Horror Camgirl - Ch. 156: The Poison of Human Nature
The little flowers were very beautiful, with red stamens and white petals. Although the blossoms were small, there were three layers in total, overlapping each other, making them look quite lovely.
"This is..." I looked at Yin Shengyao in surprise, and he calmly said, "This is the Three-Nine Flower. I discovered them here years ago. After Darkfire died, I didn’t take them away. Instead, I put them in a Jade Box and buried it next to Darkfire."
For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.
"Why are you giving it to me?" I didn't accept it immediately, and asked cautiously.
"You want to refine an Elixir Pill to enhance Spiritual Power, right?" he said. "Black Spider Fruit, Moonlight Grass, all of these herbs enhance Spiritual Power, and the Three-Nine Flower does as well. I can help you find all the Medicinal Herbs you need, as long as you agree to give me half of the Elixir Pills from the batch."
So that was his real intention.
I hesitated for a moment, then finally took the Three-Nine Flower and said, "Alright."
He gave a faint smile and said, "Get in the car."
For some reason, I felt like his mood had improved considerably.
We drove for another half a day, and by the time the sun was setting, we finally arrived at the peak where Moonlight Grass grew.
The mountain path was rugged and impassable by car, so we proceeded on foot. To our surprise, we found that there were people on the mountain, and more than just one group.
He gave me a look, and we both took cover in the woods.
There were two groups of Herb Diggers. In winter, Herb Diggers usually traveled in teams, mostly people from the same hometown, so they could look out for each other if anything happened.
In Changbai Mountain, the truly fearsome thing wasn't the wild beasts or the harsh cold—it was human nature.
"This Ginseng, we found it first," said one group with a southwestern accent.
"You found it first?" The other group, who spoke with a southeastern accent, sneered, "Didn’t you see the red string tied to the Ginseng?"
According to legend, Ginseng is alive. Ginseng that is old enough can walk or even run. If you find a Ginseng but can't dig it up immediately, you must tie a red string around it so that if it runs away, you can follow the string to find it.
In reality, only Ginseng that's over a thousand years old becomes truly sentient and can move. Ordinary Ginseng can't move on its own.
Nowadays, Herb Diggers often mark Ginseng by tying red strings to them. Some even leave their names on the strings to indicate that they found it first.
The leader of the southwestern group was a middle-aged man wearing a thick padded coat, and the others called him Old Cai.
Old Cai sneered twice and said, "On Changbai Mountain, whoever digs up the Ginseng owns it. Do you really think tying a red string around it means no one else can dig it up? Where's the sense in that?"
The leader of the southeastern group was a young man named Ran, burly with dark skin and a fierce demeanor. He said, "If you put that Ginseng down now, I might let you go. But if you dare fight us for it... Heh, maybe you should ask around who Brother Ran is! On this Changbai Mountain, no one dares cross me!"
Old Cai waved his hand dismissively and said, "Brother Ran? Ran or whatever, I don’t know you! I only believe in what's fair—whoever digs it up, owns it."
Brother Ran was furious. He grabbed his sickle and glared with wide eyes. "I'll chop you to pieces!"
With that, he charged forward with the sickle.
It seemed he'd practiced martial arts for a few days; his strike was powerful enough to sever Old Cai's arm.
But to everyone's surprise, Old Cai stood there like an immovable statue. Brother Ran sneered internally—thinking Old Cai was paralyzed with fear.
Just as the sickle was about to strike, Old Cai suddenly made his move. His fist shot out with blinding speed, landing in Brother Ran's stomach. Brother Ran was sent flying backward, crashing heavily among his group members.
"Y-you're a Martial Artist." Brother Ran pointed at him, his body twitching twice before he passed out.
As soon as they heard he was a Martial Artist, all the people Brother Ran had brought showed expressions of fear. They didn’t even bother with the ginseng anymore, hastily dragging Brother Ran away.
Old Cai didn’t seem interested in chasing them. He turned back around and spoke to a young man next to him. "Xiao Jin, take a look. How old is that ginseng?"
Xiao Jin picked up a ginseng root still covered in dirt, studied it for a long moment, then said excitedly, "Uncle Cai, this ginseng is at least eighty years old."
Everyone was overjoyed. "Eighty years? This is great, we’re going to make a fortune!"
"Last time, in our city, a sixty-year-old ginseng sold for 2.8 million at auction. An eighty-year-old one like this could definitely go for 4 million! Between the six of us, we could each get over 600,000!"
"Ha ha, I can finally afford to buy a house outright!"
Old Cai’s expression darkened, and he said, "Have you all forgotten? We need to give sixty percent to the families of Old Huang and the others for compensation."
The group fell silent immediately, exchanging reluctant glances.
Old Cai's face turned even sterner. "Have you all forgotten? When we were in danger up in the mountains, if it hadn’t been for Old Jin and the others risking their lives to save us, we would have died back then. How would we even have today? We agreed back then—every time we had a harvest, we would give sixty percent to their families."
No one said anything, but a man with a scruffy beard muttered, "Old Cai, over the last two years we’ve given them over a million. If we keep dividing like this, when is it going to end? I think we’ve repaid our debt by now."
"Yeah," another man added. "We risked our lives for this ginseng. Why should we give it to people who didn’t even set foot outside?"
There was dissatisfaction among the group, but Old Cai’s eyes were full of anger as he snapped, "Do all your lives mean only a million to you? Old Li's family has a son with cerebral palsy, and Old Fang's daughter is sickly. These are our benefactors."
The group seemed ready to say more, but Old Cai roared, "Enough! I’ve already made my decision! Anyone with objections is going against me!"
Though they were unhappy, no one dared openly defy him, intimidated by his strength. At that moment, I noticed a flash of resentment in the scruffy-bearded man’s eyes.
Old Cai waved his hand. "Let’s keep heading for the mountaintop, see if we can dig up anything else."
Yin Shengyao signaled me with a look, and we quietly followed behind them. When we reached the top of the mountain, they found a wooden cabin and decided to take a break. They divided up tasks—some boiling water, some cooking.
As they were eating, the scruffy-bearded man spoke again. "Old Cai, you've led us for years, and we respect you a lot. But you need to consider us too. We have families. My son is about to start high school, and I want to send him to a good one, but the enrollment fee alone is 200,000."
Old Cai’s expression turned cold. "Old Wang! The money you get from this is enough. I’ll say it one more time—if anyone disagrees, then don’t follow me anymore. I won’t force anyone."
Old Wang clenched his fists, and anger flickered in the eyes of the group.
"Old Cai, I get it, we won't talk about this anymore. Let's drink, drink." Old Wang didn’t push further, and everyone began drinking. Old Cai had a few shots of strong liquor, but then his expression suddenly changed. He threw his glass to the ground, shouting, "What did you put in the drink?"
After he spoke, his legs buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth.
Old Wang smashed his glass and stood up abruptly, shouting, "Old Cai, don't blame us for being ruthless. We did this for our families! We know you’re a good person, but good people don’t end up well. Look at your wife and kids, still crammed into that fifty-square-meter house. We don’t want our families to live like that."
"Yeah, Old Cai, we didn’t want this either." The others, though ruthless, had some guilt in their eyes.
Just then, the young man named Xiao Jin walked in with a big handful of mushrooms. When he saw Old Cai covered in blood, his face turned pale. "W-what are you doing?"
Old Cai, shocked, shouted, "Xiao Jin, run, run!"
Xiao Jin dropped the mushrooms and turned to flee. The men were all trained fighters, though not as strong as Old Cai. One of them rushed forward and punched Xiao Jin in the head, knocking him out cold.
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