Behind the Tombstone

The wail of police sirens instantly doused Runsheng's hot-blooded heroics. He pulled out an incense stick, struck a match to light it, pressed the other end between his lips, puffed out his cheeks, and took a deep drag—smoking it with an air of utter desolation. Li Zhuiyuan watched with curiosity, wondering whether he might actually blow a smoke ring. A moment later, curling wisps of smoke puffed from Runsheng's nostrils. He was actually smoking it. For a moment, Li Zhuiyuan could not help wondering whether this was the proper way to use incense all along. He understood well enough why Runsheng felt down. Runsheng basically monopolized the television at home, and the local county station loved running marathons of gangster movies. Whenever Li Zhuiyuan went outside at night to relieve himself, he could always hear the sounds of hacking, slashing, and gunshots drifting up from the ground floor. Runsheng had simply taken in too much at once and gotten influenced by it. In truth, most boys at this age had such fantasies and impulses; the difference was that Runsheng's build and strength gave him an alarming capacity to act on them. Aside from when he had first begun learning physiognomy and fortune-telling, calculating his great-grandpa's fate structure and his own, Li Zhuiyuan had intentionally avoided calculating such things for those close to him. A person's fate structure was the innermost sanctum of their privacy; prying into it casually felt unethical, and it would also affect everyday interactions. Still, even without sitting down to calculate it, a mere glance at Runsheng's face revealed plenty, because his facial features were classic—the kind that could serve as a textbook example. Runsheng possessed a standard Seven Killings fate structure, also known as the Indirect Officer structure. Driven, resilient, ambitious, and brave, he was like a caged tiger—an omen of extreme ferocity. Yet the Seven Killings structure could also transform, turning from ominous to auspicious; it depended mainly on whom he followed and who influenced him. "Brother Runsheng, the movies on TV are just for fun. Don't take them entirely to heart, and definitely don't try to copy them." "Huh?" Still wallowing in his gloom, Runsheng was startled so badly he nearly dropped the incense stick. "I can't watch TV anymore?" "That's not what I mean. You can watch as much TV at home as you like, just don't get so absorbed in it. Brother Liangliang said society will only become more orderly and stable in the future. Fighting and killing has no future." In ancient times, many generals shared Runsheng's fate structure, but in an era of peace, people with such a destiny easily strayed down the wrong path. "Oh, okay. I'll listen to you." Runsheng scratched his head. As long as he wasn't forbidden from watching TV, anything was fine. Rattled, he quickly took another puff of incense to steady his nerves. Several police cars pulled up before the gates of the Jiang residence. Tan Yunlong led the officers out. Before he could even present his documents and state their business, someone inside opened the gates and welcomed the police in. This surprised Tan Yunlong. Real life wasn't like the television dramas where everyone was a smiling tiger masking their true intentions. Especially in townships like this, nouveau-riche types tended to puff out their chests and act tough before the police to show how much backbone they had, even when there was no profit in it and it was sheer stupidity. Once inside, Tan Yunlong heard members of the Jiang family asking one another who had called the police. Only after explaining his purpose was Tan Yunlong informed that three days ago, Jiang Dongping—the family head who had built this fortune—had gone missing. At first, the family hadn't thought anything was amiss. After all, the Jiang family owned several entertainment venues in town, and going out to entertain clients was routine. It was hardly surprising if he didn't come home for the night; they assumed he had simply slept over at some mistress's house, which Jiang Dongping's wife took in stride. Yet yesterday had been the day of the Jiang family's ancestral rites, specifically honoring the grandfather who had personally raised Jiang Dongping, yet Jiang Dongping had still failed to show up. They had searched all day yesterday and were continuing to search today. Seeing the police arrive, they had assumed someone in the family had reported him missing. Tan Yunlong's brow furrowed slightly. His first reaction was that Jiang Dongping had fled to evade punishment, but the Jiang family's reactions didn't look like an act at all. Furthermore, if he were absconding, how could he not settle his family assets beforehand? Even so, he never forgot his purpose here. Ordering his men to cordon off the pond, he dispatched officers to borrow a water pump from a nearby construction site. The Jiang family looked on in confusion. A few tried to step forward and stop them, but were held back by officers. Tan Yunlong noted each of the ones who tried to intervene. Being a man-made ornamental pond, it was not very deep. Before long, only a shallow puddle remained, exposing large swathes of silt. At the very center sat a water vat. Tan Yunlong walked over. The vat was filled with water, containing