This Damned Thirst for Survival
Chapter 5

Lu Youyi: "..."

After Jiang Luo finished speaking, Lu Youyi shivered uncontrollably. His scalp was numb and he rubbed the clothes of the person in front of him.

The fabric of the cloth was crude and hard. After smelling it carefully, there was an inexplicable moldy smell. As if it had been smothered tightly for a long time on a rainy day, along with the fishy smell of dust.

It's really not Jiang Luo.

Lu Youyi was sweating coldly. He wanted to let go of his hand, but he was afraid of disturbing the "person": "Ye Xun, there is really one more person between Jiang Luo and me."

The extra "person" in the middle of them did not move. It was still standing in the same place, and it seemed like it didn't understand their conversation.

Ye Xun asked, "What is it?"

Lu Youyi was about to cry, "I don't know, but it smells like a walking corpse."

How can a walking corpse appear here?

Ye Xun frowned and stuffed a talisman into Jiang Luo's hand: "Stick it on Tian Zhong, Tian Ting, and in Sikong1."

Jiang Luo: "I'm sorry... What are these three places?"

Ye Xun, "... Stick it in the center of its forehead."

Jiang Luo put the rabbit doll in his left hand and hugged it, freeing up his other hand to raise and stick it. He was ready to encounter something terrifying, but unexpectedly, he didn't even touch anything.

Jiang Luo was stunned for a moment. His fingers fell down. He felt something sticky and cold. The texture was rigid and soft. Some surging worms rolled under the thing he stroked, like maggots.

Jiang Luo retracted his hand in a flash, and he reacted in an instant. He said with a sullen face: "It has no head."

What he touched was the flesh on the neck of the corpse.

He doesn't need to say what kind of worms have appeared on the rotting flesh.

Ye Xun grabbed Jiang Luo's arm and was about to step forward to deal with the corpse. Jiang Luo raised his hand to stop him, and said calmly, "Let's go and turn on the light first. Since it is following us and doing nothing, we're safe for the time being. Let's take him to the studio and turn on the light first."

Jiang Luo was right, they have no advantage in dealing with this kind of thing in the dark. The three of them maintained their original posture and walked forward. Lu Youyi walked behind the corpse, and was somewhat glad, "Fortunately, it followed you."

Jiang Luo vigilantly guarded against the danger from behind him. When he heard those words, he casually said, "How do you know that it's following me? It has no head. What if it is facing you backwards, and just grabbing me with its backhand?"

Lu Youyi's goose bumps exploded, "Fuck, don't joke around!"

The strength of the walking corpse tugging Jiang Luo's clothes became heavier and heavier. The scraping sound of its footsteps became louder and louder. It was similar to the sound of the corpse being dragged on the ground. The group walked to the studio in fear. Ye Xun went to replace the switch, and a minute later, the dazzling light suddenly came on.

Lu Youyi blinked subconsciously. The next moment he could clearly see the corpse walking in front of him. The place where the head region is, was indeed empty. The corpse was wearing a blood-stained prison uniform, his skin was bruised and there were hideous spots. The wound on his neck was gruesome, with flesh and blood leaking out. There were traces of knife rust and some crawling maggots.

Jiang Luo had already run a few meters away. He found a pack of wet wipes and wiped his hands vigorously. He stared blankly at the corpse. Because the walking corpse grabbed his clothes with so much strength, as soon as he ran away, part of his clothes were torn off, and he was almost unable to cover his waist.

The visual effect of the walking corpse was terrifying. Lu Youyi was shocked and said, "There is actually a fucking corpse that can move around..."

Before his words were continued, he looked down and saw the feet of the corpse.

The toes are pointing in his direction.

Lu Youyi shrieked: "Crap, ahhhhh!!!"

The walking corpse actually faced him and walked backwards the whole journey!

Lu Youyi screamed. He raised his foot and kicked the corpse. He rushed towards Jiang Luo and Ye Xun in a panic. The walking corpse staggered in the process. He shifted to face them, and suddenly ran over.

The three of them turned around and ran. Ye Xun was very calm. He watched Jiang Luo run and didn't forget to wipe his hands. He comforted: "Experts have studied that maggots are not dirty. Maggots can pull out salt with bactericidal properties after devouring rotten meat. There are antibiotics and immunity-enhancing things within the body. In fact, it is a good insect."

