"What gnawed it down to this? There are no signs of resistance from this cow." I glanced at the flies buzzing around the skeletal remains, inexplicably chilled.
Yu Longting brought me to the skeleton, smeared his fingertip in the not-yet-dry blood, "The blood is still warm, it was gnawed on not long ago, it looks like... the work of Gu Insects..."
"Gu Insects?" I knew little about Gu Insects, my only impression being of Xiao Yuanyuan.
Yu Longting sniffed the blood on his fingertip, "Gu Insects can rapidly lay eggs and hatch, consuming a cow weighing five to six hundred pounds in about tens of seconds."
"Does this mean someone in Ancient Water Village is raising gu?" I was struck with horror, feeling utterly terrified.
Raising gu wasn't scary, but releasing them to harm livestock was.
And to gnaw it down to such a state.
This was extremely venomous and brutal.
Yu Longting pulled out a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed them to me, "Why wouldn't you suspect Zhang Shuying? Doesn't he have a Golden Silkworm Gu? That's the King of Ten Thousand Gus, a unique Emperor Gu in the world, a cow wouldn't even suffice to fill the gaps in its teeth."
"Xiao Yuanyuan is that powerful? Even a Gu King..." I tacitly took the tissue to wipe the blood from Yu Longting's fingers, catching his disdainful look, I realized my tendency to shield Xiao Yuanyuan, blushing, I said, "Didn't you say Xiao Yuanyuan would take three days to wake up? I ruled it out because of that."
"Never thought the Golden Silkworm Gu might have awakened early?" Yu Longting asked in return.
I was unsure but still reluctant to believe, "Even if Xiao Yuanyuan woke up early, Zhang Shuying wouldn't allow it to do such a thing."
It might not be righteous to gnaw someone else's plow ox, but since no human lives were harmed, it seemed somewhat excusable...
Yu Longting, noticing my biased protection towards Xiao Yuanyuan, chuckled lowly and corrected my nearly skewed morals,
"Wife, what kind of people do you think belong to the Gu Sect? When I woke up and found out from Beichen that you were kidnapped by the murderous Taoist Zhang, I was frantic, yet you, silly girl, felt nothing."
"Well... hasn't it turned out that although they're not good people, they were alright towards me?" I blinked, defending myself.
I had actually been extremely distressed when I fell into Zhang Shuying's hands, even preparing for the worst.
But now that we had turned our quarrels into good terms, naturally, I would not bring up that mindset to Yu Longting, stirring up unnecessary conflicts.
Yu Longting nodded meaningfully, "Yes, Wanwan, you're truly incredible, even managing to make friends with someone as crazily righteous and evil as Zhang Shuying, damn, what should I do..."
"What should you do?" Isn't that a good thing?
I didn't understand the meaning behind his last grumbled curse and asked, puzzled.
Yu Longting's eyes dangerously studied me as if wanting to peel my flesh from my bones like the cow nearby, "My dear wife, you've managed to turn a kidnapper into a rival in love for me... With rivals around me, danger lurks everywhere... what am I to do?"
"Is that so? I think there are quite a few who like you too... ow... what's that... what's grabbing my foot..."
Yu Longting and I tacitly agreed not to meddle in Zhang Shuying's business anymore, and we were walking on the small road next to the wheat field when suddenly my ankle felt cold, grabbed by something hard.
The ground beneath was dense green wheat, which was impossible to see through with the naked eye.
I skeptically parted the green wheat stalks, cold sweat soaking me entirely, and my pupils dilated in shock, "A child... it's... it's a child's... Yu Longting... I... am... caught..." by it!
In that moment, I nearly lost all ability to speak, the thing grasping my ankle was a small skeletal hand, frightening me out of my wits.