Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 402

Chen Xiyuan stared blankly at the extinguished lamp in front of her.

Even the pale moonlight tonight could illuminate her face like makeup.

"I think I know why Grandpa wanted to kill you."

Li Zhuiyuan, lying on the rattan chair, turned his head slightly and looked at her back without saying a word.

What are you planning to do?

"sleep."

Chen Xiyuan turned her head to look at Li Zhuiyuan.

"Will the Chen family of Qiongya be your next target?"

"Sleepy."

Chen Xiyuan bit her lower lip until it bled.

Having been allies—no, friends—she understood all too well just how terrifying it was to be the enemy of the boy before her.

"I……"

If the second lighting is successful, perhaps the pressure in her heart will be relieved a lot, and at least she will be able to speak more smoothly. Now, she finds that no matter what she says, she has no reason or position.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled back the blanket covering him and sat up from the rattan chair.

"Good night."

The boy entered the room and closed the screen door.

As I passed the wardrobe, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, my expression grim and my gaze cold.

That familiar feeling is about to return.

It seems we need to hurry and revive the original body.

I lay down on the bed and covered my stomach with the neatly folded blanket.

Chen Xiyuan stood outside the screen door for a while.

Then she turned and left.

Li Zhuiyuan did not comfort her, or rather, at this moment, not offering comfort was the best form of comfort.

Because whether you act aggressively or magnanimously, you are forcing her to make a choice.

It's not necessary.

Perhaps there was some hidden reason behind Mr. Chen's "yes" answer.

He may be unwilling, uncomfortable, or unable to speak.

But as Li Zhuiyuan had told Liu Yumei during the day, he was too lazy to ask any further questions.

The other party almost killed you, and they even admitted it themselves.

If you were to actively seek out the reasons behind someone else's actions, it would be too unfair to yourself.

Li Zhuiyuan could wait for the Chen family patriarch to explain, but that didn't stop him from now on from treating the Chen family patriarch, and even the Chen family of Qiongya, as his next opponent.

The boy doesn't like this kind of veiled drama. Even if you finally come up with a reason that you've wronged everyone, you still have to bear all the consequences that have occurred in the meantime!

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and fell asleep again, the fragrance wafting around his bed once more.

When Chen Xiyuan returned to Big Beard's house, Zhao Yi was still awake. He had his legs propped up on the balcony railing and was reading "The Code of Conduct for Walking Along the River" by the moonlight.

Turning the page, Zhao Yi saw that Chen Xiyuan was still standing there, not leaving. He looked up at her and asked:
"what happened?"

Chen Xiyuan: "There's something I'd like to ask you."

Zhao Yi: "Ask me?"

Chen Xiyuan: "It's probably because you have experience in this area."

Zhao Yi: "I have experience in this area? Oh, I see, haha~"

Chen Xiyuan: "You knew all along? Did your little brother tell you?"

Zhao Yi smiled and said, "Do I even need to tell you? Men all understand."

Chen Xiyuan: "Hmm?"

Zhao Yi: "To marry two wives and maintain harmonious family relationships truly requires immense wisdom."

Chen Xiyuan gripped the jade flute tightly in her hand, her aura gradually becoming sharp.

Zhao Yi immediately shrank back and waved his hand, saying, "Could I have guessed wrong?"

Chen Xiyuan glanced at the distant night sky, released the flute, and looked dejected.

She left the balcony and went into her room.

Zhao Yi resumed his previous posture of crossing his legs while reading.

It seems that the lightning strike really was related to the Chen family.

The guy surnamed Li clearly doesn't want to involve you; he must be out of his mind to be sharing his experience and offering advice at this time.

Soon, Zhao Yi saw Chen Xiyuan appear on the dam, carrying the same type of hiking backpack as the team surnamed Li.

she left.

It can't be considered leaving without saying goodbye, because I couldn't say goodbye to anyone.

She wants to go back to Hainan Island, she wants to go home, she wants to find her grandfather.

It wasn't about asking any questions, but about going back to confront her past and the Dragon King Chen she knew.

Zhao Yi looked away, turned another page, and muttered to himself:
"Being debt-free is a relief, and being homeless is also a relief."

