Chapter 55.1 Ultimate Departure (1)

Qiu Keke poked Ning Meng and whispered, “I could already guess it wasn’t anything nice when you asked the first time but you still had to insist on asking, didn’t you?”

Ning Meng shut her mouth and didn’t speak.

From now on, she wasn’t going to let her curiosity get the best of her. Shi Qi had definitely done it on purpose, provoking her curiosity by returning her question with another question instead of simply answering her.

It was definitely all because he wanted to scare her.

Ning Meng sat straight and cast Qiu Keke a glance before declaring calmly, “Haha, I’m not afraid. Keke, if you are, don’t be afraid to hold onto me.”

Qiu Keke looked at her in doubt, “Really?”

Ning Meng cracked a small smile, “Of course, it’s for real.”

In any case, Shi Qi was the one touching the painting, not her. That was why she didn’t feel afraid.

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Lkdt Yldt qlzv vbyv pbl bye tsvvld blaplzq y zkvvzl qydtkaz yp Ckw Iljl oyp nsxrzlvlzu yvvynble vs bla.

Fbk Ck, obs bye bkp blye zsolale, zkpvldkdt vs vblka nsdhlapyvksd, pweeldzu kdvlaflnvle.

Xdnl vbl rykdvkdt pwqqlale y nwv, vbl qktwal sq Nw Fbw kd qasdv sq vbl qsalpv pvsrrle.

Ohlauvbkdt pllxle vs cl rywple yde bla saktkdyzzu pbkqvkdt lmralppksd nyxl vs y pvsr yp kq vkxl bye qasgld.

Fbk Ck rwv esod vbl eyttla, “El sdzu byhl y pbsav yxswdv sq vkxl.”

Mbl czsse sd vbl nydhyp dlhla pllxle vs nlypl, nsdvkdwswpzu eakrrkdt esod, dlyazu psyjkdt vbl ldvkal vyczl vbl pbyel sq czsseu ale.

Ckw Iljl iwknjzu vssj y rklnl sq nzsvb swv vs okrl sqq vbl czsse pvykdp cwv y rssz iwknjzu qsaxle, aldelakdt bla ynvksdp wplzlpp.

Tla qynl vwadle pswa yv vbl pktbv sq vbkp, “Ebyv pbswze R es? Mbl czsse fwpv jllrp sd nsxkdt.”

It was so scary and so dirty, she didn’t even want to touch it.

Shi Qi knit his brows, “I’ll send someone to bring something over. Don’t live here for the time being.”

Very quickly, after some time had passed, somebody rang the doorbell. Qiu Keke looked through the peephole and saw a man dressed in black standing outside her doors. He looked tall and strong, making her feel slightly intimidated.

Ning Meng went over to take a look and confirmed, “It’s one of the Shi Family’s Men in Black.”

Even though she referred to them as ‘Men in Black’, in reality, it was only because he was wearing clothes that were all black and a normal suit at that, looking very modern.

He held a bag as he stepped inside the house.

Shi Qi received the bag and took out the white glutinous rice inside, sticking it onto the cut edge where blood was leaking and the white glutinous rice was immediately steeped red.

Very soon, the flow of blood came to a stop.

Qiu Keke’s eyes widened at the sight and seeing that Ning Meng didn’t look even a bit surprised, she asked, “Don’t you feel surprised seeing such an inconceivable sight?”

Ning Meng shook her head, “Nope.”

She’s even laid eyes on a ghost before, why would she be surprised by this? If Qiu Keke were to know that she was just a soul in possession of this body, and that this was not the first time at that, she reckoned her eyes would probably bulge out of their sockets.

Thinking of this scene, Ning Meng felt the urge to chuckle.

Qiu Keke whispered, “How are we going to rescue Lu Shu?”

Shi Qi put down the painting and said indifferently, “Someone’s attempting to use a living soul to refine a corpse, we must hurry.”

Refining a corpse with a living soul?

It was the first time for the two people to have come across this term.

Ning Meng heard that refining corpses was something that was more common in the area of Xiangxi. It was said that the area was known for ‘calling back souls into the corpses’ for the purpose of turning them into the walking dead.

But Xiangxi was located in the west and this was the north, how did corpse refinement reach this place?

She asked the system, “What’s a living soul? Is it useful?”

