Corpse Drivers

The "Book Scripture" was nothing special. It covered the written principles and meanings that scholars needed to study and familiarize themselves with before the Prefectural Examination.

The scholar that the Duren Sutra had previously converted had also been preparing for the Prefectural Examination. Unfortunately, he had strayed onto an evil path halfway through—not only ruining his bright future, but losing his life as well...

Xu Qing gathered his thoughts. Countless classical meanings flowed like thin streams, quietly soaking into his literary mind.

Once the entire Book Scripture had turned into faint fluorescence and merged into his mind, he abruptly opened his eyes, his spirits soaring.

People said that a belly full of poetry and books lent one an air of refinement. Now that he understood the classics, Xu Qing's appearance seemed unchanged, but he had gained an indescribable scholar's bearing.

He inexplicably felt that if he went to take the Prefectural Examination another day, he would easily pass and become a licentiate.

But even if he did not pursue official honors, merely being able to read, write, and understand ink and letters was already his greatest gain that night.

He was originally a stranger in a foreign land. Being able to learn the local language and written script ahead of time was undoubtedly the greatest stroke of luck.

After digesting the Book Scripture, Xu Qing picked up another reward: a deep-blue Heart-Clearing Pill.

Before the foolish scholar threw himself into the river, he had experienced a moment of enlightenment and seen Su Hongxiu's true face. Although the scholar had been unwilling to face it, he had at least come to understand human nature.

With one Heart-Clearing Pill, stupidity would be gone forever.

After swallowing the pill, Xu Qing instantly felt his ears clear and his eyes brighten. Some of the thoughts clouded by desire also became lucid.

At that moment, the fifth watch was ending, and dawn was about to break.

With his mind clear, Xu Qing woke with a start. He had been too engrossed in enjoying the Duren Sutra's spectacle and had forgotten the time.

If daylight arrived and the mill's steward discovered that more than half the zombies here had collapsed, he would surely launch an immediate investigation. If anything went wrong, Xu Qing, the instigator, would definitely suffer the consequences!

After returning the lovesick scholar to his original place, Xu Qing turned and looked around. Every corpse laborer he had converted had its eyes closed and a strange smile on its face, as though it had recalled the happiest, most joyful moment of its life.

A breeze swept past. The sight before him sent chills down the spine.

Xu Qing lowered his head and examined the double-layered delivery uniform he wore. It had blue-and-yellow layers, yellow inside and blue outside, and his clothing was utterly different from that of the local natives in the courtyard.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Qing turned back, stripped the scholar's long robe from him, and put it on.

To escape this place, he would inevitably have to pass through Linhe Fang's main streets and hidden alleys. If he continued wearing such bizarre clothes, he would be far too conspicuous and easily attract attention.

After changing clothes, Xu Qing picked out the direction of the wall. He had just prepared to run a few steps and leap up when he discovered that the moment he moved, the gold and silver clappers hidden on him began clacking wildly from the shaking.

"."

He tore off several strips of cloth and wrapped the clappers tightly. Then Xu Qing hopped in place. Without exerting much force, he jumped nearly three feet high.

The clappers on his body no longer made a sound, but come to think of it, when had his jumping ability become this good?

Xu Qing felt that if there were a regulation basketball hoop in front of him, he could easily reach the top with a little effort.

If he had possessed this athletic ability in his previous life, who would still have delivered takeout?

Sure enough, the poor still had to rely on mutation!

Xu Qing approached the courtyard wall, itching to give it a try. He focused his Achilles tendon, and with a single leap, vaulted onto the wall, which was more than ten feet high, without the slightest effort.

Zombies saw through the night as though it were day. Standing at the highest point and making use of the darkness, he saw the general layout of the Corpse Labor Mill.

Not to mention the entire mill—even within the area Xu Qing could see, there were two covered corridors and three large courtyards, with corpse laborers busily working in each one.

"The mill owner is truly wicked, bringing in so many dead people to amass wealth. Isn't he afraid that when his virtue runs out one day, Heaven will strike him with thunder?"

The sounds of the corpse laborers working in the mill were not loud, but neither were they soft. They were just enough to cover up some subtle noises.

Xu Qing quietly climbed over several courtyard walls and skirted the buildings beneath the corridors. Before long, he reached the last courtyard wall, the one nearest the street.

This side was where the dead worked for nothing. Beyond the wall was the world of the living.

"Some zombies simply can't be locked up."

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing decisively climbed over the wall and escaped.

As for his plans afterward, he already had a rough idea.

Zombies were stiff but not dead, and they were naturally endowed with the trait of "longevity." Once he escaped this place, he would find a mass grave or cemetery. With the Duren Sutra at his side, perhaps after hiding away for several hundred years, he could cultivate into a Corpse Immortal. At worst, becoming a Zombie King would be pretty good too.

Carrying expectations for the future, Xu Qing climbed down from the high wall and landed in the alley.

He was currently in an alley directly beside the mill. At its end, he could vaguely see the glow reflected from Linhe Fang's main street.

