Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

When Lin Yi and her party arrived at the Ren residence, it was already dusk.

The gates of the Ren residence were tightly closed, with two white lanterns hanging at the entrance, illuminating the two gilded characters "Ren Residence" on the lintel.

A white obituary was pasted on the door, the ink still fresh, bearing Ren Fa's name and date of death.

A layer of paper money was scattered on the steps, swirling in the night wind.

Uncle Nine stepped forward and patted the door knocker.

After a long while, the door creaked open a crack, and the butler, Afu, peeked out with half his face.

Ah Fu's eyes were red and swollen, with bags under his eyes almost drooping to his cheekbones. When he saw that it was Uncle Jiu, he quickly opened the door and said, "Uncle Jiu is here."

"Where is Miss Ren?" Uncle Jiu stepped across the threshold and glanced around the courtyard.

"Miss was in the main hall, how could such a thing have happened?" Afu sighed and led everyone inside.

In the main hall, Ren Tingting sat on a grand chair, dressed in plain white mourning clothes. Her hair was simply tied up with a white silk ribbon, and her face was unadorned with makeup. Her eyes were red and swollen like two walnuts.

Two maids, also dressed in plain clothes, stood beside him, waiting obediently with their heads bowed.

Hearing footsteps, Ren Tingting looked up and saw Uncle Jiu walking in with several people. A look of surprise flashed across her face, and she said in a hoarse voice, "Uncle Jiu, what brings you here?"

Uncle Jiu walked up to her, bowed respectfully with a solemn expression, and said, "Miss Ren, please accept my condolences. I have come to tell you something important."

Ren Tingting nodded and gestured for the maid to pour tea.

Uncle Nine did not sit down, but went straight to the point: "Miss Ren, your father's death was not an ordinary murder."

Ren Tingting swayed slightly, grabbing the back of the chair to steady herself: "Uncle Jiu, what do you mean by that?"

"Old Master Ren's tomb has been tampered with. His body has not decomposed in the past twenty years and has become a zombie."

Uncle Nine said in a deep voice, "It broke out of the coffin last night, and it was it that bit your father to death."

Ren Tingting's eyes widened, her lips trembling, and after a long while, she managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Ninth Uncle, you're saying...it was my grandfather who bit my father to death?"

"Yes."

"This is impossible!" Ren Tingting's voice suddenly rose, and tears welled up again. "My grandfather has been dead for twenty years. How can a dead man crawl out of a coffin? Uncle Jiu, you must be mistaken—"

Before he could finish speaking, a series of stumbling footsteps came from outside, followed by a figure tumbling and crawling into the main hall.

The person who came in was Awei. He was leaning against the door frame, panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat, and his legs were still trembling.

"Something terrible has happened! Cousin! Something terrible has happened!" Awei shouted breathlessly, "Uncle... he's come back to life!"

Ren Tingting was stunned: "What did you say?"

Awei caught his breath and wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve:

"Tonight I was guarding my uncle's body in the cell. Everything was fine until it got dark, when he suddenly sat up and started chasing me and biting me!"

If I hadn't run fast, he would have bitten me by now!

As he spoke, he gestured, pulling down the corner of his mouth with his finger to make a grimacing expression.

Looking at his disheveled appearance, Ren Tingting's suspicion gradually turned into fear.

Although Awei is unreliable, he wouldn't make up such lies to scare people.

As Awei spoke, he caught a glimpse of Lin Yi standing beside him out of the corner of his eye. His pupils contracted, and his expression instantly switched to a fawning smile. He quickly nodded to Lin Yi and said, "Big brother, you're here too."

Lin Yi didn't speak, but just looked at him with a half-smile. Awei felt uncomfortable under her gaze and quickly looked away.

Uncle Nine grabbed Ah Wei's hand and examined it closely—

Awei had a scratch on his wrist; although it wasn't deep, the exposed flesh was faintly black.

Uncle Nine's face darkened: "Where is Master Ren now?"

"He's still in jail." Ah Wei grabbed Uncle Nine's sleeve as if he'd seen a savior. "Uncle Nine, you must help my uncle rest in peace!"

"Don't worry, the cell has iron bars, it can't get out for now."

"But he's only just turned into a zombie, and a newly transformed corpse is still very vulnerable. Once I've dealt with things here, I'll go to the security team," Uncle Nine said in a deep voice.