As Chen Xiyuan walked out of the village road and onto the main road, a black sedan drove by and stopped. The driver was a kind-looking female driver.

At this time of day, it's hard to hitch a ride here. Seeing a young girl standing by the roadside, she decided to give her a ride.

Chen Xiyuan thanked them, got into the car, turned her head to look at the tranquil village scene under the night sky, slowly raised her hand, and gently waved through the window.

The female driver asked curiously, "Did someone give you a ride?"

Chen Xiyuan: "No, I'm alone."

The car started and drove away.

Chen Xiyuan slowly turned around and looked through the rear window at the two red and white road posts at the entrance of the village road, which were gradually becoming blurred.

She just waved goodbye to herself.

She left her former self in this village.

……

"Time for breakfast."

After recovering her health, Aunt Liu resumed taking over the household's daily meals.

Li Zhuiyuan led A Li down the street.

The boy has been sleeping a lot these past two days, but he wakes up at mealtimes every time.

Li Zhuiyuan skillfully helped A Li divide the various pickled vegetables into small dishes, while A Li peeled a salted duck egg for the boy and then peeled two chicken eggs.

Without the overpowering brown sugar, these boiled eggs taste even better.

After inspecting the repairs to the ancestral graves yesterday, the old carpenter dragged him out for drinks again. He was carried back by Uncle Qin late at night and is still asleep.

In the days following the typhoon, business was slow, and my grandfather was drinking frequently. In the midst of all this, he didn't even realize that all the mules in the house were lying down.

Zhao Yi arrived right after I had breakfast.

Li Zhuiyuan: "She's gone, isn't she?"

Zhao Yi: "Yeah, I'm going back."

Li Zhuiyuan: "No need to see me off."

Zhao Yi: "Could you please not combine two sentences into one? It makes me seem like an extra."

Li Zhuiyuan: "When do we set off?"

Zhao Yi: "At noon, I really missed my Jiujiang and my Lushan."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Mm."

Zhao Yi: "I checked Runsheng, Ayou and Daban's injuries this morning. They're not in serious condition anymore. Also, Ayou and Daban have made significant breakthroughs."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Thank you for your hard work."

Zhao Yi: "You should say those formal things more often. After all, I've never seen you act like a stranger when there's something really going on."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Are you done talking? I'm sleepy again."

Zhao Yi: "After the team has rested and regrouped, are you going to Hainan?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I'm going to the Northeast first to find my teacher. Are you going too?"

Zhao Yi: "What I mean is, don't call me when you go to Hainan, and when you go to the Northeast, cough cough... don't call me either."

I've earned a lot of merit this time, so I need to plan how to use it wisely.

"Then I'll immediately challenge you to life-or-death situations and high-difficulty tasks. It would be such a waste if we died before our merits were used up."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Indeed."

Zhao Yi lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and then forcefully exhaled it into Li Zhuiyuan's face.

The smoke naturally dispersed to both sides just before it reached the target.

Zhao Yi licked his lips and said, "I knew my gut feeling was right. You, surnamed Li, are a complete freak!"

He hadn't practiced martial arts and walked with a limp, but the boy in front of him was practically walking on stilts on one leg, and the stilts could keep getting longer.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Because a few days ago, I looked at some books and paintings."

Zhao Yi: "Hey Li, we're all on the same side. That thing is actually so effective? Heh, see my eyes? They're red!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I haven't even started processing that stuff yet; I've only smelled it so far." Zhao Yi turned and walked away, waving and calling out, "Let's go, let's go home, let's go home!"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't try to fool Zhao Yi; he really did go back to his room to sleep and woke up at lunchtime.

Over the next few days, Li Zhuiyuan maintained a very regular schedule, eating and sleeping on time.

During this period, Runsheng moved back from Big Beard's house.

Accompanying Uncle Qin to the fields and deliver goods.

Then Lin Shuyou came back. As soon as he returned, the village committee invited him to help repair the village's electrical circuits.

Tan Wenbin was the last to return, and his return marked the end of Benben's tutoring classes.

After another afternoon nap, Li Zhuiyuan sat on the bed, carefully reflecting on how the feeling of wanting more sleep had finally disappeared.

This means that he has recovered his physical condition.

Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs and glanced at the tattered straw mat in the corner of the living room.

