Chapter 8: The Corpse in the Cabinet

So I’ll eat you for life.

I really mean eat you.

Wu Xian shook his head, admired the photo for a moment, then asked again.

“May I ask who Wang Zhiwu is? Your wife receives a sum of money from him every month—ten thousand yuan—without any reason…”

Enough!

The freezer shook violently, and Wu Xian began to feel a bone-deep chill.

“Must you tear open every wound? I wronged Juan’er, so no matter how she treats me, I bear it without complaint—even if I die, I don’t want her to bear a bad reputation!”

Mr. Wang laughed bitterly, exhaling a cold breath directly into Wu Xian’s ear.

(Note: Worshiping deities carries a slight risk of inviting calamity—Heavenly Official bestows evil, Earthly Official brings punishment, Water Official curses. Offering a longevity peach ensures no negative effects from worship.)

Wu Xian understood.

Wu Xian paused for two seconds.

“It’s about to open—please bear with me a little longer.”

“I do good deeds without expecting anything in return!”

“So you truly love her? That’s fine—I’ll find a way to let you out.”

He tied the freezer with rope and pushed it from the bedframe to the window.

“I’m still a bit cold, but you… don’t you feel hot?”

On the freezer, Mr. Wang’s mangled face twisted into a cold smile—he would lock Wu Xian inside the fridge the moment he stepped out.

Heavenly Official, Kui Star, Lord of Fortune!

Wu Xian lazily rose, found a sunlit direction, opened the window, dismantled the bedframe and placed it before the window, then tied the freezer with rope.

“Then please hurry—I won’t let you down.”

Even if I release him and lift the curse, what then?

Nonsense!

Since waking in the freezer, he had gone mad with the desire to haunt—why should other malevolent spirits kill for sport while he was trapped in this icy box?

“The first time I worshiped before entering the Blessed Land, there were three statues around me—perhaps those three were the Three Officials who govern Heaven, the Underworld, and the Waters!”

If I can find just one more incense stick, I can come here to worship anytime!

Wu Xian hummed a tune, tapping his footsteps as rhythm, descended safely to the first floor, placed his hand on the apartment door handle—and it snapped back, hurling him backward a full step.

Even though Wu Xian has the True Fire Spell and the copper coin sword, he can’t waste them all here!

When he said Mr. Wang was dishonest, he didn’t mean their emotional entanglement.

“Ha, we meet again.”

Moreover, he had always been curious about what Zhao Juan had done to him.

Wu Xian’s singing stopped abruptly—he turned to go upstairs, but the stairwell had turned pitch black, the narrow window seemingly sealed by some unseen force.

So he took the stairs.

The door handle was freezing cold; the lock core was frozen solid—impossible to open!

To be threatened by a woman, and even after death, someone still pays him—this implies their leverage is immense, and Liu Juan hated him so fiercely…

【Small Longevity Peach】: Can be taken out of the Blessed Land; consuming it outside extends life, consuming it inside heals wounds, offering it to deities prevents calamity.

Suddenly, a pair of pale, frost-covered arms reached from behind and wrapped around Wu Xian’s neck!

Mr. Wang lay on Wu Xian’s shoulder, grinning coldly at him.

Wu Xian tucked away the longevity peach and turned to his other discovery—the master bedroom closet now held another statue: grotesque in appearance, blind, deaf, draped in a green robe, with a line of characters beneath its pedestal.

Wu Xian replied vaguely: “Oh, I found the key, but the chain’s been locked so long it needs to be loosened before it’ll open.”

Oppression, darkness, coldness pressed in; silence surrounded him—he could hear only his own breath and heartbeat.

Everyone who knows his secret must die.

“So it seems I angered the Water Official by attracting Mr. Wang.”

“Then what’s that outside statue?”

“How much longer are you going to delay?”

If Wu Xian turned back now, he would see Mr. Wang’s frozen, fleshless, horrifying face—his lipless teeth clacking as he whispered into Wu Xian’s ear.

Mr. Wang was a bad man!

Instead, he searched the room again—since entering the Blessed Land, every good item he’d found came from dangerous places.

So since Mr. Wang couldn’t interfere beyond the freezer, Wu Xian would find a proper way to release him.

…

After lifting the curse, Wu Xian didn’t rush to leave.

“Do you know?”

Wu Xian stepped back two paces, launched a flying kick, and sent the freezer perched at the window crashing down!

First, a longevity peach the size of a fist—he picked it up, and a new line appeared on his credential page.

“When body temperature drops below a certain point, the thermoregulatory center malfunctions, causing the person to feel overheated, strip off clothes, and seek cold—until, like me, they’re frozen through and through.”

The stairwell was also gloomy; the ceiling light had long been broken. Sunlight had filtered in through the windows when he came up, but now only dim scattered light remained. The plaster on the walls had peeled off; the bricks and cement were damp, giving a clammy, chilling sensation.

Therefore, Wu Xian didn’t believe Mr. Wang would keep his promise.

Is it really that delicious?

And…

“You saved me, and I haven’t repaid you—why are you leaving so soon?”

Get lost!

Wu Xian covered the statue, rummaged through drawers and cabinets until he found a toolbox, then left Mr. Wang’s house.

He wants to kill!

“Why do I feel like my coffin is moving?”

He meant Mr. Wang’s identity.

Previously, when Mr. Wang was still present, Wu Xian found nothing—yet this time, searching again, he quickly uncovered a new discovery.

But what most intrigued Wu Xian was the other information hinted at in the note—he was now nearly certain that statues were divided into three types: Heavenly Official, Earthly Official, Water Official; each brought different rewards and different calamities upon worship.

Faint sunlight fell upon the corpse, causing it to emit waves of black smoke. Mr. Wang let out a howl, rose up, his shattered limbs rapidly reassembling, then scrambled desperately into the shadows and vanished.

By extension, Mr. Wang’s house, where the freezer hid a corpse, must also hold something valuable.

“Now… do you feel overheated yet?”

Mr. Wang sensed movement and asked Wu Xian in confusion.

Wu Xian didn’t know how malevolent spirits came to be, but Mr. Wang was clearly a corpse transformed—a good person might, just possibly, retain some goodness after transformation, but a bad person transformed into a malevolent spirit was Baifenzhibai evil.

Wu Xian explained dryly: “Don’t misunderstand—just now, the freezer’s chain wouldn’t open, so I had no choice but to smash it violently. This was all to save you—I didn’t push you from the ninth floor because I wanted to kill you.”

He wanted to try it too.

“Hey, it actually works—so the rules of the Blessed Land are quite flexible.”

Does sharing a room with a malevolent spirit prevent attacks?

Wu Xian nodded, satisfied, pulling his head back from the window, his forehead slightly damp—his body temperature was gradually rising. He checked his credential: the curse status had vanished.

Kill the strangler to obtain the spirit incense; explore perilous places to glimpse Xuanming.

Crash!

The freezer plummeted straight down, smashing into the ground with a deafening crash—the lid shattered and flew off, spilling countless shards of ice and Mr. Wang’s broken corpse across the floor.

Just as when he arrived, Wu Xian refused to risk entering a sealed space he couldn’t escape, testing the elevator’s safety with his life.

Mr. Wang blinked once, his lone remaining eye flickering.

He really did feel a bit hot!

(End of Chapter)