Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

Lin Yi leaned back in the armchair and tapped her fingers twice on the armrest.

His gaze swept over Deputy Chen's shoulder and across the rows of people in the courtyard.

Aside from a few familiar faces on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, that bastard Deputy Chen even dragged Xu Jingjiang's over sixty-year-old mother along.

These people all lowered their heads and didn't dare to breathe loudly.

Lin Yi withdrew her gaze and looked at Deputy Officer Chen with hostility: "Chen Wei, I'm sending you to recruit the security regiment and raid Xu Jingjiang's house."

And you, you've brought back their entire family, including their servants, all of them!

Do you think my mansion is some kind of charity?"

Deputy Chen hurriedly waved his hand, sweat already beading on his forehead: "No, no! Commander, please let me explain—when I arrived at the Xu residence, these people were already packing their valuables and preparing to flee."

The subordinates pondered, since they were all Xu Jingjiang's family members, what if they knew where Xu Jingjiang's secret silver was hidden?

Bring them all back to the commander-in-chief for his judgment. I have absolutely no other intentions!

Lin Yi was too lazy to pay him any more attention. Didn't he know whether Xu Jingjiang was hiding something from her?

Lin Yi stood up and walked into the courtyard.

When the four concubines saw him approaching, they all lowered their heads in unison.

The youngest one on the far right—the fourth concubine—looks only sixteen or seventeen years old; she's the one Xu Jingjiang married yesterday.

She secretly glanced at Lin Yi, then quickly looked away.

Lin Yi's gaze lingered on her face for a moment.

The fourth concubine was indeed quite attractive, with a round face, big eyes, and fair skin—the type Xu Jingjiang liked.

However, according to Xu Jingjiang's memory, this woman had already been taken advantage of by him, and more than once.

Lin Yi withdrew her gaze and walked to Chu Liu.

On the sixth day of the lunar month, she looked up at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how.

Ah Cheng, who was next to him, was a bit bolder, but he was also too scared to utter a sound by the soldiers around him.

The little fish, somewhat frightened, leaned closer to the sixth day of the lunar month.

"You three," Lin Yi pointed to Chu Liu, A Cheng, and Xiao Yu, "stay."

Then he turned to Xu Jingjiang's mother, his four concubines, and several servants, "You can leave now."

"Xu Jingjiang is dead, so you have nothing to do with the Xu family anymore."

Those who wish to remarry can remarry, and those who wish to return to their parents' home can return. They are responsible for their own travel expenses; I will not provide transportation.

The old lady and her four concubines dared not say anything and turned to leave, followed by the servants, leaving the courtyard almost empty.

The fourth concubine walked at the very back. As she was leaving, she turned back to look at Lin Yi. The emotions in that glance were very complex—probably resentment.

She thought that with her looks she could at least secure a place in the new warlord's harem, but to her surprise, he didn't even give her a second glance.

Lin Yi didn't even glance at her.

He had absolutely no interest in these four concubines—they weren't played by celebrities, and they couldn't satisfy his collecting obsession.

Ren Tingting and Michelle are both celebrity young women and married women. Michelle, in particular, has the special blessing of Uncle Nine's presence. He has no need to pick up Xu Jingjiang's used goods.

Lieutenant Chen watched the four concubines' backs disappear at the courtyard gate, his face full of regret.

He leaned closer to Lin Yi, lowered his voice, and said cautiously, "General, wouldn't it be a waste to just let them go like this?"

Lin Yi glanced at him sideways.

Lieutenant Chen wore a knowing smile that only men could understand, and his hands unconsciously rubbed together.

Lin Yi looked at him with a half-smile: "What, are you interested?"

"Hehe." Lieutenant Chen couldn't suppress his lewd laughter; his mouth was practically stretched to his ears.

"Isn't it because we're afraid of wasting their time? If you don't like them, General, I feel sorry for them. They're orphans and widows; someone has to take care of them."

"Whatever." Lin Yi waved her hand, too lazy to listen to him continue his fabrication. "There's only one rule—no force. If they're willing, they're willing; if they're not, you're not allowed to force them. Understand?"

"Yes, yes, yes! I guarantee they'll do it willingly!" Lieutenant Chen nodded vigorously, then turned and ran towards the courtyard gate.

Lin Yi watched as Deputy Chen eagerly chased after him, a gloating smile creeping onto her lips.

This idiot even dared to take over Xu Jingjiang's concubine.

