Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 30 The Zhong Family's Secret Records of Corpse Transport

Looking at the rapidly cooling ashes on the ground, Chen Miao breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Miao looked at his peach wood sword blank. Fortunately, he drew the sword in time, and only some blackened marks appeared on the blade.

"I am Zhong Cai. Fortunately, you intervened, young brother. Otherwise, this jumping zombie would have harmed countless people."

Zhong Cai cupped his hands in greeting to Chen Miao.

Chen Miao originally wanted to return the greeting, but after hearing Zhong Cai's name, he frowned and asked, "Who is Zhong Fa to you?"

Zhong Cai was taken aback.

"Do you know Zhong Fa?"

Chen Miao sneered.

"Guess where this zombie came from?"

Zhong Cai's face was grim.

“Zhong Fa is my senior brother, but after our master passed away more than 20 years ago, my senior brother and I parted ways. I never thought he had fallen so low, let alone that he could create a jumping zombie!”

Despite Zhong Cai's words, Chen Miao remained wary.

"You haven't seen each other for over twenty years?"

Zhong Cai shook his head.

“I went to see him a couple of days ago, hoping to invite him to witness my apprenticeship ceremony, but he declined.”

Seeing that Zhong Cai hadn't hidden the fact that he had previously contacted Zhong Fa, Chen Miao's expression softened considerably.

"Young man, what's your name?"

"Chen Miao".

"Brother Chen Miao, were you using the incense burning method just now?"

Chen Miao was taken aback. Incense burning ritual?
Looking at the peach wood sword in Zhong Cai's hand and recalling the "Zhong Family Talismans," Chen Miao felt as if he had encountered a true practitioner in that unknown field.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Miao did not hide the fact that he was a novice: "I don't know if this is the Incense Burning Method. All the things I know were taught to me by an old beggar when I was a child."

Zhong Cai's eyes twitched after hearing this.

How can you get something like this so easily?
Incense burning is one of the few grand and majestic techniques among the Yin sects, unlike the techniques of the corpse-driving lineage, which mostly deal with corpses and are filled with eerie yin energy.

"Chen Miao? Is that you?"

Tang Rui's voice suddenly came from the freezer room, interrupting their conversation.

Chen Miao walked over.

"It's me, Brother Tang. Are you alright?"

Through the security door riddled with holes, Chen Miao saw Tang Rui inside, pale-faced and covered in sweat.

"Chen Miao, it really is you! Call the police! There are zombies! There are zombies!"

Hearing Tang Rui's distraught screams, Chen Miao comforted him, "Brother Tang, it's alright now, come out."

"No, no, I won't go out! There are zombies! I need to wait for the police! I need to wait for the police!"

Hearing Tang Rui's words, Chen Miao felt somewhat worried.

Although no one died tonight, if word gets out that there are zombies at the Tianmen Funeral Home, it could have a bigger impact than the deaths themselves!

Ghosts are ethereal and intangible; they cannot be seen or touched. Even murders committed by ghosts can be classified as sudden deaths.

But zombies are physical entities!
Funeral homes deal with corpses, so who knows if rumors will spread that zombies were created by the Tianmen Funeral Home!

If that's the case, Tianmen Funeral Home will be in trouble.

Chen Miao could delete the funeral home's video recordings, but he couldn't delete the footage captured by the outside cameras. Who knows how many cameras captured this zombie before it arrived at the funeral home?

With the police arriving soon, Chen Miao felt that his uncle might not live to see the day when the funeral home was handed over to him.

"Brother Chen Miao, is there some difficulty you're facing?"

Zhong Cai's words drew Chen Miao's attention.

Looking at Zhong Cai, Chen Miao's heart stirred.

Zhong Cai has been in this industry for so long, he can't possibly smooth over all the impacts every time, can he?

Until he obtained that book, Chen Miao had never heard any concrete reports of paranormal events.

Chen Miao immediately voiced his concerns.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Cai began to believe what Chen Miao had said earlier; this might indeed be a novice.

"Brother Chen Miao, you haven't had any contact with the Emergency Management Bureau before?"

"Emergency Management Bureau? What's that?"

Chen Miao shook his head.

"Although I have learned the incense burning method you mentioned, I have rarely encountered supernatural events, except for recently."

Zhong Cai frowned. "Only recently have we started encountering this?"
He had just passed by the Tianmen Funeral Home and did not notice that there was too much yin energy gathered there.

It is at most slightly heavier than the yin energy outside, but it is not at all as heavy as a yin place.

