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Zhou Xuan nearly threw up, not because the scene was too bloody, but because it wasn't bloody at all.
Inside Wu Yun's belly, it was completely empty, liver, spleen, stomach, intestines, nothing, not even a drop of blood flowed out.
The flesh in the abdominal cavity was purple and emitted a strong stench of decay. On the ribcage, clusters of dark mold spots grew.
"Take a good look yourself." Zhou Lingyi exhaled a puff of smoke, a mocking tone in her voice.
Wu Yun sensed that things weren't right and looked down at his empty belly, first surprised that his liver, stomach, and intestines were gone, then feeling defiant.
He always felt that his heart was still there. Unconvinced, he turned it into motivation and reached his right hand into his belly to search for his heart.
After rummaging for several seconds, he found nothing.
"I have no heart, I realized I was already dead."
Wu Yun came to terms with life and death, suddenly closed his eyes, and collapsed to the ground. On his once smooth skin, many corpse spots mysteriously appeared.
"Heh, brother, did you see that? This is a walking corpse, not believing he's dead, thinking he's no different from the living,
He had entirely forgotten that he'd sacrificed his internal organs to the Ghost baby, and now he's just a living dead.
As long as you point it out to him and let him realize that he's truly dead, his obsession with life will dissolve like ice."
Zhou Lingyi's methods took Zhou Xuan by surprise.
Her higher Dao Level was naturally impressive, and her calm words struck Wu Yun's fate spot like a skilled butcher, deeply penetrating.
He had been in Jing Country for a few days, thinking his sister would have some skills, but he didn't expect her methods to be at such a level.
"Brother, carry her over there." Zhou Lingyi pointed to the corner at the mortuary bed.
Zhou Xuan picked up Zheng Meizhu's corpse and carried it to the wooden mortuary bed.
Zhou Lingyi slowly walked to the bedside, bent down, and exhaled smoke onto the corpse's face.
Hu.
The white smoke brushed past her cheek,
Zheng Meizhu suddenly sat up,
her eyes tightly closed. She cursed at Wu Yun, revealing the private affairs between them as a couple.
It turned out that the Zheng Family was powerful.
Wu Yun had managed to rise from a destitute school teacher to a department manager of the tram section, largely due to his relationship with the Zheng Family.
Who would've guessed that the first thing he'd do after getting his break was to betray the person by his side, having become infatuated with a flamboyant brothel woman.
After he was found out, Wu Yun, fearing that Zheng Meizhu would report him to her family, acted out in desperation and killed his pregnant wife of three months.
After that, he thought about not only finishing things but also raising a resentful child to gain wealth. But unfortunately, his attempt to "steal the chicken only to lose the rice" resulted in being deceived by the resentful child, ending up as a walking corpse without a penny earned.
The details were almost exactly as told by the storyteller.
Zhou Xuan recalled the storyteller's verdict on the "Living Doll" story.
"The Golden Tower provokes trouble, strange arts unfold.
Deep resentment enters the Mother Palace, monsters appear in dreams.
Souls are lost, people become walking corpses,
The baby sits in the noisy theater, unaware of the master in the deep courtyard."
The troubles of the Golden Tower referred to Wu Yun's affair with the brothel woman, the strange arts naturally referred to the "resentful fetus", and the "master in the deep courtyard" likely referred to his sister, Zhou Lingyi.
This storyteller seemed to be merely an onlooker, so how could he reveal the cause, process, and hidden secrets of the Living Doll event completely? What was his Dao Level?
Zhou Xuan thought he was somewhat adapted to the eerie undercurrents in Jing Country's life but was still amazed by someone's high Dao Level when witnessing it firsthand.
Deeply resentful Zheng Meizhu, after venting all her grievances, suddenly opened her eyes, her whites covering up to ninety percent of her sockets, and her fierce aura began to spread.
The fierce aura, condensed from Zheng Meizhu's hatred, lingered on even though Wu Yun was dead.
"Injustice has its head, debts have their master. Zheng Meizhu, the one who wronged you is Wu Yun. He is already dead, retract your fierce aura and follow the path well."
