Joining Tiandao Company: Starting by mending a zombie world

Swah——

Half an hour later, Chu Sheng returned to his rented room and once again experienced the familiar feeling of being detached.

When I opened my eyes, I was already back in the inn in Shaozhou.

The sky outside the window was still pitch black.

"I'll get a pocket watch someday, so I don't lose track of time while wearing different clothes."

As he was muttering to himself, he suddenly heard a commotion downstairs:

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

"Routine inspection, unauthorized personnel please avoid!"

Then came a series of crisp footsteps going upstairs.

Before he could make a move, his and Yu Chuda's door was rudely knocked on.

"Clang, clang..."

A moment later, Yu Chuda, with messy hair and sleepy eyes, opened the door and looked at Chu Sheng next door with a blank expression:

"Junior brother, what happened?"

Chu Sheng shook his head, signaling him to be quiet, and then turned his gaze to a group of soldiers in khaki uniforms on the floor—they were searching room by room.

"What are you two doing here?"

An officer searched Chu Sheng's room and came out to ask.

Just as Yu Chuda was about to speak, Chu Sheng stepped forward calmly:

"Sir, we're visiting relatives and we're leaving the city today."

"Visiting relatives?" the officer sneered. "You look more like Red Army spies!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several soldiers surrounded him with unfriendly expressions.

Chu Sheng quickly pulled out two silver dollars from his pocket, secretly slipped them into the officer's hand, and said aggrievedly:

"Sir, please do us a favor. We escaped from the Japanese-occupied area and are just stopping by the city today. We'll leave at dawn."

The officer weighed the silver dollar in his hand, his expression softening slightly, but he still said:

"It's routine; the baggage needs to be checked."

Chu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and gestured for Yu Chuda to open the bundle.

Besides a few changes of clothes and dry food, the bundle contained Yu Chuda's ritual implements and some yellow talismans.

The officer examined the magical artifacts, his brow furrowing.

"What is this?"

Then, he looked Chu Sheng and his companion up and down, and asked in confusion, "You... are Taoist priests?"

Chu Sheng's heart stirred, and he nodded, saying, "I learned some basics at Maoshan."

The officer's expression turned strange, his eyes scanning Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda up and down:

"Can you two cure possession?"

"Possessed by an evil spirit?" Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison, saying, "No."

The officer scoffed, "You brat, trying to fool me! Men, take them to General Zhang's residence."

As soon as they finished speaking, seven or eight soldiers immediately surrounded them.

"Sir, what are you doing?" Chu Sheng said, pointing to himself, "My senior brother and I are so young, how could we possibly perform an exorcism?"

"Stop talking nonsense. General Zhang's youngest daughter is possessed by an evil spirit, and we need talents like you."

Without saying anything more, the officer beckoned with his finger and ordered his men to take Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda away.

"We..." Yu Chuda tried to argue, but the officer immediately interrupted him: "If you say another word, we'll shoot you."

Well, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle.

Chu Shengchong shook his head and whispered, "Since we're here, let's make the best of it."

After saying that, he squeaked twice to summon Itachi, and together they left with the group of soldiers.

……

After walking for about the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, the group arrived at a large courtyard with high walls in the west of the city.

Two stone lions stood in front of the vermilion gate, and a plaque hung above the gate with the two gilded characters "Zhang Mansion".

Four armed guards stood in front of the door, each with their backs straight.

Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda were "escorted" by a group of soldiers through three gates to a small, detached courtyard.

The courtyard gate was tightly closed, and two servants dressed in dark blue short jackets stood guard at the entrance, their expressions solemn.

The leading officer stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a moment, the side door opened, and an elderly man who looked like a butler poked his head out.

"Lieutenant Wang, are you here to see someone off again?"

"These two claim to be from the Maoshan Sect, they should have some skills," said Lieutenant Wang, glancing back at Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda.

The butler sized up Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda, his brow furrowed. "So young? Are they reliable?"

"We have no choice. All the Taoist priests we can find in the city are at our residence. We can only ask them for help whenever we come across one," said Lieutenant Wang with a bitter face.

The butler sighed and waved his hand, "Bring him in."

Chu Sheng and his companion pursed their lips, remained silent, and followed the officer into the courtyard.

As soon as I took a step, I immediately felt a cold wind blowing in my face.

Yu Chuda snorted coldly, as if a wall of air had been erected in front of him, scattering the yin wind.

"What are you doing?" Lieutenant Wang was startled by his sudden snort and turned around to glare at him.

"It's okay... I'm cold." Yu Chuda shrugged and exchanged a glance with Chu Sheng.

The two chuckled and continued walking inside.

Several locust trees were planted in the courtyard, their branches and leaves lush, yet their color was an unnatural dark green.

The strangest thing was that a huge circle was drawn on the ground in the center of the courtyard with white lime, and the inside of the circle was sprinkled with glutinous rice.

"Sir, isn't there a master here?" Chu Sheng asked疑惑地, "Why are you arresting us fellow disciples?"

"That's all the tricks that guy knows," Lieutenant Wang shook his head and said with a wry smile, "They won't work."

"Heh heh, looks like it's not about zombies." Yu Chuda curled his lip.

"Yes, it must be a real possession," Chu Sheng agreed earnestly.

Lieutenant Wang glanced sideways at Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda, said nothing more, and led the two to a secluded side room.

As soon as the door was opened, an unpleasant odor wafted out of the room.

Chu Sheng peeked inside and was immediately stunned—the room was filled with people lying haphazardly.

There were monks, Taoist priests, and fortune tellers dressed in long gowns.

"Hehe...you've managed to gather all the skills of the Xuanmen sect." Chu Sheng joked, then turned to his adjutant, Wang, "Could you please give me a different room? I'm a bit of a germaphobe."

"Enough with the nonsense. If you can get things done for the general, you can have a private room, or even the entire general's mansion, without any problem," said Lieutenant Wang.

"Then tell me, what exactly happened to your general's mansion?" Chu Sheng said speechlessly.

"This..." Lieutenant Wang seemed to have something difficult to say and did not speak directly. "The general will tell you in person when he wakes up in a while."

After saying that, he didn't say anything more, pushed Chu Sheng and Yu Chuda into the room, and turned to leave.

"They're leaving already?" Yu Chuda was utterly speechless.

He had been traveling for several days and just wanted to catch up on some sleep, but instead he was woken up and dragged here.

Absolutely... incredibly unlucky.

"Senior brother, why don't you take a nap first? It looks like no one will be here anytime soon."

Chu Sheng shrugged. He knew the style of the Nationalist army men well—they liked to put on airs and valued "ceremony."

Yu Chuda curled his lip and glanced at the only sleeping mat in the room:

"Alright, let's practice some stance training instead."

Chu Sheng nodded without refuting, and sat back-to-back with Yu Chuda on the floor mat.

The group of former "fellow comrades" around them were all intrigued by this, and they all smiled and made a few jokes:

"Hehe, these two kids are quite the lookers."

"Indeed, we are not alone..."

Chu Sheng narrowed his eyes and scanned the expressions on everyone's faces.

Apart from the little old man in a long gown who looked like a fortune teller and had a worried expression and kept sighing, everyone else was quite optimistic.