Chapter 628: Acting as a Proxy for a Tiger

'The water stains on the floor didn't disappear at the entrance to Mortuary No. 2, which means those monsters should have already left. So who could be hiding in the room right now?' After my experience fighting the white fiend, I no longer treated them as mindless beasts. Under the manipulation of the mastermind behind the scenes, these terrifying and ugly creatures had become cunning and insidious. The slightest carelessness would land me in their traps.

'Talismans aren't very lethal against white fiends. They can't suppress corpse qi or death qi, making them less useful than a sharp butcher's knife.' I narrowed my eyes, my mind racing. 'If possible, I could lure the sect members here and let them fight it out with the Two-Faced Buddha.'

Pushing the thoughts from my mind, I slowly stepped into Mortuary No. 2.

In the outer area, the iron beds used for washing and disinfecting corpses remained exactly as they were. The real difference became apparent only once I stepped into the inner room.

All the drawer beds had been pulled out, as if someone had checked them one by one.

The inner rollers on some of the drawer beds had jammed, dragging the surrounding freezers down with them. This showed that the monsters possessed incredible strength—something even I, despite having strengthened my body multiple times, could not match.

The mortuary was a complete mess, but there were no monsters in sight.

'This isn't right. Given the mastermind's personality, he doesn't seem like the type to give up so easily.' Mottled water stains were scattered across the floor. It was clear that several monsters had appeared in this room and then left in a hurry. Judging by the direction the stains faded, all of those creatures had fled deeper underground.

'What happened deeper underground? Could one of the three—Zhang Heng, Gu Bei, or Chen Mo—be a live show streamer in disguise? Did they engage the monsters down there too?' The situation in the hospital was as tangled and confusing as running hares. Being a pawn on the board severely limited my thinking.

"I haven't run into a single monster along the way. This has gone so smoothly it's almost unimaginable." Before I could even finish speaking, a strange rustling noise echoed through the mortuary. It sounded like a baby crying.

'You've got to be kidding me.' I really wanted to slap myself. I had completely jinxed it. Why did I have to open my big mouth and say anything?

Rooted to the spot and not daring to move recklessly, I channeled my true qi into the acupoints behind my ears to listen carefully. The crying seemed to be coming from all directions at once, making it impossible to pinpoint a specific location.

'There are two kinds of monsters beneath the Third Ward. One is the white fiend I fought, and the other is the ghost that manipulated Che Chili's consciousness and forced her to commit suicide. A white fiend is formed through corpse reanimation, so it wouldn't cry. With that in mind, the thing ambushing me here must be the second kind of monster.' The white fiend was incredibly strong and extremely hard to kill, making it quite difficult to deal with, but ghosts were a different story.

I had cultivated the Yin-Yang Ghost Art to the Five-Direction Ghost Commanding layer. I didn't even take ordinary Little Ghosts or vengeful spirits seriously.

'It's crying rather miserably, but it's a long way off from scaring me away with just a few sobs.' Completely unfazed, I walked toward the freezers lined up against the wall. The crying in my ears grew louder, drawing nearer until it felt like the damn thing was clinging right beside my head.

"Cheap parlor tricks." I grabbed the last row of drawer beds and pulled hard. A foul, fishy stench immediately assaulted my nose!

My Judging Eye swept over the area. There, nestled amidst a pile of ragged clothes, lay a mummified baby the size of a soccer ball!

"Holy shit!" Taking a large step back, I flicked my wrist and threw out two talismans to seal the freezer exit. I stared intently, my expression tense. 'When did this thing get in there?'

The mummified baby among the tattered clothes was nothing like the medical cadaver specimens in the hospital. It was terribly skinny—nothing but skin and bones—and curled up in a tight ball. Even more terrifying was the fact that its tiny body was covered in white fur over an inch long!

"Monster!"

The white fur on the white fiend I killed had only been a few millimeters long. The white fur on this mummified baby was actually much longer than that monster's.

'Although the length of the white fur doesn't necessarily dictate strength, it's one of the criteria for measuring how much time has passed since corpse reanimation. This baby's corpse underwent corpse reanimation many years ago.' My expression turned solemn. I was afraid it would suddenly jump up or lunge at me to attack. Given its small size, it was probably very fast.

We silently stood off against each other for two or three seconds. The baby's corpse didn't move at all, but the crying echoing through the mortuary only grew louder.

