Corpse Retriever

Early in the morning, in the tulou courtyard, Runsheng was making breakfast.

Breakfast was simple. He threw in huge handfuls of dried noodles first, then chopped up some vegetables and cured meat and tossed them in too. Done.

Ever since coming here, everyone’s three daily meals had basically been staple food all dumped together and stewed into one pot. Mainly because it was convenient.

There was no helping it. In a house full of grown men, the best cook was still Runsheng. The only woman was willing to help, but nobody dared let her get near the cooking pot.

“Did you add salt?” Yin Meng asked.

“I did,” Runsheng replied.

“Oh, good.” Yin Meng put the little spoon back into the salt jar, then set the jar on the ground.

Runsheng bent down, picked it up, and added several more spoonfuls of salt to the pot in a row.

Yin Meng emphasized, “I know this is salt.”

Runsheng emphasized right back, “I know everyone is eating this together.”

Used to it by now, Yin Meng sat down to the side and spread open her palm. That black Gu insect, like a cockroach, darted out from her sleeve and landed in her hand.

As Yin Meng kept turning her palm and shifting her fingers, the Gu insect moved like a mountaineer, constantly climbing and advancing.

Yin Meng was having a great time with it.

The tulou door was pushed open, and Xue Liangliang came in with two people.

One was Cui Hao. The other was Li Ren.

Xue Liangliang had called both of them down from the broken temple up in the mountains.

Although Li Ren’s leg injury still had not completely healed, he could at least walk with the aid of a wooden stick.

The two of them were filthy, with messy hair and scruffy beards, and their arms and legs had gotten thinner. Even though they had lost a lot of weight, they looked more alert instead.

Still, fear and caution still flickered in their eyes. Clearly, that encounter with the ghost had left them with deep psychological trauma.

Yin Meng asked Xue Liangliang curiously, “How did you manage to get them down?”

Xue Liangliang sat down and answered, “I told them the construction crew was coming back this morning. If they still didn’t come down, then the truth about them abandoning their posts and skipping work couldn’t be hidden anymore, and they’d get fired. So they came down.”

Hearing that, Yin Meng wanted to laugh, but held it in and kept playing with the Gu insect in her hand.

Maybe life up in the mountains had been too miserable and they had had enough. Or maybe their fear of getting fired had outweighed their fear of ghosts.

In any case, they had accepted their fate.

After washing up, cleaning themselves, and shaving, the two changed into clean clothes.

When the construction team returned, their former coworkers saw what state they were in now, and sympathy rose in everyone’s hearts.

Even the highest-ranking leader began reflecting on whether he had gone too far. The two were just unlikeable in personality, nothing more. They had not deserved this.

Xue Liangliang kept their absence from work a secret for them.

He felt that for ordinary people, running away in terror in that kind of situation was only human nature.

What came next was the formal handover and reintegration on the work side.

Actually, there were no technical difficulties to speak of. The main issue was the sort of matter that was not suitable to discuss openly.

In the end, during a small closed-door meeting, Xue Liangliang patted his chest and guaranteed that during the New Year period, he had invited a highly virtuous eminent monk from Guiyang to come here and conduct a ritual.

Although everyone still felt somewhat uneasy, once work got going and they found there were not so many bizarre accidents anymore, they gradually came to accept it.

Just like Cui Hao and Li Ren. As they slowly resumed contact with the villagers and their coworkers, they began to believe that they had not seen ghosts at all, but had eaten poisonous mushrooms that day and suffered severe hallucinations.

Li Zhuiyuan, along with Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou, put on hard hats and joined the work as well.

After all, this was what they were studying, and it counted as a rare internship opportunity. Since it needed doing, they might as well do it.

Watching the once-stalled construction site change day by day really did bring a sense of accomplishment.

It was just that Li Zhuiyuan usually stayed with Xue Liangliang, holding drawings, while Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou worked more on the front line.

With the return of the construction team, the village became lively again.

Many people who did supporting business for construction sites started showing up one after another, such as those providing meals for workers. People like that often understood the progress of a project better than ordinary laborers did.

Once the work here was done, they would go look for the next site. Competition in this line of work was low, the customer base was steady, and aside from the hardship and constant travel, the income was quite good.

A room in the house next to the tulou was rented by two older women, and a sign reading “Massage, Cupping” was hung out front. Business was booming.

