Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

Lin Yi hovered in mid-air, looking at the round, fat man on the top of the tower and the mud-covered zombie behind him, and an old movie immediately came to mind.

The Seven Heroes Who Chased Ghosts.

An early Hong Kong zombie film tells the story of seven deserters who pretend to be corpse transporters to transport opium. When they pass through Miao Village, the leader, Fat Cat, takes over the body of Ah Qiang, a street performer who was killed by Master Miao, for money.

They knew no Taoist arts and could only carry the corpse on bamboo poles. When they passed a sulfur swamp, an accident happened—the corpse sank into the swamp.

Because of his unjust death and deep resentment, Ah Qiang encountered a swamp of extremely yin sulfur that had accumulated for countless millennia, and his corpse eventually transformed into an extremely rare water corpse.

This is a very special kind of zombie; it moves slowly and clumsily on land, but is extremely fast and ferocious in the water.

More importantly, it's different from the ferocious corpse of King Ai of Zhou, who killed everyone he saw—

It is conscious and has its own bottom line. It never indiscriminately kills innocent people. It would rather suck pig blood, rat blood, and snake blood to fill its stomach than touch innocent people.

It relentlessly pursued the Seven Ghost Hunters not because they had trespassed on its territory, but because they had interfered with the cause and effect between it and Master Miao; they were the culprits who caused its transformation into a zombie.

Lin Yi looked at the mud zombie on the top of the tower that was slowly approaching the fat man, and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it.

This guy turned into a zombie and immediately reached the level of a jumping corpse. In terms of potential, he is definitely not inferior to Lao Zhou. He will also have the opportunity to advance to the level of Undying Bone in the future.

In the future, on land, King Ai of Zhou, with his immense strength and impervious to swords and spears, will charge into battle, while in the water, a powerful water general like the Water Corpse will stir up trouble.

Just thinking about it makes me feel comfortable.

As for the people chasing the ghost, despite being the main characters, Lin Yi had absolutely no goodwill towards them.

The crime of selling contraband alone would be a capital offense in any era, let alone the fact that they weren't selling it abroad, but only harming their own people.

The water zombies weren't indiscriminately killing innocent people; they were collecting a debt—they owed it.

Lin Yi was too lazy to waste words with them and directly released King Ai of Zhou from the ghost painting.

With a loud bang, King Ai of Zhou landed almost simultaneously with the fat cat that jumped down from the top of the tower.

The enormous impact slammed Old Zhou's feet into the ground, sending rubble and dust flying in all directions.

The people pulling the nets below the tower were startled by this sudden turn of events and simultaneously took several steps back.

A strange person covered in dark green jade pieces descended from the sky, appearing in front of you in such an eerie way that he didn't look like a normal person at all.

The guy who looked like Master Qianhe reacted the fastest and was also the most ruthless among them.

Regardless of who Old Zhou was, he decided to strike first, throwing out two boomerangs with both hands simultaneously, which accurately struck the connection between Old Zhou's mask and neck.

Clang! Clang!

With two crisp sounds, the boomerang was deflected by the jade burlap sack.

The jade burial suit may appear to have gaps, but it is actually a magical artifact that integrates defense. Unless it is forcibly destroyed or torn off, no one can hope to get past it to attack Lao Zhou.

King Ai of Zhou was enraged by this.

It raised its head and let out a deafening roar, charging towards Qianhe like a cannonball, slashing open his neck with a claw.

Blood spurted out, and Chizuru clutched her throat as she collapsed to the ground, twitching twice before going still.

The fat man who was closest to the king was so frightened that his legs went weak. Before he could run away, King Ai of Zhou twisted his neck and broke it. His head was tilted to an impossible angle, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Run!"

The two guys who looked like Wencai and Simu finally realized what was happening, threw down the nets they were holding, and ran away.

"Four Eyes" ran several steps before remembering that the boss, Fat Cat, was still lying on the ground, but he didn't even turn his head and ran even faster.

But King Ai of Zhou was not a slow-moving water corpse; he was faster than a cheetah.

The two fleeing men hadn't run more than a few steps before they were caught up from behind, their claws piercing their chests, killing them instantly.

Then came the unconscious fat cat—Old Zhou walked over, glanced down at him, and stomped on him.

In no time, all five of them were lying on the ground.

A moment later, the five corpses began to convulse simultaneously, their finger joints making a cracking sound, and their fingernails growing longer and turning black at a visible speed.