Especially that third concubine, a woman who could have an affair with someone like Steward Li, how could she be an innocent troublemaker?

The backyard of Deputy Chen's house will be quite a spectacle from now on; he'll probably be wearing a few green hats (cuckolded hats) soon, and might even be able to open a hat shop.

He pushed those chaotic thoughts aside and turned to look at Chu Liu.

On the sixth day of the lunar month, he stared at me so intently that I felt extremely uncomfortable and didn't know what to do with my hands.

Cheng, who was next to him, quietly nudged him with his elbow, and Xiaoyu also gave him a gentle push from behind.

On the sixth day, he took a deep breath and stammered:

"General, thank you so much for helping us back then. If it weren't for you, Sister Xiaodie's body would have come back to life, and we wouldn't know what to do—" he said, about to kneel down.

Lin Yi reached out and supported his arm, preventing him from kneeling down.

He stared at Chu Liu's eyes for a while.

On the sixth day of the lunar month, feeling uneasy under his gaze, her eyes darted left and right, and in the end, she could only brace herself and meet Lin Yi's eyes.

With the transmission of Tantric Buddhism, Lin Yin was able to clearly see the glimmer of innate wisdom deep in his pupils.

Like a seed buried in the soil, it just needs a rain to sprout.

"On the sixth day," Lin Yi suddenly spoke, "I see you have considerable talent. Would you be willing to become my disciple?"

I was stunned on the sixth day of the lunar month.

Cheng and Xiaoyu were also stunned.

Lin Yi's decision was not made on a whim.

He received the complete inheritance of the Qinghai sorcerer, but because of his zombie bloodline, all the spells he cast were distorted.

He can use it, but what he uses is no longer the original Tantric magic; it is a violent variant distorted by the bloodline of Pangu.

He also needs a qualified exorcist. Michelle's Taoist skills have long since fallen into disuse, and she can't even draw talismans properly now. Moreover, she is not suitable to do this kind of thing as the mistress of the house.

The sixth day of the lunar month is a tool bestowed by heaven.

The reincarnation of Master Longci is a natural seed of Tantric Buddhism. If the lineage of Qinghai is taught to him, it will not be long before he can be trained into a qualified Tantric master.

He doesn't need to become much stronger on the sixth day of the lunar month—he just needs to be able to hold the line at crucial moments.

The sixth day of the Lunar New Year looked conflicted.

He has had a keen sense of intuition since childhood, and his intuition always tells him which way to go whenever he encounters a fork in the road.

Relying on this intuition, he has survived from being an orphan to the present day. Although he has not become rich or powerful, he has never suffered any major losses.

But at this moment, his intuition seemed to have failed him. Half of his mind was saying "agree to him," while the other half was saying "run!" The two instincts collided, making his mind a complete mess.

Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, Cheng nudged him with his elbow in frustration.

Little Fish whispered behind him, "Brother Chu Liu, say yes already! This is the Marshal!"

In Xiaoyu's opinion, being the general's apprentice was infinitely better than being a cook.

If she gets together with Chu Liu in the future, she can go out and say, "My man is the Great Marshal's apprentice." How proud she'll be then!

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, he looked back at Acheng and Xiaoyu, and then at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi waited patiently for him, her face showing no impatience, nor any intention to coerce or bribe; she was simply waiting for an answer.

Chu Liu took a deep breath, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed three times: "Disciple Chu Liu greets Master."

Lin Yi frowned: "Don't you have a formal name?"

On the sixth day, he honestly replied: "I have been an orphan since childhood and do not know my own surname. I used to be called Gou Dan (Dog Egg)."

Later, when he became an apprentice in the kitchen of the Xu family, Master Zhao named him Chu Liu (meaning "sixth day of the first lunar month").

"Master Zhao was the chef at the Xu family's former residence and taught Brother Chu Liu how to cook."

Ah Cheng helped explain, "Master Zhao passed away the year before last, and since then, the Xu family's kitchen has been managed by Brother Chu Liu."

Lin Yi nodded.

He had Xu Jingjiang's memories, and he found them—Chu Liu was a servant boy bought by Xu Jingjiang's father and raised in the mansion from a young age. As for the rest, he didn't know.

"Since you've become my disciple, you can't be without a proper name." Lin Yi thought for a moment, "How about this, from now on you'll be called Long Ci."

The moment I heard that name on the sixth day of the lunar month, I was slightly startled.

He himself didn't understand why the name gave him this feeling—

It felt warm and familiar, like something he had lost long ago had suddenly been picked up and put back into his hands.

