Special Handling

Chapter 11: Special Handling

Collecting and transferring the bodies proceeded normally.

The four corpses remained obediently within their sleeping bags, quietly awaiting cremation.

Besides the bodies, everyone was also concerned about the strange locust tree in the backyard. It would be best if it could be burned along with them, but unfortunately, burning it in the backyard was too dangerous.

Even if they found a way to burn it from a distance, if an explosion caused the fire to spread, the entire mountain would be engulfed in flames.

At that point, they would be forced to leave, effectively abandoning the practical training area and resulting in failure.

They could only burn the bodies first and consider how to deal with the tree later, perhaps by cutting it with a chainsaw or felling it with an axe. That seemed feasible.

[Outside the Mansion]

On a relatively flat patch of ground, Digging the pit and felling the tree would be carried out simultaneously by pairs.

Gao Yuxuan stared at the four body bags, his mind already recalling knowledge points from cultural studies.

"I'll collect the firewood. For burning these yin corpses, it's best to use 'lychee wood,' which has the strongest yang energy. I saw quite a bit of it when we came up the mountain earlier."

The class monitor then patted Luo Di's shoulder. "You two boys go fell the tree. Luo Di has the chainsaw, so the efficiency will be fast enough. Leave the digging to us girls.

If the bodies stir, we'll call for help loudly, so don't go too far away to fell the tree."

Anna also found two rusty shovels from the mansion and lent her tactical axe to Gao Yuxuan for felling the tree.

The division of labor was complete.

Under Gao Yuxuan's guidance, they quickly found the so-called lychee wood. It had to be said that the efficiency of using a chainsaw, a product of modern technology, for felling trees was astonishing. They easily cut through a tree that required about two people to encircle.

All that remained was to drag the tree back and cut it into thin strips suitable for burning.

As the two were dragging the tree back, Luo Di took the initiative to speak, wanting to ask Gao Yuxuan, who ranked first in cultural studies, about things related to practical training.

"Vice-monitor, have you guessed anything?"

"Most likely. A traditional Chinese courtyard, a locust tree, yin corpses... If these bodies are left unattended, they'll most likely turn into jiangshi tonight. Four of them at once. Even if it's just a simulated anomaly, it will be difficult for us to handle.

Moreover, we might get infected with corpse poison, which would cause problems with our future lives and studies.

It's best to burn them quickly. And that locust tree in the backyard, it's best to..."

"Cut it down," Luo Di finished his sentence.

"Exactly. We'll go after the cremation."

The two seemed to have reached a tacit understanding.

However, when they dragged the tree back to the open space in front of the mansion, the digging work was still in progress.

The short sleeves worn by the two girls were almost soaked with sweat, adding a unique charm characteristic of summer.

But Luo Di's attention wasn't on them, but on their actions.

Both girls had considerable strength, especially Anna. It was as if she had a lot of brute force with nowhere to vent it, but her actual digging efficiency was very low. Her usual training clearly didn't involve digging.

Luo Di stepped forward and asked, "Are there any spare shovels?"

"Just these two."

"Let me do it."

Luo Di took the shovel from Anna. Gao Yuxuan, standing nearby, didn't participate, as he also had no experience with digging.

Half an hour later, A pit large enough to hold the four corpses, and even more than enough, had been dug.

The class monitor, who had been working alongside them the entire time, gave a thumbs-up. Luo Di had dug almost two-thirds of this pit. He possessed very skilled and precise digging techniques.

The class monitor even learned from him, which might be useful in the future.

Of course, Anna hadn't been idle either. After being replaced in her work, she had already split all the dragged tree logs into strips suitable for burning.

Everyone quickly filled the pit with the split logs, then used lighters, paper towels, and other flammable materials to ignite them.

Once the fire was large enough, they placed the four corpses into it one by one. The flames generated by the burning lychee wood quickly engulfed these yin corpses, which should have been cremated long ago.

Crackle, crackle

An unpleasant odor emanated from the pit.

Just as everyone thought the cremation process was proceeding smoothly, Splat!

A drop of rain landed on Luo Di's face.

A torrential downpour had started without any warning.

"Quick!"

