The Flying Zombie Emerging from the Ground

Chapter 146 The Flying Zombie Emerging from the Ground (Part 2)

The coffin must not touch the ground; this is not only common sense in funeral practices, but also mentioned in "The Secret Records of Zhong's Corpse-Driving".

Generally, when a person dies and their body is laid to rest, the coffin is placed on a stool to avoid contact with the ground.

There are several explanations for this.

Some say that if the coffin touches the ground, the soul of the deceased will be disturbed by the earth's energy, causing the deceased to linger and refuse to leave.

Some say that when a coffin touches the ground, it pollutes the earth's energy, especially for those who die in accidents or violent incidents. The evil energy seeps into the soil and changes the nature of the land.

Living on this kind of land for a long time will make people's health deteriorate.

If the coffin is not forced to touch the ground, then after the coffin is moved, a ritual should be performed on the spot where it touched the ground, such as sprinkling cinnabar or other substances, to prevent the deceased's soul from remaining in the place and to prevent the earth's energy from being polluted.

Another more scientific explanation is that if a coffin is in contact with the ground for too long, it is prone to rotting, so it needs to be supported by a wooden stool.

Regardless of the interpretation, it indicates that the coffin should not touch the ground.

But the coffins here seem to have been deliberately placed on the ground?

Chen Miao recalled the contents of the book; when he and Qi Ning entered the empty house, they also encountered two coffins placed on the ground.

However, that coffin only contained dried flowers, but this coffin contains...

"Sir, why are you putting the coffin in the room?"

Qi Ning's sudden words drew Chen Miao's attention back to the old man.

The old man was going upstairs when he heard the question and glanced at the two coffins.

"Oh, that's a custom in our village, passed down from generation to generation."

Upon hearing this, Chen Miao asked, "Grandpa, why is the coffin placed on the ground? I remember there's a saying that coffins shouldn't touch the ground."

The old man smiled.

"Every place has its own customs. In our Fengmen Village, the coffin must be placed on the ground."

As he spoke, the old man went upstairs to the second floor.

The two followed them.

"You can stay here. There's a room on each side. You can choose to stay together or separately, it's fine either way."

"However, I don't provide meals here, so you'll have to take care of yourselves."

After saying that, the old man put the money Qi Ning had given him in his pocket and went downstairs.

The stairs were wooden ramps, and the old man seemed to remember something only when he was halfway down.

"By the way, you two shouldn't go out at night. We don't allow people to go out for walks at night in our village. Remember to turn off the lights before midnight."

After saying that, the old man went downstairs to his room on the first floor.

Where will we stay?

Qi Ning asked.

"Live together."

Chen Miao looked at the two rooms; they were identical in structure.

There is one window at the front and one at the back of the room, but none on the sides.

Because the house they chose was on a hillside, the back window revealed a wall built of stones against the slope.

There is a gap of more than a meter between the wall and the window.

Below is a narrow backyard of the house, where some jars and other miscellaneous items are placed.

The back wall is just over two stories high. If Chen Miao climbs out of the window, stands up, puts one foot on the wall, and can reach the top of the wall with his hand.

Of course, if he can go out, others can come in.

From this perspective, the entire house is not only built in an east-west orientation, but one side is even blocked off.

Such a house should theoretically have a stronger yin energy than an ordinary house.

However, Chen Miao didn't sense much Yin energy; it was almost the same as outside.

"This room will do. We'll take turns keeping watch tonight."

Qi Ning was also observing the layout of the room, and even wanted to go up the stairs to the third floor to take a look, but Chen Miao stopped him.

"Let's not explore for now. It's not too late to explore tomorrow."

Qi Ning thought it made sense.

After entering the room Chen Miao had chosen, Qi Ning took out two spray bottles from his tactical satchel and tossed one to Chen Miao.

"Use developer spray to spray all over the house and see how it goes."

Chen Miao clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking, "As expected, it has to be Qi Ning."

If Chan Kwok-kwan had come with him, he probably wouldn't have been so generous as to throw out a bottle of developing spray to inspect the room.

However, this is also good. If more clues can be discovered, the content in the book will naturally change based on the known information.

With that thought in mind, Chen Miao took the developing spray and went to the window.

puff~
puff~
Looking at the unchanged window frame, Chen Miao breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little disappointed.

"It's good that it's not there; it means it's a window, not a door."

The two of them didn't spray every part of the room, but only sprayed some key areas.

Windows, cabinets, beds, under beds, ceilings, corners.

That is to say, the room has no mirror and no toilet, otherwise I would have sprayed it.

"By the way, how do I go to the toilet?"

Qi Ning suddenly asked this question, and Chen Miao laughed as he kicked out a smelly little bucket from under the bed.

"Hey, here."

Based on this, it seems that Qi Ning has never lived in the countryside, or at least not in a relatively primitive rural area.

