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

"Radish, how come you've gotten even bigger again?"

Deep within the mass grave behind the mortuary, Xie An stood under an ancient locust tree, looking at the somewhat unfamiliar radish shreds before him.

In just one night... Luo Bosi's frame had become much thicker, and her whole body was full of "muscular strength," giving off a strong sense of pressure.

What kind of skeleton is that?

It's clearly a skeletal beast!

If Xie An weren't the owner of the radish shreds, he would have been scared out of his wits by now...

Luo Bo Si looked bewildered, took out a dark, unrecognizable bone, and simultaneously sent a message: "I just took a bite, and then my body became stronger, even my bones are different. I think such a treasure shouldn't be enjoyed alone; it should be given to the master."

"It's good that you have this idea." Xie An gave the radish a good scolding, then picked up the bone and looked at it. It looked like pork ribs, but it felt cool to the touch.

At that moment, the panel suddenly flickered.

[2 points of Corpse Essence detected]

[Absorbable]

That works too... Shredded radish would be great!

Having learned from his previous experience of absorbing the essence of the corpse demon, Xie An didn't think much this time and directly absorbed it with a thought.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, the Corpse Demon Essence on the panel increased from 0 to 2. At the same time, a chilling black aura flowed from his ribs, crashing into Xie An's body and making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Immediately afterwards, this cold, black energy slowly gathered after passing through his limbs and bones, and then flowed into the phantom of the one-legged, backward-facing monkey between his eyebrows.

The phantom of the little monkey moved for the first time.

hum!

A terrifying power suddenly emanated from the phantom of the little monkey, flowing into his entire body. Xie An distinctly felt as if countless red-hot steel needles were being inserted into the crevices of his bones.

"Well……!"

Xie An let out a muffled groan, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans instantly appeared on his forehead. He could clearly hear a series of fine, teeth-grinding "crackling" sounds coming from inside his body, as if every bone was being slowly crushed and ground by an invisible hammer.

The old skeletal structure is disintegrating, and something new, denser, and colder is growing out of the medullary cavity.

That force brutally washed over every tendon, stretching every muscle fiber, like ice water being poured into scalding blood vessels in the dead of winter.

In just a few breaths, it felt like a brush with death.

It took a while for the stinging pain from the bone remodeling to subside. Xie An, supporting his knees, gasped for breath.

"This little monkey must be what they call a mandrill. It moved for the first time...it seems to be reshaping my muscles and bones!?"

He slowly straightened up and clenched his fist—

The sound produced by the knuckles was no longer the usual light sound, but a deep and resilient sound, like the resilient sound of an old bamboo being bent.

The bones under the skin seemed to have become heavier and harder, and the bone density seemed to have increased.

Xie An casually swung his fists twice, and surprisingly, they had a powerful and imposing presence. His joints also became much more flexible and agile.

"My physical constitution has indeed been reshaped, and my strength has more than doubled. No wonder I get so much stronger after just one bite of radish shreds. These pork ribs must be the bones of some kind of evil spirit..."

Open the panel:

[Coffin owner: Xie An]

[Spirit Acquired: Mandrill]

Mandrill Level: Level 1 (1/100)

[Ghoul Essence: 2]

[Mountain Demon: It can devour mountain spirits and moonlight, and consume the aura of corpses and ghosts. It is adept at sensing the earth's veins and yin orifices, and is a malevolent spirit of the dark and turbid mountains and forests.]

[Currently Commanding a Corpse: Level 2 Skeleton]

"Hmm? My mandrill level has increased by one point. Looks like these pork ribs are something else."

Xie An put away the panel and looked at Luo Bosi, "Where did you get these ribs?"

Luo Bosi pointed into the distance and then led the way. Xie An followed her for a while along the mountain path and was shocked to see a huge wild boar lying motionless on the ground, beaten to death in the bushes.

Luo Bosi ran over and pried open the wild boar's mouth, then relayed the message: "The wild boar was carrying a bone, and I felt that the bone was unusual, so I killed the wild boar and took the bone."

Xie An stared at the wild boar, which weighed a full two hundred pounds, then at the radish shreds. After a long pause, he finally managed to say, "Radish shreds, you're very well dried. You're meant to live in this jungle. Continue to lurk around the area and see if there are any bones left."

When the radish received praise from its owner, it danced with excitement, indicating that it would definitely do a good job.

Xie An was very satisfied. He had Luo Bosi carry the wild boar down the mountain. When they were close to the back gate of the manor, he had Luo Bosi hide in the woods while he carried the wild boar into the manor himself.

Although the 200-pound wild boar was heavy, Xie An, whose skeleton had been remodeled, didn't seem to be struggling much.

