Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 112

Because I pushed the progress of events ahead of time, more information came to light.

The outline of the whole situation gradually began to form in Li Zhuiyuan's mind. Although it was still very thin, it was finally constructed and no longer vague.

The cemeteries on the three hills correspond to three families, or three surnames. Now we only know that the Xue family is one of them, and the identities of the other two are currently unknown.

Worshiping the ancestral graves during a specific time period will trigger a certain mechanism, just like the dream from the immortal that Xue's father just received.

But for some unknown reason, the triggering of this mechanism will also lead to the activation of another reverse mechanism, such as the big fish that "comes to the door on its own".

Li Zhuiyuan thought that if he hadn't asked Xue's father to celebrate his birthday in advance, the fish would not have been delivered today;

If the normal process is followed, on the birthday one month later, when Xue's father goes to worship his ancestors' graves, the fish will continue to appear in front of Xue's father on that day in the form of a neighbor's fisherman or in other reasonable ways, and end up on the Xue family's dining table.

The two mechanisms are competing, or more precisely, one is polluting the operation of the other.

The operating logic of the original mechanism seems more like a Yugong moving mountains-style seal inherited by descendants.

The purpose of pollution is to break the seal.

Logically speaking, Dad Xue should be preparing to leave for Zhengmen Village by now.

But now it is obvious that Xue's father is not willing to go.

The previous expedition team incident deepened Xue's father's fear of Zhengmen Village. Li Zhuiyuan's own dream about the immortal also greatly weakened the sacredness of the real immortal.

However, there is another possibility. According to the original plan, Brother Liangliang will come back in a month, and he and his father will go to worship the ancestral grave together. Then Qingxia will most likely go for Liangliang.

With Liangliang's knowledge and character, after receiving the immortal's dream, there is a high probability that he will accept this mission and go to Zhengmen Village. There is also a great probability that he will contact me and ask me to come and accompany him to complete this ancestral mission.

Of course, a more extreme case is that Brother Liangliang went there alone, and no one knew whether he was alive or dead. Then I learned the news and went to his hometown to investigate the mystery of Brother Liangliang's disappearance.

In short, the only one who could involve himself is Brother Liangliang, and Father Xue is not qualified.

At the moment, Li Zhuiyuan naturally did not want Xue's father to accompany him to Zhengmen Village. One reason was that he was Xue Liangliang's father, and the other was that he was a burden.

Fortunately, it seems that his people don’t need to go, they just need the blood bowl.

Blood food refers to killing animals and taking their blood for sacrifice, while blood bowl refers to using one's own blood as a sacrifice and placing it on the altar.

The amount doesn't need to be large. Take a small bowl, cut your palm, and make sure the blood covers the bottom of the bowl.

This amount of blood loss is just a drop in the bucket for Xiao Hei, so it will certainly be no problem for Xue's father.

I have the method and materials to make black dog blood ink. As long as I make sure the recipient is alive when the blood is taken, I can ensure that the blood can be kept fresh for a very long time and can be used as a blood bowl.

By analogy with the Xue family’s situation, do the other two families also need to go to Zhengmen Village to offer blood bowls?

Was the purpose of the pollution to wipe out these three families in advance? Or at least, to pollute their bodies and blood?
But there is a paradox here that cannot be solved for the time being, that is, since this dead fish is planning to break the seal, why does it take the initiative to bite its hook?

Grandma Yu, who was full of confidence but had her hopes of recovery extinguished prematurely, just passed away. Will the next one make the same mistake again?
"Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan?"

Father Xue's voice interrupted Li Zhuiyuan's thoughts. Looking up, the boy saw the worry and panic in Father Xue's eyes.

"Well, Uncle Xue, what's wrong?"

"Xiaoyuan, tell your uncle, what were you thinking about just now?"

"I was thinking, this Zhengmen Village is so scary. Uncle Xue, you're right not to go there. I wouldn't dare to go there either."

Upon hearing this, Father Xue breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that the boy would become interested in Zhengmen Village like the previous group of young college students.

"Yeah, let's just live our lives properly and not get involved in those unnecessary things."

"Yes, I think so too."

But the problem is that you can't live a serious life.

Even if you can escape the first day, you can't escape the fifteenth. Once the mechanism collapses completely and that thing comes out, the survivors under the mechanism will be liquidated and destroyed.

