novelraw Chapter 365
Chapter 365
Yang Zhi lowered his head and bitterly continued digging. Humiliated, he raised a hand to wipe the mud off his face, handing a stack of almanacs to Kong Xuyang, and asked, “Brother Kong, these are the ones I just dug out. Can you take a look?”
Kong Xuyang took the almanacs, quickly skimming over them:
“…Gengzi year, Gengchen month, Guihai day, the 21st day of the third month. The healthy men of the family gathered to offer sacrifices to the ancestors. They vowed to gain fame through justice, and defy oncoming ghosts from every direction. Wives, daughters, and parents shed tears on the other side of the bridge, praying to the heavens and gods to protect our Yinshan Village men and to let them come home in one shape…”
“Gengzi year, Xinsi month, Xinchou day, the first day of the fifth month. News of the conflict came from the capital. Canons rumbled, gunshots were fired. Even a hundred li1 away, family and relatives heard and were filled with worry, praying inside the ancestral shrine day and night…”
“Xinsi month, Yisi day, the first day of the fifth month, Dragon Boat Festival. There were no women wrapping zongzi2, no elders wearing joyful expressions, and no children happily playing. All of them sat at the village entrance in grief, keeping watch for those who would return home covered with a white cloth.”
“This person’s name was Wang Wu3, thirty-eight years old. He had a son and two daughters. He was an honest and sincere person, helping his family and neighbors cut wheat during harvest season. His wife wept before his corpse. She was left speechless, both her hands trembling. She uncovered the white cloth to see his mutilated corpse, missing his right hand and right leg, which had been said to have been blown up by evil spirits and unable to be retrieved.”
“Wang Wu’s son and two daughters shook his corpse, shouting helplessly. Wang Wu didn’t respond.”
“…The first day of the fifth month, a load of corpses returned, their faces covered with white cloth, and they were laid upon wooden frames at the village gate. Everyone in the village stood before the corpses in silence, not speaking a word. No person stepped forward to remove the clothes to identify the corpses. All of them buried their heads in their hands and wept. Several shichen4 later, Village Elder Zhang stepped forward and took off the cloth with trembling hands. Wailing loudly, he repeatedly kept calling out childhood names, tears incessantly streaming down his face as he grew faint in front of the corpses…”
…
“The 21st day of the fifth month. All of Yinshan Village’s young men returned, not a single one alive.”“The 27th day of the fifth month. An auspicious day for breaking ground, traveling, and burials. The majority of the young men of Yinshan Village returned home as mutilated corpses. According to custom, they would not enter the ancestral tomb; instead they would be buried at the foot of the mountain opposite. The widowed women held the memorial tablets in their hands, the children wept before the burial, and the parents supported the coffins from both sides. A vigil was held for forty-nine days. Although the burial did not take place in the ancestral tomb, it was performed with full rites and great honor.”
…
“The 20th day of the seventh month. All the righteous have died. Foreign aggressors ran rampant, heading to the capital without stop, burning, killing, looting, committing every atrocity imaginable. The smoke and flames from the great fire could be faintly seen from Yinshan Village.”
“The imperial court did not act, allowing the aggressors to feast on the people. In less than three days, it surrendered.”
“The first day of the ninth month. There is a rumor in the capital. The imperial court negotiated with the foreign devils5. To show its sincerity, it handed over the families of those who were involved and their villages to the evil aggressors, allowing them to slaughter, sexually violate and kill, loot, and occupy at will. It tacitly agreed to let them advance further inward, ceded territory, and punished the rioters to show sincerity.”
“Only the women, children, elderly, and weak remained in Yinshan Village, leaving them no power to resist. Overwhelmed with grief, they chose death over submission. In order to avoid being disgraced, the robust young widows jumped from the bridge for their husbands, carrying umbrellas to their deaths, their eyes open with unresolved grievances.”
“Choosing to become vengeful ghosts beneath the bridge rather than becoming disgraced women in the household.”
…
“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this?!” The more Kong Xuyang read, the more he grew angry, “It doesn’t have a damn connection with that zombie daoist at all! Are there any more?”
Yang Zhi swept a quick glance at the increasing number of ghosts outside the zombies, and he couldn’t help but break out in shivers, his complexion deathly pale. He shook his head towards Kong Xuyang but didn’t dare shake it, clearly out of fear of angering him. “N-none.”
“If there are none, hurry up and dig!” Kong Xuyang kicked Yang Zhi’s head with his foot, his face flushed red in anger.
Mu SiIcheng, who saw this spectacle from the side, couldn’t help but sneer and let out a mocking laugh: “Only dumbasses would vent their anger out on a teammate.”