He looked up at Lin Yi, his eyes stinging, but he held back his tears.

"Then I'll be called Long Ci from now on." His voice was much steadyer than before.

"You go downstairs with Uncle Shou and settle in first. Ah Cheng and Xiao Yu will also stay here; they'll be with Long Ci from now on."

Lin Yi beckoned to the old butler who was waiting nearby, "Uncle Shou, take them to the backyard and arrange a few rooms."

"Yes, sir." Uncle Shou was Lin Yi's newly hired butler—he had learned from Xu Jingjiang's mistake and was determined not to use young people as butlers, let alone adjutants!

Uncle Shou was in his sixties, as thin as a bamboo pole, but he was agile and meticulous in his work, though a bit long-winded.

He led the three of them to the backyard, muttering to himself as they walked: "There are three empty side rooms in the middle courtyard, facing south with good lighting. The big one is for you, Young Master Long."

The other two each had a small side room, and their bedding had all been changed…

That night, Lin Yi dreamed of the blue glass bead again.

It floats in the endless void, emitting a soft blue light.

Lin Yi didn't reach out to grab it—his previous experience told him that grabbing it wouldn't do any good.

He stood in the void, waiting for the bead to move on its own.

The bead lit up, and a stream of information flowed into his consciousness.

"Complete the Ghost Eater Fetus storyline."

Kill the Five Demonic Fetuses, kill Xu Jingjiang, kill the Qinghai Mage, kill Li Zhaoji, the Fourth Concubine survives, Xiaoyu survives, and the servants of the Xu family survive.

Plot disruption level: A+.

Rewards received: Qiankun Ring space expanded to ten cubic meters, White Lotus Sect Five Ghost Seed Magic (including Five Demons), half a scroll of the Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Technique, Hundred Ghost Banner.

Lin Yi woke up from her dream and opened her eyes to look at the ceiling.

He noticed that the wording in the message had changed.

Last time, when Mr. Zombie settled accounts, "story participation" was used; this time, "story destruction" is used.

A single word can make all the difference in meaning.

Participation level follows the plot, while destruction level disrupts the plot completely.

In the previous Mr. Zombie storyline, he killed Old Master Ren, the Feng Shui Master, and Dong Xiaoyu.

Ren Fa still died, Awei was crippled but still alive, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai were still Uncle Jiu's apprentices, and the main storyline remained unchanged.

This time, the demon-eating fetus is completely different—

He destroyed the five evil spirits as soon as they left the jar, and the Qinghai monk died before he could even take the stage.

Xu Jingjiang did not die at the hands of the evil spirit; instead, the spirit drained his blood.

Xiaoyu and her concubines did not become puppet demon mothers, and Long Ci was not possessed and his demonic fetus was not killed. He completely severed the plot from its root.

The rewards for A+ level are also much more generous than those for A level last time.

He didn't know the reward principle of the blue teardrop, but he always felt that this thing was incomplete, like a part of something.

"Could it be a part from some system?"

Lin Yi secretly speculated.

If that's the case, it's actually a good thing. There's no system, whether friend or foe, causing trouble within your body, and no middleman taking a cut. That's good too!

Lin Yi had read many novels before, and he had read about many systems that treated their hosts like slaves. They not only embezzled rewards, but also killed dissatisfied hosts.

This is good; he gets the benefits without having to bear any additional risks.

Furthermore, today marks the end of the "Ghost Eater Fetus" storyline, and the reward calculation for the storyline might be related to this.

Lin Yi teleported to the wilderness to check on the harvest.

The Qiankun Ring expanded from one cubic meter to ten cubic meters, increasing its capacity several times over; it could now hold several more barrels of gasoline.

The Five Ghosts Magic Trick is a secret and evil technique of the White Lotus Sect.

—First, let the five ghosts possess a man's body, then control him to have intercourse with a woman, and plant the ghost seeds in the woman's body to conceive a demonic fetus.

After the demonic fetus was born, it became five demonic puppet mothers with the power to slaughter cities, whose power was far greater than the five evil spirits he had killed.

Of course, the price was also deadly—

These five demonic children are just as difficult to control as Mahakala and the White Bone Bodhisattva. If you are not careful, you will be devoured. Moreover, this secret technique is extremely vicious and violates the laws of nature.

He doesn't plan to use this evil art for the time being, at least not in China.

