Wen Yaozhi checked the time; he had been asleep for barely six hours. Half an hour later, Wen Yaozhi arrived at the funeral parlor. The moment he stepped into Meng Yili’s office, he asked, “Have you checked the surveillance footage yet?”
Meng Yili happened to be on duty today. Looking exhausted, she shook her head. “I haven’t looked. Everything has turned into a total mess.”
“What happened?” Wen Yaozhi frowned.
It was the middle of the night when he arrived, but the entrance to the funeral parlor was unusually hectic. At least four or five police cars were parked there, along with two ambulances.
“It is not just one body missing,” Meng Yili said, sitting at her desk and rubbing her temples. “It is three.”
Wen Yaozhi’s eyebrows quirked. On his way over, he had mentally organized his thoughts. Lu Xincheng had likely been resurrected just as he had predicted and left on his own.
“The police have already viewed the surveillance. They will probably form a task force, but I think it is useless. This matter falls within our area of expertise.” Meng Yili paused, a strange expression crossing her face. “Word is, they saw it on the monitors. Those three bodies all strolled right out of the main entrance on their own.”
“Are they all resurrected?” Wen Yaozhi immediately thought of the college student, Du Ye.
Meng Yili knew what he was thinking and shook her head. “Their situation is different from little Du. In medical terms, Du was merely in a state of suspended animation or a near-death experience. But those bodies in the morgue were well and truly dead.”
“And it gets even weirder.” Meng Yili looked through the gap in the curtains at the outdoor area illuminated by various vehicle lights. “One of the bodies has already gone home on its own.”
In fact, it was only after the family members called the funeral parlor that they realized the body was missing and checked the surveillance. That person had been dead for nearly half a month, but the family refused to agree to the burial, so the body had been kept in the freezer.
Meng Yili took out her phone and played a surveillance clip sent by a colleague. Wen Yaozhi watched it in silence once, then dragged the progress bar back to watch a specific section again. After finishing, he handed the phone back to Meng Yili. “Forward the video to me.”
As she sent the video, Meng Yili watched his expression. “Should we check his house? To see if he went home too?”
Wen Yaozhi rubbed his brow tiredly. Because he had been forcibly pulled from sleep, his eyes were slightly bloodshot. Just as he was about to speak, a familiar voice rang out from behind.
“Yaozhi, what are you doing here?” Cheng Su poked his head through the half-open door. He walked up quickly and familiarly rested a hand on Wen Yaozhi’s shoulder. “I was just about to call you.”
Wen Yaozhi glanced at the man, who was wearing a proper police uniform but still lacked any sense of formality. “Why are you looking for me?”
Cheng Su glanced at Meng Yili and jerked his chin toward her. “Xiao Meng told you everything, right?”
Without waiting for a reply, the impatient Officer Cheng continued, “Currently, one of the deceased is under police control. We haven’t found the other two yet, but it is only a matter of time. The tricky problem is that the people have indeed come back to life, but it is hard to say exactly what kind of things they have become. They definitely aren’t normal people.”
“You have seen them already?” Meng Yili asked curiously.
Cheng Su nodded, a look of distaste surfacing on his face as if he did not want to recall the sight. He clicked his tongue. “The appearance was too terrifying. I think something is bound to happen sooner or later, but the family refuses to let us take the person away. There is no precedent for this. The dead person hasn’t broken any laws, nor have they disturbed social order. The family member is a disabled old man. We can’t hit him or scold him. There is simply no way to handle it. How about would you mind coming with me tomorrow as a consultant to take a look?”
Cheng Su looked at Wen Yaozhi with a trace of undetectable tension in his eyes. Meng Yili snorted inwardly, thinking he would never go.
To her surprise, Wen Yaozhi was remarkably straightforward. “Fine. What time exactly?”
Cheng Su was overjoyed. “I will pick you up tomorrow morning.”
Meng Yili was astonished. “Aren’t you going to look for Lu?”
Wen Yaozhi interrupted her. “You should come along tomorrow as well.”
Meng Yili looked dazed for a moment, then curled her lip. “Fine, boss.”
A Dilapidated Old Residential Area
Arguments could be heard echoing in the stairwell.
