“Shut your mouth! You scholars are like moths drawn to a flame, unaware that you are like mayflies, born in the morning and dead by night, never to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Moths may pass through fire and not die, only to be reborn. How dare you insult me? Zhu Yan, do you believe this captain will cut out your tongue to prevent you from slandering?”
“Perhaps it is you who are deaf and blind! You resort to violence at the slightest disagreement; it’s truly tiresome. A moth is just a moth. I could crush it with one hand, and it wouldn’t matter if it passed through fire and was reborn. It’s utter nonsense. I doubt even the moth knows it possesses such abilities!”
It is indeed amusing; every time the Half-Faced Ghost kills someone and takes a part of their body, he always carves these words next to the missing parts.
Originally, she thought there was some profound meaning behind it, but now it seems to be nothing more than the Fire Moth Gang’s pretentiousness.
Zhu Yan’s repeated arrogance, belittling the Fire Moth, had already pushed Wang Buzui to the brink of anger.
“Zhu Yan, enough!”
If it weren’t for the time not yet being right, he would have ended her life to vent his frustration.
Provoking someone to anger, Zhu Yan finally restrained herself and smiled, “If I hadn’t hit the nail on the head, what could Wang Fudao be angry about? Do you think that merely stitching together the body parts you’ve collected can bring the dead back to life? That’s absurd. It’s just sewing up a corpse; do you need some grand master for that? To be honest, I could do it too, and I could do it seamlessly.”
After all these years dealing with corpses, it wasn’t for nothing. Autopsies are meant to make the dead speak and uncover the truth, not to leave them in pieces.
Thus, every coroner stitches the body back together after an autopsy, and over time, practice makes perfect, enhancing their stitching skills.
Wang Buzui raised his hand but then withdrew it, lifting Zhu Yan from the table and questioning, “You can stitch up corpses? You’re not just boasting?”
A person’s patience has its limits; if she continued to treat him like a fool, he would make her understand the consequences.
“Why would I lie to you? Stitching is something every coroner can do,” Zhu Yan replied, then added, “Believe it or not.”
Wang Buzui hesitated, wanting Zhu Yan to demonstrate her skills but fearing she might pull a trick.
At that moment, the master arrived, led by the Half-Faced Ghost.
Naturally, he had heard Zhu Yan’s words. A mere woman dared to question him, and he felt displeased: “Vice Captain, since she claims to have this ability, why not let her try? If she fails, we can chop her up and feed her to the dogs.”
“Are you instructing me on how to do my job?”
Wang Buzui threw Zhu Yan back, his eyes glinting with a venomous glare that sent chills down one’s spine.
With Chen Huoe absent, Guangchun Hall was under Wang Buzui’s control, yet one after another, they kept calling him ‘Vice Captain,’ as if he were merely a dog raised by Chen Huoe.
What of the master? On his turf, he was merely living off others’ goodwill, and his tolerance was only because he still had some use.
Since Zhu Yan had this ability, the so-called ‘master’ was indeed useless.
The master sensed the murderous intent in Wang Buzui’s eyes and immediately felt a chill, quietly defending himself: “Vice… Captain, you misunderstand. I only meant to see if this girl is capable. If she truly has the skill, I could work with her to stitch the corpse, saving us a lot of time.”
Those who know how to read the situation are wise. With Chen Huoe gone, he had to be cautious.
One must understand that a person in a rage might act recklessly to achieve their goals; if he became a victim of Wang Buzui’s blade, it would be an unjust death.
Wang Buzui was indeed in a hurry; they had yet to uncover the infiltrators, and he couldn’t afford to gamble.
After a moment of contemplation, he said, “If that’s the case, master, you may proceed!”
Then, he pulled out a porcelain vial from his sleeve, shook out a pill, and pressed it into Zhu Yan’s mouth, holding her chin.
Once the antidote was ingested, Zhu Yan regained her strength in an instant.
Wang Buzui shot her a glare: “Go. If you dare to play tricks on me, I’ll chop you up and feed you to the dogs.”
Zhu Yan wasn’t angry; she was just a bit disappointed, having hoped to see them turn on each other.
She hadn’t expected this master to be so compliant, even less so than herself.
However, she didn’t dawdle. She jumped off the table and lunged forward, managing to steady herself.
After a day of anxiety and hunger, it was understandable that even after taking the antidote, she still felt weak.
Wang Buzui maintained a cold expression, his gaze fixed on Zhu Yan. In any case, if she dared to pull any tricks, he wouldn’t spare her.
Even if the soul returned, it needed to merge with the body to take form. But without Zhu Yan, there were still Du Xiaowan and Xiuxiu; surely one of them would be suitable.
Zhu Yan ignored his gaze and walked over to the secret chamber, where she saw the master had already pulled out two organs from the jar and was threading a needle. She couldn’t help but twitch her lips.
“Without the right tools, how can you handle delicate work? To stitch a corpse, you need special needles and threads! You’ve turned these into human hard candy; their hardness is comparable to bone. A regular embroidery needle won’t do.”
Just as Zhu Yan finished speaking, the embroidery needle in the master’s hand snapped, breaking in the middle.
Yet, there wasn’t even a needle hole visible on the organs laid out on the stone table.
“See? I didn’t lie.”
Wang Buzui’s brows furrowed, “What’s going on? How are you handling this?”
To ensure these things remained fresh, they had to use this method for preservation, but they forgot that even dried meat has some hardness, let alone human hard candy.
Faced with Wang Buzui’s questioning, the master couldn’t answer, stammering, “It must be your flawed methods; otherwise, how could they be so hard? It wasn’t like this before.”
The nervousness in his words was evident, and Zhu Yan noticed, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized him. How interesting.
Knowing it was false, yet still pretending it was real—wasn’t that amusing?
Rumor has it that Luo Fu has experienced death and rebirth time and again. Is it truly a case of shedding one’s shell, or is there some truth to it?
“Stop the nonsense; everything is done according to the secret method. How could there be a mistake?” Wang Buzui scolded, commanding, “No matter what methods you use, you must stitch the corpse properly.”
This was the most critical step in the secret method; the corpse must be used as a sacrifice, and his blood must guide it to bring his sister’s soul back.
One step at a time, nothing could go wrong.