Chapter 138 Visiting an Expert

There is a road to heaven, yet you refuse to walk it; there is no door to hell, yet you barge right in.

You must have felt that your corpse-transformation was progressing a bit too slowly, so you decided to give it a little extra push yourself.

This is much like Tang Sanzang climbing onto the steamer basket; instead of looking for a way to escape, he even added firewood to the fire himself.

Old Freak Huo blew his beard and stared in exasperation, but things had reached this point, and he had no other recourse. He could only follow an ancient recipe from a book, gathering a dozen Chinese herbs, decocting them into a bitter brew, and forcing Cui Yue to drink it.

A moment later, Old Freak Huo brought over a bowl of black, murky liquid and motioned for Cui Yue to drink it while it was hot.

Cui Yue leaned in and sniffed it. The smell was deeply bitter and truly hard to swallow, but in order to save his life, he gritted his teeth and chugged it down in one go.

"Cough, cough! So bitter!"

The moment the liquid hit his stomach, Cui Yue felt bitterness flood his ears, nose, mouth, and tongue simultaneously, while his stomach went into violent spasms.

"Old Freak Huo, what kind of concoction did you pour for me? Why does it taste so awful?"

"Nonsense! If it tasted good, would it even be called medicine?"

Barely a quarter of an hour later, Cui Yue began to feel thoroughly uncomfortable. His chest and stomach churned violently, so he rushed out of the house, hugged a ginkgo tree, and vomited several mouthfuls of black liquid. Before he could even stand back up, he felt a searing pain in his lower belly accompanied by a sudden urge to empty his bowels, making him sprint desperately toward the outhouse.

"Old Freak Huo, what on earth did you make me drink?"

Cui Yue was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

"Old Freak Huo, is this damn decoction of yours even slightly useful?"

Cui Yue lay weakly on the bed, devoid of any strength.

Old Freak Huo scratched his head, checked the pulse with three fingers, and wore an expression that said, "Just as I expected."

"Not a shred of use!"

After a long pause, he blurted out these words.

Upon hearing this, Cui Yue was so enraged that he passed out cold.

……

At the back mountain of Longyan, two figures hurried along from the mid-mountain slope, travel-worn and weary.

"Old Freak Huo, why didn't we go into the county town? Why did we have to come down through these mountains?"

"What do you know? This is called taking a shortcut! If we went into the county town, wouldn't we still have to climb back up the mountain?"

Cui Yue glared at Old Freak Huo and muttered under his breath, "You're just being stingy, too miserly to spend that five-yuan bus fare..."

"Hurry up, hurry up! What are you blabbering about? We're almost there."

Old Freak Huo urged impatiently.

Cui Yue curled his lips in discontent. Can't a person even speak their mind? Honestly.

A row of low walls suddenly appeared ahead, inside of which stood a few dark-gray brick houses. Faint traces of large, mottled characters remained on the wall.

"Why does this place look so familiar? It seems... it seems like..."

Without waiting for Old Freak Huo to speak, Cui Yue pushed the door open and walked in. The door of the courtyard warehouse was secured with a rusty iron lock.

"Isn't this our factory's warehouse? How did we wander around for ages and end up here?"

Seeing the iron door, Cui Yue suddenly remembered this place. Last time, when he, Zhang Hao, and Dazhuang skipped work to hang out here, they had almost been possessed by a malevolent mountain spirit, and it was only thanks to the warehouse keeper uncle from the same factory that they managed to escape safely.

"Who's there?"

A figure stepped out from the cyan-brick tile house, dressed in a set of washed-out, faded work clothes. On the chest were embroidered a few small characters: Pingyang County Fertilizer Factory.

The person who emerged was none other than Uncle Duan, the warehouse keeper. He wore a pair of old-fashioned reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He tugged the frames down slightly and gazed at the newcomers with a puzzled expression, wondering where he might have seen them before.

"Uncle Duan, it's me! I'm Cui Yue from the factory's former security office!"

Cui Yue hurried forward to grasp Uncle Duan's hand. Meeting a fellow worker from the factory at this moment made him feel an incomparable sense of warmth and familiarity.

