Chapter 73: Chapter 64 Corpse Refinement
“What are you looking at? The door’s closed.”
Jack, who had parked the car in the garage, spoke to Tao Yu, who was looking up at something at the entrance.
“Oh.”
Tao Yu promptly pulled down the garage door and looked back, saying
“There are a few people on the roof opposite us watching. They must be the Pioneers, and it looks like they’re probably Outsiders.”
“So what now?”
Jack was taken aback, then asked Tao Yu for advice with an open mind, as his understanding of the Pioneers all came from Tao Yu.
“Judging from your conversation with Tommy earlier, I didn’t detect much malice. Let’s call them over tomorrow and meet face-to-face. I’ll make contact with them.”
Tao Yu didn’t mind giving a hand with the coordination.
But now that the Pioneers had found this place, it was time to start preparing to ‘sell’ Jack.
This had already been agreed upon with Jack on the way here, that if anyone was to sell, it should be done by Tao Yu.
According to what the lizard-chimera had said, ‘Chosen Ones’ are quite important to the base initially, and their opinions will definitely be taken into account.
Therefore, keeping a good relationship with Jack was not something to be worried about, even the likelihood of Outsiders not knowing about the ‘Chosen One’ was quite high.
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on ονǤᴑ.с0
“You go upstairs to rest. I’m going to check on Cao Shaolin’s body.”
On the way back earlier, through the walkie-talkie, Tao Yu had inquired about the situation. Cao Shaolin’s body hadn’t moved much and was still buried in that garden.
“Okay, be careful.”
Jack knew Tao Yu had learned a new skill, and while envious of the convenience, he also offered a word of caution.
Afterward, the two climbed up from the garage and crawled back into the hotel through the upstairs window.
As Jack went upstairs, Tao Yu headed for the first floor and entered the hotel’s backyard.
This place was supposed to be a secluded little garden, now turned into a graveyard.
Actually, the best way to deal with the bodies right now was cremation, but since it was too close to the hotel and inconvenient, they were buried after being tied up. Even if they were infected, they wouldn’t be able to get out, and even if they somehow did, it would just be in the backyard, which wasn’t a problem.
The survivors here indeed needed something to hold onto emotionally.
After checking the color of the soil, Tao Yu found the latest burial site and dug it up with a shovel that was lying nearby. With a few digs, he saw the color of the bedsheet.
After dragging it out, there lay Cao Shaolin’s body with its eyes wide open in death.
Although two or three days had passed, his body still showed no significant signs of decay, and there was no trace of zombification.
“The requirement for Corpse Refinement is a body that has not significantly decomposed within seven days after death. This one qualifies, and the material quality is indeed top-notch.”
Since the skill was directly absorbed and then Deified, Tao Yu simply smeared his hands over Cao Shaolin’s body and got a rough outline of the process.
His judgment was correct; this was excellent material!
Finding a handheld pressure washer nearby, Tao Yu tossed the hose into a bucket of water and with it, stripped Cao Shaolin’s body down as if it were a pig ready for butchering, then scrubbed continuously.
He even went to the first-floor kitchen to find a brush and a steel wool pad, scrubbing repeatedly on the tough, leather-like body.
The sturdy body was quickly washed clean.
“It’s best to have adjuvant medicines, but there’s no helping it; the conditions are just too rudimentary right now…”
Tao Yu sighed as he looked at the cleaned body in front of him.
The clothes from the previous zombie had also been burned, which might have been an item that played a facilitating role. Such a pity.
Taking out a disposable paper cup, Tao Yu pulled out a dagger and held it over the flame of a lighter before slashing across his wrist.
Blood flowed, quickly filling up more than half a cup.
When enough had been collected, as his strength waned, the wound on Tao Yu’s wrist started to heal, and soon there was a rumbling sound from his stomach.
“Healing does consume a lot, just for a wound like this, huh, probably has to do with blood loss as well.”
Tao Yu put the paper cup on the ground, tore open a can of beef and gulped it down in two bites. Thanks to the Swallow Essence Technique – Modified, he absorbed it quickly, then washed his hands with the hose next to him.
Without a writing brush, cinnabar, or even a talisman paper, Tao Yu could only resort to the most primitive method.