Every day, after he finished eating, he would put some food and water in the straw mat.

Xiao Hei may not be able to eat right now, but Li Zhuiyuan needs to feed it every day to tell himself that Xiao Hei is still alive. Otherwise, after such a long period of fasting and deprivation of water, he would subconsciously think that Xiao Hei is dead.

Fortunately, each time the straw mat was pressed, a response came from inside, although it was gradually weakening.

At dusk, the evening glow hangs in the air.

The door to the east room was closed, and Ah Li was taking a bath.

Li Zhuiyuan sat on the dam waiting.

The door was pushed open from the inside, and Ah Li, who had just finished showering and changed into a plain dress, came out.

With just a glance, Ah Li knew what Li Zhuiyuan was going to do. She followed the boy to the back of the house and into the dojo.

Li Zhuiyuan sat on the altar, with A Li standing behind him.

This scene reminded me of when Li Zhuiyuan was at his weakest a few days ago, when A-Li would stand outside and keep an eye on things while he took a bath.

The boy set out to absorb the "gift" left to him by the giant tortoise.

The process is not complicated, but it is very dangerous, equivalent to chiseling a hole in a dam to draw water.

In Ah Li's eyes, the boy's body was trembling constantly, and some blood was oozing from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

The intense fluctuations in his mental state triggered a chain reaction in his body, which is why Li Zhuiyuan had to wait until his body had recovered to a certain extent before starting.

Deep within the mind, the darkness that had engulfed everything began to recede, and the great-grandfather's house reappeared, followed by the fields, trees, and river near the house... all the way to the entire Siyuan Village, which was reproduced here.

The scars left by the battle were all smoothed over, and everything returned to its former state. The difference was that this time there was no longer a rough sky, no houses with only one wall, and even the dandelions blown by the wind were incredibly delicate.

Previously, in order to maintain such an effect and deceive the giant tortoise's gaze, Li Zhuiyuan needed to push himself to the limit, and time was limited;

Now, this maintenance is no longer a burden for Li Zhuiyuan; it can continue to operate at such a high standard indefinitely.

After it was over, Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes. Before he could even stand up from the altar, the tingling numbness throughout his body forced him to prostrate himself on the ground.

Blood gushed from his nose, quickly staining the altar beneath him and spreading down the steps.

Ah Li knelt down and helped the boy stop the bleeding.

After a long struggle, the terrifying nosebleed was finally brought under control, and Li Zhuiyuan was panting heavily.

He realized that he was approaching a critical point.

In short, it's a contradiction between the ever-increasing mental intensity and the lagging physical condition.

The excessive mental strength gradually became too much for the body of this ordinary teenager to handle.

If one cannot practice martial arts yet, then the only way to improve physical fitness is through slow growth over time, which is somewhat insufficient.

Sealing your mind is a good method, but it still doesn't solve the problem that your body will still experience these symptoms when you actually need to use it.

The best solution is to consume energy efficiently at all times, keeping both mental and physical levels below the warning line.

Body.

Once the original body reappears, it can obtain more energy than before to continue its beloved research and deduction.

The boy never expected that the inner demon and the original body, which were once on opposite sides, would now be inseparable from it.

Ah Li brought water and carefully cleaned the bloodstains from Li Zhuiyuan's face.

Li Zhuiyuan lay on the altar for a while longer, and only after his breathing calmed down did he walk out of the temple with A Li's help.

After arriving in the living room, Li Zhuiyuan sat down on the floor next to the tattered straw mat.

Ah Li picked up the purple-gold compass and moved her fingertips across it. With a "click" sound, the grooves on the compass appeared.

The girl tilted the mat with the groove facing one end and poured it downwards, causing the copper coins to roll into it.

Li Zhuiyuan reached his hand into the straw mat, found the dog's paw, and grasped it.

As for the copper coin, Li Zhuiyuan guessed that Xiao Hei had probably put it in its mouth.

The resentment brought about by the restoration of copper coins was actively absorbed by Li Zhuiyuan, and the young man personally oversaw this process.

More importantly, when the boy closed his eyes, in the "Siyuan Village" deep in his mind, he saw Xiao Hei lying on the dam, barely alive.

