Chapter 76: Begging for Mercy

Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling were both stunned.

“I said call the police. Report the disappearance and report this incident,” Li Sanjiang pointed at the coffin. “Let the police investigate. Ask them if the missing items are with those women. I figure that boss lady is probably gone, too.”

“But we…”

“Uncle, if we call the police…”

“You didn’t kill anyone, so what the hell are you scared of? Even if nothing was missing from this coffin and I managed to return it to the river without a hitch, I’d still tell you to report it to the police.

Incidents like this are better handled by the authorities. You’ll all be safer that way.

If you don’t want to call the cops, fine. Just don’t come crying when you end up like your parents.”

“We’ll report it! We’ll call the police!” Zhou Hai made up his mind.

“Good. Now, move the coffin and the altar inside. Until the police take over, don’t let the candles go out or the paper ashes scatter. Fix what you can, while you still can.

Divide the work yourselves.”

“Understood, Uncle. Xiaoling, you go call the police. I’ll stay and watch the altar.”

“Okay.”

Li Sanjiang and Li Zhuiyuan sat on the doorstep after that. The old man chain-smoked.

“Great-Grandpa, aren’t we going home?” asked Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Sanjiang gestured toward the house behind them. “If I leave now, Zhou Hai will be alone with that coffin. I’m afraid he’ll piss himself.”

After a pause, he added, “Last night, I had a dream too.”

“Huh?” Li Zhuiyuan finally realized how serious things were. “You did, Great-Grandpa?”

“I dreamed I was on the rooftop of the township clinic. That little girl was standing right in front of me, asking why I helped them, what gave me the right. Then she told me that since I got involved, I might as well die with them.”

Li Sanjiang took a deep drag from his cigarette and exhaled slowly through his nose.

“Damn it. Even I got scared today.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. Today’s events had been truly terrifying.

What’s more, he felt that the Bai Family Matron dredged up by the river workers and this one, the girl, though likely from the same lineage, had clearly different tempers.

The one from the river accepted his apologies and offerings and even tolerated Luo Gong’s babbling.

She had been reasonable.

But this Bai Family Matron was far crueler. Killing came as easily as drinking water.

“Really, what did it have to do with me? She blames me for saving those two old folks at the clinic. But what was I supposed to do—just watch them die?

Forget it. I didn’t get too tangled in this. When the police arrive, I’ll give my statement, soak up a bit of the official atmosphere. She probably won’t bother me again.”

Li Zhuiyuan now understood his great-grandfather’s logic.

No wonder. Everyone they’d met before—from Little Oriole to the Cat-faced Granny—had been within their control. None had been as terrifying as this Bai Family Matron. Even Great-Grandpa had lost his footing.

Then a thought struck him. He remembered something from Records of Strange Happenings in the Martial World: a case that eerily resembled this one.

A Taoist had used her body as a vessel, sealing herself in to pursue transcendence through another form of death.

Such Dead Sinkers retained some of their abilities from life. While not as brutally overpowering as corpse generals, they were the hardest to handle—because they knew exactly how the living would try to exorcise them.

And the inscription on the statue: “Corpse body to suppress foul spirits, merit to aid ascension.”

It all clicked. Even without a physical form, she was still a Dead Sinker. And a formless one… was nearly impossible to counter.

Li Zhuiyuan agreed with Great-Grandpa. Reporting to the police was the right call.

The police did come—and in force. The case had officially resulted in two deaths and one missing person. Though the elderly couple hadn’t been murdered, it was serious enough.

They secured the scene, and Zhou Hai was taken in as a suspect.

Li Zhuiyuan went to the station with Great-Grandpa to give a statement. By the time they came out, it was already dusk.

Li Sanjiang even hugged the station door as if trying to absorb more official energy. Then, unbelievably, he kissed the police station’s nameplate.

The guard inside was baffled and slid open the window.

“Old comrade, what are you doing?”

Still kissing, Li Sanjiang shouted back:

“Expressing respect and admiration!”

After that, he didn’t bother going to the hospital to see Yingzi and her mother, nor did he accept Chen Xiaoling’s invitation to spend the night.

Li Sanjiang just wanted to go home.

