Corpse Transformation

"Heh, protect them? Can you afford to?" Old Man Wang's eyes bulged, his thick finger pointing at me, his jaw twitching with anger. The raindrops that streamed down seemed to evaporate into steam, a terrifying sight.

The sound of thugs banging iron rods on the ground echoed around us, pa, pa pa, the rhythm like war drums, sending shivers down our spines.

Han Shanshan and Huo Dadong, along with the other police officers, saw this and their expressions changed. They instinctively surrounded me.

Nowadays, it's common for gangsters to illegally possess firearms, and the detectives were afraid someone might suddenly open fire.

"Brother Wang, there's no need to get angry with a junior. He's not here specifically to challenge you, isn't he here to check on Ah Heng's condition? If you block the way, things won't get done. You wouldn't want that, old brother, right?" Lin Feiyu stepped forward to mediate, indirectly positioning himself in front of Old Man Wang.

"Fine, this is interesting. A nobody who suddenly appears dares to challenge me, Wang Cheng. I'd like to see if he can still get out after entering this door!" Old Man Wang sneered, his eyes fixed on me.

As soon as Old Man Wang finished speaking, the surroundings fell eerily silent. The thugs stopped banging their rods, and we could hear the drizzling rain.

I glanced at the morgue door, wondering what the old man meant. Was it already very dangerous inside?

"You are my little, little apple, I can never love you enough..." Just as the tension reached its peak, my phone rang.

The ringtone nearly made everyone around me jump out of their skin.

Embarrassed, I picked up the knock-off phone I'd forgotten to silence, cursing Yu Xiao Xue for daring to mess with my ringtone. I vowed never to let her play with my phone again.

I quickly glanced at it. I was about to hang up when I saw the caller ID displayed only as "Zhou."

It was my mother. I looked at everyone watching me and answered with a blank expression, "Mom, it's me. I'm a bit busy right now, what's up?"

"The police called. They said Xiao Yi Hamlet has been hit by disaster and is in great danger. I asked about Grandma for you, but the police said they haven't found her yet and are still searching. You should focus on your work, don't think about going to see Grandma, and absolutely don't go back to the hamlet. Be good..." my mother said sadly on the other end.

"Mom, I know Xiao Yi Hamlet is gone. You don't need to make up excuses to lie to me. I saw many things with my own eyes. I just came out of there the day before yesterday, and I'm in the county now." I didn't intend to hide it. If I did, knowing my mother's stubborn nature, she might have run back to Xiao Yi Hamlet.

"Ah? You're in the county?"

My mother's voice faltered, as if processing the meaning of my words. But I didn't want to explain too much. Telling her more would only make her worry. So I said, "Mom, don't worry too much. I have something to do right now, so I'll hang up for now. I'll call you later."

After hanging up, I looked up. Old Man Wang and Lin Feiyu, who were close to me, both had grave expressions.

"You came from Xiao Yi Hamlet? Who is Zhou Xian to you?" Old Man Wang's flushed face turned cold as if doused with ice water.

"My maternal grandmother." I didn't intend to hide this either, as anyone who cared to investigate could find out.

Lin Feiyu gasped, and his gaze towards me immediately changed, looking understanding. "Tsk tsk, Brother Wang, did you hear that? This is Senior Zhou's grandson."

Old Man Wang pursed his lips and finally grunted, "Hmph, so what if he's related? Who isn't related to whom? If this matter can't be handled, even her own son wouldn't be able to! Let's go in!"

Seeing that Wang Cheng had allowed us to enter, I didn't engage further and followed Lin Feiyu to the morgue door.

Han Shanshan was bewildered, but Huo Dadong knew a little about the situation in Xiao Yi Hamlet.

Old Man Wang and his son Wang Dong followed behind. These two wanted to witness the autopsy process firsthand.

I hadn't seen an autopsy before, but the thought of a corpse sent chills down my spine, let alone an autopsy. One would need a lot of courage to watch.

Looking at the closed morgue door, Huo Dadong, despite being the captain, didn't dare to open it. His hands trembled with nervousness, and he cast his gaze towards Old Man Lin.

Rainy days are when ghosts appear, making it easy to see spirits. This is common knowledge. Looking up at the increasingly heavy rain, everyone felt a sense of oppression.

Lin Feiyu knew this was a difficult task for Huo Dadong, so he stepped forward to the door.

The door was a regular aluminum alloy door, but it looked rather menacing, adorned with dog teeth and splashed with dog blood.

Lin Feiyu opened the safe, took out a bundle of black incense from a red cloth, lit it, chanted a few words, and stuck it outside. Without looking back, he said, "Those who are not involved, turn around."

"Everyone turn around, did you hear me?" Wang Dong saw his father nod and turned to relay the message.

No one dared to look. The female family members' faces were deathly pale. They had seen people burn red or yellow incense, but never black incense.

What kind of situation requires burning black incense? That's specifically for fierce ghosts to eat; regular incense wouldn't work, and they wouldn't spare living people.

After being lit, the black incense emitted a heavy fragrance; it was high-quality incense.

I looked up at Old Man Lin with newfound respect. It seemed the old man worked in autopsies. To survive this long with so much yin energy around, he truly had some skills. I needed to learn from him. Following him would allow me to get some black incense later, and the cost wouldn't matter.

