Merchant of the Underworld

After a good night's sleep, we were having breakfast early the next morning when Wen Jin and Er Hu hurried in as soon as we moved our chopsticks.

Wen Jin's face turned gray and he said to me in a panic: "Brother Jiulin, something happened at the foot of the mountain..."

Before I could say anything, Aunt Zhuang had already asked anxiously: "What happened again?"

"He's dead." Wen Jin was obviously very frightened and couldn't speak clearly. On the other hand, Erhu, who was standing aside, was still calm and said clearly: "Wen Jin was worried about his family's fields, so he came to me early this morning and asked me to accompany him up the mountain to take a look. We saw those who climbed out of the tomb. There were corpse snails, but wherever they passed, the vegetation turned yellow and withered. We followed their tracks all the way down the mountain, and found a corpse at the foot of the mountain."

"Are they from our town?" Aunt Zhuang looked very worried.

Wen Jin quickly shook his head: "Aunt Zhuang, don't be afraid, that person is probably not from our town."

"Yes means it, no means no, what does it mean to say should?" Zhuang Ning asked with a frown.

Erhu said: "It's like this. The man's whole body was swollen, and his head was bigger than a pig's head. He couldn't identify his appearance at all, but judging from his clothes, he shouldn't look like the people in our town, and his body was parked not far away. With a broken car."

broken car?

I suddenly had a bad thought and looked at Zhuang Ning. Zhuang Ning, who hadn't reacted at first, immediately understood: "Could it be the driver of the illegal car that brought us back?"

"Come on, take me to see it!" I had no intention of eating, so I put down my chopsticks and went out with Wen Jin and Er Hu. Zhuang Ning ignored Aunt Zhuang's obstruction and followed her no matter what. Aunt Zhuang was worried and chased her all the way to the gate.

Wen Jin and Er Hu have been busy up and down the mountain all year round, and their pace is so fast that it is extremely difficult for Zhuang Ning and I to keep up. In addition, we have just escaped from the entanglement of the corpse snail, and our physical strength has not yet fully recovered. The distance between us was getting farther and farther, and Zhuang Ning also took the opportunity to talk to me intimately: "Mr. Zhang, I think the mayor is a little strange. He seems to be hiding something..."

"Could it be that there are some ulterior secrets in your town?" I was also quite curious about this.

Zhuang Ning said: "I don't know. You saw it yesterday. Women have no status in Heiyi Town. They won't say anything to me. But their attitude is so strange that one has to wonder. .”

"Don't think too much about it. The main reason we came back this time is to settle the Yinwu matter, not to mention rescuing your father. You don't want to suffer alone. If it doesn't work, I will lend you a sum of money and save you first." Let’s take our parents out of this hellish place. As long as the family works together, what does a mere house mean?”

Actually, I don't have the nerve to say it directly. It's rare for me and Zhuang Ning to get along so well. If it doesn't work out, I'll accept her as my god-sister and give her a house.

But I also know that Zhuang Ning has a strong temper. If I give it directly, not only will she not accept it, but she will probably regard me as someone with bad intentions.

Hey, society is too chaotic. Being a good person these days has to be hidden!

We finally caught up with Wen Jin and Er Hu, and the two of them took us to the foot of the mountain. The damage to the fields here was the most serious. All the mudslides rolling down the hillsides gathered here. Because of the rain, all the fields turned into paddy fields.

Just at the intersection of several fields, I saw the body in Wen's mouth.

Although the corpse was swollen and difficult to identify, through his dirty clothes, Zhuang Ning and I recognized him at a glance as the driver of the black car that pulled us over.

Wen Jin pointed to the distance and said, "Look, there's another car there."

The fact that the broken car was able to drive here means that the driver lied to me and Zhuang Ning that day. The car didn't break down at all. He just didn't want to see us off anymore, but came here by himself and hasn't left these days.

"Why is he still here?" Zhuang Ning asked with confusion on his face.

I slowly knelt down, picked up a wooden stick from the roadside, and gently opened the body's coat. Sure enough, he saw many funerary objects from ancient tombs in his arms.

The damage to these funerary objects was worse than what I saw at the dealer. I picked them out one by one with a wooden stick, but there was really nothing special about them. If I don't give up, I will reach out and pick it up.

Zhuang Ning grabbed me, handed me a pair of gloves and said, "Be careful!"

I hummed, put on my gloves, then put my hand into the body's pocket and took out two five-baht coins.

Another five baht.

Could it be that this feint is related to these coins?

I was wondering when suddenly there was a loud bang in front of my eyes, and the driver's body exploded in front of us.

It seemed that the swelling had reached a certain limit. The air inside the corpse finally burst open the skin and flesh like an exploding balloon, and the blood and intestines flowed all over the floor along with the stench.

Even a person like me, who is used to seeing this scene, was frightened and jumped up: "Holy shit, what's going on?"

Zhuang Ning was so frightened that he screamed, and Wen Jin timidly hid behind Erhu.

Erhu was beyond my expectation. He stared at the corpse in front of him without changing his expression.

Not only did I look at him with admiration, but it also heightened my suspicions about him. This guy definitely had something to hide from me!

"Look, what is that?" Erhu asked, pointing to the white worms squirming in the flesh.

He didn't say anything but I didn't pay attention. After hearing his words, I quickly lowered my head and started studying.

Sure enough, among the stinking flesh, I saw many white maggots crawling and squirming slowly, which was disgusting.

But why are they here?

Generally speaking, the corpse has to be left for a long time before maggots appear after it has decomposed to a certain extent. Moreover, it has been raining and the temperature is very cold here in Heiyi Town, so the corpse will not decompose so quickly.

This is how the same thing?

"What should we do now?" Wen Jin asked tremblingly.

"Dig a hole first and bury him." I gave the order. Wen Jin and Er Hu immediately went to the nearby field to find two rotten shovels, quickly dug a big hole and buried the body in it.

Zhuang Ning asked me in a low voice: "Why did this black driver die here?"

Why else could this guy be so excited about wealth? He knew that the mudslides nearby had washed away many ancient tombs. How could he not steal the treasure? Maybe he was willing to drag us up the mountain for this reason, but I didn't expect that he would risk his life on the mountain.

But the person was dead, so I didn’t want to talk more, so I shook my head and didn’t answer.

Wen Jin and Er Hu quickly buried the driver's body in a nearby field: "When the rain stops, we still have to call the police to find his family. We can't let his body be exposed in the wilderness now to prevent it from being picked up by wild dogs." .”

I smiled at Wen Jin and Er Hu: "This is all a good thing to build up your own virtue, and it will bring good fortune in the future."

Having said this, I suddenly thought of what they said that morning and couldn't help but frown: "When you came here in the morning, did you follow the footsteps of the corpse snail?"

"Yes!" Wen Jin nodded without thinking, pointed to the distance and said, "It's right there. There seems to be a tomb there."

Another tomb appears? Could it be that everything on the driver of the black truck was found in this newly discovered tomb?