Jiang Luo said with a fake smile, "Big brother, if you don't do something, you can taste the maggots yourself."

Ye Xun stopped and pulled out a black net from the mouth of the doll held by Jiang Luo, "Lu Youyi!"

Lu Youyi pulled Jiang Luo and led the headless corpse to run in the other direction, "Ye Xun, hurry up. This thing is so fast. I can't hold it for long!"

He was so anxious that his saliva flew everywhere without him taking a breath. Jiang Luo was about to be dragged up by him. Jiang Luo shouted, "Lu Youyi, you don't have any means to deal with this thing?"

Lu Youyi replied even louder, "Jiang Luo, are you out of your mind! Although you are the bottom of the class, the second to last is me!"

Jiang Luo: "..."

Lu Youyi thought of Jiang Luo's praise and trust in him. He felt a little guilty. The more guilty he was, the louder his voice became. He was like a big gun in a war, "Besides, I've only heard of walking corpses before, and I've never seen them!"

Jiang Luo: "... Stop talking."

He suddenly accelerated his speed and rushed in front of Lu Youyi.

Lu Youyi was stunned: "Fuck!"

The headless corpse caught up with him. His speed was very fast, and he was half a meter away from Lu Youyi in an instant. Lu Youyi gritted his teeth. He suddenly turned around and roared: "I'll fight with you!"

However, the headless corpse surpassed him and went after Jiang Luo, as his clear target.

Lu Youyi's face was full of question marks.

Why did luck come so unexpectedly?

Jiang Luo also saw this scene, his temples burst: "Why does it have to chase me?"

The rapid running made his breathing gradually short. The original owner neglected exercising. It was already incredible to be able to overtake Lu Youyi at such a fast pace. Jiang Luo felt that his breathing became hot and his throat tingled faintly. He put the tip of his tongue on his upper jaw and tried to keep breathing evenly.

Ye Xun had already pulled the black net apart through the pillar, and shouted, "Jiang Luo, run back!"

Jiang Luo turned around and ran towards him with the corpse.

The walking corpse is unlikely to get tired. Its speed is getting faster and faster. The rapid running makes the smell of the rotting corpse permeate the entire stairway and workroom. Jiang Luo heard the sound of his increasingly heavy snorting and the beating of his heart. His legs were already soft, and he was about to reach the edge of his limit.

He glanced up at the black net on his head not far away. It takes time for the black net to fall. The distance between the corpse and him is less than three meters. Even if the black net falls, there is a high probability that it will not be able to trap the corpse.

He has to hurry up and reserve the time for the black net to land.

The smell of blood spread from his throat to his mouth. Jiang Luo was also a little helpless about his physical quality. He took a deep breath, used his last strength to speed up, and sprinted across the area of the black net.

Almost as soon as he passed through, the black net was pulled down by Ye Xun and covered the headless corpse.

The headless corpse struggled, and its skin was immediately scalded with dark black scorch marks by the black net. The smell of the rotten flesh after being roasted was fragrant and pungent. Lu Youyi retched a few times. He covered his nose and handed Jiang Luo a bottle of water.

Jiang Luo stood with his legs shaking against the wall for a moment, then sat on the platform nearby. His breathing was still a bit intense. His black hair stuck to his neck and face. He was cut in a sorry figure that he couldn't care about the unpleasant smell of the air. He gasped for breath. After a while, he had the strength to twist off the cap of the bottle and took a sip of water: "What is this black net?"

"The rope soaked in the blood of a black dog," Lu Youyi stuffed two pieces of paper to block his nostrils, and squatted beside the black net to study the corpse, "There should be a layer of talisman wrapped in it."

Ye Xun's black net entangled the headless corpse firmly, and the headless corpse did not move as if it was dead. Lu Youyi looked at it strangely for a long time, "Ye Xun, what do you think, why did it look for Jiang Luo and chase him?"

Ye Xun shook his head: "I don't know."

Jiang Luo coughed a few times. He pinched his throat uncomfortably, and said, "It's wearing a prison uniform, right?"

Lu Youyi said, "Yes."

"Looking at the style of this prison uniform, this corpse should have been dead for hundreds of years," Jiang Luo looked at the corpse and said with certainty, "Since it is a person in ancient times, the head should also have long hair. Among the three of us, I have the longest hair. It probably recognized my head as its head."

