Book 3: Chapter 55


    The corpse was like a giant stick insect crawling on the Buddha statue above, and it looked just like the Samantabhadri⁽¹⁾ statue in Tibetan Buddhism since its ornaments and clothing were simr to the Buddha statue. I was just wondering why it didn''t continuously attack when it suddenly let go and fell off the Buddha statue.


    This corpse was so hugeprobably more than two meters highthat it must have been a giant before it died. It fell directly into the food box coffin, causing all of the coffin liquid to ssh into the air and fall like rain. The moment I raised my hand to block it, that corpse appeared in front of me and directly lunged for my neck.


    I used all of my strength to turn and avoid it, managing to roll to a safe position. But it was such a close call this time that I could see one of the faces on the side of its head. Shit, this was too scary! As it turned out, the faces didnt naturally grow like this but were the air-dried faces of other corpses. They were worn on either side of this things head just like armor.


    <em>So, they turned out to be ornaments.</em>


    This time, the giant corpse didn''t pause again but immediately followed after me. I saw Poker-Faceing over out of the corner of my eye, so Iy directly on the ground and let the giant corpse throw itself into the air. After it sailed over me, it was now face-to-face with Poker-Face.


    But it didnt seem to have any interest in Poker-Face at all and immediately turned around to chase me. But Poker-Face didn''t give it the chance to as he got up close to it and leaped onto its body. He then turned so that his knees were resting on the corpses shoulders.


    By this point, he and the corpse werent vertical but were almost at a right angle to the ground. But once Poker-Face got his knees up, he dropped his upper body, put one hand to the ground to keep his bnce, and then twisted his whole body. After exerting the strength in his waist, he was able to twist the giant corpse''s head 180 degrees.


    Afternding, Poker-Face immediately rolled over to me. I was just about to say that the opponent was useless despite looking so impressive when Poker-Face suddenly said, "Retreat."


    At this time, I saw that the giant corpse hadnt stopped moving at all. Its head was twisted at a huge angle, which meant that one of the other faces was now facing us.


    The whole giant corpse looked like onepletely intact corpse.


    I was just starting to have a bad feeling when that second face suddenly opened its eyes and smiled at me.


    <em>Fuck, are you changing shifts or something?</em>


    Then, the giant corpse started quickly crawling towards me like a lizard. I swear, you have no idea how fast this thing was crawling. Fatty instantly pounced on the giant corpse from behind, raised the threaded steel pipe in his hand, and strangled the giant corpse from behind.


    But the giant corpse didn''t feel suffocated at all and just paused.


    I changed the grip on my Kukri so that the de was now facing forward and then jumped up. But just as I was about to stab down, Poker-Face grabbed my cor and yanked me through the air, changing my trajectory so that I ended up falling into the food box.


    When I got up, I found the giant corpse lying on the edge of the coffin. The face I was looking at waspletely different from the one I had seen just now and looked even more sinister. Fatty had disappeared at some point and was no longer hanging on that things back.


    At this time, a question shed through my mind, <em>is this a zombie? Ive never seen a zombie like this before</em>.


    But then, that face suddenly trembled and started vomiting.


    A sackcloth, hair, and even the stumps of a few small hands all came gushing out of its mouth. There was no doubt that this was the fish head it had just eaten. As a horrible stench reached my nose, that thing rushed at me yet again.


    But it only acted like it was rushing at me and didn''t actuallye too close. I stood up and saw Fatty pulling on it from behind while Poker-Face was squatting on the ground on the other side.


    "Get down!" He said to me.


    I found it a little strange because even though that thing was fast and didnt seem like it could be killed in one blow, it still wasnt strong enough to warrant me hiding the whole time. Did Poker-Face not have confidence in me?


    "Im not hiding, lets get it!" With that said, I pulled out my knife and moved to cut off that face. But at this time, Poker-Face pushed the coffin lid up and put it back on the coffin. I was startled by this sudden movement and instinctively shrank my neck in and crouched down.


    The lid was almostpletely covering the food box now, but the giant corpse''s head was still stuck in the gap. As a result, the lid couldn''t be closed all the way. I instinctively shed at that face while I squatted there, but it was just like cutting bulletproof rubber. Then, Fatty managed to drag it away from the edge of the coffin, causing the coffin lid to close with a loud bang.


    Everything around me instantly became dark and quiet and I couldn''t hear anything at all. In this enclosed space, the vomit smelled strongly of corpse, which almost had me puking.


    I still found this whole situation weird. Poker-Face seemed to be trying to protect me, but why? I was now a seasoned fighter so there wasn''t a need for me to hide.


    But I still didn''t go out immediately.


    I pushed at the coffin lid. It was very heavy, but it wasn''t like I couldnt open it by myself. But Poker-Face wasnt the type of person who would despise my strength. He was basically assured that I could handle myself after the recent fights we had been through. But why didnt he feel assured this time?


    I stuck close to the coffin wall and listened to the sounds outside. But at this time, I suddenly heard the sound of childrensughtering from the darkness around me.


    I was stunned for a moment, but then I immediately pulled out my windproof lighter, flicked it on, and looked behind me.


    I saw six or seven children squatting in the coffin liquid behind me. They were boys and girls dressed in virgin clothes, their hands were sped tightly, and they were all staring at me and drooling.


    <em>Ah, this is bad,</em> I said to myself. <em>This is a fuckingrge-scale haunting.</em>


    <em>But why? I''ve never encountered this kind of situation before. Have I gone crazy?</em>


    ****


    TN Notes:


    (1) Can also be called Wisdom Queens. Theyre the female counterparts of Wisdome Kings. Samantabhadri is white (the primary symbol of the wisdom aspect of mind) while her consort is sky blue (represents limitlessness and formlessness). Info here.