Who are you?

"": 200,

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"": ""Lamp oil poured into his mouth, incense ash packed into his nostrils, and Xiao Shan still hasn't woken up. We'll have to cremate him." The man's voice was heavy.

"No, don't! Our son's still breathing! Save him-please, find a way to save him!" the woman sobbed.

"Those are the village rules. Xiao Shan was killed by an evil spirit, and it took the nail from his left little finger. It'll be dark soon. If we don't burn him, he'll turn into an evil spirit too!" The man's tone was utterly resolute.

Luo Bin slowly opened his eyes.

His mouth was sticky, bitter, and foul. His nose felt as though it had been sealed with cement, making it difficult to breathe.

An orange flame came into focus atop an oil lamp covered in green copper patina, suspended beneath a roof beam by a thin iron wire.

Where am I? Isn't this the hospital?

A piercing pain shot through his little finger, making Luo Bin instinctively raise his hand.

It actually moved!

I was paralyzed from the neck down. How could I have regained feeling? A medical miracle?

A wave of heat rushed at him from the right, buffeting his face. Luo Bin instinctively turned his head. Neatly stacked firewood rose more than a meter above him, every piece wrapped in yellow talisman paper.

A crematorium? Am I lying on a cremation platform?

Right, someone nearby mentioned cremation!

His mouth was too slippery for his tongue to work properly, and his nose was too clogged. Luo Bin's cry came out weak and faint.

"Wait... I think there's still a chance to save me..."

"Heavens, that's Xiao Shan talking! Xiao Shan's awake! Put out the fire! Hurry, put it out!" the woman cried with joy.

Hiss!

Water splashed, instantly extinguishing the flames.

Luo Bin pushed himself upright at the same time. His head hurt as though needles were stabbing into it, and all he could do was clutch it tightly.

Fragmented, jumbled images flashed before his eyes.

A nurse in white injected him with adrenaline.

A doctor struck his chest with a defibrillator.

The dazzling surgical light suddenly became a huge, round moon!

The frowning doctor turned into an unfamiliar man with smiling eyes.

The defibrillator was actually the man's hands, pressing down on his heart with all their strength!

Once!

Twice!

Three times!

His ribs seemed to break, puncturing his heart...

The nurse became a child making a grotesque face, giggling as he pulled off Luo Bin's fingernail and waved it proudly in his hand, showing off a trophy!

Agonizing pain, terror...

Luo Bin screamed and lunged forward.

There was no pile of firewood at the foot of the cremation platform, and Luo Bin crashed into a woman's arms.

"Thank heavens! Xiao Shan, you're awake! This is wonderful, truly wonderful! You scared your mother half to death!" The woman gently patted Luo Bin's back, her voice choked with tears.

His muddled consciousness gradually cleared.

Luo Bin realized the woman holding him was middle-aged, with an oval face and reddened, almond-shaped eyes. She still retained her charm.

Beside her stood a stubbly man, his bloodshot eyes staring at Luo Bin in disbelief.

"Who are you?!" the man demanded harshly.

I'd like to ask who you people are!

The thought had only just surfaced; Luo Bin had no time to say it aloud.

The man yanked the woman aside and held a rust-covered axe with a keen edge above Luo Bin's head!

"Luo Feng, have you gone mad? Why are you trying to chop Xiao Shan?!" the woman shrieked.

Luo Feng remained unmoved. His piercing gaze fixed on Luo Bin as he said coldly, "The time for summoning his soul passed long ago. You're not my son. Who exactly are you?"

In that instant, it became quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Even the air seemed to freeze!

Summoning his soul?

His son?

What on earth is going on?

Luo Bin was dumbfounded.

More of his surroundings came into view.

The room was exceptionally spacious, its ceiling seven or eight meters high. Above the roof beams was a ventilation skylight covered with tightly woven wire mesh. To the right, four cremation platforms were surrounded by talisman-wrapped firewood. The bodies lying on them had died gruesome deaths.

Some were missing arms or legs; others had only half a head left.

