Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 370 Loyalty and Righteousness (Part 1)

Flying zombie...

The word Little Cotton uttered caused the expressions of the three people in the room to change slightly.

Zombies come in many varieties and have many names, among which the most ferocious zombies can even frighten seasoned ghost hunters.

Flying zombies are definitely the most terrifying and troublesome of them all.

Back then, a single flying zombie in Honghe Village caused ten unorthodox practitioners, including Aunt Liu and Ran Jianfei, a great deal of trouble.

Li Hongye's father, Lu Baiyin, was bitten to death there, which led to subsequent grudges and entanglements.

Upon hearing that Ran Jianfei had become a flying zombie, the three people in the room found it hard to believe.

Long Zongshu said with a blank look, "...Why did Uncle Ran turn into a flying zombie? There's no reason for it."

Generally, zombies are born from the resentment of heaven and earth. This can be caused by problems with the feng shui after burial, leading to the corpse turning into a zombie, or by being disturbed by strange things such as wild cats or evil spirits when the corpse is kept at rest.

However, such transformations of corpses are always accompanied by a series of coincidences.

Not every corpse that is attacked by a wild cat will turn into a zombie, nor will every corpse buried in an evil place become a zombie.

Ran Jianfei's body lay in the main room, which was the altar of the spirit medium, supposedly the safest place where a corpse could not possibly turn into a zombie.

Yet, within this seemingly safe and secure altar, Ran Jianfei's corpse not only underwent a transformation, but also became an extremely terrifying and mysterious flying zombie...

Mo Li murmured, "Could it be caused by those ancient Luo ghost soldiers?"

Little Cotton said that those pale, ghostly figures had been wandering outside the shrine for quite some time.

Ran Qing frowned and pondered, "But those ancient Luo ghost soldiers didn't enter the house. They were so far away, even if they were evil, they wouldn't have bumped into the corpses in the Yin Altar, right?"

Long Zongshu hesitated for a moment and said, "Could it be that there's something wrong with the zombie that Uncle Ran created?"

"Logically speaking, after Uncle Ran passed away, the zombie would only wander aimlessly until the evil energy within the body was exhausted, at which point it would revert to an ordinary corpse and rot in a neglected corner."

"But Sister Cotton said that as soon as the female corpse shouted, Uncle Ran's body flew out."

"Could it be that Uncle Ran left some kind of backup plan before he died?"

Ran Jianfei put forward this conjecture, which sounds quite reasonable.

"...But what's the use of Ran Jianfei keeping a backup plan and turning himself into a flying zombie?"

"Furthermore, if he could cultivate into a flying zombie, why didn't he cultivate it while he was alive, but instead waited until after his death?"

If Ran Jianfei had possessed a flying zombie master, he wouldn't have died in the ghost city of Laro Mine.

This is illogical.

But Ran Qing still went into the house, opened the iron box, and took out the three books that Ran Jianfei had left for him.

He was trying to find information about flying zombies.

He then spent the entire afternoon flipping through the book, until it was getting dark outside, before Ran Qing finally put it down.

Of the three books left by Ran Jianfei, there is very little content about flying zombies.

Even for the Ran family, a clan specializing in corpse refining, flying zombies, such evil and terrifying creatures, are extremely rare and mysterious.

The Ran family doesn't even understand flying zombies very well, and they're not even sure how they're born, let alone know how to refine them.

Ran Qing put down the three books and shook her head.

"...basically eliminated the possibility of Ran Jianfei turning himself into a flying zombie."

Long Zongshu was not surprised by this at all.

"Flying zombies are such terrifying things. If someone could create a flying zombie, they would have become famous long ago."

There are many practitioners in this world: unorthodox practitioners, Taoist priests, monks, sorcerers, and so on. Everyone has their own abilities, but they are all mortal beings who walk on two feet.

The ability to fly and disappear underground exists only in tales of the strange and supernatural.

In such a situation, a bloodthirsty flying zombie that is invulnerable to swords and bullets, impervious to water and fire, cruel, violent, and cunning... is simply a bug.

In ancient times, without guns and cannons, controlling a flying zombie was tantamount to holding a nuclear bomb. Becoming an emperor might be difficult, but achieving lifelong wealth and glory was easy.

Aunt Liu was already the pinnacle of left-handed Xuanxiu in Ran Qing's mind, but she still failed to deal with the flying zombie, which shows how terrifying this evil creature was.

“It might not be a flying zombie,” Mo Li suddenly spoke up. “Uncle Ran’s body just flew away after turning into a zombie, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he became a flying zombie. It’s also possible that some force outside pulled him in…”

Mo Li put forward this argument.

But Little Cotton, standing to the side, exclaimed with absolute certainty, "There's no way I could be wrong! That's a flying zombie!"

"I saw flying zombies in Honghe Village back then!"

"That aura! That appearance, and that strange way of flying—it's all exactly the same!"

"Ran Qing's father turned into a flying zombie!"

Little Cotton spoke firmly.

It is indeed hard to believe that she, a survivor of the Honghe Village incident, would make such a judgment at this time.

The three people in the room looked at each other in bewilderment.

Ran Qing put away the iron box, sighed, and said, "Whether it's a real flying zombie or not, let's just assume it is."

“Even if he has turned into a zombie, he will come looking for me within three days.”

"We need to be prepared for this."

Like demons, zombies retain memories of their previous lives.

Unlike demons, zombies have no personality or soul; they are merely empty shells of corpses that generate a bloodthirsty impulse.

In essence, zombies are no different from paramecia.

However, due to residual memories and the urge to kill blood, after a brief period of adaptation and adjustment to the human world, zombies will kill their former relatives according to the memories remaining in their minds.

Ran Jianfei's only remaining relatives in the human world, besides Luo Xuefang who has been imprisoned in the mirror, his youngest daughter who has been captured by the ghost-raising people and put into the elevator, are Ran Qing.

Ran Qing recalled the contents of those three books and said, "Zombies are nocturnal, and fat at night and thin during the day. Nighttime is when they are most active and most powerful."

"Ran Jianfei's body should be coming to us tomorrow night or the night after."

Ran Qing looked at Zong Shu: "Zong Shu, do you have any good ideas for catching zombies?"

When it comes to dealing with zombies, Zong Shu and his clan are the real experts.

And now, a legendary flying zombie may be coming to our door...

Long Zongshu also looked troubled.

He scratched his head and said somewhat anxiously, "How about I go back to my hometown and invite my grandfather over? He's very knowledgeable and he definitely knows more than I do."

This was the first time Long Zongshu had felt pressure.

After all, it was a legendary flying zombie, so he dared not be careless.

Unfortunately, there is no electricity or telephone in Long Zongshu's hometown village, otherwise they could have called directly to inform the old man that he would be coming tomorrow.

"After dawn tomorrow, I will immediately ride my bike to my old home in Shiyuanzi to bring my grandfather into the city."

Long Zongshu said, "With his guidance, and with Ran Qing's Yin Altar, we should be able to catch the flying zombie."

(End of this chapter)