Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 3: Chapter 3: Gu

Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 3: Chapter 3: Gu

Death is merely an inevitable stage that one experiences in life. The act itself is probably not terrifying. What is truly terrifying is the torment of waiting for the shadow of the Grim Reaper to descend upon one’s own head.

When Yu Feiyan learned that she too had been struck by “gu,” she was utterly devastated. She chambered a round in her pistol, preparing to shoot herself in the temple at the final moment.

The Russian White Bear, despite being a deranged fugitive, when it truly came to his own turn to die, could not stop the muscles in his face from twitching repeatedly. He sat alone on a tree root, and no one could guess what was going through his mind.

Meanwhile, the few survivors of the Burmese Communist guerrilla unit felt nothing unusual at this moment, because they had long grown accustomed to bearing and facing their own deaths. Luo Big Tongue even felt somewhat schadenfreude. He was like a terminally ill patient with no cure, waiting for death, who suddenly learned that several neighbors next door had also contracted the exact same symptoms as himself. His heart felt remarkably at ease.

Only A Cui had a meticulous mind. Seeing that Master Jiang before his death had become as emaciated as a dried corpse, she asked Sima Hui: since all members of the expedition team had been struck by evil sorcery, why had they not all succumbed simultaneously? Did there exist some kind of sequence or pattern? In the past, the US Army engineering troops who had built roads in the tunnels had large numbers of personnel go missing. Had they also died from this sinister and bizarre gu sorcery? The concepts of head-lowering or gu poison were too vague. If they could identify its root cause, perhaps there might still be salvation.

Sima Hui said he estimated that all people struck by evil sorcery, depending on their resistance and constitution, had a certain pattern in the order of their deaths. Although Master Jiang’s body was in good condition, and at his age he could still climb mountains and cross ridges, he was after all old and physically declining, his eyes dim and his feet slow, his vital energy not comparable to that of his prime. So he was the first to succumb. Following that was “Cao Shangfei,” who ranked second in age within the expedition team. If his prediction was correct, the next to die should be that Russian, and the last to die would be Karaweik.

Saying this, Sima Hui turned his head to look at Karaweik. He saw him holding his head in both hands, his face filled with an expression of utter despair. In Myanmar, people who had been monks were not afraid of death. In their beliefs, death was merely the beginning of another cycle of reincarnation. But local people mostly feared evil sorcery, believing that worms burrowing into the brain would devour the soul within the living person’s body. So Karaweik held his head, only repeating one sentence over and over again.

Sima Hui heard that what Karaweik kept muttering seemed to be a “worm” character, and felt it was strange: “Where would worms come from in the head?”

But then he thought of it. People living in mountainous jungle regions usually regarded various insects as the medium for head-lowering sorcery and gu witchcraft. Because insect behavior was bizarre and often difficult for people to understand, it made the matters of head-lowering and gu seem even more evil.

As the saying goes: “The speaker has no intention, but the listener has a purpose.” Karaweik’s sentence made Sima Hui and A Cui suddenly realize that the fatal threat the expedition team encountered was very likely due to parasite eggs of the “Cambodian Man-Eating Leech” having entered their bodies without their knowledge.

It was said that the Cambodian man-eating leech had special habits. Only one could parasitize within a single host. If the host died before the queen leech fully formed, it would also dissolve into thick blood. And it could not parasitize within cold-blooded reptiles, otherwise it would only grow into an ordinary leech. However, ever since the expedition team entered the depths of this python den valley from the Ghost Road collapse site, encountering the attack of the Cambodian man-eating leech, the giant leech burned by the flamethrower at that time had a body resembling a human shape. And in the water pools of the nearby low-lying areas, there were even more of the same kind gathered. Without a considerable number of dead human corpses, how could they have grown to such a size? Perhaps the queen leeches they encountered today were the victims who had previously gone missing in Wild Man Mountain.

Master Jiang’s appearance after being struck by head-lowering sorcery, with his gaunt frame like a bird and his bony face like a crane, was as if a Cambodian man-eating leech had parasitized inside him, gradually draining all his essence, blood, and brain marrow. In the end, the fully formed man-eating leech would use his dead corpse as a vessel to transform, also becoming a leech mother in this stagnant water nest. That was why his skull had suddenly split open, because the queen leech had already entered his brain.

Although A Cui did not take life and death to heart, when she thought that there was a “Cambodian Man-Eating Leech” parasitizing within her own body, this manner of death was truly too horrifying. She could not help but turn pale and asked in alarm: “Ever since I entered Wild Man Mountain, I have never touched stagnant water containing leeches. Why would I also be afflicted by leeches?”

