Chapter 271 - 163: Mass Food Poisoning! Parasites of the TCM Clinic! How Is This Any Different From Seeking Death?

Chapter 271: Chapter 163: Mass Food Poisoning! Parasites of the TCM Clinic! How Is This Any Different From Seeking Death?

But now, he couldn’t afford to worry about that anymore.

If he didn’t go now, he would actually die.

Even if it was Chen Chong’s establishment, he had to give it a try.

Sima staggered outside, the other members following him.

They hadn’t abandoned their companions yet. They hoisted up the members who had vomited until they passed out, shouting with what little strength they had left.

"Help... Someone, help!"

Hearing their shouts, the regular student union members outside rushed in.

They froze on the spot when they saw the state Sima and the others were in.

"P-President, what’s wrong with you all? You look like you’re about to die!"

Sima’s face darkened. "Cut the damn crap! Hurry up and get more people to help us to the Chinese medicine room in the faculty apartment building!"

"Oh, oh, okay! Right away!"

As more student union members arrived, the twenty-some afflicted students were helped by those who hadn’t eaten the vine fragments, and they all struggled outside.

At first, the helpers didn’t think much of it. But as they drew closer to the Chinese medicine room, their expressions grew increasingly strange.

All along the way, they kept seeing other people with the exact same symptoms as Sima’s group—also being helped along, clutching their stomachs, and struggling toward the same destination.

Some, who had no one to help them, had even resorted to crawling on the ground, vomiting and pleading for help with deathly pale faces.

Sima saw this too, and his expression turned utterly grim.

’Holy crap,’ he thought, ’so it wasn’t just us.’

’Looks like you really can’t eat these damn vine fragments. They’ll actually kill you!’

’The old saying goes you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want. Turns out you can’t just eat whatever you want, either...’

And so, an incredibly bizarre scene unfolded on campus.

The people who had scrambled for the vine fragments in the plaza had nearly all eaten them on the same day, and now, on the same day, they were all suffering violent reactions akin to food poisoning.

Wracked with agonizing pain, they had all independently thought of the Chinese medicine room. A great mass of them, over a hundred strong, converged on that single location...

However, just as they were about to reach the entrance to the Chinese medicine room, a group of people slowly descended the stairs from the floor above.

The poisoned students’ faces lit up when they saw the newcomers. They recognized them as the coalition of school security guards and teachers—a group of about twenty or so.

They didn’t usually interact, but at a time like this, they were teachers and guards. Surely they could help.

"Hey, security! Over here! Help us get into the medicine room, thanks."

"Teacher, help... help us..."

The newcomers didn’t say much. They simply walked over with smiles on their faces and reached out to help the members of the nearest small groups.

Nearby, some of the students who’d had no one to help them—who had been crawling for at least an hour—saw this, and expressions of relief washed over their faces.

’I finally made it,’ they thought. ’With their help and a diagnosis from the people in the medicine room, this should be fixable...’

But in the next instant, a horrifying scene unfolded.

The twenty-some teachers and guards didn’t split up to help. Instead, they swarmed a single group of four or five students.

In an instant, their faces distorted, their necks convulsed, and their bodies erupted with the CRACKLING and POPPING of bones, leaving the onlookers utterly stunned.

’Why does this look so familiar?’

’It couldn’t be...’

It was their worst fear come to life.

Sure enough, after a series of bizarre contortions, one’s mouth gaped unnaturally wide, another’s torso split open at the waist, and from others, grayish-black vines burst forth from their ears, noses, mouths, and throats.

The vines shot out like vipers, striking the five surrounded students.

Before they could even scream, they were subdued, their own faces twisting in mimicry as if they were being assimilated.

Everyone froze as if struck by lightning!!!

No one knew how long they stood there, stunned...

"Son of a bitch..."

Someone swore, and the curse snapped everyone else out of their stupor. Their faces were so grim they looked as if they were about to cry.

’We killed so many Parasites in the plaza! Why are there still so many in the faculty building?’

’Isn’t this Chen Chong’s main base?’

’Why are Parasites coming down from upstairs?’

’Could it be... he’s raising these things?’

No one could make sense of it, nor did they want to. All they knew was that if they didn’t run now, death was the only thing awaiting them!

"Quick, pick me up and let’s get out of... Hey! Where the hell are you running?"

Sima had been trying to order someone to carry him away, but the able-bodied student union members were already scared out of their wits, their only thought to flee.

Almost instinctively, they abandoned all the sick students and bolted.

This wasn’t just happening to the student union; it was happening to everyone in front of the faculty apartment building.

In an instant, the only ones left in the garden clearing were the poisoned victims, all bent over in so much pain they couldn’t even stand up straight.

There was no time for cursing. They all began to scramble for a way out.

But in their extremely weakened state, dizzy and limp, they couldn’t run at all.

All they could do was writhe on the ground like maggots, crawling away inch by excruciating inch, their speed agonizingly slow...

...