It looked like the lamplight of shops, yet also like the smoky warmth rising from the gathering of human vitality.

At first, Xu Qing walked slowly toward the street. Gradually, he moved faster and faster. After roughly a dozen breaths, Linhe Fang's street was already close at hand.

The sky was still dark, and heavy, damp mist lingered at the mouth of the alley.

Suddenly, a naked, smooth-skinned figure appeared around the corner and nearly collided head-on with Xu Qing, who had reached the alley mouth.

"Move! Quickly, move!" The newcomer hurried along, panting heavily.

Xu Qing hurriedly took two steps back, finally getting a clear look at him.

He was a tall, thin young man wearing not a stitch of clothing.

Faint voices came from behind the young man.

"Where is he?"

"Reporting to the Captain, that lecherous bandit ran into the alley!"

"Heh, if I remember correctly, that should be a dead end."

"Follow me!"

At the alley mouth, Xu Qing dodged the man sprinting naked before dawn, then poked his head out to look beyond the alley. Several imposing constables were chasing them from the left side of the street.

On the right side of the street, night patrol soldiers wielding blades and carrying clubs were also closing in on the alley mouth!

"."

"Damn your grandmother's legs!" Xu Qing hissed when he saw this and quickly withdrew. Inside the alley, the naked young man who had lured the authorities over was reaching out anxiously toward the high wall.

The chaotic footsteps on the main street rapidly approached, and torchlight had already appeared at the alley mouth.

The more one feared being bitten by a snake, the more the snake coiled around one's feet. Truly, what one feared most always came to pass.

Xu Qing had expected the road ahead to be arduous, but he had never imagined that just after leaving the high wall, he would encounter such a gang of vicious men blocking his path.

Without thinking, he turned and ran back, shouts rising one after another behind him.

"Stop! Where do you think you're running?"

"Why are there two people? Could he have an accomplice here to meet him?"

Xu Qing did not respond. He ran to the high wall he had climbed over on his way out, exerted force with his legs, and climbed back over exactly as he had come out.

On the high wall, menacing crossbow bolts stretched from its middle all the way to the top.

Not far from the foot of the wall, the naked young man trembled with fear. He abandoned all thought of escape and decisively knelt down, surrendering himself.

"My lord, one got away."

"He was hit by my linked-camp bolts. He couldn't have gone far. Wait! There's Corpse Qi!"

The constable who appeared to be the leader flared his nostrils, catching the unusual scent in the air.

"Stop beating him. Ask him first what kind of person ran away!"

The naked young man, who had been maliciously beaten by the constables, cried out in pain. "I don't know him! You were chasing so fiercely—who wouldn't be afraid when they saw you? Who wouldn't run?"

"Nonsense! If he hadn't done anything shameful, he wouldn't fear ghosts knocking on his door. If he were a good person, why would he climb over the wall?" an experienced night-patrol captain retorted.

The leading constable, carrying a linked-camp crossbow and wearing a tiger-head saber at his waist, spoke as well. "That man had Corpse Qi on him. He's likely no ordinary person."

"Captain Cao, do you know what lies behind this high wall?"

Inside the mill, Xu Qing passed through the covered corridors. Before returning to his workstation, he forcefully pulled the bolt that had pierced an inch into his arm. Reddish-black fluid spilled from the wound.

His sense of pain was not as acute as a living person's, but neither was he completely numb to it.

He could clearly feel a dull ache from the wound, like the sluggish pain of acupuncture rather than a sharp stab.

Passing a courtyard of corpse laborers, Xu Qing casually tossed the bolt into a grinding trough. The huge upright millstone rolled over the stone groove with a creaking grind, snapping the wooden shaft of the short bolt on the spot.

Afterward, Xu Qing climbed over the adjoining wall and returned to his original workstation.

Before doing so, he did not forget to take off the long robe and put it back on the lovesick scholar.

Outside the mill, roosters crowed and dogs barked everywhere. Xu Qing was an undocumented outsider who had been refined into a zombie, his identity utterly unlike that of ordinary people. If the constables captured him, he would most likely meet a grim fate.

For now, all he could do was fish in troubled waters. Only after weathering the disturbance before him could he consider anything else.

But what should he do about the corpse laborers who had only been half-converted in the courtyard?

"Rise early and sleep early! Take care of your health—"

At the fifth watch, the distant sound of a watchman striking his clapper carried into the Cui Family Mill.

Captain Zhao, the patrol constable of Linhe Fang, was negotiating with the steward of the Cui Family.

"I've heard that your mill doesn't use donkeys to turn the mills, but wandering corpses made by Corpse Drivers instead. Is that true?"

Steward Cui had just risen and was in a rather foul mood, but he still advised him pleasantly. "Captain Zhao just arrived, so there are many things you don't understand. Another day, I'll host a gathering with the secretary and registrar, and treat you to a welcoming feast at Chunfeng Tower. We can speak heart to heart about whatever matters there. There's no rush to discuss them now."