The most horrifying corpse had its chest torn open and its organs missing. Its ribs looked as though something terrifying had gnawed on them!

Information flooded in.

Everything he had witnessed upon waking flashed through his mind.

The conversation between the man and woman, in particular, echoed in his ears.

The original owner of this body was called Luo Shan?

This village isn't normal. There are evil spirits that terrify everyone.

Luo Shan was killed by an evil spirit last night. This couple tried to summon his soul to save him, but instead of waking their son, they summoned me by mistake. And the body's father has already realized something is wrong!

Luo Bin knew that if the axe fell, it would split his skull open and kill him on the spot.

Luo Bin shakily raised his hands, curling his fingers to claw desperately at his scalp, and moaned weakly, "My head hurts... it hurts..."

At a time like this, the more he said, the more mistakes he would make. Luo Bin could only put on an act and try to bluff his way through!

"Luo Feng! Move that axe away! He's Shan! Have you been possessed?" The woman's face went pale with panic as she tried to snatch the axe.

"No, he's not Shan. He's deceiving us!" Luo Feng's gaze grew colder, his voice certain.

Bang, bang, bang! Urgent pounding sounded at the door, accompanied by a rough voice. "Who's in the Morgue? Open up! Hurry!"

"The village chief's here. Whatever you do, don't let him find out..." The woman's expression shifted slightly as she spoke in alarm.

Luo Feng's expression flickered uncertainly, and he pulled his hand back.

When the axe moved away from above his head, Luo Bin felt as though his heart had nearly stopped. That knock had come just in time!

But before he could enjoy even two seconds of relief, the axe came whistling straight at him!

In the instant Luo Bin was scared out of his wits, the axe abruptly changed direction in front of him. Its blunt back struck his left little finger, smashing it against the edge of the cremation platform and crushing it to a bloody pulp.

Once the pain reached a certain threshold, it became nothing but numbness. He lost all feeling in it.

Luo Bin stared blankly at Luo Feng, genuinely frightened senseless.

Then Luo Feng put the axe in a corner and strode over to another cremation platform. He plucked something from the corpse, returned, flicked it onto the floor, and hurried toward the door.

"Don't say anything you shouldn't." The woman cautiously gestured for silence, took Luo Bin's right hand, and led him toward the door.

Luo Feng had barely opened the door.

A man in his fifties squeezed inside. He had a full beard, a square face, thick arched brows, and an imposing countenance.

Was he the village chief the woman had mentioned?

"Luo Feng, Gu Ya, what are you and your family doing in the Morgue? Why did you even bolt the door?" The village chief's eyes were full of suspicion.

"So many people died last night. Gapped Zhang's gone too. I couldn't rest easy, so I came to see him one last time." Grief showed in Luo Feng's eyes.

The corpse on the cremation platform with half its head missing flashed through Luo Bin's mind. It had a protruding jaw and buckteeth jutting from its mouth. The name certainly fit.

The village chief remained silent for a moment before saying, "A lot of people did die last night. I heard an evil spirit entered your home too. I just went over and found none of you there. I thought your whole family had been killed."

"An evil spirit never leaves anyone alive once it enters a home. Our family's perfectly fine. Who knows who's been spreading those rumors?" Gu Ya forced a smile as she spoke.

More information!

Luo Bin's heartbeat quickened.

These two really could lie without batting an eye.

An evil spirit must have entered this body's home. How else would its original owner have died?

Luo Feng and Gu Ya failed to save their son, so they brought him here to burn his body before he could become an evil spirit!

"That's right. We're all perfectly fine. We haven't encountered any evil spirits. Village chief, if there's nothing else, we'll be going. We won't keep you from cremating the bodies."

As Luo Feng spoke, he gave a look to signal

Gu Ya.

Gu Ya immediately took Luo Bin's hand and started to lead him outside.

The village chief raised his hand, blocking the Morgue's doorway.

His gaze settled on Luo Bin's left hand, and his tone was calm. "Luo Shan, what happened to your hand? Was it injured last night?"

That single question nearly stopped Luo Bin's heart!