After burning the black incense, Lin Feiyu took out a packet of white ash and sprinkled it evenly at the doorway.

This was ash? If it was ash, I understood. It was for exorcising evil spirits and preventing corpse transformation. After all, those going inside were in danger and might be contaminated by unclean things, hence the sprinkling of these items.

However, this ash was too white, giving off a chilling aura. I suspected if it was really ash, but since Lin Feiyu wasn't showing off, I didn't want to ask at that moment.

After completing these preparations, Lin Feiyu opened the door. Instantly, the cold wind blew as if unleashed, scattering Lin Feiyu's ash with a whoosh!

Lin Feiyu's face turned ashen. The black incense sticks, as if made of paper, burned incredibly fast. If we hadn't seen how slowly they burned before opening the door, we might have thought Lin Feiyu had skimped on the material!

Turning around, the two detectives behind us had already turned away at some point. They were close to the door and seemed to feel the cold air blowing on the back of their necks, trembling.

Huo Dadong, however, didn't cower. His face was just frighteningly pale.

"The air conditioning inside is really strong, it's freezing." As for Han Shanshan, she had a hole drilled in her forehead before, so this was like a stroll in the park for her.

Wang Dong stood frozen. Despite his background in the underworld, some things he would never dare to do, like crossing that threshold. His feet felt as heavy as lead.

"You opened the door but are afraid to go in? Little Lin, you're not thinking of backing out, are you? I'll tell you the truth, the guys who helped carry Ah Heng before are all still in the psychiatric hospital." Wang Cheng said coldly.

"Is it that scary?" Han Shanshan said sarcastically, then with a stride, she walked into the door. I couldn't even stop her!

"Don't!"

There was a corridor several meters long inside the door. Lin Feiyu was about to stop her, but Han Shanshan had already entered. Instinctively, I moved to grab Han Shanshan, but at that moment, Sister Wife tugged at my sleeve!

"Xijun!" Without a word, I called out in a low voice and immediately opened the lid of the soul urn!

Xijun moved incredibly fast, almost two to three times faster than us, instantly rushing in front of Han Shanshan!

"Ah!" A scream came from inside. When Lin Feiyu and I rushed in, we saw Han Shanshan kneeling on the ground, her eyes fixed motionlessly on the iron bed in the middle of the morgue!

On the iron bed, the middle-aged man whose head had been smashed sat bolt upright. His posture was straight and stiff, his hands hanging down, just like a student diligently listening to a lecture.

But his eyes were terrifyingly white, his lips dark and slightly parted, as if awaiting our entrance.

"A'heng!" Seeing his son's current horrifying state, Wang Cheng's old eyes welled up with tears, unable to bear the sight.

"Brother..." Wang Dong was both shocked and scared, his voice trembling. His brother had been fine last night, and now he had undergone a corpse transformation!

Xijun stood in front of Han Shanshan, baring her teeth, her black eyes filled with ferocity.

Han Shanshan had started crying, tears streaming down her face as she stammered incoherently. I pulled her up, wanting to slap her: "If you don't court death, you won't die! Do you understand now!"

"Wuwu..." She wasn't just crying; she was almost scared out of her wits. But what reassured me was that she wasn't insane. If Xijun hadn't stopped the surging malevolent energy in time, I would have had to send her to a mental hospital.

Xijun didn't go over to drag the fierce ghost out but merely confronted it. This filled me with a sliver of worry. It seemed this fierce ghost was difficult even for Xijun to handle.

At some point, Huo Dadong was holding a pistol, aiming it at Wang Heng's head. But his hand was shaking so badly that I doubted he could hit the target.

"Old Man Lin, what should we do? Stay or go?" I asked Lin Feiyu beside me.

Lin Feiyu and Old Man Wang had both seen me release the fierce ghost and now saw Xijun standing before me. However, their attention was mostly drawn to the corpse-transformed Wang Heng, and they didn't care about the fierce ghost I kept.

"There's no other way. This ghost is very powerful; its resentment can be felt even by the surroundings. When the person was brought here last night, it was still sealed. Now, it has completely broken the seal. Little Lin, it's not that I, Brother Wang, am saying this, but I fear neither of us combined could drive it away! Even if one or two of us die, what good would it do to get it into the black coffin? I fear we wouldn't even be able to carry it away." Wang Cheng said to Lin Feiyu, his gaze then shifting towards me.

I remained silent. If Xijun couldn't handle it, I was truly not good with these ghost-exorcising matters. I could only frown.

Wang Cheng and Lin Feiyu, the two old men, were helpless. Seeing me frown, they mistook it for me thinking of a solution and just waited for me to make a decision.

I was truly exasperated: Why are you two looking to me, a young man, at this critical moment? If you can't solve it, you expect me to? Do you really think I'm my Grandma?

I had never seen a fierce ghost that could confront Xijun. After a long while, seeing that Wang Heng sitting there wasn't doing anything, I had no idea what to do, so I suggested, "Old Man Lin... why don't you burn some more black incense? Invite it out to negotiate?"

But just as I was speaking, a chattering sound of teeth came from my ear. I wondered who was still chattering at a time like this. When I turned my head, Wang Heng's closed mouth suddenly moved