Lu Youyi and Ye Xun came to a sudden realization. Lu Youyi said, "It makes sense."

"The sound of the ball heard on the stairs earlier should be its head," Jiang Luo took another sip of water, "I just don't know why its head is separated from its body."

Ye Xun thought of it and suddenly said, "The three missing girls also have long hair."

Lu Youyi immediately clenched his fists, "Damn it! It must have been this corpse who recognized their heads as his own before killing them."

Jiang Luo felt that it was not necessarily true.

If it was the headless corpse that killed the three girls, even if it took the heads of the girls, then why their bodies cannot be found?

What's more, the scene of the room on the day of their disappearance was clean and tidy, without a trace of blood. Would the girls take the initiative to follow the headless corpse?

But he didn't refute Lu Youyi's words. He just shrugged and got off the table, "Do you want to go to another place where the other stream of smoke floated?"

Naturally, they will go.

On the way, Lu Youyi dragged the black net and acted rudely. He turned his head and said to Jiang Luo in disdain, "Jiang Luo, do you want to exercise with me after you go back to school? Your physical fitness is too poor." He can't escape being chased by ghosts for long.

Jiang Luo remembered the discomfort after the run just now, and felt a lingering fear, "Well, I really should exercise more."

The incense in Ye Xun's hand had been burned for two-thirds. The ash fell on the rice, yet the smoke was still divided into two strands. One strand pointed towards the headless corpse that was caught behind them, and the other led them to the door of an unfamiliar room.

Jiang Luo stepped forward and knocked on the door. He knocked twice, yet no one answered from inside. He simply opened the door, and the smoke floated straight in and rushed under the bed.

There was no one in the room.

The three of them cautiously surrounded the bed. Ye Xun put the incense on the ground next to the bed, and hugged back the rabbit doll in Jiang Luo's hand. He said coldly: "Get out."

There was a sudden sound of a ball rolling under the bed. A skull rolled out from the end of the bed. The black hair wrapped around the skull, almost like a ball full of hair.

Ye Xun didn't move. The head rolled from the ground to Jiang Luo's feet, revealing an eye from his hair, "Little friend, your hair is really elegant and dazzling. Can you tell this young student how you take care of your hair?"

Lu Youyi sneered. He took a step forward and grabbed the head. He said viciously, "I think your hair is not bad either!"

The head let out an ear-piercing shriek, "Don't yank me like that. I'll go bald! I'll go bald!"

Lu Youyi trembled with fear. He couldn't keep his fierce smile. He almost loosened his grip on the head, "Fuck, don't scream!"

The head whimpered and cried, "You devil, don't drag people's hair."

Lu Youyi shuddered with nausea. He put the head on the bed. The three of them stared at the head from three sides, "Speak, why are you in Hotel 129."

The head bounced twice. He threw the hair behind the head, revealing a pale cyan face. The head said, "This young student's name is Ning Xiu. I used to be a scholar. A long time ago, this young student was beheaded for peeking at an official's daughter in a bath, and died on the execution ground."

As he said, his head sobbed twice, "This young student died in disgrace, the family of this young student is not willing to collect my body. How can a person die without a whole body into the grave? This young student walked around with head in my arms. This used to be a tailor's shop. This young student came here and wanted the tailor to sew it for me."

Ye Xun: "The slaughterhouse next to it seemed to be an execution ground a long time ago."

There will be a tailor shop around the execution ground. Because in the past, people were concerned and they wanted to keep the whole body. The family members of the beheaded prisoners would usually transport the body to the tailor shop and ask the tailor to sew the head with its body. If the corpse wasn't collected by the family members, at night, the corpse will come to the tailor shop while holding its head to replace a cutting seam to sew its head.

The head said, "But the tailor always closes the door before it gets dark. I can't replace anyone to sew my head, so I keep waiting and waiting. A month ago, I happened to replace that the boss' wife here was also a tailor, so I came to her room in the middle of the night every day to replace her and wanted her to sew my head."

Lu Youyi looked uncomfortable and asked, "If you want to sew your head, just sew your head. Why do you want to kill people."

The head widened his eyes, and he said angrily, "Little friend, don't slander people out of thin air. When did this young student kill someone?"

Lu Youyi was taken aback for a moment, and said suspiciously, "Didn't you kill the three girls who disappeared in this hotel?"

