The Terror of the Heavens Begins with Gu

Chapter 248 Finding Zhou Le'an's Eldest Brother and Going to the Jiang Family
The fire that Zhou Le'an started showed no signs of going out; in fact, it burned brighter and brighter, spreading to the surrounding area.

With such a large fire, even that flying zombie would be wary, and it probably wouldn't kill or suck blood in the county town tonight.

Looking at Zhou Le'an, who was shivering, Li Zhen said, "Let's go, find a place to rest and start a fire to dry your clothes."

The temperature is a bit low now, and Zhou Le'an and the others were already wearing long robes.

Their clothes are now mostly wet, and their bodies definitely can't take it.

Zhou Le'an quickly said, "I know there's an abandoned house over there. We can go there and make a fire. I'll lead the way."

As he spoke, he suddenly felt unwell and gagged.

He wiped his mouth and quickly led his younger brother and sister ahead.

Li Zhen briefly examined the things behind the female demon and the Five Elements Compass behind her, issued a recall order to the Mahjong Ghost, and casually carried "Uncle Dong's" corpse forward.

The banshee and the vampire followed behind Li Zhen.

The listless red-eyed bats landed in the basket on the banshee's back.

The demonic fetus clutching the rotten cat had its狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) face constantly shifting.

"Don't overthink it, I want to live, I don't want to die..."

It forcefully pressed its right arm down, slapped its own face, and gritted its teeth, saying, "This is the last time. If you try to influence me again at a crucial moment, I'll report you. I'd rather not have this body; your end will definitely be worse than mine!"

As soon as the words were spoken, its unruly right arm immediately returned to control.

The demonic fetus breathed a sigh of relief, then slammed the rotten cat heavily to the ground: "And you, you play dead at the crucial moment. Do you think you're the smartest? He's just too lazy to deal with you right now. Once he has time, you'll be in for a world of hurt."

The rotten cat opened its eyes and gave the demonic fetus a haughty "meow".

It's obvious at a glance that the cat demon has taken control of the corrupt cat's body.

The demon fetus is too lazy to deal with the cat demon now. It's not stupid; it knows that the cat demon must have a backup plan.

If even it knows this, then Li Zhen must know it too.

Li Zhen kept it with him for the time being, knowing it would definitely come in handy in the future.

This cat will definitely suffer then; hopefully it won't affect the original rotten cat...

The demonic fetus, dragging the rotten cat by one leg, hurriedly caught up with Detective Li and diligently helped him carry "Uncle Dong".

Li Zhen glanced at the demonic fetus but remained silent.

He noticed something was wrong with the demonic fetus while fighting the flying zombie, but since the demonic fetus didn't say anything, it meant it could handle it on its own, so he didn't ask.

It now appears that the demonic fetus handled things very well.

After navigating several secluded paths, led by Zhou Le'an, Li Zhen and the female demon arrived at an abandoned house located in a grove of trees.

The house has been uninhabited for a long time and is half collapsed.

What used to be a vegetable garden has now turned into a wooded area, which is somewhat eerie at night.

Zhou Le'an was clearly a regular here; he could find his way into the house even in the dark.

Arriving at the living room of this house, which looked like it could collapse at any moment, Zhou Le'an rummaged around under the stones in the corner for a while and found a few pieces of charcoal and some dry firewood.

After lighting a fire with a tinderbox, Zhou Le'an and the other two, huddled together, finally felt a sense of security.

Looking out into the darkness, Zhou Le'an said with some worry, "Will that zombie come after us? This place is very remote. If it does come, it will definitely find us."

Li Zhen said, "I'll make some arrangements to isolate our living presence, so he won't be able to detect that there are people here."

He took out some prepared "ink" from behind the banshee, and using his hand as a brush, he drew a twisted and eerie rune on both sides of the dilapidated door, and then drew runes on the collapsed windows and roof beams as well.

These runes weren't anything powerful; they simply carried the evil energy from Li Zhen and were used to mask the presence of living beings on them.

Ordinary demons and monsters would be frightened away once they sensed this evil aura, and beings like flying zombies would not come to this place to hunt for food.

As soon as Zhou Le'an saw those runes, he felt even more dizzy and nauseous.

He dared not look any longer and quickly covered the eyes of his younger siblings next to him.

After hiding the "ink," Li Zhen had the banshee and the vampire stand in the corner, while he took the basket on the banshee's back and sat down by the fire that Zhou Le'an had lit.

The flames burned higher and higher, dispelling the darkness inside the house.

With the help of the flames, Li Zhen finally had time to examine his own body.

