I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 28

“What did you say?” Zhongpu pressed.

Xueji tightened her arms around her shoulders and lowered her eyes tiredly, looking very listless. “The Beast Souls inside the spirit monument told me. They told me to be careful.”

Zhongpu heard that something was off in her voice. “Sleepy?”

“Mm…” She nodded, her face tilting into her fluffy hair as she fell asleep. “Little Pu is so warm.”

Zhongpu felt that her voice was strange, so she quickened her pace and returned to the small house, laying her down on the bed.

Teng Jingjie, who had been sitting to the side with one leg crossed over the other while watching the moon, had been frowning tightly ever since they entered. “Where did you two go? You stink.”

Zhongpu sniffed herself. “Do I? We only went to the suspension bridge to check the situation.”

“What happened to the little one?” Teng Jingjie got down from the windowsill.

Zhongpu was just about to say it was only a light scrape and nothing serious, but when she rolled Xueji’s trouser leg up to her knee, both of them froze.

Starting from the wound as the center, the skin around Xueji’s knee had spread out about the size of a palm. All of that skin had rotted and turned blackish-brown.

“Miasma?” Teng Jingjie identified the source of the black aura beside the wound. “How did she get poisoned by miasma?”

One had to know that Xueji usually played with miasma poison the way a child played with a rattle-drum. If anyone had the highest tolerance for miasma, it was definitely her.

With that kind of constitution, how could she be poisoned by miasma?

Zhongpu had actually already felt that everything that had happened tonight was strange, one thing linked to another. So she quickly told Teng Jingjie what had happened.

“She clearly only tripped over a tree. I checked the wound at the time. It was just an ordinary scrape, and I didn’t smell any miasma either.”

“No, you mentioned just now that person called Shen something…”

“Shen Nanxing.”

“Right.” Teng Jingjie’s expression turned serious. “There are too many mysteries around her.”

“Now that you say that, I remember. After Xueji fell, Shen Nanxing was the first one to touch her.”

Both of them were experienced Beast Arts Masters. They had seen a thing or two, from Haoyue’s gu poison to Pose’s witchcraft. They knew that even a few seconds of contact could be enough for someone to poison another person silently.

“Jiang Zhi.” Zhongpu quickly summoned her Beast Soul.

A grass-green stone turtle appeared in response. It blinked its tiny green-bean eyes, and before Zhongpu could give instructions, it very sensibly said, “Master, you go. I’ll stay here and look after Sister Xueji.”

“Mm. Protect her well.” Zhongpu patted its head. “We’ll be back soon.”

“All right.”

After arranging things for Xueji, the two exchanged a tacit glance. In unison, they raised their hands to support themselves on the window and directly flipped down from the second floor.

In the night, two human figures, so fast only shadows remained, moved between the houses, heading straight toward the direction of the suspension bridge cliff.

Before they even reached the place, Teng Jingjie borrowed the telescope on her right arm and saw the miasma spreading in the distance.

“What’s going on? When Xueji and I came here just now, we didn’t smell any miasma at all.” Zhongpu stopped.

Teng Jingjie shook her right hand and transformed it into a handy broadsword, her expression grave as she slowly approached.

“Something’s wrong.” She suddenly lowered the arm she had raised in a combat stance and turned to Zhongpu. “Smell it. There’s miasma all around, but once you reach this tree, there’s none.”

Zhongpu stepped forward and nodded, confirming her words. “Yes.”

Miasma was a gas that lingered for a long time. Beast Arts Masters generally used this characteristic, combined with Beast Souls with keen senses of smell, to track fleeing evil spirits.

For there to be miasma of this level here meant a fairly strong evil spirit had once come here. But they did not know what mystery this tree held. With it as the center, all miasma within a radius of ten cun had been blocked away.

“We’ll know if we chop it down and look.” Teng Jingjie rubbed her nose and made to lift her broadsword.

“Look!” Zhongpu suddenly pointed ahead. “There’s someone there.”

“What person?”

Zhongpu ran over and crouched down to check. “Male.”

Very quickly, she withdrew the fingers pressed against his neck and raised her head to look at Teng Jingjie. “Dead…”

“Hey, don’t you think he looks familiar?”

Zhongpu leaned closer to the corpse and examined it carefully. “A little, but I can’t say how.”