a large mass of yellowish-white flocculent material, somewhat resembling glue or the fruit jelly his son loved to eat. "Come on, give me a hand moving this." The vat was heavy, its base stuck firmly to the silt. Only by pooling their strength did Tan Yunlong and several officers manage to shift it aside. Then he took an iron shovel and pointed below. "Dig!" Less than a meter down, a hand was exposed. The surrounding officers grew excited at once. Without waiting for orders, they immediately moved to secure the entire Jiang residence, temporarily forbidding anyone inside from leaving. Only Tan Yunlong's gaze held suspicion, because the hand looked too fresh. It did not look like it had been buried for very long. Moreover, the hand still wore a gold watch reflecting the sunlight. Why hadn't whoever buried him slipped it off? Still, they had indeed unearthed a person, and a dead one at that. Though only a single hand was visible, the brutality of his final moments was already plain to see: the hand reached straight upward, meaning his torso was buried even deeper. The fingertips were severely damaged and the nails torn away. Though the blood had long since been diluted by the wet silt, one could still tell how desperate and horrific his struggle to survive had been. He had likely been buried alive while fully conscious. And yet... Tan Yunlong handed the shovel to an officer beside him, backing up all the way to the edge of the pond. He stopped and began carefully examining the pond's surroundings and the water vat they had moved. The pond showed no signs of recent excavation. How, then, had this fresh corpse been buried alive down there? When they had shifted the vat earlier, the moss and vegetation around its base had clearly merged with the silt of the pond floor. That could only happen after sitting there for years. Had someone moved it away and then painstakingly restored it? Tan Yunlong had heard of restoring cultural relics, but going to such trouble just to conceal a body... it would have been far easier to dump it into a nearby sand quarry and grind it to pieces. "Except for those digging up the body, no one else is to enter the pond. Protect the scene." After giving the order, Tan Yunlong crouched in a corner and pulled out a cigarette pack. In his mind surfaced the earlier conversation with that boy named Li Zhuiyuan. The exchange had been brief; the boy had reported the case in practically a single sentence. What had truly startled Tan Yunlong was when he asked why the boy had specifically sought him out to report it. The boy had replied, *Because I know you won't bring trouble into my life.* "Hah." Tan Yunlong blew out a smoke ring. Ordinary suspects sitting before him would deliberately avoid his gaze, yet that boy had looked him straight in the eye with complete composure, even daring to seize the initiative in the conversation. "Captain Tan, there's a problem." "What is it?" "The corpse isn't easy to dig out. It's sinking." Tan Yunlong instantly snubbed out his cigarette, tossed it over the boundary wall, and walked into the pond to examine the body. They had dug another meter down from the previous depth, yet the only exposed part of the corpse remained that single hand. Tan Yunlong took the shovel again and joined the digging himself. As they dug, it was true: the corpse was sinking, as though a drain lay beneath it. That made no sense. This was an artificially dug pond. If the ground below were like this, how had it ever held water? There was no pump by the pond continually replenishing it. "Use a rope." They tied a loop in the rope, tossed it down, and caught the corpse's wrist. Pulling upward, the loop tightened at once. Tan Yunlong called another officer over to pull together, but they could not budge it at all. It felt as though a force below was also tugging at the corpse, engaged in a contest of strength against them. If they pulled any harder, they would likely damage the body. "Captain Tan, should we call an excavator?" "Then the scene would be completely ruined," Tan Yunlong rejected immediately, shaking his head. "Besides, the body is so deep that machinery would inevitably tear it apart. Keep digging for a bit and see." The officers dug for a while longer, but to no avail. For every meter you dug along the edges of the corpse, it shrank another meter down into the mud. Even though the surrounding layer of mud had dried considerably, the corpse continued to sink downward. At the same time, digging down there posed a danger to the officers. At any moment, their footing might give way, and they could be swallowed by the surrounding silt. At that moment, an older officer quietly walked up to Tan Yunlong and murmured, "Captain Tan, this is a bit uncanny." "Brother Sun, do you have any ideas?" "How about calling a corpse salvager to give it a try? They might have their own methods to bring the body up while keeping it intact." "Anyone to recommend?" "There's a fairly well-known one in Siyuan Village, Shinan. Surname Li." "Call the station. Have them go without uniforms to invite him over, and give him a heads-up beforehand to ask if he could keep the spectacle small." "Understood." "Forget it, I'll make the call myself." "All right, Captain Tan." The old officer breathed a sigh of relief. This sort of thing carried bad