Quite a few workers would sneak out in the middle of the day for a massage. Otherwise, if they waited until quitting time at night, they would have to stand in line.

After a stable period like this, Xue Liangliang began preparing to leave. His task had been technical assistance, so he did not need to stay until the project was completed.

After discussing it with the person in charge from the construction unit, they settled on a departure date: the day after tomorrow.

Everyone started making their final preparations before leaving, and they really did all have things to do.

Wen Xiushan, supported by his disciple Acai, came to the tulou and asked Li Zhuiyuan to go up to the Miao village and take a look at Amei’s condition.

Li Zhuiyuan took Lin Shuyou with him and went.

On the night of the Miao village banquet, Li Zhuiyuan had already known that the Amei who had kept staring at him was a fake.

But under those circumstances, it really had not been convenient for him to expose the fake Amei’s identity. They still had to go to Old Hag Bian’s lair afterward, so there was no need to alert the enemy.

After the fact, he had not gone to the Miao village to ask about the real Amei either.

Because there had only ever been two possibilities:

Either the real Amei was fine, or the real Amei had already been murdered.

Whichever possibility it was, there had been no need for him to ask further.

But the facts proved that sometimes you cannot view this world too rationally, especially when it comes to people.

Amei was still alive, but she seemed as though she had been possessed. She could only sit there blankly with her eyes open.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Wen Xiushan.

The old man’s face reddened in shame, and he lowered his head.

It was Wen Xiushan’s disciple Acai who explained that over the past several days, his master had tried all sorts of methods, yet none had succeeded in waking Amei up.

That explanation only made Wen Xiushan even more embarrassed.

Li Zhuiyuan could not understand why the old man had not called for him sooner.

There were people from their village working at the construction site. They would have known that Li Zhuiyuan had been there this whole time.

What the boy did not understand was the deeper logic behind this foolish behavior, though he did know why the old man had acted this way.

Maybe he had felt too embarrassed to ask Li Zhuiyuan again. He wanted to use the methods of his own Miao village to wake Amei up. To the old man, it was a matter of face.

If he had not failed again and again, and if he had not learned that Li Zhuiyuan was about to leave, he might still not have swallowed his pride and come personally to ask for help.

Li Zhuiyuan examined Amei’s condition. There was no malevolent aura on her body. She had not been possessed, had not been inflicted with Gu, and had not been cursed.

She had simply been frightened too badly and shut herself off inside.

In other words, she had been scared witless.

So all the rituals and maneuvers Wen Xiushan had done before had been completely useless.

Li Zhuiyuan had someone arrange a quiet room for Amei, then stayed alone with her and entered her closed-off inner world through hypnosis.

Half an hour later, the sound of Amei crying came from inside.

Once her heart had opened and the terror of that night had been released, all she needed next was quiet rest and to avoid further stimulation.

Wen Xiushan wanted to invite Li Zhuiyuan to stay for a meal as another expression of thanks, but Li Zhuiyuan declined.

The problem had been solved too quickly, and it was still early, so he and Lin Shuyou left the Miao village.

On the hike back, Li Zhuiyuan made a detour up the mountain to Zhao Jun Temple.

The broken stone stele had been buried under large rocks again. Zhao Yi had probably done that.

Because Cui Hao and Li Ren had neither the inclination nor the strength for it.

Li Zhuiyuan sat in the ruined temple, feeling the wind and watching the blue sky and white clouds for a while.

As he let his mind go blank, he also tried to imagine whether Zhao Wuyang, after suppressing Old Hag Bian back then, had once sat here like this as well.

Before leaving, the boy symbolically pulled out some newly grown weeds inside the ruined temple.

Lin Shuyou climbed onto the roof of the temple, wanting to clear away some vines, and accidentally knocked down another corner of the roof.

“Brother Little Yuanhou, I...”

“It’s fine. The Dragon King won’t mind.”

This temple had been built here in the first place to look out over and intimidate the sealed Old Hag Bian, not to receive incense offerings.

As they went back down the mountain, beside the tulou, they ran into Tan Wenbin coming out of the room rented by the two older women next door.

Tan Wenbin twisted his neck and stretched lazily, looking utterly relaxed and pleased.

The sign out front did say “cupping,” and the women really did have cupping jars.