Teng Jingjie, however, suddenly figured it out and snapped her fingers. “Li Zhao!”

…

Yan Yu had not been asleep for long when she was woken by human voices. From the sound of it, there were more than just one or two people.

She opened her eyes and originally wanted to go out to take a look, but when she raised her head, she met Yin Beiqing’s gaze staring straight at her.

“What is it?”

“When you sleep, it really does seem like you don’t breathe.”

“…” Why did those words sound like she was cursing her to die?

Yan Yu was exactly like her sister in this regard. Her sleeping posture was extremely good. The position of her hair barely changed from when she lay down to when she got up, and her breathing was very light. More than one person had once said that she slept like a mummy.

“Your little girl seems like she’s about to cry again.” Yin Beiqing pointed outside the door.

“What do you mean, my little girl?” Because of her strange tone, Yan Yu frowned. But she was still somewhat worried about what was happening outside, so she quickly stood up, stepped over Yin Beiqing, who was lying across the bed, and put on her shoes.

“Lady Goddess truly cares for all living beings. When you climbed in, you dawdled, but when you climb out, you’re quite agile.”

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?” Yan Yu sank her breath and warned herself not to get angry because of this person’s few words.

“I am rather uncomfortable.” Yin Beiqing narrowed her eyes at her.

Why was it that the You tribe girl only needed to cry a little to receive so much care and gentleness from Yan Yu? Was it because she was young, or because she looked obedient?

If it was about appearance, then she…

Right. Yan Yu had never seen the face beneath her mask. Perhaps Yan Yu also thought her face was hideous, a monster that had to wear a mask to live normally.

“Go.” Yin Beiqing’s mood changed very quickly, and her voice sank. “Her father is dead.”

Dead?

Yan Yu did not even have time to put on her outer robe. She hurriedly opened the wooden door and went out.

Almost everyone in the tribe had gathered in front of Li Zhao’s house. Some were crying, and some were patting Li Zhao’s back to comfort her. At the center of the crowd, a male corpse that had long gone dry and stiff lay there with its eyes closed.

Li Zhao stood there like a wooden chicken, looking as if she still had not accepted reality. When she saw Yan Yu come out of the room, it was as if she had suddenly found her backbone. “Sister, am I dreaming?”

Yan Yu quietly looked at her without speaking.

She had saved many people, but she had also witnessed many deaths. It was not that this feeling was numbness. Rather, it was as if her emotions had been emptied out, making it difficult for her to cry hysterically the way she had after her first failed surgery.

Li Zhao’s eyes quickly reddened. As if clinging to her final shred of hope, she tugged Yan Yu’s sleeve. The way she looked at her seemed as if she was ready to immediately believe her as long as she heard the words “your father isn’t dead.”

“Sister, you’re a Beast Arts Master. I’ll believe anything you say.”

A sour feeling spread through Yan Yu’s chest, but she still shook her head at her. “My condolences.”

She had never expected that one day, she would say these words to someone other than a patient’s family member.

Li Zhao seemed as if a switch had suddenly been flipped. Tears streamed down uncontrollably. She threw aside the thing in her hand and turned to pounce onto the corpse. “No, no, no. He was still fine this afternoon. How could he suddenly die?”

As the first witness who had found the body, Zhongpu spoke. “Judging by the wounds on his body, he likely fell from a high place and died.”

“How could he have fallen to death? This is clearly the work of an evil spirit!” Li Zhao shook her head. “Come and look. How could someone who just died feel this hard and this cold?”

Someone who just died…

Yan Yu seemed to remember something from her words. According to Zhongpu and Teng Jingjie, Li Zhao’s father should not have been dead for long.

When Zhongpu and Xueji went there the first time, they had not discovered his presence. When Teng Jingjie and Zhongpu went to the area near the Sacred Spirit Monument the second time, less than half an hour had passed in between. In addition, Li Zhao’s father had bruises from impact and marks from being scratched by branches on his body. That was why they guessed he might have climbed a tree to pick something, then accidentally fallen, resulting in his current state.

Yan Yu walked over and crouched beside the corpse, reaching out to press and examine several areas near the joints.

Rigor mortis had reached its peak. The joints across the entire body were stiff, and the body temperature was very low, roughly estimated to be around a dozen degrees Celsius. Yet under these circumstances, no livor mortis appeared on the surface of his body.

