darknovel Chapter 447 The winds of Chengdu eventually blew into the world of ghost stories.
Chapter 447 The winds of Chengdu eventually blew into the world of ghost stories.
The lottery proceeded smoothly.
One chosen one after another stepped forward, reached out, drew, unfolded, announced the result, and went to their respective positions.
Some looked relieved, some looked solemn, some were expressionless, and some had their lips tightly pressed together.
A few minutes later, the last chosen one finished announcing the result and quickly walked to the left.
The lottery draw is now complete.
Lin Feng glanced at the two camps and got a general idea of what was going on.
Group A has 14 members, and Group B has 14 members.
However, the composition of the two groups differs significantly.
On Group A's side, he immediately spotted three empty sleeves and an elderly man with gray hair and a hunched back.
In addition, there are four young women in Group A, all of whom are rather thin.
The remaining men were of decent physical condition, but overall, Group A's workforce was noticeably weaker.
On the other hand, let's look at Group B.
Lin Feng quickly scanned the people in his group.
Besides him, Wasim, and Evelyn, there were eleven other people.
Among them were two amputees—one was a white man in his thirties, and the other was a black man.
Neither of them were physically weak; the black man was even more muscular than most of the men present.
Of the remaining nine people, five were adult men, of varying sizes but all with intact limbs.
The three women were all of normal build.
There's another one...
Lin Feng's gaze fell on a familiar figure—
Martha.
An old lady from the Rose Country.
Martha seemed to sense his gaze, looked up, and forced an apologetic smile at Lin Feng.
"Sorry, I'm going to hold you back again."
Lin Feng shook his head, his tone resolute:
"Ms. Martha, you proved last time that experience and attention to detail are more important than physical strength, and we need you again this time."
Martha paused, something seemed to flash in her eyes.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end she just nodded and didn't say anything more.
Xia Ning's voice rang out at the right moment, interrupting the whispers in the crowd.
"The groups are settled. Next—come with me to get the stretchers."
She turned and walked toward the side corridor of the Zhaixin Hall, followed closely by the left and right deacons.
The others quickly followed.
After passing through a narrow passageway, Xia Ning stopped in front of a heavy wooden door.
There were no signs on the door, only a brass ring, polished to a shine.
The left steward stepped forward and kowtowed twice.
A voice came from inside, rough and deep, but the ending note rose, carrying an indescribable tenderness.
"Come in—"
The door was pushed open.
The room was dimly lit, and a strong smell of old wood and grease wafted through the air.
A man sat behind a long table, looking down and fiddling with something.
Lin Feng looked over, his gaze pausing for a moment.
This man was extremely rugged, with a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a stubble on his chin as dense as steel needles.
But his sitting posture was twisted, with one leg tucked behind the other and his waist slightly slumped down, as if he was trying to strike a pose that he thought looked good.
Hearing the noise, he looked up.
Those eyes, which should have looked imposing, blinked twice, their eyelashes fluttering slowly.
"You've come to collect the stretcher, right?"
He spoke.
That voice—a rough exterior concealing a soft, breathy tone—sent goosebumps to anyone who heard it.
"One set per group, don't take more than one."
He stood up and walked to the corner of the wall, where two stacks of stretchers were neatly stacked.
Lin Feng took a closer look and saw that this was not the kind of simple stretcher with a canvas in the middle of two long poles, but was made entirely of dark brown hardwood and looked extremely heavy.
The two main poles are about the thickness of an adult's wrist, and their surfaces are polished very smoothly.
Seven or eight cross braces were nailed horizontally between the two main poles, and a thick layer of animal hide was stretched over them.
This empty stretcher weighs at least fifteen kilograms, and possibly close to twenty kilograms.
If you were to lift up another adult corpse...
We still have to come down from the snow-capped mountain.
Just thinking about it makes you realize how difficult it must be.
Fortunately, the rotation is every five minutes, and—rules always have loopholes.
For example, Martha, and the one with the broken arm, when it was their turn to carry him, they just had to stay still for five minutes. The rules didn't say that carrying a stretcher required moving forward.
Several men from each team stepped forward, bent down, and worked together to carry the stretcher down.
Wasim gripped the stretcher's handles with both hands, weighed it lightly a couple of times, and frowned slightly.
"The advantage is that it is sturdy and durable, but the disadvantage is that it is too heavy, which is very unfriendly to people with weak constitutions."
The delicate girls in Group A paled instantly, while the Chosen Ones with missing arms looked dejected, clutching their empty sleeves with dim eyes.
Xia Ning glanced at everyone: "Time is of the essence. Put them on the stretcher and let's go."
The two people from Group A immediately took turns carrying the stretcher out of the room.
Just as Wasim was about to bend down to grab the handle at the front of the stretcher, Lin Feng suddenly reached out and pressed down on his arm.
"We don't need to go to that trouble."
With a flick of his finger, the heavy stretcher vanished instantly, stored in his personal space.
The room fell silent for a moment.
The burly administrator was leaning against the table, tilting his head to watch the commotion.
At that moment, his pupils suddenly brightened, and he stood up, twisting his broad shoulders, staring intently at Lin Feng.
"Yo—"
The voice was both rough and affected.
"Wow, this guy even has a magical space? That's amazing!"
As he spoke, he moved closer with awkward steps, his gaze roaming over Lin Feng's body.
"And those muscles, tsk tsk tsk... they look so solid..."
He stretched out his thick, large hand and reached straight for Lin Feng's arm.
"Snapped!"
A crisp sound.
Xia Ning slapped his hand so hard that it bounced back, leaving the back of his hand instantly red.
The administrator withdrew her hand, grimaced, and shook it twice, her voice even more delicate than before:
"Hey, Sister Ning, why are you touching me like that?"
Xia Ning glanced at her coldly, her tone icy:
"Watch your manners! This sacred place cannot tolerate such vulgar and frivolous behavior. Don't bring shame upon the sacred place."
........................
Studio:
"If I hadn't been online those two nights during Canon, I would have actually believed your righteous indignation, Sister Ning."
"So you think it's a double standard, allowing officials to set fires while forbidding commoners to light lamps? When you asked Brother Feng to help you pick chrysanthemums and clear out your inventory, why didn't you tell him to be mindful of his boundaries?!"
"Sister Ning: Only I can touch my people. If anyone else touches them, it's considered frivolous and a stain on the Temple's double standards. How adorable!"
"Haha, this is a warning of disgrace to the temple. I suggest Little Ningning give herself a ticket first."
"The winds of Chengdu have eventually blown into the world of ghost stories."
"Sister, your focus is... a bit off."