Chapter 206: Two Black Zombies

The dogs in Gushu Village barked a few times, the chickens clucked a few times, and then everything fell silent—utterly silent. It seemed they had been scared stiff by Gu Zijue.

The words I used to comfort Bai Yueming were overheard by both Ma Ruoxing and Gu Dun.

The meaning was simple: Gu Zijue and his wife, Liu Shi, had already jumped out of their coffins. Gu Dun asked, “Master, those two counterweights are from my family’s scale. Normally, they shortchange people by three taels—I once weighed a one-catty-seven-tael snake as two catties. Could that be a problem?”

At that moment, I didn’t know whether to be angry or not. Fair trade was supposed to be the principle of weighing goods, but now we were dealing with a dishonest merchant. I had hoped the counterweights would hold Gu Zijue and Liu Shi down for the night, but it was clear that plan had failed.

I still scolded Gu Dun: “Shortchanging people in life, now you’ll pay with your life. Once Gu Zijue and his wife turn into black zombies, they’ll go after their own kin first. You’d better hide.”

Gu Dun asked, “Would hiding in the cellar work?”

Su Shi, still tied up, kept screaming, and I stuffed a cloth into her mouth, nearly getting bitten in the process. I shook my head and said, “Hiding in the cellar isn’t good. You’d be better off hiding in the outhouse. Remember to take any smelly socks or shoes with you. Stay inside until I call for you—don’t come out no matter what. Got it?” Gu Dun nodded frantically, picked up Su Shi, and rushed to the outhouse, which was piled with firewood. He climbed in, surrounded by a thick, unrelenting stench.

I estimated the time. It would take Gu Zijue and Liu Shi about half an hour to hop their way to the Gu household. Ma Ruoxing looked at me and asked, “Xiao Qi, should I hide too?”

I sneered. “Uncle Ma, give me those two earth eggs. If things go south, we can return them to Gu Zijue.”

Ma Ruoxing was reluctant but handed them over, warning me to be careful.

I cursed him silently in my heart.

I stepped outside and used an ink marker to draw a formation in the middle of the courtyard. When Gu Zijue and his wife hopped in, they’d land right in it.

The formation was a pentagram—a Five Elements array. In the center, I placed the bait for the zombies: the two earth eggs. Then I crouched to the side, tucking my jade ruler into my belt and watching the needle on my compass. The faster it swung, the closer Gu Zijue was getting.

Ma Ruoxing crouched beside me, eyeing the earth eggs.

Bai Yueming had stopped crying after eating two chunks of congealed pig’s blood.

At that moment, the cold winter wind howled, making the wait unbearable. My ears and nose felt like they weren’t even part of me anymore. The moonlight was eerily beautiful, cascading from the heavens.

All waiting feels endless, and in moments of danger, anxiety only grows. Finally, the sound of hopping footsteps echoed from the stone path.

Following the scent and drawn by the earth eggs, Gu Zijue and Liu Shi had arrived.

Suddenly, a dog let out a pitiful yelp—then silence. Ma Ruoxing whispered, “Did the zombie kill the dog?”

I nodded grimly. It must’ve been an ordinary dog, not as powerful as a black dog’s blood. Gu Zijue had stumbled upon it and made it his first meal since rising from the grave.

The gate shook twice before collapsing with a thud. Gu Zijue entered first, followed by Liu Shi. They landed in the courtyard, motionless, as if sniffing for human scent under the pale moonlight. Gu Zijue wore a black burial robe and black cloth shoes, his face dark as ink.

His arms were fully mobile now, and after drinking the dog’s blood, tiny black hairs had sprouted densely across his skin. His fangs had grown over ten centimeters, and his mouth was smeared with fresh blood. His eyes had shrunk to tiny white dots.

White eyes, black fur, long claws, and fangs—this was a black zombie. Among the ranks of zombies, black zombies weren’t the strongest. If a Ph.D. represented the most powerful zombie, then a black zombie was at an elementary school level.

Beside Gu Zijue stood Liu Shi. Born in the late Qing Dynasty, she had missed the abolition of foot-binding after the Republic was established. Her feet were still tiny “golden lotuses,” crammed into strange blue embroidered shoes that defied modern aesthetics. If not for her feminine attire, you wouldn’t even know she was a woman.

Liu Shi shared many traits with Gu Zijue, but one major difference stood out: her teeth were blood-red. The sight sent chills down my spine.