Li Zhuiyuan has decided to use some force later, draw some blood from Xue's father, and then take charge of doing the job himself.

"Uncle Xue, does your family have a family tree?"

"Yes, why, do you want to see it?"

"Well, I like looking at family trees."

"Since you want to see it, I'll get it for you later."

"Thank you, Uncle Xue."

"Hahaha, let's eat!"

The fool outside is still laughing.

Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the house and came to the yard.

The idiot was estimated to be around thirty years old, with unkempt hair and a dirty face. While others were shirtless, he was wearing a dirty, torn cotton coat, and his hair was as messy as a dog's kennel.

At this time, he was taking out candy from his pocket and handing it to the children who came to eat today.

The parents would not allow them to take the candies, as they thought the fools were dirty. But the children did not care about that. They would just take them and run, tearing open the candy wrappers and putting them in their mouths.

The fool ran along with them and had a blast.

The neighbor who brought the fish would show off to everyone who came and describe how big a fish he caught that day, and the fool was no exception.

"Silly boy, you have fish soup today. I caught a big fish. It's this big."

The fool, who was originally smiling, was suddenly stunned when he heard this. Then he showed fear on his face, stepped back, waved his hands and shouted:
"Big fish, you can't eat it! Big fish, you can't eat it!"

"What can't you eat? Don't you like fish soup?"

"Fish soup, dirty! That soup, dirty! Fish, dirty!"

The neighbor boy got angry and corrected him: "You're talking nonsense. I just bought it this morning. It's fresh!"

As the fool stepped back, he slipped and fell to the ground, but he kept shouting:

"The Zheng family got dirty, the Zeng family got dirty, and the Xue family will get dirty too!"

"What Zheng family and Zeng family?" The neighbor boy was a little confused. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Li Zhuiyuan asked a woman who was eating next to him, "Auntie, is there anyone with the surname Zheng or Zeng in this town?"

The woman shook her head: "No."

Several elderly people nearby also shook their heads and said:

"never heard of that."

"There are many surnames in our town, but I have never heard of anyone with the surname Zheng or Zeng."

"Yeah, I haven't heard of it either."

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to the fool. At first, the fool saw a big kid walking towards him and thought that the kid wanted to play with him. The fear on his face gradually dissipated, replaced by joy and anticipation.

But when Li Zhuiyuan approached, the fool showed an even more terrifying expression than before. He held his head with his left hand as if to dodge, pointed at Li Zhuiyuan with his right hand, and screamed:
"Ah, you are not a human being! Ah, you are not a human being!"

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to him, with a kind, innocent and puzzled expression on his face.
asked:

"I am not a human, who am I?"

The fool retracted the hand that had been pointed out earlier, shielded his face, lowered his head and said:

"You are a monster in human skin. You are a monster in human skin."

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

Everyone present laughed.

Li Zhuiyuan also laughed. The fool huddled against the wall. Li Zhuiyuan, who was standing in front of him, also had his back to everyone, so no one else could see him. Although the boy was laughing, his eyes revealed a solemnity and depth that did not match his age.

"What? The fish is lost!" Xue Ma's voice came from the inner room.

When everyone in the yard heard this, they all went into the house to check what happened. How could such a big fish be lost? An ordinary cat or dog would not be able to steal it.

When the fool heard this, he actually laughed happily:
"It's better to lose the fish. Don't eat fish, especially big fish!"

But because Li Zhuiyuan was still standing in front of him, the fool's voice gradually became quieter, and fear resurfaced.

Li Zhuiyuan: "I disposed of the fish because it was dirty."

The fool nodded cautiously, his face turned sideways to the boy, daring only to look to the side: "Yes, don't eat fish, it's dirty."

"What's your name, idiot?"

"Hehe, idiot, idiot..."

He was not originally called a fool, but when many people called him that, he became a fool.

"Silly, do you have any candy?"

The fool reached into his pocket tremblingly, felt around, then shook his head and said, "No, no more candy, all gone..."

"Can I take you to buy some candy?"

"Buy some candy?"

There was hesitation in the fool's eyes. It was obvious that he was weighing the sugar and the monster in human skin.

"Except for sugar, I'll buy you anything you want to eat or drink in the store. How about that?"