Taxis were too expensive at that hour. Most drivers wouldn’t take a rural fare unless you paid extra.

So he flagged down tractors on the roadside, asking where they were headed.

Li Zhuiyuan thought this was like finding a needle in a haystack. He was about to sit down and wait when—miraculously—the second tractor they stopped was headed to Shigang Town to deliver stone pedestals.

Perfect. Couldn't be more on the way.

Great-Grandpa handed the driver a cigarette and waved for Little Yuanhou to climb aboard.

The tractor clattered along. They sat in the back, evening wind in their faces.

As they passed through the city, they glimpsed its bustling night life.

Partway through, Li Sanjiang dozed off briefly. When he woke up, he was visibly relieved and told Li Zhuiyuan:

“Little Yuanhou, I dozed off and dreamed again. Saw that little girl, too—but she was blurry, and I couldn’t hear what she said.

Looks like she’s farther away now. Your Great-Grandpa might just be out of the woods. Tonight I’ll burn some more incense at home, worship all the Buddhas we’ve got, and sever the connection for good.”

“You’re amazing, Great-Grandpa.”

Li Zhuiyuan had once doubted Li Sanjiang’s abilities. But after the Cat-faced Granny said, “Your great-grandpa’s already made a move,” his doubts vanished.

And Great-Grandpa always had a solution, no matter the trouble—and his solutions worked.

“Amazing, my ass. If not for your Grandpa Hanhou, I wouldn’t have come out here at all. I don’t even want the money anymore. Nearly cost me my life.

Total loss.”

“Next time, tell Grandpa not to—”

“Don’t. It’s not like every job’s a death trap. This is our trade. You can’t expect a feast every meal. Sometimes you chip a tooth on a stone in the rice.

Sigh. I had planned to perform a Luck-Shifting Ritual for you after this, but now I don’t dare. She’s not entirely gone yet, and I won’t risk dragging you in.”

Then he knocked on the tractor’s metal panel and shouted to the driver:

“Brother, find a little restaurant up ahead. I’ll treat you to a couple drinks!”

“Oh, you don’t have to…”

“Come on now, don’t be shy. Pull over up ahead, we’ll eat first.”

“Sure thing!”

The tractor stopped in front of a small eatery. Once inside, Li Sanjiang ordered a jin of yellow wine, two cold dishes, two hot ones, and a separate egg fried rice for Li Zhuiyuan.

After he finished eating, Li Zhuiyuan sat nearby while the two old men chatted cheerfully.

Li Sanjiang ordered another warmed jin of wine and got a can of Jianlibao for his great-grandson.

Pop—fizz.

Li Zhuiyuan sipped. Li Sanjiang asked, “Tastes good?”

“Yeah. Really good.”

“Then let’s buy a case to take home?”

The driver laughed. “Old bro, you really spoil the kid.”

Back then, glass-bottled lemon soda meant the bottle had to be returned. Regular folks could afford it. But canned drinks were still seen as a luxury.

“Heh.” Li Sanjiang ruffled the boy’s head. “What’s the point of earning money if not to spend it on the kids? Can’t take it to the grave.”

He hadn’t told the driver that this was his clan’s great-grandson.

“True that. My own grandson’s in high school. I’ve gotta keep driving just to save up for college tuition. If he gets in, I’ll pay, no matter what.”

“Ah.” Li Sanjiang sighed and patted Li Zhuiyuan’s head. “Pity my grandson’s smart but won’t focus on his studies.”

Li Zhuiyuan quietly took another sip of soda.

It was almost 8 p.m. by the time dinner ended. In those days, there were no breathalyzer checkpoints, so even red-faced from drink, the driver cranked the handle into the tractor’s engine and gave it a spin. It started up again.

“Hop on. Let’s go home!”

Back in the tractor, under the starry sky, Li Zhuiyuan’s mind wandered. Was Xue Liangliang already in Siyuan Village?

He felt he should ask more about the statue dredged up by the river workers. If the coffin from Jiuwei Port had housed a Dead Sinker, maybe that statue…

Was one, too.

After all, that waterway, though newly dug, had once been an old route.

Li Zhuiyuan had a creeping feeling that the Bai family specialized in these things.

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