Zhou Ziwei was secretly delighted, and then said, "Then it's settled. Three years it is. And after three years... if Senior Zhuihun still needs my help with anything, I can help you again as a way of repaying you. For example... if Senior Zhuihun has any incurable disease that needs treatment... or if you need to be resurrected after death, or other minor matters, you can just come to me."
Treating incurable diseases and resurrecting the dead were trivial matters for Zhou Ziwei, which made Zhuihun roll his eyes speechlessly. However, what he didn't expect was that Zhou Ziwei could also see that he had an incurable disease, and even subtly offered to help him treat it.
This immediately made Zhuihun very interested.
Originally, Zhuihun thought that there was absolutely no one in the world who could cure his disease, but... if Zhou Ziwei could really bring the dead back to life, then being able to cure what the world considered an incurable disease would really be nothing.
Zhuihun could already guess that if he really asked Zhou Ziwei for help, he would naturally be extorted by Zhou Ziwei, perhaps even facing the price of lifelong slavery.
Zhuihun didn't want to be distracted by this matter. He wanted to see if Zhou Ziwei could revive his daughter first. If Zhou Ziwei really had the ability, they could talk about it later. If he didn't have the ability, he might as well just slap him to death. Even if it meant losing his only chance to live, he didn't care. If his daughter couldn't come back to life, he would have no relatives left in this world. What was the point of living on alone?
Seeing that Zhuihun remained silent, Zhou Ziwei knew what he was thinking, so he chuckled and said, "There's no air to breathe in here, it's really suffocating. How about... we go back to the surface first and talk in detail?"
"Alright then! You walk in front, and I'll follow behind you... Don't even think about trying anything funny. As long as I'm within twenty meters of you, I can kill you with a single blow at any time. If you're planning to play any tricks... I advise you to give up on that idea!"
The Soul Chaser used a purely physical method, breaking through the ground with a magical artifact. However, the hole he created was only one meter in diameter. Of course, it was impossible for such a hole to be completely intact even if it were to be dug through dozens of kilometers in one go. In fact, there were already countless places that had collapsed along this passage. So, the two of them were now essentially buried alive underground, where there was practically no air for them to breathe.
Although neither of them were ordinary people, they could easily endure the extreme stuffiness and lack of oxygen for an hour or two. However, no one likes to deliberately torture themselves. Being buried underground was uncomfortable no matter what, so it was better to leave the underground and go up to the surface.
Zhuihun wasn't worried that Zhou Ziwei would escape after going up there. In fact, Zhuihun's advantage would become even more obvious once they reached the ground. At that point, even if Zhou Ziwei tried his best to escape, he wouldn't be able to get away from Zhuihun's pursuit.
The two flew straight up the same path, one after the other. There was a passage that had been dug through by Zhuihun. Although it was collapsed in many places, it was still a half-finished path. Even the soil in the collapsed places was relatively soft, making it easy to pass through and saving them a lot of effort. So Zhou Ziwei simply flew upwards along the circular opening that Zhuihun had previously carved out.
Zhuihun followed closely behind Zhou Ziwei, less than ten meters away, cautiously on guard. He had to be wary of Zhou Ziwei suddenly escaping or launching a sneak attack. In his view, although Zhou Ziwei's strength was not much greater than his own, his methods were varied, strange, and unpredictable, so he dared not be careless in the slightest.
This time, there was no need for a desperate chase and escape. The two of them flew upwards at a moderate speed, and Zhou Ziwei started chatting with Zhuihun casually.
The main topic of their conversation revolved around Zhuihun's daughter, Emily. For a father who deeply loves his daughter, this was definitely the most touching topic. Whenever Emily was mentioned, the usually taciturn Zhuihun would immediately become very excited, talking non-stop about the interesting stories and anecdotes about his daughter from childhood to adulthood. Under Zhou Ziwei's deliberate guidance, he quickly gained a clearer understanding of the personality traits of this little girl who died tragically in a car accident at the young age of fifteen.
When the time comes, Zhou Ziwei only needs to integrate these personality traits into that newly formed independent soul entity and then implant all of Emily's soul memories into it, and then he can create an independent soul entity that is quite similar to Emily.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 600: The Female Ghost
At this moment, Zhuihun was very uneasy. No one understood better than him how difficult it would be to bring someone back to life.
In fact, Zhuihun can also be considered a half-soul ability user. He discovered at a very young age that he could see things that others could not see, things called ghosts.