As soon as Xie An entered the manor, he sensed that something was amiss.

The courtyard was a mess. Several long benches used for drying coffin boards in the corner had been overturned, and wood was scattered all over the ground. Two coffin bearers were squatting at the door of the side room. One had a blood-soaked cloth wrapped around his forehead, and the other's left trouser leg was half-soaked in blood. His face was pale and his lips were trembling.

Li Erniu came out of the house carrying a basin of hot water. When he saw Xie An, his eyes reddened, and he almost dropped the basin.

"Young...Young Master..."

"Where's my father?" Xie An threw the wild boar to the ground, his voice strained.

"In...in the shopkeeper's room..."

Xie An immediately ran towards the east courtyard.

The door was ajar. As soon as he pushed it open, he saw his father, Xie Bingxiang, leaning against the kang (a heated brick bed). His left trouser leg had been cut open, and his calf was wrapped in thick white cloth, which had stained a dark red stain.

Zhou Xuli was bending over, wringing out a towel with hot water, and carefully wiping the cold sweat from his father's forehead.

"father!"

Xie An rushed to the edge of the kang (heated brick bed), "What...how did this happen?!"

"Wang Qinian shot it through with a Hanyang rifle." Zhou Xuli straightened up, threw the towel back into the basin, and said, "Wang Qinian came to the manor early this morning with two armed policemen. It was quite a big show of force. When they entered the clean room and opened the coffin lid, they saw the peach wood nails and black dog blood on Master Wang's body... He wasn't quite dead yet."

Wang Qinian's face turned pale. He pointed at the manager's nose and cursed, saying that our mortuary "ostensibly houses coffins, but secretly practices sorcery, raises corpses, and plagues the village." He also said that Master Wang was raised to this state by our evil magic, and that we should use our mortuary as a case study to report to Section Chief Li of the Special Affairs Department, and have it severely punished as a case of "eliminating feudal remnants and eradicating local superstitions."

Xie An felt a chill run up his spine: "Where's Scarface Liu? Didn't he go to deliver money last night...?"

"I sent it." Zhou Xuli forced a smile, his expression more painful than crying. "The usual eight silver dollars, plus ten for 'emergency tea money,' a total of eighteen dollars. I personally handed it to Scarface Liu. He patted his chest and said, 'Leave it to me, I guarantee Section Chief Li won't utter a sound.'"

Zhou Xuli's voice became hoarse, filled with barely suppressed resentment and sorrow. "And then Wang Qinian came this morning, carrying a gun. Scarface Liu? Not even a trace of him! I asked someone to inquire at Yongsheng Hall, and the people there said, 'Master Liu is out on business, he's not at the hall.' Bah!"

He spat fiercely, but even the spittle seemed powerless.

Xie Bingxiang opened his eyes at this moment, his voice hoarse: "Don't say anymore... Old Zhou, this isn't your fault. It's just our... fate. Since ancient times, the common people can't fight against the officials."

"Father!" Xie An grasped his father's cold hand. "Where is Wang Qinian?"

"They just left." Zhou Xuli continued, his eyes blankly staring at the messy courtyard outside the door. "They wrapped Master Wang's body in a straw mat and carried it away. They said they were going to send it to the county's new funeral home for cremation to prevent future trouble. They also said that... after Master Wang's funeral arrangements are completed in three days, they will bring patrol officers to seal off our estate, confiscate all property, and arrest and question everyone."

Hmm.

Xie Bingxiang sighed deeply, "Our Xie family's three-generation ancestral craft has ultimately been ruined by this unworthy descendant. How will I face my ancestors in the afterlife..."

The room was deathly silent.

Only Xie Bingxiang's sorrowful breathing and the suppressed groans of the workers outside could be faintly heard.

Xie An stood there, looking at the glaring blood on his father's leg, at Zhou Xuli's hunched and weary back, and at the courtyard outside the window that had been ransacked by three generations of the family for nearly a hundred years.

He recalled the fisherman's words at the porridge shop: "The name may be new, but the hands that skin and dismember... haven't decreased at all."

Yes, it hasn't decreased at all.

From the previous dynasty to the Republic of China, from government offices to police stations, from tax collectors to gangs, and then to fellow villagers like Wang Qinian who wore modern uniforms and spoke in new terms... the hands that skinned and dismembered people changed one after another, but the force they exerted on these commoners and lowlifes who made a living by stealing from the underworld was never light.

You slip them money, they take it, but they'll still try to take away your livelihood or shoot you if they want to.

When you try to reason with them, they accuse you of being feudal and superstitious.

If you follow the rules, they say you're a remnant of the old era.