One by one, they crawled up from the ground, their pupils turning pitch black, fangs bared at the corners of their mouths, and muffled gurgling sounds coming from their throats.

The five newly born zombies bowed down to King Ai of Zhou in unison, emitting a uniform low growl from their throats.

Lin Yi slowly descended from mid-air.

The five newborn zombies immediately sensed the danger, but unlike the previous little zombies, they did not shrink back. Instead, they stood firmly in front of King Ai of Zhou and let out threatening growls at him.

Lin Yi was amused by the group of loyal zombies—Chinese zombies are indeed more reliable!

This is the complete opposite of those lowly zombies who would run away at the mere sight of him.

King Ai of Zhou let out a relieved roar, finally managing not to lose face in front of his master this time.

It growled at the five zombies a few times, telling them that this was the boss's boss.

Upon hearing this, the five zombies immediately dropped their threatening posture and bowed to Lin Yi in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized, as if they were paying homage to a powerful figure.

Lin Yi turned to look at the abandoned tower.

The water corpse on top of the tower is gone.

He extended his senses and scanned the area, detecting a faint, chilling aura rapidly receding from the depths of the tower.

The water corpse was already frightened when he arrived, and took advantage of the time while he was letting Lao Zhou deal with the seven ghost-catching heroes to quietly escape.

They've probably already slipped back into the depths of the ancient tomb along the underground river.

He wasn't in a hurry.

As long as Master Miao is still alive, there's no need to worry about the water corpses not coming out to seek revenge.

That was the core obsession that supported its transformation from a wrongfully deceased corpse into a jumping corpse, and the source of its resentment.

Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its debtor. The debtor of the water corpse is none other than Master Miao from the Miao family, who killed him in an attempt to steal his wife.

Lin Yi put King Ai of Zhou and the five newly acquired zombies into the Ghost Painting, then flew into the night sky to look down at the surroundings.

The mountains and fields were silent under the moonlight, with only a few scattered lights flickering in the distance.

He flew in the direction of the lights and quickly found Miao Village.

The town is small, with just over a hundred households. It was pitch black, except for a few electric lights on in the most impressive house in the town center.

The courtyard, made of blue bricks, has two entrances and two exits. Two stone lions stand guard at the gate, and a gilded plaque from the Miao family hangs above the lintel.

In this remote and impoverished area, this house stands out conspicuously.

Lin Yi teleported into the backyard of the Miao residence and followed the sounds to find the master bedroom.

The door was ajar, and the sounds of a man and a woman fighting could be heard from inside.

When he pushed open the door, Master Miao was playing cards with his newly acquired concubine.

The concubine saw Lin Yi standing by the bed first, her eyes widened, and she screamed and fainted.

Before Master Miao could react to what was happening, he tried to get up but found himself stuck.

"Who are you?" Master Miao's voice trembled, but he was a man of the world and quickly forced himself to calm down.

He forced a smile that looked more like a grimace and said in as calm a tone as possible:

"Good sir, if you're after money, I have twenty gold bars and ten thousand silver dollars in my drawer. Take them all, and I promise I won't shout. I just beg you not to take my life."

If you don't trust me, you can tie me up and gag me.

He spoke sincerely, but inwardly he was plotting something fierce—

Once we're out of trouble, we'll immediately go find the security team and get some muskets. We'll riddle this blind bully with bullets.

Lin Yi clapped her hands, a look of appreciation on her face.

"No wonder you became the richest person in the world. Your composure in the face of danger is admirable. I'm starting to admire you."

His tone was very sincere, as if he genuinely admired him.

Then his voice suddenly turned cold, "Unfortunately, you shouldn't have offended my future subordinate. Now you only have one path: death."

Before Master Miao could even process what those words meant, he felt a sharp pain in his lower body and screamed as Lin Yi lifted him off the bed and threw him to the ground.

The fall left him completely disoriented, his bones feeling like they were shattered, but the most painful part was his groin, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to use it again.

To this day, he still doesn't understand when he offended this powerful man's subordinate—he doesn't even know who this powerful man is.

"Wait! I don't know you at all. When did I offend your subordinates?"

Old Master Miao lay on the ground, his mind racing.

The man in front of me is incredibly strong; the servants in my household are probably no match for him.

He dared not shout for help, fearing that he would anger the other party and kill him directly, so he could only feign compliance to buy time.

Once we get past this hurdle, we'll immediately go to the security team to call in more people.

"Hmph, you have a really bad memory. You've already forgotten what you did just two days ago."

Master Miao's expression changed.

