Chapter 160

Chapter 160

After hearing the full account, Ren Fengjue pondered for a moment before asking, “Was an autopsy performed at the time?”

Li Cheng looked troubled. “Given the state they were in, the coroner had no way to begin. He could only… examine them briefly.”

“And found nothing at all?”

Li Cheng looked even more uncomfortable.

“The bodies had already rotted beyond recognition. How could he have found anything…?”

Ren Fengjue frowned. “So you don’t even know the time of death?”

It was only a few short words, yet they made Li Cheng break out in a cold sweat. “To be honest, it truly couldn’t be determined.”

“However, there were witnesses who saw them alive the day before.”

Had they completely decomposed in the span of a single night?

A bad feeling stirred in Ren Fengjue’s heart.

Beside him, Xia Ximo immediately rose to her feet and said coldly, “We need to return to the inn.”

Li Cheng’s heart lurched, and he hurriedly asked, “Has something… happened at the inn too?”

Ren Fengjue answered truthfully, “It’s only a guess. We can’t be certain yet. But as for your yamen…”

He swept his gaze over the half-baked town official and the bewildered constable, and felt another headache coming on.

“Prepare a notice at once. As soon as day breaks, post it immediately. Warn the townspeople to guard against all insects, and if necessary, carry out disinfection and extermination.”

Hearing this, Li Cheng did not dare question him in the slightest and immediately accepted the order. “Yes…”

After Ren Fengjue and Xia Ximo left, the young constable finally could not hold back and asked Li Cheng, “Sir, that man… just who is he?”

Li Cheng pondered for a moment, then replied with three words: “I don’t know.”

“…”

The young constable was rather shocked, but only dared mutter inwardly.

If you don’t know, then why are we taking his word for it?

–

At Yunjian Inn, a faint sound abruptly jolted Shopkeeper Wang awake from where he had been dozing against the counter.

The sound had come from upstairs. At first, it was only a slight disturbance.

In less than a moment, the noise grew louder.

It sounded like footsteps-heavy, ponderous footsteps that made the wooden floor creak.

Shopkeeper Wang sat bolt upright in alarm, thinking he might be dreaming. He was just about to prick up his ears and listen carefully when a loud crash rang out.

“Bang, bang, bang.”

It sounded like someone pounding on a door.

This frightened Shopkeeper Wang badly.

There was no one upstairs.

Could a thief have broken in?

His first instinct was to run, but then he thought of it again-this was his inn.

If he ran now and the thief cleaned the place out, wouldn’t half a lifetime of hard work be ruined?

Though Shopkeeper Wang was terrified, he still steeled himself. Holding a lamp in one hand and grabbing a cudgel with the other, he prepared to go upstairs and find out what was happening.

But after climbing only two steps, his calves began to tremble and go weak.

He gritted his teeth and simply shouted, “Who upstairs has the nerve to pound on doors in my inn? If you don’t leave right now, I’ll report you to the authorities and have you arrested!”

At the sound of his voice, the movement vanished at once.

Shopkeeper Wang found this rather surprising. Had he really managed to scare off the thief?

The hand gripping the cudgel was already slick with sweat, so he wiped it against his clothes, deliberately thumped the floor hard with the cudgel, and continued upstairs.

However, the moment he reached the entrance to the second-floor corridor, the locked door on his left let out a deafening clang.

A dark, bluish hand, faintly rotting, reached out through the gap in the door. Shopkeeper Wang was so frightened that he fell flat on his backside, and the candle lamp in his hand tumbled down the stairs.

Eyes wide, he stared at the door he had locked with his own hands. Sitting on the cold floor, he finally realized what it was…

It was not a thief.

It was the dead shophand.
By then, the inn hand no longer looked even remotely human. Both his hands thrust through the crack in the door, clawing wildly outside with tremendous strength. Even the sturdy door was on the verge of failing to hold him back.

In all his half a lifetime, when had Shopkeeper Wang ever seen such a horrifying sight?

Seeing that neither-human-nor-ghost inn hand about to break through the door, he let out a scream and half crawled, half tumbled down the stairs.

When he reached the dining hall on the first floor, however, he suddenly remembered the ingot of gold he had just received. It was still in the cashbox behind the counter…

He could abandon the inn.

But not the gold.

Gritting his teeth, he rushed back behind the counter, picked out a key from the ring at his waist, and, trembling all over, unlocked the drawer before reaching in for the cashbox.

But the cashbox was large, and the drawer opening was small. For a moment, it got stuck…

Shopkeeper Wang broke out in anxious sweat. Bracing one foot against the counter, he took a deep breath and pulled the drawer outward with all his might.

There came a loud bang, and the drawer shot free. He toppled backward, man and box together, crashing to the floor.

At a time like this, he had no mind to care about pain. He scrambled up in a sorry state and was about to flee outside.

But he had only just reached the doorway when a figure pounced on him, knocking him swiftly to the ground.

A heart-rending scream tore through the empty night.

At the same time, Xia Ximo, who had just walked out of the government office, suddenly halted. She said to Ren Fengjue beside her, “Something’s happened.”

The two immediately quickened their pace and rushed toward Yunjian Inn. At the street corner, they ran into Yan Zhengchu, who was likewise hurrying over as if flying.

“Daoist Yan?”

“Young Marquis, at Miss Qiao’s home…”

Yan Zhengchu had been about to explain what had happened at Miss Qiao’s home to Ren Fengjue, but from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a strange figure running out of Yunjian Inn.

His expression changed. “Damn it.”

Xia Ximo reacted faster than either of them and immediately chased after that figure.

Seeing this, Ren Fengjue quickly stopped Yan Zhengchu first and said, “Daoist Master, the shopkeeper is still inside the inn. Hurry and see what’s happened.”

“All right!”

The night was deep, and midnight was drawing near.

The night watchman knocked his bamboo clapper as he called out loudly, “Third watch of the night! All is well!”

After calling it three times, he turned onto another street.

But at a glance, he saw an extra figure standing in the middle of the road.

At this hour, why was someone still wandering the streets?

The night watchman was curious, but his feet did not stop. He struck the bamboo clapper and was just about to call out again when that figure spun around and, like a ghost, lunged swiftly toward him.

“Sweet mother of mercy!”

Only when the figure drew close did he finally see its “face” clearly…

But that face could no longer be described as human.

Its complexion was livid and rotting, its features almost indistinguishable. Its eyes had no pupils, only two eerie balls of bluish light.

Even more terrifying, blood was seeping from the corner of its mouth…

The night watchman realized with horror that he had run into a “monster.” His breath caught in fright, and he turned to run.

But the “monster” had already stretched out its livid hands and seized both his arms.

Just as it opened its mouth to bite him, something flew in from nowhere and shot straight into its mouth with perfect accuracy.

The night watchman seized the chance to wrench himself free, flinging the bamboo clapper in his hand away as well. Only then did he escape the “monster’s” claws.

Strangely enough, once there was something in its mouth, the “monster” stopped and began chewing hard.

The thing was too hard. It jarred against its teeth until they fell out one by one.

Only then did it think to use its hand to take the object from its mouth and fling it heavily onto the ground.

It was a bamboo comb…

Still reeling in shock, the night watchman heard a cool female voice beside him. “Why aren’t you leaving?”