Xu Jingjiang had a vague recollection of the sixteen-character Yin-Yang Feng Shui secret technique, but only a superficial understanding.

The reward this time was indeed half a complete scroll of feng shui secrets, just like the one Hu Bayi's father received.

Although it is only half a scroll, the Sixteen-Character Feng Shui Secret Technique is the ultimate skill of the tomb raiders, and their application of feng shui is even greater than that of Wang Teng, a feng shui master who makes a living from feng shui.

But Lin Yi doesn't raid tombs, so this secret technique is destined to be forgotten.

The Hundred Ghosts Banner is the most sinister of these rewards.

Lin Yi looked at the Hundred Ghosts Banner in her hand, turning it over and over in her eyes.

The banner was black, and the fabric of an unknown material felt cool and slippery to the touch, like the scales of some cold-blooded animal.

A faint green light flashed across the banner from time to time, as if something was stirring restlessly beneath the black cloth.

This thing looks like an evil magic weapon; righteous people would definitely want to kill it if they saw it.

Since it's a reward item, it doesn't need any additional refining to unleash its full power.

But the current Hundred Demon Banner is just a blank sheet of paper; it doesn't even contain a single demon, so its power is limited.

He remembered the Five Ghosts Magic.

The five newly born demon children were still in tears—according to the information flow, the five demon children were sent as part of the Five Ghosts Seed Magic Package, and had not yet been implanted into anyone's body, so they were in the most confused state.

Lin Yi led the Five Demons out.

Five tiny black shadows, each the size of a baby, floated in mid-air. They had no solid form, only blurry outlines, and looked like five newly hatched tadpoles.

Their aura was very similar to the five evil spirits he had killed—

Things made from the same system—but because they haven't been baptized by killing, they lack any ferocity, only a kind of bewildered confusion.

They circled around Lin Yi slowly, as if trying to recognize their owner's scent.

"Forget it, the Five Ghosts Magic is too evil," Lin Yi muttered to himself, planning to use it on his daily life later.

"Now, you should go inside the Hundred Demon Banner."

Lin Yi shook the Hundred Ghosts Banner, and the five demons obediently crawled inside.

They are completely bound to Lin Yi. Unlike the Great Black Heaven and the White Bone Bodhisattva, they don't need to be subdued and have rules established for them. They are born to regard him as their master.

The moment the five demons entered the banner, the eerie green light on the Hundred Demon Banner suddenly surged, and the chirping of insects within a radius of several hundred meters stopped abruptly, even the rustling of leaves in the wind ceased.

A cold and eerie sense of oppression spread from the banner, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, ripples that silenced everything in their wake.

"Quiet down." Lin Yi frowned and shook the Hundred Ghosts Banner. The short banner immediately returned to calm, and the eerie green light receded to only a faint glow.

Lin Yi wanted to put the Hundred Ghosts Banner into her Qiankun Ring, but she found that there was an invisible force of resistance blocking her way.

He brought the Qiankun Ring closer to the Hundred Ghost Banner, and the resistance became even stronger. The eerie green light on the banner's surface also began to flicker erratically.

Then a message came from the Hundred Demon Banner, not in words, but as an instinctive response:

The Hundred Ghosts Banner possesses a spirit, but the Qiankun Ring can only hold inanimate objects; forcibly taking it away will destroy the banner's spiritual power.

As for absorbing the Hundred Ghosts Banner into his body—Lin Yi abandoned the idea as soon as it came to mind.

He is a second-generation zombie, with the blood of Pangu flowing through his body. The damage to him from the Hundred Ghost Banner, a strange magical artifact, might be greater than that from putting it into the Qiankun Ring.

"Sigh." Lin Yi sighed and rolled up the Hundred Ghosts Banner.

He was a zombie, and he had also acquired a human skin Thangka, a sister drum, a hundred ghost banner, and the Five Ghost Seeds magic of the White Lotus Sect. No matter how you looked at it, he had no connection with the righteous path.

However, to be fair, he wasn't exactly a righteous person to begin with.

A second-generation zombie who lives by sucking blood has absolutely nothing to do with the concept of righteousness.

Feelings of depression need to be redirected.

A green light flashed in Lin Yi's eyes, and she disappeared from her original spot, appearing in Ren Tingting's room the next second. Then she also called out to Michelle.

The secret technique of "Joyful Double Emptiness" has one advantage: during practice, all distracting thoughts can be put aside.

Lin Yi spent the entire night transforming his frustration into cultivation, and only fell into a deep sleep just before dawn.