Chapter 49: The Corpse

Upon seeing the newcomer, Zhang Hua was overjoyed and shouted, "It's Xiao Fang! We got separated earlier; I never expected her to be alive."

Xiao Fang’s face was deathly pale. She ran to Zhang Hua’s side, sobbing, "The girls who were with me were killed by those corpses! Those corpses actually eat people... sob... it terrified me!"

Zhang Hua said, "Don't be afraid, just stay with us."

"Where did you escape from?" Zhang Xiaofan asked at this moment.

"From a group of corpses. We had just gotten separated from Sister Zhang Hua and were walking along when we suddenly ran into swarms of them. They were already rotting—some held hoes, others carried sickles. Several of my friends were killed instantly. If I hadn't run so fast, I would have died in there too."

As Xiao Fang spoke, her hands trembled violently, and her eyes were filled with terror. Seeing this, Zhang Xiaofan frowned; he was surprised that she had been frightened to such an extent.

"Oh, right," Xiao Fang continued, "when I was fleeing earlier, I passed by a room where the lights were on. Perhaps we should head over there? We might find someone."

"Lead the way, then," Zhang Hua said.

Zhang Xiaofan nodded as well. Regardless, the village was shrouded in darkness on all sides; finding a house with the lights on was rare, so it was worth investigating.

Xiao Fang led the way. Before long, the group passed between two large trees and saw that a house ahead was indeed brilliantly lit, visible from a great distance.

As they walked closer, Wang Hu said in surprise, "That's strange. This house is lit up way too brightly. It’s the middle of the night, yet every single light is on."

Zhang Xiaofan also found it odd. Once they approached, they noticed that not only the surroundings but even the entrance of the house was illuminated. The light cast long, eerie shadows of everyone on the ground.

Just as they were about to follow Xiao Fang inside, Zhang Xiaofan glanced at her and his pupils suddenly constricted. He raised a hand, stopped at the doorway, and barked, "Wait!"

"What’s wrong?" Hu Xiaotian asked curiously.

Xiao Fang turned back and said, "Brother Xiaofan, maybe someone lives inside. We can go in and ask them for help."

Zhang Xiaofan nodded and said, "Right. By the way, Xiao Fang, I have a question for you. Since you escaped from a group of corpses, why didn't they hunt you down?"

The group was stunned. Xiao Fang hesitated and replied, "I... I ran fast..."

"That’s true, Xiao Fang does run quite fast..." Zhang Hua added.

"Ha! The corpse we dealt with earlier ran quite fast too!" As he finished speaking, Zhang Xiaofan, who had already readied his peach-wood sword, swung it forward.

He had infused the blade with his mental energy, and Xiao Fang’s head was severed and shattered without the slightest resistance.

"Ah..." The girls beside Zhang Hua screamed in terror.

Zhang Hua gritted her teeth and said, "Zhang Xiaofan, she was one of our sisters! You owe us an explanation."

Zhang Xiaofan sneered, "Look at her shadow." He pointed to Xiao Fang's shadow. Because she had not yet collapsed, her shadow remained under the light. Only then did the group notice that, under the illumination, the shadow was grotesquely obese, forming a stark contrast to the shadows of the people around her.

Even someone as heavy as Zhang Hua had a shadow significantly thinner than that.

Immediately, the group scrambled away from the headless Xiao Fang. Even though she was decapitated, in such a bizarre place, no one dared to go near any monster.

"Cackle..." Unexpectedly, the severed head suddenly laughed. It then drifted into the air without the wind's help, hovering above them and cackling with a grating, metallic sound.

"I didn't expect you to notice my shadow. Cackle... since that's the case, all of you can go die!"

"You think you can take us on? Die!" Wang Hu charged forward with his machete. The resistance he expected from the head never came; it was incredibly fragile, and he sliced it in two with a single blow.

The corpse's body then attempted to move, but Zhang Hua lunged forward with her ten-pound iron hammer. Three strikes later, the corpse's cervical spine was smashed to pieces. Zhang Hua’s strength was truly formidable.

Zhang Xiaofan glanced at her hammer and noticed it was black; due to the darkness of the night, he hadn't noticed it in her hand before.

As Xiao Fang "died," her form began to swell slowly. Her face puffed up as if being pumped with air, rapidly expanding until she transformed into a decrepit old woman, covered in wrinkles and even fatter than Zhang Hua.

"It seems these corpses can hide inside human bodies," Hu Xiaotian said, covering his nose at the nauseating sight.

"Regardless, since she wanted to lure us into that room, we are definitely not going in," Zhang Xiaofan stated.

His proposal was agreed upon by the other students. The group began to retrace their steps. Strangely, as they left, the brilliantly lit house behind them suddenly went dark, as if no one had ever been there at all.

Everyone felt a chill, exchanged glances, and quickened their pace to leave. Lin Rou and Su Qianqian stayed close to Zhang Xiaofan; they were nervous as well, but remained quiet and obedient.

At that moment, another black shadow appeared ahead. The figure was acting stealthy, heading directly toward a house on the side.

Hu Xiaotian nudged Zhang Xiaofan and whispered, "Someone just went into that house."

Zhang Xiaofan nodded, gestured for the others to be quiet, and said, "Keep your voices down and follow."

The group noticed the shadow and nodded, stealthily approaching. When they finally reached the door, Zhang Xiaofan noted that this house was no different from the last, except that it was significantly larger.

Zhang Xiaofan pressed his ear against the door and listened for a while, finding it deathly silent inside.

Wang Hu said, "Let's just knock."

He rapped on the door and said, "Hey, is anyone there? Don't hide, we just saw you go in."

After a few knocks, a voice drifted out: "Who is it?"

The sound was strange. It was a mundane sentence, yet everyone felt an intense, uncomfortable sensation in their ears upon hearing it.

Wang Hu said, "We're students passing through. We wanted to ask how to get out of here."

"How many of you are there?"

"There are about a dozen of us here, and dozens more nearby," Wang Hu replied.

"Hmm. Come inside then; it's cold out there," the voice inside said slowly.

The group exchanged glances. Wang Hu said, "What are you afraid of? It's just one person." He pushed the door open and said, "We're coming in."

As they entered, a hundred-watt incandescent bulb illuminated the room. It was vast and completely empty, devoid of any furniture.

The group walked in, with Wang Hu in the lead. He pushed open an inner door, and suddenly, his pupils shrank. He pointed at what was inside, trembling as he stammered, "This... this..."