Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

The evil spirit baby trembled in fright and suddenly sprang out of the doll in Amei's arms, floating in mid-air and looking around in terror.

Thick black mist surged up all around, as if someone had spilled a bottle of ink.

The black mist writhed and swirled like living things, completely surrounding the evil spirit infant.

Countless distorted faces could be vaguely seen in the black mist, densely packed together, staring with empty eye sockets at the infant spirit that had invaded their territory.

The evil spirit infant desperately tried to break free by channeling its resentment, but its resentment collided with the black mist like water droplets falling into a pot of oil, instantly being swallowed up completely.

It was like a rat trapped in a cage, struggling left and right in the black fog, unable to find a way out.

Then five pitch-black children emerged from the black mist. They were about the same size as the evil spirit infants, and their bodies were surrounded by an intense, impenetrable demonic aura.

When the Five Demons saw the Evil Spirit Infant, it was like a school bully seeing a new transfer student; a cruel, playful smile appeared on their faces.

They approached step by step, and the evil spirit infant retreated step by step, a look of fear appearing on its ferocious little face—

It sensed the presence of its kind, but the demonic energy emanating from the five demons was far purer and more powerful than its own, like five hungry wolves surrounding a wild dog that had just been weaned.

The five demons swarmed forward.

The evil spirit infant let out a shrill scream and desperately waved its limbs in an attempt to resist, but its attacks were like tickling the five demons.

Ah Mei tried to come to the rescue but was slapped away. She was then caught by Uncle Shou, who arrived shortly after and slapped her on the forehead, causing her to faint.

The evil spirit baby screamed miserably, its heart filled with regret. If it had known this place was so terrible, it would never have walked into the trap.

The evil spirit infant was beaten for a full half hour. The five demons seemed to have finally gotten tired of playing with it. One of the demons grabbed its right hand, pulled hard, and ripped the entire arm off by the roots. It then stuffed the arm into its mouth and chewed it with a crunching sound.

Another demon bit its left arm, and dark red ghostly energy spewed out from the wound, which the demon greedily sucked into its mouth.

The screams of the evil spirit infant grew weaker and weaker... A minute later, the last fragment was also devoured by the five demons.

The five demon children let out a burp, patted their bellies contentedly, and turned into black mist, disappearing into the night.

Uncle Shou stood under the eaves and watched the entire one-sided massacre from beginning to end, his expression completely unchanged.

He looked at the unconscious Amei, bent down to help her up, and suddenly noticed the ghost mark on her neck—

The two marks left by the Red and White Duo, one red and one white, resemble two blood-red fingerprints, emanating a faint resentment.

Uncle Shou stared at the two marks for a moment, a disdainful look appearing on his lips.

He reached out and gently stroked Amei's neck, and the ghost mark disappeared, while Amei's breathing became long and steady.

Uncle Shou escorted her back to the servants' quarters and settled her in. Then, he walked out of the Marshal's Mansion alone and slowly headed in the direction Amei had come from.

He walked slowly, his back hunched, looking like an ordinary sixty-year-old housekeeper.

The soldiers at the gate greeted him with smiles: "Uncle Shou, going out so late?" Uncle Shou nodded kindly: "Yes, to digest my food, and also to take care of a small matter."

An hour later, Uncle Shou returned.

He still had his hands behind his back, still hunched over, and still had that kind and benevolent expression on his face.

Soldier A greeted him with a smile and said, "Uncle Shou, you're really taking a long time to digest your food."

Uncle Shou smiled and nodded, then slowly strolled back into the mansion.

No one knew that in the hour he had been out, he had found the Red and White Duo on a barren slope outside the county town, torn them into pieces, and swallowed them.

Two evil spirits that had been lurking in Yun County for over a decade were devoured without any chance of resistance by a seemingly harmless old ghost.

……

The next morning, Amei woke up from her deep sleep, feeling sore all over, as if she had been beaten up.

My head felt heavy and dizzy, like I had just woken up from a hangover.

She rubbed her temples, trying hard to recall what happened yesterday—

She went to the partridge to ask for the spirit baby, but the partridge was called away by a couple. She waited for a while in the spirit baby hall and saw a doll covered with a red cloth strip...

And then? How did she get back? By carriage? Why do I have no recollection of it?

