Chapter 329 - 143: Spine-chilling

Chapter 329: Chapter 143: Spine-chilling

Zhang Shutong turned around.

"Find anything?"

"It’s almost exactly as you said," Lu Qinglian said in a low voice. "It appeared on December 16, 2008, and disappeared on April 4 of the next year. That’s nearly four months."

"But this time it appeared on December 5th?" He leaned against the doorframe. "Looked at this way, there’s no pattern at all."

"It shows up roughly once every four years. Of course, the sample size is too small right now."

"Does your temple have any similar legends? About four-year or eight-year cycles?"

"No."

"So we’ve hit another dead end." Zhang Shutong was silent for a moment. "If you have any other information, it’d be best to share it."

Zhang Shutong knew her hopes were destined to be dashed. Lu Qinglian had come here to investigate the matter of the "fake Lu Qinglian," but Song had only ever seen his ex-girlfriend and Gu Qiuyan’s mother. There wasn’t a single clue about that thing, not even in the notebook.

’It’s very likely I’m the only one who’s seen that person.’

"There’s nothing to say."

Lu Qinglian’s voice carried a hint of fatigue. She must have been disappointed. She had always been emotionally reserved, but a careful observer could always spot a few telltale signs.

"Only a mural."

She gave a brief description, and Zhang Shutong thought for a moment.

"It’s hard to get a clear picture from just a description. Could you find time to take a photo?"

"Photography isn’t allowed in the temple."

"Your temple has a few too many rules, don’t you think?"

"You could say that." Lu Qinglian didn’t seem to want to elaborate. She added, "But we can draw one conclusion: December 12th must be a special day. On this day in 2010, a sentence was written: ’It’s already the third year.’ I believe this marks the anniversary of a death, or the date the funeral was held."

"Today is December 12th," Zhang Shutong said with a frown.

"Perhaps it’s just a coincidence."

Zhang Shutong continued,

"If the mural’s depiction is accurate, can I interpret it like this: if you put a dead body in the forbidden zone, a ’mud person’ will appear?"

"Correct."

"But in that case, Song’s girlfriend’s funeral was on December 12th, and he first saw the mud person on the 16th. Wasn’t she already buried? And she would have been cremated, right?" Zhang Shutong said. "You can’t be telling me a mud person will appear if I just put an urn of ashes in the forbidden zone..."

"Not necessarily cremated," Lu Qinglian cut in. "Some parts of the island have the custom of earth burials. Besides, there’s no crematorium here at all."

This was the first time Zhang Shutong had heard of this. He wasn’t a local and knew very little about the island’s customs.

"What about water burials?"

"They used to exist, but they’ve almost completely disappeared now. Still, we can’t rule out the possibility."

"Since the forbidden zone is right by the lake, could someone have performed a water burial, accidentally interring the body there, which resulted in the creation of the mud person?"

Lu Qinglian was noncommittal.

"It could be either accidental or premeditated. You should think about Gu Qiuyan’s mother."

"That’s true. A big boss like him wouldn’t bury his wife by the water’s edge..." Zhang Shutong muttered to himself. "So what we can confirm now is that it requires, at the very least, a human body?"

’A person who was clearly buried, yet their body ends up by the water... Doesn’t that mean...’

Zhang Shutong’s expression hardened.

"Someone dug up the body after the funeral?"

If that were the case, everything would make sense. Although the cause of the mud people was still unknown, their appearance was far from the end of the story, nor was it a coincidental accident.

There was someone else behind the scenes, a person who dug up the bodies—both Song’s girlfriend and Gu Qiuyan’s mother.

Who this person was could be set aside for now. The urgent priority was to confirm this theory.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Actually, there is a way to confirm our theory."

Lu Qinglian nodded slightly.

"Go to the cemetery."

It was the cemetery.

If the dead had come back to life, then their bodies should no longer be in their coffins.

But digging up a grave and opening a coffin was, in the common view, a desecration of the dead. No one involved would agree to it easily.

Zhang Shutong couldn’t just sneak off and pry open a coffin with the excuse, ’I’m doing this for your own good.’ Besides, it was daytime. The two of them couldn’t just run to the cemetery and start digging. There was a groundskeeper in the cemetery, so this matter required careful planning.

Zhang Shutong’s headache grew worse.

"Let’s walk and talk."

He called out to her, and this time, he had the presence of mind to pry the lock off the window.

There was nothing left to inspect in the dorm room.

He was the first to leave the dorm. Lu Qinglian, however, lingered for a moment, silently looking at the photo of Song’s ex-girlfriend, her thoughts a mystery.

When Zhang Shutong reached the hallway, the sky darkened in an instant.

Just a few minutes ago, it had been bright and clear, but now a thin layer of gloomy clouds had gathered, hanging low overhead.

The wild grass below rustled in the wind, and a few blades swirled up into the air.

He waited for Lu Qinglian to lock the door, and they descended the stairs one after the other in silence.

Zhang Shutong had actually been wanting to ask her what the deal was with the fake Lu Qinglian, and what she herself thought about it.

But Lu Qinglian never brought it up herself. This trip had yielded nothing for her; the only remaining clue had led to a dead end. He figured she couldn’t be in a very good mood.

Zhang Shutong only knew that their current partnership was working well. Since he had lost his ability to act, having Lu Qinglian around made things much more convenient.

But the most important thing wasn’t just having a teammate with off-the-charts combat power—it was that he finally didn’t have to keep so many things bottled up inside. Having someone to talk to always made him feel a bit better.

So, even if only to maintain their partnership, Zhang Shutong chose to tactfully keep his mouth shut.