Chapter 131: Burning the Corpse

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With a clang, the shovel was cleaved cleanly in two. The cold gleam continued downward in a sweeping slash, and Old Wu cried out as a bloody gash, nearly an inch deep, opened across his chest.

The Tall, Thin Man had meant to split Old Wu’s skull with a single blow and end it all. Who could have guessed that Old Wu’s desperate block would leave him with nothing more than a superficial wound?

The Tall, Thin Man had no intention of giving Old Wu a chance to live. His first swing had missed its mark, but the second axe was already raised, arcing down with all its force.

In desperation, Old Wu could do nothing but grit his teeth and charge forward. Perhaps the crisis had driven his body’s immense potential to the surface.

Step! Step! Step!

After three strides, Old Wu had bounded up from the bottom of the pit. A flash of steel sliced past his eyes, and he instinctively twisted aside and reached out wildly.

His hand closed firmly around the Tall, Thin Man’s wrist. The axe in the man’s grip remained suspended in midair.

The two men were locked in a deadlock, the axe swaying ceaselessly above their heads, unable to decide whose skull it would split.

Cui Yue watched tensely, one foot already stepping out of the cornfield.

Old Wu was stronger by far than the Tall, Thin Man, who had been a teacher by profession. Little by little, the blade began to angle toward the tall man’s head. The scales of victory seemed to be tipping toward Old Wu.

The cold, impassive look on the Tall, Thin Man’s face finally gave way to a flicker of panic. Though he summoned every ounce of strength he possessed, the blade kept inching closer.

Old Wu’s face had flushed crimson, the veins in his forehead bulging. His trembling arms were beginning to weaken, but this was a moment of life or death. He could only grit his teeth and endure!

Though it lasted no more than an instant, Old Wu felt as if years had passed.

Seeing that the Tall, Thin Man was about to give way, he suddenly turned and shouted at Yuxiu behind Old Wu.

“Yuxiu, stop him! Otherwise, I’ll never come looking for you again!”

Old Wu’s heart jolted. From the corner of his eye, he glanced toward Yuxiu behind him. Could it be that—

“Teacher, then promise Yuxiu that you’ll stay by her side forever and never go anywhere again. Will you?”

Yuxiu pulled back half of her torn lips and spoke in a sinister murmur.

The Tall, Thin Man’s eyes shifted, and he answered at once.

“All right. I promise!”

“You’ll be with me for all eternity.”

“All right. For all eternity.”

The moment the Tall, Thin Man finished speaking, Yuxiu forced a smile from the ragged corner of her mouth and began waving her arms in delight.

Old Wu only wanted to cleave the beast before him to death. But when he turned his head, Yuxiu had vanished.

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Suddenly, pain shot through his leg. A ghostly face covered in knife wounds was grinning grotesquely at him.

“Damn…”

Old Wu was so frightened that his concentration broke, and his grip on the axe-wrestle weakened instantly.

Yuxiu’s ghost had received the Tall, Thin Man’s promise and immediately possessed her own corpse.

The female corpse, which had been curled up at the bottom of the pit, suddenly opened its eyes and sprang upright, wrapping both arms around Old Wu’s legs.

The corpse grinned at him and gave a vicious yank with both hands.

Before Old Wu could cry out, his center of gravity shifted. His entire body slid toward the pit.

The Tall, Thin Man seized his opportunity and wrenched the axe away. With a hideous laugh, he raised it to strike.

“Hahahaha—ah!”

Before his laughter had even faded, the Tall, Thin Man went flying three yards through the air and landed flat on his face.

“You sick bastard. What the hell are you laughing at?”

Cui Yue stood behind him with one foot raised, then dusted off his hands.

“You! It’s you!”

The Tall, Thin Man spat sand from his mouth. When he saw Cui Yue emerging behind him, his face filled with uncertainty and alarm.

The female corpse still had Old Wu clutched in a death grip, leaving him unable to escape. He had watched helplessly as the axe came down, certain that he was doomed—only to have an unexpected savior appear at the last moment.

In Old Wu’s eyes, Cui Yue was nothing short of a once-in-a-century lifesaver. His nose stung, and he nearly shed tears of gratitude.

“Young man, you—you…”

Cui Yue pointed at the Tall, Thin Man and unleashed a torrent of abuse.

“You shameless disgrace! You actually have the nerve to call yourself a teacher? You’ve desecrated that sacred profession. You’re not a hardworking gardener—you’re a butcher who deserves to be hacked to pieces!”

“A butcher? Heh. Call me whatever you like.”

The Tall, Thin Man slowly got to his feet and brushed the dirt from his clothes, his expression utterly calm.

“Do you even realize what you’re doing? You’re treating human lives as worthless!”

Cui Yue gritted his teeth.

The Tall, Thin Man shook his head and looked at him with a trace of pity.

“Only the Lord God can lead us out of this mire and save all living beings. What does it matter if a few people die for the sake of the greater cause?”

The instant he mentioned the Lord God, the Tall, Thin Man became feverishly excited.

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“I don’t know what kind of god you’re talking about. But if achieving its goal requires murder, then that so-called god is not worth believing in!”

“Humanity is ignorant. The world is on the verge of destruction. Only faith in our Lord God can spare us from catastrophe. What I am doing now is for the salvation of all mankind—to cast aside the self and fulfill the greater whole.”

There was no way the Tall, Thin Man could hear the words of this insignificant insect before him. The Lord God in his heart was the source of his power.

At last, Old Wu managed to wrench himself free from the female corpse’s grasp and began scrambling desperately toward the edge of the pit on hands and feet.

Cui Yue hurried over, seized him, and pulled him several yards away from the pit.

The Tall, Thin Man raised the axe and gently blew across its edge, his lips curling into a cold, mocking smile.

Cui Yue glanced to the side. The female corpse had also leaped behind them, hemming the two of them in.

Cui Yue could hardly believe that Yuxiu had fallen in love with such a monster. Even after being murdered by him, she still refused to face reality and had actually turned against them to help her own killer.

It was utterly incomprehensible, completely contrary to reason.

The Tall, Thin Man had already been driven mad by that so-called Lord God, yet Yuxiu still foolishly dreamed that the teacher she loved would come to his senses and spend eternity with her.

“Yuxiu, listen to me! The man standing before you is no longer the teacher you remember!”

Yuxiu stared at them with half an eyeball and mechanically turned her head toward Cui Yue and Old Wu.

“You—you’re lying!”

Cui Yue was beside himself with anger.

“Yuxiu! How did you die? Don’t you know that yourself?”

Yuxiu tilted her head, then looked back at the Tall, Thin Man across from her. Hesitation flickered in her voice.

Before she could speak, the Tall, Thin Man said slowly,

“She was hacked to death by me, one axe blow after another.”

His tone was as calm as still water—calmer than anything imaginable.

“That night, in the teacher’s dormitory, I suddenly felt dizzy. In a daze, I saw the teacher pull an axe from beneath the bed. Then, somehow, I rose up to the ceiling and watched him repeatedly swing the axe at my body. Blood stained the entire floor of the dormitory red…”

By the time she reached this point, Yuxiu was sobbing uncontrollably. Crimson blood streamed endlessly from her eyes.

A chill seeped into Cui Yue’s heart as he listened. The Tall, Thin Man had been completely brainwashed by the Lord God he kept speaking of.

What in the world was this so-called Lord God? How could it turn a mild-mannered high-school teacher into a remorseless mass murderer overnight?

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