influence; he was merely offering a suggestion and didn't want to shoulder the responsibility. Tan Yunlong patted his shoulder, walked to the police car, took out the walkie-talkie, and relayed the instructions. Finished, he leaned against the car door and lit another cigarette. "*Sigh*, all we can do is wait." *** "Xiao Yuan, how much longer do we have to wait?" "I don't know." "Why are they so slow? Looks like they've been digging for ages." The tricycle was parked on an earthen slope, giving them a slightly elevated view. Since the Jiang family's courtyard wall was an iron fence, it didn't block their line of sight, allowing them to see what was happening inside despite the distance. "They must have run into trouble." A gurgling sound echoed in their ears. Li Zhuiyuan looked over, and Runsheng lowered his head in embarrassment. He was hungry. Though he had been chewing incense off and on, to him, incense was like green scallions used to accompany a meal; nobody had ever heard of filling their belly on scallions alone. Li Zhuiyuan took out the money his great-grandpa had given him that morning and handed it to Runsheng. "Brother, there's a little convenience store by the road ahead. Go buy something to eat." "Ah, that's such a waste." Runsheng shook his head. "That stuff is just for snacking. You can't treat it like a proper meal." "Just buy a little to tide us over." "Should I ride the tricycle to the town market eateries and buy some proper food?" "That's too far. We have to keep watch here. There's no telling when those two things might come over... or leave." "True enough. I'll go buy some things, then. Xiao Yuan, what do you want to eat?" "Anything is fine. Just buy what you like." "Wait for me here. I'll be right back." Taking the money, Runsheng didn't even bother riding the tricycle, taking off at a dead run instead. Before long, Runsheng returned clutching several bags of instant noodles and biscuits. "Here, Xiao Yuan, your change." "Why didn't you buy more?" "Couldn't bear to spend it. With just this little bit of food, you could buy so much more rice and flour." Li Zhuiyuan ate only a few biscuits. Having eaten breakfast late, he wasn't very hungry, whereas Runsheng had worked the fields this morning, so it was better to let him eat first. After all, Runsheng was his greatest asset. He couldn't prepare exquisite tools only to have the person wielding them fail from an empty stomach. Having devoured everything, Runsheng gathered the seasoning packets from the instant noodles. Earlier, Li Zhuiyuan had wondered: though they couldn't boil or steep the noodles right now, wouldn't crushing the dry noodles, pouring the seasoning in, and shaking them up make them tastier to eat dry? Yet Runsheng hadn't done that; he had eaten the noodles as solid cakes. Now, Runsheng tore open a seasoning packet, poured the powder into his palm, and stuck out his tongue to take a tiny lick. Then, licking as he went, he continued pouring from the packet, his face full of satisfaction. He clearly relished this way of eating. Seeing Li Zhuiyuan watching him, Runsheng smiled and asked, "Xiao Yuan, you want to hold out your hand and have some? It's delicious!" "Oh, sure." Li Zhuiyuan held out his palm, letting Runsheng pour a bit onto it, and gave it a gentle lick, savoring it carefully. Sure enough... It tasted intensely of instant noodle seasoning. "Hehe, this is great. In the past, everyone had to take turns licking a single packet together, but now I get it all to myself." In this era, children rarely had access to daily snacks, so this method of eating seasoning packets had spread gradually—it was flavorful and fun. Li Zhuiyuan touched the change Runsheng had handed back into his pocket. Although the Old Carpenter hadn't charged for processing, that had relied on his great-grandpa's reputation and favors, which could only be used once. Furthermore, the subsequent materials and testing costs, including whatever wear and tear might come next... his pocket money was far from enough to sustain it. It seemed he had to find a way to make some money. "Brother Runsheng, do you know where people play cards?" "Play cards? My granddad plays! He loves playing Fried Golden Flower. The village has several regular card games where you can just sit down and play." "How good is Grandpa Shan at cards?" Hearing this question, Runsheng suddenly looked embarrassed and whispered, "We could've eaten dry rice for dinner, but whenever he went to play cards, the two of us couldn't even afford enough thin porridge to fill our bellies with water." Li Zhuiyuan remembered his great-grandpa mentioning that Grandpa Shan always lost money at cards. "Brother Runsheng, do you want to go back and visit Grandpa Shan?" "I do." "Then tomorrow I'll go to Xiting with you to visit Grandpa Shan." "Awesome!" Runsheng stood up happily, stretching as he looked around. Soon, his smile vanished, and he pointed at a motorcycle approaching in the distance. "Uh, Xiao Yuan, doesn't the guy sitting on the back of that motorcycle look like your great-grandpa?" "It is Great-Grandpa." Li Sanjiang sat on the rear seat of the motorcycle, a parcel wedged between him and the driver, another strapped to the back of the bike, and one clutched in each of his hands. The wind howled as he rode, his arms trembling