I had no choice but to avoid Rachel and walk ahead alone, looking for Old Ray, who was squatting out on the street. Since the hotel didn’t allow pets, Old Ray had to continue his miserable journey as a stray.
I found a food stall and bought a bunch of snacks for Old Ray. We went to a quiet, deserted spot at the foot of the mountain so he could have a good meal. Rachel looked at me, a bit annoyed.
“Hey, hey, why did you bring a dog?”
I explained briefly—Old Ray may look like a dog now, but inside him is a ghost who entered the Animal Path and hasn’t forgotten his past. Rachel looked at me, half believing, half doubting.
“So you’re with the Ghost Burial Squad too?”
Then Rachel crouched in front of Old Ray. He sniffed her excitedly. Suddenly, Rachel pulled out a Spirit Charm and slapped it onto Old Ray’s forehead.
A miserable howl rang out as Old Ray rolled on the ground. I watched in surprise.
“Give me a hand here, Ethan.”
I saw black smoke rising from Old Ray’s forehead and rushed over to tear off the Spirit Charm.
“What are you doing?”
“I was just testing it, okay? Ethan, come on, let’s go for a walk together.”
I shook my head and looked at Rachel seriously.
“Miss Rachel, I came here only to quickly find the whereabouts of the revenant, then get what I need to save my cousin. My cousin’s condition is critical—I have to hurry.”
After a long pause, Rachel sighed helplessly and turned away, smiling.
“Got it. Come on, I’ll take you somewhere.”
I hurried after her. Just then, Rachel turned to look at me and said:
“Don’t worry, we’ll find it.”
Unexpectedly, she actually tried to comfort me. I smiled. The three of us walked onto the main street. Most of the villagers lived on either side of the museum, in neat, single-family homes. Some were guesthouses—three floors and a courtyard. Every household had gardens full of flowers, making the place look beautiful.
“The oldest man here is already ninety-nine, and he’s the village chief. Ethan, go ask him.”
With hope rising in my chest, I followed Rachel into the residential area to the left of the museum. After crossing several streets, we arrived at a house with a peach tree in the yard. Through the fence, I saw an old man half-dozing in a rocking chair, a cane at his side. He looked frail but rosy-cheeked, with age spots on his face but otherwise healthy. He wore a red round cap.
I knocked on the door. After a long while, the old man in the rocking chair finally opened his eyes and called out. A plump woman in her forties came out of the house to open the door. I briefly explained our reason for coming, and she cheerfully let us in. My purpose here was to see a real revenant.
The plump woman said that was her father. The current village chief was named Frank Zhang, already ninety-nine years old, and he was just worried he had no one to talk to. We arrived just in time to chat with him.
After Rachel chatted with Frank Zhang for a while, we started to get familiar with each other.
“Young man, haven’t you been to the museum? If you want to see a real revenant, there’s one there.”
I shook my head and smiled.
“Chief, when you were young, did anything strange ever happen in this village? Anything at all, as long as it’s related to revenants.”
I had thought about this. Even though the place was thoroughly modern now, and according to Old Ray’s sniffing around, there was no sign of anything strange—it didn’t seem like revenants had ever existed here. But Blind Granny and the others came here more than thirty years ago, back when it hadn’t been developed. They wouldn’t have lied to me.
“Young man, revenants have been extinct for centuries. The only one left is the one in the museum.”
After chatting for a while without getting anywhere, we had no choice but to leave. Just then, I suddenly looked back and saw the chief’s plump daughter glaring at us fiercely. But in the next moment, she waved goodbye with a smile.
I blinked. Was that just my imagination? That look made me uncomfortable, as if I were an unwelcome guest and she despised me.
Though I was puzzled, I decided to let it go and look around some more. Rachel and I visited many places, but nothing unusual happened. We asked about revenants and whether anyone had seen anything strange, but there were no leads at all.
It was already past four in the afternoon. Rachel and I sat down at a café by the pool outside the hotel, planning to call Rufina Howard for dinner later.
Just then, my phone rang. It was a call from Evan Zhao.
I hurried to answer.