Before entering the fire, he put on his clothes, but he didn't take the talismans he had used to suppress the strange phenomena in his body.

Throughout the journey, they relied on taking talismans from the banshee's back to forcibly suppress the evil thoughts unconsciously emanating from her, thus preventing them from having too much of an impact on Zhou Le'an and the other two.

However, even though his evil thoughts were not completely suppressed, some still managed to escape.

This made Zhou Le'an and the other two feel nauseous, and the urge to vomit was caused by their evil thoughts.

Li Zhen took out the talismans he had prepared beforehand and affixed them to his chest, both sides of his abdomen, and both sides of his waist.

With some bloodstains and water on the wound in his chest, he drew a talisman around the wound on his chest.

Only after feeling his heartbeat gradually slow down did Li Zhen put on his clothes.

These talismans can completely suppress the evil thoughts originating from the Great Black Mother within his body.

Since sensing the outbreak of this calamity, the evil thoughts of the Great Black Buddha Mother within his heart have become increasingly active.

The huge wound on his chest had almost completely healed, but after this battle, the wound on his chest actually widened a bit.

If this trend continues, the wound will not only fail to heal, but will also widen.

Li Zhen wasn't too worried about the wound. As long as he could get rid of the flesh and blood of the Great Black Buddha Mother attached to his heart, he should be able to completely solve the problem.

After we escape this mission world and get through this ordeal, we'll first figure out how to suppress that thing...

Driven by the calamity energy, Li Zhen clearly felt that his primordial spirit, his own evil energy, and especially the Great Black Buddha Mother he visualized at his heart had undergone some subtle changes.

Once this ordeal is completely over, Li Zhen will be one step closer to becoming an "immortal".

As Li Zhen finished dressing, the feeling of oppression intensified as he thought of the flying zombie.

Is flying zombie the only calamity this time?

Why would a flying zombie cause him such a strong sense of oppression?
What Li Zhen feared was that, no matter how much he suppressed it, the premonition he received from the "Demon of Fate" did not give him any clear warning.

"You...are injured? Were you injured by a zombie?" Zhou Le'an asked, looking at Li Zhen's chest.

Li Zhen shook his head: "An old injury."

"I know a medicine that can stop bleeding. It's available outside. If you want it, I'll go find it for you."

"It doesn't work for me."

“My older brother used that kind of medicine when he was injured,” Zhou Le’an muttered.

Li Zhen didn't say anything.

Looking at his aching arms, he realized that his left arm had been burned and turned bright red, and that blisters would definitely appear by tomorrow.

His right arm was also burning, though not as bad as his left.

Wiping his face, which was still burning, Li Zhen scratched his now frizzy hair.

This time we really suffered a loss... The red-eyed bat cried out, poked its head out of the basket, and looked at Li Zhen.

Li Zhen held the red-eyed bat in his arms and checked its condition.

One of the red-eyed bat's wings was twisted and drooping at its side, revealing that the bones inside were broken beyond recognition.

In addition, its body is covered with a large number of holes corroded by the slime on the flying zombie's body, and the largest hole even allows you to see its wriggling internal organs.

These injuries look terrible, but they are not a big problem for red-eyed bats. As long as they are given enough nutrition and time, they will definitely recover.

But what Li Zhen lacks most is time.

Not only the red-eyed bats, but the vampires are also no longer at their peak, which has a great impact on Li Zhen.

Once daybreak and the flying zombies have gone into hibernation, he needs to find enough blood and food, as well as a suitable environment, to help the red-eyed bats and vampires recover to their peak condition as quickly as possible; otherwise, he will be in big trouble.

The demonic fetus, which had disappeared after throwing down "Uncle Dong's" body, suddenly ran out of the door carrying some food.

It ran to Li Zhen's side, threw all the food next to him, and said in a seemingly calm tone, "I looked around and found this. Make do with this. It seems like you haven't eaten for a long time."

"Well done, I was really hungry." Li Zhen didn't hold back his praise.

He had indeed not eaten for some time.

Even after his body recovered, he often neglected to eat.

Zhou Le'an and the two children looked at the pile of things and quietly swallowed.

After hearing Li Zhen invite them to eat together, Zhou Le'an didn't stand on ceremony, grabbed the food, and wolfed it down.

It's clear they didn't eat enough during the day.

Li Zhen shook his head slightly.

In this era where demons and monsters roam freely, it's truly not easy to struggle for survival.

The Mahjong Ghost then quietly returned to Li Zhen's side.

Without it showing itself, Zhou Le'an and the other two did not see it.

