Heavy snow

"Why did it feel like I'd grown taller again... even my shoes felt too small."

After enjoying the joy of his breakthrough, Lu Mian found himself with a new worry.

Over the past few days, he had done his best to hide the changes in his body, wearing loose clothes, hunching as he walked, speaking as little as possible, and quietly getting on with his work.

But if this continued, Lu Mian felt he would not be able to hide it much longer.

He summoned the system.

Name: Lu Mian

Remaining lifespan: 40

Talent: Ten Thousand Ghost Furnace

Supernatural abilities: Starvation Ghost Stomach, Scholar

I haven't run into any supernatural incidents lately...

What a shame.

Lu Mian sighed.

Every other corpse collector feared trouble. He alone wanted to encounter a corpse transformation.

After checking the sky, Lu Mian was just about to head to the Dust-Returning Courtyard for work.

Thump~

A soft knock sounded at the door.

Who's looking for me?

Lu Mian looked surprised.

He had lived here for over half a month, and aside from Luo Shi, no one had ever come to visit.

Lu Mian cautiously opened the door and found a middle-aged woman with sallow skin, wearing heavily patched clothes.

"Hello, young man."

"My name is Wang Fang. I only recently moved here."

The middle-aged woman greeted him.

"Hello."

Lu Mian answered coldly.

The woman's smile did not fade at his coldness. "I live in the room at the very end of the alley. If you need clothes mended or any other odd jobs done, you can come to me."

"All right."

"I need to go out."

Lu Mian did not want to talk to Wang Fang any longer.

"Then don't let me keep you."

Rather than taking offense at Lu Mian's cold, wooden manner, Wang Fang stepped aside.

Lu Mian left his stone house, locked the door, and headed toward the Dust-Returning Courtyard.

Halfway down the alley, he suddenly glanced back.

The woman named Wang Fang was already knocking on the door of another stone house.

This woman...

She's a little like Gu Chuan from the Three Wolves Gang, whom I met before.

Lu Mian looked away.

Both of them were inexplicably warmhearted, acting as though they would bare their hearts even to strangers.

But could people like that really exist in such a dark, terrifying world?

Lu Mian did not think so.

He therefore decided to keep his distance from Wang Fang from now on.

When he arrived at the Dust-Returning Courtyard, they followed the usual routine and ate first.

Lu Mian was wolfing down his meal when someone came over and sat beside him.

"Lu Mian, you've been at the Dust-Returning Courtyard for almost a month now, haven't you?"

Holding a bowl of rice, Chen Xiuzhu asked in a seemingly casual tone.

Lu Mian was inwardly surprised.

In fact, apart from his first day, he and Chen Xiuzhu had barely interacted outside their corpse-collecting work.

Why was he suddenly chatting with me? What did he want?

He nodded without revealing his thoughts. "Almost a month."

"After the Heavenly Calamity, I felt that time passed so quickly," Chen Xiuzhu said with a sigh.

"But sometimes, I feel it passes far too slowly."

Lu Mian did not answer.

He had no idea why Chen Xiuzhu had suddenly come over to say all this.

Staying silent was the best approach.

After saying that, Chen Xiuzhu suddenly began shoveling food into his mouth, eating even more ravenously than Lu Mian.

He's hiding his emotions...

Lu Mian did not understand why Chen Xiuzhu had changed so abruptly, but he remained silent.

A short while later, Chen Xiuzhu finished his meal and quietly left.

Lu Mian did not see Chen Xiuzhu again until it was time to assemble.

He had already returned to his usual listless self.

"We're still working in the Shed Quarantine Zone tonight."

"Everyone, be careful."

Chen Xiuzhu spoke flatly.

As always, none of the corpse collectors responded. They silently left the Dust-Returning Courtyard, pushing their carts toward the Shed Quarantine Zone.

On the way, Lu Mian suddenly felt something cold touch his face.

He looked up and saw snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

It's snowing...

The first snowfall since the Heavenly Calamity...

Lu Mian murmured inwardly.

Chen Xiuzhu gazed at the falling snow and shook his head slightly.

With the snow, the temperature would drop even further.

When that happened, even more people would die in the Shed Quarantine Zone.

The group did not stop because of the snow and soon arrived at the Shed Quarantine Zone.

It was destined to be a busy night.

Lu Mian kept going back and forth between the Shed Quarantine Zone and the Cremation Pit, transporting more than a dozen corpses.

In the latter half of the night, the wind and snow grew increasingly fierce.

Boom~

Lu Mian had just returned to the Shed Quarantine Zone when he heard a tremendous crash.

"A shed collapsed!"

"There'll be a lot more dead now."

Back when he had lived there, a single shed had housed more than a dozen people.

Now, as more and more refugees came to Thousand Chimes Commandery City, that number had risen to over twenty.

That crash was only the beginning.

Two or three more sheds buckled under the relentless snow in succession and collapsed heavily.

The repeated crashes threatened to throw the entire Shed Quarantine Zone into turmoil.

More and more refugees came outside to see what was happening.

"Anyone who's come outside, get back in immediately!"

"Everyone, stay inside your sheds!"

"Anyone who disobeys will be killed on sight!"

Members of the patrol shouted at the top of their lungs all around the area.

There were at least several hundred thousand people in the Shed Quarantine Zone now. The consequences of a riot were unimaginable.

Under the patrol's threats, the refugees who had come out to investigate soon returned to their sheds.

"Lu Mian, come here!"

Chen Xiuzhu called from a distance.

Lu Mian raised a hand in acknowledgment and pushed his cart over.

Chen Xiuzhu led him to the ruins of a collapsed shed.

Besides the two of them, the rest of their corpse-collecting team had also arrived.

"We'll have to work a little harder tonight. Dig out the bodies buried here."

Chen Xiuzhu spoke gravely.

Still, no one answered him. Each corpse collector simply began clearing the debris in silence.

The shed had been made of wood and mud, with no bricks or stone, so clearing it went fairly quickly.

Half an hour later.

Lu Mian and the others had dug twenty-three bodies out from beneath the ruins.

"So many dead..."

"Not a single survivor...?"

Even Chen Xiuzhu, who was accustomed to seeing corpses, could not help shaking his head.

Lu Mian and the others ignored his lament and had already begun moving the bodies.

Seeing this, Chen Xiuzhu stepped forward to help.

Working together, they soon loaded all the bodies onto a large cart.

"Let's go."

This time, Chen Xiuzhu wasted no words.

The five of them pushed the large cart out of the Shed Quarantine Zone together.

But the wind and snow were too fierce, and the road was wet, slippery, and difficult to traverse, slowing them considerably.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

One of the corpse collectors suddenly began coughing.

"Are you all right, youngest?"

Chen Xiuzhu asked.

"I'm fine... probably caught a chill."

The youngest answered weakly.

"Hold on a little longer... it'll be warm once we reach Corpse-Burning Valley."

Chen Xiuzhu spoke gravely.

Seeing this, Lu Mian quietly put a little more strength into pushing.

Thud~~

Just then, another corpse collector collapsed without warning.

"Stop!"

Chen Xiuzhu hurriedly shouted, then went to check on the fallen corpse collector.

He held a finger beneath the man's nose to check his breathing.

"He's still breathing... looks like he fainted from exhaustion."

Chen Xiuzhu sighed.