Chapter 59: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Two different odors mixed together, creating a deeply unpleasant smell that irritated the throat and induced an urge to cough. The interior walls were old, covered in numerous cracks. Ahead of me stood a sign reading "Claim Office," alongside a registration desk, yet not a single person was in sight.

Still, it was somewhat reassuring. Surely, this place had no need to worry about thieves—who on earth would steal a corpse?

Following the signs, I checked several rooms, including the registration office and others, but found nobody. Whom was I supposed to look for? I had no choice but to call out into the emptiness, "Is anyone here?"

The surroundings were so vast that my own voice sounded ethereal, though without an echo.

Just then, a strange sound drifted over.

"Hiss-hiss-hiss—"

I immediately stopped in my tracks and listened closely. It was a harsh, sharp noise, resembling something being rubbed against another surface—low-pitched yet rhythmic.

I twitched my ears and slowly traced the source of the sound.

"Hiss-hiss—"

Seeming to sense something, the sound suddenly slowed down. Could it be some unfamiliar animal?

I crossed the hallway of the front courtyard and entered a small courtyard within. In the middle of the courtyard stood a stout plum tree, looking ancient enough to have seen many years. As the old saying goes: "Plant a plum tree to bury the dead." This was not merely because plums are difficult to digest, but because plum trees inherently possess a Yin nature, which greatly benefits the departed. For a funeral home to plant one here was indeed fitting.

I had to admit, so far, this funeral home showed a refined understanding of these matters; whoever was in charge clearly knew their stuff.

I walked past the tree and continued further inside. The sound was coming from the room directly opposite.

As I drew closer, the noise abruptly stopped.

The surroundings fell silent once more. I froze for a moment, looked around, and spotted another sign:

[Temporary Morgue]

A morgue?

Had the sound just now come from inside the morgue? Had a corpse come back to life? Was it the sound of teeth grinding? Or had some animal gotten inside?

While my mind raced with wild thoughts, the strange sound echoed from within once again.

"Hiss-hiss—"

It was deeply rhythmic. I approached slowly, hesitating whether to go in. But considering I was practitioner of the mystic arts—even if just a rookie—surely I couldn't be too cowardly to enter a morgue?

After giving myself a mental pep talk, I took one step, then another, and walked inside.

The moment I crossed the threshold, the stench grew overwhelmingly thick, stinging my eyes and nearly making me cough out loud several times.

I peered inside. There were a dozen small beds, each just large enough for a person to lie on. All ten beds were covered with white shrouds, except for one—that bed was empty. Furthermore, the white cloth on it seemed to have been pulled away, crumpled up on the floor and conveniently blocking the view beneath the bed.

Seeing this, my heart skipped a beat.

Did a corpse really come back to life? Where did it go?

I hurriedly scanned the room, but apart from the ten beds, there was nothing else. The temperature had been set very low, causing me to shiver uncontrollably.

Could it be right behind me?

At this thought, I slowly turned my head to look.

"Whoosh—"

There was nothing behind me. I was merely scaring myself; presumably, there were only nine corpses to begin with, leaving one of the ten beds empty.

No sooner had this thought crossed my mind than movement came from beneath that empty bed.

"Hiss-hiss—"

This time the sound was much louder, and whether it was my imagination or not, I thought I saw the white sheet hanging by the bedside twitch slightly! However, the cloth blocked the view behind it.

I swallowed hard. I must have seen wrong...

"Hiss-hiss—"

The white cloth moved again. This time, I saw it clearly: the protruding shape beneath the cloth was round.

A round shape...

Was it a corpse's head? Was it staring right at me from behind the white cloth with wide-open eyes?

The thought of a dead person's face glaring at me from behind that shroud made my hair stand on end.

"Hiss-hiss—"

The sound continued, growing increasingly excited and accelerating rapidly.

I held my breath and fumbled frantically in my pocket, only to realize I had used up all three talisman papers I had previously drawn. Now, I only had blank yellow paper left.

Whether out of fear or the biting cold, my fingers trembled as I pulled out a sheet of yellow paper and tore off a strip with minimal movement. Then, with a firm bite, I pierced my already chilled fingertip. Relying on my memory from the book, I used my blood-slicked fingertip to draw a simple Corpse-Suppressing Talisman.

Though this talisman possessed no offensive power, I had tested it once before in Er-Pang's courtyard, and it was capable of temporarily paralyzing walking corpses and similar entities.

Just in case I pulled back the sheet later and it lunged at me, I would be ready to slap the talisman right onto its forehead.

Having prepared the talisman, I quietly crept toward the white cloth.

One step. Two steps. Three steps.

I felt as though my heart was about to stop. This fear of the unknown made it hard to breathe.

Finally, I reached the white sheet.

I took a deep breath. No matter what was hiding behind it, I was going to strike!

With that thought, I gritted my teeth and yanked the white sheet away!

"Rip!"

The white cloth fell with a rustle!

My other hand swiftly formed a hand seal and thrust forward, slapping the talisman directly behind the sheet!

"Damn you!"

"Four Spirits Heavenly Lamp..."

Before I could finish the first four syllables of the incantation, I froze in place.

What stood before me was not some terrifying corpse, but a man in his forties wearing glasses and a white lab coat. His face was obscured because my yellow talisman had plastered itself right onto the dead center of his forehead, blocking his features completely.

I blinked in astonishment, then looked down.

At that sight, the heart I had just managed to relax leaped back into my throat.

The lower half of this man was covered in blood—not his own, but splattered across his white coat. His hands were also stained red with blood as he gripped a long, massive saw!

The teeth of the saw were currently embedded in a person's leg, and blood was spurting out in jets!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Even though I knew the man before me was human, he was sawing off a woman's thigh! Seeing the minced flesh on the floor made my stomach churn with nausea.

The man stared blankly at me without moving.

After a few seconds, he slowly released the saw, peeled the yellow talisman off his forehead, and stood up.

He was tall, easily reaching one hundred and ninety centimeters. Standing just under one hundred and eighty centimeters myself, I looked up at him from the floor as if gazing at a giant. Beneath his white coat, slight bulges of muscle hinted that despite his scholarly appearance, the man had a robust physique. Combined with his rimless glasses, he looked precisely like the refined yet depraved criminal or psychotic serial killer often seen in movies, with the whites of his eyes slightly upturned.

A cultured, pedantic voice rang out: "Oh, I'm sewing a corpse. Is there a problem?"