from sheer exhaustion. When official personnel came to invite him, he had to go no matter what; otherwise, he wouldn't have the face to carry their official plaque next time. The unfortunate part was that his mule had wandered off today, and even more unfortunately, the mule had taken the tricycle with it. "Comrade, stop for a second, stop!" The motorcycle pulled over. Li Sanjiang looked at Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng standing by the road and asked in surprise, "What are you two doing here?" Li Zhuiyuan replied, "Same as you, Great-Grandpa. We were called over." "What?" Li Sanjiang froze for a moment, not thinking much more of it, and tossed his parcels to Runsheng. "Let's get moving." Li Zhuiyuan hadn't expected to enter the Jiang family courtyard so soon. The moment he walked in, he felt Tan Yunlong's gaze. Li Zhuiyuan deliberately avoided it. To his surprise, Tan Yunlong walked over of his own accord, bent down, put an arm around him, and pretended to ruffle the boy playfully while whispering into his ear, "Did you report the case just to drum up business for yourself?" "If so, this money would be earned far too hard." "Hahaha." Tan Yunlong chuckled, patted Li Zhuiyuan's head, and looked toward Li Sanjiang. "Elder, sorry to trouble you to come all this way. Don't worry, I'll cover the service fee myself." "No, no, absolutely not," Li Sanjiang waved his hands hastily. "That would be treating me like a stranger! This is my duty—as close as fish and water between police and people." "How can we do that? We're already grateful enough that you're willing to cooperate with our work." "Is the body in the pond?" "Yes, have a look first." Tan Yunlong accompanied Li Sanjiang toward the pond, lowering his voice. "Elder, just one thing: when you do your work later, please keep the spectacle as small as possible." "The comrade who brought me already mentioned it. Don't worry, I understand." "Thank you for understanding." "Of course, of course." He knew full well why. After all, having police uniforms mixed up with superstitious rituals looked bad. Last time he had retrieved Big Beard and his son from their fish pond, the responding officers had also waited by their police car on the road. Cooperate when needed, and maintain propriety where appropriate. Li Sanjiang called to Runsheng, "Runsheng Hou, grab the gear!" Runsheng hesitated and didn't move, turning to look at Li Zhuiyuan, who had already quietly walked to the edge of the pit to peer down. Seeing the hand below, Li Zhuiyuan's eyes filled with suspicion. Why was this hand so fresh? According to Brother Bao, he had helped Jiang Dongping bury the corpse here long ago—years ago, in fact. Being at the bottom of a pond, the ground was naturally moist, so a corpse should have decomposed rapidly into bare bone. How could flesh and skin still be so clearly visible? Either this corpse wasn't the murdered Old Zhou, or there was something wrong with Old Zhou now. "Runsheng Hou, what are you standing there for? Grab the gear!" Li Zhuiyuan snapped back to reality and looked at Runsheng. "Brother Runsheng, bring the gear." To be safe, it was better to use their own. "Right!" Runsheng responded immediately, peeled back the plastic tarp on the tricycle, and carried over the new set of tools. Li Sanjiang looked at these new implements—remarkably similar to his own yet distinct—with slight confusion. But with the officers watching, he couldn't ask questions. To him, new or old made no difference anyway. "Great-Grandpa, let Brother Runsheng try first. If Brother Runsheng can't fish it up, it just means Grandpa Shan wasn't skilled enough at teaching apprentices, and then you can step in to teach him properly." "Mm, sounds good." Li Sanjiang felt Xiao Yuan Hou made good sense. Runsheng took the tools and laid them out along the edge of the pit, his face practically beaming with eager anticipation. Li Sanjiang found a small wooden stool and laid out simple offerings, even bringing out two white candles that were nearly burned to their bases. He had truly listened to the officer's request not to make a grand scene, keeping everything minimal. Lighting candles and burning paper, Li Sanjiang muttered incantations under his breath and began circling the pit. Around them, the younger officers watched with curiosity, while the older ones quietly backed away a short distance. Tan Yunlong looked around. The Jiang family's residence was large, which naturally made it fairly secluded, with few neighboring homes nearby. Combined with the Jiang family's reputation as local tyrants, few villagers dared come watch the commotion at this time. Outside the boundary wall stood only a dozen-odd onlookers, half of whom were passersby who had stopped after seeing the police cars. As for the Jiang family members, Tan Yunlong had already ordered them taken inside to give statements. The surroundings were reasonably quiet, not enough for gossip to spread among too many people. After finishing his ritual, Li Sanjiang pulled two beer bottles plugged with cloth strips from a parcel, filled with red liquid. Seeing this, Tan Yunlong stepped forward at once to stop him. "Elder, what are you doing?" "Black dog blood, to dispel the malevolence first. This thing refuses to come out and keeps sinking—it's harboring