The fool raised his lips, put his hands in front of him, kept pointing his fingers, and said timidly:

"Really...really?"

Li Zhuiyuan said as a matter of course: "It must be true. Monsters only eat people, but they don't lie to people."

“Hehehe…” The fool nodded, “Yes, monsters only eat people, they don’t lie to people.”

"Then come with me and I'll take you to the store."

Li Zhuiyuan walked forward and when he reached the door, he found that the fool behind him was still hesitating, as if he wanted to follow him but was afraid to do so.

The young man said in a deep voice: "Follow me, or I will eat you."

"I'm coming!"

The fool shuddered and followed immediately.

Li Zhuiyuan took him out of the yard. As for Runsheng... he had to stay in the house to explain how such a big fish disappeared.

When they arrived at the store, Li Zhuiyuan asked the fool to choose things. The fool carefully grabbed a handful of candies, just five or six, and looked at the boy with a tentative look, as if he was afraid that he had taken too much.

"Auntie, you can figure it out yourself."

After saying that, Li Zhuiyuan picked up the large plate of candy and poured it into the fool's pocket.

“Hehehe, hehehehe!”

The fool looked at his pockets filled with candies and jumped up happily. At once, a lot of candies fell to the ground. He bent down to pick them up, and candies continued to fall out of his pockets as he picked them up.

"Hey, hey, there are so many candies. I can't pick them all up. I can't pick them all up. I can't pick them all up!"

Some children nearby had already come over, but because of the presence of a stranger like Li Zhuiyuan, they were too embarrassed to go forward.

The fool took the initiative to call them: "Pick up the candies, pick up the candies, there are so many, you can't pick them all, you can't pick them all!"

The children looked at Li Zhuiyuan. They had seen this boy buying the candy before.

"Pick it up, Idiot is treating you to a meal."

When the children heard this, they immediately came up to pick up the trash together, and the fool became even happier.

"Auntie, do you have any more candy?"

"Yes, wait for me to open the bag."

"No, just give me the whole bag. Then get me a big bag and put these, these, and those in it."

"you……"

Li Zhuiyuan took out a small stack of big unity notes from his pocket.

"Hey! Okay, I'll install it for you."

Except for the little bit in the fool's pocket, the rest of the candy was picked up by the children.

Li Zhuiyuan handed him a big bag of snacks and then took the fool to a secluded place.

Along the way, whenever someone deliberately asked the fool what delicious food he had in his hand, the fool would open his pocket and let them take it themselves.

When encountering children and elderly people, even a fool will throw them away.

By the time they reached the secluded place Li Zhuiyuan wanted, the originally bulging bag was reduced to a shallow layer.

The last time the university student expedition team gave him a lot of guide fees, he had already spent it. However, Li Zhuiyuan did not think he was wrong, because he was really a fool, and as a fool, he could not keep the money.

The two sat down side by side. Li Zhuiyuan didn't rush to talk about the matter, but said:
"Actually, I don't want to be this monster."

Some words seem to be said only to fools.

The fool looked at Li Zhuiyuan in a flattering manner, then took out a pack of instant noodles from the bag, but when he tore open the package he pulled it open so hard that the noodles fell to the ground.

The fool picked it up, took a quick bite, and then carefully handed the pancake to Li Zhuiyuan.

"I will not eat."

The fool took back the bread and continued to eat it, with crispy sounds constantly coming from his mouth.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, "Can you meet the Zeng family and the Zheng family?"

The fool said nothing and continued to eat the bread, as if he hadn't heard it.

Li Zhuiyuan said in a louder voice: "Speak."

The fool was startled and choked.

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to pick up a bottle of soda, open the pull ring for him, and then hand it to him.

The fool took it and gulped down the whole can of soda in one breath, then let out a long burp.

"You can see the Zeng family and the Zheng family. They had a big meal a while ago."

"Yes, eat the big fish, they ate it, they ate it."

"Have you seen other strangers? A man and a woman, very young, carrying mountaineering bags. The woman is very fair, and the man likes to walk with his backpack slung over his waist."

The fool continued to eat the bread.

"If you don't answer, I'll eat you."

The fool began to cry and to shout, "Give me a shipment of goods. Give me a shipment of goods. Give me a shipment of goods."

Li Zhuiyuan thought about it for a while, and he actually connected with the fool's train of thought and imagined that scene.

