Chapter 158: Even the Battle Chicken Has a Day When It Gets Defeated

Every time she came to the supermarket to collect food, Jing Shu would see worms constantly jumping out of her scalp. Some crawled into her nostrils, some into her ears, and when they got tired, they’d jump back out. She ignored the worms as if they weren’t even there.

Sometimes, when the worms became too much, she would casually remove them.

Even with her long, worm-infested hair dragging behind her, she still walked through the supermarket, indifferent to the shocked gazes of everyone around her. Sometimes, when her hair got too heavy, she would cradle her head full of worms as she walked. At night, to keep the worms from disturbing her sleep, she would wrap her face completely and let the worms wriggle around her head.

She once said, “I don’t care about these worms. They’ll die on their own in a few days. Once they’re dead, it’ll be fine.”

But every day, she still had to go out in the torrential rain to get her food from the supermarket. As long as her hair got even a little wet, countless red worms would swarm it...

She didn’t care about what people thought. Wherever she went, people would automatically clear a path for her—no one dared to provoke someone like that.

It wasn’t until later that people found out the truth. When she was 18, her childhood sweetheart had gone off to the army, telling her, “When your hair reaches your waist, I’ll marry you.”

He had gone to the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake to assist in rescue efforts but never returned.

From that day, she had never cut her hair again and remained unmarried ever since.

In this life, if Jing Shu ever had the chance, she would want to meet this woman again—someone who had once helped her.

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Jing Nai watched the rain for a long time, still not satisfied. The whole family stood at the entrance of the villa with their chopsticks in hand. Jing Ye was even more excited, exclaiming, “This rain is perfect!”

At this point, the benefits of the PVC canopy that Jing Shu had installed became clear. The heavy rain flowed down the four corners of the canopy, leaving the area within a meter of the villa entrance completely dry. The canopy extended far enough that even the walls of the villa didn’t get wet. But to be safe, Jing Shu had still scattered desiccants everywhere.

Meanwhile, their pet chicken, The Fat Chicken, was outside, prancing around in the rain, completely carefree—until its squawking suddenly changed.

Around the same time, anguished cries began to rise from the neighborhood.

“What’s going on?” the family wondered.

In the dim light, they noticed that The Fat Chicken’s body was covered with long, thread-like things. And it had gotten significantly larger.

In the end, The Fat Chicken came flying back towards the house, shrieking and looking for help. Its eyes blinked pitifully as it stared at Jing Shu.

Jing Shu set down her chopsticks and rushed forward, grabbing a large fork and stopping The Fat Chicken at the gate of the villa. She couldn’t let this chicken, covered in red worms, into the house!

Under the bright lights, the family could finally see what was happening. They all gasped in shock, and Jing Nai took a few steps back, exclaiming, “Oh my heavens, thank goodness I didn’t go outside!”

Jing Ba quickly moved to shield Jing Ma behind him. “What kind of worms are these? Are they poisonous? Is Number 1 still saveable?”

“What do we do now?” Jing Ma paced around in distress.

The sight of The Fat Chicken was horrifying, and the family couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The poor chicken was covered in writhing red worms, tangled in its feathers. Its head, its wings, even its legs were wrapped in the worms, making it look like a giant, grotesque ball of wriggling threads.

The Fat Chicken desperately pecked at its own feathers, trying to pull the worms off. But it pecked so hard that it pulled out chunks of its feathers along with the worms.

No sooner had it pulled out a few feathers than more worms piled onto the exposed areas, covering it completely. The worms were tightly bound together, making it impossible to pull them off one by one.

Just like the saying goes, "Strength comes from unity." One worm may be easy to deal with, but a bundle of them? Not so much.

The worms looked like vampires, suffocating The Fat Chicken, who was known for being a fierce fighter. Now, even it was at a loss.

The Fat Chicken looked helplessly at Jing Shu, glancing down at its body, then back up at her, as if begging her to remove these damned worms.

“Should we just use scissors and cut them off?” someone suggested.

“But wouldn’t we have to shave all its feathers off?”

“This chicken’s going to end up bald,” another remarked.

The family shuddered. Not only were there so many worms, but the fact that they had rained down from the sky was terrifying. The Fat Chicken had only been outside for a short while, yet it had come back looking like this. Would it even be safe to go outside again?

Wu Youai ran out of the house, holding her phone. “Don’t go outside! The rain is full of worms!” Then she saw The Fat Chicken, covered in red worms, clucking pitifully as the family stood around it.

“People in the group are saying they took a shower in the rain and ended up with countless worms tangled in their hair. They can’t get them off. I think it’s these worms, but so far, no one’s reported that they bite.”

Jing Shu held The Fat Chicken down with a fork and said to Wu Youai, “Go grab a bag of salt from the kitchen. Salt should work on these soft-bodied worms.”

Salt was the ultimate weapon against red worms!

But in the apocalypse, salt was a precious commodity. Most people didn’t even have enough salt to use on their food, let alone to deal with red worms. In her previous life, Jing Shu would rather have shaved her head than wasted salt on the worms. That’s how rare and valuable salt had become.

“Oh, I get it! Soft-bodied creatures like worms regulate their water levels through their skin. Salt disrupts that process by increasing the water density, causing their cells to dehydrate and shrink. You’re so clever, Jing Shu!” Wu Youai exclaimed as she ran to get the salt.

Jing Shu: “???”

Wu Youai, ever the academic, could take one simple statement and turn it into a biology lesson. Jing Shu had only just learned that explanation herself. If only she could be reborn back to her school days—she’d definitely study hard, strive for excellence, and steer clear of bad influences.

Wu Youai returned with the salt.

“Stand back, everyone,” Jing Shu warned as she sprinkled a generous amount of salt over The Fat Chicken’s writhing body.

The family watched nervously as The Fat Chicken, usually so mischievous and full of energy, stood still under the cover, looking pitiful. Normally, The Fat Chicken loved stealing Jing Ma’s white apricots, and Jing Ma would chase after it with a broom. The Fat Chicken enjoyed playing the game of “you can’t catch me” too much.

But despite all its antics, The Fat Chicken brought the family a lot of joy (and eggs), so no one wanted to see it suffer.

Soon, they heard the rapid clicking and tapping of worms thrashing around in the cover, growing fainter and fainter until the noise finally stopped. Jing Shu lifted the cover to reveal dozens of curled-up, motionless worms scattered on the ground.

The Fat Chicken let out a relieved cluck, shaking its feathers—except for the few patches it had plucked out itself, its feathers were still intact. The mighty The Fat Chicken had returned!

But when The Fat Chicken glanced back at the rain, its wariness was clear. It looked down at the dead worms, clucked twice in revenge, and ate them all.

“Oh my goodness, that chicken really scared me! What a tough little bird,” Jing Ma said, patting her chest in relief as she carried The Fat Chicken inside. “I wonder if you’ll still want to go outside and act crazy after this. Hopefully, you’ve learned your lesson.”

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Side Note:

Thanks to *Feng Qing Shi Yi* and *Liu Lihong* for the support!