Corpse Qi Expansion Theory

Zuo Zhengzong, male, forty-five years old, cremator, occult enthusiast.

Ever since he was young, he had wanted to become a superhuman. To that end, he had worked tirelessly, studying countless publicly available supernatural systems.

In the past, he had considered becoming a rogue Vampire. However, around that time, the Blood Clan publicly executed several captured foreign rogue Vampires. After watching, he felt the risk was too great and gave up.

From the ages of twenty to thirty-five, he had been fanatically obsessed with Forbidden Fruit.

He had spent vast sums of money chasing his dream, but it had all been nothing but an illusion, ending in nothing.

To repay his loans, he had no choice but to work honestly for the next ten years. Still, he had never given up researching how to become a superhuman.

In the end, he really did come up with a "foolproof plan."

He would become a zombie.

Of course, he did not want to become a mindless zombie.

He wanted to become the world's first self-aware zombie.

In many ancient texts, he found a way to make up for the flaws. First, he would buy a Soul-Sealing Talisman to firmly anchor his soul to his body. Then, he would prepare a coffin capable of sealing a zombie. Once infected with corpse poison, he would find a corpse-raising ground, lie down in the coffin, and sink himself into it.

Because his soul would be anchored to his body, once his body turned into a zombie, his soul would mutate into a fierce ghost along with it.

Once a zombie became powerful enough, it would develop a faint sense of self-awareness and even grow smarter and smarter. At that point, he would take the chance to devour the consciousness produced by his zombie body, possess himself, and perfectly merge with it.

That way, when he emerged from the corpse-raising ground, he would become the world's only perfect, conscious zombie.

The plan was beautiful.

He had even spent a year's salary to buy a genuine Soul-Sealing Talisman.

As long as he got zombie teeth containing corpse poison, he would begin preparing to carry out the plan. But as an ordinary person, he had no way to buy zombie teeth, so he was completely stuck at this step.

That day, he rode his bicycle home after work.

Recently, there had been rather a lot of corpses to handle, and he had to work overtime until seven or eight every night.

But overtime came with extra pay. He was more than happy to work more, because only with money could he continue chasing his dream.

When Zuo Zhengzong got home, he saw a basketball-sized hole in the corner by his front door.

He hurried over, took out his key, and opened the door. After turning on the light, he saw a rabbit hopping nonstop in the corner. Frowning, he gripped the ribbed steel rod he carried for self-defense and cautiously approached.

"Hey!"

The force of the rebound from that blow made his hand go slightly numb.

Realizing that it was a supernatural creature, he immediately gritted his teeth and struck out wildly. By the time he had exhausted himself and beaten the rabbit until it stopped moving, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After resting for a while, just as he was about to inspect what exactly this rabbit was, Yu Xian arrived.

"Careful, that's a zombie rabbit. Let me handle it," Yu Xian quickly stopped him.

Zuo Zhengzong was startled at first, then delighted. He turned around and angrily said, "Who are you? Why did you break into my home? Get out now, or I'll call the police."

"I am the police. I'm on night patrol right now, and all supernatural creatures are my responsibility to handle!" Yu Xian took out his ID and looked at Zuo Zhengzong.

Zuo Zhengzong stared fixedly at the ID in Yu Xian's hand. He could only suppress his unwillingness and step aside.

"Thank you for cooperating. Also... if you run into something like this again, it's best to call the police first and let the combat officers handle it. What you did was very dangerous. It would be troublesome if you got bitten," Yu Xian said before leaving, visibly relieved as he stepped forward and bound the zombie rabbit with silver thread.

Zuo Zhengzong could only smile perfunctorily and watched Yu Xian leave.

The moment he turned around, his smile vanished, and his expression darkened immensely. That had been the zombie he had dreamed of having. This had definitely been his closest brush with the supernatural.

Back inside, he looked at where the zombie rabbit had fallen. Then he suddenly spotted something, immediately crouched down, and carefully pinched up a piece of bone smaller than a grain of rice.

This had to be a bone fragment he had knocked off the zombie rabbit while beating it with his steel rod!

As he stared at the fragment, an ecstatic expression gradually appeared on his face.

According to a research report by the Supernatural Alliance, ever since corpse qi first emerged, its quantity had only increased. This was the famous "Corpse Qi Expansion Theory."

A tiny bit of corpse qi could create a zombie. As that zombie grew stronger and stronger, more corpse qi would be produced within it. When the zombie was destroyed, that corpse qi would not disappear, but would disperse into the natural world.

Therefore, corpse qi would only grow more abundant, eventually dragging all humanity into the world of the dead.

When Zuo Zhengzong first read this theory, he felt as if the entire world were about to collapse.

He had even fallen into depression for a long time because of it.

In the end, he saw wisdom left behind by ancient sages online: if you can't beat them, join them.

He instantly felt as though his Ren and Du meridians had been opened. Since the world would belong to the dead sooner or later, why not become one of the dead in advance?

Yu Xian walked down the road. The man from earlier had carried a strong stench of corpses, which made him suspicious.

He took out his phone and logged into the Public Security Bureau app. Using the house number, he quickly found the man's identity. He froze for a moment, then shook his head. Sure enough, he had been overthinking it.

A cremator having a bad smell on him was perfectly normal.

Yu Xian quickly returned to the road. Seeing that Zhang Shou was still searching for a burrow, he put away the zombie rabbit first, then stood at the edge of the grass and asked Zhang Shou, "Old Zhang, find it yet?"

"No. This is way too strange. Where the hell did they come from?" Zhang Shou stood up, his face full of question marks as he looked at Yu Xian.

Yu Xian smiled. "This is one of the world's three greatest unsolved mysteries. If I could answer that, I'd be famous."

The supernatural world was always full of unresolved mysteries, and animals appearing and disappearing without a trace was one of them.

Some believed the world had bugged out, while others believed it was the effect of some Forbidden Fruit.

In any case, everyone had their own theories, but nobody knew how these animals suddenly appeared.

The two returned to the car, and Zhang Shou continued driving.

From time to time, supernatural animals appeared on the road ahead. Yu Xian and Zhang Shou stopped and started along the way, and eventually drove to the eastern part of the city.

Compared with the other districts, the eastern district was undoubtedly much livelier. Even after eleven at night, many people were still walking the streets, and all the shops remained open.

It was a sight that could not be found in the other districts.

"Salty Fish, look. Hu Tuer," Zhang Shou said quietly.

Yu Xian had been knitting a sweater. Hearing Zhang Shou, he looked up through the car window. Sure enough, Hu Tuer was hanging around with several young men. From time to time, she smiled, leaving the young men utterly captivated.

"As expected of a fox spirit. She's really something," Zhang Shou remarked.

Yu Xian's nose twitched, but he found nothing. He said calmly, "Let's go. Continue the patrol."

In truth, the eastern district did not need them to patrol at all. The superhumans living here included people as strong as Eagle Rank. If supernatural animals truly appeared, they had the ability to deal with them themselves.

Still, duty was duty. Yu Xian and Zhang Shou continued driving around on patrol honestly.