When the corpse's hand moved, I froze. At such close range, what if it bit me?
I asked Stein if they'd seen the corpse move. Could it be mutating into a zombie?
Stein and the others shook their heads—they hadn't seen any movement.
No way... was it just my imagination? But I'd clearly seen its hand twitch.
Stein reassured me, "No need to panic. Didn't Master Raul say? As long as the coffin remains undisturbed, nothing will happen to the corpse inside."
That seemed true. If it were really turning into a zombie, it would've climbed out by now. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks—the stench was overwhelming, and the entire burial mound felt eerie, making my skin crawl. Plus, this was my first time tattooing a corpse, let alone one on the verge of becoming a jiangshi. It'd be weird not to be nervous.
Steadying myself, I began carefully tattooing the Vermilion Bird onto the corpse's chest.
The Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Celestial Spirits in Chinese mythology, originated from ancient constellation worship. It represents the Southern God, Emperor Yan, and the seven southern constellations. In the Eight Trigrams, it corresponds to Li; in the Five Elements, it governs fire. It symbolizes the old yang among the Four Symbols and summer among the seasons.
The design wasn't complex, but executing it was challenging. The feathers alone would test any tattoo artist's skill—though for a corpse, I didn't need to be too meticulous. Yang-Themed Tattoo's standard would suffice.
After sunset, darkness fell quickly. By seven o'clock, I'd finished most of it.
Then, the horror began.
Suddenly... the corpse's eyes snapped open—scarlet, like pooled blood. It let out a muffled groan, and a mouthful of putrid cadaveric qi sprayed from its lips. The stench was so vile I nearly vomited.
I recoiled. Wasn't it supposed to stay dormant? Why did it just open its eyes?!
I didn't dare stay. With a yell, I scrambled to climb out of the coffin pit.
But as I stood, the corpse sat up too. Its eyes rolled, tracking me like a living zombie. Terrified, I froze mid-crouch. Thankfully, it didn't advance further.
The others rushed over at the noise. When they saw the sitting corpse, they gasped and stumbled backward.
"Stein! Pull me up—now! I can't stay here, it's turning into a jiangshi!" I hissed.
"No, Little Boss! Don't move! If you do, the corpse might follow you out. Then we're all doomed," Stein warned, his gaze darting fearfully across the burial mound.
Master Raul had said: "Pull one hair and the whole body moves." If one corpse crawled out from its grave, all the others would follow. By then, every one of us would be bitten to death by jiangshi.
"Then what do we do? Damn it, didn't you say the corpse wouldn't turn into a zombie?" I complained. Now I was stuck—I couldn't run, but staying wasn't safe either. The Vermilion Bird tattoo only needed about an hour more to complete.
Stein said he didn't know. "Theoretically, if the coffin isn't disturbed, the corpse shouldn't mutate. Something must have changed while you were tattooing."
"What could've changed? I've been focused entirely on tattooing—who'd have time to mess with the coffin?"
As I spoke, my eyes flicked toward the coffin's interior—and I immediately noticed a pile of black objects beside the corpse.
"Daphne," I asked, "were there any burial goods placed in your ancestor's coffin?"
Daphne said there shouldn't be. "The Dai family rarely includes burial goods in coffins. Valuables are passed down to descendants, and there's no tradition of placing worthless items inside."
No burial goods? Then what was that black thing?
A suspicion crept into my mind. Driven by curiosity, I cautiously reached into the coffin.
The corpse still didn't move—only its eyes followed me, unnervingly alive.
I'd heard jiangshi eyes were rigid and unmoving, but this thing hadn't fully transformed yet. Its gaze was eerily human, and under its stare, I barely dared to breathe.
After what felt like an eternity, I finally managed to fish out the black object. Holding it up, I realized—it was a severed black cat's leg.
Now I understood. Legends said cats near corpses could trigger resurrection, especially black cats. This mutilated limb had nearly caused the Dai family ancestor to turn into a jiangshi.
