Chapter 63

Chapter 63

After carefully preparing the dishes, he slowly wiped his hands and stood a distance away, quietly observing the diners as they tasted.

A killer, after committing a crime, hides back into the crowd, secretly returns to the crime scene, and touches the warning tape hung there.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know which type he belonged to; perhaps, neither.

Because the current him was still far from being able to extract emotional value from others.

But vaguely, in the depths of his inner self, he had already touched a faint flame, very weak, yet truly burning.

Just like the relaxation and investment he felt while drawing corpses at home, at this moment, he was also full of interest.

He had inherited Li Lan's illness, which was a desert of emotion, but even in a desert, cacti could grow.

And his barren emotions could also be influenced by corpses to produce fluctuations.

This discovery was very difficult to tell outsiders; not only would they find it difficult to understand, but they would also think he was crazy.

It didn't matter, anyway A Li would understand.

Li Zhuiyuan decided that after seeing the girl in Shancheng, he would carefully tell her these feelings and let her also share in the joy of his improving illness. This was a secret whisper between the two of them.

At this moment, the gazes of the corpses were all focused on Li Zhuiyuan.

The boy knew they could see him.

But he didn't feel fear; the retreat of the white frost under his and Runsheng's feet just now indicated their attitude.

At least for now, they could still maintain some clarity and knew who was helping them get revenge.

As for what changes would happen to them after the revenge ended, whether they could still remain clear-headed, honestly speaking, even Li Zhuiyuan himself didn't hold much hope.

The ancestors of the Qi clan had left countermeasures for their descendants, but they never expected that so many unjustly deceased corpses would remain under this village in the future.

When the feng shui layout here was changed by him, turning the blessing into a curse, and echoing with this large group of corpses, more unpredictable changes would inevitably occur.

Traditional corpses would dissipate after completing their revenge, but here, the difficulty of dissipation would greatly increase.

Fortunately, he had already let Runsheng destroy the exit here, so these corpses would not come out to harm people.

The only potential hidden danger was, if a colleague with Taoist skills came in the future, saw the beautiful mountains and clear waters here, sat down cross-legged to perform a walk-yin ritual, then the ending would inevitably be incomparably miserable.

Even Li Zhuiyuan only dared to come and appreciate this feast of revenge at this very moment.

After today, he wouldn't dare to perform walk-yin and enter here again.

The corpses didn't move; the previous "Please enter" seemed unable to motivate them.

Li Zhuiyuan had to urge again:

"Hurry up, the dishes are getting cold."

The restaurant was open for business and it was still self-service.

Finally, the corpses accepted Li Zhuiyuan's invitation and filed in.

Immediately, ear-piercing sounds of panic and screams transmitted from inside, mixed with a gunshot.

Li Zhuiyuan straightened his clothes a bit; this action was redundant in the walk-yin state.

But just as Shan Daye taught Runsheng not to eat the skin of sweet potatoes, life itself needed a little sense of ritual.

Walking back to the ancestral hall felt like stepping into a demon's den.

Li Zhuiyuan walked calmly, passing through.

He had been to this ancestral hall several times, whether in reality or in this spatial interlayer, but each time he returned, he would have different feelings, like the distinct scenery in a scenic area during the four seasons.

"Pa ji..."

A pool of red and white splashed onto his shoe surface.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped, instinctively wanting to bend down and wipe it clean, but then he suddenly realized that this fundamentally didn't dirty him.

He lifted his foot, and his shoe surface was still clean.

He walked into the hall, sat down on a bench facing the courtyard.

It wasn't over yet, far from it.

The flame of revenge needed to burn as long as possible; the light it emitted could barely bring that slightest comfort to the victims.

If these executioners, whose hands were stained with blood, died too straightforwardly, that would be truly letting them off lightly.

Li Zhuiyuan rested his elbows on his thighs, his chin in his palm, and just watched quietly like this.

Despairing wails, miserable pleas for mercy, collapsing shouts, all kinds of sounds intertwined together, unexpectedly harmonious, like a master personally conducting a symphony.

The scene was clearly very noisy, but he was not very willing to speak, afraid of disturbing the performance on stage.

A smile hung on the corner of the boy's mouth.

What a pity, there were no "outsiders" here.

Otherwise, if someone walked to the door of the ancestral hall and looked inside, the bloody twisted background, and in the far distance in the center sat a boy with a smile on his face, this would be a truly perfect composition.

