Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Old Cao’s expression grew even graver. He stared at the two trails of footprints across the morgue floor and spoke in a low voice.
“Just as I thought. After some time, every body that hangs from the old huangjue fig transforms on its own.”
If that was true, we faced serious trouble.
Three corpses were probably wandering Lianghe Town at night. Any ordinary person who encountered one would most likely die.
But after thinking carefully, I realized something did not seem right.
The two corpses from the morgue could not have walked out in broad daylight. They must have transformed and escaped last night.
If they wanted to kill, surely they would have done so already.
Besides, the old cobbler’s son had climbed from his coffin several days ago. Yet no one in town had been killed by a walking corpse.
I could not understand it.
“In other words, the transformed corpses haven’t killed anyone yet. Then what is their purpose?”
Yuan Fei replied helplessly, “Stop chattering, both of you. Hurry and follow. My Tracking Talisman won’t last forever.”
He strode ahead, following the floating fireball.
Wherever its light fell, more walking-corpse footprints appeared on the ground.
Old Cao and I hurried after him.
The two trails left the morgue, continued along the corridor, crossed the courtyard, and headed toward the hospital entrance.
Fortunately, no hospital worker had encountered the corpses last night. Such a sight would probably have frightened the person unconscious.
When we passed Administration, I quickly ran inside and returned the key.
After thanking Liu Xiaofeng, I immediately turned and chased Old Cao and Yuan Fei.
The three of us followed the dancing fireball through empty stone-paved streets in the middle of the night.
Gradually, I began to notice a pattern.
“The footprints of these walking corpses seem to be heading toward River Street. Could it be…?”
The expressions on Old Cao’s and Yuan Fei’s faces showed that they had arrived at similar suspicions.
Sure enough, when we reached the three-hundred-year-old Killer Demon Tree, the walking corpses’ footprints vanished.
At the same time, Yuan Fei’s Tracking Talisman exhausted its power. The fireball went out with a soft hiss and fell as tiny flecks of ash.
Old Cao’s face turned grim.
“It appears this still has something to do with the tree.”
Yuan Fei rubbed his chin and frowned. “The corpses’ footprints disappear here, but where are the bodies? Could they be…?”
“They should be in the tree!”
I finished for him and looked upward.
The dim yellow streetlamps could not possibly illuminate the entire enormous ancient tree with its dense foliage.
My gaze followed the thick trunk upward for five or six meters before meeting complete darkness.
I could only faintly sense the massive crown spreading like a giant canopy over the entire crossroads.
It also resembled an enormous black cloud suspended above our heads.
Old Cao sighed.
“Yes. If our guess is correct, all three corpses are hidden among the branches and leaves. We can’t see them from below. We’ll probably have to climb up and search through the foliage.”
A banyan naturally grew dense, sprawling branches and occupied a great deal of space.
This Killer Demon Tree also stood nearly thirty meters tall.
Even by day, the canopy more than ten meters above the ground was completely hidden. Someone beneath the tree could not see into it.
If anything truly hid inside the crown, discovery from below would be impossible.
Only by climbing up and parting the dense leaves could we hope to find it.
My heart jumped. I instinctively clenched my hands, growing nervous.
Yuan Fei’s face had already turned miserable.
“So… Master Cao, do you mean that all three of us must climb the tree now and search for the corpses among those dense branches?”
Old Cao glanced at him. “What other choice do we have? Unless Young Brother Yuan has some method that can make the three corpses hidden above obediently come down by themselves.”
“I don’t. But since we’ve already concluded that the three missing hanging victims are hiding in the tree, why can’t we wait until daylight and notify the police to help bring them down?”
Yuan Fei still believed the proposed search was too dangerous.
I roughly understood Old Cao’s concern.
We had been involved in this affair from the beginning.
The cobbler’s son, the first person to hang himself from the Killer Demon Tree this time, had been buried by our coffin procession.
That was especially true for Old Cao.
His grandmaster, his master, and now he himself–three generations–had all become indirectly connected to this strange Killer Demon Tree.