What can you do?

Xie An's hand slowly clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning white.

Beneath the skin, the newly formed, icy bones seemed to be faintly warming.

After a long while, Xie An loosened his fist and silently walked out of the room.

If the mortuary is to survive, Wang Qinian must not be allowed to return to the police station!

……

Meanwhile, Wang Qinian and his two companions left Qinghe Charity Estate and headed towards Yongning County along the dirt road that had been worn deep by the wheels of carriages.

Wang Qinian walked at the front, wearing a crisp gray-blue police uniform, with a leather belt tightly around his waist, and an empty holster hanging on his left side—the Hanyang rifle was slung over the shoulder of the young patrolman following behind him.

Another patrolman carried the body, wrapped in a straw mat, at the back.

"Brother Wang," the young patrolman carrying a gun wiped his sweat, glanced back at the increasingly distant gate of the mortuary, and said with a hint of reluctance, "your father... had a very close relationship with Manager Xie. The old man specifically requested Qinghe Mortuary before he passed away. Are we going a bit too far with what we're doing?"

Wang Qinian didn't stop walking, letting out a short, cold laugh through his nose.

"Friendship?" He took out a silver-plated cigarette case, flicked out a "Hademen" cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it with a match, took a deep drag, and exhaled blue smoke from his nostrils. "That's because my father is getting senile."

He held a cigarette between his fingers, pointed behind him, and his tone was filled with undisguised contempt:

"Xie Bingxiang? A lowlife who deals with the dead, sews up rotten flesh, and sleeps in a coffin, dares to talk about friendship with my father? He's just relying on that old almanac from the previous dynasty to fool some fools. My father was also blinded by the old ways, and even on his deathbed, he was still spouting nonsense about 'peace in the grave'."

This is a new society now, understand? New customs, new rules. Mortuary cemeteries, coffins, and traditional burials are all remnants of feudalism, stumbling blocks to social progress! The higher authorities have repeatedly emphasized the need to "change customs and habits" and "eliminate superstition"—this is the general trend!

He took a deep drag of his cigarette, as if trying to ignite something within him:

"What did Section Chief Li say at the Special Operations Section meeting? 'We must have the courage to take on the old forces, and we must handle several exemplary cases to demonstrate the power of our police station!' Listen to that, what is this? This is an opportunity!"

He turned around, the cigarette butt almost poking the young patrolman's nose, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of ambition and coldness.

"Yongning County has seven towns under its jurisdiction. How many of these stubborn old problems are there? Whoever solves an 'ironclad case' will get on Section Chief Li's radar! Promotions, raises, transfers to Tianjin... aren't all opportunities gained by stepping over these old fogies?"

He glanced at the straw-wrapped corpse, his voice lowered but clearer, each word striking the ground:

"When someone dies, I get to decide. My father? What can he give me besides causing me trouble? If I want to climb up the social ladder, make something of myself, and leave this tiny Yongning County, I can only use Xie Bingxiang and his moldy, stinking mortuary as my stepping stones."

After saying that, he threw away his cigarette butt. "Hurry up and get out of here. Before the body decomposes completely, get it to the funeral home and cremate it. The evidence of 'raising a corpse and causing trouble' is irrefutable. In three days... I will personally throw the 'Qinghe Mortuary' sign into the Xie family's stove to burn as firewood..."

Wang Qinian strode forward for a while, but suddenly realized that his two subordinates behind him did not respond. He turned around angrily and said, "Are you two mute..." Before he could finish speaking, Wang Qinian could not continue. He was shocked to see that his two subordinates were lying on the muddy ground behind him, their bodies covered in blood, their heads twisted off by something.

Only a roll of straw mat lay on the ground, revealing the father's still-twitching corpse.

hiss!

Wang Qinian gasped, instinctively reaching for his holster, only to touch a cold, skeletal hand. Turning his head sharply, he was horrified to see an extremely large, withered skeleton that had appeared behind him at some unknown time.

"what……"

Before Wang Qinian could even scream, the skeletal hand pierced through his chest.

"Heh...heh..."

Wang Qinian's chest tightened suddenly, his internal organs felt shattered, and he slowly knelt down, mouthfuls of blood flowing from the corners of his mouth. Through his blurred vision, he saw Xie An emerge from the woods not far away.

"Xie An, you, you actually dared to assault... a police officer!"

Xie An, holding a dagger, slowly approached, his face expressionless. "You want to gain merit by taking advantage of my mortuary, and for me to live... the only way is for you to die!"

puff!

The moment the words left his mouth, the dagger plunged deep into Wang Qinian's neck, and blood spurted out.