"Oh? Ah, yes, you're little Cui from the factory gates! Weren't you young men sneaking in here to steal watermelons last time?"

Uncle Duan slipped his reading glasses into his breast pocket, and his hearty, honest laughter felt like a gentle spring breeze, instantly bridging the distance between him and Cui Yue.

"Uncle Duan, please don't bring that up again. It's so embarrassing..."

Cui Yue scratched his head sheepishly.

"Hahaha, I know, I know. When I was young, I was much more restless than you boys; stealing watermelons was nothing more than a trivial matter."

Uncle Duan chuckled, but suddenly catching sight of the corpse spots on Cui Yue's collar, the corners of his mouth twitched unnaturally.

The movement was so subtle, however, that Cui Yue failed to notice it.

"What brings you to my place today? Did the factory issue some new task again?"

While speaking with an air of casual indifference, Uncle Duan kept his eyes fixed firmly on Cui Yue's collar.

"Uncle Duan, it's not like that. There's nothing going on at the factory. I came this time..." Cui Yue's expression turned awkward, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond, muttering inwardly to himself, "That's right, what *did* I come here for? I don't even know myself..."

A strange glint flashed in Uncle Duan's eyes, though his outward expression remained completely calm.

"I brought him here!"

A muffled grunt came from behind, followed by a tall figure stepping into the courtyard.

Upon seeing the newcomer, Uncle Duan's expression darkened instantly, and the veins on his forehead throbbed imperceptibly.

Old Freak Huo leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, the middle finger of his right hand tapping rhythmically against the wood.

Tap, tap, tap...

Cui Yue felt the atmosphere in the courtyard take a sharp, sudden plunge. The usually amiable Uncle Duan now seemed like a completely different person; all warmth had vanished from his face, and his stern gaze was as cold as a blade, piercing straight to the heart.

His posture, previously somewhat stooped, had now become exceptionally upright. With his hands clasped behind his back, he wore an utterly indifferent expression.

"This... Uncle Duan..."

Cui Yue was stunned by Uncle Duan's drastic transformation.

"What are you here for?"

Uncle Duan let out a cold snort.

"Coming to find you, naturally, means there is a matter of great importance."

Old Freak Huo put away his usual arrogance. This time, his tone was neither servile nor overbearing, suggesting he held a deep wariness toward the man before him.

"Looking for me with a matter? People never visit the Hall of Three Treasures without a reason. Cut the small talk and speak—what is it?"

Uncle Duan's cold expression betrayed not a single ripple of emotion, making him seem like a bloodless, unfeeling machine.

Old Freak Huo let out a long breath, pushed Cui Yue forward in front of Uncle Duan, and patted his shoulder.

"This kid has been afflicted by the Corpse-Ghoul's Annihilation curse and is likely on the brink of death. I wanted to ask you..."

Before Old Freak Huo could finish, Uncle Duan let out a few cold laughs.

"Is this supposed to be you begging me?"

Old Freak Huo stiffened for a moment, then lowered his head and said in a low voice, "That's right. Consider it me begging you: save this child."

"What relation is he to you, that you're willing to lower your pride and beg me like this?"

Uncle Duan crossed his arms and asked with a hint of playful mockery.

"No relation by blood or friendship, merely acquaintances who met by chance. But this kid saved my life a few days ago."

"Oh? So that's how it is. I was wondering why the illustrious Celestial Master Huo would condescend to abase himself today. So that's the reason."

Uncle Duan casually brushed some dust off his clothes and said indifferently, "He saved *you*. What does that have to do with me?"

Just as Old Freak Huo was about to speak out, Cui Yue stopped him.

"Old Freak Huo, there's no need to demean yourself by begging him for my sake. This guy..."

Knowing how untamable and proud Old Freak Huo usually was, Cui Yue found it hard to bear seeing him lower himself like this on his account.

Besides, Uncle Duan was acting as if he had been completely replaced. Why had the previously kind and courteous uncle suddenly turned so cold and aloof? Which of them was his true self?

What on earth was his purpose in infiltrating their factory as a warehouse keeper?