Corpse Retriever

Her flesh had completely fallen away, and her skeleton crumbled into powder.

Granny Yu had been utterly annihilated.

Back then, that Dragon King had started it. Now Li Zhuiyuan had come to finish it.

She had probably died feeling deeply aggrieved.

Before she had fully revived, and crazed from start to finish, she had barely managed to do anything at all. Early on she was like a mad bull; later, she was like a beaten cur.

But she truly deserved no sympathy.

And Li Zhuiyuan certainly did not feel in the slightest that he had won unfairly.

Back then, she had stood outside the threshold carrying those two cursed lanterns especially written for Ah Li.

Something that only knew how to bully children had no right to talk about whether it was worthy or not. Did it really think it was something important?

Li Zhuiyuan picked up a tree branch nearby and began poking through Granny Yu’s ashes.He did not care whether anything useful turned up. The act of rummaging through them was its own reward.

Bang!

The White Crane Child threw a punch and blew apart the old woman’s head, completely ending her final breath.

It had done it on purpose.

It had controlled the pace on purpose, deliberately letting the old woman die a moment later so she could witness Granny Yu’s end.

Now the Child stood facing Li Zhuiyuan, watching what he was doing. Disdain surfaced in its eyes once more, as though it had never expected him to stoop to something so crude.

Li Zhuiyuan could not be bothered with it at all and simply continued enjoying the pleasure of looting the corpse.

Every emotion he could stir up was precious to the boy, especially this kind of happy, positive feeling.

He could learn many things quickly, but this sort of emotion was the one thing that, no matter how hard he worked at it for so long, he could only experience and never reproduce on his own.

Having only the outward expression without the inward reality was called acting.

“Hm?”

He really did turn something up.

Hidden beneath layers of thick corpse ash, he hooked out a piece of bone. It was about the size and shape of a Chinese chess piece, ancient and smooth in texture, with evenly spaced knobby ridges around the edges, giving it a strikingly symmetrical beauty.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out a talisman he had drawn himself from his pocket.

The talismans Ah Li drew all had targeted effects. The ones the boy drew himself were more like pH test strips.

Thankfully, they were genuinely sensitive.

He stuck the talisman to the bone, and the paper did not change color.

Granny Yu was truly dead. There had been no accident, and nothing of her remained.

When he reached out and touched it, he could clearly feel a slick, fluid smoothness, as though it possessed some quality that could amplify emotion. The instant he touched it, the pleasure in his heart increased.

It was a real effect, absolutely not psychological, because that was precisely the kind of function the boy lacked.

Li Zhuiyuan wrapped the bone up and put it into his pocket.

When he got back, he could hand it over to Ah Li as crafting material for the girl. That would also count as helping lighten the burden on the ancestors of the Qin Clan and Liu Clan a little.

He turned sideways toward the reservoir, crouched down, and started washing his hands. Then he scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on his face, washing that too.

“Hah...”

That felt good.

He was not at the point of complete exhaustion, but he really was tired.

In the moonlit reflection on the water’s surface, the White Crane Child appeared at his side.

He knew it was angry, but he truly did not care.

Now that he had formally entered the jianghu, carrying the inheritances of the Qin Clan and Liu Clan, he represented the Heavenly Dao in suppressing evil things.

This was no longer that night on the school sports field, when it had still been able to use his raising ghosts as a pretext to act against him.

Now, if it dared do that, it would have to risk losing everything it currently had. The Heavenly Dao was watching.

An official place in the system was precious. It had better treasure it.

Li Zhuiyuan flicked the water droplets from his hand. When he turned toward the White Crane Child, it lowered its head slightly, its vertical pupils fixed on him in a deadly stare, as though issuing a warning.

“Sorry. This time was an accident. It won’t happen again.”

Hearing that, the Child straightened back up.

It knew there were some things it could not do. Since the boy before it had changed his earlier attitude, it would leave things there and preserve appearances.

But in reality, what Li Zhuiyuan meant was that this job had been done too roughly. The reason was that Zhuangzhuang, acting as a temporary operator, was unfamiliar with the work.

Next time, Li Zhuiyuan would handle it personally. He would definitely be able to increase the pressure step by step and achieve sustainable overfishing.

Of course, that was only if Lin Shuyou could still be saved.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and first pulled out the four talisman needles for Dissolution of Evil.

The talisman paper had already changed color, and the needle tips had rusted. They could not be reused, so he simply threw them away.