It's hard to describe the dog's current miserable state with specific words, but it is still alive.

Little Black let out whimpers, its cloudy eyes blinking as it looked at the boy in front of it.

Li Zhuiyuan: "You are free."

Xiao Hei's eyes widened immediately!

Li Zhuiyuan: "I will take good care of you for the rest of your life, and you can do whatever you want without any restrictions."

In the past, in order to provide the team with authentic, high-quality black dog blood, Xiao Hei was always required to maintain its purity.

Little Black looked puzzled. It always felt that it lived a very free life. Compared with other dogs, it ate well, drank well, slept well, and did not do any of the things that dogs should do.

As for the true meaning behind "freedom," Xiao Hei didn't think so at all. It never felt like it was under a yoke, because it had never been interested in female dogs since it was a puppy.

Even when it has its blood drawn, it looks forward to it. Because it eats so much nourishing food and is so strong, its blood and energy surge. Having a little blood drawn every now and then makes it more comfortable and improves its sleep quality.

Seeing Xiao Hei's reaction, Li Zhuiyuan was somewhat helpless.

Even if I wanted to reward it and find an opportunity to completely transform it into a monster like Lion Lord or Tiger Lord, Little Black probably wouldn't be willing. It's afraid that I would lead it to walk along the river, which would be too tiring.

Sensing that the time was right, Li Zhuiyuan said, "Alright, hold on to your last breath, you won't die."

Xiao Hei's eyes showed determination.

It hasn't had enough of this kind of dog life yet!
In reality, Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes, pulled his hand out of the straw mat, and held the copper coin between his fingertips.

"Runsheng, untie the knot."

"it is good."

Runsheng, who had been sitting on the coffin next to him for a long time, immediately got up and came over to untie the knot that he had tied himself.

The straw mat was spread out, and it was very dirty inside, with water stains and a lot of uneaten food.

A black dog, severely injured and emaciated to the point of being skin and bones, lay there motionless.

Runsheng fell silent.

The broken, hairless dog tail suddenly swept across.

Runsheng smiled again.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Runsheng, take it to Ali. Ali has already prepared the medicine."

As long as he has breath, Xiao Hei won't die. With some time, his body can be restored.

Runsheng stretched out his hands, a distance away, towards Xiao Hei.

The next moment, Xiao Hei's battered body was steadily lifted up.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his eyes slightly, somewhat surprised. Runsheng had actually made a breakthrough?
This move subtly touched upon a more nuanced level.

Back in that "world," when Uncle Qin was fighting the giant tortoise, Zhao Yi tugged at Runsheng's eyes, urging him to look more closely. Runsheng, however, found it boring and clearly didn't understand anything.

But after it was over, Runsheng witnessed firsthand how Uncle Qin steadily lifted Xiaoyuan up to the second floor.

This scene deeply touched Runsheng's heart, causing him to unconsciously turn his palm back and forth even while sleeping during his recovery.

"Brother Xiaoyuan." Tan Wenbin walked in with a cell phone, his expression somewhat grave. "It's Lu Yi on the phone."

Li Zhuiyuan answered the phone.

"Hey, Brother Lu, it's me."

"Brother Xiaoyuan, there's something I feel I need to report to you."

"You said."

“Last night, around midnight, when I finished tallying up the accounts and was about to close up and go back to my dorm, Liang Ge came over. He said he was very hungry and that all the restaurants outside were closed, so he asked me to prepare something for them to eat.”

"Who else is there?"

"At first, Liang Ge came alone. After I cooked the oden and served it, I found that Engineer Luo had also arrived and was sitting face to face with Liang Ge to eat."

The matter of Luo Gong's disappearance was a secret, and Lu Yi was unaware of it.

But this news puzzled Li Zhuiyuan. Had Engineer Luo already returned?
If that's the case, then logically, Brother Liangliang should have notified me immediately.

"Brother Lu, please continue."

After they finished eating, they all left.

Then this afternoon, a group of people who looked like police officers but didn't quite come to the store and asked me if I had seen Brother Liang last night.

I told them everything I knew, and then asked them what had happened.

They gave me their contact information and told me to notify them immediately if I had any further news about Brother Liang.

"Brother Liang has disappeared."

(End of this chapter)