Xie Liu looked utterly dejected. It seemed she had cried herself dry, leaving only her red, swollen eyes, dull and lifeless as she stared ahead.
Wu Ling handed the DV camera to Liu Miao, then crouched down and fished a lighter out of her pocket.
The lighter was made of metal and looked much like any ordinary lighter. Wu Ling held it in her hand, obscuring much of it, so it was hard to tell whether it had any unusual markings.
But when Wu Ling flicked it open, a strange, dark green flame sprang up with a click. It burned high, leaping and flickering, and seemed to form the shape of a skull in the air.
Wu Ling used the flame to set the clothes of a corpse in front of her alight.
The flame whooshed up, swallowing the entire body.
The dark green fire split into black and green, churning like the waters of a lake.
With another whoosh, the flames leaped higher. The two colors melded together, forming a sharply defined, ghostly skull that shot up to the roof, pierced through it, and flew away.
The camera lowered from the ceiling back to the floor.
All that remained on the floor was a charred human-shaped mark, which soon vanished in the wind.
Wu Ling remained composed.
As the flames changed, she had already been preparing to ignite another corpse.
The same scene played out again.
After this happened three times, a commotion rose from outside the frame.
It seemed a crowd had gathered outside the granary, where a heated argument was underway.
The camera merely turned briefly before pointing back at Wu Ling as she burned another corpse.
The commotion outside grew even louder.
This time, the terrified shouts and furious curses from outside were clear.
The language