Time, just one minute and one second passed, without a clear rhythm of prelude, development, climax, and ending, it would only go from the beginning directly to the climax and then stop abruptly.

At this time, a person, or more accurately, half a person, crawled to the boy's front; it was the village chief.

Behind him was a long trail of blood, also sprinkled with intestines and various offal.

Logically, he should have died long ago, but he was still "alive," his hands still quite strong, scratching the ground bricks incessantly, he still had a desire to survive.

Such a target of revenge was often more fun; he was more reluctant to let him die at once, wanting to chew out all the juice bit by bit like sugarcane.

Beside him, driving the village chief like a dog, was Zhu Yang.

The village chief had already crawled over, but Zhu Yang was still standing in his original spot, looking at the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan pointed behind him with some doubt, Zhu Yang didn't move a step, but put both hands on his stomach and slowly pulled it open.

Like double doors, his chest was opened up like this, filled with books, scattered on the ground.

Some were still relatively intact, while others had long since shattered into pulp.

The quality of these mimeographed pirated books was indeed very poor; after being soaked in water, the ink dyed Zhu Yang's abdominal cavity black, like a layer of stove ash had been smeared.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at him with some lack of understanding, and soon, the boy understood.

Inside Zhu Yang's chest, near the ribs, a book was still clamped.

This book was very well preserved; even when soaked in water, it still circulated a comfortable glossy texture.

Li Zhuiyuan was very familiar with this texture.

At home, he had books of the same material, just like Wei Zhengdao liked to use... Buddha-skin paper.

Zhu Yang reached out and pulled out the book; his two ribs even trembled a few times because of this.

He put the book and handed it to the boy's front.

A line of words was written on the cover: *Chronicle of the Qi Clan*.

At first glance, the book title was very similar to the very famous *Lüshi Chunqiu* in history.

But Li Zhuiyuan was very clear that the records of the Qi clan ancestors, whether it was the family inheritance of repairing imperial tombs or later settling here to focus on researching this interlayer space, if they casually intercepted a part of their family experience and recorded it, it would be of immense value.

It was just that he was in the walk-yin state now and could come into contact with it, but he couldn't change the real object.

He had always been somewhat dissatisfied with the position of the bench he was sitting on, but there was no way to move it, and this was the only bench in the whole field that was still standing, all the others had fallen; there was no way, he could only make do.

In short, the boy now couldn't even do a simple action like flipping a page of a book.

He had a little regret, it seemed he shouldn't have been so anxious to let Runsheng destroy the exit.

Of course, this bit of regret was merely emotional; it was impossible for him to risk releasing the corpses for the matter in front of him.

Zhu Yang didn't go chase the village chief again; perhaps his part was already finished, and the remaining part would be taken over by other corpses.

Everyone had a demand for revenge, but the perpetrators were limited after all, so they could only wrong the perpetrators like a long centipede, providing happiness for the crowd.

Zhu Yang sat down in front of Li Zhuiyuan and put the book on his lap.

Li Zhuiyuan could only lower his head and look at it with him.

Zhu Yang was a person who liked to read books; this *Chronicle of the Qi Clan*, perhaps due to its location, was just in the deep part of the pool, and it was exactly him, who had turned into a corpse, who took it over.

If there hadn't been this coincidence of fate, this book would probably have been very difficult to have another opportunity to face the world; in fact, being transferred from the deep part of the pool to here was just completely blocking the possibility of this book facing the world again.

Zhu Yang flipped open the first page; it was all five-colored dots of various sizes.

He flipped open another page; it was still dense dots of various colors and sizes.

Li Zhuiyuan stared wide-eyed; he knew this was his only chance to read this book, so he was trying his best to remember the content of every page.

He knew his memory wasn't good, not comparable to the two classmates in the previous class who truly had photographic memory.

Therefore, he could only scan each page a few times in the gaps between Zhu Yang flipping the book; this way, he could ensure he remembered it.

As for deciphering the content on the stones on the wall of the ancestral hall, that was not urgent; there would be plenty of time later.

The process of flipping the book ended very quickly; after flipping to the last page, Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and closed his eyes, quickly reviewing all the previous pages in his mind.

When he reopened his eyes, he found that Zhu Yang's body began to tremble; the nails on the hand holding the book began to grow and turn black, and even his exposed ribs appeared pitted with corrosive dents; wisps of thick black pus dripped down like ink drops.