His right index and middle finger joined together, stirring in the blood within the paper cup continuously, and with the sustained consumption of his mental energy, he soon started to scribble on Cao Shaolin’s cleaned body.
A massive outpour of mental energy, like a floodgate opening, caused an increasing headache for Tao Yu.
Nevertheless, he clenched his teeth and completed the drawing in one go.
Separate symbols were drawn on the body’s Root Chakra, Sacral Chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra, Heart Chakra, Throat Chakra, Third Eye Chakra, and Crown Chakra.
As Tao Yu poured his mental energy into them, his blood essence seeped into the drawings on the skin, becoming birthmark-like markings.
With the final stroke finished, the cup filled with half of his essence blood was now nearly depleted.
After catching his breath for a moment, Tao Yu once again devoured several cans of beef to quickly restore his strength.
“Corpse Refinement really is a physically demanding task…”
Having rested for a short while, Tao Yu once again sliced open his fingertip, allowing two drops of blood infused with his psychic power to fall into Cao Shaolin’s mouth.
The moment the blood entered, Cao Shaolin’s remaining sole eye, already full of blood vessels, seemed to widen once again.
“Alas, life is tough, it’s going to be a major bloodletting period ahead.”
Unconcerned with the corpse’s reactions, Tao Yu instead used the bedsheet to wrap the body up again and reburied it in the pit.
Corpse Refinement requires choosing a place of extreme Yin, spreading rooster blood morning, noon, and evening, and burning Corpse Refinement talismans.
However, based on the Skill knowledge Tao Yu possessed, it seemed the entire city was a land of extreme Yin, where one could bury corpses just about anywhere.
When you think about it, so many people have died…
But then, Tao Yu’s expression hardened
“Oh no, could it be that the mastermind behind all this wants to refine corpses…”
A shadow passed through his heart, but there was nothing Tao Yu could do at the moment.
He was even lacking some of the items needed for Corpse Refinement.
For instance, where could he find rooster blood now?
Looking up at the red-eyed crows perched on the garden fence and listening to their unpleasant cawing, Tao Yu considered alternative solutions.
Rooster blood is extremely Yang, while crow blood is extremely Yin, and he currently lacked the technique to utilize it, perhaps it could be tried at a higher level.
Anyway, if he really couldn’t find any, he would have to use his own blood…
At the very least, to form a Zombie, it would take seven days; for an ordinary person, they would probably bleed out, but Tao Yu could quickly make up for it by eating—a feat others couldn’t endure…
…
“My goodness, at this rate of eating, you’d finish off all the food meant for one person.”
Early in the morning, after Tao Yu had shed blood for the morning ritual and started to eat ravenously, Jack, who came downstairs to find him, caught him in the act.
“What’s wrong? Can’t bear it?”
“Yes, I can’t bear it. What did you do to burn through so much energy?”
Having interacted with Tao Yu thus far, Jack knew that he only ate like this when he was practicing his skills or had expended a large amount of energy.
“Corpse Refinement.”
“Ugh~, stay away from me in the future.”
Jack rubbed his arms as if he was getting goosebumps.
“Still need my help to go and talk to them?”
“Yes.”
Tossing a Snickers bar to Tao Yu, Jack rubbed his hands again and walked over.
“Let’s go, let’s see what situation they’re in.”
Tao Yu, displaying an expression that said you know what’s good for you, followed Jack upstairs.
They reached the roof, flipping over to the other side where they faced off against the group across the street.
By then, Tommy and Senke had also arrived on the scene, armed with guns.
Seeing Tao Yu appear, they all looked over with curiosity.
Now, they also knew from Jack that ‘Zhang Wei’ was a Pioneer.
But the boss trusted him, so he was considered one of their own.
“Wow, there are people I know over there.”
Seeing Zhang Wei on the other side, Tao Yu felt a bit awkward, cough, should have used Li Le next time.
“They probably don’t dare to come over directly. I’ll go over for a bit.”
“Be careful, we’ll cover you from here.”
Jack knew Tao Yu was capable of taking action on his own, but he still patted his gun.
“Mhm.”
After that, Tao Yu grabbed the rope and, with practiced ease, began scaling his way across to the other side…