Two elementary-level zombies stood before me. Logically, I shouldn’t have been afraid. The real problem was the unknown method the Gu family’s Daoist ancestor had used to raise these corpses. A black zombie could be a prodigy among zombies, making it far more difficult to handle.

Gu Zijue’s gaze swept the area, his nose twitching, before finally settling on the two earth eggs in the center of the courtyard. He made to jump forward, but Liu Shi stopped him, muttering something unintelligible.

I was curious. Were these zombies communicating like humans?

Gu Zijue seemed angry. He shoved Liu Shi aside and leaped forward, landing right in the Five Elements array. The ink in the marker had been mixed with chicken and dog blood—a special concoction for dealing with zombies. As soon as Gu Zijue landed, red threads of light erupted from the ground, coiling around his body and locking him in place. He struggled and howled, unable to move.

Liu Shi echoed his cries but didn’t jump into the array. Instead, she hopped in another direction—straight toward where Ma Ruoxing and I were hiding.

Gu Zijue wailed, as if heartbroken that his wife had abandoned him.

When Liu Shi reached us, I got a clear look at her face. Deep, dense wrinkles covered her skin, evidence of complete dehydration. A few strands of dog fur clung to her lips.

Ma Ruoxing was frozen in fear. Hidden in the shadows, I extended a hand holding a small wooden stick.

Crouched low, we both held our breath.

The stick curved subtly before poking Ma Ruoxing squarely in the rear.

Ma Ruoxing, already terrified, yelped in pain and instinctively jumped up.

Seizing the moment, I gave him a helpful shove from behind.

Ma Ruoxing cried out, “Forgive me, Song Nineteen’s wife!”

Liu Shi, startled by the sudden appearance of a man, barely had time to react before Ma Ruoxing tackled her to the ground.

Gu Zijue, seeing his wife pinned by another man, shrieked in agony but remained trapped in the array.

Ma Ruoxing lay atop Liu Shi, the moonlight casting an oddly flattering glow on his face. From Liu Shi’s perspective, he looked almost handsome. For a moment, she hesitated instead of biting him—instead, she swiftly grasped his hands.

Ma Ruoxing, too, froze briefly before recalling Song Nineteen’s wife from Songxi Village—the pig farmer’s wife. Tears welled in his eyes. “I swore she’d be the only woman in my life… yet here I am, embracing another.”

Memories flooded back. Ma Ruoxing had once been meditating in a rundown hut, contemplating his master’s teachings—traveling the world, resolving disasters—when Song Nineteen’s wife had entered with two fresh blocks of tofu, white and tender, fragrant with the scent of soybeans. That night, she had taken both his innocence and his youthful heart.

Now, tears streamed down Ma Ruoxing’s face. Why did humans cry so easily?

Liu Shi held him tightly, her blackened, rigid tongue protruding.

I shouted, “Uncle Ma, now’s your chance! Suck out the zombie breath from her throat!”

Pinned beneath Ma Ruoxing, Liu Shi was in a once-in-a-lifetime vulnerable position. Taking my words to heart, Ma Ruoxing steeled himself and lowered his head to extract the foul breath from her mouth.

Watching Ma Ruoxing descend and Liu Shi’s lack of resistance, Gu Zijue writhed in fury. This humiliation was unfolding right before his eyes.

I added, “Uncle Ma, I swear I’ll never tell Song Nineteen’s wife about this!”

Bolstered, Ma Ruoxing closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Liu Shi’s, ignoring the dog fur and blood on her mouth.

As he made contact, I swiftly slapped a corpse-suppressing talisman onto Liu Shi’s hands.

“Mmm—ah!”

Ma Ruoxing shuddered as Liu Shi’s tongue invaded his mouth. He recoiled, spitting in disgust.

I urged him, “Hold on, Uncle Ma! Just pretend she’s Song Nineteen’s wife!”

Liu Shi, momentarily lost in bliss, hadn’t noticed the talisman—until now.

Ma Ruoxing’s tears fell again, glistening transparently in the moonlight. He forced himself back onto Liu Shi, enduring her writhing tongue.

Gu Zijue, even more frantic than I was, could no longer bear the sight of his wife kissing another man—a crime punishable by drowning in a pig cage or riding the wooden donkey. With a furious heave, he broke free from half of the Five Elements array.

At that moment, Bai Yueming began crying again. A fierce mountain wind roared through the trees, rattling the dead branches.

I stood up, sensing an overwhelming presence approaching from the southwest.

It was demonic aura.