Daomu Biji: Restart

Book 3: Chapter 11: Dead Things that Can Move

The flame hit its face in an instant, and with the amount of strength Poker-Face used, I wouldnt be surprised if he could cave my face in if he decided to spit on me. The thing immediately caught fire, but stayed where it was. At this time, I suddenly realized that Poker-Face mustve been the one to put his clothes on it, because the hoodie would absorb the alcohol, which would make it easier to ignite.

Almost within a quarter of a second after spraying the fire, Poker-Face dragged me back and hoisted me up. I reached behind me and pulled out my Kukri right as he pulled the wine bag from around my waist. He then easily lifted me up so that I could step on the nearby tree trunk, jump into the air, and slash at the ceramic figurines head.

I knew that there had to be something wrong with the fin behind it, so I only focused on cutting that part of it, but it was like it was made from bricks. Sparks went flying everywhere, and by the time I could get a closer look at it, the fin was suddenly gone. Almost at the same time, Poker-Face stepped on a tree that was almost twice as high as the one he had helped me jump on, leaped into the air, and then threw the wine on the figurine, which caused the fire to burn even stronger than before.

The two of us landed on both sides of the ceramic figurine. I knew that there would never be a break in Poker-Face's flurry of movements, and sure enough, when he landed, he raised his hand and tossed the wine bag to me. I caught it and then rolled behind the ceramic figurine, throwing more wine on it so that its back caught on fire.

The whole ceramic figurine had now turned into a flaming man. I stretched my hand back and threw the wine bag back over to Poker-Face in a particularly cool manner. Perfect, I said to myself. But as it turned out, my eyes were playing tricks on me. When I had looked out of the corner of my eye just now, I saw Poker-Face on the left. But when I tossed the wine bag to him, I found that he was actually on the right. As a result, the wine bag landed in the grass far away from him.

I was a little embarrassed, but he obviously wasnt counting on me for much. When I saw him just standing there and looking at the burning ceramic figurine without moving, I also stood up and watched.

Poker-Face hadn't brought a knife with him this time so I didnt know what his plan was. But without a knife, it would be really difficult to make a fatal blow. I tried to give him my Kukri but he didn't take it.

As the ceramic figurine continued to burn, I went to look for the fin on its head but still couldn't see it. My knife had already cut into its head and some wine had flowed into the cracks and caught fire. It was probably very hot inside, but it still remained motionless.

After burning for six or seven minutes, the ceramic figurine still didn't move. Poker-Face walked to the side of a nearby puddle and kicked the water onto the figurine. The mix of hot and cold instantly caused cracks to appear everywhere on the ceramic figurine and a popping sound could also be heard. Then, the figurines left hand fell off.

"Is it over?" I asked tentatively.

He didn't answer but turned on his flashlight and pointed it at the nearby puddle.

I realized that this ceramic figurine may not have been the key and that something might have been controlling it. But now that thing had escaped into the puddle of water. I asked Poker-Face what it was but he just shook his head and said, "I don't know. This time its very different."

"Whats the situation?"

Poker-Face frowned slightlyhe rarely looked like thisand then glanced up, "This is a dead thing."

Dead things, in our vocabulary, had a very precise meaningthat is, they shouldnt move.

In the past, almost all of the enemies and dangers we had encountered were caused by living creatures or their corpses. Dead things referred to objects, such as a brick, which couldnt move by themselves.

Since Poker-Face was pointing his flashlight into the water, did he subconsciously feel that there was a parasitic thing in this ceramic figurine?

But it had to be a subconscious feeling, because his eyes were so fast that if something really was there, hed definitely be able to see it. That was probably why he was hesitating. In his mind, he must not have found anything.

"You didn't see that fin?" I made an action that was similar to jug ears in hopes that he would understand what I was talking about. But to be honest, I wasnt even sure it was a fin.

He looked at me and shook his head.

I paused, recalled the last few minutes, and then started to doubt myself. My eyes definitely couldnt be faster than Poker-Faces, so if he didn't see it, then did that mean I was wrong?

Everything had been moving so fast at that time that it was really vague now that I was trying to recall it. Could it have been the hood of Poker-Faces hoodie? When I thought about it, I couldnt be sure of anything.