Could it be that young couple who performed for money?

Impossible—if they had such powerful connections, how could they have fallen so low as to make a living by busking on the streets?

However, Lin Yi's next words shattered his hopes.

"It's just as you think. The right subordinate I've chosen is that musician, Qiang."

Tell me where Ah Zhen's body is, and maybe you can die more easily.

Old Master Miao's eyes darted around, and he was about to say, "If you promise to let me go, I'll tell you," when a sharp pain shot through his arm before he could even utter a word.

With a sharp crack, his right forearm was bent at a right angle by Lin Yi, and the white bone fragments pierced through the skin and were exposed.

Master Miao let out a bloodcurdling scream, and beads of cold sweat instantly appeared on his forehead. He was writhing on the ground in pain.

"What happened?" "Master Miao, what's wrong?" "Break down the door!"

Master Miao's screams finally alerted the people in the mansion.

The guards sensed something was wrong and immediately started banging on the door.

The wooden door was slammed shut with a loud bang, and the iron latch on the door was deformed from the impact.

Lin Yi remained expressionless, took out the Sister Drum from the ghost painting, and silently chanted a spell.

Accompanied by a thick plume of black smoke, an eight-armed white bone Bodhisattva, seated on a white bone lotus platform, appeared in the room. The white bones on the lotus platform emitted a cold light, and the eight arms slowly unfolded, with the blood-red eyes in the palms opening simultaneously.

"Kill them," Lin Yi said calmly.

The lotus platform beneath the White Bone Bodhisattva spun with a click, and several bone spikes flew out, accurately piercing through several guards who had just broken through the door.

They fell to the ground before they could even scream, their bones being pulled from their flesh by an invisible force before their bodies even hit the ground.

The lotus platform of the White Bone Bodhisattva was like a sophisticated grinding machine, which rolled up the bones of several people, making a teeth-grinding chewing sound, and swallowed them all clean.

"It's over."

Master Miao retched a few times, then collapsed to the ground, his face ashen.

The concubine had just woken up when she saw this scene, and she fainted again in fright, this time without even having time to scream.

Screams and footsteps echoed from the courtyard, and everyone ran away in a flurry.

"Can you tell me where Ah Zhen's body is now?" Lin Yi asked again in a calm tone.

This time, Master Miao dared not haggle any longer. He clutched his severed arm and said, trembling:

"Her body is in the ice cellar. I was planning to have her arranged for a ghost marriage for my son. You can take it if you want."

Lin Yi nodded and instructed the White Bone Bodhisattva, "Go and bring out the corpse."

The White Bone Bodhisattva transformed into black smoke and drifted out of the room. A short while later, it returned carrying a cold female corpse.

Ah Zhen was probably in her early twenties when she died. Her face was pale and her lips were purple, but her features were delicate, and you could tell that she was a beautiful girl in life.

Lin Yi put the Sister Drum and the White Bone Bodhisattva into the Ghost Painting, and swept all the gold bars and silver dollars in Master Miao's drawer into the Qiankun Ring.

Then, with one hand holding the naked Master Miao and the other holding Ah Zhen's corpse, he teleported to the second floor of the desolate tower.

The second floor of the abandoned tower was even more dilapidated than the first floor. The blue bricks on the walls were pitted and uneven from wind and rain, and broken bricks and dust were scattered on the ground.

Lin Yi threw Master Miao into a corner. Master Miao fell onto the pile of broken bricks and screamed in pain again. He hugged his broken arm and huddled in the corner, trembling.

Lin Yi ignored him, released King Ai of Zhou from the ghost painting, pointed at Ah Zhen's corpse and said, "Turn her into a zombie immediately."

King Ai of Zhou looked down at the female corpse on the ground, then looked up at Lin Yi, letting out a low gurgling sound, as if confirming a command.

Lin Yi nodded.

King Ai of Zhou no longer hesitated, bent down and poured large mouthfuls of corpse energy into Ah Zhen's body.

A grayish-white corpse aura surged from deep within its throat, like a thick fog pouring into Ah Zhen's mouth and nose.

Ah Zhen's face was slightly bluish from the corpse's aura, and the blood vessels under her skin began to show a very faint grayish-black layer.

"Holy crap, are you serious?" Lin Yi was also taken aback by Lao Zhou's attitude.

His original intention was to have Lao Zhou scratch Ah Zhen with his fingernail, and let the corpse poison slowly transform it.

