Chapter 10

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan felt as if a basin of ice water had been poured over his head, and his whole body fell into a chill.

In a daze, it felt as if his soul had been scared out of his body, and the reason it hadn't been scared out was because this was not reality; his body was not here.

"Run!"

Li Zhuiyuan pulled Qin Liu's hand and ran as soon as he stood up.

But before they had run a few steps, the group of old women who had been washing dishes with sand stood in front of them, blocking their path.

Their seemingly withered and aged bodies stood firm, no matter how Li Zhuiyuan pushed or bumped into them.

In despair, the thought that appeared in Li Zhuiyuan's mind was: No wonder the Great-Grandfather's paper-cutting business was good; the materials and workmanship were indeed top-notch.

Actually, breaking through by force had no hope, because he was still small and had no strength at all. He didn't know any of the Great-Grandfather's or Liu Jinxia's methods.

He had originally thought he could avoid this incident by hiding, and he had nearly succeeded, but it was ruined at the very last step.

He turned around and looked at the cat-faced old woman, forcing himself to stay calm, and then began to quickly recall any knowledge he could use.

He didn't need to bother searching, because he had only read one book, and it was an introductory encyclopedia... and he had only read four volumes.

It was truly a case of regretting having read too little when the time came to use it, but now, he could only try to force his existing knowledge to fit.

As a result, Li Zhuiyuan actually found one that seemed to match.

Volume 3, Chapter 12 of "Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena" recorded a special type of dead-riser—a Corpse Demon.

When a person with deep resentment floated in the water and came into contact with the corpse of an animal that also carried evil, filthy energy, by chance, the two fused, forming an eerie existence that was neither human nor demon.

This kind of dead-riser would possess some special abilities. For example, the Corpse Demon mentioned in the book was located in the Changbai Mountain area in the Northeast, a combination of a human and a Weasel Spirit, capable of setting up miasma and bewitching people's hearts, eventually being destroyed by the "Righteous Path."

As for what the "Righteous Path" referred to here, Li Zhuiyuan did not know, and he felt there was no need to know, because the ending of every dead-riser entry was "destroyed by the Righteous Path."

Whether they were truly destroyed, by which sect, whether by monks, Daoists, lamas, or sorcerers... it didn't matter at all. The author who wrote this book seemed to use "destroyed by the Righteous Path" as the period at the end of every entry.

The cat-faced old woman before him looked very much like a Corpse Demon.

But if one insisted on forcing the concept, one had to first determine if she died in the river. If she died elsewhere, she wasn't a dead-riser and didn't belong in "Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena."

But this old woman's clothes were clean, and her hair was gray and fluffy; she didn't look like a water ghost at all. The kind like Little Huang Ying, who was soaking wet from head to toe, was the standard template.

Li Zhuiyuan felt... it should be beyond the scope.

The cat-faced old woman retracted her head, bent down, and reached out to pick up a piece of tiger-skin meat and a chicken leg from the ground.

She had noticed something was wrong because of these two things on the ground, as they did not conform to the simple cognitive habits in her dream.

"What good food, how can one waste food like this? This is going to..."

The last word was stopped by the cat-faced old woman. Clearly, saying those two words with her current identity was the true taboo.

She opened her mouth and, regardless of the dirt, put the meat and chicken leg into her mouth, chewing with great enjoyment and intoxication.

"Back then, if I had a bowl of corn porridge, how good that would have been."

In her eyes, there was a look of reminiscence. That was the greatest longing, or even... extravagant hope, she had had for a long time while curled up on the bed, looking at the closed door.

But in the end, she hadn't been able to wait for a grain of rice or a mouthful of water.

The cat-faced old woman looked at Li Zhuiyuan again, but before she could speak, Li Zhuiyuan spoke first:

"Hello, Grandma, I wish you a happy birthday."

Cat-faced old woman: "..."

This birthday wish silenced even the Corpse Demon.

After a long while, the cat-faced old woman reached out and probed toward Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that there was also fur on the back of her hand, and her nails were very long and sharp at the tips.