resentment." "Can you not splash it?" "Not splash it?" "If you splash that on it, the body will be ruined for examination." "Then let me try without it. Runsheng, you can start. Let's see if Shan Pao taught you any real skill." With that, Li Sanjiang set his two bottles of blended pig's blood on the ground. To show his status as a master craftsman, he deliberately took a few steps back, pulled out a cigarette, and prepared to light it to maintain his airs. An officer beside him cautioned, "Elder, you'll need to smoke further away. We still need to search the area for physical evidence later." "Oh, right." Li Sanjiang hesitated, but having put on airs, he had no choice but to carry his cigarette over to a corner. Reaching into his pocket, he realized that in his rush he had forgotten to bring matches, so he had to go borrow some. Thus, only Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng, and Tan Yunlong were left standing beside the pit. "Officer Tan, is the corpse sinking downward?" "Yes. The deeper we dig, the further it sinks." "Officer Tan, could you have someone move that vat containing the 'taisui' away?" "That's important evidence; we need to take it back to the station for examination." "I'm not telling you to throw it away, just have someone move it outside the gates. Don't leave it within the grounds of this house." "Is there some taboo about it?" "Yes." "All right." Tan Yunlong immediately ordered several officers on the perimeter to carry the vat outside the front gates. Li Zhuiyuan nodded. In this way, his karmic entanglement with Brother Bao and Zhao Xing would be fulfilled; next came settling accounts. Captain Tan turned back to see the boy produce a crude wooden compass. Tan Yunlong thought that not even street vendors selling cheap toys would stock such an item—it was so ugly it would never sell. The boy first adjusted his footing, then stared at the compass in his hands and turned a full circle in place. After standing still, he murmured several numbers under his breath. Tan Yunlong listened intently, expecting some sort of spell, but heard only numbers. Having completed his mental calibration, Li Zhuiyuan looked down into the pit and pointed for Runsheng beside him. "Use the Yellow River shovel here, here, and here... In these six spots, dig out small angled hollows first." "Got it!" Runsheng stepped into the pit with the Yellow River shovel. Without even looking at the hand, he followed Li Zhuiyuan's directions and dug six hollows into the surrounding side walls. Li Zhuiyuan nodded. These six hollows were meant to break the miasma and confuse the corpse's sense of direction, so that when it panicked and tried to flee, it would lose its bearings. The *Jianghu Zhiguai Lu* described corpses of this sort, noting they possessed an ability similar to razor clams, burrowing through soil and sand. Strictly speaking, however, such a corpse was not a dead-flipper. Wei Zhengdao had specifically annotated: *Near such a corpse, there must be something amiss.* Li Zhuiyuan took out his inkpad box, pressed his index finger firmly into it, and stroked across the Seven Stars hook. Each time a section unlocked, he applied red ink, continuing until all seven sections were fully extended before tossing the Seven Stars hook into the pit. "Brother Runsheng, drive the hook between yourself and the corpse to block its path!" "Understood!" Runsheng caught the hook, and as instructed, drove it into the ground between himself and the hand. Soon, only the top end of the Seven Stars hook remained above ground. Runsheng pressed his palm against it and began turning it, producing an immediate grinding, clicking sound from below. Up to this point, because they hadn't touched the hand, the corpse had not continued burrowing downward. Li Zhuiyuan pressed all five fingers into the inkpad, ran them swiftly over the soul-returning basket and the Guixiang net, and threw both down into the pit. "Deploy the basket in front, cast the net behind." "Right!" Runsheng caught the items, then paused, momentarily bewildered. "Xiao Yuan, which way is the front of the corpse?" "The direction the palm faces is the front." "Understood!" Runsheng set the soul-returning basket before the palm. At first glance, the basket's opening seemed narrow and shallow, but once the fastening was released, its opening and depth could expand on their own, possessing immense tensile strength. As for the Guixiang net, Runsheng draped it over the back of the hand; the net was vast, covering nearly the entire wall of the pit on that side. Li Zhuiyuan picked up the Luosheng umbrella and said to Runsheng, "Brother Runsheng, catch me." With that, he leapt down into the pit, before Tan Yunlong beside them could even react. Runsheng caught him steadily. Once Li Zhuiyuan had his footing, he leaned down to inspect the hand at close range, then pulled a talisman paper he had drawn from his pocket. The preparations were complete; now he wanted to conduct a personal experiment—namely, testing the talisman he had drawn. The *Zhengdao Fumo Lu* did not say much about the specifics of talisman papers, merely listing a few prerequisites, much like course prerequisites one had to master before studying a subject. Li Zhuiyuan did not meet a single one of those hard requirements; he had simply concentrated his