Yu Feiyan, hearing the conversation between Sima Hui and A Cui nearby, seemed to sense there might still be a thread of hope to pursue. She interjected: “If you could know why there are leeches attached to your body, you wouldn’t have been struck by this evil sorcery. The environment in Wild Man Mountain is humid and sweltering, with miasma spreading everywhere. Plants, water currents, air, soil, clouds and fog, and mud swamps are all dangerous. The Cambodian man-eating leech can even drill through clothing, shoes, socks, and skin. It is truly all-pervasive. There is no method that can guarantee absolute safety. But if this so-called insect gu is merely having leeches inside the body sucking human blood and marrow, could we still think of some way to save ourselves?”

A Cui was deeply versed in medical principles. In the Burmese Communist guerrilla unit, she had many times treated people bitten by blood-sucking leeches. She shook her head and said: “If the leech is attached to the outside of the body, one can directly use a cigarette to burn it, or use burning straw paper to smoke it out. In any case, there are many methods to deal with it. But if a leech has crawled into the abdomen or cranial cavity, except for surgical operation to remove it, there is absolutely no other strategy. Given everyone’s current situation, their lives are only moments away. Not to mention there is simply no way to perform surgery, even if they were immediately sent to a hospital with advanced medical facilities for emergency treatment, it would already be completely too late.”

Yu Feiyan successively thought of several methods, but all were unfeasible. For example, swallowing poison oneself. That might indeed be able to poison the leeches inside the body, but such behavior was undoubtedly suicide. The Cambodian man-eating leech was covered in suckers all over its body. It would cling desperately inside the living human body. It was not comparable to ordinary parasites. Even if you vomited out all your bile, it would be difficult to spit it out from your abdomen.

When Sima Hui saw the expressions of utter despair on everyone’s faces, he too was struck with fear. Although he was not afraid of death, how could he resign himself to having leeches suck him dry of blood and marrow, and then having his withered bones become a breeding nest for queen leeches in the water? He saw the densely packed suckers on the Cambodian man-eating leech, and suddenly a strangely shaped centipede appeared in his mind. Immediately following that, he remembered Zhao Laobie, who had found the Wind-Stilling Pearl from the remains of a dead centipede at a meat stall. He still clearly remembered that Zhao Laobie possessed a body of extraordinary knowledge of natural things, capable of recognizing ten thousand kinds of objects in the world. If this person were still alive, perhaps he could think of a way to eliminate the queen leeches parasitizing within living human bodies.

Speaking of which, Sima Hui was a descendant of an old greenwood family name, who had received the complete secret transmission of the “Gold-Not-Exchanged” text. The civil and martial masters he worshipped at home were “Drunkard Zhang Jiuyi,” known as “Scorpion Zhang,” also called “Master of Natural Things.” Besides the family skill of “Scorpion’s Backward Wall Climbing,” he was also skilled in discussing magical arts and interpreting auspicious and inauspicious signs. The “Gold Point Secret Transmission” left by the Zhang family’s ancestors was the foundation of their livelihood, divided into “Heaven, Earth, and Man” three sections. It was only passed down internally, never externally. By Zhang Jiuyi’s generation, in his entire life he had only taught two direct-line descendants within the family. The first was also from his great-grandson’s generation, but this person was by nature dull and simple. Zhang Jiuyi did not favor him, only teaching him some mnemonic verses and divination techniques, nothing more than some principles of deduction and transformation, before sending him back to the countryside to farm.

The disciple Zhang Jiuyi valued most was Sima Hui, because Sima Hui was alert and quick, with clear and extraordinary bone structure. His appearance and physique could both “hold the formation.” He was also eloquent and articulate, with sharp wit and upright mind. According to the ways of the greenwood path, such a person could withstand great storms and waves, could keep secrets, and when encountering failure would not betray friends or family foundations. So he taught Sima Hui all the various ultimate skills that the old Zhang family had kept in their chest.

Only Sima Hui was too young at the time, and when he entered society the timing was not right. He had neglected his family skills for many years. Now, remembering his past encounter with Zhao Laobie, he thought: that Zhao Laobie was merely a member of a side branch and heterodox path, yet he possessed abilities that ordinary people could hardly match. The “Gold Point Secret Transmission” left by my ancestors is a set of ancient arts that “when thoroughly mastered, will surely make one’s name known across the four seas.” How could it反而 be inferior to others? But how exactly could one use the principles of observing objects from “Gold-Not-Exchanged” to remove the queen leeches attached to the body?

