Otherworldly Merchant

I hurriedly checked outside the door. There was nothing out there but howling winds and rain.

The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt screamed, “RUN!”

Then, he stormed out as fast as lightning. As he rushed out, the eight-sided Han sword in his hand released a weak blue light, which helped me to see the shadows wailing in the bushes.

He disappeared into the thick forest in just the blink of an eye. I didn’t even hear any sounds of fighting.

Right at the moment I was worried for the man in the Kumamon t-shirt, Li Mazi screamed angrily, “Little Brother Zhang, why are you still standing there? RUN!”

Then, he pulled me into the torrential downpour.

The bean-sized raindrops hit my body, causing me pain. Strong winds swept past, weaving the rain into a massive net that hindered out way. We could only rely on our memories to grope our way around Fengmen Village in the dark.

Li Mazi’s arms protected his chest as he tried his best to keep the paper cranes dry.

Not long after we’d departed, I heard the rubbing sound arise behind us. It seemed like something was crawling and watching us.

Immediately, I asked Li Mazi to burn a paper crane.

It was good that Li Mazi knew the paper cranes were what would keep us alive, and had protected them well. The cranes weren’t wet, so we could ignite one easily.

And, the commotion behind us disappeared instantly. It had worked!

We kept our pace as we headed forward. Not long after that, we heard the noise again. Without hesitation, we burned another crane.

Slowly, we moved like that, walking and waiting. In the end, it took us two hours to finish the normally one-hour trek to our car.

Ensuring that nothing was watching or following us, I exhaled in relief and closed all the doors of the car. Li Mazi stepped on the throttle, making the car rush forward.

It was strange, but while the village was now hazy in the rain, its surroundings were completely different. It didn’t look like rain had fallen here at all as the ground was dry, and everything was quiet. We couldn’t even hear the rattling rain from the village, either.

Although we’d escaped Fengmen Village, I wasn’t the least bit happy. Firstly, the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt was still there, and we didn’t know if he was still alive or not. Secondly, we hadn’t found the corpse bead yet. If I couldn’t solve the ‘curse’ on my back, I’d die.

Not long after we’d left the village, we bumped into the sedan carrying Jing Jing’s group. Seeing us, the girls waved from inside the car.

Damn it, why are they still here?

I told Li Mazi to stop so we could ask them why they hadn’t left yet.

The girl wearing heavy makeup told us that they didn’t have our contact information, and that they were worried about us. So, they’d waited outside the village for us.

“Oh right, where’s the man in the black t-shirt? Why isn’t he with you guys?”

I didn’t want to tell them what had happened inside the village. “It’s all right. You guys should leave now as it’s not safe here.”

The girl wearing heavy makeup thought for a moment, but didn’t leave.

I remembered Jing Jing and wondered how she was doing. So, I asked the girl wearing heavy makeup.

“Jing Jing’s okay. It seems like her sickness is under control. However, she’s got a high fever and she keeps talking in her sleep,” said the girl wearing heavy makeup.

I asked them to open the car so I could see her.

The moment the door was opened, a thick aroma permeated the air. I could easily recognize that it wasn’t some cheap perfume, but the corpse aroma that the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt had told me about!

In principle, Jing Jing should’ve been getting better, and she shouldn’t have had the corpse aroma anymore. But, the current situation was very different. Her condition hadn’t gotten better at all; it was getting worse!

I momentarily felt bad. Hurriedly, I reached out to check Jing Jing’s forehead. It was burning hot!

Gently, I lifted her upper lip and was frightened instantly.

There were more teeth in her mouth, and even some deciduous teeth on her tongue. This scene looked extremely scary.

Corpse transformation. She is transforming…

I took a deep breath.

The girl wearing heavy makeup was so scared that she burst out crying. “What do we do now?”

I inhaled deeply. “I’m afraid that Jing Jing can’t survive this. We should burn her here. It’s the only solution.”

The girl wearing heavy makeup cried, “What will we tell her family?”

I was very distressed. I didn’t know what to do now, so I could only use the Sirius Whip to tie her up and keep her inside the car. I hoped that she wouldn’t become a source of grave danger!

The other girls stayed and waited with us in the car for the rest of the night. We were all safe and sound.

After dawn, I went to check Jing Jing’s situation.

