Chapter Eighteen: Corpse at the Bottom of the River

  Intentionally, Xiao Huan was absolutely intentional. I fell impartially onto the corpse in the water, and instantly the whole person was shrouded in a foul smell, struggled for a few times, and my body was even covered with disgusting sticky liquid.

  Looking towards the shore, apart from Xiao Huan, everyone else was squatting on the ground digging at something with their hands. This group of bastards, not a single one of them cared about my life or death.

  It's unbearable to stay in the water, although it's midsummer, I feel chilled to the bone. Plus that strong stench, staying a little longer will definitely make me dizzy.

  I gritted my teeth and dragged the corpse to the shore, whether Zhao Mei was buried or cremated had nothing to do with me, why bother tangling with Xiao Huan? As long as I handled her body in the end, I would be safe.

  Anyway, the policy of cremation can only be implemented in cities, and in vast rural areas, it was strictly enforced when the policy was first introduced, but later on, people secretly buried their dead underground, with no one strictly following the rules.

  In our place, the county even came up with a slogan: reporting others for earth burial can get you a reward of 3,000 yuan. Because if they catch someone's family doing an earth burial, the fine will be far more than 3,000 yuan.

  But they are all fellow villagers, who would have the nerve to report others for those three thousand pieces? If it's known, there will be no way to mix in the future, whoever sees them will spit and scold a few words.

  As soon as the body was pulled ashore, Xiao Huan came over and blocked me from going ashore. I got angry, pushed him away, and wiped all the dirty things on my body onto his.

  Xiao Huan's eyebrows didn't even twitch, and he said expressionlessly: "There are still bodies in the river, continue to salvage! If I'm not mistaken, there should be four more bodies. If we don't retrieve them all, Zhao Mei's body will return to the river."

  Are you kidding me? This is just an ordinary river, not a cemetery, how can there be so many corpses. I'm sure, Xiao Huan is being careful, trying to trick me.

  "Xiao Huang, I'm going to f**k your mom. Why bother me when you can just go and save yourself?"

  I really can't take it anymore. Barefoot is not afraid of wearing shoes, anyway I'm now covered in dirty things, even if I couldn't beat him, I could still disgust him a bit.

  Besides, I'm really fully recovered from my injuries now. When I was soaking in the water, I didn't feel any discomfort at all. It's not necessarily that I'm not his match.

  When I was a kid, I was a well-behaved child. Every time someone hit me and I went back to cry to my parents, my dad would scold me, saying that I had no guts and didn't know how to fight back. Of course, every time he also stood up for me. My dad's famous quote is: whoever hits my son, I'll hit his dad.

  After my dad left, others scolded me as a fatherless child and often bullied me. At home I was a well-behaved son, not letting mom worry, but outside, when I got angry, even I myself was scared.

  I rushed towards Xiao Hua like a madman, but he didn't even dodge. He looked at me coldly, making me feel uneasy. Just as my fist was about to hit his face, I suddenly found myself floating in mid-air.

  "Boom!"

  I was thrown like a dog eating shit. When Xiao Hua's foot stepped on me, I hadn't reacted yet. How did I suddenly get slammed to the ground?

  "Hmph, you good-for-nothing, I really don't understand what your elders were thinking, how they could raise someone as useless as you?" Xiao Huan's eyes were full of disdain.

  I glared at him with resentment, damn it, I was just careless for a moment. Don't let me get the chance, this vendetta must be avenged!

  At this time, Ma Zhiguo suddenly shouted: "Mr. Xiao, something has been dug up!"

  Xiao Huan finally let go of me, and leaned over to examine a pit dug out by Ma Zhi Guo and the others. This was a good opportunity, he had no guard against it at all, I sneered inwardly, carefully crawling up.

  I'm not a little lamb, when I started to understand that even if I got beaten up, there wouldn't be an old dad to bail me out anymore, so I learned that everything has to rely on myself. Getting beaten and then going back to find mom, that's not something a man does, getting beaten means you have to fight back.

  I suddenly sprang up and kicked Shaohuang's back with a vicious kick, he was also kicked to the ground, falling into the pit. I felt much more comfortable in my heart, standing at the edge of the pit and laughing loudly.

  "You're awesome! Be even more awesome and show me!"

  Ma Zhiguo pushed me and shouted: "Wu Tian, what do you want to do?"

  They are all in the same boat, seeing Xiao Huan at a disadvantage, Ma Zhi Guo would not be willing. I coldly smiled and stared at Ma Zhi Guo: "If you have the guts, take me back, can he hit me and I can't fight back? Is there still justice?"

  What astonished me was that Xiao Huan didn't explode, but instead glared at me and said lightly: "Alright, stop messing around, let's dig out this corpse first. Be careful not to damage the body."

  I'm a bit at a loss, I'm a stubborn donkey, if he continues to be tough, I'll definitely go head-to-head with him. But now that he's softened up, it's actually made me unsure of what to do.

  They all ignored me and carefully squatted at the edge of the pit to dig up corpses. Xiao Huan still had some real skills, holding a compass and turning in a circle, and he actually found a corpse.

