Staring at the thick smoke billowing from the cave, I slumped to the ground, my limbs feeling weak, my entire body as if it had fallen apart. Even inhaling sent a burning pain through my lungs.
"Little brother, you need to exercise more. Look at your old brother..." Zhang Dabiao's words were cut short as he too plopped down not far away with a thud. The smell of burnt pig hair wafted into my nostrils.
Waving away the smell, I chuckled and asked, "Learn what from you? Learn to be a roasted suckling pig?"
At this moment, Zhang Dabiao looked like a beggar. His clothes were riddled with holes from sparks, and more than half of his hair was scorched. Since he was the one who started the fire, he naturally ran slower than us, and his hair bore the brunt of it.
Zhang Dabiao shot me a glare. "Nonsense. If I hadn't seen you running so slowly, I would have assigned you the task of starting the fire. Then we'll see if you can still get married after being roasted into a suckling pig!"
"Haha..."
After resting for more than ten minutes, I remembered there were two other living people nearby!
When I turned to look for them, I was somewhat dumbfounded. Not only had the paper effigy maker disappeared, but Fang Huixin, whom I had placed near the cave entrance, was also gone.
"Damn it, where did they go?"
I sprang up, surprised. "Could they have been captured by the mountain fiends?"
Hearing this, Zhang Dabiao also quickly got up from the ground and walked to where Fang Huixin had been placed. After a careful observation, he replied, "Don't make a fuss. They weren't captured by the mountain fiends. It's likely that the pretty boy took Fang Huixin back to the camp."
"That's good. I thought they were captured by the mountain fiends, which would have been terrible." I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want to fight the mountain fiends again because they were captured; that would be suicidal.
After the commotion of half the afternoon, by the time we returned to the temporary camp, the sky was already darkening. Someone outside the tent was preparing dinner with a smokeless coal stove. After a search, I saw Fang Huixin sitting in front of the tent, sipping rice porridge in small mouthfuls.
"Brother Zhang, you were right. They did return before us."
I walked over to her with a sarcastic tone and sat down. "I say, you two, this is rather unsportsmanlike! You made us search for a long time, and we thought you two had been carried off by wolves."
Fang Huixin didn't seem to pay much attention to my teasing. She continued to sip her rice porridge in small mouthfuls until she finished the bowl before setting it down.
Casually picking up a handkerchief to wipe her lips, she replied unhurriedly, "Then how should I thank Mr. Song for saving my life?"
Her question caught me off guard. I hadn't intended for her to repay me; I just wanted to know what the paper effigy maker was looking for.
I coughed and asked, "Boss Fang, we're all in this together now. Today's incident was entirely caused by you two. To put it bluntly, if it weren't for us, you two would have been fed to zombies long ago, and you wouldn't have the mood to eat and drink here!"
Fang Huixin nodded in agreement, her eyes flashing with shrewdness. She said in a deep voice, "And then?"
Seeing that Fang Huixin was beating around the bush, Zhang Dabiao directly stated, "Boss Fang, we want to know what you are looking for."
As expected, Fang Huixin frowned at this question, her gaze occasionally drifting to the paper effigy maker sitting not far away, as if the question was difficult to answer.
After a moment of silence, it was the paper effigy maker who finally spoke. "We are looking for Li Zuoquan's soul."
Hearing that it was a soul, both Zhang Dabiao and I breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't something else.
On the way back, Zhang Dabiao and I had discussed this. If they were looking for Li Zuoquan's soul, we would tell them that Li Zuoquan's soul had been taken by that old Taoist from Longhu Mountain.
If they were looking for something else, we would say nothing and prepare to leave.
I glanced at Zhang Dabiao. He nodded slightly, and I said in a deep voice, "Li Zuoquan's soul is not here. You're looking in vain. He's been taken away."
As soon as I finished speaking, the paper effigy maker stood up excitedly. "What did you say? Li Zuoquan's soul isn't here? Was it taken by you?"
I squinted at him, not understanding why he was so agitated. Did he have some relation to Li Zuoquan?
Perhaps sensing his own agitation, the paper effigy maker quickly explained, "He knows a secret of mine, so I want to find him to clarify. Can you tell me who took him?"
Although I didn't believe his explanation, I couldn't find any fault with it. I said in a deep voice, "He was taken away by that old Taoist from Longhu Mountain. If you can find that old Taoist in these deep mountains and old forests, you might be able to get Li Zuoquan's soul back from him."
Upon hearing the words "Longhu Mountain," I clearly noticed the paper effigy maker's expression become somewhat unnatural. His body trembled slightly, and his face turned extremely grim. His clenched fists proved his intense anger.
Seeing this, Fang Huixin walked over to the paper effigy maker, gently patted his shoulder, and then rested his head on her chest, as if coaxing a child. Zhang Dabiao and I were stunned.
Seeing our strange looks, Fang Huixin's face flushed, and she coughed. "What are you looking at? This is my younger brother. Get rid of your disgusting thoughts."
"Hmph, you're the one thinking dirty thoughts. We didn't say anything."
The paper effigy maker's emotions were as quick to come as they were to go. He pushed Fang Huixin away and then said in a deep voice, "What do you think of the zombie in the cave? Logically speaking, there are spirits in these deep mountains and old forests, but zombies shouldn't appear."
I nodded at the paper effigy maker's judgment, which was basically the same as Zhang Dabiao's and mine.
I would believe it if a mountain fiend suddenly appeared from the cave. It wouldn't be unacceptable even if a mountain god was hiding inside, but the appearance of a zombie was completely beyond our expectations.
To become a zombie, one needs a large amount of Yin energy, a place of death, and the corpse must have immense resentment to form.
However, none of these conditions could be met here. Just the Yin energy alone, not to mention anything else. The cave was located in a spot with the most intense sunlight, being illuminated by the sun almost all day. There was only one possibility for a zombie to form: it was man-made.
This was also a judgment Zhang Dabiao and I made on the way back. I suspected that the person who could create this black-haired zombie was none other than Fang, the old Taoist from Longhu Mountain.
After thinking for a moment, I said in a deep voice, "Do you think it's possible that the zombie was deliberately created?"