He was gradually changing, step by step completely losing himself.

In fact, when flipping the book to the latter half earlier, Li Zhuiyuan had already noticed that the other party's hand was trembling, as if trying hard to suppress something.

Now that the book was finished, Zhu Yang finally didn't need to suppress the ferocity that had been restrained in his body for a long time.

And at this time, the feast of revenge also finally stepped into its end.

But the corpses were generally still not satisfied.

Li Zhuiyuan was clear that he couldn't continue to stay here; he estimated that it would be about half an hour, almost there.

He wanted to do a death count to facilitate reporting the number of fear-crime fleeing people in this village to the police.

But there was a piece here and a section there, the entire ancestral hall was filled with them, and several were even hanging from the beams; it was fundamentally impossible to count.

Forget it, let's go.

Before leaving, Li Zhuiyuan said to Zhu Yang in front of him: "I will transfer a fee for flipping the book to your home."

Zhu Yang's eyes were originally already red, but after hearing this sentence, they suddenly cleared up a bit, although very briefly, he did understand.

One matter was one matter; he carried the four of them the whole way, also to find people and press the car for courage; Brother Liangliang not only bought cigarettes and food but also settled the meal money;

The corpses under the water voluntarily built a floating bridge, guiding the four of them to leave the dark pool; he also awakened them so they could personally seek revenge;

Above, both sides owed nothing; only the flipping of the book just now, he owed the other party this separate favor and should return it.

The surrounding corpses silently gathered towards Li Zhuiyuan; they were following the fierce instincts that were gradually awakening within them.

"Roar!"

Zhu Yang let out a low roar; two rows of ribs pierced through his skin, framing him in front; his cold gaze swept around, causing the corpses that had just approached to collectively retreat two steps.

Li Zhuiyuan found it somewhat hard to imagine what this place would develop into in the future; would they all be trapped here, would it not turn into a new Gu cultivation field?

Finally, what would it cultivate?

Fortunately, they couldn't get out.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and ended his walk-yin. When he reopened his eyes, he saw Runsheng preparing to pinch his hand.

"Brother, I'm awake."

"You wait, I'll wake up Xiaoyuan first."

Runsheng pinched him.

"Hiss... Brother, I'm awake."

"Ah, oh, hehe." Runsheng scratched his head awkwardly.

"Brother Runsheng, let's go."

"Okay."

Runsheng bent down, indicating for the boy to get on his back.

"Brother, I can walk by myself."

"You're tired, I'm full."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and wiped the dried bloodstains from the corner of his eyes, finally climbing onto Runsheng's back.

They didn't walk through the village; they still went around the mountain.

By the time they reached the mountaintop, it was already noon, the sun was bright, dispelling the damp atmosphere in the mountains.

Going down the mountain and around to the main road, a police car and a truck quickly drove up.

In the back seat of the second police car, the figures of Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang appeared; they excitedly reached out and waved.

Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng also got into the police car; the police car didn't sound its siren, stopping in front of the village entrance, and the policemen rushed into the village.

The expected fierce resistance and difficult arrest didn't occur, because most of the young men and women in the village seemed to have "fled due to fear of crime."

Many victims' bodies couldn't be found, but there was too much criminal evidence left in the village; almost every household had it, which meant every household had participated.

There was also a mountain gully specially used to bury and process vehicles.

Zhu Yang's truck hadn't been processed yet, so Xue Liangliang and others went up to retrieve their luggage, while Li Zhuiyuan took a letter from Zhu Yang to his wife and daughter, which included their address and a phone number in the village.

Although the handling process involved too many bizarre aspects, there was no doubt that this was a major case, and even in the context of the current crackdown on car bandits and road bullies, it only caused a relatively large stir.

Perhaps many years later, when someone hears about "car bandits and road bullies" again, they will feel strange and doubtful, as if it's hard to believe that such things actually happened in reality.

It's also possible that some well-meaning people will specifically go to find those sealed archive bags, and when they turn to this case, they will unfold many conspiracy theories about the various inexplicable details in the case.

But, those are all matters for later.

As pure reporters, Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin were not detained for too long.

Perhaps it was because they knew Xiaoyuan would do some special things, so when they reported, they kept it in mind and only said that they happened to be playing in the forest nearby that evening and witnessed the scene where Zhu Yang, who was staying in the big truck, was surrounded and harmed, hiding and entering the village.