She looked down and saw the baby spirit doll beside the bed. The doll was lying peacefully next to the pillow, with an adorable smile on its face.

Although Ah Mei felt something was amiss, since the spirit baby had been brought back, she decided to send it to her wife.

She washed her face and carried the baby spirit doll to Michelle's room.

When Michelle saw Amei come in, she smiled and took the doll. Just as she was about to say a few words of praise, she suddenly frowned.

She turned the doll over and over and examined it several times, her expression gradually darkening.

This doll is just an empty shell—the clay figurine that should have contained the spirit of the infant was now completely empty, without even a trace of residual spiritual energy.

In the original series, she was bewitched by the evil spirit baby and naturally couldn't see through it.

But now that there's no evil spirit baby to influence her, and she's studied the basics for several years, she's more than capable of distinguishing whether a spirit baby doll is real or empty.

"Amei, tell me everything that happened yesterday from beginning to end, without missing a single detail." Michelle put down the doll, her tone serious.

Seeing her expression, Amei panicked and quickly recounted everything that had happened yesterday.

When they arrived at the Lingying Hall, Zhegu was called away. On the offering table, she saw a doll covered with a red cloth strip. Out of curiosity, she removed the red cloth strip and then remembered nothing.

Michelle's face darkened even more after hearing this.

The spirit infant covered with a red cloth strip is an evil spirit whose resentment cannot be resolved; it is a malevolent object that Maoshan strictly forbids from being taken away without authorization.

Partridge is a disciple of Maoshan, how could she not know this rule?

She asked Ah Mei to invite the evil spirit baby, but Partridge let Ah Mei take the evil spirit baby away—wasn't this deliberately trying to harm her?

Michelle grew angrier the more she thought about it.

She knew that Partridge had feelings for her senior brother. Could it be that Partridge was jealous of her senior brother and used such methods to harm her?

But being jealous is one thing, but using evil spirit infants to harm people is another matter entirely. This is hardly the behavior of a Maoshan disciple!

Clearly, Partridge's carelessness led Michelin to misunderstand her.

Lin Yi set off for Gobi County early in the morning. Michelle, feeling increasingly uneasy, asked Amei to go to Renjia Town to find her senior brother, Lin Fengjiao.

Tell him about Partridge's matter and let him, as her senior brother, handle it.

She also wanted to ask her senior brother for a proper spirit infant, as she trusted his character.

For safety, Michelle specially asked Long Ci to send two guards to follow Amei, and also asked Mao Shanjian to give Amei a talisman to carry with her.

……

As for Lin Yi, he knew everything that happened last night from beginning to end.

However, the level of the evil spirit infant was not worth his personal attention. Apart from lamenting the inertia of the plot, he didn't even get out of bed.

But Shoubo surprised him; after just one trip, the ghostly aura had increased significantly.

……

Early in the morning, Lin Yi had Wang Daniu drive to Gobi County in the north.

Besides Wang Daniu who was driving, he only brought Ma Dayong with him, since Ma Dayong was just there to collect money and incidentally participate in the zombie resurrection plot.

There are three counties between Gobi County and Yun County, and the road conditions during the Republic of China era were far from ideal.

The provincial highway was full of potholes, and some sections were simply filled in after being bombed. Driving on it was so bumpy that it felt like your bones were about to fall apart.

They set off at around 6 a.m. and didn't enter the territory of Pu County, which borders Gobi County, until nearly 1 p.m.

Pu County is called a county seat, but it is actually only the size of a small town, about the same size as Renjia Town.

There is also a militia here, but it is just a civilian militia that is spontaneously organized and doesn't even have many guns, so it can't be considered a warlord.

Seeing that Wang Daniu and Ma Dayong were starving, Lin Yi told them to find a place to eat in Puxian County first.

As soon as the car turned onto the dirt road in the county town, Wang Daniu suddenly pointed to a noodle shop by the roadside: "General, there's a beef noodle shop over there, shall we eat here?"

Lin Yi followed his finger and saw the noodle shop's sign hanging crookedly, with the words "Tie Niu Beef Noodles" written on it.

A slovenly figure swaggered into the noodle shop; he recognized that face all too well—

Louis Koo's face! It's Cao Shaolin!

"What a coincidence!"