Ruthless

After Zhang Quan left, Wen Qingkong realized that Zhang Quan definitely meant him no good. As for where this malice came from, Wen Qingkong had no idea.

He only wondered whether last night's Corpse Transformation had anything to do with Zhang Quan.

Fortunately, he possessed the system. As long as he could stitch corpses, he could obtain skills.

No matter what Zhang Quan intended to do, he had the ability to deal with it.

At worst, he could leave this place. In these troubled times, corpses were everywhere, and every one of them was an opportunity to him.

After exercising for a while, the red sun leaped into the sky.

Wen Qingkong opened his door and saw a row of nine doors. The other corpse stitchers had all come out as well.

Only Room Three remained utterly silent.

The corpse stitcher in Room Five was the oldest among them. Wen Qingkong called him Uncle Fang.

Uncle Fang sighed. "Number Three is gone. I wonder if they'll send a replacement."

The corpse stitcher in Room Six was lame in one leg and blind in one eye. His lone eye flickered with a faintly vicious gleam.

"Last night's corpses were strange."

"The Corpse Transformation happened too quickly, and they looked like cat demons. The Ministry of Justice must have carelessly let some corpses get contaminated by feral cats."

Hearing this, Wen Qingkong understood that he had not been the only one to encounter a Corpse Transformation last night.

Could it have had nothing to do with Zhang Quan?

Unfortunately, the Corpse Seamstress in Room Three had not survived.

"Watch your mouth!"

"Could you possibly go settle accounts with them?"

Uncle Fang waved his hands anxiously, signaling for the One-Eyed Corpse Seamster in Room Six not to say such things.

Though the One-Eyed Corpse Seamster looked ferocious, he was not someone who refused good advice. He snorted coldly and went straight back into his room.

Uncle Fang sighed again. His brows were tightly furrowed, layers of wrinkles creasing his forehead.

"Little Wen, you did very well. You stayed calm in danger."

"But life will only get harder from here on."

"Uncle Fang, not necessarily. Troubled times are coming. Perhaps the court will no longer make us stitch corpses."

Wen Qingkong's words stunned Uncle Fang for a moment. Then he smiled, clearly not believing him.

No matter how chaotic the world became, how could people's corpses go unstitched?

Leaving behind an intact corpse was every person's obsession.

Without an intact corpse, one's soul would be incomplete and unable to reincarnate.

Little Wen was still too young. He did not understand how important this was.

Wen Qingkong was not speaking nonsense. According to the original owner's memories, refugees filled every corner of Great Xia, and the court's treasury was strained. It might not continue supporting a Corpse Seamstress Workshop like this one.

Before long, Zhang Quan delivered the food.

His expression remained cold and grim as he handed out the food boxes.

Wen Qingkong opened his box and found a bowl of watery porridge and a plate of wild vegetables. His eyes widened. It had only been one day, yet the meals had worsened far too quickly.

Sure enough, angry curses soon rang out from Room Six.

"Your mother's a whore!"

"I'll fuck your mother!"

"Are you trying to starve me to death with this food?"

The One-Eyed Corpse Seamster cursed furiously, his words exceptionally foul.

"Shut up!"

"Are you trying to rebel?"

"You're lucky to have something to eat. If you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"

Zhang Quan's voice rang out. Wen Qingkong also heard the sound of a blade leaving its sheath, and his heart tightened. The next moment, the One-Eyed Corpse Seamster's scream echoed over.

This was followed by the One-Eyed Corpse Seamster's groans.

Zhang Quan's voice soon sounded again. "Pah! You bastards better behave yourselves! Times have changed! Don't think you're anybody important—you're worth jack shit! Fuck!"

"Worth jack shit!"

"Damn it, you're all worth jack shit!"

Zhang Quan cursed loudly, spittle flying everywhere.

The resentment in those curses was clearly not so simple as anger over a few foul words from the One-Eyed Corpse Seamster.

Wen Qingkong became increasingly convinced that his guess was right. Troubled times were approaching, and the court lacked funds. It would likely cut expenses, first shutting down dispensable departments, then reducing the pay of all staff, and finally, if that still was not enough, laying people off.

That was how Li Zicheng had lost his job.

Zhang Quan's anger did not come solely from the One-Eyed Corpse Seamster. It also came from his unease at the possibility of losing his official post.

Still, looking at the food before him, Wen Qingkong felt that the court's actions had come a little too quickly.

Wen Qingkong finished the porridge in a few gulps and ate the wild vegetables.

He set the food box outside the door, lay down, and went to sleep. There was no need to worry about digesting his food—he had not eaten nearly enough to feel full.

The day passed without incident. By dinnertime, Wen Qingkong woke up, practiced a set of punches, then trained for a while using some Shaolin martial arts methods from the monk's memories.

The true energy flowing through his body made Wen Qingkong feel incomparably comfortable.

While cultivating, he could sense a kind of energy from heaven and earth entering his body, then transforming into Golden Bell Shield true energy, leaving him less hungry.

Zhang Quan brought dinner. He was still muttering curses, and an even more vicious light showed in his eyes.

The food box still contained watery porridge and wild vegetables.

Wen Qingkong quickly finished eating, shut his door, and waited for work.

He only hoped there would be corpses tonight so he could obtain something more.

At around eight in the evening, the creaking of a handcart came from outside. The Yamen Runners transporting corpses had arrived.

Wen Qingkong's ears twitched, and he looked outside in surprise.

The cart did not stop at his door. Instead, it stopped outside Room Six.

Then a Yamen Runner's indifferent voice sounded.

"Cai, you've got some nerve."

"All this work is yours."

The sound of a door closing followed immediately after.

Wen Qingkong frowned. He clearly had not expected that merely because of a few curses from the corpse stitcher in Room Six, Zhang Quan would retaliate against him that very night.

Thinking of the ten corpses he had received last night, he became even more certain that Zhang Quan had been behind it.

Wen Qingkong felt that perhaps he should be more proactive. He needed to stitch more corpses and acquire more skills. Only then could he respond to every change by remaining unchanged.

Wen Qingkong had inherited all of the monk's cultivation in the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield and entered the Innate Realm of martial arts. His senses were exceptionally sharp. He was in Room Nine, and though three walls separated him from Room Six, he could still hear everything inside the Room Six Corpse Seamstress Workshop clearly.

Judging from the sounds of the corpse stitcher in Room Six moving bodies, Zhang Quan had sent him three corpses.

Three corpses were not many, but the corpse stitcher in Room Six had been wounded by Zhang Quan that morning. He might not be able to finish the task.

Moreover, from the sounds Wen Qingkong heard, the corpse stitcher in Room Six was clearly moving sluggishly. His injuries seemed serious.

Wen Qingkong silently thought that Zhang Quan was truly ruthless. He decided to lend the corpse stitcher in Room Six a hand.

After all, three corpses meant three rewards.

Based on what he had heard, there were only three corpses tonight. No one else had any work.

If this continued, he feared he would not gain anything at all.

With that thought, Wen Qingkong slipped out the door, used the lightness skill movement technique the monk had learned at Shaolin, and leaped over walls and rooftops, quickly arriving at Room Six.

The moment he sneaked into Room Six, his pupils contracted.

The corpse stitcher in Room Six had had his right arm cut off.

He was laboriously using his left hand to arrange the corpses bit by bit.

Wen Qingkong also discovered that all three corpses were incomplete. Their arms and legs had been severed and mixed together, and they had to be sorted one by one before they could be stitched.