In rural areas, indoor toilets are practically nonexistent; most people build one in their own yard.

It's not that we're particular about anything; it's just that rural drainage systems aren't as developed as those in cities, so there's nowhere to drain water if we build a system at home.

If you build it in the yard, you'll also need to build a septic tank.

However, Chen Miao did not see any buildings like toilets here.

After checking the room and finding no problems, Chen Miao began taking his belongings out.

The Seven Star Peach Wood Sword had already been taken out and placed in the bag, and was now placed directly on the table.

Then there was the talisman box, which contained most of Chen Miao's talismans. In the pockets on Chen Miao's body, there were also spirit-suppressing talismans, illusion-breaking talismans, yang-suppressing talismans, and yin-dispelling talismans folded into triangles. Except for the blood-light talisman and the evil-breaking talisman, which needed to be unfolded, he had folded all the others so that they could be quickly retrieved in case of trouble.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Miao took out two ordinary spirit-suppressing talismans and one ordinary yin-dispelling talisman from the talisman box and handed them to Qi Ning.

"Hold it to defend yourself."

Qi Ning's safety is, in a sense, Chen Miao's own safety.

Looking at the talisman in his hand, Qi Ning did not refuse.

However, unlike Chen Miao, his tactical vest had a special pocket for collecting talismans, so it didn't need to be folded.

There's even a small blade on the side of the pocket, used to quickly cut your finger to activate the talisman.

Chen Miao was somewhat tempted after seeing it.

When we get back, we can ask Qi Ning where this tactical pocket was made, and then he can get one made too.

If I could go back...

After they were fully armed, the two whispered about what they had discovered that day, preparing for tomorrow's operation.

By nine o'clock at night, the two had finished their plan.

Chen Miao took the night watch, while Qi Ning went to sleep first.

Just then, Chen Miao opened the book.

The contents of the book have changed again.

This time, they died again, but they made a significant discovery.

About Zhong Cai.

Chapter Seven

"..."

"As it was getting dark, Qi Ning and I discussed it and found a family to stay at."

"During that time, I noticed the two coffins. Strangely, they were placed close to the ground."

"The old man said it's a custom, but where would you find a custom of placing a coffin like this?"

"Afterwards, Qi Ning and I went up to the second floor and chose a room to stay in." "After checking everything, Qi Ning and I made arrangements for tomorrow and began taking turns keeping watch."

"It was the first half of the night, not long after midnight, when I heard noises coming from outside."

"Someone's cooking!"

"Because I already knew some of the strange customs of this village, coupled with the oddities of the village, I was somewhat prepared."

After waking Qi Ning, I quickly walked to the front window. I didn't open the window, but looked out through the crack.

"The kitchen was pitch black, but the sound of a cutting board being pounded could be heard coming from inside."

"Someone is chopping vegetables, chopping vegetables in the pitch black?"

Qi Ning and I exchanged a glance; neither of us intended to go down.

"After the chopping sounds continued for a while, a glimmer of light appeared in the kitchen; someone had started a fire."

"The fire lasted for more than an hour, during which time there were also sounds of stir-frying."

"At two o'clock in the morning, the noise outside stopped, and I vaguely saw a figure walk out of the kitchen and into the first-floor door."

"That person, is it that old man?"

"No, the body type is wrong. If it's not the old man, then who is it?"

"We thought there would be some noise downstairs, but after waiting for ten minutes there was nothing."

"After thinking about it, we decided not to go downstairs, but instead stayed by the door."

"At four o'clock in the morning, Qi Ning told me to go to sleep, and I didn't refuse. I was already very tired after traveling all day."

"When I woke up again, it was already eight o'clock in the morning. Qi Ning told me what happened next. After I fell asleep, nothing else happened."

"Around six o'clock in the morning, the old man woke up, boiled a kettle of water and brought it up. During this time, Qi Ning did not leave the room for a single moment."

"Qi Ning also asked the old man if he had heard anything last night, but the old man looked blank."

"We know something's wrong, but we have no clue what to do."

"Qining and I took all our belongings and went out again. Of course, we weren't leaving Fengmen Village; we just didn't want to leave our things in the room."

"Qining and I carefully looked and checked many places in the village throughout the day, but we still didn't find anything unusual."

"We even went to those empty houses and opened all the empty coffins to look inside, but we found nothing there either."

"Perhaps we'll find it inside the coffins in the houses where people live?"

"But when we looked around, we found that in every house where people lived, the elderly people never left their homes. At most, they would walk around in their own yards, and they didn't interact with their neighbors."

"It seems their only purpose in staying here is... to wait for death?"

"That evening, we heard someone cooking again."

"After two observations, Qi Ning and I have come to a fairly consistent guess: that thing is not human!"

"If it's not human, does this make sense? Ghosts can cook, aren't afraid of fire, and can even start their own fires?"