Still, Tan Wenbin was the only customer who had genuinely gone there for cupping.

The older women’s cupping skills were crude. After all, they were not real professionals.

But right now, Tan Wenbin happened to suit this crude technique well. After ordinary people finished a cupping session, at most there would be a little moisture fog inside the cup. Even getting a few droplets out would count as very heavy dampness. But when Tan Wenbin’s cups were removed, water would actually pour out.

What he had was not heavy dampness. It was heavy yin energy.

Those two little brats had swallowed too much resentment, and now they were suffering indigestion, dragging their godfather into it too.

Li Zhuiyuan had once suggested that he could use an array to shave off part of the resentment and relieve Tan Wenbin’s suffering.

After hesitating again and again, Tan Wenbin had still refused.

He said that ever since the two children had been born, they had never had a good life. This time, being able to have one full meal had not been easy for them either.

Tan Wenbin had just lit a cigarette at the door when one of the older women came out, brushing back her hair and holding a packet of medicinal plaster.

She said she had brought it from her hometown, and that it worked really well when applied.

Tan Wenbin made a show of reaching for money, but the woman slapped him twice, and the two of them laughed together.

Soon, the other older woman came out too, also with a cigarette in her mouth, while handing Tan Wenbin a scarf she had just finished knitting.

The scarf was not long, and it had no special pattern, but the stitches were very tight.

Tan Wenbin immediately hung it around his neck.

Knowing that he was about to leave, the two women had given the scarf to Tan Wenbin as a farewell gift.

Both women had straightforward personalities. There was no question of anyone being forced into it. They had come here on purpose, planning simply to make some money and leave. They were earning money through labor. Back home, both had husbands and children, and their husbands also knew what kind of work they had come out to do.

After returning to the tulou, Tan Wenbin asked in confusion, “Where did Mengmeng and Runsheng go?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “They told me before they left. They were going down to the bottom of the lake one more time.”

Tan Wenbin said, “Mengmeng still wants to keep catching bugs?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head.

Although Yin Meng had been the one to bring it up, he knew it was not because Yin Meng wanted to go.

…

Runsheng said, “You could stay on shore and wait for me.”

Yin Meng said, “Your body still hasn’t fully recovered. I’m not comfortable letting you come down here alone.”

The two made their way forward and arrived at the main hall of Zhao Jun Temple in the deepest part below.

The ground here was densely studded with crystals, and impact marks were everywhere.

Yin Meng sighed with emotion. “Back then, Brother Little Yuanhou really didn’t have it easy fighting here.”

After saying that, Yin Meng’s attention turned to the crystals. She tried touching them with her hand, only to discover that their insides had already deteriorated. The moment she touched one, it crumbled into dust and fell away.

It was not just because the hydroelectric project had changed the feng shui here. Old Hag Bian herself had also been one of the necessary conditions for those crystals to form.

Yin Meng felt a little regretful.

Runsheng walked to Old Hag Bian’s headless corpse. The corpse was still there, but when the “boy” had been born, it had drained all of her life force, which meant she had basically already been boiled down again and again like stripped bones with no flavor left.

Yin Meng asked, “If I hadn’t helped you speak to Brother Little Yuanhou and ask to come down here, would you not have come at all?”

Runsheng answered, “Mm.”

Yin Meng said, “You don’t want Brother Little Yuanhou to know you eat this kind of thing? Honestly, he definitely already knows.”

Runsheng said, “Little Yuan is smart. He definitely knows.”

Yin Meng shrugged. She could understand this awkwardness of his.

On the one hand, he had an intense craving for these things, almost an instinct.

You could even say that the incense he had with every meal was just a substitute for “that kind of thing.”

But in front of Little Yuan, he would always unconsciously suppress that urge. He did not want to ruin his image in Little Yuan’s eyes, even if it was just self-deception.

The “boy” had exploded into ash, leaving no remains behind.

And luckily so. Otherwise, if the corpse had really been left behind, looking at its face, which had been almost identical to Little Yuan’s, Runsheng really would not have been able to bring himself to eat it.

Yin Meng spoke again. “If Zhao Yi had gotten here first, would Old Hag Bian have chosen Zhao Yi as the template for the child?”

Runsheng said, “Probably.”

