Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 438

Tan Wenbin got up from his seat, took his mobile phone, and went outside to answer the call.

Lin Shuyou sat at the table and continued eating, while Zhou Yunyun's parents enthusiastically served him food.

They really liked Ayou, this simple and down-to-earth young man.

If they had another daughter and Ah-you didn't have a boyfriend, they would really like to have another son-in-law like Ah-you.

"Phew...I'm full!"

Lin Shuyou put down his chopsticks and patted his belly lightly.

Yunyun's dad took out a cigarette and handed it to her.

Lin Shuyou chuckled and was about to reach out to take it when a hand suddenly cut in front of him and snatched the cigarette.

Tan Wenbin took out a lighter, lit it for his future father-in-law, and then lit it for himself.
"Dad, Mom, something happened to my friend, I have to go check on him. Ah You, come on, let's go to Liang Ge's house."

Tan Wenbin had a couple of drinks with his future father-in-law at dinner and was sitting in the passenger seat when Lin Shuyou started the pickup truck and asked:

"What happened to Brother Liang?"

"The murderer who created that haunted house returned. When he tried to attack Brother Liang, he was attacked by Bai Nuo and the others' pets."

"Is Brother Liang alright?"

"It's nothing, the person has already left the police station and gone home. Let's go take a look."

"Should we notify Brother Xiaoyuan?"

"We'll let Xiao Yuan know when we get back."

The call was from Tan Yunlong. Tan Wenbin had used his father's connections to report the former owner of the haunted house for embezzlement and bribery. After the house was involved in a second incident, Tan Yunlong was also notified, which is why he called his son.

As Lin Shuyou drove, he said, "Someone like Brother Liang shouldn't really have any accidents because of this."

Tan Wenbin shook his head: "If you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet. Our Brother Xiaoyuan is very good at fortune telling, but do you think he really believes in fate?"

If a fortune teller really says you'll become rich in the future, does that mean you'll just stay home all day doing nothing and expect to get rich?

Lin Shuyou: "What if we encounter a demolition and relocation issue?"

Tan Wenbin: What you said actually makes a lot of sense.

Lin Shuyou: "Anyway, I can live in a rented house. I don't want resettlement housing. I want a huge resettlement fee so I can make a fortune."

Tan Wenbin: "Ah You, focus on driving."

Outside, it was already dark. It had rained during the day, and the air was still damp and chilly at night. But once the car windows were closed, there was a feeling of oppressive heat.

Tan Wenbin selected a song and pushed it in.

As the melodious prelude began, the song started, accompanied by the light raindrops that started to fall sparsely onto the car window again.

Tan Wenbin believes that when he looks back on the present, on the 1990s, he will feel much the same way he does now.

When the car arrived in the city, Xue Liangliang was already waiting at the entrance of the residential area.

"I already told you I'm fine, you didn't need to make a special trip."

"Brother Liang, we won't be able to sleep well tonight if we don't see that you are safe and sound."

Tan Wenbin stepped forward, patted and touched Xue Liangliang up and down, and checked his body to confirm that apart from a few abrasions that had already been treated, there was nothing wrong.

Xue Liangliang: "Even if he had a knife, I could have subdued him. Who knew he would also be carrying a gun?"

Lin Shuyou: "The thugs were even carrying guns?"

Xue Liangliang: "Yes, it was really scary to have a gun pointed at you; it sent chills down my spine."

Lin Shuyou nodded in agreement, saying, "Back then, if Uncle Tan hadn't deliberately missed, I probably would have been done for."

Tan Wenbin: "You're quite good at making excuses for him."

Lin Shuyou: "Huh?"

Tan Wenbin: "You have no idea how depressed he was after seeing someone at school that night who could dodge bullets with his skills."

Lin Shuyou: "So, Uncle was planning to kill me that night?"

Tan Wenbin: "It's not that bad, it's just that they didn't aim for your vital points."

Lin Shuyou subconsciously pulled up his trouser leg, wanting to see the wound where he had been grazed by a bullet, but found that the skin there was smooth and delicate.

After undergoing extensive physical modifications and recovering from countless serious injuries, plus the recent skin replacement, it's impossible to find any trace of the gunshot wound from back then.

Xue Liangliang: "Let's go get a drink?"

Tan Wenbin: "No, Brother Liang, we just finished eating at my father-in-law's. Since you're alright, you should get some rest. You were frightened and exhausted today."

Xue Liangliang: "Okay, then please be careful driving at night."