Kong Xuyang’s temples pulsed. He walked over and raised his hand, about to give Mu Sicheng a stab, but halfway, he saw the fangs on the corners of Mu Sicheng’s mouth and stopped.
Mu Sicheng was currently afflicted with corpse poison and was turning into a zombie. If he were to walk over and Mu Sicheng makes an attempt to bite him even at the risk of his life, the one who would suffer a loss would certainly be him.
His current vitality was almost drained, so he could no longer precisely control the zombies watching over Mu Sicheng to bite him to death. All he could do was have the zombies keep watch over Mu Sicheng…
Moreover, if the zombie were to bite Mu Sicheng again and he didn’t die, his mental value would drop below 20, and although he wouldn’t die, it would result in a problematic situation.
More important matters take priority; there was no need to waste energy. First, they had to find the almanacs!
Kong Xuyang’s raised hand paused for a moment. He took a deep breath and forced his hand down, turning around, tucking the almanacs at his waist, knelt down, and continued grave digging with Yang Zhi.
Mu Sicheng stared at the almanacs on Kong Xuyang’s waist, the monkey paw pinned behind him by the zombie slightly twitching. He slowly took a long breath. The most update n0vels are published on NoveI~Fire.net
He had just attempted to anger Kong Xuyang into going over so he could steal the almanacs on his waist, but who would have thought that this time, this dumbass Kong Xuyang’s head was clear, and no matter how much he shouted, he didn’t even pay him a glance.
Mu Sicheng lowered his glaze and glanced at the Copper Wall Iron Fortress formed by zombies. Although it shook slightly from the surrounding ghosts, it seemed unbreakable for now.
What Kong Xuyang said wasn’t wrong. The trump card he had hidden would last until he finished searching all the almanacs.
If the almanacs were hiding a key point in the game, like Bai Liu said, wouldn’t Kong Xuyang have won, like he said?
Furthermore, Bai Liu and those ghosts were outside the wall, and he didn’t know how long Bai Liu could hold on…
The fangs on the sides of Mu Sicheng’s mouth grew longer and longer. His face was almost as bluish-green as a corpse, and his breathing quickened. He estimated the distance between him and Kong Xuyang.
At this distance, he could cover it in a quick sprint, meaning he could launch a surprise attack, snatch the almanacs from Kong Xuyang’s waist, and throw them outside the wall of zombies.
But if he were to forcefully sprint over, the zombie behind him would definitely attack him again, and Kong Xuyang over there would become furious and surely kill him. Under the joint offense between Kong Xuyang and the zombie, Mu Sicheng felt he wouldn’t last much longer before he kicked the bucket.
…He just didn’t know if Bai Liu could decipher this thing in time after getting it, find that Daoist zombie’s secret, and then come save him.
With this many steps, it was obvious there was no way to coordinate it in time. If he forced it, he would most likely end up dead.
Mu Sicheng took a deep breath—
Despite not knowing why, he thought that person outside, Bai Liu, no matter how inconceivable the tactic, he still felt that he could do it—
—I’ll take the gamble!
Mu Sicheng firmly watched the almanacs on Kong Xuyang’s waist, taking a deep breath. He lowered his body, then suddenly swiped his right claw in a quick burst forward, fiercely slashing towards Kong Xuyang’s waist. At the same time, the zombie behind him followed closely, its body swaying, leaving an afterimage as it lunged with its mouth open, aiming to viciously bite Mu Sicheng’s back.
Kong Xuyang reacted extremely quickly. Before the anger could even surface in his eyes, he flicked his dagger backward at the waist, swinging it outward to deflect the claw Mu Sicheng was reaching with.
But Kong Xuyang didn’t expect Mu Sicheng not to turn around and block the zombie behind him, instead not even paying heed to it. He grabbed Kong Xuyang’s dagger with his right claw and pulled it forward, dragging Kong Xuyang right in front of him.
In Kong Xuyang’s stunned and unprepared gaze, Mu Sicheng stiffly took a fierce bite on his back from the zombie, then used his left hand to hook the almanacs from Kong Xuyang’s waist. He also casually pulled the almanac that Yang Zhi, who still hadn’t reacted, just threw from the grave, crumpling them together into a ball and threw them outside, sharply yelling. “Bai Liu, almanacs coming out!”
The zombie behind Mu Sicheng had bitten him firmly, not letting go, causing him to choke out a mouthful of black blood.
From the spot the zombie had bitten, corpse poison was continuously injected into Mu Sicheng’s body. His complexion quickly withered.
Mu Sicheng supported himself with both hands on the ground, gasping for breath, each one bringing a putrid smell. His eyes darkened, fangs growing to the point they almost pressed against his lower jaw, and a bloodthirsty roar erupted from his throat.