"But now, regardless of whether it's reasonable or not, we have to find a way to investigate, otherwise, Zhong Cai might not be able to wait any longer."

"Afterwards, Qi Ning and I took our things and went down the stairs."

"As soon as we got to the first floor, we saw one of the two coffins; the lid was open!"

"We weren't too surprised, because apart from those two coffins, we had already checked everything, even the third floor."

"If there's a problem, it can only be these two coffins!"

Soon, Qi Ning and I arrived at the open door and went out one after the other.

"As soon as we stepped outside, we saw that figure cooking. Her agility made us feel like we had made a mistake."

"But there's no one else at the old man's house, and besides, that figure couldn't possibly be the old man."

We exchanged a glance, and Qi Ning took out the spirit-suppressing talisman I had given him and gestured to me. Just as I was about to nod, I suddenly remembered something.

"When we arrived, the old man was talking about the customs of Fengmen Village. He said not to touch the kitchen in Fengmen Village, not just one person's kitchen, but everyone's kitchen!"

"I stopped Qi Ning and told him my guess. Then, we left the courtyard from the other side."

"Every time we passed a house with people, we could hear noises coming from inside. This discovery made us uneasy."

"If the cooks aren't human, then there are at least thirty ghosts in this village!"

"After realizing the seriousness of the situation, we did not act rashly again, and returned to our room before those 'people' finished cooking."

"Two minutes after we went back to our room, the noise downstairs stopped, and dinner was ready, but neither Qi Ning nor I could sleep."

"We all have one question in our minds: with so many ghosts, is Zhong Cai still alive?"

"The next day, just as dawn broke, without waiting for the old man to bring water up, Qi Ning and I took our things and left."

"This time, it's really time to leave Fengmen Village."

"This situation is not something the two of us can handle."

"But something we never expected happened: we can't get out!"

"We left the village yesterday to check the surrounding area, but today we can't get out!"

"No matter which direction we left from, we would always return to the village entrance. During this time, Qi Ning and I didn't notice anything amiss."

"After a few attempts, I realized something: we might be trapped in a maze!"

"Immediately, I took out the illusion-breaking talisman that Zhong Cai had given me. Just as I was about to activate it, I remembered something: Zhong Cai also had an illusion-breaking talisman."

"Did he encounter the same problems as us back then? If so, why didn't he escape?"

"I didn't have time to think too much. I activated the Illusion-Breaking Talisman between Qi Ning and myself!"

"After the talisman burned, Qi Ning and I saw the hands that were gradually opening on each other's faces, but we were not happy."

"Because after one pair of hands, there's another pair!"

"Qi Ning took out the Devil May Cry spray and sprayed it into his eyes. I saw the hand covering his face open again, but behind that hand, there was another hand."

"I watched Qi Ning spray himself with the spray bottle again and again, bottle after bottle, but the hands covering his face seemed to be endless!"

Finally, Qi Ning bit his tongue, spitting out a mist of blood!

"I finally saw that Qi Ning's face was no longer covered by hands, revealing his eyes, but in just an instant, one pair of hands after another covered Qi Ning's eyes again."

"The effect of the illusion-breaking talisman dissipated, and Qi Ning and I could no longer see those hands, but we knew they were still there."

"After that, we tried a few more times, with the same result."

"We can't get out."

"As for why, I think I've found the reason."

"We broke the taboo against going out after nightfall."

"But why are the punishments carried out by ghosts, not humans?"

"Is Fengmen Village a village of people, or a village of ghosts?"

"After this, Qi Ning and I both thought we would face more retaliation, but we didn't."

"Perhaps we didn't break many taboos, so the punishment is simply that we can't leave?"

"With this in mind, we stayed in Fengmen Village for many more days, hoping that the Administration Bureau would send people to search for Qi Ning after discovering his disappearance."

"This wait lasted until the night before the end of the month."

"After seven or eight days of peace, Fengmen Village was suddenly filled with a loud bang. Qi Ning and I went to the window and looked into the distance."

"We were in a position where we could see the open space to the west of the village, and then we saw a figure slowly rising up."

"The figure just stood there, suspended in mid-air, more than ten meters above the ground."

"Just then, I heard a scream coming from afar, and the sound came from that open space."

"The voice was soft, but it sounded somewhat familiar to me."

Suddenly, Qi Ning spoke up, saying it was Zhong Cai's voice!

"It suddenly dawned on me—so Zhong Cai hadn't died all along. Where was he?"

"Just then, the figure standing in mid-air looked in our direction."

Even from hundreds of meters away, I could clearly see those eerie green eyes!

"Immediately afterwards, I felt malice coming from all directions."

I looked down, then looked out of the courtyard, and then looked around the village.

"A pair of deep green eyes all turned to our location."

"I'm dead. I was bitten to death."

……

(End of this chapter)