Awei was taken aback: "Here? What's going on here?"

Uncle Nine turned to look outside the courtyard, his gaze seemingly piercing through the courtyard wall and reaching into the darkness beyond the town:

"Old Master Ren will be coming tonight. The blood of relatives has a deadly attraction to zombies, and he will definitely come looking for Miss Ren tonight."

Awei's face turned pale instantly.

His eyes darted around a few times, then he suddenly slapped his forehead: "Oh! I remember now! There's one unlocked window in the cell!"

If my uncle had run out of the window, wouldn't the town have been turned upside down?

I have to go back right away! Don't worry, Tingting, I'll definitely keep an eye on your uncle and won't let him run away and harm anyone!

Before the words had even finished, the person had already darted out of the main hall.

Then came the sound of the door slamming shut, and then everything went quiet again.

Ren Tingting opened her mouth, staring at the empty doorway, her fingers gripping the hem of her clothes until they turned white.

She's not stupid. Awei didn't go back to lock the windows; he clearly heard there was danger here and ran faster than a rabbit.

When her father was alive, Awei would come to her door every few days to curry favor, showering her with compliments. Now that her father has just died, this cousin doesn't even bother to pretend anymore.

She bit her lip, forcing back her tears, and turned to Uncle Jiu, saying, "Uncle Jiu, now I can only rely on you."

Uncle Nine nodded: "Miss Ren, don't worry, we will stay at the Ren residence tonight and will definitely not let Old Master Ren hurt you."

Ren Tingting forced a smile, turned around and instructed her maid to go to the kitchen and have the cook prepare a meal.

The maid responded and quickly left.

Before long, steaming hot food was served, filling the table to the brim.

The dishes were much more refined and abundant than what they had eaten at their mortuary, including lobster and abalone.

Wencai stared wide-eyed, and without waiting for anyone to greet him, he plopped down at the table, picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of braised pork, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Uncle Jiu's temples throbbed as he watched, but he couldn't show it in front of Ren Tingting, so he just coughed twice.

Wen Cai pretended not to hear and had already moved his chopsticks from braised pork to braised pork intestines.

Uncle Jiu awkwardly cupped his hands in greeting to Ren Tingting and then took a seat.

Qiu Sheng sat next to Uncle Jiu, eating quite politely.

Lin Yi sat down opposite Uncle Jiu, picked up a piece of sea bass with her chopsticks and slowly savored it. The fish was very fresh, and it was steamed just right, with tender and smooth flesh that wasn't fishy at all.

As he ate, he secretly marveled at how skilled the Ren family's chef was, a level above Wencai's.

Ren Tingting sat in the main seat, but didn't have much of an appetite and only drank a few sips of soup.

She noticed Lin Yi's unfamiliar face and glanced at her under the light—

The young man, in his early twenties, wore a well-tailored suit. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and sharp facial features, and his demeanor was completely different from the people in the town.

She had never seen this person before.

"And who is this gentleman?" she asked softly, putting down her soup bowl.

Lin Yi put down her chopsticks and nodded to her: "My name is Lin Yi. I came from the provincial capital. I was originally going to visit Uncle Jiu's mortuary."

I happen to know some martial arts, so I came over to lend a hand.

She looked at Lin Yi, and the tension that had been building up inside her all day suddenly eased.

This man is handsome, speaks with refinement, and has an extraordinary air about him.

More importantly, he came with Uncle Nine.

Since Uncle Nine is a capable person, the person who can get Uncle Nine to bring help must be no ordinary person.

Ren Tingting is a young lady from a wealthy family, and she has been exposed to the ways of the world since childhood.

When her father was alive, matchmakers practically wore out the threshold of her house, but she didn't like any of them.

Now that her father has suddenly passed away, she has no choice but to get married sooner rather than later.

Otherwise, those distant relatives who usually greet her with smiles would soon come to her father's door to adopt her son.

If she can find a reliable husband, even if it's just to settle down for now, it will at least temporarily shut up those relatives who are eyeing her with covetous eyes.

Thinking of this, Ren Tingting's cheeks flushed slightly.

She glanced at Lin Yi again, and their eyes met. She quickly lowered her head and pretended to straighten her sleeves.

After a moment, she mustered her courage again, raised her head, and asked, "Mr. Lin, how long will you be staying in Renjia Town this time?"

"It's not decided yet, we'll see," Lin Yi replied casually, completely unaware of the fleeting blush on Ren Tingting's face.