  When the body was dug up, I was shocked. It was a little girl's corpse, which was well-preserved and showed no signs of decay or any foul odor.

  Something is not quite right, the ground here had no signs of disturbance before, it was overgrown with weeds. Even if someone buried a body, it would have been at least several months ago, how could they dig up a perfectly intact corpse?

  The body was placed beside the pit, Xiao Huan squatted beside the body and brushed away the dirt on the face with his hands, revealing a very delicate doll-like face.

  I felt as if I had been struck by lightning, my whole body shook and my mind went blank. This doll-like little girl was unmistakably the vengeful spirit that had been haunting me earlier!

  "This... how is this possible?" I took a few steps back, feeling a bit dazed and disheartened.

  Xiao Huan raised his head, a smile playing on his lips: "Doesn't it feel very familiar?"

  It's not just familiarity, this face I will never forget in my lifetime. Previously, she almost killed me several times, if it wasn't for Ren Binghua, I would have been dead long ago.

  Xiao Huan ignored me again, took out a talisman, muttered a few words that I couldn't hear, and stuck the talisman on the little girl's forehead.

  The moment the ghost painter touched the corpse's forehead, the little girl suddenly opened her eyes, her face turned extremely ferocious, she opened her mouth and revealed sharp fangs.

  I feel a chill down my neck, she's a bloodsucker. When she was lying on Wang Kun's back earlier, licking his fresh blood with an expression of intoxication, the scene still gives me goosebumps now when I think about it.

  The little girl struggled desperately, her mouth letting out a mournful and piercing cry, as if she was crying, yet also as if she was intimidating us. Her eyes stared at me with hatred.

  I feel a chill running down my spine, why is she staring at me like that? I have no grudges against her, if it wasn't for her trying to harm me, things wouldn't have escalated to this point today.

  But the little girl in Xiao Huan's hands obviously had no ability to resist, after struggling for a while, she calmed down and became an icy corpse again.

  Xiao Huan sighed: "What's the point of this? Even if you harm others, you won't be able to survive. Everything should have ended by now. I hope you'll have a better life in your next reincarnation."

  I was completely stunned, standing still in a daze, not knowing what to say. Xiao Huan stood up and walked towards me, I subconsciously took a few steps back.

  "Don't resent her, everything will end tonight. Besides Zhao Mei, there are four others who were killed by this little thing. If you don't want to be haunted by the female ghost from before, hurry up and retrieve the corpses." Xiao Hua's expression was somewhat despondent.

  "What? She killed so many people? Wasn't Zhao Mei killed by her boyfriend?" I asked, somewhat disbelieving.

  Xiao Huan shook his head with a bitter smile: "If it was just an ordinary quarrel, how could someone kill their own girlfriend? It was only because Zhao Mei's boyfriend was confused that he did such a foolish thing."

  I don't quite understand Xiao Hua's thoughts, he looks a bit distressed, is he grieving for that little girl? Although she lost her life at such a young age, it's a pity, but she also harmed others and was deeply sinful, there's nothing to sympathize with.

  He told me to go and retrieve the corpse, I was feeling heavy-hearted and didn't think much of it, nodded my head and turned around to jump into the river. But at the last moment, I came to my senses, damn it, why did he ask me to retrieve a corpse again?

  I woke up a bit late, and without any defense, that son of a bitch Xiao Huan kicked me in the back again. After falling into the river, I pointed at Xiao Huan and scolded him loudly, that guy was too much.

  "Stop cursing, you can't curse me to death, come and fight me if you dare!" Xiao Huan shouted wildly.

  This is a sinister guy, just now pretending that everything has passed, didn't expect he was looking for an opportunity to retaliate against me.

  He's on the shore and I'm in the water, clearly at a disadvantage. A gentleman takes revenge ten years later, not too early, I should learn from him, when I get the chance, I absolutely won't show mercy.

  Fortunately, Ma Zhi Guo finally realized that he was a public servant and took the initiative to send two police officers to help me retrieve the bodies.

  Xiao Huan stood on the shore, holding a compass and directing us. He was much more reliable than Ren Binghua, pointing out one accurate location after another. In just over half an hour, we dug up four more bodies.

  These four corpses were even older, deeply buried in the mud, and had long since turned into white bones, with no hair left to speak of.

  According to Ma Zhi-guo's judgment, these four skulls were also the remains of women. In their current state, it is difficult to determine their true identities.

  On Xiao Huan's suggestion, these corpses along with the little girl's corpse were to be cremated immediately, lest something unexpected happen. Ma Zhi Guo and the others agreed, made a record of several corpses, piled them together, and decided to cremate them right there.

  Xiao Huan took out a small bottle from his pocket and sprinkled the black contents over the corpses. The bodies immediately emitted white smoke, followed by a massive fire that engulfed them. The flames roasted the rotting flesh, releasing a stench that forced us to retreat several steps back.

  He then picked up the incense stick from before and tossed it upwards. However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred, and a black shadow emerged from the flames with the remaining incense!