CH 144.1

He had a previous encounter with Samael on the 50th floor of the tower, “Punk Paradise.”

At that time, the blonde magician of the Sand Sea Guild, Emil, had lost a bet with him and was punished by the system, and then Emil was taken away by Samael.

At that time, Samael was wrapped in a thick black robe, his face hidden under a huge hood, as it is now, with only a firm chin showing.

He did not know Samael’s name at the time but learned it later from Lin Jue.

Samael.

Bai Lixin recited the name once more in his head.

The demon who represented “wrath” in the mythology of the Seven Deadly Sins was once a high-ranking angel who had followed Lucifer and fallen into the demon world.

The name was so distinctive that it was hard to forget after hearing it once.

[Ding! You have received a friend request; please check it.]

The system prompt suddenly rang out in his head, and Bai Lixin subconsciously opened the chat bar.

[Player Samael has sent you a friend request, do you accept it?]

[Yes/No]

Bai Lixin looked at Samael from the corner of his eyes. He could not see the other player’s face, let alone his expression or gaze, under the cover of his huge hood.

After thinking for a second, Bai Lixin clicked, [Yes].

As soon as the friend request was approved, a message from the other party was sent: [Hello, I’d like to introduce myself, I’m Samael, the vice president of the Sand Sea Guild].

Bai Lixin: [Hello, I’m Bai Lixin].

Samael: [I know.]

Bai Lixin looked at the two words Samael had sent and hesitated a little.

‘I know?

What should I reply then?’

Two seconds later, Samael sent another message.

[Pay attention to the corpse driver’s bell, he uses it with a pattern. The moment the whip falls, the bell will shake, and you will be able to breathe at that moment. Remember to only take a small breath and rely on the bell to cover up the living qi at the moment it is rung.]

Bai Lixin stared at the words in the chat window, slightly lost in thought.

Was he giving him a hint?

Samael: [Prepare, the whip is about to be raised.]

Bai Lixin looked at the corpse driver in front of him, and sure enough, he raised the whip a moment after Samael’s message was sent.

Immediately after that, the whip fell and the bell shook.

Bai Lixin immediately took a breath of air.

The previously silent zombies suddenly raised their heads in agitation, sniffing the air tentatively.

Bai Lixin immediately held his breath. The zombies sniffed around for a moment and then gradually quieted down, shuffling forward at the pace of the corpse driver.

At the front of the line came the sound of the corpse drivers talking.

“Brother, what kind of world are we in now? Why are so many people dying for no reason? It’s the first time I’ve herded so many corpses at the same time.”

“Brother, if God wants to punish us using natural and man-made disasters, we can’t do anything about it. But instead of feeling sorry for others, let’s feel sorry for ourselves first. These zombies have been dead for six days, and if we don’t send them to Yanwang Town before dawn, they will turn back into corpses before we get there.”

“Don’t worry, brother; five miles ahead is a river, after that, we’ll see Yanwang Town. It’s just getting dark, we’ll make it. But I heard that Yanwang Town is not so peaceful these days, there are people dressed in white coming out from time to time.”

“Brother, I heard that town has been hit by retribution. The town is under a curse, so I won’t stay a moment longer after we send the corpses there.”

“Curse? What kind of curse?”

“Aren’t there a lot of coffin homes in Yanwang Town? The world says that Yanwang Town leads to Mengpo’s bridge of death, and as long as a person dies and burns more paper money at the Yanwang Temple, they will be able to buy their way into the underworld, so that the dead will be reincarnated into a good life.”

“However, when someone sent their dead relatives to the town some time ago, they found that the bodies of their loved ones had disappeared.”

“And guess what happened?”

The two corpse drivers in the front were one fat and one thin, the thin one was like a bamboo pole, thin and long. The fat one, on the other hand, looked like a round ball, short and round.

The thin one was the elder brother, and the fat one was the younger brother.

At the fat brother’s question, the thin brother’s curiosity was aroused, “What happened after?”

Fat brother, “They found the bodies of the relatives in Yanwang, only that the bodies had been chopped up, put in a pot, and boiled.”

“They found when the pot was still floating with pieces of intestines and lungs on top. I even heard that someone accidentally stepped on an eyeball and fainted on the spot. The hair and teeth that weren’t eaten or whatever were just thrown on the straw mat.”

“Hiss,” the thin brother winced, “really, that disgusting? Why stew human flesh? Is it for food?”

The fat brother’s small, green bean-sized eyes blinked, and he laughed, “I’m afraid that you won’t believe me, the ones who found this pot of meat were two little beggars from the town. It is said that they smelled a very fragrant scent from the coffin home, and because the two were hungry, they thought it was a gift from Yama.”

“As soon as they entered, they saw a steaming pot of meat. The two did not think much, so they directly fished out a spoon and ate several mouthfuls.”

The fat brother paused and continued, “Brother, guess what it tastes like?”

The thin brother’s head shook like a rattle: “I don’t know, I don’t know, don’t be so secretive, hurry up and tell me.”

The fat brother: “They said they had never eaten such fragrant meat before, it was after they had swallowed several mouthfuls that a finger suddenly emerged from the bottom of the pot, scaring the two little beggars.”