Suddenly, he remembered what Zhong Fa had done before.

Why did he have to travel such a long distance to lure this jumping zombie here?

Zhong Cai seemed to have found the answer in his heart, and felt ashamed of what his senior brother had done.

He immediately said, "I know people who can help you. You don't need to worry about what happened today. We'll just announce to the public that the Tianmen Funeral Home was robbed. As for the person inside, you'll have to handle that."

"Of course, if you really can't do the work, you can hand it over to the person in charge of this matter."

"Don't worry, the Emergency Management Bureau will handle these kinds of incidents. They have their own methods for dealing with them. However, you should be called in to register the situation after this incident."

"Don't worry, there aren't many people like us, but there aren't a few either. If it's really a case of restricting personal freedom, then it's forcing people like us into the dark side."

"So at most, if something happens, they'll contact you locally first. If it's not your problem, you might be pulled in to help solve it."

Upon hearing this, Chen Miao nodded indifferently.

He wasn't opposed to being recruited or placed under supervision; what he was worried about was that the Tianmen Funeral Home would have to close down.

"Thank you, Brother Zhong."

Hearing Chen Miao call him that, Zhong Cai smiled.

"Let's exchange contact information. I'll talk to my acquaintances there later. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

After exchanging contact information, Zhong Cai left.

Chen Miao glanced at Tang Rui, who was still squatting in the freezer room and didn't want to come out, then walked to the spot where he had thrown the book and picked it up.

After the fight just now, Chen Miao realized that he should also get a shoulder bag like Zhong Cai's, otherwise, once a fight like today started, he would have to put the book aside.

Chen Miao opened the book and turned to the afterword of the second chapter.

Chapter Two - Epilogue - Zombies

"On the seventh night after the twins' memorial service, at 3:40 a.m., I was suddenly awakened by a noise outside."

"With a mix of curiosity and nervousness, I decided to go and take a look, since the funeral home is our family's business."

"Before leaving, I took with me incense sticks and the century-old peach wood sword blank that I had personally carved. These things will give me more courage when I go out at night."

"As soon as I stepped out of the dormitory building, I saw flames. By the time I ran over to put out the fire, it had already been extinguished."

"But none of that matters now."

"Because I saw a...zombie smashing down the cold storage door!"

"I don't know how to explain how I felt seeing it, but I knew I couldn't let it in; Tang Rui was still inside!"

"Perhaps it was the sword and the incense in my hand that gave me the courage to charge forward."

"After entering the cold storage and facing zombies alone, I realized that my courage wasn't enough to be my weapon. Just when I was about to die in the zombies' jaws, divine soldiers descended from the sky!"

"A person wielding a peach wood sword rushed past me and charged at the zombie, engaging it in combat!"

"His appearance surprised and pleased me."

"I am not a coward. After returning to normal, I recited a section of the 'Incantation for Subduing Evil Spirits' and joined the battle, still covered in the smell of incense smoke."

"Seizing the opportunity, I stabbed the zombie with my sword. The sword that was originally used to bolster my courage actually came in handy at this moment."

"The incense smoke swirling around my body seemed to have found its target, and it entered the body of the zombie whose skin had been pierced by the wooden sword in my hand."

"My action gave another person an opportunity, and he also managed to stab the zombie, but in doing so, he lost his own weapon."

"The loss of his weapon didn't deter him. After a brief exchange, he was willing to risk his life to create an opportunity for me to fight the zombies!"

"The situation is urgent, and I cannot refuse! I will concentrate on my duties outside of the battle and wait quietly!"

"The opportunity has quietly arrived!"

"As that person affixed the talisman to the zombie, I had already thrust the sword embryo into the zombie's back."

"My sword pierced right through your body!"

"The sudden, devastating blow exposed the zombie's weakness, and the man seized the opportunity to regain his sword. With a series of quick movements, he unleashed a powerful upward thrust, aiming straight for the zombie's vitals!"

"To ensure everything goes perfectly, I burned incense and recited the incantation again."

"Smoke appeared and rushed towards the zombie like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey. With a loud bang, the zombie burned to ashes."

"Looking at that pile of ashes, I felt like I was in a dream."

"This world is slowly revealing its unknown side to me."

"It seems that something belonging to me has become five coins heavier."

[Chapter Two - Epilogue - The Zombie arc is complete. Gained Yin Virtue (five coins), obtained Wang Dong's memory fragments, and obtained the "Zhong Family Corpse-Driving Secrets".]

……

(End of this chapter)