After watching Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou get into the car and leave, Xue Liangliang walked back to the residential area.

The original three-bedroom, one-living-room layout of the house remained unchanged. Xue Liangliang and his wife slept in the master bedroom, while the other four Bai family ladies lived in pairs. The beds inside were replaced with bunk beds.

After all, they were people who had been lying in coffins for at least a hundred years, so they didn't feel cramped.

"Son-in-law, please drink this calming soup."

The old woman, who looked the oldest but was actually the youngest of the four, brought Xue Liangliang a bowl of soup.

When Xue Liangliang watched the four of them interact, he felt a little uncomfortable seeing Bai Nuo, that little brat, calling the old nanny by her childhood name and ordering her around.

He took the bowl and drank the soup in one gulp.

"Thank you, it's delicious."

"Young master, you should get some rest."

"You too."

When Xue Liangliang returned to the master bedroom, he passed through the living room and saw Bai Nuo sitting on the sofa, intently watching TV, her feet swinging back and forth in her slippers.

She was like a daughter to this family, yet she was the oldest of the four Bai family ladies.

Xue Liangliang opened the master bedroom door, went inside, and closed the door.

Bai Zhilan came over and helped him take off his coat.

"It was my oversight; I should have let one of them stay with you the whole time."

"Ha, that's as if the whole society is full of thugs."

"You are the pillar of our lives, mother and son. Without you, who would we live on?"

"I hope you can live well, no matter what happens."

Xue Liangliang lay down on the bed, one arm around his wife, the other gently resting on her slightly protruding belly.

At this moment, a man felt as if he possessed the whole world.

In other families, such an incident would likely leave them shaken for at least six months, but in this family, it was treated as a normal occurrence, and they didn't hesitate to stay the night.

After enjoying this tranquil and beautiful moment, Xue Liangliang turned to the side to turn off the desk lamp.

He ran his fingers over the knob and said...

"This light can be adjusted in brightness."

Bai Zhilan: "Yes, Bai Nuo chose it. She also has one in her room."

Xue Liangliang: "How bright can it be adjusted to at most?"

Bai Zhilan: "It's very bright; the light shines through the windows and all the way to the unit door."

Xue Liangliang: That's really good.

Bai Zhilan: "But it's so bright and dazzling, it's pointless."

"Let's take a break."

"Snapped!"

Xue Liangliang turned off the desk lamp.

In the living room, Bai Nuo stood up from the sofa with her feet on the ground, looked up at the ceiling.

That was where the chandelier used to be, but it fell down, and a new chandelier hasn't been purchased and installed yet.

Right now, the living room lights are bright, but a shadow still lingers there, constantly contracting and expanding.

Bai Nuo's eyes were stern as she opened her mouth.

The shadow above seemed extremely frightened and began to tremble violently, yet it still could not resist the tendency to be pulled down.

Finally, it landed, and with a wave of her small, white hand, she caught the shadow in her grasp and watched it struggle.

"When that guy arrived at the building entrance, you could have made your move, but you deliberately waited until he attacked your son-in-law before making your move to try and gain merit."

You've gone too far!

……

When Tan Wenbin returned home, he saw that the lamp in Xiao Yuan's room on the second floor was still on.

After going upstairs and reporting to Brother Xiaoyuan about what happened at Brother Liang's place, Tan Wenbin came downstairs and took a shower with Ayou by the well.

"Crash..."

You take one bucket, I take one bucket, and then we each start making soap.

Lin Shuyou: "Brother Xiao Yuan went to bed really late tonight."

Tan Wenbin: "Yes, I'm writing something."

Lin Shuyou: "Runsheng isn't home."

Tan Wenbin: "It should be with Grandpa Shan."

After they finished bathing, they each lay back down in their coffins.

Upstairs, Li Zhuiyuan put down his pen and gently rubbed his wrist.

He had already written the latest summary of "The Secret Scroll of Tracing Ancestral Roots" on his way back. What he is writing now is the team development plan for the next stage.

This involves not only the original individuals and the whole, but also the chain reaction after Ah Li officially joins the team.

This is a complex project, and even Li Zhuiyuan finds it tedious to deduce its intricacies. However, the overall framework has been established.

Next, we'll see how to implement it in practice.

In fact, Li Zhuiyuan knew that his team was progressing very quickly.

But whether actively or passively, the waves he has experienced, especially the recent ones, have been kept at an excessive level.

As a result, the sense of progress felt by other team members was diminished.