spirit and drawn it in one breath, copying the pattern in the book. Though he knew it would most likely prove useless, what if...? The distance was just right. Holding the talisman above the palm, Li Zhuiyuan let it go. The paper drifted down slowly, and just before it touched the hand, the fingers suddenly snapped open and seized the talisman in a violent grip! The paper instantly turned pitch-black. "Xiao Yuan!" The sudden development made Runsheng immediately pull Xiao Yuan behind him. Li Zhuiyuan felt helpless. The thing had not only ignored the threat of his talisman, but had actively provoked them. "Brother Runsheng, pry it out." "Right!" Runsheng gripped the end of the Seven Stars hook with both hands, sank into a squat, and pressed down with all his might. The hand began to move. The earth beneath it fractured rapidly, but this time it did not sink; instead, it darted forward, backward, left, and right, thrashing about like a headless fly. Runsheng continued applying force, gritting his teeth as veins bulged across his arms. His feet sank into the ground, mud rising to his ankles. Li Zhuiyuan could not help marveling inwardly: retrieving corpses truly was heavy manual labor. Look at Uncle Qin that night, and look at Runsheng now. Without an exceptional physique, even the finest tools were useless. Fortunately, he was still young and could train slowly. Under this immense force, the corpse clearly began to falter. Suddenly, a massive spray of dirt and black mist erupted from underground. Li Zhuiyuan instantly snapped open the Luosheng umbrella, holding it before himself and Runsheng. The umbrella frame trembled violently, numbing Li Zhuiyuan's hands, yet he held his ground. Noticing the faint black mist spreading around them, Li Zhuiyuan pulled out the Sanqing fan, pressed the hidden catch, and waved it. White incense ash drifted out from the fan. In an instant, a faint stench of scorched coal seemed to drift through the air. "It's coming out!" Runsheng let out a low roar. "Xiao Yuan, get back!" Li Zhuiyuan immediately folded the umbrella and retreated. The ground before them cracked open, and a corpse clad in pajamas was pried out. Beneath the corpse lay the Seven Stars hook, each section having extended interlocking clasps that clamped the body firmly in place like collars. The corpse seemed motionless, yet in a blur, it appeared to surge forward rapidly. Once it entered the soul-returning basket, the basket enlarged and stretched violently. The corpse tumbled backward into the Guixiang net, which coiled upward to envelop it. Immediately, the corpse went still. Li Zhuiyuan breathed a sigh of relief. "Brother Runsheng, did the corpse move on its own just now, or did you pull it with the Seven Stars hook?" "The corpse didn't seem to move, but its weight kept turning terribly heavy one second and light the next. I almost threw my back out." "Then it wasn't the corpse moving. This body isn't a dead-flipper." Once the corpse was removed, a hole the depth of a man was left behind. Li Zhuiyuan walked to the edge and looked down. Protruding from the walls of the pit were two pairs of skeletal white hands. Below lay two more corpses, already reduced to bone! It seemed the Old Zhou whom Brother Bao had helped bury was not the first person Jiang Dongping had murdered and buried here to nurture the taisui. Studying the position and splay of those skeletal hands, Li Zhuiyuan mirrored the gestures with his own hands. "Xiao Yuan, why are there skeletons down here?" "Brother Runsheng, the reason this corpse kept sinking was that those two pairs of hands were dragging it down, refusing to let it go." "And now? Can they still move?" Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "They aren't dead-flippers, just yin spirits. They dissipate once they meet the light." Only in places untouched by sunlight and hidden from human sight could such yin spirits move and cause mischief. For instance, when many people went to sleep at night, they might hear rustling sounds from the roof, from below, or from other rooms in the house. Sometimes, it wasn't the neighbors or mice, but yin spirits in the house. Yet when you gathered your courage and switched on the light to check, you would find nothing. Yin spirits would never let you see them; once seen, they vanished. Most yin spirits could only make faint noises and did no real harm. A few stronger ones might enter your bedroom while you were fast asleep and press down upon your body, resulting in sleep paralysis on rare occasions. Runsheng sighed with emotion. "The three of them were buried here together so long they grew attached, unwilling to let the other go?" Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the corpse wrapped in the Guixiang net and said, "I suspect this corpse doesn't belong to a victim." "Huh? Then whose is it?" "What is the opposite of a victim?" "What is it?" "Brother Runsheng, lift me up. I don't want to climb up and get my clothes dirty." "Got it." Li Zhuiyuan was hoisted up, and Tan Yunlong reached down to pull him out. "What happened down there just now?" Tan Yunlong asked at once. Standing above, he had suddenly seen silt splatter everywhere as his vision blurred. Then what looked like an enormous rat had scurried out, followed by a few muffled thuds, and when his vision cleared, a corpse was already wrapped inside the net. "*Hup!