When watching suspense films with a friend who worked in forensic medicine, Yan Yu had once discussed related knowledge with them.

After a corpse died, it would generally take twelve to fifteen hours before rigor mortis caused all joints of the body to stiffen. Livor mortis, on the other hand, would appear one to two hours after death and enter the diffusion stage at twelve to sixteen hours.

So under normal circumstances, there would not be a situation like Li Zhao’s father’s, where rigor mortis had clearly reached its peak, yet the body surface was clean without the slightest livor mortis.

Yan Yu imagined two possibilities. Either his time of death was not within the hour everyone believed, or… his death had occurred through an abnormal method.

The original book had mentioned that evil spirits could absorb human emotions as energy. Whether joyful or sorrowful, humans whose energy was drained dry in this way would die in a state similar to the corpse before her.

Only, to drain a human’s emotional energy to this extent required long-term, close-range contact. Moreover, compared to directly devouring the physical body, this method of obtaining energy was too inefficient. Generally, not many evil spirits had the patience to do such a thing.

Zi— The Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly tore through the carriage parked outside and flew toward this side.

Just as it was about to stab into the corpse, Yin Beiqing reached out and firmly grabbed it.

Beast Arts Masters generally judged the traces of evil spirits through miasma. The Demon-Slaying Blade, however, was different. It was like it had radar detection. Even an extremely faint energy fluctuation would cause it to react.

Yan Yu raised her head and stared at Yin Beiqing. Since even the Demon-Slaying Blade had reacted, then perhaps Li Zhao’s guess truly was not baseless.

But if it was clearly an evil spirit and had hidden in a human village for so long without causing large-scale slaughter, then why?

“Sickly weakling.” Yin Beiqing saw from Yan Yu’s expression that she seemed to have an idea. “Say whatever you want to say.”

Yan Yu wiped her hands with a handkerchief and stood up. Her first sentence immediately set the crowd off.

“There is indeed an evil spirit in the village.”

“How is that possible? If there were an evil spirit, why wouldn’t it show itself?”

“Could the suspension bridge breaking be the evil spirit’s doing?”

“Why are you all believing her words? Let’s hear what the goddess says.”

“Nonsense!” Panpan put its paws on its waist and pointed at them. “My master is the real goddess. What she says is the truth!”

The little fatty’s mouth was too fast. By the time Yan Yu wanted to cover its mouth, it had already finished speaking.

In truth, she had long felt that the goddess was strange. She had kept quiet because she did not want to cause unnecessary trouble. After all, the You tribe people regarded that person as their highest faith and would not allow anyone to show the slightest disrespect.

“You’re not allowed to slander our goddess!”

“Do you know what the goddess has done for us? You brought a fake here and dare come to our place to talk nonsense!”

Yin Beiqing, whose expression was gradually becoming impatient, clicked her tongue. With a swish, she raised her hand and fiercely stabbed the Demon-Slaying Blade into the ground. The force shook the people around them so hard that their bodies swayed several times.

Because of her action, the surroundings went completely silent. Her sharp gaze swept across everyone, and her voice was cool. “Don’t you think it’s noisy?”

“…” You’re holding a sword, so of course whatever you say goes.

Before long, someone went to invite Shen Nanxing over. She looked as if she had just woken up. Her hair had not been combed and fell loosely behind her head.

“What is going on? Zhaozhao’s father, how could he…”

Teng Jingjie did not like watching plays. She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and turned away.

Yan Yu, however, took the initiative to speak. “I heard from Zhaozhao that there was previously a batch of corpses in the tribe that were not cremated according to custom. You personally handled them?”

“Miss Yan, do you mean you suspect me?”

“No. You misunderstand. I only want to know where those corpses went.”

“Very well. If everyone is suspicious of me like Miss Yan is, I can take you there.” Shen Nanxing seemed a little wronged. “Originally, I did not tell everyone because I did not want people to frequently disturb the souls of the departed. But now, if I do not do this, it seems no one will believe me.”

“How could that be!” Very quickly, someone spoke up for her indignantly. “Everything the goddess does is for the good of our tribe. Of course we believe you!”

“If you ask me, we shouldn’t have taken in these outsiders. Look at how short a time they’ve been here, and already this kind of thing happened.”

“In any case, I believe the goddess. We’re not going!”