“Ethan, last night Yunmei sent someone to notify us and asked us to pass the message to you.”
My heart sank. I swallowed and asked:
“Did something happen to my cousin?”
“Howard Zhang’s condition is very bad. You need to find the Soulstone and bring it back as soon as possible. Now, tell me what’s going on over there.”
Anxiety welled up inside me. Suddenly, Rachel snatched the phone away.
“Evan, long time no see! It’s me, Rachel.”
For a moment, I noticed Rachel’s expression had changed—not smiling anymore, but moved, like someone talking to a long-lost elder. She kept nodding and saying yes, and only after a while did she hand the phone back to me.
Evan Zhao told me that, according to the legends here, there are real secrets hidden beneath the surface. The key is the essence of the sun and moon—this is the most important element for corpse transformation, and it’s recorded in the Ghost Burial Squad’s files.
“And Ethan, don’t you find it strange? Ask around again. If a village is called Zombie Village, there must be something odd about it, and that oddness should be related to revenants. Yet in this village, there’s nothing strange at all—only a single dried corpse that isn’t even a real revenant. Don’t you think that’s odd?”
(This chapter isn’t finished yet~.~ Please click next page to continue reading the exciting content!)
While Evan was talking, I nodded repeatedly.
“Ethan, if you’re free tonight, go outside and look around. Maybe you’ll find something. It’s as if this village is deliberately hiding something.”
Around five in the afternoon, we went to room 603 and knocked on Rufina Howard’s door, but no one answered. I started to worry, because Redhair had said Rufina’s blood was a deadly temptation for revenants. The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt—I was about to break down the door, when suddenly, with a creak, it opened. Rufina stood there, looking exhausted.
“I’m starving, Ethan.”
I quickly supported her and smiled.
“Come on, let’s get something to eat. That’s what you get for barely eating breakfast.”
After dinner, we gathered in Rufina Howard’s room. She sat upright on the sofa and began to explain in earnest.
The first type, also the lowest grade, is called the Purple Revenant. Their bodies have a violet hue and they’re the weakest kind. When a person dies and their body comes into contact with soil—usually laborers in life—they’re buried loosely. The corpse absorbs some vital energy and yin energy, plus rain and sunlight. Only under rare circumstances does corpse transformation occur. The condition is a living body—usually meaning a human, since humans are born with three souls and seven spirits. If, under special circumstances, the corpse doesn’t rot and comes into contact with human breath around dawn, when night turns to day, corpse transformation is likely, because it’s the balance point between yin and yang.
The second type is similar—these revenants are also weak. Most have lost all their blood and become dried corpses, buried in coffins. As the coffin decays, the corpse absorbs sunlight and moonlight, accumulating power over the years. Corpse transformation usually happens when spirit fire passes by—spirit fire is a natural flame produced when yin and yang energies collide at certain times. If this fire touches the corpse, it becomes a White Revenant. They move slowly, since their bodies lack blood and are dried out.
The third type is called the Green Revenant. Most of these bodies have completely decayed, often arising from piles of long-abandoned corpses. The accumulation of corpses produces corpse energy, and over the years, with animal scavenging and filthy conditions, one corpse slowly absorbs corpse energy. Once its flesh is locked by corpse energy, any remaining meat won’t rot. The process of transformation is complex, and it’s believed that some in the occult world use secret methods to awaken and control these revenants. To the untrained eye, they might be mistaken for ghosts.
“These three types are the most common revenants. They all fear sunlight and fire. High-intensity flames or fire-based spells can deal with them easily—they’re not that hard to destroy.”
Rachel clapped her hands and sat down beside Rufina.
“Little sister, I didn’t expect you to be so knowledgeable! I thought you were just a kid. Don’t be mad, okay? I apologize.”
Rufina rolled her eyes at Rachel. I sat down and kept listening to her explanation.
“Next are the five higher types of revenants. Among them, the Bone-Resistant is similar to the Soul-Devouring Ghost in the Ghost Path—it’s the most dangerous. I’ve heard there are even stronger kinds, but almost no one has ever seen them.”