'The mummy is pressing down on the Peachwood Box. To get the box, I have to get rid of this damn thing.' I didn't know where I found the courage, but I reached out and yanked on the foul-smelling old clothes on the drawer bed, trying to knock the mummified baby off.

But the moment my hand brushed against the clothing, a completely unexpected scene unfolded.

Curled up into a tight ball, the mummified baby slowly reached out with a skeletal claw, and its deformed little head lifted upward.

Its facial features were crumpled together like a withered flower, and two disproportionately massive eye sockets stared fixedly at me.

It was simply too small. Even with its neck craned back as far as possible, it couldn't see my face.

"I wasn't afraid of things dozens of times your size, so why would I be afraid of you?" Steeling my heart, I gripped the tattered clothes tightly and gave a violent tug. But at that exact moment, an incredibly sharp screech tore through the air behind me.

Hearing the sound of something slicing through the air right by my ear, I didn't even think. I instantly let go, rolled across the floor, and dodged toward the wall.

"What was that?" Still shaken, I turned my head to look. At some unknown moment, an emaciated little girl had appeared next to the freezer.

Her hair was sparse and withered, taking on an unhealthy pale yellow hue that resembled autumn leaves.

Her tiny body barely reached my knees. Her face was deathly pale, and her eye sockets were deeply sunken. Because she was so young, the hospital clearly didn't have a patient's gown that fit her, so she was merely draped in an oversized white coat. Her two legs, covered in scars and looking like withered branches, were left exposed, barely keeping her from collapsing.

The girl looked to be only three or four years old, yet she lacked any trace of the innocence and cuteness expected for her age. All I could see in her was sorrow, pain, and a chilling numbness.

My first reaction upon seeing her was that my heart ached for her.

The baby's crying in the mortuary had stopped. The girl wobbled unsteadily on her feet and stumbled toward me. She moved very slowly, falling to the ground after taking just two steps.

"Are you a human or a ghost?" Such a weak little girl probably wouldn't pose much of a threat even if she was a ghost. However, my countless live streaming experiences had taught me that there were no absolutes in this world, and I always needed to remain cautious.

I was just about to step forward when I suddenly saw the girl plant her hands on the ground. Her speed violently increased, and she scrambled across the floor on all fours, charging straight at me. She seemed intent on climbing onto my body!

"Desire Ghost!" At such close range, I didn't have time to react any further. My fingertips brushed against the Ghost Ring, instantly summoning the weakened Desire Ghost.

The Desire Ghost hadn't fully recovered since helping me neutralize the talisman hidden within the Vermilion Fruit. But it was no ordinary ghost; overflowing with ferocity, it saw the "girl" and immediately pounced on her with lethal intent, without even needing my command.

'What a terrifying Little Ghost.' The ghost girl was incredibly fast. For a time, she actually fought the Desire Ghost to a standstill, even using the terrain to her advantage to continuously inflict wounds on it.

Watching the Desire Ghost's figure turn illusionary, I glanced at the mummified baby on the drawer bed. 'The girl only appeared when I was about to make a move on the baby's corpse. It seems this mummy is extremely important to her. It might even be her true body.'

I summoned the simple-minded Filthy Ghost for defense while I quickly sprinted toward the last row of drawer beds.

The girl realized my intent and shrieked as she lunged at me. However, blocked by the Desire Ghost and the Filthy Ghost, she could only watch helplessly as I tore away the tattered clothes and grabbed the mummy by the neck. 'The white fiend couldn't revive after I kicked its head off. It seems their heads and spines are their weak points.'

I clamped my hand around the mummified baby's fragile neck and made as if to twist its head off. The once ferocious girl instantly settled down.

She lay flat on the floor, the oversized patient's gown covering her emaciated body, looking incredibly pitiful and helpless.

"This is your true body, isn't it?" The mummified baby was lying on top of the Peachwood Box, and this last drawer bed was the exact location of the trade between Gu Bei and the kidnappers. Thinking about it this way, a lot of questions finally had answers.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at the girl lying on the ground. "Should I call you Gu Tongtong? Or should I call you the kidnapper? You're the one behind the scenes pulling the strings with the cursed notes and the kidnapping, aren't you?"

Faced with my questioning, a look of confusion spread across the girl's face. She didn't fully understand what I was saying.