The walking dead, part two

Meng Huai watched Shan Meirong descend into hysteria and knew she had already succumbed to madness. Nothing he said would help; she could no longer listen to reason.

Yun Zimo clearly refused to give up. She kept trying to persuade her. "Xiang Yu is dead now. Doing this won't help either of you. Please listen to us and let go!"

Shan Meirong grew calm again and stroked her son's face. She used just a little too much force, and a large chunk of skin and flesh fell away.

She seemed not to notice. Her expression remained tender as she said, "My son was such a good boy from the time he was little. He was always an obedient little darling. How could he have done anything wrong?

"I thought long and hard about it. It was all my fault as his mother. Since he liked you, I should have found a way to help him have you. Then none of this would have happened.

"When you make a mistake, you ought to make amends. And here you are today, just in time. Stay here with my son. You two can care for each other and give me a big, chubby grandson."

Yun Zimo snapped, "We've tried every kind word we could, and you still insist on this. How dare you say that right in front of my husband? I won't stand for it.

"Darling, you don't have to show her any more consideration. Release all your bugs right now and have them devour these two completely. Don't leave a single scrap! You want to be walking corpses? Pah!"

Meng Huai looked helplessly at Yun Zimo. Sure enough, of all the people you could offend, never offend a woman. Once a woman lost her temper, she could get frighteningly violent.

Shan Meirong's face twisted with malice. A small drum appeared in her hand—the very Luo Fu Drum they had seen last time.

Meng Huai jumped and blurted out, "Does this really have to be so ridiculous? Is the Night God Church selling these things wholesale? Everyone gets one? You're scaring the life out of me!"

Shan Meirong sneered. "When you killed my son, I wanted to die myself. I wept every day. Then I met an envoy of the Night God Church.

"The envoy gave me a way to resurrect my son so I could enjoy being with my family again. From then on, I became the god's most devoted follower. I won't allow anyone to slander my god."

Meng Huai pulled a miserable face. "Are you an idiot? We didn't kill your son. The Night God Church did. Now you're working with your enemy. You're only hurting those who care about you and making your enemies happy."

Behind Shan Meirong, Xiang Yu let out hoarse sounds from his throat. After becoming a walking corpse, he had lost the basic traits of a human being. Naturally, he could no longer speak.

Shan Meirong hurriedly turned around, removed Xiang Yu's head from his neck, and cradled it in her arms, stroking it over and over. Then she actually began breastfeeding him. It was utterly perverse.

As she fed him, she said, "You dared to upset my darling. I won't forgive you. Go to hell right now!"

As Shan Meirong spoke, she beat the little drum. Xiang Yu's headless corpse began to move, walking forward mechanically. Every step was stiff and precise, and black liquid stained the ground beneath him.

Meng Huai's expression shifted slightly. His hands rapidly formed a seal, then he pointed forward. A White Flower Snake appeared before him, flicking its tongue.

Xiang Yu's body paid no attention to the White Flower Snake. On second thought, that made sense. His head was over there nursing. He had plenty of pale flesh in front of his eyes, but he certainly couldn't see the snake.

Feeling challenged, the White Flower Snake immediately lunged forward and coiled around Xiang Yu's corpse, crushing it into a mass of pulp in an instant.

Seeing the White Flower Snake succeed, Meng Huai felt no joy. Instead, his expression grew grave. A walking corpse couldn't be that easy to deal with. There had to be a catch.

Just as he had suspected, wet squelching sounds came from the nearby dormitory. Then clumps of flesh and blood flew out and mixed with the mangled flesh on the ground, as though someone were kneading dough.

Blood-red worms appeared amid the flesh, wriggling back and forth like needles and thread stitching it together. Moments later, it had formed a body again, far more muscular than before.

Shan Meirong tenderly held her son's head, then tossed it forward. The head joined the body, making him look like a proper hulking man.

Yun Zimo's face turned pale. Trembling, she said, "What's going on? Now he can transform, too?"

Meng Huai looked at Shan Meirong. "I really underestimated you. I never imagined you were so talented that you could develop such powerful gu arts in so little time.

"But you're far too vicious. These workers have served you all along. Your factory only made it this far because of their hard work.

"Now, for your own selfish ends, you've turned them all into vessels to cultivate this blood corpse gu. What you've done is an affront to heaven itself."

Shan Meirong said crazily, "Don't tell me any of that. Becoming my vessels is a blessing they earned. If they hadn't worked in my factory, how would they have supported their families?

"I've been good to them all these years. I've never mistreated them. Now it's time for them to repay me. What's wrong with that? Who can say I'm wrong?"

Meng Huai shook his head helplessly. There was nothing more to say to this woman. He could only wave his hand again and command the White Flower Snake to keep attacking.

The White Flower Snake tried the same trick again, but this time it did no good. Xiang Yu grabbed it and tore it in two, then threw it onto the ground, where it dissolved into bloody water and vanished.

Meng Huai hesitated, then formed another hand seal. He opened his mouth and spat out a black worm. It twisted through the air, landed swiftly on Xiang Yu, and burrowed into him.

Xiang Yu stood motionless as bubbles kept rising over his body. As they burst, blood-red worms fell to the ground, struggled briefly, then went still.

Seeing this, Shan Meirong immediately began beating the little drum. Streaks of red light shot out of the dormitory.

Meng Huai swiftly waved both hands. A spiderweb appeared out of thin air and intercepted the red streaks. These, too, were red worms, writhing on the web.

Several large black spiders scurried across the web, devouring the worms one after another. As they did, the hairs on their bodies slowly turned red.

Meng Huai watched Shan Meirong beat the drum relentlessly and said, "The Luo Fu Drum may be powerful, but you've only just begun cultivating. No matter how talented you are, your abilities still fall short of mine.

"I advise you to stop now. Hand the Luo Fu Drum over to me, confess your crimes, and submit to justice."

Shan Meirong roared furiously, "I only want my son to live! What have I done wrong? Every last one of you deserves to die! I'll fight you to the death today!"

As she spoke, she bit off her tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the drum. The little drum rose into the air and spun rapidly, beating on its own in an ever more frantic rhythm.

Shan Meirong and Xiang Yu simultaneously dissolved into two masses of flesh and blood. They merged with each other, then finally regained human form—but with two heads.

Meng Huai stared at the two-headed monster before him, cold sweat covering his forehead. I've really screwed up this time. I never thought she had a trick like this.