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墨書 Inktalez
My mind buzzed, and I nearly lost my breath, feeling both distressed and furious. My body, a gift from my parents, had grown up strong and resilient, not pampered or spoiled. I had never harmed myself, which I considered a way to honor my biological parents whom I had never met. But now, with such a large piece of flesh torn from her mother, how many pig trotters would it take to make up for that?
My anger surged uncontrollably; if I still had hair, it would have stood on end! For the moment, I forgot the pain in my body, drew my staff, and charged at that skinning woman. "You damn witch! A life for a life; debts must be repaid! Take this!"
I was blinded by rage, throwing caution to the wind as I lunged at her, sword drawn to stab at her throat. Though brave, I lacked strategy and made the mistake of exposing my weaknesses too easily. She kicked me in the stomach, sending me rolling on the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, she pursued me relentlessly. With a sound like "hiss," she spat out a dozen or more babies. Having suffered before, my instincts kicked in at that sound; I quickly rolled away just as one of those Poison Babies chased after me, landing with a thud.
I realized that this entanglement was not sustainable. You can dodge once but not forever; if I escaped this time, there was no guarantee I'd escape next time. I needed to find a way to lure them toward the Ancient Guge Silver Eye. But in this situation, escape seemed impossible; before I could steady myself, the Poison Baby was already hot on my heels.
Suddenly, I caught sight of a corpse sitting at the bottom of the Buddha Cave. Perhaps because it was so low down, it hadn't been hit by the Black Demon Cloud yet. The bodies were fresh—having died recently—and their soft tissues hadn't fully hardened yet, making them suitable for "bullet wrapping."
What is "bullet wrapping"? It's an old battlefield tactic where a living person uses a dead body as a shield. Bullets hit the corpse without fully penetrating it, remaining inside while the living person behind can escape unharmed. Thus, it's called "bullet wrapping."
Though this method felt somewhat immoral, circumstances forced my hand. I could only hope for mercy from my ancestors and dedicate myself to this cause with utmost sincerity—doing my part for socialism by adding one more brick to the wall!
My mind raced as these thoughts flashed through in just a second or two. I called out to my junior: "Quickly! Use Ze Zhang to pull that corpse over here!"
He immediately understood and shouted while acting: "Great idea, Senior Brother! How did I not think of that? Everyone here—brothers and sisters—this is an emergency! Forgive me! If you have grievances, take it out on that witch! Senior Brother, catch!"
With that said, he tossed me a foul-smelling corpse. Holding my breath, I turned it over and—damn it—what a coincidence! It was the same one whose head had been knocked off by my senior sister's whip earlier; brain matter and blood were splattered all over it—how disgusting!
My junior held the dead body in front of him as he moved cautiously toward the Ancient Guge Silver Eye. The corpse already had two fist-sized holes burned through it by the Poison Baby. He crouched low and dodged left and right as he moved forward. Seeing me still hesitating on the ground, he cursed: " Senior Brother! Stop being picky; this isn't about choosing a wife! It doesn't matter if it's ugly or not! If you keep stalling like this, there won't even be any rotten fruit left to use—damn it!"
Hearing that shout, I didn’t have time to look up. I hurriedly grabbed the corpse and rolled it aside. Before I could steady myself, the ground beneath me shook violently, launching me three or four meters into the air. At that moment, my peripheral vision caught sight of the corpse blocking my right side; it had been reduced to a lonely arm and half a chest, the rest blown apart into a bloody mess by the Black Demon Cloud.
My heart raced, pounding in my chest with an unprecedented sense of dread that made me break out in a cold sweat. Before I could think further, I landed with a thud on my backside, the sharp pain in my tailbone jolting me back to reality. I quickly rolled on the ground to cushion my fall.
This explosion turned out to be a blessing in disguise, propelling me right near the Ancient Guge Silver Eye. As I rolled again, I landed safely beneath the Lotus Throne. My junior brother, who was climbing up with a corpse on his back, pulled me up just as I accidentally faced the dead body he was carrying. I was startled to see it smiling.
No matter how I looked at it, something felt off. I hurriedly glanced down and, sure enough, the Nv Ba was gone! My heart sank; could it be… on my junior brother’s back?
Seeing my expression change, my junior brother instinctively swallowed hard and silently mouthed, "What should we do?"
A thought flashed through my mind—Old Qiao had mentioned that this underground Buddha Cave was a boundary between the realms of yin and yang, essentially a place for borrowing corpses to return souls. Thus, the Nv Ba’s goal wasn’t to kill us but to use our bodies to escape from here. In terms of our ultimate objective, we were still aligned. However, the Nv Ba's palace was in the south, associated with fire, while the Ancient Guge Silver Eye was the only escape route but located in the north, associated with water. Water and fire cannot coexist; water extinguishes fire. If the Nv Ba wanted to carve out a bloody path from the Ancient Guge Silver Eye, she would need to leverage "human" power. That’s why she jumped up without hesitation as soon as we arrived.
Understanding this meant that my junior brother and I were temporarily safe from danger. I signaled him with my eyes to hold his position while I continued to climb.
The Nv Ba was cunning and treacherous; once she attached herself to a person, she could be full of tricks. It was quite possible she could overhear our conversation. However, since my junior brother was carrying a dead body on his back—essentially attaching herself to a corpse—it remained uncertain whether she could see or hear anything at all. Still, for safety's sake, we decided to communicate through gestures or mouthing words for now.
My junior brother wasn’t afraid of much except ghosts. Fortunately, since the Nv Ba wasn’t technically a ghost but something more complex, he was willing to carry her.
Ghosts are spiritual entities akin to what we commonly refer to as "souls," while zombies and similar beings belong to the material realm—they are soulless shells. The Nv Ba is even more unique; she embodies both soul and body—a special species that once was a celestial being but has since fallen from grace. Her physical form has decayed over time, necessitating a new body—a concept Old Qiao referred to as "borrowing corpses to return souls."
In the movie Hua Pi, that beautiful and enchanting Fox Demon needed to replace her Hua Pi regularly to maintain her youthful appearance; it’s essentially based on this principle.
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