This made Zhuihun's childhood very miserable. His home was near a mass grave. Although ghosts don't have a high chance of surviving under normal circumstances, the mass grave happened to be an extremely yin place. Ghosts there would be protected by yin energy, and their chances of surviving the sun exposure would be much greater.
So that place is practically a ghost realm where wandering spirits often roam. Living next to the ghost realm, the poor soul-chasing creatures are often scared half to death by some mischievous wandering spirits.
However, the opportunity also came because of this ability. When Zhuihun was a teenager, he went hunting in the mountains and accidentally saw an old fox holding a female ghost, trying to absorb the faint spiritual energy on the female ghost's body.
Foxes are a species with a high degree of spirituality among animals. Some of them live in burrows nourished by spiritual energy, and over time they will develop a trace of spiritual ability.
These psychic old foxes, wanting to increase their spirituality, often do so by preying on weak, lonely ghosts and spirits to gain intelligence.
When Zhuihun was a child, he was often frightened by ghosts, but after being exposed to things a lot, he naturally became less afraid. Besides, most of those wandering ghosts were not very powerful and could only live a life of ease in extremely yin places. At most, they could only play pranks and scare people. They didn't have the ability to really harm people.
The Soul Chaser possesses the ability to see ghosts and communicate with them. Over time, he even befriended several of them, and the one currently being held captive by the old fox is one of them.
Seeing that the old fox had absorbed at least half of the female ghost's yin energy, Zhuihun was filled with rage and immediately shot the old fox with his hunting rifle. However, the female ghost's soul, which was already on the verge of dissipation due to the old fox's destruction, was further weakened by the yang energy and fire from the gunshot.
Seeing this, Zhuihun quickly apologized, not knowing what to do. The female ghost sighed and said that this was her fate. If Zhuihun hadn't fired the gun, she would still have been drained by the old fox and wouldn't have survived.
Although she would still be utterly annihilated at this moment, at least she wouldn't be devoured by a beast, and she felt quite gratified.
The female ghost was about to run out of yin energy, so she didn't waste any words and told Zhuihun a secret she had kept for many years. She said that she was originally a maid of Master Lingwu. After Master Lingwu died, he was buried in this mountain. Master Lingwu had no children or disciples, and before he died, he only had her as his maid to serve him.
In fact, Master Lingwu had secretly prepared his tomb before his death, and when he was about to die, he had his maid hire two people to carry him into the tomb.
However, Master Lingwu was worried that his body would be damaged by his enemies after his death, so he did not want others to know where he was buried.
So Master Lingwu gave the maid a small porcelain bottle and a small pill beforehand.
The idea was that after the two hired workers entered the tomb and arranged their bodies, the maid would smash the small porcelain bottle in her hand on the ground. At that time, a wisp of blue smoke would be released from the bottle. If the two hired workers inhaled even a trace of that smoke, they would immediately collapse and die, never to leave the tomb.
The maid only needed to take the small pill beforehand to be completely immune to the poisonous gas in the smoke.
In this way, once those two people are dead, the maid can completely seal the tomb. At that time... the maid will be free, and then she can use the bank card that Master Lingwu prepared for her in advance to find a man to marry in peace and live a happy life.
The old master had always treated the maid well, so although the maid had never killed anyone, she still gritted her teeth and agreed under the old master's almost pleading gaze.
However, to the maid's utter surprise, after she had done everything according to her master's instructions, completely concealed the exit of the tomb, and checked the surroundings to make sure that no one could easily discover the secret, she was about to leave alone when a sharp pain suddenly spread from her heart to her body. In less than ten seconds, she completely lost her strength and slowly collapsed to the ground.
It wasn't until her dying moments that she truly understood that... that old master had never truly trusted anyone, including her, the maid who was devoted to him.
The pill her old master gave her couldn't actually eliminate the poison in the porcelain bottle; it could only suppress it. In other words, taking the pill would only delay the onset of the poison by a few tens of minutes, giving her enough time to clean up the mess. Once she had faithfully done everything for her old master, the poison would take effect.
The only person she could truly trust was her dead master… A phrase he had once uttered flashed through the maid's mind, filling her with resentment. She couldn't believe that after killing for the first time in her life for her master, he still wouldn't let her go, and would use this method to make her kill herself…
Because of her intense resentment, the maid's soul remained stagnant after her death and happened to drift to the mass grave, where it survived under the protection of the yin energy.
The vengeful ghost of the maid knew that her old master's grave contained many treasures, including items that could strengthen her soul. After spending over a decade in the mass grave, her spirit finally couldn't resist running to the mountaintop to visit her master's grave. However, she encountered the old fox, and the result was utterly tragic...
