Rebirth Record

Everyone rose to their feet, their gazes converging on the newcomer. He was a burly, square-faced middle-aged man with thick brows and large eyes. Dressed in a Night Patrol Office uniform with a curved saber at his waist, he strode across the courtyard with the wind at his heels, heading straight for Shen Lian's room.

"Greetings, Chief Constable Yang!" everyone shouted in unison.

Chief Constable Yang nodded slightly. Hearing the commotion, Shen Lian came out of her room with a beaming smile.

"Well, Chief Constable Yang is here. Come in and have a seat."

Once Shen Lian had ushered him inside, the youths began whispering among themselves, envy written across their faces.

"He's so imposing. If only I could become a constable chief one day."

"Keep dreaming. Becoming a constable at the yamen would already mean our ancestors were burning the finest incense for us."

"I hear Chief Constable Yang oversees the Night Patrol Office's Corpse Collection Team. Tsk, if I could become a Corpse Collector, I'd even call him Dad."

"Get out of here. You might want to be his son, but Chief Constable Yang wouldn't want you."

Listening to them, Lin Qing felt a stir of interest.

Chief Constable Yang's real name was Yang Feng. He was an important figure at the yamen, known for his iron-faced impartiality.

If Lin Qing wanted to become a Corpse Collector, he had to win Yang Feng's approval.

Meanwhile.

Inside the room.

Shen Lian poured Yang Feng a cup of hot tea and teased him with a smile. "Chief Constable Yang, what wind blew you here? Don't tell me you missed me?"

Yang Feng's face remained expressionless. He had known Shen Lian for years and knew she was uninhibited, caring nothing for what others thought.

"I'm here on official business. The Night Patrol Office is short-handed. I need to take a few people to move corpses for me. They must be brave, careful, and reliable."

"I understand, I understand." Shen Lian took a thin cloth booklet from a cabinet and set it on the table before Yang Feng. "This is the roster of helpers in the compound. Take your pick."

Yang Feng picked up the booklet and flipped through it. "Only three have completed five years? That's not enough. Anyone who's been here three years or more is coming with me."

"What happened? Why are you so short-handed?" Shen Lian asked.

"A bitter white-furred wind blew yesterday. A great many refugees outside the city froze to death, and their bodies must be dealt with at once. To make matters worse, a Yinyuan Sect Fiend has been causing trouble in the city. The Night Patrol Office sent people to capture her, but after a fierce battle, she escaped, and more than a dozen constables were killed or wounded. We're badly short of people now." Yang Feng closed the booklet, his voice grave.

Shen Lian drew a sharp breath. "More than a dozen killed or wounded? That fiend is vicious!" She was shaken. In all her years at the yamen, she had never seen anything like it.

Yang Feng stood, stepped outside, and roared, "Assemble!"

His voice boomed like thunder. The youths in the courtyard flinched, dropped what they were doing, and quickly assembled.

"Lin Qing, Wang Xing, Chen Erniu, Shen Song, Liu Tiezhu... Step forward!"

Yang Feng called out thirteen names in one breath.

Lin Qing and the others felt their hearts jolt. They knew their chance had come and immediately stepped forward.

Countless gazes fell on the thirteen of them.

Shen Lian followed Yang Feng into the courtyard and stood beside him. Sweeping her gaze over them, she said loudly, "You've all worked hard here for at least three years, day after day, and done well. Now your chance has come. The Night Patrol Office is short-handed, so you'll go with Chief Constable Yang to move corpses. Make sure you do your best. If you perform well, you'll make me look good too. Understood?"

"Understood!" the five shouted in unison.

"Those who excel can become constables of the Night Patrol Office within six months!" Yang Feng's words set Lin Qing and the other four ablaze with eagerness, while the other youths looked on with boundless envy.

If they missed this chance, who knew how long they would have to wait for another?

"One more thing. Remember this face. This woman is Yin Muhua, a fiend of the Rebirth Cult. She is venomous and savage in the extreme, and the entire city is hunting her. Provide a lead, and the reward is ten taels of silver. Capture her alive, and it's a thousand!" Yang Feng suddenly raised a portrait in one hand.

Everyone was astonished. In the twenty years since the Soul-Calming Office had been established in Shanyin County, it had never offered such a large reward. That alone showed how vicious this woman was.

Lin Qing committed her appearance to memory. She looked to be in her sixties, with graying hair, a dark patch on her left cheek, and a sinister face. One glance told him she was ruthless.

He had no intention of chasing the reward. He simply wanted to stay out of the conflict. If he happened to run into her, he wanted to recognize the danger at once and get away before it cost him his life.

"Follow me!" Yang Feng put away the portrait and headed out, with Lin Qing and the others close behind.

Before long, they had wound through turn after turn and arrived at another spacious courtyard. Even slabs of bluestone paved the ground, and corpses wrapped in straw mats lay across it.

Yang Feng pointed. "There are cremation furnaces in those rooms. Your job is to carry the corpses into the furnaces and burn them to ash. Get started!"

Lin Qing looked where Yang Feng was pointing. Black smoke billowed above every room, filling the courtyard with a nauseating stench.

The working conditions were hardly pleasant, but Lin Qing's eyes lit up at the sight of the corpses.

He hurried to the nearest wooden coffin. Inside lay a middle-aged man, his body frozen stiff and his eyes wide open. At first glance, the dead man seemed to be staring straight at him. Someone timid might have been left trembling, the blood drained from their face.

But Lin Qing felt no fear. If anything, he was faintly excited. After more than three months, he could finally touch a corpse.

He hoisted the man's body onto his back and hurried into a nearby building. Inside stood a huge red-copper furnace with an opening at its base where corpses could be fed in.

Pale blue flames raged inside the furnace, fierce and turbulent, sending out waves of heat. The moment Lin Qing entered the room, the chill in his body vanished.

An old man sat nearby in a thin, short-sleeved shirt, a white towel draped around his neck. Sweat streamed down his forehead.

When he saw Lin Qing enter, he pointed. "Throw the body in."

"Yes."

Lin Qing glanced over and saw a flat red-copper platform before the furnace opening. A sloped chute, also made of red copper, connected the two.

All he had to do was lay the corpse on the platform and give it a hard push. It would roll into the furnace, making the whole process quite safe.

The instant the flames swallowed the corpse, several lines of information appeared before Lin Qing's eyes.

[Deceased: Stonemason? Deng Zhong]

[Realm: Mortal]

[Last Rites Progress: 0%]

[Reward: A Talent, martial art, or skill]

With a burst of crackling, Deng Zhong's body swiftly burned to ash in the flames.

The progress on the panel kept climbing, from 0% to 20%, then 30%, until it reached 100% the instant the body turned entirely to ash.

In a flash, countless fragmented images surfaced in Lin Qing's mind. They were remnants of the man's memories from when he was alive, racing before his eyes like scenes in a revolving lantern.