The system responded like an engine, “They have great uses. Living souls mean that their bodies are dead. The Black and White Impermanence¹Black and White Impermanence are two deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting spirits of the dead to the underworld. determine the location of the living souls through their yin air, which is considered to be the best material in refining corpses.”

Ning Meng furrowed her browses listening to its explanation and asked what refining corpses entailed.

The system entertained her queries, saying, “Refining corpses is carried out using a person’s corpse to be refined as a zombie for the purpose of carrying out their commands. The selected corpse, time and location as well as most importantly, its storage, all need to be overflowing with yin air. The dense yin air will then penetrate the corpse which is what is referred to as refining corpses. There are many steps to it but filling it with yin air is the most important.”

The system explained concisely.

Then, it continued, “Take for instance, picking out a corpse. It naturally has to be of yin nature first so girls would be the best option. Moreover, dying at night would be a much better time. The place where the corpse is laid doesn’t need to be much as long as it’s quite yin in nature. As for storing the corpse, it should be somewhere the light doesn’t touch. The Feng Shui in this kind of place would be completely void of any living air, the yin air would be heavy as well as the grudges…Refining corpses requires several processes. Once it has succeeded, one only needs to drip his own blood onto the corpse to control the dead being that we would now refer to as a zombie.”

Ning Meng rubbed the rising goosebumps on her arm, “It sounds so scary when you explain it which only means this person must have sinister intentions to think about doing something like this.”

Those who had the intention of refining corpses were certainly evil people.

This person even implicated a student in his plans, making him an even worse person. She didn’t even know what his goals were, was it to kill people? Or was it to resurrect someone?

She pursed her lips and asked, “Are we going to the forest in the painting?”

Shi Qi nodded, “We have to, to find her.”

Qiu Keke, who was at the side, leapt up and asked, “Is that it? Don’t we need to ask for backup? Or report this to the police?”

Ning Meng turned her head to tell her, “There’s no use asking for the police’s help….Why would they believe such inconceivable circumstances. In fact, they might even arrest us as nutcases.”

After mulling her words over, Qiu Keke could only agree with it.

If she hadn’t seen the matter unfold with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it as well, so why would those police do? She really doubted anyone would believe this matter if they were to be informed of it.

However, before they could leave the house, they certainly had to do some preparations.

Fortunately, because Lu Shu often played outside, Qiu Keke gave her parents a call saying that
Lu Shu was already sleeping at her place and won’t be going back for the night.

The two girls shared a good relationship and Father and Mother Lu had seen her before so they didn’t hold any suspicions. Moreover, since the sky was already dark, it wouldn’t be safe to return home at this hour.

Qiu Keke felt a little nervous. This was the first time she was telling such a heavy lie in her whole life. Not to mention, the person had actually disappeared.

Fortunately, the figure in the painting came to a stop.

Ning Meng and Qiu Keke gave their own parents a call and mutually told them they’ll be staying over at each other’s houses for the night and the adults did not suspect one thing at all.

As for Shi Qi, it was common for him not to return home.

Qiu Keke used her phone to take a picture of the painting and placed it on the internet to browse for similar artworks.

This search allowed her to discover many oil paintings that were of resemblance but every time she tried to identify the differences between them, her eyes would get confused because of the jumble of colors.

Ning Meng looked at them together with her, “Wait wait wait stop right there, it’s this image!”

The image at the corner was a landscape photo someone had photographed and the contents were similar to that of the painting, but there were still slight differences.

The two people put on a face of defeat.

Minutes and seconds ticked by and the clock in the living room soon pointed to morning.

The two of them were still browsing the photo on the net, trying to look for the location when the men in black of the Shi Family came in waves.

Shi Qi’s figure swayed in front of Ning Meng’s eyes, “We can go now.”

Ning Meng rubbed her eyes, “What? Have you found the place?”

Qiu Keke also yawned after her, drowsiness taking over. After staring at the computer all night, it was easy for exhaustion to creep up and overcome someone.

Shi Qi acknowledged her question with a hum.

Ning Meng then finally noticed that there were other things on the table apart from the painting. They were all laid in a mess, each item distinctly different.

However, placed on the ground, was a bottle of blood.

She then asked, “What kind of blood is this?”

Shi Qi cast a glance at her before replying, “Human blood.”