This forced Li Zhuiyuan to dare not stop, and while continuously accumulating quantitative changes, he sought the direction of qualitative change.

Take the carrots from the last wave, for example. They were eaten too quickly at the time, and the effects were there, but apart from Li Zhuiyuan, the other partners had not yet been able to tap into and unleash their full potential.

Runsheng absorbs the life force, Tan Wenbin wields the rusty sword, and Lin Shuyou further merges with the boy...

These can be considered progress, and according to the normal distribution logic of those who walk the river, they are already the results obtained through high merit. However, the young man is still not satisfied.

Li Zhuiyuan planned to use these three carrots as a new foundation, preparing to leap upwards from this new starting point.

Li Zhuiyuan tore off several sheets of paper covered with dense writing. The title on them was "Runsheng". Li Zhuiyuan placed these sheets of paper on the drawing table. When A Li came over tomorrow morning, she would know what to do when she saw these sheets of paper.

Turn off the lights, lie down in bed, close your eyes, and fall asleep.

I wake up at my normal sleep schedule.

Even if life is monotonous, a good life can still fill people with anticipation.

Grandma Liu's dedication to dressing up Ah Li really benefited Li Zhuiyuan.

When the boy first started school, he discovered that his classmates had a vague and forgetful ability to recall the knowledge they had learned.

This was simply incredible to him, and he was quite envious of this talent.

It's actually quite tedious and boring to memorize every single day so clearly from birth.

No matter how long ago it happened, it feels like it happened yesterday. This means that you can always vividly remember all the things you dislike and reject.

But with Ah Li, the boy had already memorized countless mornings he saw upon waking up.

This was something he was supposed to save for later, when he was older, but now he couldn't help but want to revisit it.

Ah Li is painting, and the painting depicts Run Sheng.

A-Li read the paper that Li Zhuiyuan left before going to bed last night.

In the painting, Runsheng is shirtless, and the logic of the operation of the valves and grooves is depicted clearly and accurately.

Furthermore, nine more dark figures were moving about on top of this.

Li Zhuiyuan got out of bed, walked to A Li's side, and watched A Li finish up the work according to the requirements on the paper.

If the team's upper limit is the young man himself, then the team's lower limit is the support provided by Runsheng.

Runsheng is the cornerstone of the team, and prioritizing the improvement of Runsheng's capabilities is in the overall interest of the team.

Furthermore, Runsheng also has ready-made assignments to copy.

Although Li Zhuiyuan was hiding in the spiritual realm during the battle between Uncle Qin and the giant tortoise, his companions, especially Zhao Yi, later recounted the entire situation to him.

Uncle Qin summoned nine evil dragons, forcibly pushing his physique to a terrifying level.

Li Zhuiyuan also possessed a newly promoted and higher-quality evil dragon. Coupled with his deep understanding of the "Qin Family Dragon Observation Method," he knew which new path Uncle Qin had embarked on.

In the boy's view, this was not a wrong path. After all, there was no path in the world, but it was made by the many people who walked on it.

Runsheng has the vitality from the last absorption that is still far from being fully digested as a carrier. Li Zhuiyuan plans to take this opportunity to arrange nine things for Runsheng to become the evolution of his qi gates during the alternation.

The original evil dragon won't work. First, Run Sheng simply can't handle it now. Second, Li Zhuiyuan has nowhere to find eight more dragon spirits, let alone a sucker willing to help the eight dragon spirits elevate their status.

However, even Uncle Qin certainly didn't start with the evil dragon.

You can start by finding a weaker version of the counterfeit to fit the trend. If it has the potential to gradually elevate its status, then do so. If not, you can always find a higher-end alternative in the next stage.

As for where to specifically look, Li Zhuiyuan had his own methods.

"Time for breakfast!"

Breakfast was a little later than usual today.

During breakfast, Li Zhuiyuan glanced around and saw that Grandma Liu and Aunt Liu were doing as usual, but Uncle Qin was chewing and swallowing a little faster than usual.

Something must have happened.

After the meal, Liu Yumei took the initiative to call out, "Xiao Yuan, come and have some tea with Grandma."

Li Zhuiyuan came over, made tea, and sat down at the tea table.

Liu Yumei genuinely treated the young man as the head of the family, and in accordance with the tacit understanding established between them, she went straight to the point:

"Something happened at the Qin family's ancestral home."

"Grandma, could you describe it in more detail?"

“It’s a bit bigger than the occasional incidents we’ve had in the past, but it’s not outrageous and it’s still under control. I suggest that A-Ting and A-Li set off today to go back to the Qinling Mountains.”