“It is definitely coming from your house! I couldn’t sleep all last night. The smell is absolutely foul.”
As Wen Yaozhi and the other two reached the second-floor landing, they saw the door to the third floor half-open, surrounded by several neighbors.
“Is there a nest of dead rats under your bed? The stench is too much!”
“Yeah, exactly!”
An old man sitting in a wheelchair sat with a stern face, propping up a cane to close the door. “There is no such thing. Go away. Stop crowding around my door.”
An old man roughly the same age held the door open. “Old Wei, let me go in and check for you. Your wife is gone, and there is no one to look after you. What if there is something unclean in the house?”
The old man in the wheelchair changed expression and swung his cane unkindly. Frightened by his ferocity, the neighbor immediately let go. Before the security door could slam shut, a hand grabbed the handle.
Cheng Su was all smiles. “Elder Wei, I have come to see you again.” He skillfully shoved a fruit basket and milk into the gap of the door, then turned around with a stern face, quickly pulling out his ID. “Police business. No loitering.”
The crowd dispersed instantly. Using the fruit and milk as a wedge, he forced his way inside. He surveyed the messy, cramped living room, his gaze resting on the tightly closed bedroom door. Cheng Su exhaled and leaned down toward the wheelchair with a pleasant smile. “Everything okay, Elder Wei? Is the Auntie still resting?”
The old man did not give him a friendly look. “Take your things and leave. I don’t need the police here.”
Cheng Su good-naturedly pushed the gifts further in and opened the door wider. “I also brought two friends. They are powerful people who can help.”
Previously, this policeman named Cheng Su had offered to find a master to take a look. The old man shouted resentfully, “I told you I don’t need”
He saw the two people entering, and his voice cut off. The newcomers were two young people, a man and a woman who looked even younger than the policeman.
The man wore sunglasses, a hat, a leather jacket, and cargo pants. He was very tall, nearly hitting the doorframe, and his cold expression made him look like a cold-blooded killer from a mystery drama. The woman was also tall and slender, wearing a fitted grey dress with long, straight black hair. She was more beautiful than an actress on TV.
They were neither monks nor Taoist priests. Elder Wei was momentarily dazed, staring at them. He did not even register Cheng Su’s introduction. “These two are consultants for the bureau. They are experts at solving all sorts of strange and unusual cases.”
Meng Yili frowned slightly upon entering. The room was so filthy and cluttered that there was hardly any place to step. The old fabric sofa was full of holes, and layers of dust covered the coffee table. Even worse was the smell. If the neighbors upstairs and downstairs could smell it, it was unbearable at the source.
The pungent odor of a decaying corpse permeated every corner of the room. An ordinary person would have suffocated within two minutes. Fortunately, the three visitors today were not ordinary. they were well-acquainted with the dead.
Cheng Su gestured. “This is Elder Wei.”
Meng Yili nodded at the old man. Wen Yaozhi’s gaze was hidden behind his sunglasses, making it impossible to tell where he was looking.
Cheng Su dropped his slick smile and turned serious. “Elder, is Auntie’s health really okay? Why not let these two take a look? Maybe they can help.”
The old man was over seventy and had seen much in his life. The moment the two young people entered, he sensed an unusual aura. Furthermore, they seemed completely oblivious to the smell in the room. Just who were they?
While Elder Wei was wondering, a voice came from inside. “Old man, do we have guests?”
Elder Wei’s body visibly stiffened. Three pairs of eyes turned toward the closed bedroom door. The door was pushed open slowly, and a figure hobbled out.
It was a woman with graying hair, wrapped in a thick padded coat. She walked very slowly, appearing to have difficulty moving her legs. When their gazes landed on her face, everyone’s breath caught. The face was a sickly blue-gray, her lips were black, and her skin was covered in large patches of purplish-red mottled spots. In some areas, it had even begun to ulcerate. It was obvious that a living person’s face would never look like this.
Old Wei turned his wheelchair to meet her, rebuking her in a low voice, “Why did you come out? Didn’t I tell you to stay inside?”
The woman did not react to the reprimand. She simply lifted her eyelids flatly, her gaze unfocused. “I am a bit hungry.”