To repay the ghost who was chasing the soul, the female ghost told him the address of the old master's tomb, and then finally disappeared completely from the world.
Following the female ghost's instructions, Zhuihun found the tomb of the Lingwu Master and indeed obtained the treasure left behind by the Lingwu Master. The most amazing thing was not money, but a set of cultivation techniques for Lingwu practitioners, as well as the super-large spiritual artifact that the Lingwu Master used as a coffin after his death - Baibian.
That's right, the name of that magical artifact is "Hundred Transformations," meaning it can change at will. It is a large magical artifact passed down from ancient times. Although the Spirit Martial Master possessed this treasure, he had no strength to use it. In fact, it is unknown how long this thing has been circulating among spiritual martial artists, but very few people can use it because this thing is too large. The amount of spiritual energy required to use it is staggering. Even if a Spirit Martial Master exhausts all his spiritual energy, he may not be able to drive the Hundred Transformations to fly and attack freely.
However, this Soul Chaser is a rare genius. After obtaining the cultivation method of the Spirit Martial Artist, he quickly broke through to the Spirit Martial Master realm. Many years ago, due to a fortuitous encounter, Soul Chaser's body underwent a strange transformation. Since then, although his cultivation talent has not changed much, the speed at which he recovers spiritual energy has reached an astonishing level. Therefore, although Soul Chaser has not yet broken through to the Spirit God realm, he can recover his spiritual energy almost immediately after it is consumed, which is almost inexhaustible. This is practically equivalent to being half a Spirit God.
Otherwise, Zhuihun probably wouldn't be able to use something as energy-intensive as Baibian.
Outside, chaos had already broken out. No one could have imagined that a little boy's suicide by jumping off a building would eventually turn into a supernatural event.
The little boy, upon landing, inexplicably pierced through the solid ground and seeped into the earth. Then, an unidentified flying object fell from the sky and instantly created a long, deep hole several kilometers deep right where the little boy had mysteriously disappeared. Of course... in reality, the straight-down hole had actually been excavated by the Soul Chaser to a depth of nearly one hundred kilometers, but several sections collapsed in the middle, so after simple testing, the people above could only conclude that the hole was a few kilometers deep.
Even if it's only a few kilometers, it's enough to shock everyone. This is a cave that was punched out in an instant... Even if you used the most advanced weapons to blast the ground, it would be impossible to create such a deep hole!
Countless citizens who heard the news rushed here, all wanting to witness the miracle with their own eyes. Reporters from major media outlets were even more frantic, rushing over as if they were going crazy. If they couldn't report such a novel event immediately, they could expect to be fired!
Upon receiving the notification from above, the police realized the gravity of the matter, as it might be a clue to discovering extraterrestrial life. This kind of information had to be restricted, so the police prepared to immediately cordon off the scene and prohibit citizens from approaching. Even media reporters could only take pictures from a distance, and all reports about today's event would have to undergo strict review before they could be published or broadcast.
The reporters, of course, were unwilling to be restrained by the police and immediately engaged in a restrained, small-scale conflict with them. Just as the two sides were still negotiating, a strange buzzing sound suddenly came from underground.
Everyone who approached the cave was startled. As they tried to get closer to take a look, they suddenly felt a strong gust of wind emerge from the ground. Then, two dark figures flew out of the cave almost as one.
Such speed...
Several researchers from the Federation's Special Abilities Research Institute had just flown to the scene of the incident by helicopter at top speed when they spotted the dark figure that suddenly emerged from the ground, and they were all taken aback.
It was indeed incredibly fast. Before they could even recover from their shock, the two dark figures paused slightly in mid-air before merging into one and unleashing an even more terrifying speed. They only flickered slightly, leaving a fragile afterimage in people's eyes, while the dark figures themselves had already flown away without a trace, leaving only a group of researchers in the helicopter with shocked expressions.
Half an hour later, when the two dark figures were finally reconstructed from the slow-motion image at fifty times in the research room, everyone was shocked again. It was indeed that child... or rather, that extraordinary person who looked like a child. Just a few days ago, in the dock incident that shocked the entire M, this child single-handedly fought against tens of thousands of troops from the sea, land, and air. Even the military's ace special biological warriors were all killed in an instant at the hands of that child.
All the information after the dock incident indicated that the child should have left the country of M. However, just a few days later, the child reappeared in the country of M and made such a big fuss as soon as he showed up.