Ren Tingting said "Oh" and didn't ask any more questions. But she was already planning in her heart to have her maid find out more about this Mr. Lin tomorrow.

Wencai sat at the other end of the table, engrossed in gnawing on a chicken leg, his mouth dripping with oil.

He was completely unaware that his goddess was secretly looking at other men, and even less aware that she was thinking about how to get him married as soon as possible.

If he finds out, he probably won't be able to swallow this chicken leg.

Qiu Sheng did notice the way Ren Tingting looked at Lin Yi, but he didn't say anything.

He didn't have the same strong feelings for Ren Tingting as Wen Cai. His aunt's cosmetics shop was right across from Piaoxiang Courtyard, where he had seen many beautifully dressed girls, which raised his aesthetic threshold.

I didn't have any special feelings for a respectable young lady like Ren Tingting.

After dinner, Uncle Nine began setting up defenses at the Ren residence.

He first had Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai mark the corpse-trapping lines on the back door and all the windows of the Ren residence.

Uncle Jiu placed three corpse-suppressing talismans at the entrance of the main hall and Ren Tingting's boudoir, and buried peach wood nails at the four corners of the courtyard, setting up a simple Four Symbols Suppressing Evil Array.

He then instructed his servants to scatter glutinous rice on the ground in a certain place, and then had them all leave the Ren residence.

After everything was ready, Uncle Nine told Ren Tingting to stay in the main hall and not come out.

The Ren family mansion quickly fell silent, with only the lights in the main hall flickering gently in the night breeze.

Ren Tingting sat on the armchair in the main hall, clutching an embroidered purse tightly in her hand.

Uncle Nine, dressed in a Taoist robe, sat on a grand chair at the entrance of the main hall, a peach wood sword resting on his lap, his eyes slightly closed.

Wencai and Qiusheng stood on either side of him behind him, holding peach wood swords with yellow talismans pasted on the blades.

Wencai seemed a little nervous, while Qiusheng remained calm, his eyes occasionally sweeping over the courtyard wall and the gate.

Lin Yi did not stay in the main hall.

He leaned against the wall of the courtyard near the gate, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, idly gazing at the moon.

The moon is round and bright tonight.

The moonlight fell on my skin, and there was a very slight coolness, similar to the feeling of an air conditioner vent, very light.

The coolness seeps through the skin into the blood vessels, where it is slowly absorbed and integrated by the energy in the blood.

This feeling is completely different from sucking blood. Sucking blood is violent and overwhelming, like pouring gasoline into a fuel tank.

Absorbing moonlight is gentle and gradual, like adding water drop by drop to a teacup.

The ability he acquired from the chimpanzee isn't particularly helpful to him as a second-generation zombie at the moment.

The energy provided by the moonlight is indeed negligible compared to human blood and demon blood.

But Lin Yi didn't mind. Even a mosquito's leg is meat; free energy is free, so why not take it?

Moreover, he could sense that the upper limit of this ability was far beyond this.

That chimpanzee can even become a demon by absorbing the moon's essence.

As a second-generation zombie, his physical abilities are many times stronger than those of a chimpanzee. If he can develop this ability, it might become a stable source of energy.

Even if they can't get human blood for a long time, they can still maintain their basic energy needs by relying on moonlight.

More importantly, he vaguely sensed a subtle change—

The lunar energy absorbed into his blood seemed to undergo some extremely subtle changes within his blood.

He couldn't quite explain what the change was, but he could feel that there seemed to be a little more energy in his blood, like a drop of catalyst had been added to the original mixture, making the whole system a little more harmonious.

The feeling was vague, but Lin Yi trusted her intuition as a second-generation zombie.

The moon gradually rose to its zenith.

The incandescent light in the main hall became the only light source on the entire street.

The dogs outside the Ren residence suddenly started barking wildly.

It wasn't just one or two dogs, it was the dogs on the whole street barking.

The cries were urgent and fierce, as if they had seen something that terrified them.

Then, all the dogs quieted down at the same time.

Lin Yi's body, which was leaning against the wall, tensed slightly.

A dull thud came from outside the courtyard wall—bang.

It looked like something heavy had fallen from a height onto the stone pavement.

Then came another sound, and another, the sounds growing closer and more frequent.

That rhythm wasn't from people walking, but from something jumping.

Bang, bang, bang.