Esoteric Buddhism: To live as king in America

Mian suppressed the churning in her stomach, her gaze passing over her small shoulders and quietly locking onto the center of the bedroom floor.

There was a corpse lying there.

A male corpse.

He lay on his back, wearing stained overalls and a T-shirt whose original color was indistinguishable. His skin was a mixture of ashen gray and bluish-purple, swollen and ulcerated in many places, oozing a dark yellow fluid. Large patches of livor mortis had settled on the part of his back that touched the ground. His face was so swollen that his features were almost unrecognizable, his lips were everted, revealing dark purple gums.

This is definitely not the single mother next door.

"He's been dead for more than a few days."

Li Zhaoning's voice echoed in Mi An's mind, carrying an unprecedented solemnity.

"At least ten days, or even two weeks."

Mian's breath hitched.

More than ten days? Old Scar's neighbors should still be home then, and the police should have been there! The police couldn't have overlooked such a large, decomposing body in the bedroom during their search. Unless…

"Did this body appear here later? After the neighbors left?"

Mi'an used magic to communicate silently with Li Zhaoning.

"But why? Who would bring a highly decomposed corpse into an empty apartment?"

Li Zhaoning had already entered the bedroom, carefully avoiding the stains on the floor. Her sharp eyes scanned her surroundings. Mi'an knew what she was looking for: the source of the candle scent.

Logically, this level of decay should have emitted a stench that would have filled the air long ago, but under the cover of this inexplicable candle fragrance, even superhumans like Li Zhaoning and Ai Yin, who theoretically specialize in physical abilities, failed to smell the stench of the corpse outside the door.

As Mi An followed Li Zhaoning's search, she scanned the entire room and arrived at an equally unexpected result.

The simple furniture was covered in a thick layer of dust, the windows were tightly closed, and apart from the corpse itself, there was no trace of any lit candles or incense.

"There is no source of fragrance."

Li Zhaoning's voice carried a hint of confusion.

"The scent of this candle... seems to be completely attached to the corpse itself, emanating from its rotting flesh."

She crouched down, not touching it, but observing the strange corpse up close. For the first time, Mi An saw a troubled expression on Li Zhaoning's face.

"Without a doubt, this is an extraordinary event. But the question is, why?"

Mian read aloud:

"Even if this was done by the Naturists, if it was a trap, why bother with concealment? If it wasn't a trap, wouldn't it be more convenient to simply dispose of the body instead of using this fragrance to mask it?"

This question lingered in their minds, unanswered for the time being. They hadn't expected to detect traces of the extraordinary so quickly, nor had they anticipated that their first encounter with such traces would be so troublesome.

At that moment, Ain's eyes suddenly turned fierce.

"He has murderous intent."

She suddenly looked at the tightly closed window to the side, baring her teeth like a wild beast, ready to rush out and chase the source of the murderous intent.

"Ain! Don't move!"

Li Zhaoning shouted to stop him, and at the same time, his movements were as fast as lightning as he grabbed the little knight's shoulder.

"Outside the window, right? How far?"

Ayn nodded and replied:

"About three outer corridors away."

"it is good."

Li Zhaoning's eyes instantly sharpened. He patted Ai Yin's head and gave her a slight smile.

"You stay with Mian and protect him. I'm going after him."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Zhaoning's figure had already turned into a blurry afterimage and rushed towards the window.

She lightly ran her finger along a spot on the edge of the window frame, as if an invisible thread had cut through it, and with a soft "click," the latch broke.

She pushed open the window and, like a nimble swift, leaped out without hesitation. With a few quick bounds, she landed lightly on the fire escape outside and disappeared into the shadows of the opposite building, heading straight for the source of the malicious spying.

Mian, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but sigh, "Those with superhuman abilities are indeed a bunch of monsters."

Even though Li Zhaoning had said countless times that she wasn't good at fighting, compared to ordinary people, she was still like a superhuman. Even Mi An herself, with just one acceleration spell, was enough to move like a dragon amidst the gang's encirclement.

Not to mention that beyond mere physical attributes, extraordinary individuals possess many more mysterious abilities and spells, such as...

Mian's pupils dilated slightly as he suddenly thought of a crucial question.

"Be careful, Ain."

Mian reminded her.

What Ain sensed was murderous intent, a thought that usually only arises when the other party has the opportunity to kill them.

The opponent was at a distance, making close-range combat impossible. The fact that Li Zhaoning jumped out of the window without being attacked indicates that it wasn't a long-range sniping weapon like a sniper rifle.

However, the other side still felt they had a chance to kill Mian and his group.

Then there's only one answer—there's a trap in this room!

But what's the problem? Li Zhaoning has already checked the entire house but hasn't found anything. If even she can't see any traces of magic here, then Mi An is even less likely to.

But traps always exist, either hidden too well to be found or so obvious as to be overlooked...

Mian heard a faint sound behind him.

Almost immediately, his gaze fell upon the corpse placed in the center of the bedroom. Then, Matt's tentacles, which had been transplanted onto his arm, shot out from his sleeve like arrows, heading straight for the corpse's head.

Mian's tentacles could not possibly be as powerful as Matt's, but after a long period of accumulation, they suddenly sprang out with the power and speed of a pistol bullet.

But under such a threat, the corpse lying on the ground moved strangely and dodged the attack with incredible speed.

The rotting muscles burst forth with power completely out of proportion to their condition, and like a puppet being pulled by invisible threads, they sprang up from the floor in a twisted and bizarre posture.

"ha--!"

It opened its mouth, which was dripping with black slime, and let out a whistling sound that was not human, filled with the stench of corpses and the strange fragrance of candles, before attacking Mian with tremendous speed.

But just as its rotting claws were about to touch the light and shadow, Ain kicked him away with a flying kick, sending him crashing heavily against the wall, causing the somewhat old building to groan under the weight of the impact.

Even so, the resurrected corpse did not seem to be defeated.

For some reason, Mian felt a strong desire to live from it.

Its already rotting chest was still throbbing powerfully, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth, and it kept emitting hissing breaths, as if it were begging for mercy from Mian.

However, without the slightest hesitation, Mian used her tentacles to overturn a wardrobe and pin the corpse underneath.

"Ain!"

Mian called out to the little knight, and Ain immediately understood, stepping onto the wardrobe and crushing the corpse's head through it.

The sounds and movements of the corpse finally ceased once more.

The body was returned to its rightful place.