When it came to removing the sealing talisman needle, Li Zhuiyuan hesitated for a moment. But after catching sight of Tan Wenbin hurrying over in the distance, he stopped hesitating and pulled it out directly.

In an instant, the vertical pupils in Lin Shuyou’s eyes vanished, and his whole body went limp, collapsing to the ground like a punctured balloon rapidly deflating.

The good news was that he was no longer bleeding.

The bad news was that there was not much blood left in his body.

His skin had turned an alarmingly waxy yellow. Normally, if an elderly person at home looked like this and the family still had not prepared white mourning cloth and black armbands, the relatives and neighbors would scold them for being unfilial and making the elder leave the world uneasy.

Panting hard, Tan Wenbin ran over. Seeing Lin Shuyou in that state, he thought the man was already gone.

“He’s dead?”

Li Zhuiyuan replied flatly, “Not yet.”

“You mean he’s about to be?”

Li Zhuiyuan tugged open Lin Shuyou’s sleeve and saw two red strings tied around his wrist.

“He won’t die. Someone is praying for his blessing.”

Tan Wenbin said in surprise, “Prayer actually works?”

“Does he have a tattoo on him?”

“He does. Last time I took him to the infirmary to change into a patient gown, I saw it. Down below his ribs, just above his navel, there’s a painted opera mask. I even said he looked dull and honest, but privately he was kind of unexpectedly spicy.

“He told me his grandfather had tattooed it on him personally, and it had hurt for a long time.”

“Then that’s it. It’s not just prayer. When he suffers sickness or disaster, as long as he doesn’t die in one breath, the other end has a chance to extend his life for him.”

“That powerful? It can even extend his life?”

“That should be a trait of the Officers of the Command Banner. They really do get into accidents far too easily.”

Li Zhuiyuan felt that the beings they invited down all fought according to their own style and did not care too much about the condition of the spirit medium’s body. Over time, that had forced the mediums to develop methods for preserving and extending their own lives.

But in the current situation, it seemed like even that was having trouble holding him together.

Li Zhuiyuan’s eyes sharpened. First, his fingertips caught the two red strings on Lin Shuyou’s wrist. With a gentle rubbing motion, the strings grew brighter and more vivid.

“Brother Binbin, pull up his shirt.”

“Got it.”

Lin Shuyou’s shirt was lifted, revealing a damaged opera mask above his navel.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed down with his fingertips and traced along the strokes to complete the mask. There was no pigment on his fingers, but as he sketched over it, the color in the original lines faded and seeped into the cracks. It was like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The whole thing became much paler, but it truly had been repaired into a complete, usable form.

After that, although Lin Shuyou’s face was still waxy yellow, as if he were gravely ill, his breathing finally steadied.

Li Zhuiyuan returned to the reservoir to wash his hands again and asked, “Brother Binbin, can you still carry someone?”

“No problem.”

Tan Wenbin was already utterly worn out tonight, but if he did not carry him now, was Little Yuanhou supposed to do it?

Grinding his teeth, Tan Wenbin reached down with both hands and hoisted Lin Shuyou onto his back. Though he staggered a little, he managed to steady himself.

The three of them made their way slowly back to where the acrobat troupe was.

The people inside the inner-ring formation were still trapped there.

The outer-ring formation was still active. It could effectively block the commotion here from spreading and also keep unrelated people from getting close.

A lot of the ghost-wall stories people passed around in society happened when someone went to a remote place late at night. Sometimes it was not because they had run into something unclean, but because they had accidentally wandered into a formation someone had just set up.

Li Zhuiyuan had originally come back to retrieve his bag, but the moment he picked it up, he sensed movement ahead.

Thump.

Tan Wenbin directly dropped Lin Shuyou onto the ground.

Then he grabbed the Yellow River Spade and slowly approached.

He suspected it was one of the acrobat troupe’s stragglers, someone who had not stepped into the formation, or who had managed to slip out through some bizarre coincidence.

At a time like this, there was no need to show mercy. They were part of a child-trafficking gang, so killing one was killing one.

But when he pushed aside the grass in front of him, a little boy poked his head out, his big eyes staring at Tan Wenbin, who had raised the shovel.

“Huh, it’s a kid?”

Tan Wenbin lowered the shovel.

Liangliang had been frightened by Tan Wenbin. Instinctively, he turned his gaze toward the younger-looking Li Zhuiyuan. He felt the older brother in front of him looked fierce, so the younger one must surely be gentle.