Not dodging, Li Zhuiyuan let the other's hand touch his face.

The familiar feeling of ice being applied to his face appeared again; it was the exact same feeling he had had in Liu Jinxia's hall that day.

"Grandma, I've discovered it. You little one, not only are you handsome, but your brain is also very sharp.

That day, when my eldest son was about to leave, you deliberately let him wash his hands beside you so that Grandma could leave you and return to him, right?"

"I was afraid Grandma would forget the way home."

"Really?"

"Also felt that you were more used to him carrying you."

"No..." The cat-faced old woman's fingers slid to Li Zhuiyuan's lips. "Now I prefer the little one to carry me."

Following that, the cat-faced old woman looked at Qin Liu standing behind Li Zhuiyuan: "What a beautiful little girl."

Li Zhuiyuan introduced: "Her brain has problems, she can't speak, and her temper is bad; she bites people at every turn."

"Oh, is that so? No wonder when I saw her during the day, she was just sitting there, not moving at all. Sigh, what a pity, such a beautiful little girl."

As she spoke, the cat-faced old woman focused her attention on Li Zhuiyuan's face again: "Little one, Grandma really likes you. Just keep Grandma company."

"Don't you have..." Li Zhuiyuan immediately realized something and changed his words, "Alright, I'll keep Grandma company."

He had originally wanted to say, don't you have your own grandson, but that was just asking for trouble.

The cat-faced old woman nodded with a smile and said to the fat chef and the others: "Everyone has worked hard. Let's eat together."

According to local customs, when hosting a banquet, after the first and second waves finished eating and the guests were all entertained, one or two more tables would be set for the cooks, helpers, and family members to eat.

"Alright, Old Madam." The fat chef and the old women regained their vitality and began to clean up to prepare to eat.

"Little one, come too."

After giving the order, the cat-faced old woman turned and walked out of the kitchen. Li Zhuiyuan noticed that there were watermarks in the footprints she left behind. The cloth shoes on her feet were also exceptionally dark in color, and they made a "creak, creak" sound as she walked, as if they were filled with water.

Was this... a correct guess?

"Come, little one, go eat." The fat chef grabbed Li Zhuiyuan's hand, interrupting his train of thought.

Seeing that those old women didn't grab Qin Liu, clearly the cat-faced old woman wasn't interested in this "brain-damaged" girl, so he let go of Qin Liu's hand, turned his head, and said to her:

"You go first... no, just stand here and don't move."

He didn't know where to go anyway, so it was safer to stay in the kitchen. Anyway, what that old woman wanted was him.

Li Zhuiyuan was taken out of the kitchen. The outside, which had been full of people, now looked dead silent.

It wasn't that there were no people; on the contrary, there were many, shoulder to shoulder, crowded together in a black mass, yet no one made a sound, nor did they make any movement.

The original tables and chairs had been cleared and stacked against the wall. Here, only two slightly empty areas remained.

One had a table of wine and food, and the other was the three performing the Child Opera.

Everyone else was standing densely packed, waiting to watch the performance after the meal.

Li Zhuiyuan was pulled by the fat chef to the table.

The cat-faced old woman was already sitting in the main seat and patted the empty seat beside her: "Come, little one, sit beside Grandma."

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to sit over. During this time, he deliberately looked in the direction he had come from, only to find that Qin Liu hadn't listened and stayed safely in the kitchen, but had actually followed them out, standing among the crowd, her gaze fixed on him.

People don't care about you, why do you still have to crowd forward?

The cat-faced old woman also noticed and asked with a smile: "How about we call her over to sit together?"

"No, Grandma. She has already eaten. Her temper is bad, she's shy, and it's easy to make everyone eat uncomfortably."

"Oh? Then why are you still playing with her?"

"Neighbors, so I brought her along to play."

"Hehe, you are quite kind." The cat-faced old woman's hand rested on Li Zhuiyuan's head, stroking it gently. "My grandsons and granddaughters also used to be helped by me when they were little. Back then, they also called me 'Grandma' with every breath, but after they grew up, each one wished I would die sooner. They all felt that I was an old thing who wouldn't die, making them not do well, not live a good life, and not get rich."