He desperately wanted to uncover the source of everything.
More importantly, what would happen if we left now and waited until dawn?
The three corpses might emerge from the canopy to harm someone or move elsewhere during those hours.
Either outcome would create serious trouble.
The best choice was to prevent further complications by climbing the tree and finding the corpses immediately.
Half joking and half serious, I said, “Uncle Yuan, we fought the mother-and-child symbiotic vicious corpse at the Duan Family Manor together. Are you afraid of three mere walking corpses? They’re only suicide victims and shouldn’t be especially savage. Together, they probably couldn’t withstand one hand from that vicious corpse.”
Yuan Fei spread his hands.
“I’m not afraid of searching the canopy for corpses. I’m afraid of heights! I have a touch of acrophobia, and I can’t climb trees. How am I supposed to get up something this tall?”
Uh…
To be honest, that worried me too.
Even though I was young and agile, climbing so high would require considerable effort. Old Cao was nearly sixty. Could he truly climb fifteen or twenty meters?
Old Cao laughed and patted Yuan Fei’s shoulder.
“Young Brother Yuan, have you forgotten that I’m not only a coffin bearer, but also a funerary-paper artisan? If you can’t climb, a paper figure can help you. I prepared them in advance.”
He took three tiny paper figures from his pocket, muttered an incantation, and attached one to each of our chests.
Warmth immediately spread from the little figure.
I clearly felt the strength in my four limbs increase.
I clenched a fist and punched the empty air.
Whoosh!
The blow stirred the wind.
Old Cao explained, “By borrowing the paper figure’s strength, the power, flexibility, and speed of your limbs will increase dramatically for ten minutes.”
Yuan Fei was a fairly powerful folk Taoist master with formidable magic, but his physical condition was only average.
If forced into an ordinary fistfight, he would probably be astonishingly weak.
Sensing the change in his body, he nodded repeatedly.
“This feels quite good. Master Cao, this method of borrowing a paper figure’s strength is no weaker than the Tracking Talisman. But I’m still afraid of heights.”
Old Cao and I had already stopped listening.
We approached the thick trunk of the Killer Demon Tree, clenched our flashlights between our teeth, and clung to the bark like geckos.
With the paper figures’ strength, we began climbing.
Yuan Fei had no choice but to follow us upward.
“This tree is enormous, with countless branches and dense leaves. The search will probably take a long time. Let’s separate and move in different directions. That will be more efficient. If anyone finds a corpse hidden in the leaves, shout immediately and alert the others.”
Yuan Fei and I agreed with Old Cao’s proposal.
We split into three groups and climbed in separate directions.
Old Cao followed the main trunk upward, Yuan Fei went left, and I went right.
The higher I climbed, the more numerous the branches and the denser the foliage became.
At a height of more than ten meters, thick green leaves surrounded me in every direction.
My flashlight illuminated only a tiny nearby area before layer upon layer of foliage blocked it, like walls made of greenery.
Everything had also become very quiet.
I could barely hear Old Cao or Yuan Fei. Only my own heartbeat and slightly labored breathing remained.
It created the illusion that I stood alone in a wilderness jungle.
With both hands, I constantly parted the leaves and smaller branches before me, searching for a corpse hidden somewhere in the canopy.
Honestly, my nerves remained taut.
Even with the paper figure’s strength, I was still more than ten meters above the ground with little room to move.
And searching for corpses inside dense foliage in the darkness was thrilling in the worst possible sense.
Suddenly, something rustled about half a meter to my right, as though an object moved among the leaves.
Could Old Cao or Uncle Yuan have lost his way and accidentally climbed over to my side?
The thought made me turn instinctively.
Rustle!
The leaves abruptly parted, revealing a deathly pale face.
It belonged to the saleswoman who had hanged herself.
Her face was only half a meter from mine.
I could clearly see dense patches of death discoloring her face and neck.
“Damn it! The bodies really are hidden in the canopy.”
My scalp tingled, and my entire body turned cold.
I nearly fell straight from the tree.