The two of us approached the ceramic figurine. The fire had gradually gone out, so I used the back of my knife to knock off the head and break the figurine in half. There was nothing inside, which meant the ceramic figurine really was dead.

I looked around the forest with my flashlight. From this position, the corpse banquet couldnt be seen now. This ceramic figurine really must have moved, so did that mean that a dead thing had really moved it this time?

Poker-Face picked up a piece of the ceramic figurine and handed it to me. I looked at him to see what he was going to do next and saw him quickly start walking in a certain direction. I followed after him, and the two of us quickly returned to the corpse banquet where all of the corpses were still sitting.

Poker-Face went straight up to a corpse, lifted it up by its hair, leaned it against his body, and then twisted its skull off. I trembled when I heard the click of snapping bones. Then, he dragged the corpse behind him, pointed his flashlight in the direction of retreat, and quickly left the forest.

I immediately understood that he had decided to withdraw. I ran wildly behind him while clutching the ceramic piece he had handed me just now. We rushed out of the woods smoothly and only slowed down when we saw the smoke from Fatty's cooking fire. The atmosphere was completely different outside the woods, and I couldnt help taking a deep breath when I came out. At this time, I discovered that Poker-Face was actually wearing the clothes the ceramic figurine had been wearing before.

For a moment, I immediately became wary and looked into his eyes, thinking that something evil had replaced him. He put the corpse down and turned to look at me. I stared into his eyes, feeling relieved when I was certain that they were very familiar.

"Where's my wine?" Fatty asked us.

"Ask Little Brother," I said.

I ignored him and dragged the corpse over to where the previous one was. With the two bodies arranged parallel to each other, I whispered, "Brothers, since were in the same profession, Ill definitely find an explanation for whatever happened to you. If we offend you, please forgive us." I then stretched out my hand to the new corpses stomach and touched it.

After the corpse began to rot, it felt sticky and nasty, just like a catfish. I pressed it seven or eight times and found that the new corpses stomach was also bulging, just like the one before. There was obviously something inside of it.

They really died after eating their fill, but what did they eat? Looks like well have to cut them open.

With the degree of decay like this, vultures would come as soon as the corpse's stomach was cut open. And vultures on the grassland werent easy to deal with or drive away. Youd have to start a fire and hope the smoke got rid of the smell, which was a lot of work.

I turned to look at the black grove behind us. This forest is too strange. The corpse banquet, the bodies with bulging stomachs, the funerary wine vessels, the strange ceramic figurine dressed in the clothes of grave robbers, and the moving dead thing.

Everything seemed illogical, but I was starting to understand what Poker-Face had meant when he said it was extremely dangerous. I figured wed conduct a very detailed investigation tomorrow to see if there were any clues.

It was definitely inappropriate to do it now, though. I was hungry after all the trouble we had just gone through, so it was better to eat first.

I washed my hands and listened to Fatty continue asking about the wine as he served us each a bowl of pot noodles. I told him the story of what had happened to the wine. Poker-Face focused on eating and only interrupted to add that the ceramic figurine moved in the dark.

In the absence of a light source, this ceramic figurine seemed to be some other kind of thing, but he really had a strange feeling this time. He had never encountered a similar situation like this before.

In fact, I felt the same way.

Fatty had added dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, eggs, chopped green onions, shredded pork, and peanuts to the noodles he had cooked. I was so hungry that I found it very delicious.

After eating, I planned to go to bed immediately. But before I did, I tied the hands and feet of those two corpses and then went some distance away to pee.

Poker-Face was also standing there, which made me think that he had a special skill where he could pee for almost ten minutes straight. I went about three or four meters away from him and was just about to relieve myself when I saw something in the moonlight up ahead. I didnt know when it had happened, but all of the bodies at the corpse banquet had come out from behind the trees at the edge of the forest and were standing there stiffly.

They were right at the junction where the forest met the grassland, standing there motionless with all of their heads lowered. In the moonlight, they looked deathly pale and extremely gloomy.

And behind all of their heads seemed to be something like fins spreading out.

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() ha hahaha, I did warn youI guess it's not the worst cliffhanger to leave you guys on. I will be back in a week (probably sunburnt based on my track record) so you all take care til then. Toodles~~~ (^)