The little boy flew in mid-air without any external aid. If they hadn't confirmed the boy's identity, they would have been quite shocked. However, they already knew that this little boy had once made an entire bus fly like an airship, straight out of the territorial waters of the United States. So, seeing him flying in the air now was nothing surprising.
However, the shock they felt from the little boy didn't last long before they were stunned by an even more unbelievable scene.
Standing atop a strange, boat-like object made of countless steel bars was a middle-aged man dressed in a peculiar gray suit. The man's features were somewhat blurry; even the research institute's sophisticated analytical instruments could not accurately reconstruct his appearance.
But that wasn't the main point. The most important thing was that strange thing that looked like it was made of steel bars... Just seeing it sent chills down the spines of everyone in the research institute. The ever-changing artifact had appeared once again.
Without a doubt, although the middle-aged man's appearance could not be reconstructed, no one would mistake him once they saw the pile of steel-like instruments. Everyone knew that the middle-aged man must be the legendary figure who had retired for many years. The one who had been ranked number one on the world's top ten assassins list for over thirty years, a miracle whose reputation had not faded, the undisputed king of assassins in the assassin world, and a legend among spiritual warriors who was said to be closest to the realm of gods.
The reappearance of the Soul Chaser is definitely a major event that will shock many people even more.
Why did you bring me here?
At midnight, Zhuihun and Zhou Ziwei unexpectedly landed in the morgue of the largest hospital in Luocheng. Zhuihun looked around and immediately realized where he was. He was extremely surprised and couldn't help but ask questions repeatedly.
Zhou Ziwei chuckled and said, "Of course, we need to help your daughter choose a body. Although I can help the dead return to life, I can't create a complete body out of thin air. So... we can only come here to pick out a ready-made body."
As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he ignored the old man with the red nose guarding the morgue who was drunkenly getting up from the guardhouse and looking at them, and swaggered and arrogantly barged into the building.
"Hey, hey, hey... Who are you? Stop right now." The red-nosed old man was slightly taken aback. Although he was the gatekeeper of this morgue, he rarely saw anyone come to this ghostly place at night. After all, this was a place for the dead, and it became even more frightening at night. Normally, no one would be so bored as to wander around this ghostly place.
So, when he saw those two walking over, the red-nosed old man actually thought he was hallucinating from drinking too much...
However, when the red-nosed old man saw that the child in front of him was actually swaggering towards the morgue where the corpses were stored, he immediately became anxious and rushed over while shouting.
However, the red-nosed old man had only run a few steps when he saw the little boy in front of him suddenly turn around and glance at him. Just that one glance... and the red-nosed old man immediately felt refreshed from the inside out, and for a moment he forgot about what had just happened around him.
When the red-nosed old man groggily opened his eyes and looked ahead, he saw nothing but emptiness all around. There wasn't a single person in sight, not even half a Japanese soldier.
The red-nosed old man shook his head in surprise, then muttered to himself, "Strange... I was just sitting inside drinking, how did I suddenly find myself running out... God... I drank so much, where did all that alcohol go? My mind went haywire for a moment, but now I'm frighteningly clear-headed..." At this moment, Zhou Ziwei had already led Zhuihun into the air-conditioned morgue.
There are quite a few corpses here. After all, the larger the hospital, the more critically ill patients it comes into contact with every day, so it's not surprising that a lot of people die every day.
Zhuihun frowned as he scanned the corpses covered by white sheets on the rotating beds in the morgue. Finally, he couldn't help but ask, "Are these corpses still usable?" As he spoke, Zhuihun casually lifted a sheet and saw that the muscles of the dead body lying on the bed had almost all atrophied. The person was so thin that it was indescribable. Compared to a skeleton, it was just a thin skin on the outside.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 601: Creating Humans
Upon seeing the corpse, Zhuihun's eyebrows twitched violently. He suppressed his nausea and lifted the white sheet on the next bed. This corpse looked slightly more pleasing to the eye. The overall appearance of the female corpse was acceptable, but one of her left legs had already been amputated at the knee.
Zhuihun couldn't bear it any longer and simply shook his head, saying, "No, no... these corpses absolutely cannot be used. Even if they are corpses with their limbs intact, who knows what terminal illness they suffered from before they died? What if you really resurrect my daughter, but then she gets a terminal illness that is incurable? Well, all we need is a corpse, right? That's easy. I'll find one myself after we go out."
Zhou Ziwei sneered upon hearing this and said, "Are you planning to find a healthy, living person to kill and use on the spot?"
