Chapter 41
Chapter 41
“No, it isn’t!”
Old Cao interrupted gravely. “You were about to call it a mother-and-child fiend, weren’t you, Mr. Yuan?”
“Isn’t it?”
Yuan Fei stared at the corpse’s heaving, twisting stomach.
That had been my first thought too, but reflection told me it was wrong.
If this truly were a mother-and-child fiend, at least two or three of us would already be dead. We could never have restrained it.
Old Cao said, “If I’m right, this is a special symbiotic vicious corpse…”
He guessed that the crime Duan Ren and the other two committed three months ago had left Miss Duan pregnant!
She probably discovered it but, raised like a delicate flower in a greenhouse, had no idea what to do.
She had no one to confide in and dared not tell her brothers or father, so she let the situation drag on.
Perhaps she returned home after graduation intending to tell Boss Duan!
But before finding the courage, those shameless villains harmed her again and ended her young life.
Duan Meng was therefore carrying a fetus when she died!
The pregnancy was too recent to show, so neither Yuan Fei nor Big Bull had noticed…
More important was the black cat that leaped into the coffin before it was sealed!
Today may have been exactly the third month of Miss Duan’s pregnancy. During the first three months, a fetus was not considered a living soul.
At three months, however, both biology and metaphysics might recognize it as a “formed fetus”!
The black cat startled the corpse, yet Miss Duan did not immediately rise. Her corpse energy was absorbed by the fetus. Once fully nourished, it became the eerie entity known as a fetal corpse-fiend…
But three months remained too early. The fetus was incomplete and could not join Miss Duan as a true mother-and-child fiend!
“I understand!”
No wonder the cat caused no immediate disaster in the mourning hall. The corpse energy had gone into the fetus.
Mother and child had been gathering strength together!
According to Old Cao, Miss Duan and her fetus now shared a symbiotic relationship.
Unlike a true mother-and-child fiend, whose two fiends could separate and fight independently with terrifying ferocity, the fetal corpse-fiend could not emerge or fight directly.
But from inside the womb, it could grant the female corpse greater power…
Ordinarily, Yuan Fei’s blow to her abdomen would have dispersed her resentment. Instead, the fetal corpse-fiend cracked his Ghost-Beating Staff!
“Coffin-Bearer Cao, Mr. Yuan, what now? We’ve trapped her, but we can’t maintain this forever,” Big Bull shouted.
Leading the Great Corpse-Locking Formation, he had heard Old Cao.
As its name suggested, corpse locking only restrained her temporarily. It could not destroy her.
With help from the fetal corpse-fiend, the corpse grew ever fiercer. Big Bull was already struggling.
The hemp rope had cut bloody marks into his hands.
Ergou, Flat-Top, and Mangdun were suffering even more, grimacing as they fought her strength like men in a tug-of-war.
Yuan Fei gritted his teeth and volunteered.
“Master Cao, use paper substitutes to strengthen me. I’ll strike her once more!”
I looked at him and decided this folk Taoist master was admirably straightforward.
Ghost-Beating Staffs were difficult to make. His was already cracked, and another stronger blow would certainly shatter it.
“Good!”
Old Cao wasted no time. He told me to shield him from the rain, pulled his Yin-Kun Shears and special funerary paper from the fur pouch, and cut two little figures.
Smack!
He slapped them against Yuan Fei’s back while chanting, “Paper people lend strength; divine might enters you! Open!”
“Hah!”
As if he had swallowed a pill of supernatural strength, Yuan Fei’s exhaustion vanished. His eyes shone, and his knuckles cracked.
I marveled!
This was another ability of a powerful funerary-paper artisan: granting others additional strength.
“Evil creature, you still won’t submit? Taste my staff!”
Yuan Fei charged and swung with all his strength at the corpse’s heaving abdomen.
Bang!
Crack!
The Ghost-Beating Staff snapped, and Yuan Fei flew backward into the mud.
Green smoke rolled from the corpse, filling even the rain with a charred stench. A shrill cry tore from her throat.
Big Bull’s men felt the force on their ropes weaken and rejoiced. Perhaps it was finally ending!
Then–
“Waaah! Waaah!”
A baby’s piercing wail cut through the roaring rain.
I watched in horror as the corpse’s belly bulged ever higher, stretching its skin thin.
An extremely tiny face appeared against the abdomen.
More than half had caved in, broken and horrifying.
Yuan Fei’s blow had again been mostly absorbed by the fetal corpse-fiend.
Whether this was a mother’s love or merely a troublesome corpse was hard to say.
“Woo!”
The corpse roared, thrust both arms down and then upward, lifting the ropes of the Great Corpse-Locking Formation despite the pain. She seized them with both hands.
Hiss!
Amid the sound of water striking hot oil, she twisted and pulled, dragging all four bearers off balance and onto the ground.
The formation broke.
She too looked battered and wretched.
“Woo!”
Instead of attacking Big Bull or us, she charged straight toward Duan Family Manor!
Duan Ren had been crushed by the lid, but Duan Yi and Duan Tianbao had fled toward the manor in abject terror.
Although it felt far longer, only a minute or two had passed…
Filled with resentment, the corpse naturally wanted revenge!
But every person she killed would make her stronger. If she truly became a fiend, the consequences would be unbearable.
“After her!”
Old Cao sprinted after the corpse, and I stayed close.
Big Bull’s men climbed up, their palms scraped raw and bloody. Without resting, they pulled the equally exhausted Yuan Fei toward the manor.
The vicious corpse ran, and we pursued!
The distance was barely thirty meters. Despite slippery ground, we covered it in around ten seconds.
She slammed directly into the manor’s iron gate.
Bang–crash!
The walls cracked at both hinges, bricks flew, and the entire gate collapsed with a tremendous splash.
The corpse charged into the courtyard!
We followed close behind…