Thin brother: “Tsk, tsk, tsk, scary indeed. But is human flesh really that good?”

Fat brother: “Who knows? We didn’t see it ourselves, maybe it’s just rumors. Those two little beggars haven’t seen the world, maybe they’ve never eaten meat in their lives, so they said it was good.”

Thin brother: “Then what does the curse of this town have to do with it?”

Fat brother: “I’m coming to that point, this family had sent their loved ones over from thousands of miles, so that they’d have a good reincarnation, only to have this is the end. They were so angry that they just smashed Yama’s temple.”

“Not long after that, people began to die in Yanwang Town. All of them died tragically, and it was rumored that it was the family who drew the wrath of Yama after they smashed his temple.

Thin brother: “Fuck, shouldn’t divine punishment descend on those who smashed the temple? How come other people are being punished too?”

The fat brother shrugged and flicked his whip, saying, “Who knows, maybe King Yama blamed those people for not protecting the Temple.”

There was a full moon overhead, shining brightly. A chilling wind suddenly blew by, making the leaves rustle eerily.

The thin brother winced, “You’re scaring me, Brother; let’s quickly finish the job, get the money, and leave.”

The fat brother frowned: “Yes, but we are missing two corpses, what if the number of points doesn’t add up?”

Thin brother: “That’s easy, we’ll just get two corpses when we pass a graveyard or something. They don’t know what those two corpses looked like anyway.”

The fat brother said, “Brother, what a good idea.”

They flicked the whip and rang the bell several times as they talked and talked.

There was no one else in the deep, bottomless woods but them; not even the cawing of crows or insects’ chirping could be heard.

Samael sent another message to Bai Lixin: [There’s danger coming; be careful.]

Bai Lixin: [What kind of danger?]

Samael: [I don’t know yet, but look up at the moon].

Bai Lixin looked up. A huge dark cloud had drifted out of nowhere, and the cloud soon caught up with the moon, shortly after, the moon was completely covered by the cloud and disappeared into the mass.

Also gone was the moonlight, and the woods were now completely dark.

At the distant end of the unfocused landscape, Bai Lixin vaguely heard the sound of musical instruments.

The bell of the corpse driver ahead of them rang, but it was not the rhythmic fluttering of a moment before, but a sharp and high-pitched sustained shaking.

Samael: [Stop.]

Bai Lixin stopped at the same exact moment the zombie in front of him stopped.

Samael: [Thag is the sound that commands the zombies to stop; just stand still like the rest.]

Bai Lixin stared at the contents of Samael’s private chat.

Something wasn’t quite right.

Samael seemed to be paying too much attention to him, and he seemed to be very familiar with everything.

Bai Lixin: [You seem to know everything about this, you’ve been in this copy before?]

Samael: [No, I’m familiar with it because I have a skill called “seer”]

[This skill allows me to see future plot changes; the closer to the present time, the clearer I can see them, and the farther into the future, the vaguer they are. However, I can get a sense of whether the future situation is dangerous or favorable.]

Bai Lixin: [I can see the changes of the moon, but I can’t see the danger. What is it? 】

[And that’s a great skill.]

Samael: [Thanks for the compliment.]

As they talked, the sound in front of them got closer and closer, and Bai Lixin finally realized what it was.

It was the sound of suonas.

The two suonas were ringing out together, but the content of the high-pitched music was very different.

The two corpse drivers looked nervous. They were motionless, with their zombies standing quietly in place as if they were truly dead.

Bai Lixin held his breath; the two suonas seemed to be accelerating, getting closer and closer.

He opened his eyes and saw an extremely bizarre image.

Two processions appeared at the same time to his left and right.

In one procession, there were people dressed in large, highly saturated red robes, holding up a large red palanquin. They were beating gongs and drums, and their suona was emitting a joyful hymn.

The other procession, all in mourning clothes, carried a black coffin in the middle, and the sound of their suona was solemn and low.

One suona was like an ascension to heaven, while the other was like a descent to hell.

‘We hit the iron plate big this time!’

Bai Lixin watched the two corpse drivers gulp, their hands clutching the bell tightly, their faces turning red from holding their breath.

The bridal party carrying the big red palanquin and the funeral procession carrying the coffin met on either side of the corpse drivers.

The blood red and the bloodless white strongly contrasted with each other.

The sound of the two suonas tangled in the air for a moment, and then gradually separated.

Bai Lixin also listened to the different but equally eerie songs of the two processions.

He heard the bridal procession singing: “It is almost midnight; Yama is marrying a wife. Mortals retreat; all ghosts are not to be disturbed. Yama’s wife, the pretty lady, get into the palanquin bed.”

He heard the funeral procession singing, “Yama told you to die on the third night, he will not keep you on the fifth night. King Yama laughs, the judge cries, the bull’s head and the horse’s face open the way, hurry up and walk to the bridge of death.”

The two processions merged in the woods, before quickly dispersing and going in separate directions.

The red and white procession disappeared completely, and the eerie dark cloud overhead slowly dispersed, revealing the still-clear and bright moonlight.