Here Lies The Wicked

Chapter 31: Two Bodies

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Meow!”

A stray, black cat cried sharply and ran out from a dark alley. 

Fang Zheng looked up. 

He stared at the dark alley across the road before looking back at his phone. 

He waited for the Route 115 bus as he continued checking his journey by public transport to the shared location online.

According to his GPS, he would need to switch buses twice before arriving at the Tongjiang Bridge. 

He had needed to take the Route 31 bus before hopping onto the Route 115 bus; Fang Zheng was waiting for the Route 115 bus at the moment. He was already near the town center in Zhou City. It was rare to see people walking around at night. 

Fang Zheng planned to get an e-hailing ride and go over directly, but it was impossible to get one that went toward the Tongjiang Bridge at night. 

Fang Zheng thought about the short report he had glimpsed at while searching for news regarding the Tongjiang Bridge. 

It read that, after the reports of no one surviving the incidents on the Tongjiang Bridge, e-hailing rides stopped going toward that direction at night. 

Fang Zheng was forced to opt for the inefficient public buses. 

“Do you know how to get to Graves Hill?” a voice next to Fang Zheng said out of nowhere.

This man, who dressed like he was in the sixties or seventies, seemed a little unkempt, homeless, and looked as if he had been lost for some time. 

There was no answer. 

The weird old man repeated himself with his head lowered and his voice hoarse. He said monotonously, “Do you know how to get to Graves Hill?”

Again, there was no answer.

Click, click…the old man moved stiffly and began to lift his lowered head. There were clicking sounds coming from his neck, and his empty and distracted gaze stayed on Fang Zheng calmly. His rickety body was stationary. 

“Do you know how to get to Graves Hill?” The weird old man asked for the third time. This time, he was looking at Fang Zheng with a deathly stare. 

At this moment, a young man, who seemed like he was in his twenties standing across the road, had appeared out of nowhere. 

The man looked at Fang Zheng and said with an inscrutable expression, “A dead person touching the ground, the living marrying the dead, an old dog foraging a graveyard and consuming the offerings left by the living, or a Yin person asking for directions…do you know what it means to encounter any of these?”

Before Fang Zheng could answer him, he replied with a genuine smile, “They’re stealing a cloud of Yang Qi from you”. 

‘F*ck!’

Fang Zheng seemed like he was frightened and ran toward the young man in terror. He stumbled and nearly fell down on the road; he seemed more embarrassed than ever. 

When Fang Zheng reached the young man, he comforted Fang Zheng saying, “Don’t worry, every man has his own three flames, as long as you don’t answer his question and voluntarily wipe out our own flames, these ghosts can’t do anything to you.” 

“Ghosts?”

Fang Zheng said hastily, “Mas—master, save me.”

“Fine, fine, since meeting you was my fate, I’ll try my best to help you. Before that, I need you to know that I’m not 100% confident. I’ll go back to my store and get my weapons to tackle this ghost.” The young man pointed toward a shop lot about five or six meters away—it was a 24-hour convenience store. 

It was obvious that he was a discreet Master. 

The true professionals and masters seemed to be fans of living discreetly. 

Fang Zheng followed him to the convenience store without a doubt. As they went on their way to get the weapons, Fang Zheng asked curiously, “Master, if one were haunted by ghosts, how can he cast it out and exorcise the evil spirits?”

The young man replied, “Government of the Netherworld.”

‘Government of the Netherworld?’

‘Why was this mentioned?’ Fang Zheng frowned. 

At this very moment, the young man arrived at the entrance of the convenience store. His back was facing Fang Zheng, his hands were on the door handle, and he was about to push the glass door open. 

“Master, have you heard of a saying?” Fang Zheng asked out of the blue. 

“When something about a man gets hard, he should start worrying…”

??

Just as the young man, who was about to open the door, turned around in confusion, poof! 

The young man’s head was split in two, and it was a chilling sight. A one meter-long, threatening and shiny Death’s Head Blade continued splitting the body to where its chest was, and it finally stopped in the middle of the young man’s chest. 

However, there was no blood splattered or spilled, there was no blood flowing out of the body where it was split. 

“It’s a wing!”

Fang Zheng’s expression switched from fear to calmness. At the same time, he raised his left hand to use the Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal on the split back of the young man. 

The blood in Fang Zheng’s body was boiling, it sounded like the crashing of waves. His body was letting off high heat, it was as if he was near a stove. Heatwaves were coming off him—this was the vigor of qi and blood! Bang! 

The punch packed such strong qi and blood that the young man was immediately destroyed into pieces by the Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal. 

‘No!’ 

The dying young man found it hard to believe: how did this man see through his disguise? 

Just as Fang Zheng was about to kill the young man, wind soared behind him. It was so chilly that the temperature dropped by a dozen degrees. 

There was another ghost behind him—it was the weird old man! 

All that talk about staying safe if one’s flames were not blown out—it was all a lie! The chilly wind was already too close for Fang Zheng to whip out the Death’s Head Blade. He could only use his back to fend off this attack. 

Clang! 