Kong Xuyang watched helplessly as the almanacs he painstakingly collected were thrown outside by Mu Sicheng. Rage contorted his face, every muscle uncontrollably trembling. This time he couldn’t stay calm, raising his dagger and fiercely driving it into Mu Sicheng’s heart. “MU SICHENG—!!”
The tip of the dagger stabbed Mu Sicheng’s back, but it seemed to have stabbed into some tough animal hide, unable to go any deeper, the blade even curling back.
Kong Xuyang’s movement suddenly stopped and his expression changed.
Shit!
After being bitten fiercely twice, Mu Sicheng’s mental value dropped below 20!
[System Warning: Player Mu Sicheng’s mental value has dropped to 17, entering rage state panel!]
Mu Sicheng slowly raised his red eyes, tilting his head crookedly, rolling his shoulders a few times, and rubbed his fists. With the zombie still biting on his back, he stood up, shook his two increasingly long monkey claws, and looked down at the retreating Kong Xuyang and Yang Zhi, raising an eyebrow:
“No wonder Bai Liu ditched me here and wasn’t worried about saving me.”
“Turns out this game also has a rage setting.” Mu Sicheng stuck out his tongue and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, a red glow flickering in his eyes as he parted his lips in a sinister smile, “Very interesting, I like it.”
Kong Xuyang’s sharp, ear-piercing voice rang out as he extended his hand, palm up. “Zombies come over! Protect me!”
The surrounding zombies forming the wall outside quickly retreated inwards and circled around Kong Xuyang and Yang Zhi.
These zombie walls shrank as they were struck by Mu Sicheng, barely closing halfway, their size nothing compared to before. Kong Xuyang’s complexion was deathly pale, completely drained of blood. Struggling, he used talismans to control the zombies and hold them back, coughing up two mouthfuls of blood as he weakly urged Yang Zhi. “Q-quickly dig!”
Yang Zhi forced himself not to look outside, focusing wholeheartedly on digging the grave. His eyes were bloodshot, his breathing rapid, and his hands forceful. Driven by the will to survive, he dug swiftly.
Doing anything now was meaningless; he could only dig graves and quickly end the game!
Yang Zhi steadied his mind and swung his arms fiercely, digging two graves at once. But halfway through, he sensed that something was wrong.
The funeral objects in this grave included various damaged yet exquisite ancient gold, silver, jewels, and Chinese-style porcelain. Right in the center lay a finely crafted small sheepskin diary, not an almanac, and its entries weren’t written in calligraphy but in English letters.
Filled with suspicion, Yang Zhi dug a few more times and uncovered a Western-style hexagonal coffin. He lifted the coffin lid, looked inside the grave, screamed in shock, his butt falling to the ground. He kicked backward several steps, trembled as he pointed at the coffin, and said in a quivering voice, “B-Brother Kong, look at the person inside the coffin…”
Kong Xuyang followed where Yang Zhi’s finger pointed, subconsciously looking in the coffin, and also froze still.
Shockingly, inside the coffin were two corpses in Western-style clothes. In addition to wearing Western-style clothes on the outside, the two corpses wore Daoist robes underneath. They looked neither fully yin nor fully yang, neither Eastern nor Western. This style of clothing was already strange enough, but what was even stranger were their faces.
These two corpses’ faces were exactly the same as Yang Zhi and Kong Xuyang.
Yang Zhi kept retreating in terror, his voice trembling with tears as he said, “Brother Kong, what’s going on?! How can these corpses have the same appearance as us?!”
Kong Xuyang stared at the two corpses as if trapped in a nightmare, motionless. His face was pale for a long moment, and he murmured to himself:
“Grave robbers who stole from Yinshan Village a hundred years ago, and fake foreign devils who plundered Yinshan Village a hundred years before that…
“If the Daoist practicing Moashan Sorcery is at Yinshan Village, then the righteous practitioner should be…”
In the flash, everything connected in Kong Xuyang’s mind. He suddenly flipped open the Maoshan Daoist techniques he had stolen from behind the temple and skimmed through it from start to finish but found no notes. Then, as if he just thought of something, Kong Xuyang folded the book, stood it upright, and looked at it from the side.
Written in English on the side of the book pages:
[Year 1901, April 17th, specially invited two masters to assist us in using righteous techniques to break through Yinshan Village, and they will be bestowed with great gratitude after].
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
T/N: I got completely grilled and cooked by the old chinese in the almanacs so please keep in mind this translation isn’t fully 100% accurate!
[1] about 500 meters or 0.311 miles
[2] Zongzi are a traditional Chinese dish made with glutinous rice during the Dragon Boat Festival
[3] Wang Wu is a name for an unnamed person
[4] chinese time unit which is equivalent to 2 hours in modern time
[5] Derogatory term for western foreigners