I flung the cat leg away and snapped, "Who put this in the coffin?"
Silence. No one confessed.
I thought back—only the butler had touched the coffin earlier. Could it be him...?
When I looked at him, he instinctively ducked his head, avoiding my eyes.
This guy's definitely shady. Luckily, I'd discovered it early. If that cat leg had stayed longer—with me, a living person, right beside it—the corpse would've surely leaped out.
I'd need to watch him carefully and keep him away from the graves.
Without proof, I couldn't accuse him outright. Daphne said she'd investigate to uncover who was behind this.
After the cat's leg was thrown away, the corpse's eyes soon closed. With a dull thud, it lay back in the coffin, motionless again.
I finished tattooing the remaining parts of the Vermilion Bird. After climbing out of the coffin pit, I had Daphne instruct someone to rebury the grave.
By eight o'clock in the evening, I still had time for one more tattoo. The Black Tortoise was simpler in design - shaped somewhat like a turtle, but not exactly. It was actually a combination of turtle and snake. Compared to the Vermilion Bird, its pattern was much less complex.
The Black Tortoise position was located at the Dragon's Tail, where the feng shui tomb formation ended. At the back of the hill, I found three graves - two for men and one for women.
The Black Tortoise corresponds to Kan in the Eight Trigrams and is associated with water in the Five Elements. It symbolizes the old yin among the Four Symbols and represents winter among the four seasons. It's most suitable for tattooing on a female body.
I asked Mr. Dai for the birth dates of those in the three graves and confirmed this female grave was indeed the most suitable for the Black Tortoise tattoo, so I chose her.
Before opening the grave, I quietly told Stein to find a way to distract the butler and keep him away, otherwise we might have another incident.
Stein nodded understandingly, then took out his cigarettes and started talking to the butler. The butler kept refusing and showed obvious dislike for Stein, but Stein stubbornly persisted and eventually managed to lead him away. Seizing this opportunity, I quickly had someone open the grave and coffin.
When we opened the coffin, I discovered it contained what could be called a "beauty zombie."
Judging by the woman's clothing and burial garments, she appeared to be from the Republican era. Her body showed no signs of decay - if not for the two long fangs and horrifying fingernails, I might have mistaken her for a "Sleeping Beauty" in the coffin.
The Dai family had been wealthy and powerful for centuries, and most of their wives were beautiful women, so finding a well-preserved corpse wasn't surprising.
Since this was a female corpse, I asked everyone to step back. Originally, the Black Tortoise should be tattooed on the back, but since we couldn't move the corpse around, I decided to tattoo it under her feet instead.
As I've said before - never touch a man's head or a woman's waist when handling corpses. In traditional customs, a woman's feet are as significant as her waist, especially in older times.
Out of respect for the dead, as a man I could only ask Daphne to remove the corpse's shoes. But after going down into the grave, the coward actually ran back up in fright, saying it was too creepy and she couldn't get the shoes off.
What nonsense - how could a dead person's shoes not come off? Clearly she was just scared out of her wits, though I won't mock her for that.
Daphne said, "If you don't believe me, come down and see for yourself," then pulled me down into the coffin pit again.
But when Daphne and I descended, I discovered there was already another Daphne inside, struggling to remove the corpse's shoes.
"Master, why can't I get these shoes off?" The Daphne behind me spoke, unaware that...
When she turned around, she gasped—seeing me and another identical Daphne standing across the coffin, both staring at her.
Two Daphnes in the coffin pit... This... What was happening?
Just then, a chilling wind swept through, making the pit feel icy and terrifying.
I thought I heard the corpse laugh, but when I looked, its face remained expressionless, completely still.
Another illusion? Then what explained these two Daphnes?
After about ten seconds of stunned silence, both Daphnes began arguing, each insisting she was the real one.
The situation was too bizarre. Since I wasn't familiar enough with Daphne to tell who was real, I shouted for help—yet strangely, no one came.