Zhou Lingyi's words were more advisory, yet her tone was very firm, essentially a warning.
Zheng Meizhu was about to turn into an Evil Ghost, but with Zhou Lingyi present, she was particularly obedient, and the spread of her fierce aura stopped abruptly, not daring to go beyond it.
Once she no longer emitted any vicious aura, her corpse fell backward.
"Sister, has she completely moved on?" Zhou Xuan wasn't concerned about whether Zheng Meizhu moved on; he just seized the opportunity to segue into the topic of the "storyteller."
He was very eager to know the origin of that storyteller in the gramophone.
"The work is not done yet." Zhou Lingyi didn't give Zhou Xuan a chance to continue the topic, coldly pointed at the water basin, and said, "Brother, squeeze some more blood from the decapitated chicken into the basin."
Zhou Xuan did as he was told, with extra diligence. It was obvious that his sister was an expert, so it was best to assist her well and curry favor with her... even if the relationship between the siblings was a bit distant.
But relationships can be cultivated, they are siblings after all; there's no grudge that can't be overcome, right?
Zhou Xuan picked up the chicken and squeezed it hard, the chicken blood flowing from the severed neck, dyeing the water in the basin like a cup of fresh pomegranate juice.
Zhou Lingyi was not satisfied and, while puffing on a cigar, didn't let Zhou Xuan stop.
"Still not enough?"
Zhou Xuan, with even more focus, squeezed the chicken, first pinching and rubbing it like milking a cow, then gripping the chicken neck with one hand and the chicken leg with the other, twisted to the limit, wringing it like a towel, trying to squeeze every drop of blood out of the chicken.
Zhou Xuan was sweating profusely, saying, "Sister, I really can't squeeze any more out!"
"Hmm." Zhou Lingyi, though still unsatisfied with the concentration of the blood water, didn't continue to make things difficult for Zhou Xuan.
She put down her cigar, rolled up the sleeves of both hands, made a sword finger gesture with her left hand, and dipped it in the blood water to write and draw on her right forearm.
The writing and drawing on it seemed incredibly mysterious to Zhou Xuan, full of incomprehensible patterns and characters.
Every time Zhou Lingyi wrote a stroke, Zhou Xuan, who was half a meter away from her, experienced auditory illusions of "bowl sounds, gong sounds, drum beats", and if listened to carefully, even heard the sounds of roaring humans.
The overlapping sounds shocked his insides, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
The feeling was probably akin to severe motion sickness and then spinning in circles while pinching one's nose.
Zhou Xuan now felt overwhelmed, and everything before his eyes spun rapidly. For a few moments, he hallucinated seeing his great-grandmother.
As he was about to collapse, Zhou Lingyi, who was meticulously painting her arm, finally spoke.
"Brother, you'll eventually have to take over the family business. Since the Zhou Family's business involves ghost operas, encountering cases of zombies and spirits is unavoidable.
You are quite steady and calm in dealing with things. You will be able, in time, to be independent.
Appropriately, using the performance involving Wu Yun and Zheng Meizhu, I will teach you the first lesson—
—If you encounter mountain spirits, fox souls, or wild ghosts, never invest your emotions. Excessive emotions will only cloud your judgment.
Our purpose is singular, to follow natural law, revolving with nature."
Zhou Lingyi's words, neither too fast nor too slow, with a composed tone, felt like a spring breeze to Zhou Xuan's ears, making him feel less uncomfortable.
"Sister, I have a tough heart." Zhou Xuan echoed.
"Hmm, your heart has always been tough." Zhou Lingyi gave Zhou Xuan a sidelong glance.
It didn't sound like a compliment, as if she was recounting past grudges between siblings.
"What exactly happened between my sister and me? Was the original owner so impulsive to dare offend such a ruthless sister?"
Zhou Xuan wondered to himself.
Soon, Zhou Lingyi finished writing and painting on her arm, with the entire forearm covered in dense runes drawn with blood.
After checking them over and confirming there were no mistakes, she headed toward Zheng Meizhu.