Old Wei drove his wheelchair to a low cabinet, took out some snacks, and shoved them into her arms without another word. “Have some of this first. I will cook for you in a moment.”
“Good. I suddenly want to eat the braised tofu you make.”
Hearing this, Old Wei’s gaze softened again. “Okay. The tofu is bought. I will make it for you right away.”
The woman nodded slightly to the young people in the living room. “Forgive our poor hospitality. I have troubled you.” Having said that, she dragged her stiff steps back into the bedroom.
Once the bedroom door closed, the brief tenderness on the old man’s face vanished. He turned his head aggressively. “You heard that? My wife needs to eat. I don’t have time to waste with you. I need to go buy”
Cheng Su reacted quickly, grabbing the vegetable basket hanging on the back of the door. “I will go buy the tofu. You three chat first. Wait for me to get back.”
Old Wei’s words were choked back. He returned to the living room with a cold face and pointed bluntly at the broken sofa. “Sit.”
Wen Yaozhi sat down immediately. Meng Yili gasped. She did not sit, but moved a few steps closer to the side of the sofa, leaning down to whisper in Wen Yaozhi’s ear, “What do you think?”
Wen Yaozhi was concise. “Living corpse.”
Meng Yili nodded, but a trace of confusion remained in her eyes. It was indeed a living corpse, but she had never seen one with such clear autonomous behavior and consciousness.
Their voices were very low, so Elder Wei did not hear them.
“You have seen her. What did you find?” The old man’s tone was one of obvious impatience.
Wen Yaozhi sat with his legs slightly apart, leaning forward with his fingers interlaced over his knees. “As someone close to her, have you noticed anything unusual since she returned?”
The old man became agitated again. “I already told the police. She is my wife. She isn’t a ghost or a monster. We have shared a bed for over fifty years. I know my own wife.”
His voice was naturally loud. He had been hot-tempered in his youth, and in his old age, disability and the loss of his wife had made his temper even more extreme and perverse.
Wen Yaozhi was entirely unaffected by his emotions. His voice remained steady and firm. “Has your wife smiled at you since she returned?”
Old Wei frowned. The young man’s unyielding attitude silenced him, but he was clearly puzzled by the seemingly nonsensical question. “What do you mean by that?”
Wen Yaozhi did not answer his question and continued. “What about crying? After such a long separation, did she hold you and cry?”
Old Wei remained silent, seemingly lost in thought. After a long while, he shook his head. No, since his partner returned, her emotions had been very stable. So stable that he actually found it a bit eerie.
But he would not tell outsiders these things. No matter what, he did not want to lose his wife again.
“The memories are there, but her emotions are clearly missing.” Reminded by him, Meng Yili recalled the strange feeling from earlier. The woman could communicate normally with others, yet she was different from before. She hadn’t shown any emotion throughout the entire interaction.
Wen Yaozhi turned his head to Meng Yili and concluded, “One of the three souls is missing. Let’s try to summon the soul later.”
Cheng Su returned with the tofu and some takeout dishes. He watched the old man roll his wheelchair into the tiny kitchen. “Do you need help, Elder?”
Then his eyes widened. He saw the gray-haired disabled man grip the armrests tightly and, with a grit of his teeth, stand up.
“You” Cheng Su’s eyes nearly popped out. It was as if he were seeing something completely absurd. His usually silver tongue stumbled. “Your your legs are better?”
Elder Wei stabilized himself with great difficulty. Looking closely, his calves were trembling uncontrollably, and his face was flushed red from the effort. Cheng Su rushed over to support him, but the old man waved him away. Then, leaning on his cane, he moved to the stove with extremely unsteady steps.
Cheng Su whispered to himself, “That is impossible. How is this possible?” The shock on his face was heavy. He turned to Wen Yaozhi and explained in a low voice, “The doctors clearly said it was impossible for him to stand again.” Cheng Su had researched the old man’s condition before coming. He had been in a wheelchair for nearly ten years. At this age, there was no possibility of rehabilitation. The doctor’s verdict was a lifetime in a wheelchair.
