Faceless Corpse, Once Again

"What's going on?"

By the cells, Li Ergou had stuffed his mouth full and asked curiously through muffled words.

"Something happened."

Tao Dayong craned his neck and stated the obvious.

"It must be a problem with the corpses. Maybe those two coffins—they looked creepy as hell." Qian Mancang spoke with alarm.

"Won't it drag us into this?"

"If something happens, the higher-ranking officials will bear the brunt. We're not afraid."

"It'd be better if nothing happened. When trouble comes, it's us poor bastards who get unlucky."

The Corpse Burners all chimed in, craning their necks to look inside, yet not daring to go any closer.

At that moment, Flying Fish Guard operatives who had rushed over at the alarm were gathering nearby, brimming with killing intent. If they approached now, they might be mistaken for prison-breaking inmates and chopped down.

Qin He stuffed the last bit of bun skin in his hand into his mouth. He found the show rather dull, since he could not see their richly varied expressions. Rising, he stretched lazily and said to the others, "There's an eight- or nine-out-of-ten chance we'll be heading back today."

Li Ergou's face fell. "Huh? These buns are so delicious. I wanted to eat them for a few more days."

"Eat shit. The signs are bad—run while we can. Staying alive comes first."

"What a shame about these meat buns. We'll never get to eat them again."

The Corpse Burners all expressed their regret. After all, meat was something poor people might not taste more than a few times in their entire lives. If they could fill their bellies with bran and vegetables, they were already considered better off.

As though to confirm Qin He's words, not long after the reinforcements learned that the alarm had been lifted and departed, Wei Wu came over and said, "Get ready to work. Once you finish burning today's corpses, you can go back."

The six Corpse Burners looked at one another, then hurriedly relieved themselves, hid their buns, and, once they were ready, entered the Corpse Burning Hall again.

The corpses covered in yellow cloth had mostly been burned away. Nearly all that remained were corpses covered in white cloth.

Everything proceeded as usual. Each of them picked a corpse to burn.

This time, Qin He did not bother choosing. He shoveled out the ashes from the Corpse Burning Room's furnace, casually carried off a corpse, and began burning it. He did not even let the fire go out. The reward suppression was too severe; there was little difference between burning white-covered corpses and yellow-covered ones.

With a hundred years of Dao Xing, even without Corpse Suppressing Nails, the corpse beneath the white cloth could not move. It lay perfectly still.

But Qin He's side being quiet did not mean the other five Corpse Burners would be as well.

Just after the furnaces were lit, the Corpse Suppressing Talismans outside Li Ergou's and two other Corpse Burners' rooms burst into flames.

Wei Wu rushed over, cursing under his breath. Before he could even begin berating them, the Corpse Suppressing Talisman on Qian Mancang's side also caught fire.

Wei Wu was furious, especially at Qian Mancang. This was already his second time burning through a talisman.

The three could only lower their heads and admit their mistakes.

After lecturing them for a while, Wei Wu turned and saw that Tu Baishou was not shouting at anyone. Only then did he let them off, replaced their Corpse Suppressing Talismans, and left.

Qin He found it somewhat strange. Under the Soul-Capturing Lamp, it was understandable for corpses beneath white cloth to burn through one or two talismans now and then. But four talismans all at once was odd.

His instincts told him something was wrong. He vaguely recalled that they seemed to have picked their corpses from the same place.

Qin He walked over and casually lifted one corpse cloth. His eyelids immediately twitched.

A Faceless Corpse!

Its manner of death was exactly the same as Horse Butcher's. The entire face had been flayed off, leaving dense, dried blood spots like black beans. At first glance, it could easily be mistaken for a corpse that had been tortured, but it was actually caused by a Supernatural Incident.

When he had burned Horse Butcher back then, Horse Butcher had struggled with exceptional ferocity too.

As for the culprit, it was a handkerchief bearing a blood-red Fanged Ghost Head. It had first appeared in the hand of a female corpse dressed in red.

Qin He had nearly forgotten that incident. He had never expected the Supernatural Incident not only to have continued, but to have clearly grown ever more intense.

He just did not know where these corpses had been sent from.

Qin He inspected the area and found another one nearby. Including the four currently being burned—

There were six in total.

"You've seen this kind of corpse before?"

A voice suddenly came from beside him.

Qin He looked up and met Wei Wu's eyes.

"No, sir. I haven't."

Qin He grinned, inwardly cursing his carelessness. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had not even noticed someone approaching.

Ever since Qin He had carried away a corpse from beneath a yellow cloth for the first time, Wei Wu had been watching him. Qin He knew that, but at the time, he had been too focused on the rewards to care. Now the hidden danger had arrived.

Qin He did not like being watched. He only wanted to burn corpses in peace and collect rewards.

Being noticed often meant trouble, and Qin He hated trouble.

Wei Wu's lips curled slightly, his expression carrying a hint of teasing. "You've seen one. I personally brought Horse Butcher's corpse back to the East City Corpse Burning Facility. After that, there was no more news. It must have been cremated."

Wei Wu's instincts told him he had caught hold of the man before him by the pigtail. If the man was not a fool, then this would be interesting.

Ten thousand alpacas stampeded through Qin He's heart, but he kept smiling and flatly denied it. "Sir, I really haven't seen one."

He wagered that Wei Wu was simply trying to bluff him. Wei Wu had no time to investigate, and the East City Corpse Burning Facility had more than one Corpse Burner.

Wei Wu's expression turned slightly stern, his eyes filled with warning. "Kid, this is the Imperial Prison. There's nothing else here, but torture instruments are everywhere. If you still refuse to admit it, I'll let you have a taste of punishment in the Imperial Prison. When that happens, you'll be missing a few parts from your body. Think carefully before you answer."

Qin He's smile remained unchanged. "Sir, I truly haven't seen one."

Wei Wu was now clearly displeased, but there was nothing he could do about Qin He's stubborn denial. He could only leave behind one sentence before departing. "You can't fool me. I'll verify it."

Qin He let out a breath. Sure enough, when it came to stubborn denial, one had to carry it through to the bitter end. Never let yourself be bluffed into admitting anything.

Verify it?

When he went back today, he would burn the East City Corpse Burning Facility's cremation records to ashes and scatter them.

Verify my ass.

Even if he found something, it would just mean someone had recorded it wrong.

What, records could not be wrong?

Then they had better not be. Otherwise, the Flying Fish Guard might have one more missing person on their hands.

Qin He did not provoke others, but neither would he tolerate others provoking him.

Returning to the Corpse Burning Room, Qin He had nothing to do, so he simply leaned against the wall and dozed off.

His failure to notice Wei Wu approaching earlier was partly because he had been deep in thought, and partly because his mind had not yet fully cleared.

He had only slept for one shichen, and his energy had not recovered.

Leaning there like that, Qin He truly fell asleep again.

When he woke again in a groggy haze, the corpse before him had already been reduced to ash.

He had missed the Shadow Play Performance and did not know who he had burned. The reward did notify him, though: Dao Xing +2 years. As stingy as ever.

After shoveling out the ashes and cleaning the furnace, Qin He returned to the corpse selection area.

New corpses must have been delivered while he was asleep. Not only had the corpses laid out at the site not decreased, but several new ones had been added. The blood on some of them was even fresh.

He did not know whether they were vicious corpses, or whether the Flying Fish Guard had committed some new evil they needed to cover up.

Qin He gave it some thought, then ignored them. Instead, he headed once more toward the earlier spot, grabbed a Faceless Corpse, and carried it back to the Corpse Burning Room.

Because he very much wanted to know what that handkerchief with the Fanged Ghost Head actually was.