“Big brother, save my dad. My dad’s inside. My dad’s in there.”

Li Zhuiyuan ignored him and simply continued organizing his hiking pack.

Tan Wenbin asked, “Kid, where’s your dad?”

“Over there.” Liangliang pointed toward the acrobat troupe’s supply tent. “My dad bit through the rope for me with his teeth. He told me to run.”

“Little Yuanhou, looks like he’s not one of the traffickers. Should we help out?”

“Brother Binbin, whatever makes you happy.”

Li Zhuiyuan pulled a can of Jianlibao from his hiking pack, opened it, and started drinking.

Carrying the shovel, Tan Wenbin took Liangliang to the supply tent. When he lifted the flap, he saw extremely exaggerated signs of battle inside. There was no need to guess; the White Crane Child and the old woman had definitely left them behind.

Inside was a row of iron cages, already twisted out of shape. A man was lying on the ground, both hands and feet bound, blood all over the corner of his mouth.

The ropes used to tie children were not as thick or tight, so he had been able to bite through those with his teeth. But the ropes on his own body were beyond what a child could deal with. And he had not dared let the boy stay there any longer, so he had kept urging him to run.

Tan Wenbin crouched down and used the sharp edge of the Yellow River Spade to cut the ropes.

“Dad, Dad!” Liangliang threw himself onto Xu Dong.

“Liangliang, didn’t I tell you to leave?”

“Dad, I brought Brother Binbin to save you.”

“The police are here?” Xu Dong let out a long sigh of relief. “Officer, I’m guilty.”

“When the real police get here, you can tell them that.”

After cutting the ropes and freeing the man, Tan Wenbin did not delay any longer. He returned to find Brother Yuan and left together with him.

When they passed a roadside phone booth, Binbin first lowered Lin Shuyou from his back and let him sit leaning against one of the booth’s pillars. Then he stepped inside and called his father’s pager.

After hanging up, Tan Wenbin said to Li Zhuiyuan, “Little Yuanhou, let me carry the hiking pack.”

At that moment, Li Zhuiyuan had the huge hiking pack on his back, Lin Shuyou’s bag in his right hand, and a half-finished bottle of Jianlibao in his left.

“No need. I can carry it.”

You could tell from this alone that the boy’s physical foundation had already been built up.

Still, with Runsheng around in ordinary times, he never needed to do this kind of work, and he much preferred riding on Runsheng’s back, because that was easier.

“It really isn’t tiring when you’re carrying a person. That’s basically resting. Heh. If carrying a person wears you out, then what kind of Corpse Retriever would you be?”

As Tan Wenbin spoke, he reached over to take the bag from Li Zhuiyuan.

Just then, Lin Shuyou, who had been leaning against the phone booth’s pillar, tipped sideways. There happened to be a rock on the road, and with a thud, his head smacked directly into it.

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at Lin Shuyou with the Jianlibao bottle and said:

“Brother Binbin, you’d better take good care of him. Don’t let them wear themselves out over there desperately performing rituals to keep him alive, only for you to get him killed here.”

“Oh, right, right, right.”

Tan Wenbin helped Lin Shuyou back into position and at the same time kicked away the rock that had dared launch a proactive attack on him.

“I think it won’t be long before someone from Lin Shuyou’s hometown comes to the school.”

“Little Yuanhou, I understand.”

Within a short span of time, Lin Shuyou had suffered two serious injuries in a row. This one was especially outrageous.

His hometown would definitely send someone over afterward to inspect the situation.

They were probably also wondering what exactly was going on. How had their kid come here for college only to keep channeling gods and fighting evil things every few days? Just what kind of dragon’s pool and tiger’s den was Jinling City?

What Li Zhuiyuan meant was for Tan Wenbin to keep Lin Shuyou steady and deal with whoever came from his hometown, so that no trouble would arise.

Tan Wenbin signaled that he understood. He would be responsible for “taking good care” of him.

Even though Lin Shuyou was unconscious and could not hear any of this, saying things too plainly would make it pointless.

Still, this matter was not a major problem. Li Zhuiyuan believed Tan Wenbin could handle things on that end, and the straightforward Lin Shuyou was pretty easy to coax anyway.

Most likely, when he woke up, his first sentence would not be a demand for answers, but self-reproach instead: Sorry, this was my fault. I failed to deal with that old woman in time.

Ring ring ring!

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