Yin Meng sighed. “Then it probably would’ve been easier.”

Runsheng said, “That’s true.”

He crouched back down on the altar and lowered his head to look at the dried Gu child corpse in front of him.

He picked up the dried corpse as though lifting an oversized dry-fried bullfrog.

The bones were hard and sturdy.

Runsheng swallowed.

Yin Meng reminded him, “He’s a Gu child. Anything that carries Gu is poisonous.”

Runsheng said, “But he smells really good.”

Yin Meng replied, “Then eat it.”

Runsheng opened his mouth and was just about to bite down when he suddenly stopped and pulled back.

Yin Meng asked, “What is it?”

Runsheng said, “Go out for a bit.”

Yin Meng said, “Wow. So now it’s not just your image in front of Brother Little Yuanhou you care about, but your image in front of me too?”

“I’m used to eating this kind of thing alone.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll wait outside.”

Yin Meng walked out. There, in front of her, was a large mass of rotting chunks of flesh.

She raised her hand and flicked it forward. The Gu insect flew out, landed among the rotting meat, circled around a few times, then ran back, crawled up Yin Meng’s pant leg, and returned to her palm.

Yin Meng stretched out a finger and flicked it over onto its back.

With a laugh, she scolded it,

“Your mouth’s gotten picky too, huh?”

After waiting a long time, Runsheng finally came out.

Yin Meng turned to look at him and found that not only were his eyes blood red, but the expression on his face kept shifting between calm and feral.

She had said it long ago. Eating a Gu child would cause problems.

And now, the problem had appeared.

Yin Meng said, “If I’d known, I should’ve had Brother Little Yuanhou come down and keep an eye on things.”

Runsheng said, “Little Yuan doesn’t want to turn me into that.”

Yin Meng said, “And isn’t that right?”

Runsheng looked at the rotting chunks of corpse outside, all caused by himself, and said, “If I could have been just a little stronger, then back then I could’ve dealt with them and gone in to help Little Yuan.”

Yin Meng fell silent.

Runsheng sat down. “Wait for me a bit. I need to recover.”

“Okay,” Yin Meng said.

Runsheng closed his eyes.

The Qi Gates all over his body kept opening and closing, but this time, the waves of air dispersing from him carried a faint poison.

The Gu insect in Yin Meng’s hand gave a warning, its two long antennae constantly crossing together.

After putting the insect away, Yin Meng backed up a fair distance.

She waited for more than an hour.

Runsheng rose from the ground and opened his eyes. This time, both eyes were completely red.

Yin Meng said, “You’re fully poisoned now.”

Runsheng said nothing.

Yin Meng said, “This is bad. When we get back, Brother Little Yuanhou is definitely going to scold us.”

Runsheng still said nothing.

Yin Meng said, “Do you still have enough self-awareness right now?”

As she spoke, Yin Meng started walking outward and motioned for Runsheng to follow.

Runsheng began stepping forward.

“Hoo...” Yin Meng let out a breath of relief. As long as he could still walk, that was good. No matter how serious the problem became, once they got back to the tulou, Brother Little Yuanhou should have a way to deal with it.

And so Yin Meng led in front while Runsheng followed behind.

“If only you’d be this obedient when I take you shopping for clothes later.”

Hearing that, Runsheng, whose eyes were blood red and face expressionless, suddenly showed a look of pain.

When they reached the outermost platform, Yin Meng reminded him, “We’re about to go into the water.”

Runsheng stopped. He no longer moved forward.

“What’s wrong with you?” Yin Meng asked with concern.

Runsheng crouched down and picked up a blackened stone. He rubbed its surface with his hand. After the corroded discoloration on top was wiped away, it revealed a dark golden soft texture underneath.

It was a piece of gold.

White Crane Child had once killed two Dead Sinkers here. Those two Dead Sinkers, like the noblewoman at the construction site, had also been buried wearing gold and silver.

After the Dead Sinkers died, they dissolved into putrid fluid, corroding and concealing those precious ornaments, but a few remnants could still be found.

Runsheng handed the piece of gold to Yin Meng.

Yin Meng reached out and took it.

Then she looked up into Runsheng’s eyes and saw that the red had faded. He had already returned to normal.

Yin Meng said, “You’re fine now?”

Runsheng said, “Mm. I’m full.”