Zhao Family Market Zombies

After Zhou Yan got home, Ma Yan returned soon after.

They said little. Mother Zhou and Zhou Li did not ask much either, only taking care of the two little ones.

"Alive or dead?" Zhou Yan asked.

Ma Yan's brow twitched slightly. He sensed a faint detachment in his brother-in-law's tone.

It wasn't toward San Kuazi, but toward the world as a whole.

It was a little like what those scholars talked about: the more disappointed you became with the world, the more indifferent you grew.

Ma Yan didn't really understand it, but he firmly took note of it.

"San Kuazi was lucky. There was still a last breath left in him. The doctor said that if we'd waited until tomorrow to bring him in, he really would've been beyond saving." Ma Yan shook his head slightly.

He had some impression of San Kuazi, too.

Back then, Zhou Yan had wanted to give the boy a chance, but Ma Yan had refused. So he couldn't help feeling a little strange about it.

Especially after seeing Old Qi and his wife dead, he felt a little choked up.

Zhou Yan nodded slightly. "Poisoned and starving, yet he lasted seven days without dying. That boy's got one hell of a tough life—even Heaven itself won't take him easily. Since that's the case, let him follow you and see what he can make of himself."

"You mean, let him become a constable?"

Ma Yan hadn't understood at first, but he quickly caught on, his face showing a hint of surprise.

Zhou Yan nodded. "San Kuazi is already thirteen. He just looks a little small."

In this era, thirteen was already considered adulthood, old enough to support a household.

Ma Yan had been about to refuse. After all, there were only so many constable positions, and he already had a large group of brothers around him.

But just as he was about to speak, he looked at Zhou Yan's indifferent expression and abruptly shut his mouth.

Unconsciously, Zhou Yan had begun to exude a faint air of authority, making Ma Yan's heart tighten.

Zhou Yan was no longer the Zhou Yan of old!

In the past, because of their differing family circumstances and ages, Ma Yan had always held the upper hand in their relationship.

But now, the balance between them had subtly shifted without either of them realizing it.

"All right."

Ma Yan answered readily, his expression composed.

Zhou Yan hadn't noticed any of this. When he heard Ma Yan agree, he simply nodded.

That night, Zhou Yan, unusually, didn't return to the new house. Instead, he stayed in the old one and slept beside his third brother, Zhou Chuan.

Listening to Zhou Chuan's snoring, along with the voices of Mother Zhou and his little sister, Zhou Yan felt as though something inside him had been soothed. Much of his agitation and violence gradually faded, and his taut nerves began to relax.

Before he knew it, Zhou Yan had fallen asleep, the furrow in his brow smoothing away.

Although returning home had taken up quite a bit of time, Zhou Yan felt it had been well worth it.

What's more, when he practiced afterward, he found that his efficiency had improved greatly.

This made him realize that pushing himself was necessary, but he also had to be methodical about it.

Even cultivation required balancing exertion with rest. Only then could he make better progress.

So Zhou Yan once again reorganized and divided up his daily training, taking into account both the feedback from the system panel and how the training felt to him. From four in the morning until eleven at night, almost every hour was packed.

He also took up Spring Leg again.

Not to practice martial arts, but to build up his vitality.

The Mystic Yin Art took a heavy toll on his body. Spring Leg also consumed vitality, but breaking through its levels could raise his vitality limit and improve his physical condition.

There was another reason, too: he had too few means of protecting himself.

So he had to strengthen himself and do everything he could to shore up his most obvious weakness.

Under these circumstances, Zhou Yan's overall strength continued to improve...

"Second Brother, Second Brother..."

San Kuazi—no, he was called Qi Ming now. Zhou Yan himself had given him the new name.

The first thing Qi Ming did after coming back to life was kneel before Zhou Yan and declare that his life belonged to him.

He'd even asked Zhou Yan to give him a name.

Who knew where the boy had heard those tales from, but he'd become utterly fixated on the idea.

Zhou Yan hadn't thought much of it and had casually named him Qi Ming.

Qi Ming hurried into the courtyard. Instead of rushing into the house, he called out loudly from outside, "Second Brother, the chief needs you!"

Zhou Yan soon came out of the room.

"What happened?"

Qi Ming quickly replied, "The chief took us to Zhao Family Market today to handle a case. Something seems off, and he suspects it was caused by an evil entity. He told me to hurry and find you."

Zhou Yan frowned. "Where's my brother-in-law?"

"He's still at Zhao Family Market."

Zhou Yan's brow furrowed even more. He glanced at the sky; it was already dusk.

He didn't say anything more, hurrying out of the house with his zombie.

"Why didn't you come back and tell me first?"

As he walked, Zhou Yan asked in a low voice.

"Second Brother, the chief just got promoted to investigator, and a lot of people are jealous of him. So he wants to establish himself, and that means earning merit," Qi Ming answered honestly.

Zhou Yan was so angry he nearly laughed. "He paid two hundred silver dollars for that investigator position. Does he think those two hundred silver dollars don't count? Sometimes he's so shrewd, and other times he's so stubborn. Did all the other investigators get promoted by fighting their way up?"

He knew that although Ma Yan was usually generous and capable, deep down he was still rather competitive and stubborn.

Zhou Yan tamped down his anger and continued, "What kind of evil entity do they suspect?"

"A zombie," Qi Ming replied quickly.

"The chief took us to Zhao Family Market and examined the bodies right away. They'd all died after their blood was drained. There were two puncture wounds on each corpse's neck..."

"Besides that, quite a few poultry and livestock in Zhao Family Market had also died after having their blood drained..."

At that, Zhou Yan's eyes lit up slightly. "A zombie."

If it was a zombie, then he was interested.

The Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique contained a secret method that could directly refine a wild zombie into a cultivator's controlled corpse.

Most wild zombies had limited potential, but some were born with extraordinary gifts. They were the finest specimens, ones that ordinary corpse refining could never produce.

According to the Profound Yin Corpse Refining Technique, the zombie Zhou Yan had refined could only be considered ordinary, barely mid-grade and nowhere near high-grade.

This was partly because Zhou Yan wasn't yet skilled in the refining process, but also because the materials used to make the zombie were commonplace.

If he could find corpses with special destinies and birth charts, the zombies he refined would be extraordinary.

But whether ordinary or special, zombies were all very interesting to Zhuang Hua right now...