Chapter 216: Chapter 216: That Was the First Time I Killed Someone, I Killed That Quack Doctor

In that moment, anger and despair were luxuries Chen Bing and Chen Ding could no longer afford.

Their eyes held only boundless horror, as if the Death God himself had torn back the curtain on their fate.

The Earth Corpse’s ashen face looked even more monstrous in the dim light as it slowly closed in.

Each step seemed to tread upon the fragile edges of their minds.

The Earth Corpse moved with exceptional agility, without a trace of hesitation or sluggishness.

It bent down, its fingers, covered in hideous scars, clamping down like iron tongs.

It gripped Chen Bing’s blood-soaked, disheveled hair, pulling his helpless head toward its mouth.

Then, its sharp fangs plunged into Chen Bing’s neck, bringing a bone-chilling cold.

It was like the bitterest winter wind piercing straight to the marrow.

Chen Bing felt an indescribable chill spread rapidly through his body.

His body heat was devoured by an invisible black hole, draining away at an alarming rate. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He could clearly feel his Life Force fading away, bit by bit, as the Earth Corpse consumed it.

It was an experience more terrifying than death itself.

The Earth Corpse’s throat bobbed up and down continuously.

Each swallow corresponded to the loss of Chen Bing’s blood—the draining of his life’s source, the final Chapter of his despair.

As time passed, Chen Bing’s body began to undergo an astonishing transformation.

His skin gradually lost its luster, becoming withered and slack.

He resembled a dead tree exposed to the scorching sun for too long, devoid of all moisture and vitality.

His eyes sank deep into their hollow, lifeless sockets, like two abandoned, dried-up wells.

Finally, when the Earth Corpse had satisfied its greed and drained every last drop of blood from Chen Bing’s body,

he was tossed aside like an abandoned, desiccated corpse, his former appearance unrecognizable.

Immediately after, the same fate befell Chen Ding.

He could only watch helplessly as his companion suffered such a cruel torment.

He tried to struggle, to fight back, but his arms, supported by nothing but shattered bones,

flailed like soulless puppets, striking the Earth Corpse’s iron-hard body with weak, desperate thuds.

But it was all in vain.

The Earth Corpse showed no hesitation or pity as it consumed Chen Ding, repeating everything it had done to Chen Bing.

It pushed Chen Ding, too, into the abyss of death.

Chen Ding’s body underwent the same horrifying transformation from vibrant to withered.

His Life Force rapidly dissipated under the Earth Corpse’s consumption, leaving behind another unrecognizable, desiccated corpse.

When the dust settled, only two silent, desiccated corpses remained on the ground, lying quietly.

They were like two silent tombstones, memorials to a terrifying and bizarre slaughter.

Their faces were shriveled and twisted, bearing no trace of the men they once were, Chen Bing and Chen Ding.

"Thank you."

Having devoured four lives in a row, the Earth Corpse wore an expression of human-like satisfaction as it looked at Chu He.

"Are you a human or an Evil Spirit?" Chu He asked.

"I am no longer human. Or rather, I once was.

I see no hope in this world."

The Earth Corpse’s voice was exceedingly grating, like the sound of two pieces of worn sandpaper rubbing together.

But his voice was laced with sorrow and a reminiscence of bygone days.

As he spoke, he lowered his head to look at the rattle in his hand.

The rattle trembled slightly, then returned to its previous simple, unadorned appearance,

like a childhood toy preserved to this day.

The Earth Corpse raised its head and added, "But I am certainly not one of those filthy Evil Spirits."

"How did you become like this?" Chu He asked.

"Once, I had a perfectly happy family.

I had a good job, a beautiful, charming wife, and a lively, adorable child.

I had elders to support and a child to raise, no different from any other ordinary person.

Life was a bit hard, but I was content.

I thought I would live that way forever, but one day, Evil Spirits invaded my world,

and they shattered my once-happy life to pieces.

In that catastrophe, nearly everyone in the city where I lived was killed or wounded.

Before my wife died, she told me that I had to take good care of our child.

But when she closed her eyes and left this world, she didn’t even know that our child had already been corrupted by the Evil Spirits.

I had no time to grieve. I had to survive with my child.

My child was about to graduate from kindergarten and would have started first grade soon.

I took my child everywhere seeking medical help, but everyone told me there was nothing they could do.

Some people even advised me to kill my child for the safety of all humanity, saying that under the influence of the Evil Spirit’s corruption, he was highly likely to become a new Evil Spirit.

Do you know what I did?

That was the first time I ever killed someone. I killed that quack doctor.

After that, a warrant was issued for my arrest.

Everyone saw me as a murderer. They said I was harboring an Evil Spirit and refused to treat my child.

Conventional human medicine could no longer save my child. I could only rely on myself, desperately searching through ancient texts.

But in the end, I never found an answer. My child died in my arms.

I hate this world. I hate those Evil Spirits.

While going through those ancient texts, I found a way to get my revenge."

The Earth Corpse didn’t hide anything, speaking with complete candor.

"Ancient texts?" Chu He asked curiously.

"The Corpse Refining Technique.

So I decided to give it a try, and I went to the Demon Cave in the Great Xia Empire.

I would refine myself into a zombie in that most squalid of places!

I succeeded. So, what about you? Are you going to kill me?

I’ve killed many ordinary people in my time, but even now, I don’t regret it."

The Earth Corpse stared intently at Chu He.

"I don’t think you did anything wrong."

Chu He shook his head. "And I’m no Knight out to champion justice. You don’t need to worry about that."

"If everyone back then had been like you, could my child have been saved?"

The Earth Corpse faltered, muttering to himself in a daze.

He could tell that Chu He wasn’t lying. Moreover, Chu He radiated an immense, intimidating power.

If this person truly went all out, he could definitely kill him.

Therefore, under these circumstances, there was no reason for the other man to deceive him.

In other words, Chu He genuinely believed he had been in the right.

"Do you know about zombies?" the Earth Corpse asked again.

"I’ve heard of them.

They’re ghoulish creatures from ancient folklore. Specifically, they’re said to be monsters that form after a person dies, when their corpse accumulates too much yin energy."

Chu He nodded.

He knew all this thanks to the books he’d read out of boredom back when he was guarding the Demon Cave.

"According to the books, these zombies...

are inhuman, devoid of reason, with resentment from an unjust death gathered in their throats. They can absorb the moon’s yin energy.

A corpse usually undergoes this transformation after being infected with corpse poison or due to the feng shui of its burial site.

They are walking corpses that move by holding their arms outstretched and hopping on both legs.

Aside from their head and limbs, the rest of their body is difficult to move...

But you don’t fit that description."

Chu He said, studying the Earth Corpse.