Even the right side of the street had night patrol soldiers wielding swords and clubs closing in on the alley entrance!
"..."
Damn it! Xu Qing hissed, quickly retreating. In the alley, a youth with bare buttocks, drawn by the authorities, was reaching anxiously towards the high wall.
The chaotic footsteps on the street rapidly approached, and torchlights appeared at the alley entrance.
As feared, trouble appeared just when it's least wanted.
Xu Qing had considered the journey would be difficult, but he never imagined that just after climbing over the high wall, he would encounter such a fierce group of people blocking his way.
Without a second thought, he turned and ran back, shouts echoing behind him.
"Stop! Where are you running?!"
"Why are there two people? Are they accomplices?"
Xu Qing didn't respond, running back to the high wall he had climbed over earlier. With a strong push of his legs, he climbed back over just as he had come.
On the high wall, intimidating crossbow arrows spread from the middle of the wall to the top.
Not far from the wall's base, the naked youth, scared stiff, lost the will to escape and decisively knelt down, giving himself up.
"Sir, one got away."
"He was hit with my continuous camp arrow; he won't get far... Wait! There's a corpse smell!"
The leading officer flared his nostrils, smelling the unusual scent in the air.
"Stop attacking, let's ask him first, who ran away?"
The naked youth, maliciously retaliated against by the officers, cried out in pain, "I don't know him! Who wouldn't be scared and run when seeing you guys chasing like that?"
"Bullshit! If you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't be afraid of ghosts knocking at your door. If he was a good person, why would he need to climb over the wall?" The experienced night patrol leader rebuked.
The leading officer, holding a continuous camp crossbow and with a Tiger-Head Saber at his waist, also spoke, "That person had a corpse smell on him; he's certainly not ordinary."
"Captain Cao, do you know what's behind this high wall?"
...
In the mill, Xu Qing passed through the corridor and, before returning to his station, forcefully pulled out the arrow that had pierced inches into his arm. Dark red fluid oozed from the wound.
Although he didn't feel pain like a living person, it wasn't entirely without sensation.
He clearly felt a numbing pain at the wound, akin to the 'aching numbness' experienced during acupuncture, rather than sharp pain.
Passing through a corpse worker's yard, Xu Qing casually threw the arrow into the millstone, the huge vertical millstone grinding on the stone trough, making a creaking sound as the short wooden arrow shaft broke under the pressure.
After that, Xu Qing climbed over the neighboring wall and returned to his original workstation.
Before this, he did not forget to return the long robe he was wearing to the passionate scholar.
Outside the mill, the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking were everywhere. Xu Qing, being undocumented and turned into a zombie, stood out from ordinary people. If caught by the authorities, he would likely meet a grim fate.
For now, he could only blend in, waiting for the current crisis to pass before considering other plans.
But what should be done about those corpse workers, half of whom had been exorcised?
...
"Early to bed, early to rise! Take care of your health—" The sound of the night watchman knocking on the clappers echoed into Cui's Mill in the early morning.
Chief Zhao Zhonghe of Linhe District's patrol room was negotiating with the Steward of the Cui Family.
"I've heard that your mill uses wandering corpses crafted by corpse craftsmen to work the mills instead of donkeys, is this true?"
The just-awoken Steward Cui was not in a good mood but still advised kindly, "Chief Zhao just arrived, there are many things you don't understand yet. Another day, I'll host you, invite the Scribe and Register Officer for a gathering, and give you a welcome dinner at Chunfeng Building. We can talk openly then."
Zhao Zhonghe laughed in response, waving his hand in refusal, "No need, I'm here for official business, not to make friends."
"Let's not beat around the bush. I and the soldiers found a man outside the mill. I shot him with a crossbow arrow and he escaped back over the wall into your mill. His body had a corpse smell."
"Steward Cui, I don't care if you use corpse workers, but if a corpse monster goes out from here and harms people..." At this point, Zhao Zhonghe's face darkened, the implication clear.
Steward Cui frowned, "Impossible! All the corpse workers here are..." Realizing he had said too much, he quickly corrected, "Chief Zhao might not know how much coal Xijing Mountain mines every year? Half of those miners are walking corpses sent by the Prefecture City."
"The common people don't know this, but doesn't the Prefect know?"
"As for the safety of these zombie-transformed corpse workers, I can say from experience that since this craft has spread, there has yet to be a single case of harm."
Zhao Zhonghe was not surprised.
He had long heard of corpse workers. Even years ago, there had been incidents where the dead were valued more than the living.
Back during the famine in Yingzhou's sixteen counties, a pint of rice could buy a person, while a corpse worker refined by a corpse driver cost at least 10 taels of silver.
Because of this, the matter of corpse workers was not advertised.
Zhao Zhonghe held no affection toward Steward Cui, repeatedly warning him until he promised to thoroughly check for safety hazards in the mill, then left.
Nearby, a nursing home guard watched Zhao Zhonghe leave and asked, "Steward, do we really need to inspect?"
"Inspect my ass, go take a nap, he's just a small constable, thinking too highly of himself."
Yawning, Steward Cui was about to head back when a house servant rushed in, anxious, "There's trouble! There's trouble! Steward, come quickly! The new 'donkeys' in Yard C are lying still. Old Lin and I couldn't figure out what's wrong..."
Steward Cui, who just said he wanted a nap, immediately became fully alert, "Speak clearly, those 'donkeys' in Yard C just arrived recently, how could they have problems?"
The house servant stammered and gestured, unable to explain clearly.
Steward Cui pointed to the hall door, "You, lead the way! I will see for myself!"
...
Yard C.
Seeing half the corpse workers lying down, Steward Cui's face turned grim.
The 'donkeys' they referred to were corpse workers, a professional jargon.
Steward Cui lifted the shirt of one corpse, revealing its chest, covered in intricate red ritual markings.
"The Corpse Walking Talisman is intact, but all the resentment and corpse energy are gone. Could it be that a high-ranking Daoist or Buddhist exorcised them?" Steward Cui looked at the remaining working zombies, quickly dismissing the possibility.
If there really were an expert, why were the other corpse workers in Yard C unaffected?
Standing up, Steward Cui pondered briefly, then relied on his business instincts.
"Old Lin, go to Underground Street and get the corpse driver who refined these corpse workers." He turned to a large, robust guard, clearly a skilled practitioner, "This corpse driver is new from Xiangyin. He might be hiding something. Please accompany and ensure caution, Mr. Lu."
Not far from Steward Cui, a corpse worker steadily pushed a grindstone, seemingly unable to hear their conversation, continuing his task.
Corpse driver? Xu Qing thought as he pushed the grindstone, analyzing the situation.
The leading Steward Cui hadn't noticed anything unusual, but the unknown corpse driver mentioned was a variable.
However, with nowhere to escape and dawn approaching, corpse craftsmen and servants were changing 'donkeys' and grinding materials. Besides, Steward Cui and others were counting the corpse workers.
He could only remain passive and react accordingly.
The corpse workers, worn out from the night, had yellow talismans attached, making them stand still.
When it was Xu Qing's turn, he mimicked them, acting as if he had no self-awareness.
About half an hour later, irregular bell sounds came from outside Yard C, and through the corner of his eye, Xu Qing saw an old man in a dark cyan Eight Trigrams Daoist robe step into the yard.
A large and two small Corpse Control Bells hung at the old man's waist, jingling as he moved.