*" With one hand gripping the net containing the corpse and the other grasping the slope, Runsheng climbed out effortlessly. Tan Yunlong's eyes went wide. Lifting what was effectively a full-grown man like a scrawny chicken was terrifying strength. Once the corpse was hauled up, Runsheng quickly untied the net, packed away the basket, and hopped back into the pit to retrieve the Yellow River shovel and the Seven Stars hook, packing them away neatly. This set of tools was simply marvelous. He resolved to work hard in the fields for Great-Uncle Sanjiang, save up his wages, and have Xiao Yuan make him a set of his own to keep as a family heirloom. Tan Yunlong pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket, slipped them on, crouched down, and gently brushed away the silt covering the corpse's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. His expression hardened instantly. Li Zhuiyuan asked, "Is it Jiang Dongping?" Tan Yunlong looked up at the boy in astonishment. "You knew all along?" Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "No, I only just realized. There are two more skeletons down there. Officer Tan, have your men keep digging; it should be easy now." To be dragged down so fiercely by two victims, pulled into the silt to drown with them, could only be the perpetrator himself. "I understand. Thank you, Xiao Yuan." "Could you give me a piece of the taisui flesh as a thank-you?" "What do you want that for?" "You know how it is, Officer Tan. Children are always curious." Tan Yunlong pulled a small plastic bag from his pocket containing a jelly-like chunk. Leaning close to shield it from view, he slipped the bag into Li Zhuiyuan's pocket. "Promise me you won't eat it. It might be poisonous." "I won't. You're very generous, Officer Tan." "There's a massive lump of it in the vat anyway. Giving you a piece won't hurt." "What, you fished it out already?" Li Sanjiang had barely finished a single cigarette when he saw the job was done, muttering grudgingly, "Looks like Shan Pao really does know a trick or two when teaching an apprentice." "Great-Grandpa, Brother Runsheng and I are heading back on the tricycle." "Since it's done, I'll ride back with you. That motorcycle hurt my backside." "Great-Grandpa, you can't leave. Officer Tan wants you to stay and help examine the corpse. It's been soaked in muddy water, and you have the experience." Tan Yunlong looked at Li Zhuiyuan with some confusion; a professional coroner handled autopsies. Even so, he took off his gloves and took Li Sanjiang's hand. "Yes, Elder, please stay and help us analyze it. Once we're finished, I'll drive you home myself." "All right, then." "Great-Grandpa, we're leaving first." "Be careful on the road, you two! Runsheng Hou, ride slowly. Don't go hurting my Xiao Yuan Hou." Carrying the gear, Runsheng walked out the front gate and laid everything flat in the tricycle bed, unable to resist stroking them again. "Xiao Yuan, once I save up enough money..." "Brother Runsheng, don't make any sudden movements. Quietly look back at the slope where we were waiting earlier." Pretending to tidy the gear, Runsheng glanced out of the corner of his eye and spotted two figures standing there. They looked familiar. "Haven't we seen them somewhere?" "At the video parlor. The four loudmouthed punks." Their boss, the man in the suit, had been arrested and was working off his guilt through cooperation. Fortunately, that suit-wearing man had still been in the recruitment phase of downstream distributors; he hadn't received any goods yet and thus hadn't assigned tasks to his three underlings. Consequently, the three punks had been detained for only a day of lecturing before being released. "Do they live around here and came to watch the commotion?" "Shigang is far livelier and more fun than Shinan. Would someone living in Shigang go all the way to Shinan just to watch videotapes? Brother Runsheng, look at their feet." Runsheng took another casual glance, then lowered his head. "Xiao Yuan, they're standing on tiptoe!" "They're here. They've finally shown up—our real targets." Runsheng gripped the Yellow River shovel quietly. "I'll charge over right now and smash their heads in!" "Brother Runsheng..." "Don't worry, Xiao Yuan! They definitely can't outrun me, especially when they have to run on tiptoe." "Brother Runsheng, there are so many police officers right next to us." "Oh..." "Not even the gangsters in Hong Kong movies are this reckless." "My bad, Xiao Yuan." "Let's get on the tricycle first and ride the other way." "Whatever you say." Li Zhuiyuan climbed onto the tricycle, and Runsheng pedaled in the opposite direction. After putting some distance between them, they turned behind another residential house. "Brother Runsheng, drape this Guixiang net over us so they can't see us." Runsheng's eyes lit up. "It works for that too?" "Mm. How else would you bind a dead-flipper? Dead-flippers possess immense strength; an ordinary net would tear apart the moment they struggled. Only a net invisible to their eyes can trap them." "Honestly, Xiao Yuan, the gear in my granddad's room looks like junk you'd sell for scrap compared to what you have." "Don't worry, I'll make a set for you later." "Uh... isn't that expensive?" "It's