Beast Taming: Sharing Pets' Abilities-Chapter 429 - 428: Living Corpse!

Gu Yuan was no longer the naive youth of the past. He knew well that in some human cities, demons often emerged.

These demons either sought pleasure and acted recklessly in the human world, devouring flesh and committing countless evil deeds.

Or they concealed their demonic nature within the bustling human world, avoiding enemies and cultivating in peace.

Therefore, if one day he discovered traces of a demon in a city, he would not be surprised at all.

However, the scene before him was somewhat different.

The sheer number of these demonic entities... was indeed excessive.

Even in some remote mountain villages, there were traces of demons.

...

Niu Er was a villager of Black Stone Village.

Black Stone Village was located in a remote area in the mountains, with the nearest city being more than two hundred li away.

The villagers had difficulty traveling, but they lived by relying on the mountains and waters. Although their lives were impoverished, they lived rather contentedly.

Niu Er was strong and sturdy from a young age.

It’s said that when his old mother was pregnant with him, he lingered in her womb for a year and a half before being born.

Afterward, Niu Er’s mother’s health never really recovered.

In contrast, Niu Er had a huge appetite from a young age. By three or five years old, he could eat as much as an adult, and the family’s food supply was never enough for him.

Fortunately, although Niu Er had a big appetite, he was also quite strong. As he grew older, he began hunting in the mountains and gathering wild fruits and vegetables.

When he became an adult, Niu Er was tall and strong, able to do the work of three or five men, easily supporting himself.

Eventually, Niu Er even got married.

However, just a few days ago, when his wife was bringing him food, she accidentally fell into the water and died.

Niu Er was utterly devastated. Holding his wife, he cried bitterly, but he could only take her home, planning to ask a coffin maker from the neighboring village to build a light coffin for her burial the next morning.

However, something strange happened.

The next morning, while Niu Er was still asleep, he was awakened by the aroma of food.

The aroma was so familiar.

Niu Er opened his eyes to see his wife had already prepared breakfast and was waiting for him at the dining table.

Her delicate face was smiling warmly at Niu Er.

Seeing this, however, made Niu Er’s scalp tingle, as if it were about to explode.

Just yesterday, he had personally witnessed his wife lifeless, her body cold and stiff.

But now, she had come back to life. What on earth was going on?!

Niu Er was filled with terror, but as he got up, his wife gently urged him to eat.

Carefully observing her, questioning, and even holding her hand, which was warm and clearly alive, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He told her what had happened yesterday. His wife explained that she had fainted and was lucky to awaken after vomiting the water from her belly during the night.

Niu Er accepted this explanation.

Because the wife in front of him was breathing, had a heartbeat, and remembered everything from before.

His wife’s return to life should have been a joyous occasion, but in the days that followed, his wife began acting strangely.

Every night at midnight, in his drowsiness, Niu Er heard strange sounds, as if something was being chewed, making crunching noises, accompanied by a faint smell of blood.

Asking his wife about it the next day, she claimed not to have heard anything.

However, his wife’s face appeared more haggard, thinner, but the reason was unknown.

Meanwhile, within the village, chickens, ducks, and sheep began to go missing from various homes.

As time went on, more items disappeared from the village, and even a family’s cow vanished.

For ordinary villagers, losing a cow—or even a chicken or sheep—was like losing a treasure, and they would undoubtedly cause a scene, doing everything possible to catch the thief.

Yet, what puzzled Niu Er was that the villagers seemed unbothered, carrying on with their daily lives as usual.

Even Niu Er’s wife was becoming more bizarre.

She grew increasingly gaunt, emanated a foul odor, and appeared disheveled.

When interacting with her, her direct, unblinking gaze made Niu Er’s skin crawl.

As his unease grew, today, upon returning from work, he secretly opened the door only to find his wife staring into a mirror.

The face outside the mirror was pallid and thin, still human in shape. However, the reflection showed a face with rotting skin, with chunks of flesh splitting open, revealing decaying, blackened flesh and stark white bones.

Especially the eyes, cold and green, filled with chilly death qi, shocking to behold.

The hands were shriveled and rotten, the nails incredibly sharp and gleaming dangerously.

Niu Er was no exception; seeing this scene, he felt as if he had fallen into an icy pit, frozen to the core.

Thinking back to the various strange occurrences in the past few days, and the nighttime sounds of chewing flesh and blood, his heart filled with terror as he stumbled away in a hurried escape.

Niu Er had no idea what was happening, but one thing was certain: the person in front of him was definitely not his wife!

Yet, Niu Er had barely gone far when a voice sounded from behind, wooden and stiff, laced with an eerie tone: "Husband... it’s time to eat, hurry back for the meal, why are you running away."

Niu Er’s legs went weak from fright, instinctively turning his head to see a rotting face, like a living dead, approaching him.

Terrified beyond measure, he fled immediately.

No matter how far he ran, the figure behind him was inescapable, always close behind.

Niu Er ran until exhausted, legs growing weak, breathing heavily, heart racing.

Yet he dared not relax for a moment, as the seemingly ghostly figure continued its relentless pursuit, drifting and stiff, with an icy voice echoing in his ears.

Strangely, despite being the only living soul visible in the village, Niu Er couldn’t spot a single other person.

But he had no time to think, as the ghostly figure grew closer, sounding just a few meters behind him.

Finally, exhausted and unable to run further, he tripped on a stone, falling headlong.

The ghostly figure immediately pounced forward,

Niu Er’s heart nearly burst in terror, yet he was utterly despairing, watching as the apparition prepared to engulf him.

The foul stench from its body assailed him, a putrid odor that was nauseating.

Niu Er saw the maggots crawling in and out of the decayed flesh on the ghostly being’s body. In despair, he closed his eyes, thinking to himself, "My life is over."