Gou Zai, a corpse sewn into a spirit in a mortuary during the Republic of China era, became a spirit

There was a moment of silence in the hall after these words were spoken.

Zhou Xuli wanted to say something more, but swallowed his words back. Xie Bingxiang did the same.

If the village doesn't accept this ominous coffin, it will have no way to survive.

How could a group of ordinary people struggling to make a living at the bottom of society resist the county magistrate's office and the military governor?

Xie Bingxiang and Zhou Xuli had only tried to explain the pros and cons and beg the other party to change their mind, but the other party was aloof and ignored them completely.

They knew all too well that Xie An's choice was... purely out of desperation.

Shen Molan glanced at Xie An, her tense body relaxing almost imperceptibly, as if she had unloaded the burden of a troublesome matter.

After a moment, Shen Molan nodded: "The coffin needs to be placed in the very center of your temporary hall, and the floor must be clean and free of debris."

In addition, I will leave two people stationed outside the estate, both for 'protection' and to ensure... no one moves the coffin without authorization. At this time seven days from now, I will personally come to remove the coffin.”

After saying that, Shen Molan got up and left. Manager Liu bowed and smiled obsequiously, and followed her away with two porters.

Li Zhonglin wasn't in a hurry to leave. He waved to the two patrol officers to release Xie Bingxiang, and his tone became "earnest":

"Manager Xie, you see, in the end, this matter is all for the sake of the soldiers at the front, and for the stability of our great Xin Dynasty! The soldiers are bleeding and fighting desperately on the front lines, shouldn't we, the people at home, contribute our strength and money to help us get through this difficult time together?"

As he spoke, Li Zhonglin squatted down and patted Xie Bingxiang on the shoulder. "It's a blessing and a great achievement that your mortuary can temporarily take care of these 'loyal remains' for Commander Shen and the Governor's Mansion! The 'hardship fee' and 'care fee' during this period, as well as the losses from incense, candles, paper horses, and other protective items... those of you in this line of work all understand."

The meaning couldn't be clearer.

Demanding kickbacks...

Xie Bingxiang clutched the wound on his leg, sweat beading on his forehead from the pain, his heart sinking deeper into despair. He knew that if he didn't pay up today, Li Zhonglin would not let the matter rest. He strained to give Zhou Xuli a meaningful look.

Zhou Xuli shakily got up and staggered to the back room accounting room. After a short while, he brought out a small cloth bag containing the twenty silver dollars he had just prepared to deal with Li Zhonglin's extortion—this was almost the last cash on hand.

Xie Bingxiang took the cloth bag, held it with both hands, and handed it to Li Zhonglin, bowing deeply and speaking in a hoarse voice: "Thank you for your consideration, Section Chief Li. I understand... This is just a small token of my appreciation for your hard work and tea. Please accept it, sir and brothers."

Li Zhonglin glanced at the cloth bundle, weighed it in his hand, and his smile widened. "Oh, Manager Xie, you're too kind! I was just thinking of you all. All this tidying up and running errands for the brothers has taken a lot of effort. Don't worry, I'll make sure this money is used where it's needed and I won't let the soldiers at the front feel disheartened!"

Xie An hurriedly helped Xie Bingxiang to sit down. Seeing his father's body covered in wounds, he felt even more resentful and angry. However, he knew that he absolutely could not show his dissatisfaction at this moment, because even if Li Zhonglin noticed the slightest thing, it would bring even greater trouble.

Even the greatest anger and resentment can only be swallowed down.

As if remembering something, Li Zhonglin took a puff of his cigar and asked casually, "By the way, Manager Xie, after Wang Qinian came to your place a few days ago, has anyone seen him since? His family came to the station several times to ask, saying that he hasn't been home for several days."

Xie Bingxiang's heart tightened, and he forced a reply: "Reporting to Section Chief, after Officer Wang and his two colleagues escorted... escorted Mr. Wang's body away that day, I haven't seen them again. Perhaps... perhaps they were busy with official duties?"

Li Zhonglin stared at him for two seconds, then laughed and said, "That's right, that kid loves to keep busy with random things. He's probably off somewhere 'observing the people's conditions' again."

He didn't press further, but the probing look in his eyes felt like needles scraping across the Xie family.

"Alright, I have other things to do, so I won't bother you any longer. Remember, do your job well for Commander Shen. There will be a reward if you do a good job, but if you make a mistake, you won't be able to keep your head." Li Zhonglin straightened his uniform, put on his leather boots, and left, with the two patrolmen following him in a hurry.

Only when the footsteps of that group of people completely disappeared outside the village did the breath that had been suppressed for so long slowly escape from everyone's chest.

Only the flickering candlelight remained in the hall, illuminating the mess on the floor and the dark coffin, wrapped in iron chains, that sat quietly in the center.

The hall was deathly silent for a moment, with only Xie Bingxiang's suppressed breathing.

Looking at the blood-stained wounds on Xie Bingxiang's legs and the bruises on his face, Zhou Xuli's old eyes reddened instantly, and his lips trembled as he said, "...These...these...beasts!"

"Shopkeeper, what... what should we do...?"