After learning their destination, the police station originally wanted to send a vehicle to directly send the four of them to Shancheng.

But Xue Liangliang still refused, saying he didn't want to trouble the police, and only accepted being sent to the next city, from where he would buy a train ticket himself.

This time it was a hard seat, but fortunately the time wasn't too long.

"Shancheng has arrived, passengers going to Shancheng please check your carry-on items and prepare to get off, wake up, Shancheng has arrived!"

The train attendant's voice woke up many people's beautiful dreams; this wasn't the terminal station, so half of the people wiped the corners of their mouths and got up to get their luggage, while the other half changed to a squatting or leaning posture and continued to sleep.

The four of them walked out of the train station, everyone's expressions were a bit listless; whoever experienced such a segment during their journey would find it hard to be cheerful.

Fortunately, although the incident was very big, everyone's mentality adjusted very quickly; after all, they had all "seen the world."

At the entrance of the train station, a large group of old aunts held signs promoting their small hotels and soliciting customers; some simply reached out and directly grabbed your luggage.

Xue Liangliang chose the aunt who didn't shout about special services.

He chose correctly; although this hotel wasn't big, it was very clean; the boss opened a multi-person room with four small beds close together inside.

The four of them put down their luggage and after washing up one after another, they just lay on the beds and snored.

Li Zhuiyuan slept lightly; he woke up after only three hours and then couldn't fall back asleep; he just sat on the bed and stared blankly at the curtains gradually dyed bright by the sunlight.

After the others also woke up successively, everyone checked out and went downstairs to a breakfast shop to eat.

The boss's wife first used Chongqing dialect to ask what they wanted to eat; Tan Wenbin and Runsheng who were walking in front didn't understand.

Seeing that outsiders had come, the boss's wife slowed down her speech, speaking out word by word slowly; although it was still Chongqing dialect, she probably thought this was very standard Mandarin.

Xue Liangliang walked over and laughed: "She's asking you how many liang you want to eat, boss, two bowls of three liang wontons, want clear soup."

"Want yo, what about you?"

Tan Wenbin: "Red soup wontons, three jin."

Runsheng: "Chongqing noodles, five jin."

Boss's wife: "..."

In the end, they were made.

Tan Wenbin used the largest bowl in the shop, as for Runsheng, he used a basin.

Touching the edge of the basin, Runsheng felt a kind of intimate and familiar feeling of being back home.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't eat his three liang wontons, so Xue Liangliang even scooped some into his bowl.

Tan Wenbin and Runsheng, however, ate until they were sweating profusely; finally, Runsheng even drank the soup bottom.

It was after breakfast, so there weren't many people in the shop; otherwise, it would definitely cause a crowd to watch.

After the meal, Xue Liangliang hailed a taxi and took the four of them to a hotel in Guanyinqiao; it was a hotel, or rather a guesthouse, that his new unit cooperated with.

Yesterday they arrived at night and just slept after entering the hotel, so now, everyone could finally appreciate the scenery of Shancheng.

This was a very charming city; it had both modern buildings and facilities, and also remnants of the last era; many histories merged harmoniously here, and matched with its undulating terrain, it formed Shancheng's unique charm.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that it seemed unnecessary to deliberately go to scenic spots; even just simply taking a car and traveling in this city was a perfect enjoyment.

The specifications of the new hotel were much higher; Xue Liangliang took out his documents and introduction letter to register; he had one room on official expense and opened another room at his own expense.

The hotel was on the eighth floor and had an elevator; Runsheng was riding the elevator for the first time, such a big person, he stood inside somewhat awkwardly.

After entering the room, Xue Liangliang said he wanted to go to his new unit first to report and go through the procedures; tomorrow he would bring everyone to specifically tour the scenic spots for a good time; Tan Wenbin and Runsheng planned to stroll around near the hotel first.

Li Zhuiyuan dialed the number Liu Yumei had given him in the hotel; the person on the other end of the phone was a male voice; after inquiring about his hotel address, he asked Li Zhuiyuan to go downstairs; the car was already waiting downstairs.

This surprised Li Zhuiyuan very much, so fast?

Coming to the hotel lobby, he indeed saw a brand new black sedan parked there; the driver, wearing white gloves, got out of the car and walked over to inquire:

"May I ask, is this Young Master Li Zhuiyuan?"