Zhao Zhonghe chuckled at this and waved his hand in refusal. "There's no need. I'm here on official business, not to curry favor with people like you."

"Let's speak frankly. Just now, a group of soldiers and I discovered a man outside the mill. He had Corpse Qi on him. After I wounded him with a crossbow bolt, he climbed over the high wall and fled back into your Cui Family Mill."

"Steward Cui, I don't care whether you use corpse laborers or not. But if a corpse monster gets out of here and harms someone..." At this point, Zhao Zhonghe's face darkened, and the meaning behind his words was self-evident.

Steward Cui frowned. "That's absolutely impossible! The corpse laborers here are all..."

Realizing he had said something he should not have, Steward Cui hurriedly made amends. "Captain Zhao probably doesn't know how much coal Xijing Mountain mines every year, do you? Half of the miners digging that coal are wandering corpses sent from the prefectural city."

"Commoners don't know these things, but surely the Prefect knows about them, doesn't he?"

"As for whether corpse laborers refined from these zombies are safe, I can tell you something as an insider: since this craft spread, there hasn't been a single case of one harming anyone."

Zhao Zhonghe was not surprised to hear this.

He had long heard rumors about corpse laborers. In previous years, there had even been cases where the dead were more valuable than the living.

When famine struck the sixteen counties of Yingzhou, one peck of rice could be exchanged for a person, while a corpse laborer refined by a Corpse Driver cost no less than ten taels of silver in small pieces.

That was precisely why the matter of corpse laborers could not be publicized.

Zhao Zhonghe had no fondness for Steward Cui. He repeatedly issued warnings, and only after the other party agreed to thoroughly investigate the mill's safety hazards did he leave.

Nearby, a guard watched Captain Zhao's departing figure and asked, "Steward, are we still going to inspect it?"

"Inspect my ass. I'm going back to catch another nap. He's just a minor constable—does he really think he's some prized dish?"

Steward Cui yawned and was swaying back when a servant suddenly rushed into the front hall and cried anxiously, "Disaster! Disaster! Steward, come take a look! Most of the new 'donkeys' in Courtyard C have collapsed for some reason. Old Lin and I can't figure out what's wrong!"

Steward Cui, who had just said he would go back to sleep, instantly lost all drowsiness. He widened his eyes and barked, "Explain yourself clearly! Those 'donkeys' in Courtyard C only arrived a few days ago. How could they have developed problems all of a sudden?"

The servant stammered and gestured, but could not explain anything.

Seeing this, Steward Cui immediately pointed toward the hall doors and urged him, "You, lead the way! I'll go see for myself!"

Courtyard C.

Steward Cui's expression was extremely ugly as he stared at the corpse laborers lying motionless across half the courtyard.

The "donkeys" they had called them earlier were corpse laborers—the term was industry slang.

Steward Cui reached out and lifted the clothing from one corpse, exposing the skin of its chest. A scarlet talisman pattern formed from complex lines was carved there.

"The Walking Corpse Talisman is completely intact, but the resentment and Corpse Qi from the Corpse Transformation are both gone. Could an expert from the Buddhist or Daoist schools have come here to convert them?" Steward Cui turned to look at the remaining half of the zombies still working in the courtyard and quickly ruled out that possibility.

If an expert had truly come, why were the other corpse laborers in Courtyard C unharmed?

Steward Cui stood up and pondered briefly before taking out the response that merchants had carved into their bones.

"Old Lin, go to Jingxia Street and bring me the Corpse Driver who refined this batch." After saying that, he looked toward the burly, robust guard, who was clearly trained in martial arts. "This Corpse Driver came from Xiangyin and is an outsider. He may be hiding something. I'll trouble Mr. Lu to accompany you."

Not far behind Steward Cui, a corpse laborer was slowly pushing a millstone pole. It seemed not to hear their conversation and simply continued with its work.

A Corpse Driver? Xu Qing analyzed the situation as he pushed the mill.

The Steward Cui leading the courtyard had not noticed anything unusual about him, but the Corpse Driver he mentioned was an unknown variable.

However, he had nowhere to flee even if he wanted to. The eastern sky had already begun to show the pale belly of dawn. The craftsmen and servants of the Corpse Labor Mill had started replacing the "donkeys and mules" used as mill feed, not to mention that Steward Cui and the others were still counting the corpse laborers in the courtyard.

At that moment, all he could do was respond to change with constancy.

The corpse laborers who had worked all night were each pasted with a yellow talisman. Immediately afterward, they stopped working and stood motionless.

When it was Xu Qing's turn, he imitated them, as though he had truly become a corpse laborer without self-awareness.

After roughly half an hour, an irregular ringing sounded from outside Courtyard C. Xu Qing followed the sound from the corner of his eye.

He saw a gaunt old man in a dark-blue Eight Trigrams Daoist robe step through the courtyard gate.

At the old man's waist hung one large and two small Corpse Control Bells, which jingled as he walked.