These thoughts, although they only flashed once through Sima Hui’s mind, made him think: after all, “when things reach an extreme, they reverse; when numbers are exhausted, they change.” Heaven never completely blocks all paths. He pondered that as long as he could identify the weakness of the Cambodian man-eating leech within an extremely short time, perhaps the few survivors of the expedition team still had a chance to live.

Just as Sima Hui was racking his brains, painfully thinking without finding a solution, he caught a glance of that dazed “Cao Shangfei” looking up with his head raised, staring with wide eyes at an old tree. Cao Shangfei at this moment was so emaciated he had almost lost his shape. His entire eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he could no longer speak coherent words. Yu Feiyan worried that he might suddenly harm someone, so she tied him up with rope. Sima Hui followed the direction of Cao Shangfei’s gaze and looked up. It was pitch black and he could not see anything unusual.

At this moment Yu Feiyan said to everyone: “Since we are certainly going to die, while our minds are still clear, we should quickly get far away from this nest where the queen leeches gather.”

But Sima Hui said: “Leader, why do you think Master Jiang led the expedition team back to this nest of the Cambodian man-eating leeches?”

Yu Feiyan said in surprise: “Didn’t you say Master Jiang was possessed by evil? When a person dies, their light goes out like a lamp. What use is there in blaming him now?”

Sima Hui said: “Perhaps there is something hidden near here that attracted Master Jiang, or whatever was attached inside him. If our fate is not yet sealed, perhaps we can still find a thread of hope from it.”

Yu Feiyan also felt this matter was extremely strange. In this sunless jungle, the environment was humid and filthy, making people feel suffocated and constrained. But for some unknown reason, there was faintly a strange fragrance. She could not tell whether it was musk or sandalwood. And the higher one went, the stronger the scent became. She saw the ancient tree towering high. How could one climb it with bare hands? She was about to find some suitable climbing equipment to use, but unexpectedly Sima Hui had already hung the searchlight on his body, then performed the “Scorpion’s Backward Wall Climbing” to ascend onto a branch of the old tree. Although his shoulder injury had not yet healed, his movements were still as light and swift as the wind. The people below watched with dazzled eyes and pounding hearts, each staring with rapt attention, everyone holding their breath.

Sima Hui was after all carrying injuries. By the time he climbed to the crown of the tree, his arms were already numb and sore. He saw a wormhole-like cavity in the tree trunk, with moss accumulated inside about an inch thick, cool to the bone. Shining the searchlight inside, he saw python eggs stored within, all as large as fists. It turned out to be the nest of those Burmese pythons previously burned by the flamethrowers. He reached in and took three white python eggs, tucking them into his bosom. Then he lightly slid down the tree.

When Yu Feiyan and the others saw that at this moment when life and death hung in the balance, Sima Hui had actually stolen several “python eggs” down, they all felt this person had probably gone mad.

Sima Hui saw that the three python eggs in his bosom were safe and sound, and finally let out a long breath. Carefully he brought them out and placed them on the ground. Seeing the expressions of confusion and incomprehension on everyone’s faces, he had no choice but to tell them: “If we want to remove the queen leeches parasitizing within everyone’s bodies, we can only rely on these things to save our lives.”

When the Russian White Bear saw there was still a chance to survive, his spirit immediately rallied. But there were only three python eggs, while there were seven survivors. Too many monks, too little porridge, not enough to divide equally. Perhaps four people would still die. How could he still care about others? He immediately reached out to seize them, wanting to be the first to swallow one.

Sima Hui’s reaction was extraordinarily fast. Before the Russian White Bear could even approach, he had already used the “Scholar’s Three Bows” to deflect that fan-like giant palm. But at this crucial moment where every second counted, Sima Hui did not want to fight him to the death. He only waved his hand, signaling the other party not to attempt to approach again. Then he made a throat-slitting gesture, informing everyone that these “python eggs” absolutely must not be eaten, otherwise they would die even faster.

The Russian White Bear had been immensely strong all his life. Killing someone was as easy as pinching a chicken to death. He had fully expected to seize the “snake eggs” with a single reach of his hand. He never imagined he would come up empty. In his heart he also felt surprised, not knowing what kind of sorcery this Easterner had used. He stared at Sima Hui viciously, no longer acting rashly.

The others all knew the habits of the Burmese python. Female pythons produced over a hundred eggs each year. The three python eggs Sima Hui had taken from the python den had shells white and lustrous as jade. They all appeared to be ordinary unfertilized python eggs. Since he said they could be used to remove the “Cambodian Man-Eating Leech” parasitizing within living human bodies, yet suddenly said they could not be broken and swallowed with water, could these things possibly be used externally?