Corpse Driver

"What's that sound?" I Want to Become Immortal asked, bewildered.

Xiao Jie turned serious in an instant.

"Quick, hide!" he hissed.

Xiao Jie did not know what those bronze bell sounds signified, but since it was an unknown variable, there were ultimately only two outcomes: something good or something bad. With a fifty-fifty chance of danger, his absolute go-to rule was naturally to hide first and ask questions later.

He quickly found a large tree surrounded by weeds and hid behind it. I Want to Become Immortal proved obedient, crouching side-by-side with Xiao Jie behind the tree. Using the third-person camera perspective to peek around blind spots, the two of them observed their surroundings, allowing them to monitor the area's movements while ensuring they remained undiscovered.

No sooner had the two of them hidden than they saw a bustling crowd of dozens of Soulless Walking Corpses shuffling along the distant path, resembling a parade procession slowly moving down the trail.

Jingle—jingle!

A black-robed figure wearing a bamboo hat walked at the rear of the procession, shaking a bell in his hand and herding these Soulless Walking Corpses like a flock of sheep. Every time he rang the bell, those Soulless Walking Corpses accelerated their pace like startled sheep.

Wu Gang (Corpse Driver): Elite, Level 9. Health: 440.

Several huge, deformed yet emaciated grey hounds followed behind the black-robed figure. One Soulless Walking Corpse lagged slightly behind, only to be violently pounced upon and knocked to the ground by a large hound. Several other grey hounds immediately swarmed over, tearing into it with massive bites. That Soulless Walking Corpse was gnawed to death in just two or three strokes, but the black-robed figure paid it no mind, continuing to ring his bell.

Xiao Jie watched with his heart in his throat. He stared at the large hound through a gap in the weeds for a few seconds, and his beast lore knowledge immediately took effect.

[Corpse Eating Dog (Corrupted Beast): Level 6. Health: 160.

Taming Difficulty: Untamable.

Skills: Frenzied Bite LV2, Corpse Poison Fang LV2, Corpse Eating LV2, Sprint LV2.

Beast Info: Wild dogs whose minds and bodies have gradually fallen into corruption from prolonged consumption of corpses. Due to the accumulation of corpse poison, enemies who are bitten will suffer corpse poison damage. They can restore health through corpse eating. Their semi-undead bodies make them harder to kill.]

Holy crap!

Xiao Jie felt a chill strike his heart. This thing's combat power was only slightly weaker than a Lost Soul Bandit, but it couldn't handle sheer numbers, and it had the Sprint skill. If they were discovered and a pack of Corpse Eating Dogs surrounded them together, he feared they would meet their end right here.

Fortunately, because of their previous hunting session, the two of them had chosen to ambush from the downwind side, so they shouldn't be discovered.

At this very moment, neither of them dared to make a single move. Xiao Jie even specifically sent a private message to I Want to Become Immortal: --Don't move.

I Want to Become Immortal clearly realized the danger as well, and the two of them simply hid behind the tree, watching these Soulless Walking Corpses slowly trudge past through the woods.

Not far away, a Soulless Walking Corpse suddenly appeared out of thin air, having just respawned, and was immediately driven by the bell to get swept along into the procession.

Xiao Jie thought to himself so that's how it was; the nearby Soulless Walking Corpses must have all been rounded up by this Corpse Driver.

It wasn't until the corpse horde had departed for a few minutes and they were certain they had walked far away that Xiao Jie let out a long sigh of relief.

Damn, that scared the hell out of me.

Good thing we hid fast.

The two of them stood up from their hiding spot and looked in the direction the corpse horde had left, both feeling lingering fear.

At that moment, several crows flapped their wings and landed around that corpse. Having been thoroughly gnawed upon by several Corpse Eating Dogs earlier, only bare bones remained of the corpse, yet those crows weren't picky, pecking away at the scraps of meat that were left.

"Caw caw, these stinking dogs didn't even leave a single whole piece of meat."

"Caw caw caw, stinking dogs, stinking dogs."

"Caw caw, demons everywhere, monsters everywhere. Can't get seeds, can't get meat. There's no living like this."

Xiao Jie's eyes lit up as he listened. That's right, these crows fly in the sky, so they should know where what monsters spawn and where is suitable for leveling up.

"Hey, you guys, chat for a bit."

Those crows got a fright, flapping their wings as if to fly away.

Xiao Jie hurriedly said, "Don't go, I mean no harm."

"Caw caw caw, human, you speak crow language, caw caw, what kind of thing are you?"

"Caw caw caw, a demon, must be a demon transformed."

"Caw caw, listen to what he has to say first. Humans can't fly, not afraid he'll ruin things."

Three crows hovered above Xiao Jie's head, emitting harsh screeches. Xiao Jie heard them clearly, but to I Want to Become Immortal's ears, it was just a chaotic jumble.

However, he could clearly hear Xiao Jie's voice.

What's wrong with Brother Feng? he wondered. He's even talking to crows. Yet he wisely refrained from interrupting, merely listening from the side.

"Let me ask you something. Are there any relatively weak monsters nearby?"

He had expected these crows to seize the opportunity to demand benefits, but to his surprise, an answer came immediately.

"Caw caw, I know, I know. There's a wheat field to the east with lots of scarecrows. Scarecrows are bad, go fight them, go fight them!"

"Caw caw caw, right, right, right. Scarecrows are bad, go fight the scarecrows."

"Caw caw, kill scarecrows, eat seeds!"

Xiao Jie asked curiously, "Scarecrows? What kind of monsters are those? Are they hard to fight?"

I Want to Become Immortal finally couldn't help himself. "Brother Feng, are you holding a conversation with crows?"

Xiao Jie didn't hide it. "Yeah, I learned a beast language skill earlier so I can talk to animals. They said there are scarecrows nearby. Do you know what kind of monsters those are?"

"They should be Demonic Scarecrows, a very weak kind of monster, pretty much the same as Soulless Walking Corpses, except they have a Flame Embrace skill that deals extremely high damage. If you aren't careful, you might get one-shot."

"How do you know? Have you fought them?"

"No, but the strategy guide my older brother left me mentions them."

Hearing this, Xiao Jie immediately felt the matter was worth a try. "All right, then let's go check it out—you guys, lead the way please."

"Caw caw, follow me, human. I'll take you."

"This way, this way, caw caw."

Several crows squawked and flew off into the distance.

The two of them hurriedly followed.

They didn't dare go north for the time being. Those Soulless Walking Corpses weren't much, but once the Corpse Eating Dogs reached a certain number, it was truly terrifying. Four-legged monsters like these were the most lethal; once discovered, you couldn't run away even if you tried.

Not to mention there was still an elite monster, and the mountain bandits on the western slope hadn't respawned yet for the time being. Since that was the case, they would go take a look at the east.

Following behind the crows, the two of them passed through a sparse stretch of woods when the view suddenly opened up before them, revealing a large expanse of open fields that stretched out wide as far as the eye could see.

Weedy wheat fields were scattered about, glowing with a verdant green hue, and a few abandoned barnhouses could still be seen in the distance.

This must have been where Ginkgo Valley used to farm, but now it had been left desolate.

Wild wheat and weeds grew together without distinction, yet the contours of the old farmland could still be discerned from the raised ridges of the plots.

The traces of rabbits could also be seen amidst the grass, but the most eye-catching ones were those scarecrows used for driving away birds. One by one, for reasons unknown, they had all come to life, taking lumbering paces and slowly wandering aimlessly through the farmland like puppets.