MJWCATFPITWOC Chapter 78

Chapter 78: The Living Dead

After nightfall, the village was eerily quiet, devoid of any human presence, resembling the deep night before the end of the world, surrounded by a gloomy silence.

Shen Yucheng proceeded cautiously, ensuring he wasn’t being followed, and quietly arrived at the house where the injured were being kept. After confirming that Ayan wasn’t around, he gently pushed open the wooden door, preparing to sneak inside. Just as the door was about to close, suddenly, a hand shot out, firmly gripping the door panel, preventing it from closing.

Shen Yucheng’s heart tightened. The next moment, the hand pushed the door open completely, and Mo Yifeng stood at the entrance, staring at him expressionlessly.

Shen Yucheng: “…”

He knew this guy would definitely come, but the timing was too perfect, wasn’t it? And without a word, clearly wanting to scare him on purpose.

He stepped back, annoyed, not bothering to pay attention to him, and turned to check on the injured. Mo Yifeng slowly closed the door, then walked to his side and lit an oil lamp, its dim light illuminating a corner of the room. “I thought you’d come sooner.”

Shen Yucheng examined the injured person in front of him, replying without looking up, “I can’t just come right after nightfall, can I? What if someone finds out?”

During the day, after discussing it, the disciples on the training decided to rest for the night and then act the next morning to see if they could find new victims. Or, if they were lucky, the mastermind might directly target them, and they could take the opportunity to catch the person.

Shen Yucheng had waited until all the disciples were asleep before sneaking out, while Mo Yifeng had slipped away from the team leader’s side since no one could control him anyway.

While holding the lamp, Mo Yifeng watched Shen Yucheng examine the injuries, casually asking, “What do you think of their method?”

This was originally a plan devised by the disciples themselves, and the team leaders couldn’t interfere excessively. Unless there was a real danger to life, the training would be meaningless.

Shen Yucheng carefully observed the injured person’s body. Sure enough, as Mo Yifeng had said during the day, apart from the fatal head wound, the rest of the body was unscathed, without even a trace of struggle.

To Mo Yifeng’s question, he casually replied, “It’s alright, pretty good. But… if we’re lucky, we should happen to run into the mastermind before all the villagers are dead, right?”

Receiving such a reply, Mo Yifeng chuckled, the light of the oil lamp flickering gently with his laughter, “Since that’s what you think, why didn’t you say it outright?”

Shen Yucheng didn’t bother to explain. Most of those young disciples probably wouldn’t listen to his advice anyway, so he might as well investigate himself more quickly, resolve the matter sooner, and leave this strange village.

As he spoke, his hand felt a hole in the back of the injured person’s head, not too big, just enough to fit three fingers. He gestured to Mo Yifeng, asking him to bring the oil lamp closer. With the bright light shining on the wound, Shen Yucheng could finally see the full extent of the injury.

The edge of the hole in the head was abnormally smooth, without any cracking or bumps, not like it had been smashed out by a blunt object.

What method could possibly make a living person stand there without resisting, allowing someone to carve open their skull?

“How is it? Amazing, isn’t it?” Mo Yifeng unconsciously moved closer, almost touching his cheek.

Shen Yucheng glanced at him indifferently, ignored him, and using the light, took out a pre-prepared strip of cloth, carefully inserted it into the hole, then slowly pulled it out.

Mo Yifeng frowned as he watched the whole process.

Shen Yucheng looked at the cloth strip, his expression unchanged, as if he had expected the result all along. “We can go, confirmed they are completely dead.” He shook the cloth strip in his hand. It was clean, without a trace of blood or debris.

Normally, having such a big hole in one’s head would definitely be fatal. But since Li Juemu and the others had said these people still had life in them, he had come personally to verify whether these were people or ghosts.

And the cloth strip just now proved that their heads were empty, or rather, had been emptied.

Mo Yifeng smiled. “Yucheng, you’re really bold. What did you do before?”

Shen Yucheng replied properly, “Just did some odd jobs among the common people, saw a lot, got used to it.”

Mo Yifeng blew out the oil lamp. Shen Yucheng was about to gently push the door open when suddenly a cough echoed in the room.

Shen Yucheng paused. Now that the light was out, it was pitch black all around. He didn’t dare to act rashly, and lowered his voice to ask, “Are you coughing?”

Mo Yifeng: “…No.”

“Cough!”

Another sound came, this time more obvious, amplified infinitely in the darkness. Both of them heard it clearly.

Shen Yucheng tensed up, his fingertips moving slightly, and immediately conjured an illumination spell. A white ball of light quickly floated up, illuminating every inch of the surroundings.