After finding that the call could not be connected, I asked the auntie in the convenience store if my phone was broken. The auntie then proved that there was no problem by making the call herself.

If nothing unexpected happens, the auntie in the convenience store should have made three phone calls to restock supplies yesterday.

The fool liked to squat next to the convenience store to pick up candies, so he should have witnessed this process.

He can really see these three Min'an towns!

"Did they say anything to you?"

The fool continued to eat the bread.

Li Zhuiyuan did not urge him to answer this time, because no matter how many people Yin Meng and Binbin looked for to pass on the message, they would not look for a fool.

The same goes for himself. Even though he knew that the fool could see through the three Min'an towns, he still didn't dare to really tell the fool anything and let him try to pass it on to Binbin and the others.

Who knows how he would cut off the beginning and the end and convey the meaning of a sentence to himself in reverse.

"Is there a very big fish in Zhengmen Village?"

The fool stopped moving, as if frozen in time.

But if you look closely, you can see that his eyeballs are constantly moving.

Gradually, his face began to tremble, and then his whole body began to shake.

"There are big fish in the village, there are adults in the village, there are many, many people in the village..."

"Fool, how many people did you enter the village with last time?"

The fool stretched out his two hands, and his ten fingers kept raising and lowering themselves, but he couldn't count them all.

Li Zhuiyuan asked again: "How many people were the last to leave the village?"

The fool retracted all his other fingers, leaving only his right index finger, and shook it excitedly in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

"I want to go to Zhengmen Village, and I need you to take me there."

The fool shook his head frantically.

"If I don't go, I'll just eat..." Li Zhuiyuan stopped.

He looked at the fool seriously again.

The fool was a little frightened by the boy's gaze. He opened another pack of biscuits with a little trembling and put them into his mouth one by one.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, and the fool was so scared that he quickly moved to the side, and two biscuits in his hand fell to the ground.

Seeing this, the young man put away the Dragon King Salute he was about to prepare and sat down again.

Li Zhuiyuan reached over and picked up a biscuit from the ground. He blew off the mud on it, touched it with his fingers, and then put it in his mouth and took a bite. While chewing, he said:
“I’m a corpse collector.”

The fool picked up the remaining biscuit on the ground, put it in his mouth, and muttered:
"Hey, I'm the one who guards the village and eats."

"Fool, if that thing comes out of the Zhengmen Village, then this town will become a second Zhengmen Village."

When the fool heard this, he stopped chewing and began to look around unconsciously. He couldn't see clearly while sitting, so he simply stood up and kept looking around, at the shops, the houses, the mountains, the water, and the people.

Li Zhuiyuan put the remaining half of the biscuit into his mouth and clapped his hands:

"Fool, take me to Zhengmen Village and fish that thing out."

"it is good."

……

Tan Wenbin put down his bowl and chopsticks.

Hu Yiwei next to him didn't eat a single bite. His stomach was now full of compressed biscuits and was bloating.

Zeng Yinyin finished the last half bowl of warm soup and stood up and said:

"Come, Yiwei, I'll take you upstairs to see Miaomiao."

Hu Yiwei stood up.

But his wrist was grabbed by Tan Wenbin.

Tan Wenbin looked at Zeng Yinyin: "Why is it that Miaomiao is not coming down, but he is going up?"

Zeng Yinyin asked back: "Is it not possible?"

Hu Yiwei also said: "Binbin, how about this, I will go up and ask Miaomiao about the matter and explain it clearly, and then I will drive back to Jinling with you."

"Brother Hu, are you sure that Miaomiao is on the second floor?"

"what?"

"Have you ever heard Miaomiao's voice since we came to this house?"

As soon as Tan Wenbin finished speaking, a young girl's voice came from the second floor:

"Yiwei, I'll wait for you on the second floor."

Hu Yiwei said excitedly: "It's Miaomiao!"

Tan Wenbin still held Hu Yiwei's wrist tightly and didn't let go: "Brother Hu, let Miaomiao come down. You are here to ask for an explanation, not to apologize. You have to show your attitude!"

"I……"

"Yiwei, if you don't come up, you can leave." Miaomiao's voice came from the second floor again, "There's actually nothing to talk about between us."

"Miao Miao, I have something I need to tell you."