Unexpectedly, Old Zhou directly poured the corpse gas mouth-to-mouth, and his enthusiasm made him wonder if the old guy had taken a liking to Ah Zhen.

This was also due to a problem with his instructions. Ah Zhen was different from the person Lao Zhou killed. She had been dead for a day or two, and the corpse poison on her fingernails would take at least a day or two to turn her into a zombie.

He wanted Ah Zhen to turn into a zombie immediately, so Old Zhou could only infuse her with more corpse energy.

Just then, a figure covered in mud emerged from the underground river at the bottom of the tower.

The water corpse, A-Qiang, followed the scent of Master Miao and A-Zhen to the desolate tower. When he climbed to the second floor, he saw King Zhou Ai lying on top of A-Zhen, pouring corpse energy into her mouth.

From its perspective, the guy covered in jade pieces was lying on top of his wife, kissing her mouth to mouth, doing something unknown.

Ah Qiang stood there frozen, then let out a heart-wrenching roar, a voice that was both shrill and hoarse, as if someone had pierced his heart.

Ignoring its fear of Lin Yi, it charged at King Ai of Zhou like a lion whose mate had been stolen.

With a loud bang, King Ai of Zhou was thrown away. The huge impact caused his body to smash through the tower wall, and he fell down along with the bricks and stones.

Ah-Qiang stood beside Ah-Zhen, gently stroking her cheek with his wet hands, letting out a low whimper.

Old Master Miao, huddled in the corner, didn't even glance at it.

Upon seeing Ah Zhen, its love for its wife outweighed its hatred for its enemy.

The enraged King Ai of Zhou rose from the ruins.

It was careless and failed to dodge, allowing this slovenly, mud-covered little rascal to sneak up on it. For an emperor-level corpse, this was an utter disgrace.

With a powerful leap, it jumped from the ruins at the bottom of the tower back to the second floor, grabbed the water corpse by the neck, and slammed it down with force—

With a loud bang, a large hole was smashed in the second-floor floor, and two zombies fell down at the same time.

Not to be outdone, the water corpse shoved away Old Zhou, who was still choking it, during its fall. Old Zhou crashed through the tower wall again and flew out, with brick fragments exploding in the air.

King Ai of Zhou was furious.

Like a powder keg with a lit fuse, it rushed back from outside the tower, this time giving the water corpse no chance to resist—

Old Zhou's speed and strength are a level above the water zombie's, not to mention that this is on land, where the water zombie's advantages cannot be fully utilized.

Old Zhou beat the water corpse to the ground like he was beating his grandson. His sharp claws scratched its muddy skin, leaving deep, bone-revealing wounds, and dark green corpse blood splattered everywhere.

Although the water corpse was at a disadvantage, it stubbornly refused to admit defeat.

It was slammed against the wall by King Ai of Zhou, its neck being grabbed. As the bricks shattered, it scratched the old king's mask twice with its claws, making a screeching sound.

It was beaten to one knee, but it struggled to its feet, opened its mouth and roared silently, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained fangs.

The two zombies fought each other like two out-of-control wild beasts inside the desolate tower. Each impact caused the entire tower to shake violently, and cracks in the walls spread from the second floor to the top of the tower, with broken bricks and dust falling down.

Lin Yi stood on the second floor, craning her neck, watching the show with great interest.

This level of zombie fighting is something you don't usually see—

A golden corpse and a water corpse, one with immense strength on land and the other swift and fierce in the water, are now fighting on land. The water corpse is bound to be at a disadvantage, but its resilience has impressed Lin Yi.

Even after being beaten like this, he still refuses to fall. This isn't a matter of strength; it's that he's tough.

The desolate tower finally couldn't withstand the pressure any longer.

With a powerful blow from King Ai of Zhou, the water corpse was slammed into the load-bearing wall, causing the entire wall to collapse. A huge crack appeared in the middle of the tower, and then the entire tower broke in half like a building block.

The upper half of the tower, carrying countless broken bricks, crashed down, burying Master Miao, who was huddled in a corner on the second floor. He was smashed into a bloody pulp before he could even scream.

The moment the tower collapsed, Lin Yi grabbed Ah Zhen and teleported away, hovering in mid-air.

King Ai of Zhou dragged the water corpse out of the ruins, threw it on the ground, and kicked it twice more.

The water corpse lay on the ground, panting heavily, dark green blood seeping from its wounds and pooling in a small puddle beneath it.

Old Zhou raised his claws, ready to strike again, when Lin Yi descended from mid-air.

"Stop! Don't hit him anymore!"