Even though everyone reacted swiftly, rushing back to their rooms to grab tents and setting them up over the dirt pit as quickly as possible to block the rain, the downpour was so heavy that it even formed streams on the ground and flowed into the corpse-burning pit.

The torrential rain extinguished the fire in a short period.

The only good news was that the burning had already been going on for nearly an hour before the rain started.

Although it hadn't reached the standard cremation time, most of the flesh should have been burned away, leaving at most a small amount of charred meat and bones.

The four of them also grabbed their flashlights and hurried to check the situation inside the pit. As far as they could see, there were large amounts of charred remains, but they quickly discovered a problem. The scene illuminated by their lights made them all feel as if their bodies had frozen, leaving them speechless for a moment.

One of the corpses had miraculously remained intact, essentially unaffected by the burning.

"This is... the old man who was hanging at the top."

After confirming that the other three corpses were just bones, they worked together to carry out the old man's body.

His clothes and skin were burned off, his flesh was blackened, and some areas were damaged by the fire, but his overall structure hadn't changed much.

The scorched flesh was still oozing a foul-smelling mucus, which seemed to be what had prevented the burning.

This corpse was clearly problematic. How should they handle it?

The heavy rain had fallen from the sky, and they didn't know when it would stop.

Looking at the sudden, thick rain clouds, it was possible they would last all day. If they wanted to perform a secondary burning, it would have to be indoors.

Moreover, given its fire-resistant nature, even half a day of burning might not be effective.

The entire mansion was made of solid wood. If they weren't careful and set the mansion ablaze, the situation would become even more troublesome.

Gao Yuxuan stared at the eerie corpse of the old man and commented softly, "If we leave it alone, it will definitely reanimate tonight. We need to find a way to deal with it, either by burning it again or..."

The class monitor's round eyes darted around, as if he had thought of a rather risky method. Just as he was about to voice his opinion, they saw Luo Di squatting beside the corpse, tying its hands to a leftover wooden stick with a rope.

"I'll handle this corpse. Deputy class monitor, come with me. You two go back to the house and change your clothes first. I'll be done quickly."

The class monitor stared at the strange corpse, saying with some unease, "Shouldn't we stick together? This corpse is a bit off."

Luo Di's attitude, however, was resolute. "It's fine, the two of us are enough. We'll be back soon."

The class monitor didn't insist. Her and Anna's clothes were already completely soaked, and they indeed needed to change into something dry. "Remember to turn on your wristband tracking. If we don't return within fifteen minutes, Anna and I will come looking for you."

"Okay."

Luo Di dragged the old man's corpse with the wooden stick to a relatively steep slope.

Gao Yuxuan, following behind, was very confused. "You're going to throw this corpse down from here, expecting it to roll to the bottom of the mountain? It's unlikely. The forest is too dense; it'll stop rolling after a short distance at most.

Besides, it's already showing signs of reanimation. Even if you throw it down, it can still climb back up the mountain tonight. It'll only delay things by half an hour at most."

"No."

"Then what are you planning to do..."

Crack!

Lightning flashed.

Gao Yuxuan's question was abruptly interrupted.

The flashing lightning perfectly highlighted the silver chainsaw Luo Di was holding, its saw blade already rotating at high frequency.

"You!"

Gao Yuxuan immediately understood everything, and why Luo Di had refused to let the two girls come along.

Luo Di's expression became firm at this moment, even a little terrifying.

"Later, you try your best to throw the body parts as far as possible."

"Okay~"

Gao Yuxuan swallowed hard, a wave of nausea washing over him. He stared intently at Luo Di beside him.

He hadn't expected that Luo Di, who barely spoke in class and always had the top score in physical education, would come up with such a terrifying idea.

But he had to admit, at the moment, there was no better, faster, or safer method.

Inside the research institute.

Everyone watched everything happening on the screen.

A supervisor responsible for psychological evaluations came to Director Qin's side. "Are the psychological reports for this person confirmed to be normal?"

Unexpectedly, Director Qin carried their four reports with him and produced them on the spot.

Among them, Luo Di's psychological report showed everything as normal, with only the label "Solitary."

"This is their best course of action right now. Such subjective behavior should be praised, not doubted."

"Hmm, if his psychology is truly fine, then this young man is indeed worth looking forward to."