Collecting the Corpses

Manor Hall

Wearing cleaning gloves and masks, the four of them packed up all the rotten food and threw it out of the manor.

They rinsed the floors with clean water as thoroughly as possible, at least reducing the stench inside the building. As for the backyard, they would figure out how to deal with it later.

Once the mourning hall had been cleaned up, the four continued dividing up the work, covering the manor with devices known as "strip wall lights."

These lights were flat and elongated, capable of sticking to ceilings or walls. With advanced battery technology, they could remain lit for an entire week without recharging.

This ensured sufficient lighting throughout the practical exercise. Even if the lanterns were destroyed, it would not matter.

The entire process took over three hours. During that time, everything in the manor remained normal, and they neither heard nor saw anything unusual.

Second Floor—Master Bedroom

For the moment, everyone gathered here, wiping the sweat from their foreheads with tissues as they discussed the most troublesome and suspicious area: the backyard.

Even recalling the smell of the backyard made Anna's stomach cramp.

By rough estimate, there were at least thirty pig and cow carcasses piled up in the backyard, most of them already bloated with decomposition gases.

Dragging them into the wilderness to bury them one by one would take too much time and energy, and the corpses might even carry some highly contagious pathogen.

But if they left them in the backyard, who knew whether the bodies might be connected to some evil ritual?

Of course, the most important matter was the four human corpses hanging from the tree.

Having watched plenty of horror movies, Luo Di came up with a terrifying possibility through sheer imaginative reasoning.

The food in the mourning hall had been meant for them, the visiting guests, while the pigs and cows scattered across the backyard had been prepared for the masters hanging from the tree.

Perhaps at some point, the masters in the tree would come back to life.

At that thought,

Vice Class Monitor Gao, leaning against the curved corner of the wall, offered a suggestion. "Burn it. Burn that tree in the backyard along with everything else. It'll get rid of the smell and eliminate the danger."

The idea happened to align perfectly with Luo Di's. At this point, burning everything really did seem like the best solution.

However, how to burn it was another problem.

The class monitor tapped her chin with a finger, carefully recalling relevant knowledge from class. "Most of these animal corpses are already bloated with decomposition gases, and everyone has experienced how concentrated the smell is in that backyard. If we set fire to it recklessly, it could explode.

We might as well drag the bodies into the mountains, find a slope, and toss them down."

Standing beside the bed, Luo Di took the initiative to speak. "We don't need to burn the animal corpses. Just burn the four people in the tree."

The class monitor immediately asked, "How? Burning the tree directly is dangerous too. The methane concentration in the backyard is probably already above the explosive threshold... We might blow up the entire manor."

"Move them outside to burn them. Carry the corpses to an open area beyond the manor, dig a shallow pit, pile up enough firewood, and cremate them there."

The class monitor nodded. "Good idea~ Then let's split into pairs. Anna and Luo Di, you prepare the firewood. Xiao Gao and I will move the corpses."

"Yay!"

The moment Anna heard she would not have to enter the foul-smelling backyard, she turned around and tightly hugged the class monitor who had assigned the tasks, squeezing so hard it felt as though the class monitor might suffocate.

Gao Yuxuan, however, objected. "No~ I think all four of us need to act together.

The bodies hanging in the backyard are extremely suspicious. Something dangerous might happen while we move them. Let's go straight to the backyard now, carry the corpses outside first, and worry about burning them afterward."

After breaking free of Anna's hold, the class monitor slammed a fist into her palm. "Mm~ Then it's happily decided! Come on, everyone put on your masks. There are four of us, so each person can carry one.

Bring our sleeping bags too. We can use them to wrap the corpses and isolate any possible contagion. We've already found a room to sleep in anyway."

Anna, who had just thought she could avoid the backyard, immediately began dry-heaving again and put on a full four layers of masks.

Backyard

Pig and cow carcasses crisscrossed the ground, forming winding paths.

The paths themselves were filled with all kinds of filth flowing from the decomposing bodies.

Countless flies and insects attended their feast, dancing, spinning, and devouring their fill.

Perhaps because they had already endured the first ordeal, they barely managed to hold themselves together before this "magnificent" sight.

Raincoats wrapped around their bodies.

Gloves went on.

Their shoes were completely covered with plastic bags.

"Let's go~"

Squelch!

Luo Di went first, with the class monitor hurrying after him.

When she stepped onto the soft, sticky surface, she still felt deeply uncomfortable.

"Luo Di, you don't seem affected at all. We never received this sort of training at school."

"I cook often at home. When I have time, I go to the market and help slaughter poultry. I've occasionally helped slaughter pigs too. Compared to this place, the smell is only a little lighter. There's not much difference."

The class monitor did not doubt his explanation. Instead, she shifted her attention to something else. "Wow, you can cook? If we make it through this safely, can I try your cooking?"

"No."

The class monitor's expression shifted slightly, and she changed the subject again. "There might be danger when we take down the bodies. Be careful."

"Mm."

The four of them trudged through the filth and finally reached the locust tree at the center of the courtyard.

Perhaps because it had absorbed filth for so long, the trunk of the locust tree was covered in dense, tiny holes. The chilling wind swirling around the entire manor seeped out from those holes.

They were packed so closely together that the sight made one deeply uncomfortable.

The four corpses hanging from it appeared to be the master of the manor, his wife, and their son and daughter.

Even the heights at which they had been hanged seemed deliberate.

The old man, presumably the head of the household, hung at the very top and was the most severely decomposed.

The middle-aged woman came next.

The two younger bodies hung at the bottom, their bloating only beginning. They had probably arranged everything in the house before hanging themselves last.

Luo Di also noticed something strange about the family, especially the old man hanging at the top, who had been dead the longest. His nails bore numerous black spots; some had even turned completely black and grown unusually long.

It gave the impression that his nails had continued growing after death.

Then they encountered another problem.

How were they supposed to take down the bodies above?

The two younger corpses and the middle-aged woman's corpse were successfully taken down. Nothing unusual happened when the ropes were cut or when the bodies were placed into the sleeping bags.

The backyard remained nothing more than unbearably foul-smelling, with no further changes.

Next came the old man's corpse at the top.

They did not choose to climb the tree.

Instead, Luo Di worked with Anna again. Standing on her shoulders, he could just reach the spot where the old man was hanging.

He swung the Machete in his hand—swish!

The hemp rope was severed.

Freed from its support, the old man's corpse fell. It dropped almost vertically, grazing Luo Di's body as it descended. For some reason, perhaps because his instincts sensed danger, Luo Di subconsciously shifted his legs and stepped backward.

Since he was standing on Anna's shoulders, that backward step sent his entire body toppling back.

The expected impact with the ground never came.

Luo Di, protecting his head with both hands, was somewhat dazed. He could clearly feel two strong arms against his back and thighs, supporting him steadily.

Anna reacted quickly. Almost the instant he lost his footing, she turned and reached out, catching Luo Di perfectly.

Luo Di did not feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he was astonished that a high school student could so easily catch his eighty-kilogram body, raising his opinion of this foreign student from another school once again.

The class monitor and Gao Yuxuan quickly packed up the corpse.

"Hey~ How much longer are you two going to hug? Careful, or the Academic Affairs Office will drag you in for a lecture!"

The class monitor wore a mischievous grin and used her wristband's camera mode to record the scene as one of the memories from this practical exercise.