Chapter 53: Searching the Streets for a Place to Stay

After seeing Xie Dadang off, my eyes fell on the two girls standing not far away.

The short-haired girl pulled her companion over.

"Handsome, thank you so much. I have no way to repay you, so I..."

What?

Is she going to offer herself in marriage?

Won't this female corpse beat you to death?

"I'll owe it to you for now. See you if we're destined, and I'll repay you then. Bye-bye!"

With that, she smiled at me and left.

However, my gaze was fixed on the feet of the long-haired girl.

The other party was wearing a long dress.

Commonly known as a floor-length skirt; if you didn't look closely, you couldn't see her heels at all.

Her heels weren't touching the ground!

Originally, I thought she was naturally taller than the short-haired girl, but now it seemed that she had been walking on her tiptoes the entire time.

Naturally, that would make her appear much taller.

Yet, I said nothing to the short-haired girl.

I still didn't want to get tangled up in this causal karma.

What everyone is meant to encounter cannot be determined by human will.

The moment I opened my mouth to warn her, the resulting karma would fall upon me.

Practitioners of the mystic arts.

Care even more about accumulating virtue and merit.

Until they completely vanished from sight.

Only then did I turn to the driver and say, "Keep the fare for the three of us."

As I spoke, I handed the money over.

The driver immediately pushed it back.

"Little master, you're slapping me in the face with this. I may be greedy for money and need to make a living, but I really can't take this cash. You saved everyone on this bus; if I were to take your money after that, I wouldn't even be human."

Although he had an unusual appearance.

His heart was truly warm and bold.

Seeing his stance, I insisted he take it anyway.

"Those of us who practice the Tao care deeply about these things. You must take it. But when you drive back, go to a supermarket and buy a piece of red cloth, sit on top of it, and drive all the way back like that. Once you get home, immediately set fire to that red cloth and burn it. After that, you can resume normal driving."

The driver was instantly stunned.

What? I'm still not in the clear yet?

As he spoke, he visibly grew tense.

I offered words of comfort: "Do as I say, and nothing will go wrong."

"Ah, alright, I understand. I'll go buy it right away. But I really can't take this fare, I..."

I turned around directly.

Shouting at Erpang, who was sleeping on the bus like a pig, "We've arrived, get off the bus, hey!"

Erpang blinked his eyes hazily.

Then got off the vehicle with a displeased expression.

I looked back at the female corpse on the bus.

"You should get off too."

The female corpse raised an eyebrow: "Are you sure you want me hopping around in a place with this much foot traffic?"

I instinctively glanced at the surrounding streets.

The city was different, after all.

It was a world of bright lights and bustling nightlife.

Full of neon signs.

The streets were wide, divided into lanes for traffic, and crowded with pedestrians on both sides.

It looked immensely lively.

This was my first time entering the city; I had never witnessed such a scene from childhood to adulthood.

If under these circumstances.

A female corpse were to follow behind, hopping along.

It would indeed be a bit...

Helplessly, I crouched down halfway near the bus door, turning my back to her.

Sure enough.

The familiar, soft pair of mounds pressed against my back.

Then, amidst the driver's astonishment, with Erpang leading the way and the female corpse carried on my back, I walked off into the distance...

Having recovered a good deal of stamina while on the vehicle.

I carried the female corpse on my back for a short while.

Before Erpang voiced a question: "I have a question, Tiangang. My dad and I have been to the city before; we need to find a hotel to stay at first. Does sister-in-law have an ID card?"

I froze instantly.

This was indeed a huge problem!

Who knows how long this female corpse had been lying in her coffin? As for a modern ID card...

Noticing me stop in my tracks.

The female corpse calmly said from my back, "We aren't staying at a hotel. Just keep walking forward."

"Forward? Where to?"

I asked the woman on my back.

She replied in a cold tone, "Just walk, don't ask!"

I had no choice but to lower my head and carry her forward.

I even felt like a donkey at that moment.

Serving as someone else's mount.

Moving only when whipped, with no idea where I was headed.

I walked whenever told to walk.

Turned whenever told to turn.

Finally.

An hour later.

My human-donkey experience came to an end.

We stood at a street corner.

The female corpse requested to get down from my back herself.

This street was different from the outer avenues; it was very narrow, deserted, and carried a desolate, chilly vibe.

It looked just like a pedestrian shopping street.

The ground was paved with uneven, intentionally antique stone bricks.

There were hardly any lights inside.

Flanked on both sides by storefronts with a very ancient architectural style.

Resembling many of the commercial ancient streets seen nowadays.

The architectural style was retro.

With red bricks and green tiles.

Scanning across the view, only a sparse couple of shops had their lights on.

Yet there was truly no one on the street.

I looked at the street before us and remarked, "Why does this look so eerie? Anyone who doesn't know better would think it's Death Street..."

The one who answered me wasn't the female corpse.

It was Erpang, who was loaded down with bags of food.

"Because this is the city's White-Affair Street!"

How did Erpang know?

Had he been here before?

I turned my head to look.

Only to see Erpang carrying a large pack, with a long strip of white cloth by his side.

It looked just like the funeral banners used for the dead.

Inscribed with flying calligraphy written in black ink were several characters:

[Longcheng Funeral Street]

Followed by a smaller line of text:

[Special Protected Heritage Site Approved by the Street Office]

Seeing this.

I felt a wave of embarrassment; I had been too busy carrying the female corpse to notice the sign on the side.

At that moment.

The female corpse began to hop along.

Entering the gloomy street.

Erpang chuckled: "Tiangang, with sister-in-law hopping around like this in Funeral Street, if anyone saw her, it'd genuinely scare them to death, haha..."

I slapped him across the arm!

"What kind of talk is that!"

Erpang immediately cried out in mock surprise: "Ouch, ouch, already rushing to defend her?"

I ignored him.

And followed the female corpse.

Stepping into Funeral Street.

It was remarkably refreshing here at night.

Since it was summer and naturally muggy, this street was an exception.

It felt exceptionally comfortable.

This wasn't solely due to the street's wind-tunnel effect.

Rather, it was the location itself.

Facing south with its back to the north.

And situated on superior terrain.

Possessing supreme Feng Shui.

Although I wasn't a Feng Shui master, I understood some basics—distinguishing the simple difference between auspicious and inauspicious.

That much I could still tell.

Besides, this was now a protected industrial heritage zone.

Which meant whoever chose this street layout back then was an expert, or at the very least, a master of Feng Shui.

I was truly like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

Experiencing the wider world for the very first time.

Just as I was taking in the sights.

The female corpse stopped abruptly without warning, causing me to crash directly into her in my distraction.

I accidentally bumped right into her backside.

The astonishing elasticity.

Almost made me blurt out the honest truth in an exaggerated fashion.

The female corpse seemed oblivious to my thoughts.

She raised her stiff arms and pointed at a building nearby, stating, "We're staying right here!"