Do not take the bait

"Elder Uncle, what if..."

Ye Qianfan ignored the strange voice and asked Elder Uncle, "I mean, what if the corpse on your back came back to life? What should you do?"

"What should you do?" Elder Uncle laughed at the question. "Wait to die, of course! What else could you do?"

"Wait..."

As Elder Uncle said that, realization suddenly struck him. "You don't mean...?"

"It's not mine. This child's mother came back to life."

Ye Qianfan strained to rein in his emotions and the heart that threatened to leap out of his throat before he managed to say those words calmly.

Hearing that, Elder Uncle froze on the spot for a moment...

"Give me the baby on your back!"

Elder Uncle did not even bother waiting for Ye Qianfan to slowly untie it. He snatched the infant's corpse off his back, then, as he ran past a corpse bearer who had fallen to the ground, shoved the baby into the man's arms. "This little treasure is yours!"

"What?"

The corpse bearer had thought Elder Uncle was coming to help him up and had even raised his hand high.

But Elder Uncle not only failed to pull him up, he even shoved something into his hands. A moment later, the corpse bearer realized what was wrapped in that white cloth!

"Mother!!!"

The corpse bearer hurriedly flung the dead infant aside!

But the instant he threw the baby away, the female corpse floated over and picked up the infant that had tumbled to the ground. Then she rushed up to the corpse bearer and plunged her long nails viciously into his neck.

"You dared hurt my son! Die!"

"Run! Stop looking!"

Seeing Ye Qianfan still glancing back from time to time, Elder Uncle hurriedly dragged him forward.

Without the corpse on his back, Ye Qianfan certainly felt lighter, but the one Elder Uncle carried was an adult corpse, and it was terribly heavy!

As the two of them ran, the corpse's feet slipped lower until they were dragging along the ground.

It was clearly slowing their escape!

"Huff... Elder Uncle, hurry and throw away your corpse too! Huff... Otherwise, we won't be able to run fast enough. If it catches us, we're finished!"

"How can I do that? If those Patrol Soldiers hold us responsible afterward, we won't have the money to pay for it!"

Elder Uncle was rather timid.

But Ye Qianfan untied the rope binding the corpse in one swift motion. "Just say it came back to life! We can't worry about all that now!"

"Right! You're right!"

Elder Uncle had wanted to say more, but when he looked back and saw the female corpse drinking blood, he promptly dumped his corpse and began running like mad!

Ye Qianfan was astonished that Elder Uncle could still run so fast at his age!

Without their burdens, they naturally moved much faster!

Soon...

They caught up with the main group again.

They even left behind some people who did not dare discard their corpses.

When the slower runners realized the pair were moving so quickly because they were no longer carrying anything, they followed suit!

As a result...

By the time the corpse bearers fled into the cave where the Patrol Soldiers had taken shelter, more than half had discarded their corpses and escaped unburdened!

"Who told you to throw away the corpses!"

A Patrol Soldier flew into a rage and lashed the two people nearest him with his whip.

Yet the moment Ye Qianfan entered the cave and saw so many people with no corpses on their backs, he became certain the Patrol Soldiers would not do anything to them!

After all, the law could not punish the masses!

Besides...

Those evil creatures presumably had little interest in corpses.

If the corpses truly mattered, they could simply go back and retrieve them later.

Still, he guessed the Patrol Soldiers would make a show of it and punish one or two people as an example.

That was why he had pulled Elder Uncle into a corner of the cave early on, keeping as far from the Patrol Soldiers as possible lest they lash out blindly in their anger and hit them by mistake!

Crack! Crack!

"Throwing away your corpses, were you? I'll teach you to throw away your corpses!"

"A pack of lowborn scum, worthless trash! No wonder you're only fit to be Bait Soldiers!"

The mounted Patrol Soldier seemed to have become addicted to beating them, cursing furiously as he whipped them.

Just then...

Beside him was another Patrol Soldier riding a white horse, though he might have been a general.

His armor was far finer than that of the ordinary Patrol Soldiers, and even the red plume on his helmet stood taller than those of the other soldiers!

"Black Panther!"

"Sorry, General Bai!"

The Patrol Soldier delivering the beating immediately stopped. His expression turned awkward, as though he had said something he should not have.

But Ye Qianfan had heard something amiss in his words!

Especially that last sentence...

"A pack of lowborn scum, worthless trash! No wonder you're only fit to be Bait Soldiers!"

What did he mean by "ear soldiers"?

No!

Not "ear," but "bait."

The Art of War said: "Thus, in the art of employing troops... do not swallow bait troops... do not press a desperate foe. Such is the art of employing troops."

Could it be...

Those Patrol Soldiers had brought them here for another purpose?

"Everyone, don't worry!" General Bai seemed to have noticed their doubts and explained, "Once we pass through this cave, we'll reach the mass graveyard! This route is a shortcut!"

"Oh, so that's it!"

Only then did everyone nod in understanding.

After all, there was a Corpse Demon outside. At least the cave offered shelter overhead and protection behind them, so the Corpse Demon could not suddenly attack and snatch them away.

"Seal the cave!"

General Bai suddenly shouted, "Two of you, seal the cave with inked line. Hurry! We don't want to be attacked from both front and rear!"

"Yes, General!"

Two Patrol Soldiers immediately stepped forward and took an Ink Line Reel and a porcelain bottle from their shoulder bags. Working together, one pulled out the line while the other poured a golden liquid from the porcelain bottle into the Ink Line Reel.

Though the liquid was brightly colored, it carried a putrid, fishy odor.

Even from far away, they could smell that stench of rotten fish and shrimp, like spoiled seafood. It stank to high heaven!

Then...

The Patrol Soldier began drawing line from the Ink Line Reel and winding it around large iron nails already driven into the edges of the cave entrance. The line, coated in golden slime, was soon wound into a web resembling the wild scrawl of a ghostly talisman!

But the more prepared they proved to be, the further Ye Qianfan's heart sank!

Because...

Too much evidence suggested this was not the way to the mass graveyard!

The cave grew darker the deeper it went, and there was no breeze, making it unlike a tunnel. Then there were the snippets that the Patrol Soldiers and their general had let slip!

"Elder Uncle."

Suppressing his fear, Ye Qianfan leaned toward Elder Uncle's ear and whispered, "Something is very wrong here! I'm afraid these Patrol Soldiers paid us so much to carry corpses not because they actually wanted to deal with corpses coming back to life, but because they wanted our lives!"

"Wanted our lives?" Elder Uncle knitted his brows. "What do you mean?"

"And that general just said to seal the cave properly so we wouldn't be attacked from both front and rear!"

Ye Qianfan whispered, "But if the entrance and exit have already been sealed, why would we still be attacked from front and rear? Could there be enemies inside this cave too?"

"Well..."

Elder Uncle opened his mouth, looking at Ye Qianfan in surprise.

He seemed unable to refute Ye Qianfan's meticulous observations, yet he could hardly believe those Patrol Soldiers had bought their lives for a mere hundred copper coins each.