyatt Vaughn said, sighing softly.
Back in the cabin, Evelyn Ford studied the two black spheres. She used a lighter to see if they would explode a second time. Although the spheres caught fire, they didn’t explode, only emitting a thick, foul-smelling smoke.
"The stench must be coming from these black spheres. The trigger is the scorching sunlight."
Ronan Kendrick agreed, but he immediately took the spheres away. After all, the things weren’t just smelly, they were toxic, and it wasn’t good for Evelyn Ford’s health to be in contact with them for too long.
"Let’s hope a heavy rain comes and washes away the stench clinging to these spheres."
Evelyn Ford yawned as she spoke. "It’s strange. After smelling this stench for so long, I’ve actually gotten used to it."
Ronan Kendrick placed one of the black spheres into a glass of water to soak. The moment it went in, with a SIZZLING sound, the sphere began to emit white smoke. In just a moment, the water in the glass had turned murky.
"After soaking in water, the smell seems even stronger."
Evelyn Ford’s brow furrowed. "Does this mean a rainfall won’t wash away the toxins, but will activate them instead?"
Ronan Kendrick shook his head. "This sphere has changed."
He used chopsticks to lift the sphere out. Its surface was now covered in tiny, dense pores, and it had turned into a crimson, hollow ball.
"The sphere doesn’t smell anymore after being soaked in water."
Evelyn Ford pointed at the water in the glass. "The substance in the water is starting to settle."
The once-murky water began to clear, and a layer of a white, unknown substance had settled at the bottom of the glass.
"A black sphere turns crimson after soaking in water, and the toxins it releases settle into a white substance. How bizarre."
Evelyn Ford poured out the water and began to observe the sediment.
"Ronan, there’s no smell anymore."
Evelyn Ford used the chopsticks to scrape up some of the white sediment. Its properties were still unknown; further testing was needed to determine if it was toxic.
"Let’s keep it for now. It might be useful."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Okay. I’m so tired. Let’s get some sleep."
In the days that followed, more and more refugees appeared in the mountains surrounding the farm.
Some refugees asked for a drink of water and then left. Others, however, wanted to cause trouble, teaming up with other refugees to try and break into the farm. There were even some who came trying to sell their wives and children in exchange for food.
In these situations, Evelyn Ford gave direct orders to drive them out of Immeasurable Mountain. As for those who tried to break in and rob the farm, they were to be dealt with on the spot.
While on patrol, Nathan Xavier and Drako saw people in the mountains exchanging children.
The practice of trading children to eat them has existed since ancient times, especially during years of famine.
As time went on, everyone seemed to have learned to coexist with the stench. Evelyn Ford felt as if her own sense of smell had stopped working.
In the blink of an eye, another month had passed. Not a single drop came from the water house anymore. Everyone had started using the water stored in the cistern, but to conserve it, the farm issued a new rule.
Other than for cooking and daily drinking, no one was to waste a single drop of water. Washing one’s face or bathing was out of the question.
Meanwhile, the pumpkins in the greenhouse had ripened and fallen from their vines. The largest ones weighed several dozen kilograms, while even the smallest were three or four kilograms.
Ethan Dawson was still thinking about trading for pumpkin seeds. He had recently been trading outside information for supplies, and if he had information that interested Evelyn Ford, she was happy to exchange some supplies with him.
"It’s a good thing we dug a cistern too, otherwise we’d be eating dirt right now."
Ethan Dawson picked out three particularly large pumpkins. He suddenly felt a bit envious of the workers on Immeasurable Mountain. Though times were tough, here, they didn’t have to worry about anything and could still eat and drink their fill.
"Yesterday, a refugee’s body appeared outside our farm—a woman in her fifties or sixties. When I found her, she was swarming with flies. I called a few people over, planning to move her further away, but that’s when I discovered she was covered in wounds. It looked like someone had drained her of blood. She must have been clinging to her last breath, trying to get to the farm for help, but she died before she even reached the gate."