A table of food was set. Five stir-fried dishes with a large plate of braised tofu in the middle, the rich sauce looking very appetizing. Five people sat crowded around the broken small square table. It looked full of the warmth of daily life, but it was actually quite strained, as Old Wei did not even have five chairs. Cheng Su had to borrow some from the neighbors. Moreover, if Cheng Su had not bought the food, Old Wei probably would not have let them sit at the table at all.
Old Wei’s wife was named Qin He.
Cheng Su smiled pleasantly. “Auntie Qin, does the food suit your taste?”
Qin He actually had a very good appetite. “The food Xiao Cheng bought is delicious. It was freshly made, right? Thank you for the trouble. The tofu Old Wei cooked still has the old flavor, though he used too much dark soy sauce today. The color isn’t great.”
Listening to her somewhat talkative chatter, Cheng Su felt a bit dazed. If one ignored the rotting body and the foul stench, the woman beside him really seemed like a normal living person. From a certain perspective, he could understand Elder Wei. If it were his own family returned from the dead, he might not be willing to lose them again either.
Qin He finished an entire bowl of rice by herself. After putting down her chopsticks, Cheng Su asked tentatively, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
“No. Is the rice Old Wei cooked too hard? Xiao Cheng, why aren’t you eating?” Qin He noticed that Cheng Su had not touched his food at all.
In fact, except for her, no one else at the table had really used their chopsticks. Even Old Wei only took a few symbolic bites of rice. There was no helping it. With such a strong smell of death, it was difficult enough just to keep from vomiting. Eating anything was out of the question.
Qin He looked around and seemed to realize the problem lay with her. She did not say anything, but stood up slowly, cleared the dishes, and went into the kitchen, pulling the sliding door shut behind her. “Old Wei, take the kids out to eat. It is not good to be hungry.”
Old Wei was clearly unwilling, but since his wife had spoken, he had to comply. He began grumbling as he prepared to leave. Everyone reached the door, but Wen Yaozhi did not move. “You guys go ahead. I have something to ask.”
Amidst the sound of running water, Wen Yaozhi looked at the back of Qin He as she washed the dishes. He asked the question he had really come to investigate. “Last night, at the entrance of the funeral parlor, a person stopped you. What did he say to you?”
Qin He placed the dishcloth on the counter and recalled, “That child was handsome and very kind. Seeing that it was difficult for me to walk, he asked where I was going and offered to take me. He accompanied me all the way home and left once we reached the building. I asked him to come up for a cup of tea, but he did not agree. He left in a hurry.”
Cheng Su’s car was parked downstairs. After Wen Yaozhi got in, the car slowly drove away from the residential area.
Meng Yili turned around from the passenger seat. “Did you get what you wanted to ask?”
Wen Yaozhi nodded. “Drop me off at the next intersection.”
Cheng Su turned his head in surprise from the driver’s seat. “You aren’t eating? Elder Wei is taking us to a restaurant!”
Wen Yaozhi said casually, “You guys go.”
“Sigh, you really have no luck with food.”
Wen Yaozhi did not respond, looking out the window instead. Surveillance cameras were everywhere on the city roads. Now that Lu Xincheng had a physical body, he was no longer as ethereal as a soul and could be captured by cameras at any time.
Lu Xincheng, what exactly are you trying to do?
The answer would probably only be found in person.
That evening, Wen Yaozhi received a call from Cheng Su. There was a lot of background noise on Cheng Su’s end. He was likely still working overtime at the police station. “We couldn’t find him. Lu Xincheng last appeared at the foot of Yang Mountain around six in the evening. Looking at the direction, he was heading up the mountain.”
“Yang Mountain?” Wen Yaozhi confirmed the name.
“That is right. It is a barren mountain. The adjacent Meishan range used to be an ecological reserve. The terrain is steep and the vegetation and wildlife are very complex. Hikers used to like going there, but after a few wild animal attacks, no one dared to go anymore. It is very quiet now.”
“Okay. How did the soul summoning go for Qin He?”
Cheng Su went silent.
“It failed?” Wen Yaozhi did not seem surprised.
Cheng Su’s voice sounded tired. He had been working non-stop, and the nature of the case was affecting his mood. “Yes. There has been no change in Auntie Qin’s condition. If there is really no other way later, we will have to restrain her. Otherwise, the social impact will be bad.”
