"Really? Can my father's body still be found?" the person who had earlier threatened to tear off my mouth asked excitedly.
I nodded and said, "Of course."
Then, without looking back, I plunged into the woods. The direction of the paper butterfly's movement was deep in the forest.
Lao Wa Town is located among the mountains, surrounded by forests except for a road leading to the outside world. This cemetery is no exception, with forests surrounding it in all directions except for the road leading to Lao Wa Town.
And the forest we entered is a primeval forest, getting denser as we went further. Various poisonous insects and fierce beasts are still active in this primeval forest, including bears, wild wolves, wild boars, and even tigers.
Seeing me continue to move forward, the people behind me began to get impatient, "Little brother, are you sure you're going in the right direction? This is a deep mountain and old forest, could that kid really be missing here?"
I nodded and said, "Just follow me."
As I spoke, I quickened my pace. At this moment, I also felt something was amiss. Because we had already gone quite deep into the mountains, yet the paper butterfly showed no sign of stopping.
While I was deep in thought, someone suddenly whispered, "Wait, there's light ahead."
Hearing this, I looked up and indeed, saw a flicker of fire ahead, frowned, and quickly motioned for everyone to crouch down. At the same time, my sense of the paper butterfly also disappeared, indicating that Pang Dun was here.
However, the light was still quite a distance away from us, and we could only vaguely see the surroundings of the fire.
We saw that the light was actually the glow from burning paper money. And next to the burning paper money, there was a middle-aged man with disheveled hair crouching. Behind him, there was a simple thatched hut.
Suddenly, my gaze turned to the other side of the light, and I was shocked. I saw a row of people lying on the other side of the light, about a dozen of them.
From a distance, I could already smell the strong stench of death. It couldn't be more evident that the missing bodies from the cemetery were all lying here.
After taking a closer look, I saw that among the people lying down, one was wriggling and struggling incessantly. His mouth seemed to be gagged, making whimpering sounds, it was indeed that kid, Pang Dun.
Seeing this, Pang Dun's parents and the people behind them couldn't remain calm, and they looked as if they were going to rush out. At that moment, I stopped them and whispered, "Don't rush, let's see what this guy is up to first."
Hearing my words, everyone calmed down. After squatting down, they whispered to me, "Damn, who is this guy anyway, not letting go of even his body, I swear I'm going to skin him alive later."
I shook my head and said softly, "This is actually not surprising. For most people, a corpse may be of no use, but for some people, a corpse can be very useful. You've seen the news about ghost marriages, right? Those who engage in ghost marriages specifically target the bodies of young women or young men."
Ignoring them, I focused my attention on the strange person burning the paper stack not far away. To be honest, at this moment, even I couldn't figure out what this person was up to.
He kept burning paper into the pile, and the ashes had already accumulated into a big pile, and he showed no signs of stopping. The burning paper stack lit up the surrounding forest with a yellow-orange glow.
Faintly, a hoarse and muffled voice came from his mouth, sounding like an old woman, "Yin and yang, yin gives birth to yang, yang gives birth to yin, yin is yang, yang is yin, yin and yang unite, chaos is not clear."
Upon hearing the sound, I shivered. Could this guy be concocting a zombie?
Concocting a zombie is a highly sinister and evil method. To concoct a zombie means to seal the soul of a deceased person within the body, preventing the soul from leaving. Then, special methods are used to infuse resentment into the corpse, ultimately causing the corpse to undergo a transformation, rising again and walking, controlled by the perpetrator.
This method is extremely detrimental as the reconstituted corpses are unable to be reincarnated.
The art of concocting zombies is briefly mentioned in the Taoist books given to me by my second uncle, but this method is truly against the natural order and is classified as a malignant practice. If this guy is really concocting zombies, then everything that is happening now is not surprising.
Suddenly, after this guy had recited the spell three times, there was a sudden eerie sound of bone friction from somewhere. Before I could react, two of the arranged corpses suddenly started to move. At the same time, this person excitedly exclaimed, "It's done, it's finally done!"
This sight scared Fat Dumpling's parents and the others, and they finally let out a scream, "Ah!"
"Who goes there?" The zombie maker suddenly shouted.
Seeing that we had been exposed, I emerged from the woods. Upon seeing me, the zombie maker's eyes instantly turned extremely malevolent. "I didn't expect anyone to visit this remote forest at this hour," he said.
I couldn't help but sneer, "I also didn't expect that someone would go to the trouble of moving the bodies from our Old Wah Town to this remote forest. I thought there was some good news, but it turns out that it's a weirdo trying to do something inappropriate with these corpses. Your fetish is quite special."
"Kid, watch your tongue." My words clearly angered this guy, and his expression became more malevolent, as if he was about to act.
At this moment, Fat Dumpling's parents and the others could no longer contain their anger. Although they were greatly frightened, they also looked furious and suddenly rushed out of the woods, launching a barrage of curses at this person, "You beast, you won't even spare the dead, you're simply an animal."
"Hehe," he suddenly sneered, "Good, more people have come. Perfect, I need a few more live corpses. Today, I will do a good deed and take all of you. Today, all of you will die."
When he mentioned live corpses, he actually meant living people. In his eyes, we were already corpses.