Immortality begins in Goose City

Chapter 81 The Headless Zombie's Trail

Huang Shujian glanced at it. "The National Salvation Society?"

Murong Xue seemed to have been waiting for this question. Her eyes lit up, as if two lamps had been lit.

"The Salvation Society is a student organization at Wanghai Women's University," she said, quickening her pace.

"We take saving the nation as our mission. The situation in Dazhang is now critical."

"The new government was based in Hanyang, but it could not command the whole country, and local warlords ruled their own territories."

"Foreigners are threatening us from outside, and concessions are everywhere; the situation is extremely precarious!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, waving her hands in the air:

"Young Master Huang may not know this in Goose City, but over there in Wanghai, which is clearly Chinese territory, the most prosperous area has been occupied by foreigners. They've fenced off the land and are enclosing it for self-governance—it's utterly shameful!"

"Our nation is in ruins," she raised her voice. "How can we, as scholars, stand idly by? We must save the country! We must awaken the people! We must..."

She stopped.

Because she saw that Huang Shujian's face was expressionless.

There was no anger, no empathy, not even curiosity.

He just sat there, watching her, as if he were watching a play.

Murong Xue's momentum waned by half. She glanced at Lu Yu, who looked back at her with a look that said, "See? I told you so."

The two had discussed it before coming.

Lu Yu once said that the Huang family, living in Goose City, were local tyrants.

Huang Shujian was a spoiled brat who only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun. He didn't care about the national crisis. Even if he did know, he wouldn't have joined the National Salvation Society.

Murong Xue didn't believe it, but she still wanted to try.

In retrospect, Lu Yu was right.

Huang Shujian's mind was also racing.

National Salvation Society?

He had never heard of this name in his previous life.

During this period, there were indeed countless organizations that claimed to be "saving the country," including student groups, gangs, and secret societies.

But few of them truly achieve significant success.

Most of them were either incorporated into the warlords, infiltrated by foreigners, or scattered due to internal strife.

The power that can truly save this country has yet to emerge.

"Just say it," Huang Shujian said calmly. "What do you want?"

Murong Xue choked for a moment; the long speech she had prepared was stuck in her throat, unable to be spit out.

Lu Yu gently tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Just say it."

Murong Xue took a deep breath, composed herself, and spoke again with a much more pragmatic tone:

"We would like to ask Young Master Huang to help us deal with the headless zombies."

Huang Shujian narrowed his eyes slightly.

The headless zombie, the one the Black Tiger Gang escaped that night.

For the past month, he had Wu Zhichong lead a search party to search everywhere, turning Goose City upside down, but they couldn't find a trace of it, as if it had evaporated.

These two women have only just returned from Wanghai, and there's already news about them?

"Continue," Huang Shujian said.

Seeing his interest, Murong Xue perked up again: "When I was looking out over the sea, Lu Yu told me about the evil legends of Goose City."

"Regarding the headless zombie, someone mentioned its official robe, which was the insignia of a fourth-rank military officer from the previous dynasty, embroidered with a leopard, on a red background."

She walked to the desk, took out a piece of paper from her small leather bag, and spread it out.

It is a sketch of a headless person wearing an official robe. The patterns on the robe are clearly visible, including cloud patterns and waves. In the center sits a leopard with its eyes wide open.

It looks quite like the real thing.

Huang Shujian remembered that the headless zombie was indeed wearing this outfit that night.

"I checked based on this," Murong Xue said. "It was a fourth-rank military officer's uniform from the previous dynasty, embroidered with a leopard, with a red background. The last batch of this type of official uniform was made in the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu and bestowed upon the commander of the personal guards under Prince Rong."

Prince Rong.

Huang Shujian tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

He was familiar with the name.

Prince Rong, a prince of the previous dynasty and the emperor's cousin, lost power after the reform and was demoted from the capital. It is said that he passed through Goose City and rested there for three months before continuing south, where he died on the way.

One of his concubines, Consort Dong, had her grave blown up by him a few days ago.

The study was quiet for a moment, with only the beautiful head singing the night-blooming jasmine to itself.

Huang Shujian sat behind his desk, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of the blue scale armor. The cool, slippery touch kept him awake.

"Go on."

"Our National Salvation Society has been researching information all along the way."

"From the old archives of Wanghai Archives to the notes of the imperial physicians of the previous dynasty, as well as the oral records of the people who accompanied them at that time, of course, they were relayed by later generations."

She couldn't help but stand in front of the desk, her hands on the tabletop, her body leaning slightly forward, her eyes fixed on Huang Shujian.

"In the end, we deduced that Prince Rong probably died not long after Consort Dong's death."

Huang Shujian's eyebrows twitched.

"It's unclear exactly how he died."

"But records show that when he left the capital, he brought with him an entire team of doctors, including five imperial physicians and more than thirty apprentice doctors."

"This is clearly not an ordinary entourage; someone is seriously ill and needs immediate medical attention."

"The so-called 'staying in Goose City, burying Consort Dong'..."

"It's actually quite possible that Prince Rong himself was buried here as well."

"The news was suppressed; the only thing told to the public was that he died of illness on his way south."

"That headless zombie," Murong Xue said in a low voice, "we suspect it wasn't an evil spirit that appeared by chance."

"They were tomb guardians, specifically guarding the tomb of Prince Rong."

The tomb-guarding corpse.

When former royal families were buried, sometimes living people were sacrificed and then secretly transformed into zombies to guard the tomb.

These zombies are neither alive nor dead, neither decaying nor rotting, and only recognize the scent of the tomb.

If any outsider breaks in, they must be killed.

"The Black Tiger Gang was wiped out because they obtained a jade pendant."

"A jade pendant that came from the tomb of Prince Rong."

Huang Shujian recalled the scene from that night.

Finally, Lu Yu took out a white jade pendant from his pocket and threw it out to lure the headless zombie away.

"That jade pendant," Lu Yu suddenly spoke, "I tampered with it back then."

"It is coated with a layer of fluorescent mineral, which can be received by a special scanner from a great distance for mapping."

"Now, we have roughly determined the location of the tomb."

"But with a headless zombie guarding it, there might be other traps. It's impossible for a former prince's tomb to have only one guardian zombie. The two of us can't handle it."

She paused, then looked directly into Huang Shujian's eyes: "That's why we came to find you."

Huang Shujian didn't say anything. He picked up the ginseng tea and took a sip.

"We went to see the tomb of Consort Dong that you blew up a few days ago," Murong Xue said again.

"That's not the main tomb at all, it's just a side tomb that serves as a protective enclosure."

"In Goose City, the Huang family could not possibly hide the large-scale excavation of the tombs of former princes from them."

"Instead of sneaking around, let's cooperate openly and honestly."

The two men stared intently at Huang Shujian once again.

Huang Shujian continued to drink tea and ponder.

Xiuer had retreated to a corner at some point and was cleaning the brass horn of the phonograph with a small brush. Her movements were very light, but she was eavesdropping.

After a while, Huang Shujian put down his teacup.

"Why should I?" he asked.

Murong Xue seemed to have anticipated this question. She took a deep breath and put on the serious expression of a student debating.

"First, without us, you would never find the exact location of the tomb."

"The tomb of Prince Rong is extremely well hidden and cannot be found by ordinary tomb raiders. Even if you bring the entire population of Goose City to dig, you might not find it even after three years."

She held up a second finger: "Secondly, we know what's in the tomb."

"Not only do they know, they also know how to deal with it."

"Our National Salvation Society has collected information on the mechanisms, taboos, and methods to break the taboos of the tombs of the previous dynasty for three whole years."

The third finger: "Third, we only want one thing, and the rest is yours."