Before she even took two steps, Zheng Meizhu reacted.
More precisely, Zheng Meizhu and her child reacted.
The belly of the corpse quivered slightly; it was the Ghost baby in the Mother Palace sensing Zhou Lingyi's harsh aura, instinctively feeling fear.
Zheng Meizhu shed two streams of clear tears from her eye corners. Even though her belly housed a Ghost baby, it was still a child she carried and she didn't want it to meet a grim fate.
"Since it is already a Ghost baby, it should not remain in the human world, nor does it have a place to reincarnate."
Zhou Lingyi stood in front of the corpse, her right hand covered in runes, reaching toward Zheng Meizhu's belly.
Her palm quickly descended, and when it touched the belly, there was no slowing down. The runes glowed with a bewitching luster, and then the hand penetrated directly into Zheng Meizhu's belly.
The belly remained intact. Zhou Lingyi's hand seemed to reach from reality into another dimension.
It was easier than poking a bamboo stick into water.
A bout of spiteful, mournful baby wailing erupted within the room.
With Zhou Lingyi applying force, the baby's cries grew fainter until they finally vanished…
"The job is done."
Zhou Lingyi withdrew her right hand, holding a tiny blood-red heart, no bigger than a fingertip.
With a slight squeeze,
Boom,
The heart shattered, blood splattering, the scene both suffocating and mesmerizing.
Having dealt with the Ghost baby, Zhou Lingyi opened the door, and the sunlight streamed inside. Outside, Xu Li, who had been waiting, upon seeing the scene, fetched two old quilts to wrap Wu Yun and Zheng Meizhu.
The quilts were embroidered with white plum blossoms, with tight stitches.
Zhou Xuan, seeing this scene, was overwhelmed with emotions. The old quilts became the resting place for these two people. The scent spanning a lifetime was the musty smell of old cotton.
"Sister-in-law, go fetch the fourth elder brother. He will handle the funeral arrangements for these two guests. He is the most adept at this."
Wu Yun came to the Zhou Family's Troupe alive, but now he was a hollow corpse. Such matters need to be explained.
They needed to explain it to Wu Yun's family, to Zheng Meizhu's family, and to the police station.
How should they explain it?
It all depended on the fourth elder brother's ability to manage relationships diplomatically.
Zhou Lingyi reopened her umbrella and walked toward the yard, Zhou Xuan followed: "Sister…"
"Still something on your mind?"
"Do you think there might be some other presence causing disturbances in this room, besides the Ghost baby?"
Zhou Xuan wanted to inquire about the "storyteller."
"Is there?"
Zhou Lingyi solemnly glanced around the hall, failing to identify anything unusual. She then held the copper bell and shook it.
As she shook it, she listened attentively to the echo of the bell. If there truly was any disturbance, the bell's sound would guide her.
However,
She didn't hear any anomalies in the bell's sound.
"Brother, it looks like you're being overly cautious, go get some rest, there's nothing else happening."
Zhou Lingyi walked into the yard.
"Huh? Even sister can't find the storyteller's trace?"
Zhou Xuan silently wondered, feeling surprised.
But it wasn't the main point now,
at least the storyteller bore no malice.
...
Zhou Lingyi did not particularly enjoy socializing with people; what she loved most were dealing with plants and flowers.
She always felt that interacting with flowers and plants was genuinely straightforward. Providing them water on time, moving them out for sunshine during the day, and treating them attentively, they would always thrive and never fail to please her.
People weren't the same,
Spending too much time and energy, they easily became conceited.
Spending less time and energy, they tended to grow distant.
Far less rewarding than gardening.
Back in her room, she attended to the lush, dark green clivia on the windowsill.
There were three pots in a row.
The soil in the pots on the left and right was somewhat moist, with hard roots, but the soil in the middle pot was nearly dry, the roots soft.
She took a watering can and carefully watered the middle pot.
"Heh, the leader of the Zhou Family's Troupe, who always prided herself on treating guests kindly, today, actually forced guests down a dead end!"
An eerie, sarcastic woman's voice emerged from the southeast corner of the room.
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