Li Zhuiyuan listened quietly.

"I just can't figure out why they became like that. Perhaps, it really is my fault. I lived too long and sucked their blessings, sorry to them?

I feel, I should die sooner and be reincarnated sooner. It's also for their own good. Little one, tell me, am I right?"

If you really thought so, how could you become a dead-riser?

According to the general outline at the beginning of "Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena," dead-risers were existences catalyzed by resentment.

If you had no resentment, how could you be sitting here now? Relying on longing?

"Grandma, you can't think like that. My mother told me that when facing beasts, reflecting on oneself and trying to understand them are both very ridiculous things."

"Oh... your mother's words really make sense." After a pause, the cat-faced old woman laughed to herself. "Hehe, I think so too, but in the end, I still feel a bit unbearable. After all, they are children I raised and brought up."

"Then did they treat you as a mother, as a grandmother?"

"In my eyes, they are still children after all. Since they are children, they will always make mistakes, right?"

"But they are also grandfathers and grandmothers themselves, and they have also been fathers and mothers. How could they not understand your feelings? Yet they still did this."

"Right, they are truly hateful!!!"

The green light in the cat-faced old woman's eyes began to flow rapidly, and her sharp teeth flipped out of her lips and were exposed.

"Little one, you are so right, too right. Grandma, I really like you so much I can't stand it!"

This time, two hands grabbed Li Zhuiyuan's face, kneading it constantly.

Li Zhuiyuan felt his face was about to be frozen stiff.

"Grandma... you must not let them go." The cat-faced old woman let go of Li Zhuiyuan's face, grabbed the table with both hands, and left ten deep indentations on it with her nails:

"That's right, how could I let them go? This group of guys is simply worse than us beasts!"

Li Zhuiyuan: Worse than us beasts?

So the master of this Corpse Demon is a cat?

The cat-faced old woman turned her head to look at Li Zhuiyuan and said word by word: "Little one, watch carefully. I will make them pay for what they have done!"

Can you let me see it while I'm alive?

Li Zhuiyuan immediately echoed: "Grandma, definitely!"

He had no guilt in his heart for his guidance of the hatred above; he was just knowing the answer and filling in the problem-solving process.

Even without his guidance, this old woman would do so. If he tried to persuade her to think openly, his head would be opened first.

At this time, the fat chef asked: "Old Madam, can we start at this table?"

The cat-faced old woman asked: "Are everyone here?"

"It's just us."

"What about the family?"

The fat chef scratched his head: "The family is just you. None of your children came."

"Not them. Borrowing people's land, tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks, not inviting people to the banquet is not according to the rules."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Grandma, they aren't hungry. They are already asleep. Don't wake them up."

"How can that be?" The cat-faced old woman stared at Li Zhuiyuan eerily again. "This final banquet must have everyone called here. Otherwise, it's losing the rules and will be poked in the back by others."

"Really don't need to, Grandma."

"Buzz!"

The cat-faced old woman pinched Li Zhuiyuan's neck with one hand and lifted him up.

"Little one, you aren't being obedient just now, hehehehe."

At this moment, in the second-floor bedroom, Li Zhuiyuan, who was sleeping with his forehead against the desk, showed pain and fell into suffocation.

"Grandma... I was wrong... I was wrong..."

Li Zhuiyuan grabbed the other's hand with both hands, but couldn't pry it open at all. His legs could only kick aimlessly.

The feeling of death was so clear.

In the distance, Qin Liu, standing in the crowd, saw her eyelashes begin to flutter, and her body began to tremble, and the amplitude was increasing.

"Pop!"

The cat-faced old woman let go, and Li Zhuiyuan fell to the ground. Freed from the restraint, he began to gasp for breath.

She would still kill him!

She was not human; she was a Corpse Demon. Fierceness was her nature!

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look at Qin Liu in the crowd. After meeting his gaze, Qin Liu seemed to receive some kind of soothing, slowly lowered her eyes again, and her body gradually stopped trembling.