"Grandma, you can make the decision yourself."

"I might have to make a trip there myself in a while to do some repairs. You know, Ali and Ating aren't very good at this."

"Do you need me to go?"

"No need, don't let these things slow you down. Grandma knows you're under a lot of pressure and responsibility right now."

"it is good."

"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. Even if something really happens, Grandma will let you know first. She won't try to do it herself."

"I still have the house key."

“You have the keys from the two families’ complete set, which were taken apart. A-Ting has them.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

In the morning, Aunt Liu and Uncle Qin left home together.

Around noon, Lihua carried Benben on her back to replace Que'er, who had left Aunt Liu, and cooked for the family.

The weather is getting colder, and even though Benben sleeps in the same bed with Sidao every day, he's not afraid of the cold at all.

But in order to portray herself as a dutiful mother, Lihua changed Benben into a thicker outfit, so he wouldn't be wearing open-crotch pants with his bottom showing anymore.

Meanwhile, Benben had a baby bottle slung around his neck and a small backpack full of snacks on his back, dressed in a very fashionable way.

Tan Wenbin was sitting on the dam reading a book and contemplating feng shui. When Lihua arrived, Tan Wenbin looked up and greeted her, and also smiled at Benben on Lihua's back.

Benben turned his head away, refusing to look at Tan Wenbin.

Despite his young age, he is very precocious and knows a lot, even though he can't speak yet.

Benben knew that it was because of the guy's passive resistance that the two older brothers who enjoyed tutoring him had been unable to become his younger brothers for so long.

As usual, Lihua put Benben in Li Zhuiyuan's room and then went downstairs to cook.

But this time, because Tan Wenbin was at home and sitting on the threshing floor downstairs, the two resentful infants dared not openly carry the scroll up and drag Benben into the big classroom under the bed.

Benben seized the opportunity, pushed open the screen door, climbed out, and successfully skipped school!

Reaching the top of the stairs, Benben dared not go down. If the people below saw him, they would definitely pull him back up. But the terrace was spacious and there was nowhere to hide.

Benben poked his round little head out of the stairwell and peeked downstairs. He happened to make eye contact with Xiao Hei, who was lying in the doghouse downstairs, stretching after taking a nap.

Xiao Hei didn't want to pay attention to him and planned to take another nap.

The next moment, the dog's eyes widened and the child actually climbed over the edge and fell straight down!
Xiao Hei jumped up immediately and ran a few steps forward.

"boom!"

Xiao Hei is already a big dog. After being struck by lightning, it became even fatter and more chubby than before.

When Benben landed on it, it felt like he had landed on a thick, fleshy cushion.

After picking up the child, Xiao Hei planned to throw Benben off, but Benben clung to the dog's neck with its two chubby little arms and wouldn't let go.

Having no other option, Xiao Hei started running to try and get the child down, and then ran faster and faster.

Soon, a baby rode a big black dog and darted out through the back door of the compartment where the idols were placed.

Heading north, they arrived at the rice paddies behind the house. While running, Xiao Hei accidentally bumped into something, causing the dog to fall and Xiao Hei to land on the ground.

Benben plopped down on the ground, staring at the familiar head sticking out of the mud in front of him.

Sun Yuanqing smiled and said:
"Haha, grandson-in-law, we are destined to meet, we are truly destined to meet!"

……

After lunch, Li Zhuiyuan and A Li lay on the rattan chairs on the second floor, their eyes closed, holding hands.

Li Zhuiyuan entered A Li's dream.

It was still that same small house, and the memorial tablets were still all cracked.

Li Zhuiyuan came to find a replacement for the evil dragon for Runsheng, either a single evil spirit that could be divided into nine, or nine evil spirits that could be put together in one nest.

The boy stepped over the threshold and into the outer courtyard.

All around, birds sing and flowers bloom; looking up, there is not a cloud in the sky.

They've all left, they've all run away, they've all fled.

But anyone who has been here will leave traces of cause and effect, which is equivalent to being recorded in Li Zhuiyuan's notebook.

Starting with the teenagers, countless red lines surged upwards like a tidal wave.

Faint figures appeared in the once flawless sky.

Li Zhuiyuan carefully screened and meticulously selected.

If you haven't found the right one yet, don't worry, there are plenty more.

The boy stretched out his right hand towards the sky and swiped it to the left:
"Change to the next batch."

---

I'll add more words to this short chapter tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)