Li Erniu brought over a basin of warm water from behind, wrung out a towel, and handed it to Xie An. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks bulging from clenching his teeth, and he muttered, "Twenty dollars… For the next three months, our village won't even have money to buy lime and incense. They… they're trying to cut off our livelihood!"

Xie An silently took the towel and carefully wiped the blood and grime around his father's wound. "Father, bear with it. Our village will get better."

"I can endure it..." Xie Bingxiang slumped in his chair, his voice squeezed out through clenched teeth. "A few beatings, some money... it's nothing. Back when your grandfather was alive, he encountered even more ruthless thugs who directly robbed the burial goods and injured several of the men... That's how the world is. The weak get beaten."

Liu Hu had been leaning against the door with his arms crossed, his face ashen. Suddenly, he slammed his fist on the door frame with a dull thud, sending dust flying from the beam.

"Damn it!" he spat out the word through gritted teeth, his chest heaving violently. "Soldiers are pointing guns at us, and officers are stomping on our heads with their boots to demand money... What kind of world is this?! The law? The law is just a whip and a money bag in their hands!"

Officials in the previous dynasty at least had some sense of how they wanted money, and they even behaved respectably… But now, they've put on a new mask and are even more greedy! They don't even spare the dead, demanding that we use our life savings to 'reward' them!”

Zhou Xuli finally caught his breath, pounding his leg, his voice desolate: "Our line of work makes a living off the dead, earning money through good karma. We spend our lives bowing and scraping, not seeking wealth or status, only peace and stability. But now... peace and stability have become a luxury. The living bully us, and even the dead... have become knives they use to manipulate us."

He stared at the black coffin, his eyes filled with fear and despair: "This coffin... it's a death warrant from the King of Hell. They threw it here, clearly intending to kill us! We paid the money, lost our lives, and now we have nowhere to even cry out for justice... What kind of logic is this?!"

Xie An wiped his father's face clean, put down the towel, and stood up straight. "In this world, guns and official seals are the only means of justice. Since we don't have those things, we have to accept this 'justice'."

Of course, Xie An didn't say one more thing: "A strong fist..." That's also true.

Xie An turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone's faces. "From today onwards, the manor will remain open during the day as usual, but at night, everyone will gather in the east courtyard, away from the Tingshu Hall. As for this coffin... from tonight onwards, I will personally 'take care' of it."

Upon hearing this, Xie Bingxiang immediately became anxious: "Shoucheng, how can this be? You're still young, it's not your place to take care of this ominous coffin. If something really happens to the coffin, it should be the father who goes to help. At least leave a bloodline for our Xie family."

Xie An said, "Father, I recently learned a few basic martial arts techniques from Master Zhou. I have a lot of yang energy, so I can keep this under control. It's settled then. Erniu, go check outside the manor to see if there are any soldiers guarding it."

Li Erniu nodded in agreement and hurriedly went out. He returned shortly afterward, drenched in sweat: "There's a soldier with a gun guarding both the front and back gates, afraid we'll move the coffin."

Xie An nodded: "Uncle Zhou, take good care of Father. Erniu, come and help carry the coffin to the Tingshu Hall."

"Alright."

Li Erniu immediately agreed, and together with Xie An, they carried the coffin out of the reception hall and placed it in the center of the resting hall.

Having accomplished all this, Xie An instructed Zhang Da and Xu Chun to guard the entrance of the Tingshu Hall. Then, he summoned Li Erniu and Liu Hu to his west courtyard, where he pulled out a burlap sack from a corner of the hall. The sack was filled with various funerary objects.

It was radish that was dug out of the mass grave a few days ago.

Li Erniu and Liu Hu were not surprised to see these funerary objects; for those in the business of mortuary burial, looting corpses and taking goods was common practice.

Xie An said, "Brother Hu, you used to practice martial arts in the martial arts world and made friends with all sorts of people. Erniu is clever; you two took these artifacts to the black market and sold them for some money to support the estate."

The two nodded in agreement, picked up their burlap sacks, and went out the door.

Having accomplished all this, Xie An finally breathed a sigh of relief. He then went to the Tingshu Hall, dismissed Zhang Da and Xu Chun, locked the courtyard gate of the Tingshu Hall, and slowly walked to the coffin.

It was already late at night, and the Tingshu Hall was dark, with only a single ever-burning lamp placed in front of the statue of the City God.

wow~

The candle flame suddenly began to flicker violently, its dim yellow tip turning green. This was accompanied by a series of eerie howls.

next moment--

Bang bang bang.

Suddenly, a knocking sound came from inside the coffin, as if something was struggling and writhing inside. As the knocking grew more intense, the coffin lid shook, as if a monster were crawling out.

Xie An did not leave, but instead raised his hand and placed it on the coffin.

The panel reacted immediately.

[3 points of Corpse Demon Essence detected]

[Absorbable]

"Three points of ghoul essence at once, even more ferocious than Radish and Master Wang. But... the mountain demon wants to devour you. And besides ghoul essence, there seems to be something else in it."

Xie An took a deep breath and then made a decision:

absorb!