The head angrily bounced twice, and he said in a loud voice: "Little baby, don't look at me because I have a good temper!"

Jiang Luo touched his chin with his hands around his chest, and the torn on the left side of his clothes revealed a palm sized piece of skin on his waist. It is as white as jade, with a smooth cold feeling, he inadvertently pulled his clothes up, and his beauty soared. Jiang Luo curved his lips and said with a smile, "Scholar, do you come to this room every night to replace the boss's wife?"

The scholar looked at him blankly. He was originally a lecherous man, and now his cyan face was stained with two blushes, "Yes, this young student comes here every night to replace the boss's wife."

Jiang Luo said, "But the boss's wife doesn't seem to live here."

The head said in a lofty manner, "Little friend, you don't know. The male and female owners of this shop experienced many quarrels a month ago. The mistress's temper became more and more strange, so they separated. The mistress lives in this room. I have seen her mending her body with needles and thread, but I didn't expect that whenever I came to her in the middle of the night, she was always not here."

Ye Xun grasped the point, "Repairing her own body?"

The head said with deep emotion, "Yes, what a good tailor she is, she must be able to sew my head and my body together properly." But after looking at the body in the black net, the head couldn't help showing a painful expression, "But when I saw my body, I didn't want to sew it together."

Jiang Luo smiled and turned to look at Ye Xun and Lu Youyi, "You guys answer, the boss's wife who wears needles and thread to repair her body late at night, if she doesn't go to bed in the middle of the night, where will she go?"

Ye Xun frowned and thought for a moment. He threw the head into the black net and asked Lu Youyi to drag it back to the corridor and call the boss.

The electricity used for the landline is a separate circuit, and it will not be affected whether the power is out or not at Hotel 129.

The phone "buzzed" for a while, and the boss's sleepy voice came: "Hello?"

Ye Xun inquired, "Where is the landlady?"

The boss instantly sobered up and asked cautiously, "What's wrong, student Ye? My wife is sleeping with my mother with the child in her arms."

"Isn't her room in 102?"

"Yes, she quarreled with me and moved to 102 to live," The boss said with a wry smile, "Probably because my business is getting worse and worse. Her temper has become a lot grumpy. I don't know where she went all day long in broad daylight. I see her occasionally, and her makeup is getting thicker and thicker... But she can't let go of the child. Every night, she will come back after the child goes to bed. She accompanies the child until dawn and then disappears. I don't have time to have a good chat with her."

The house where the boss's family lived was opposite their building. The more Ye Xun heard it, the more he felt that something was wrong. He made a quick decision, and said, "Let's go there now."

The group of people passed in the dark, and the incense was already burned out when they walked to the opposite floor. Ye Xun sighed and put the rice bowl in the corner. After going upstairs, he saw the boss waiting at the door in his clothes.

The boss took them into the house, and looked a little uneasy. He rubbed his hands and said, "Well, what did you mean before..."

"We want to see your wife," Ye Xun said, "She may have some problems."

The boss immediately squeezed his hand. He was silent for a long time and reluctantly smiled, "How can it be?"

"This is impossible," The boss said to himself. He was crying and laughing, "You guys, don't make fun of me."

Lu Youyi looked at him sympathetically, "Boss, if you want to deal with this matter early, you must prepare for the worst."

The boss became dispirited. He took them to the door of a bedroom, and gently opened the door.

A stiff shadow was standing at the end of the bed, staring straight at the grandmother and the child who were asleep on the bed. The black mist on the figure was just like the black mist Jiang Luo had seen on the child's arm.

Lu Youyi exclaimed in a low voice: "What a heavy yin energy!"

Immediately after the door was opened, a chill came violently towards Jiang Luo. Jiang Luo's gaze fell on the quilt. Two peaceful bumps formed on the quilt. The old woman and the child slept heavily and they weren't even awake a little.

The figure standing at the end of the bed heard the sound and turned its head stiffly to look at them.

Jiang Luo's pupils tightened.

The hotel owner was covered with dense stitches everywhere. She seemed to be a mass of minced meat. She could only rely on stitches to sew herself up. Her facial features were crooked, bloody, and she was terrifying,

The boss behind them sat on the ground, and his legs were trembling with fear, "Ahhhhh——!"

Footnotes:

1. 天中(tiānzhōng), 天庭(tiāntíng), and 司空(sīkōng). ⬅