That was the sharp clang of metal; golden sparks shot out from Fang Zheng’s back. The large amount of force forced Fang Zheng’s body forward—he nearly fell over. 

That Ghastly Old Man was the one attacking him! 

At this moment, he seemed ghastly: his black nails grew over dozens of centimeters, and his ugly face showed that he was adamant about tearing up Fang Zheng. 

“F*ck!”

He felt goosebumps on his back, and the qi and blood in him were boiling. Fang Zheng had nearly vomited blood from that hit. Thankfully, the Golden Immunity Shield had lessened the blow. Ghastly claws tore through six out of the ten shield layers before it stopped. 

That Ghastly Old Man did not have it easy either. 

Confronting Fang Zheng’s defense-based Golden Immunity Shield, as well as his boiling qi and blood, was like a century-old iceberg running into a large diamond stove. His black and sharp nails began cracking inch by inch. 

Fang Zheng did not have time to get excited. After getting a chance to breathe, he immediately retaliated. 

At this very second, the Ghastly Old Man’s nails grew rapidly again. 

Fang Zheng was fearless. He went head-to-head with the ghost. He was wielding the Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal in his left hand and the threatening Death’s Head Blade in his right hand. 

‘Given that I won’t be dying tonight, you will die! 

‘There’s no other way to do it!’

Poof! 

With the close-up counterattack, the Ghastly Old Man’s arm was cut off by the sharp Death’s Head Blade.

Fang Zheng’s qi and blood were burning like a hot stove—it was an antidote to the evil spirits. His left fist was painted gold, and it was shining with divine light; it was the Sunfire pent up inside him for the past few days paired with the Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal. He went head-to-head again with the Ghastly Old Man’s remaining arm. 

Bang! 

Fang Zheng felt as if he had struck a block of ice. His defense-based Golden Immunity Shield was immediately cracked into three…four…and five layers! 

He did not flinch. The qi and blood inside him were boiling together with his Sunfire; he lit up the Ghastly Old Man—he became a striking torch. 

The Ghastly Old Man screamed and growled. His mouth, widened in pain, was black and tongue-less. There were no teeth, and it was pitch black. 

Fang Zheng did not hesitate! 

Fang Zheng cut his head off with one blow and punched one side of his chest with his fist. The burning Sunfire within him was generously and crazily flowing into the body of the Ghastly Old Man. 

Bang!

Poof! 

The Ghastly Old Man exploded. He turned into half a corpse and fell to the ground. 

It was the lower half of a person’s body. 

It was as if he was split into two halves by his waist. He only had his lower body left. 

At this moment, Fang Zheng saw reality again; it was the same street. There was a 24-hour convenience store, but he was not standing in front of it. He was standing at the entrance of the dark alley. 

He was this close to entering the dark alley. 

‘It’s that out of body experience again!’ 

Fang Zheng calmed down. 

‘A person should not fall into the same trap twice!’ Since the last experience, Fang Zheng started becoming more cautious. When he realized that the distance between the bus stop and the road across him was off, he realized that he had been blinded by ghosts again. 

He had an out of body experience. 

Fang Zheng looked around and found another body in the alley! 

It was the top half of the body! 

The corpse was now complete. 

However, there was no blood on the ground; it was even more peculiar to find that these two halves of the body seemed as if they were already dead for a long time. They had shrunk drastically, and they also turned black and dry.

‘Two halves of the body! 

‘Split by the waist!’

Fang Zheng’s expression changed. He recognized what he was looking at. 

He had been studying information relevant to this recently to face the changing world. 

All of a sudden two clouds of Gray Qi rose from both the top and bottom halves of the body, and two parts of the runes on the Human Skin Scripture lit up. 

‘Did this count as two creatures?’ 

Fang Zheng was excited. 

This was a surprise. He thought that the two halves of the body would be counted as one creature; this was a bonus to him. 

However, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but sweat in fear as he thought about the battle just now.

Thankfully, these ghosts were not Internet-savvy. They did not know what online posts were. 

On top of that, he did not rush it. He was not crazy enough to confront two ghosts at the same time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the privilege of knowing how he lost that battle. 

It was notable that his ten layers of Golden Immunity Shield were cut down to six by the Ghastly Old Man. 

If he had confronted both creatures at the same time, it would have been a suicide mission. Fang Zheng could not help but shudder at the thought. 

Fang Zheng started being careful after the battle today. 

The grievances from two halves of the body were too strong. They were more vicious than normal ghosts. If he was to meet another body split into two halves, he would have to be extremely careful. 

This was different from the normal ones. 

Two halves of the body could create two creatures—they were way more vicious than an evil spirit. 

Fang Zheng silently decided to be extra cautious if he was ever going to meet two halves of a body again. 

There was nothing wrong with being cautious. 

Fang Zheng kicked both halves of the body into the alley and left hastily. 

He did not expect to meet vicious creatures like both halves of the body tonight. Fang Zheng was excited about the collection of two clouds of the Gray Qi, but he was wary of exposing himself as well; he switched buses a few times before getting back on the Route 115 bus. 

When Fang Zheng arrived at his destination, it was already past 9pm.