“Everyone, quiet!” The clan chief stepped out to pacify the atmosphere. “Miss Yan Yu has done us a favor. Please, certain tribe members, watch your words.”

She walked over and stood beside Yan Yu. “Miss, why don’t you explain why you are so focused on the whereabouts of those corpses? The goddess has also shown our tribe kindness. We cannot be ingrates who casually suspect her after hearing a few words.”

“Everyone has misunderstood. I am not implying that anyone present is the murderer.” Yan Yu turned toward Shen Nanxing and raised the corners of her lips, though the smile did not reach her eyes. “It is only that, as far as I know, the You tribe has always had a fixed custom of paying respects to the dead. If the act of conveying longing and love to the departed is described as ‘disturbing’ them, that is rather hurtful.”

She turned again and faced the crowd. “Everyone, please think about it. If you grow old and die one day, would you hope your relatives and friends often visit your grave?”

Yan Yu did not name anyone, yet this was even more unsettling for Shen Nanxing than a direct accusation.

Her hands, hidden in her sleeves, trembled unnaturally. But she forced herself to maintain a calm expression and spoke before anyone could be moved by Yan Yu’s words. “Actually, there is nothing wrong with taking everyone to have a look. Everyone, follow me.”

Very soon, two strong female tribe members came over and placed Li Zhao’s father onto a stretcher. Surrounded by the crowd, they followed behind Shen Nanxing.

“Panpan.” Yan Yu called in her mind.

A Beast Soul and its master shared a connected consciousness, so Yan Yu did not need to speak aloud for Panpan to know what she was thinking.

After receiving the complete information, it nodded, clapped its paws, and after a burst of white smoke, entered Yan Yu’s Soul Domain.

Shen Nanxing led the people up a small slope and stopped in an open space. Then, with a wave of her right hand, the originally bare plain instantly transformed into a cemetery with walls several chi high.

“The goddess’s spiritual arts are so powerful!”

“Yes, yes. As long as the cemetery is hidden like this, the dead won’t have their peace disturbed by people coming and going.”

Spiritual arts?

Yin Beiqing and Yan Yu exchanged a glance.

But why had they not sensed the slightest soul power fluctuation?

“Everyone, please enter.” She took out an object similar to a key from her waist, opened the gate, and stood inside the cemetery, making an inviting gesture.

The cemetery gate was not wide. It was just enough to carry in a coffin and could only accommodate four people entering side by side.

Yan Yu stood at the end of the line. When she passed through the gate, out of the corner of her eye, she seemed to see Shen Nanxing smiling.

But when she turned her head, the other woman quickly changed back to a calm expression.

“Please enter, Miss Yan.” She blinked. “Didn’t you very much want to know what is inside?”

Yan Yu tightened her grip on the object in her hand and stepped inside. The gate was soon gently closed behind her.

With a creak, it sounded somewhat eerie in the dark night.

No one noticed that a somewhat ferocious smile had appeared on Shen Nanxing’s face.

Ding-ling—

The sound of a bell rang from somewhere, crisp and nimble.

In the next second, the hundred or so people inside the cemetery all fell straight to the ground. Every one of them had their eyes tightly shut, as if they had fallen asleep.

“Yin Beiqing!” Yan Yu instinctively searched for a certain person’s figure, only to see that even she had been affected.

At this moment, only she and Shen Nanxing remained standing.

“Why aren’t you reacting?” Shen Nanxing’s gaze was cold as she slowly paced toward Yan Yu. “Tell me. Who are you?”

She had completely changed faces, as if the gentle and kind goddess from before had merely been everyone’s illusion.

“That is a question I should be asking you first.” Yan Yu raised her right hand and, while Shen Nanxing was not paying attention, suddenly threw an object at her.

The object struck Shen Nanxing’s shoulder and actually passed straight through. But afterward, the part of her body that had been hit immediately melted before Yan Yu’s eyes, and a pale-purple mist spread from the wound.

Yan Yu lightly sniffed that scent and quickly confirmed the guess in her heart.

“But it’s fine. Now I know.”

Author’s Note:

Yin: Jealousy? Hand it over!

(Sister Yin, looking for vinegar to drink every day.)

P.S. The descriptions in this chapter regarding rigor mortis, body temperature, and livor mortis referenced the documentary Forensic Files.