fine. We'll visit Grandpa Shan tomorrow, and after that, we should have money." "My granddad doesn't have any money. If rice and flour weren't so hard to sell in the village, I bet we wouldn't even have food to eat when we go home tomorrow." "We'll worry about tomorrow then. Let's go after those two first." "Right!" With that, Runsheng pedaled the tricycle vigorously once more. Passing vehicles and pedestrians stared in astonishment at the tricycle shrouded in a net and the two people inside. Arriving back where they started, Runsheng said in confusion, "Oh no, they're gone." "Ahead. They went toward the river." Sure enough, the two figures appeared by the riverbank, walking downstream along the water. "Should I ride down there?" "Stay on the road for now. Follow them from a distance. We'll strike once they reach a quiet, deserted spot." So the two walked by the river while Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng followed from the road above. They gradually headed into more remote areas, turning down a narrow path. "Do we strike now, Xiao Yuan?" "Wait a bit longer. Let's see where they're going. Those two are just chang spirits; someone is controlling them from behind." "Isn't the guy controlling them that Jiang fellow?" "Jiang was buried in the pond himself. Who do you think buried him?" "Xiao Yuan, you mean..." "I suspect one of the three people Jiang Dongping buried has already turned into a dead-flipper." Li Zhuiyuan pulled out the bag of taisui flesh Captain Tan had given him and continued, "There's likely something wrong with this taisui." A dead-flipper didn't form easily, and one capable of controlling chang spirits was exceedingly rare. Even through the plastic bag, the taisui reeked of a foul fishy stench; he had no idea how anyone dared consume it as a tonic. Dusk fell as the sky darkened. The two men walked into a cemetery. Holding the gear, Runsheng continued ducking under the net with Li Zhuiyuan, tiptoeing behind them. Finally, the two men stopped before a tombstone and dropped to their knees with a thud. Wrapped in the Guixiang net, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng hid behind a tombstone in front of the pair, one on the left and one on the right, cautiously peering out from behind it to watch them. Yet the two men simply knelt there, unmoving, for a long time as the sky turned completely dark. Runsheng looked at Li Zhuiyuan with a puzzled expression: *What are they doing?* Li Zhuiyuan shrugged: *I don't know either.* Runsheng pointed around them, then at the Yellow River shovel in his hands: *It's deserted here, no one around. We can smash them to death.* Li Zhuiyuan waved his hands in refusal, then pointed at Runsheng's arm. Runsheng didn't quite understand, but seeing Li Zhuiyuan lean his head over, he raised his arm to give him a more comfortable rest. No matter what, Xiao Yuan had to have a reason for doing this. After a while, the two figures kneeling before the tombstone remained motionless, and so did Xiao Yuan, resting against his arm. Runsheng finally couldn't help turning his head to look. Finding Xiao Yuan's eyes closed and his breathing steady, Runsheng froze in disbelief. *Xiao Yuan actually fell asleep?* Li Zhuiyuan wasn't truly asleep; he was simply trying hard to doze off. In that half-waking, half-dreaming state, he heard shrill wails and desperate pleas for mercy—the voices of Brother Bao and Zhao Xing. He knew he had entered the state. Opening his eyes, Li Zhuiyuan found that Runsheng, who had been beside him, was gone. That was normal; Runsheng hadn't entered his dream. The wails and pleas continued; they seemed to be enduring horrific, agonizing torture. This was hardly surprising. When Brother Bao and Zhao Xing had come looking for his great-grandpa at the funeral feast, their requests had made it clear they didn't know Jiang Dongping had already been buried alive, nor did they realize the one controlling them was an earlier victim—very likely the man named Zhou whom Brother Bao had personally buried alive. Li Zhuiyuan slowly and cautiously poked his head out from behind the tombstone. The spot where the two men had been kneeling was empty; like Runsheng, they did not exist in this dream. Shifting his gaze further back from where the pair had knelt, Li Zhuiyuan saw Brother Bao and Zhao Xing prostrate on the ground, their bodies cracking and peeling away continuously. In an instant, Li Zhuiyuan froze, a chill coursing through his entire body. Because they couldn't see unclean things earlier, he and Runsheng had naturally assumed the two men were kneeling in worship toward the tombstone in front of them. In reality, however, those two were merely possessed vessels—like shoes that had been discarded after being used to walk here. When shoes were no longer on one's feet, the direction their toes pointed no longer represented the direction a person faced. Right now, the direction Brother Bao and Zhao Xing were kneeling and wailing toward was the very tombstone before him! And he and Runsheng had been hiding behind that tombstone the entire time. Li Zhuiyuan slowly looked down. At his feet, an exceedingly long shadow stretched outward. Obviously, he was not that tall, so the shadow could not be his. Which meant... It... Had been standing behind him and Runsheng all along.