In the second-floor bedroom, Li Zhuiyuan, who was sleeping on the table, saw the pain on his face slowly fade, and his breathing was able to stabilize.

Cat-faced old woman: "Little one, you have to teach well from a young age."

"Grandma, you are right." Li Zhuiyuan climbed up and walked toward the table again.

"If you feel you can't teach well, you have to drown him early, so that when he grows up, he won't become a heartless disaster. You say I'm right?"

Li Zhuiyuan picked up a plate of braised fish on the table and swapped it with the stir-fried peanuts in front of the cat-faced old woman.

Afterward, he sat down and nodded:

"That's right, yes."

"Hmm..." A smile appeared on the cat-faced old woman's face again, and she reached out to touch the red mark on Li Zhuiyuan's neck gently. "You little one are still obedient. Did Grandma hurt you just now?"

"Grandma is educating me, I understand."

"Hmm." The cat-faced old woman looked at the fat chef. "Go invite people. Invite the family over to eat."

"Alright, we'll go now."

The fat chef and those old women washing dishes each stood up and left the table to call people.

And when the fat chef walked to the stairwell, the stairs that had disappeared appeared again. He ran up, his fat shaking.

Arriving at the second-floor terrace, he walked to Li Sanjiang's bedroom, pushed the door open, and saw Li Sanjiang sleeping on the bed.

"Coming, eat the banquet!"

The fat chef walked to the bedside and reached out to grab Li Sanjiang's wrist. Next, he would pull out this person's soul and take it to eat the banquet.

However,

suddenly,

the fat chef only felt that the environment around him had distorted. He, who had been standing in the bedroom, now appeared on a square, surrounded by towering palaces.

Following that, he saw in front of him:

An old man wearing white holey big shorts was at the very front, leading a group of zombies in jumping.

The old man jumped once, and the zombies behind him collectively jumped once.

The old man wasn't careful and didn't stand firm when landing, and the zombies behind him collectively stumbled.

The fat chef was so scared by this scene that he immediately returned to his original color—his face was as pale as paper.

Just at this moment, the zombie at the very end reacted the slowest and fell down. Its face looked behind, and it saw the fat chef standing there.

This zombie seemed to have seen a novel thing and jumped toward the fat chef.

The fat chef immediately began to run, and the zombie began to chase.

"Buzz!"

The fat chef appeared beside the bed and returned to the bedroom. He reached out to touch his face and touched thick powder putty. This was because he was so scared that his makeup had fallen off.

"Thump!"

The floor suddenly trembled.

It seemed like a behemoth had landed.

"Come, little one, they went to call people. Let's eat first."

The cat-faced old woman reached out and grabbed a handful of dried fruit, placing it in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan showed a look of difficulty. He had tried this thing; let alone eating it, it was uncomfortable to put in his mouth.

"Eat..."

The old woman's tone lowered.

Li Zhuiyuan could only pick one up, swallowed his saliva, and put it into his mouth. In an instant, an intense feeling of nausea and vomiting struck, but looking at the old woman's expression, he could only cover his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting.

"Hmm, very good. Little one, this is right. No matter when, you cannot waste food. Grandma, I, in this life, was hungry before liberation, hungry as a widow raising three children after liberation, and even hungrier after the children grew up.

So, Grandma really knows the preciousness of food."

Li Zhuiyuan could only nod while enduring the nausea, but he really couldn't swallow this bite of food.

At this moment, the fat chef rolled down from the stairs in extreme panic, shouting loudly:

"Old Madam, it's not good, Old Madam, it's not good!"

"What's the matter?"

The cat-faced old woman stood up. This was her "territory," and she was the controller here.

"Bang!"

A pair of long boots landed, hitting the fat chef, directly crushing him into a pile of waste paper and wooden strips.

"Ah..."

A chilling throat sound circled the entire banquet hall, causing the temperature here to drop suddenly.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and looked at the existence that had suddenly appeared in front of him with a stunned face.

This was a...

Zombie wearing a Qing Dynasty official robe and a top-hat with a peacock feather!

——

There will be another update before 12:00.

(End of chapter)