As the darkness was gradually swallowed by the light, the injured people who should have been lying on the bed…

Were all gone.

Shen Yucheng frowned. As the ball of light rose, illuminating the room, he saw that next to the empty wooden beds, people were standing.

To be precise, all the injured had stood up.

Mo Yifeng glanced around and smiled helplessly, “Such a grand formation?”

Shen Yucheng was on full alert, secretly taking a step back. The injured person farthest away suddenly pounced at him, as if sensing that the prey was about to escape. In an instant, the other injured people also moved, rushing towards the two of them.

Shen Yucheng dodged sideways, preparing to capture one, but more of the injured pounced like out-of-control beasts.

In the midst of the punches and kicks, the two discovered that these people could actually get up immediately after falling, like a group of living corpses without flesh and blood pain, only knowing how to attack the living.

Shen Yucheng gritted his teeth in a low voice, “Mo… Sword Master, use your sword!”

Mo Yifeng’s hands and feet weren’t idle either, one punch for each villager. Hearing Shen Yucheng’s instruction, “Are you sure?”

“Chop!”

Like a released sword, the crimson sword responded and was unsheathed. As spiritual light flashed, a villager’s leg in front of Shen Yucheng was cut off, blood splattering everywhere, falling to the ground. The other villagers were bound by the crimson sword’s spiritual power, unable to move, losing their ability to act.

Shen Yucheng’s gaze fell on the villager whose legs had been cut off. Everything below the knees was a bloody mess.

Those were living legs.

No wonder Li Juemu and the others had misjudged, because these villagers’ bodies were indeed still alive.

“But the brains have been sucked dry, so they’re actually already dead.” Shen Yucheng looked down at the severed leg, his tone indifferent.

Mo Yifeng sheathed his sword. “So these are just corpses with flesh and blood? Done by the villagers?”

Shen Yucheng shook his head. “Not sure yet, but there’s one person who should know the answer.”

The two exchanged glances, and the image of Ayan, who had been watching from the side during the day, simultaneously surfaced in their minds.

He seemed to know something about the villagers’ changes.

.

The next morning, a shrill scream pierced through the silence of Yining Village.

“Ah!!!!”

The next morning, Ayan’s cry echoed throughout Yining Village.

The disciples were awakened and rushed to the scene one after another. In the center of the room, Ayan shouted hoarsely, looking completely broken, in front of a blank wooden bed.

“What’s going on?!”

Ayan didn’t answer, his whole being seemingly plunged into madness.

Soon, a disciple discovered that the villager on the bed was gone.

“Huh? Did he wake up? Where did he go?” a disciple asked naively.

The team leaders standing in the back had complex expressions but didn’t interrupt the disciples’ guesses.

Shen Yucheng and Mo Yifeng were the last to arrive. Li Juemu saw them coming and said in a low voice, “You’ve come at the right time. A villager is missing. Do you have any clues?”

Shen Yucheng didn’t show any surprise. As soon as he entered the door, he had been observing Ayan’s expression. Although he appeared extremely agitated about the villager’s disappearance, upon closer inspection, there wasn’t a single tear on his face.

This didn’t seem like panic but rather like concealing something.

After Qin Feng reminded them, the disciples finally realized that the villager hadn’t woken up and left on his own but had been taken away.

At this moment, Shen Yucheng approached Li Juemu and whispered a few words. Upon hearing this, Li Juemu looked around and exclaimed, “Everyone, look! There are obvious signs of a struggle in the room! Someone must have forcibly taken away the villager.”

As soon as these words came out, the disciples finally noticed the strange state of the room and began to speculate, “If the other party comes again tonight, why don’t we guard this place and wait for him to come back!”

As soon as the voice fell, Ayan’s face changed drastically: “No!”

The room instantly fell silent, and everyone stared straight at him.

Shen Yucheng stood on the outside, but his eyes were the most playful. This was exactly the reaction he wanted from Ayan. Now he could be sure that Ayan knew everything.

But the question was, why did he want to deceive the disciples and deliberately hide the villager’s abnormalities? What good would this do for them?

Unless that was precisely their goal.

“Actually, just now, I saw a swaying figure in the small woods in the village.” Li Juemu suddenly said, “Could it be the person who took away the villager?”

Ayan’s expression changed again, and he looked blankly at the door. Then, he found a reason and hurriedly diverted the crowd.

The disciples surrounded Li Juemu, excitedly saying, “Senior Brother Li! Is it true? Did you really see that villager?”

Li Juemu’s dazed gaze instantly returned to normal. Facing the crowd of disciples, he nodded blankly.

What had he just said? He didn’t remember anything.