The scene made me jump in fright as Jing Jing was dead, her body stiff. Strangely, her entire body had turned black, along with my Sirius Whip!

Fangs were jutting out from under her lips, causing her cherry-colored mouth to remain open. Seeing her face, goosebumps arose on my skin.

Thankfully, it appeared that my grandfather’s Sirius Whip had worked and could stop zombies.

I understood that Jing Jing’s body shouldn’t be kept here as we didn’t know if her condition would change again. So, I called the girls over and told them that we were in a bad situation.

When they saw Jing Jing, they were all panic-stricken. They had a quick discussion and decided to push the Volkswagen Santana down the slope.

Afterward, they would explain that Jing Jing had been driving carelessly, resulting in her plummeting down the slope in a horrible accident.

In this moment, that was all they could do! I immediately untied the Sirius Whip and helped them push the sedan down the slope.

We expected that the Volkswagen Santana would explode. However, after it fell, there was only the clanging sounds of metal before a big fire started. We waited, but the car didn’t explode. 

Since they didn’t have a vehicle, the girls now had to leave with me and Li Mazi. But, before we left, I wanted to go back to Fengmen Village to find the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt. Perhaps we could find him there waiting for us.

It was currently early in the morning, so I wondered if those zombies had already run back to their hiding places.

For safety reasons, we had to wait outside the village.

I waited and stared in the direction of Honorarium Hall in hopes of seeing the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt. However, the reality is always cruel. We were there for the whole morning and we still didn’t see him.

Grief flooded my heart as I guessed that he’d encountered a really bad situation.

To save me, he’d decided to stay and face the danger. If I didn’t care about him now, could I still be a human?

After enduring and overcoming my mental struggle, I decided to enter the village to check.

No matter what, if he were still alive, I must find him. If he’d died, I must collect his body!

When I told Li Mazi my idea, I didn’t expect that he’d agree to go with me without the slightest hesitation, especially since he was a chicken that was constantly afraid of trouble.

Because of the rain yesterday, the ground was now terrifyingly muddy with broken tree branches and leaves everywhere. Although the world outside the village was filled with bright sunlight, inside the village, the atmosphere was downcast and reeked of death. A few sunbeams had managed to pierce the bleakness, but they couldn’t give me any warmth.

There were no signs of fighting on the way, and neither were there any traces of blood.

Everything looked so normal. However, this normal situation was really abnormal!

When Li Mazi and I entered the cottage, we were horror-struck as we saw endless streaks of thick, black blood on the windows, doors, and even the walls. There were also countless footprints, and they obviously weren’t from human beings.

However, we didn’t see any zombie corpses.

Half of the hall was leveled, so we could see the inside clearly.

It was empty. Nobody was there. Anyway, after seeing the mess inside the hall and the broken wooden tables and chairs, I could guess how fierce the fight last night was!

Still holding onto hope, I searched around the Honorarium Hall, but I couldn’t see the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt anywhere. I was disappointed because this village wasn’t small and we didn’t know where to find him.

I didn’t expect that while I was nearly collapsing from despair, a gory figure fell from the roof of the house.

His hair covered half of his face, his trousers were muddy, and his muscular upper body was naked.

His hand was tightly gripping a long sword.

It was the man who always wore the Kumamon t-shirt!

I instantly became excited. I quickly wrapped his wounds then shouldered him, trying my best to dash out of this haunted village.

There were so many puddles on the ground and I tumbled several times, resulting in me being smeared with mud.

Despite that, I always tried my best to keep the man high and dry. I didn’t dare to let him fall on the muddy ground even once.

I could still feel his breath and his pulse, though they were so weak that my heart shivered in fear. I was really worried that this mysterious man wouldn’t last for much longer.

Once we made it back to the car, the girls shrieked upon seeing the wounded man.

I didn’t have the time to explain the situation to them, so I just asked Li Mazi to quickly start driving.

Then, I promptly set about changing the man’s bandages. Seeing so many scratches made by fingernails on his fair, muscled body, I felt irritated. I sprayed some Yunnan White Medicine on his wounds, but I didn’t know if it would help. However, it was better than doing nothing.

The moment I sprayed the ointment on him, the mysterious man shook in pain, which made my heart ache, too.