Hu Yiwei began to try to break free from Tan Wenbin's hand: "Binbin, let go quickly. I'll go and talk to Miaomiao and come down soon. It will be quick."

"you……"

At this moment, Tan Wenbin heard a sound from the coffin beside him, and at the same time a chill invaded his body.

Binbin's body immediately stiffened and he lost all his strength, and he couldn't even speak.

Fuck, this guy got inside me!

Hu Yiwei finally pried Tan Wenbin's hands apart.

Zeng Yinyin said, "Come on, Yiwei, come up with me. Miaomiao is a little depressed, so don't say anything to irritate her later."

"I know, Sister Yin."

Zeng Yinyin led Hu Yiwei to the hall and went upstairs along the wooden stairs.

She pushed open the door to the second floor, stood aside, and motioned Hu Yiwei to enter first.

Hu Yiwei frowned slightly because he smelled a strong scent of fragrant oil, which was very depressing and dull.

But he didn't hesitate too much and walked in.

Zeng Yinyin had no intention of going in. She grabbed the door frame and closed the door.

Then he walked down the stairs slowly with a smile on his face.

……

"Miaomiao! My Miaomiao! My Miaomiao!"

There was an altar inside. Besides a few candles, there was a large fish cut in half vertically, as if it was being offered as a sacrifice.

Under the dim candlelight, Hu Yiwei was hugging a woman...or to be exact, a dried corpse, and was crying bitterly.

The mummy's face remained intact, and it could be seen that it was a girl of the same age as Hu Yiwei, but the part below the neck had become extremely thin. It would not be appropriate to describe her as skinny as a bag of bones, as it was obvious that even the bones had been severely shrunk.

It was like using matches to build a person's trunk and limbs, and finally building a normal human head on top.

Behind Zeng Miaomiao, there is a mummy. It is impossible to tell whether it is a man or a woman because its head has shrunk. This makes the mummy appear harmonious in the extremely disharmonious appearance.

There was a crutch next to the mummy.

This person should be the grandmother from Zeng’s family.

Hu Yiwei still has feelings for Zeng Miaomiao. Seeing his former lover become like this, he is really heartbroken.

But Zeng Miaomiao had her eyes closed, unable to speak, and perhaps even unable to perceive.

"What on earth did you do to Miaomiao? Why did she become like this? Why!" Hu Yiwei was almost crazy.

But as soon as he shouted this, Hu Yiwei felt his whole body paralyzed and fell to the ground.

His mind was still clear, and he now realized that the fragrant oil might be poisonous.

"Blah blah blah..."

The half-finished fish began to flutter on the altar and finally landed beside Hu Yiwei, splattering a cloud of fat when it landed.

Hu Yiwei opened his eyes hard and found that it was not the smell of sesame oil, but fish oil.

"vomit!"

Zeng Miaomiao's mouth suddenly opened, and small fish poured out of it. As the small fish flowed out, Zeng Miaomiao's originally normal head began to shrink rapidly and turned into a mummy at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Hu Yiwei's eyes turned red, but he couldn't move at all.

All these small fish fluttered towards Hu Yiwei. Although they were obviously small fish, they seemed to have sharp teeth in their mouths. Hu Yiwei felt as if he was being bitten all over his body.

At this time, the fish, with only half of its body left, opened its mouth and made the sound of Zeng Miaomiao:
"Yiwei, don't you want to talk to me? Talk, Yiwei, why don't you talk?"

The horrible despair was gradually swallowing him up.

……

Zeng Yinyin walked down the stairs and returned to the kitchen, looking carefully at Tan Wenbin, who was still sitting there with his head down and motionless.

She put a finger into her mouth and said with a smile:
"I'll use him tonight. My brother-in-law is really good-looking but useless. I'm not comfortable enough, and you can't play well with him. What do you think, my man?

He should be able to use it for three or four days, and when he's done, we'll throw him up there as a sacrifice, and then we'll find a new one."

After waiting for a while, seeing that Tan Wenbin didn't speak, Zeng Yinyin asked in surprise:

"What do you think? Say something?"

Tan Wenbin slowly raised his head, and Zeng Yinyin's expression changed accordingly.

Because there was a talisman paper on Tan Wenbin’s forehead that came from nowhere.

"You're thinking shit!"

(End of this chapter)