"My name is Li Zhuiyuan, but I'm not a young master."

"Please get in the car."

The driver proactively helped open the car door; after Li Zhuiyuan sat in, he turned his head and saw a woman with a fashionable perm and orange waves, carrying a bag, running out in a hurry; her high heels made urgent sounds on the ground, "drip drip da da."

"What are you doing, what are you rushing about, wasn't it just going to be dinner time? Why did you suddenly have to call me down?"

Immediately, the woman saw the boy sitting in the back seat and asked with a bad mood:

"And, who is he, why is he sitting in my car?"

The driver said neither humbly nor overbearingly: "Young Master Li is the Old Master's honored guest, Madam, the Old Master instructed to drive to Spring Garden now; if you don't want to go, you can."

"You..."

The woman was very angry, but she still suppressed it strongly.

The driver opened the passenger seat door for her; seeing the situation, the woman pouted discontentedly, but finally sat in.

Only then did Li Zhuiyuan realize that this vehicle was prepared for this woman, and it was temporarily changed to pick him up because of his phone call.

Spring Garden was on a mountain; which one specifically, Li Zhuiyuan wasn't clear, because Shancheng was all mountains.

After passing the security booth and driving in, Li Zhuiyuan observed the environment here; it should be a Chinese-style private high-end club, generally only used by the master's family or for entertaining honored guests, not open for business to the outside.

After getting off, a noble middle-aged woman came to lead the way.

The woman in the passenger seat got off first, nervously tidying her hair and collar, putting away all her previous arrogance, and restrainedly called out:

"Sister-in-law."

The middle-aged woman ignored her; after seeing Li Zhuiyuan get off, she showed a smile, walked over, and proactively held Li Zhuiyuan's hand:

"Young Master Zhuiyuan, please follow me."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded; he was too lazy to correct the address again.

The woman followed for a few steps, and the middle-aged woman turned back and glared at her.

"Ah, sister-in-law, I, I can't go?" The woman pointed to her face and asked.

The middle-aged woman shook her head, then continued to walk inside with a kind face holding the boy's hand.

Leaving only the young woman stamping her foot angrily in her original place.

After passing through the corridor, and then through the lotus pond, finally, in a pavilion in the deepest part, Li Zhuiyuan saw a familiar person.

Liu Yumei was sitting on a stone bench, and a white-haired old man was standing beside her brewing tea.

In another corner of the pavilion, the girl, whom he hadn't seen for many days, sat there alone looking at the lotus.

Then, among the lotus covers, he saw the person he missed.

The girl proactively walked over; the noble woman seemed to know the girl's habits; after letting go of the boy's hand, she silently retreated.

Li Zhuiyuan held A Li's hand; A Li looked at the boy, frowning and pouting.

Liu Yumei, who was originally still calm and breezy, just faintly glanced at the boy and immediately showed solemnity, raising her voice:

"Stinky boy, you're going to waste your body again, do you still want to be blind!"

The white-haired old man sat down after brewing the tea beside him; he looked at the girl who could be so intimate with someone and even show emotion, which was very rare.

"Pa!"

Liu Yumei spilled the freshly poured tea on the ground.

The old man understood, immediately stood up, bowed respectfully, and then walked out of the pavilion.

Liu Yumei glared at the boy again and asked: "Tell me, what did you do again, look at your body now, it's deficient, and you're making our A Li worry again."

Li Zhuiyuan replied: "I had bad luck on the road and met a village's car bandits and road bullies."

"Then?"

"Reported to the police."

Liu Yumei frowned slightly; she knew the boy was hiding the key part, but she also couldn't continue to ask; after all, she would go back to Li Sanjiang's home to continue living, and the boy would also go back; as long as the two of them returned there, that edge would continue to be fought.

Li Zhuiyuan put his mouth close to A Li's ear and whispered: "That group of bandits wanted to harm us; I just solved them all that evening."

The girl grabbed the boy's hand and happily shook it, laughing out two dimples.

———

This chapter started writing at noon and was written for a very long time, with several versions deleted and revised; the main reason is that it's handled this way, and the chapter might not be published; our topic is relatively easy to trigger sensitive words; everyone will often find that the publication time is before 12 o'clock, but when you see the chapter, it's 12:30, because after I send it, the chapter is locked and can only be published after modification. After all, the plot in reality is relatively easy to be sensitive, so please forgive me when you read it.

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