Wen Yaozhi seemed distracted. “I see.” He seemed to think of something. “Wasn’t there another body that left? Has that person been tracked?”
Three bodies had gone missing from the funeral parlor. Qin He had returned home. Besides Lu Xincheng, there was a middle-aged man named Ma Xingye.
There was a strange silence on the other end of the line. After a while, Cheng Su spoke with a peculiar tone. “I was just about to tell you. This is a bit eerie. The other person’s last appearance was also at Yang Mountain.”
“The same place?”
“Yes. They were recorded by the same surveillance camera. Only he was earlier, around three-thirty in the afternoon.”
There was a two-and-a-half-hour difference between them as they entered a barren mountain one after the other.
“The police and rescue teams are going to search the mountain. Are you going too?”
Wen Yaozhi was brief. “Yes, I will go take a look.”
Cheng Su, looking at the pile of documents on his desk, felt a headache coming on. “Sigh, what is all this? This man named Ma clearly has his household registration in the city. Now that he has finally come back to life, why would he run to that godforsaken place? What was he thinking?”
“Check if there were any intersections in the lives of Ma Xingye and Qin He before they died.”
Wen Yaozhi hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, and headed out. A black heavy motorcycle roared onto the elevated highway.
Organizing the timeline: after Lu Xincheng woke up yesterday, he left the funeral parlor, first sent Qin He home, and then, for some purpose and through some method, followed Ma Xingye to Yang Mountain. He was certain Lu Xincheng had a specific goal. Because in Qin He’s description, he had left in a great hurry, indicating his target was very clear to catch up with Ma Xingye. Therefore, whether the resurrection of these two bodies was related to Lu Xincheng remained to be seen.
Everything would be clear once they met.
The barren mountain at night was pitch black. A flock of unidentified black birds took flight, their wings rustling and shaking down countless leaves. From deep within the dense vegetation, the faint low growl of wild beasts could be heard.
Slippers stepped on piles of fallen leaves, making a slight crunching sound. Lu Xincheng, wrapped in a white lab coat he had swiped from the funeral parlor, continued deeper into the dense forest. After walking for an unknown amount of time, he suddenly stopped.
Lu Xincheng turned in a circle. Strange. He is gone.
Before leaving the funeral parlor, he had used soul power to mark Ma Xingye’s body. He had followed the mark all the way, but strangely, in this middle-of-nowhere mountain forest, the mark had vanished. Lu Xincheng peered over a steep cliff. Even if the man had jumped from here, there would be residual soul power in the air, but there was nothing. The faint white smoke had been abruptly cut off right here.
As he stood in a daze, the night wind brought sounds from the foot of the mountain. The barking of dogs mixed with police sirens reached his sensitive ears. They were likely looking for him and Ma Xingye. After all, when two bodies disappear from a funeral parlor freezer, it is normal to mobilize a search party in the middle of the night.
Just as he was thinking this, a growl came from his stomach. Lu Xincheng had been walking all day and hadn’t eaten anything.
A dark shadow darted through the trees with extreme speed. As it flew past him like a bolt of lightning, Lu Xincheng reached out and grabbed it. A black bat covered in fur was held in his hand, its wings firmly restrained. The tiny creature could only struggle, baring its sharp teeth.
Lu Xincheng stared at the ugly face that looked almost exactly like a rat. His Adam’s apple bobbed. His mind recalled the deliciousness of his last meal.
In front of the mirror, Wen Yaozhi had turned his head slightly. His expression was tense, and his muscles were equally tight. The blood vessels on the side of his neck were clearly visible. The deep teeth marks and the faint scent of blood emanating from them were like the most fatal temptation, making it impossible for Lu Xincheng to refuse the invitation to that feast.
Lu Xincheng closed his eyes as if the faint fragrance of that blood-mixed skin were once again drifting into his nose. He suddenly let go.
The freed bat spread its wings and streaked past him like a meteor, following a large group of dark shadows into the abyss. Lu Xincheng watched the receding flock of bats thoughtfully. He suddenly realized that the bat just now was very strange.
He hadn’t deliberately observed such nocturnal animals before, but would their eyeballs be grayish-white? The sight made Lu Xincheng inexplicably think of zombie movies he had seen.