They had been standing nearby, talking and investigating, and only now realized that something seemed to be underneath, which was truly chilling when carefully considered.
Luo Yingbai said, “Let’s lift it up and take a look!”
As he spoke, he rolled up his pants and bent down to lift the coffin’s edge, but Xia Xianning blocked Luo Yingbai’s hand, saying, “I’ll do it.”
Luo Yingbai, not in a good mood, didn’t obey Xia Xianning as he usually would. He pushed away Xia Xianning’s arm and was determined to move it himself.
Xia Xianning embraced Luo Yingbai around the waist, lifting him entirely off the ground and placing him behind himself. Then he bent down, gripped the board’s edge, and lifted it with force.
Luo Yingbai was about to protest, but Xia Xianning was too quick. In the blink of an eye, the board was lifted halfway. Everyone stopped focusing on the previous matter and nervously watched the exposed gap, involuntarily holding their breath.
However, halfway through, Xia Xianning’s movement stopped. He furrowed his brow, clearly the object was very heavy and even he couldn’t lift it at once. Gou Songze stepped forward, saying, “Let me help,” when Xia Xianning suddenly exerted force again and completely flipped the board aside.
Beneath the coffin board was a nearly two-meter-long concave groove.
In the hollow space, a woman was lying on the ground, her clothes dirty, with a strange red talisman stuck on her forehead, her hand half-raised, apparently still possessing a weak consciousness.
Gou Songze said, “She was the one knocking on the board just now!”
He helped her up, feeling her neck’s side, and said, “She should have no life-threatening conditions… Bro, what about this talisman?”
The space was narrow. Luo Yingbai had been blocked behind Xia Xianning earlier. After the board was lifted and Xia Xianning moved aside, he approached and glanced at the talisman’s pattern, taking out a small bottle and pouring a few drops of ghost festival rainwater collected that night onto it.
The talisman and rainwater dissolved into white smoke, revealing the woman’s face. Gou Songze’s eyes widened, and Luo Yingbai said, “It’s really Wen Qianqian.”
Gou Songze turned to him, “You’re not surprised at all? Did you already guess?”
Luo Yingbai said, “She’s the one who went missing. Aren’t we digging up this coffin to find her? That red talisman was a soul-splitting charm. If I’m not mistaken, there was originally a soul-moving formation underneath, but it was chopped by Xianning’s sword.”
Xia Xianning checked Wen Qianqian’s condition, finding she was only in a semi-comatose state due to thin oxygen, with no other injuries.
He had Wei Shou send her to the hospital, then asked Luo Yingbai, “Master, do you mean the people who captured Wen Qianqian wanted to first extract her living soul from her body using the soul-splitting charm, then use the soul-moving formation to inject a new soul into this body, borrowing it to be reborn?”
Luo Yingbai looked at him glumly. Now he was pretending to be very polite.
But he couldn’t possibly be angry with Xia Xianning over this, so he honestly answered, “Yes.”
Gou Songze said, “So who is this person meant to be revived? Could it be Lü Lu you mentioned? But I have a question: if that person is really her, why did you two see a living Lü Lu? Since she has a physical form, doesn’t that mean she has already killed someone and has been living in that person’s body for a year?”
After speaking, Gou Songze realized something himself: “No, if that were the case, her appearance wouldn’t be Lü Lu’s original appearance, and her family wouldn’t recognize her.”
Luo Yingbai said, “So now there are two key points: first, who is the person meant to be revived? Second, why does Peng Xuan want to revive her?”
Gou Songze nodded.
Luo Yingbai said, “I’ll tell you clearly now. First, the person Xianning and I saw is definitely Lü Lu, because I’ve already seen her previous photos, and they look the same, not like plastic surgery.”
And if that weren’t her body, with the soul and body not matching, such a person couldn’t consume hot food. But I’ve seen her drink hot water.”
“Second,” Luo Yingbai continued, “My dad said Peng Xuan seems to be conducting an experiment, trying to create ghost servants using human bodies. So his revival of Lü Lu is likely for two reasons: either to use her for a new experiment or commissioned by someone else. I lean towards Lü Lu being completely passive and unaware.”
Gou Songze was still stuck on the initial doubt: “So what exactly was going on with the Lü Lu you saw?
Luo Yingbai kicked the waste wood on the ground and said, “Well… let me imagine the scene at that time – Lu Lu fell while rock climbing and died, her body unclaimed, picked up by villagers, and buried together with a male corpse. As soon as she was buried, someone dug her out, repaired her body, and forcibly sealed her soul into her body using a soul-sealing technique. But since the body was already damaged, this method couldn’t last long, so during this time, that person was constantly searching for a suitable body to resurrect Lu Lu…”
Now, according to Luo Yingbai’s analysis, the entire sequence of events could indeed be successfully connected. In plain terms, someone didn’t want Lu Lu to die, temporarily preserved her, and then sought a substitute.
Luo Yingbai continued without waiting for Gou Songze to speak: “I know you’re definitely going to ask me how I knew Lu Lu was dug out right after burial – look at this.”
He picked up several pieces of waste wood from the ground to show everyone: “Look, before Xian Ning smashed the coffin, I saw some edge marks with bumps, and those bumped areas were covered in mud that had already seeped into the wood. Do you know what this means?”
Gou Songze said, “You’re saying these marks are from a long time ago, not recently?”
Luo Yingbai said, “Yes, coffins are most taboo about damage. During burial, they’re handled carefully, and once buried underground and out of sight, they shouldn’t be bumped. The only possibility is that the coffin was dug out shortly after being buried…”
Zhang Jian glanced at the patterns on the shackles and said, “You’ve been sentenced to be reborn as an animal in your next life, with a five-year suspended sentence – what crime is this for?”
In the underworld, different patterns, lengths, and weights of shackles represented different crimes, with hundreds of varieties. Only Luo Yingbai could recognize them at a glance among those not specifically managing these.
Zhang Jian had already lived here for three years, with most of his living fire worn away. He answered honestly when asked:
“This lowly one was a dog killer and dog meat seller in life, often stealing dogs to kill. The King of Hell said I had killed 893 dogs, and I must be reborn as a dog for seven lifetimes. Only after clearing the sins in the eighth lifetime would I have a chance to become human again. Because he felt my heart of repentance was not bad, he specially showed mercy and allowed me to live in human form in the underworld for five years.”
Luo Yingbai said, “I see. So do you live alone or with your wife?”
Zhang Jian bitterly smiled, “Sir, please don’t joke. I’m single, with no wife or children. I’ll definitely live alone.”
Luo Yingbai asked, “Are there evil ghosts fighting to steal your wife?”
This wasn’t a joke, as the underworld was full of malevolent ghosts with fierce energy, with monsters occasionally passing through. Beautiful female ghosts being snatched away was quite common.
Gao Xiang twisted and laughed while Gou Songze exclaimed, “Damn! Is he possessed or something!”
Xia Xianning didn’t intervene immediately, watching from the side.
Seeing Gao Xiang acting half-mad, unsure if he was putting on an act, he patted Gou Songze’s shoulder and motioned him to move aside.