“Uh…” Zhuihun’s thoughts were exposed by Zhou Ziwei, but he didn’t deny it. He immediately nodded and said, “Why, is it not allowed?”
“Of course not.” Zhou Ziwei’s face turned cold. “I would never harm an innocent person just to save one. Although I have killed many people and even have the blood of innocents on my hands, those innocents were just victims of accident. I could never knowingly harm someone who is innocent; it would weigh heavily on my conscience. So… your idea is not feasible. Even if you find a corpse, no matter how perfect it is, I will not help you resurrect your daughter.”
"You... Hmph, what a woman's sentimentality." Zhuihun said angrily, "But look at the corpses in this hospital, which one is healthy? Who would be hospitalized if they weren't sick? And unless it's an old lady, which young woman who dies here didn't have an incurable disease? What use would I have for a corpse like this? Even if you resurrected my daughter on such a corpse, wouldn't she die again in the blink of an eye? Wouldn't that just make me grieve again for nothing?"
Zhou Ziwei smiled slightly upon hearing this and said, "You don't need to worry about that. My medical skills are decent enough. I shouldn't have any trouble with common injuries and illnesses. Even if you choose a corpse missing an arm or a leg as the vessel for your daughter's resurrection, I can still help her reattach the missing limbs after she is resurrected. Trust me... I can handle this little thing. So, you just need to choose a female corpse that is roughly the right age, height, and appearance for me. As for whether the corpse is disabled or has any illnesses, you don't need to worry about that."
"What? You can even reattach limbs?" Upon hearing this, Zhuihun's eyes widened like light bulbs as he looked at Zhou Ziwei with suspicion and uncertainty. Then, he curled his lip in disdain and said, "Be honest. You're so young, yet you're exaggerating to such an absurd degree. This is too outrageous! Heh... In your mouth, even reattaching a severed limb is a small matter. I really can't understand what counts as a big deal... Since you're so capable, then reattach this woman's left leg for me to see."
Zhou Ziwei shook his head helplessly and said, "No, reattaching severed limbs is not a problem, but I can only do it after I revive her, because only then can the life force in her body circulate effectively. A stiff corpse full of dead people simply cannot make the life force operate."
"Oh...you mean...you can only regenerate severed limbs on a living person, is that right?" Upon hearing this, Zhuihun confirmed again. Seeing Zhou Ziwei nod, he immediately and without hesitation stretched out his hand, snapping off one of his fingers with a "crack," deliberately crushing it to pieces to leave no hope of regeneration. Then he held out his bloodied hand to Zhou Ziwei, a slight sneer on his face, and said, "I'm still a living person, right? If you're really capable, try regenerating my severed finger first. Sorry, this concerns my daughter's life, so I have to be careful. What if you don't have the ability to regenerate limbs, and instead make me choose a crippled corpse to resurrect her...?"
"Alright! You don't need to say anything more. I understand what you mean and I can understand it..." Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei could only nod with a wry smile. Then he reached out one hand and grasped the injured hand of Zhuihun, whose finger was broken. With his other hand, he waved a wisp of wind energy and swept it across the blood-soaked ground, rolling up all the flesh and blood that Zhuihun had squeezed into a pulp.
At the same time, a surge of life force rushed into the wound on Zhuihun's severed finger like a tidal wave. Zhuihun felt the bleeding from the wound suddenly stop, followed by an unbearable tingling and itching sensation that made him quite uncomfortable. But then, he stared in disbelief as the severed finger began to grow back little by little from its base...
About two minutes later, a perfectly healthy finger finally grew back. The severed flesh and blood that Zhuihun had crushed into pieces were all plastered onto the wound by Zhou Ziwei and absorbed by the wound. If it weren't for the bloodstains still remaining on the ground, Zhuihun would hardly believe that he had really crushed his finger.
Looking at the finger that had grown even neater and smoother than before, and noticing that the scar that had been there had completely disappeared after this regrowth, Zhuihun could finally be completely certain that he was not dreaming, and that this finger had truly been reshaped by Zhou Ziwei.
Zhuihun flexed the finger again, then clenched his fist to test the coordination between the fingers. He had to admit that the newly grown finger was no healthier than the one he had been born with.
Limb regeneration—it's unbelievable that such a miraculous skill truly exists in this world.
After a moment of silent contemplation, Zhuihun finally confirmed that Zhou Ziwei had not been trying to scare him. Since such an outrageous thing as the regeneration of severed limbs had happened right before his eyes, then bringing the dead back to life shouldn't seem too outrageous, right?