He turned his head blankly and looked at Shen Yucheng, seeing Shen Yucheng and Mo Yifeng exchange glances before turning and leaving.

Li Juemu’s words had been controlled by Shen Yucheng using the Golden Silk spell in secret.

Mo Yifeng couldn’t be controlled by Shen Yucheng, but the pure-minded Li Juemu could be.

Now, he and Mo Yifeng were secretly following behind Ayan, discovering that he wasn’t going towards the woods but towards another open space.

Shen Yucheng remained calm. He wanted to see what Ayan wanted to do after learning that the living dead person had disappeared.

Just as he took a step, Mo Yifeng suddenly reached out and stopped him, “Wait.”

Ayan had stopped not far away at some point, looking down at the ground.

Shen Yucheng frowned, “What is he looking at?”

Mo Yifeng’s expression was complicated. Watching Ayan squat down on the spot and start digging, he said to Shen Yucheng, “The corpse you had me dispose of last night… I buried it here.”

Shen Yucheng abruptly turned his head, looking at Mo Yifeng, then at Ayan’s actions, in disbelief, “He’s looking for that living dead person? How did he know you buried the corpse here?”

Mo Yifeng didn’t answer. He didn’t know either, his tone low, “Now, I’m starting to suspect… could he be one of them too?”

Shen Yucheng frowned even more. This Ayan looked exactly like the person he had seen a few years ago. However, his emotions were often too intense, and there seemed to be some subtle differences…

This village, as expected, was full of problems.

Soon, Ayan pulled a severed leg out of the soil.

He put down the severed leg and continued to dig until all the scattered limbs had been dug out. Then, he made a strange move towards the limbs.

Sticking out his tongue, he gently licked the wounds of the severed limbs.

Shen Yucheng felt his hair stand on end.

The next scene was that the dismembered corpse suddenly began to twitch, as if some force was pulling its flesh and blood, allowing it to reassemble.

They watched as the limbs were restored to a complete body in a short moment.

Ayan touched the villager’s body as if checking if there were any remaining damage. Then, his finger suddenly pointed to the place where Shen Yucheng and Mo Yifeng were hiding.

Shen Yucheng didn’t act rashly. Logically, they were hiding very well, and it was impossible for Ayan to find them.

The villager walked step by step towards their direction.

When he reached the darkness, he didn’t stop but walked directly past this open space, disappearing into the end.

Shen Yucheng breathed a sigh of relief.

But after this stalking, they discovered that Ayan had a lot of doubts about this matter.

They didn’t stay here any longer. After returning to the village’s main street, they began to inquire about the news from the villagers.

The disciples had already asked the villagers about the ins and outs of this incident, and their answers were no different from what was described in the commission.

But at this moment, Shen Yucheng looked at the faces of these villagers and felt that something was wrong. Their expressions were too consistent, and their eyes lacked the vitality of living people, like a group of empty shells wearing human skin.

What bothered him even more was that he had come to this village a few years ago, and the familiar faces he had seen back then were all gone now. Except for Ayan, everyone else seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

After discussing, the disciples decided to take action tonight to capture the mastermind behind the scenes. Although the details of the action hadn’t been fully finalized, compared to waiting for the culprit to appear, this proactive plan was already considered progress.

Time passed quickly, and night quietly fell.

A group of disciples gathered on the village’s main road. Nie Yue held up a torch and looked at the crowd, “Now we’ll split into two groups, one group will go into the woods, and the other group will sneak into the villagers’ houses to search.”

As soon as her voice fell, the disciples, who had been arguing endlessly, instantly quieted down and had no objection to her arrangement.

The team leaders standing on the side couldn’t help but shake their heads, not having much hope for this year’s disciples.

Fortunately, there were no more disputes during the grouping, and Shen Yucheng was assigned to the group responsible for searching the houses.

“The house-searching group is still missing one person.” The disciple in charge of counting the numbers said.

“I’ll go.”

“Let me go.”

Two voices sounded at the same time, and everyone looked at the two people who had spoken in unison.

Qin Feng and Mo Yifeng exchanged glances, a strange feeling flashing in their eyes. This scene felt familiar.

Everyone was surprised. They didn’t expect the two people who usually didn’t compete or fight to take the initiative to volunteer at the same time.

In the end, since the other group was still missing a team leader, Mo Yifeng could only stare intently at Shen Yucheng and walk to the other group.

Li Juemu smiled and patted him on the shoulder, “Unexpectedly, Brother Mo, you’re quite concerned about this training.”

Nie Yue on the side nodded thoughtfully.

Mo Yifeng was expressionless, glanced at Li Juemu, unhesitatingly stepped on his foot, and turned to walk towards the woods.