Li Zhen asked a few questions about the situation over there and received a brief answer. After learning that the problem wasn't serious, he let the Mahjong Ghost return to the white bone stick in the basket.

Zhou Le'an was already used to the abnormality that Li Zhen was showing, and after glancing at him, he just focused on eating.

After Zhou Le'an and the other two fell asleep, Li Zhen inserted a long needle into his neck, then silently recited a spell, went to the vampire's side to get some fresh corpse oil, smeared it on his neck, and finally wrapped his neck with a white cloth.

Previously, he had not covered his neck.

When they were outside, Zhou Le'an and the other two probably didn't notice the "scar" on his neck.

Zhou Le'an only noticed this after the fire was lit.

Li Zhen noticed that Zhou Le'an glanced at his neck a few times, but Zhou Le'an didn't say anything.

The next day, as soon as it was light, Li Zhen asked for Zhou Le'an's birth date and time and cast a divination, successfully obtaining a vague location.

After learning that the direction was the direction of the Jiang family, Li Zhen had already guessed the fate of Zhou Le'an's elder brother.

Zhou Le'an appeared excited, telling his younger siblings that they would soon find their older brother, but Li Zhen could see the unease hidden in Zhou Le'an's eyes.

It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get to the Jiang family's house from here.

After having the demon fetus find suitable clothes to cover the vampire's upper body, Li Zhen led Zhou Le'an and the other two towards the Jiang family's location.

More than twenty minutes later, as they passed through a dense grove of trees, the demonic fetus suddenly returned and said a few words to Li Zhen.

Li Zhen nodded and looked at Zhou Le'an, who was looking around.

Zhou Le'an also looked at Li Zhen.

Li Zhen glanced at Zhou Le'an's younger siblings: "There are some things that are not suitable for them to see. Let them wait here first. You go and take a look by yourself. Maybe your older brother is there."

Zhou Le'an paused for a moment before nodding.

Li Zhen patted Zhou Le'an on the shoulder and led him to the place indicated by the demonic fetus.

They hadn't gone far when they smelled a pungent, rotten odor.

After passing through a clump of low bushes, some severed limbs and broken pieces appeared before Li Zhen and his companion.

The severed limbs were so scattered that even the experienced Detective Li couldn't immediately tell how many people had died.

Zhou Le'an, who had never seen such a scene before, was so frightened that his face turned pale and he started to retch.

Walking up to some severed arms, Li Zhen briefly examined the body.

Each body part was deathly white, without a trace of blood, and there were obvious bite marks on the bones, making it clear that it had been killed by flying zombies.

After examining the two missing heads, Li Zhen came to the third head.

Half of the head's face had been bitten off, leaving only half of the face intact. The face shape was somewhat similar to that of Zhou Le'an and his sister.

Below the head was a mangled body, with only the spine remaining intact.

A knife was stuck next to the corpse, which matched the "sharp blade at his side" he saw after casting the divination.

"It's my older brother..."

Zhou Le'an's choked voice came from behind Li Zhen.

He walked to the body in a daze, his knees buckled and he knelt down in front of it, wiping away tears and sobbing uncontrollably.

Li Zhen sighed and advised, "Your older brother is gone, so you need to take care of your younger brother and sister."

Zhou Le'an wiped away her tears, looked at Li Zhen, and said helplessly, "I... what should I do now? I don't know what to do... my older brother is dead, I... what should I do?"

Only then did he reveal a helplessness befitting his age.

Li Zhen glanced around and said, "Let's dig a hole and bury your brother's body first, so that he won't be exposed to the sun and rain anymore. After I get rid of the zombie that killed your brother, I will help you find a good place to bury him."

Zhou Le'an wiped away the tears that kept streaming down his face: "It was that zombie...the zombie killed my older brother?"

Li Zhen nodded: "Judging from the signs, it was it that did it."

After crying for a while, Zhou Le'an kowtowed three times to the corpse in front of him, and with Li Zhen's help, hastily buried the body in a shallow pit.

After kowtowing several times in front of the pit, he left, looking back every few steps.

Li Zhen, who was waiting for Zhou Le'an not far away, said, "You and your sister can stay with me for now to avoid danger. The county town isn't very safe until that zombie dies."

Zhou Le'an said with red eyes, "You're going to kill that zombie?"

"Yes."

"I want to help you."

"There's nothing you can do; seeing it means certain death."

"Where are we going now?"

"Let's go to the Jiang family first. I need to find some helpers, otherwise it will be difficult for me to kill that zombie."

(End of this chapter)