Mr. 012

Hearing that a snake demon had been caught, Yan Wushuang hurried to the scene. Was there something wrong with the feng shui of this town? First ghosts, then zombies, and now a snake demon?

When he saw Li Huaian, he paused for a moment.

"So ugly."

Fang Zhiyi smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "When the world is at peace, the number of monsters and ghosts will decrease."

"Really?" Yan Wushuang didn't want to look at Fang Zhiyi.

Fang Zhiyi nodded. "Really."

Watching Fang Zhiyi turn around to direct the townspeople in setting things up, Yan Wushuang felt a strange sense of admiration. Sure enough, Taoist priests knew how to do everything; he even knew how to run a tourism business.

As the news spread that there were zombies in Qingxi Town, it attracted a crowd of onlookers, as expected. A group of reporters with cameras also arrived—reporters Fang Zhiyi had specifically asked to be invited.

True enough, after the reporters' publicity, photos of the Qingxi Town zombies instantly sparked a nationwide craze.

Another piece of news was published in an inconspicuous corner. It was a photo of Nightingale, accompanied by her stage name, Thousand-Hand Guanyin.

Fang Zhiyi's initial prediction was correct. In this era of scarce entertainment, the existence of zombies was major news. People came in an endless stream to see them. Of course, besides those there to see the zombies, there were also victims who had been harmed by Nightingale.

Nightingale's self-delusion failed to work, especially when the families of those who had been wrongly imprisoned arrived to spit on her and throw stones. Nightingale completely broke down.

When Fang Zhiyi received the news that Nightingale had gone mad, officials sent down from the province were waiting for him. He simply nodded to the guard and walked inside to the meeting.

Yan Wushuang remained rigid. He insisted that since Fang Zhiyi caught the zombies, all decisions required Fang Zhiyi's approval, which led to this meeting.

Fang Zhiyi looked at the foreigner in front of him and mentally swore using a choice piece of national slang.

"Hello, Fang. My name is Smith." The foreigner extended his hand.

Fang Zhiyi reached out and shook it.

"It's amazing! The corpse is actually alive!" Smith gesticulated wildly. "Such a discovery could change the world!"

The official beside him forced an obsequious smile.

Smith looked at Fang Zhiyi seriously. "Fang, I want to buy one. Just one. I want to take it back to my country for research."

Fang Zhiyi frowned.

Yan Wushuang frowned as well. Others might not know, but he knew that these zombies were merely trapped for the moment; essentially, they were still bloodthirsty monsters.

"This is our national treasure," Fang Zhiyi said with a heavy tone and a solemn face. "My disciple and I exhausted ourselves to capture them..."

Yan Wushuang almost spat out his water. National treasure? That thing? But thinking about it, it didn't seem wrong. Zombies were unique to this place. He hadn't expected his master to have such moral integrity!

"You have to add more money," Fang Zhiyi continued.

Yan Wushuang actually did spit his tea all over his superior's face. Was this a matter of money?

But the foreigner didn't hesitate. He nodded at whatever Fang Zhiyi said, delighting the accompanying official.

The first zombie was sold. Fang Zhiyi distributed the money to every townsperson. Yan Wushuang felt this was inappropriate, but he couldn't do anything about it. Leaving aside Fang Zhiyi's eccentric way of thinking, even his own superior wouldn't refuse; after all, if the deal went through, he would get a hefty commission too. Sometimes Yan found it strange that Fang Zhiyi seemed to understand how to deal with higher-ups better than he did.

Once there was a first, there was a second. When the fourth buyer appeared, speaking broken Chinese and bowing at a standard ninety-degree angle, Fang Zhiyi was overjoyed.

"Friend, no problem. Just add more money."

Yan Wushuang really disliked these islanders, but seeing his master beaming with joy, he could only sulk on his own.

However, not long after that, Yan Wushuang received a piece of grapevine news. The island nation seemed to be in trouble. A blood-sucking monster had gone on a rampage in their territory. To suppress this monster, they lost dozens of Onmyoji. In the end, they had to resort to a suicidal technique to perish together with the monster to end the disaster.

Putting down the phone, he glanced at his master, who was reading the newspaper with reading glasses, and felt a sense of suspicion and awe.

Tao Yao was a tree spirit. It only needed to undergo one more lightning tribulation to take human form. Although the years had been long, it felt that everything was worth it.

Until one evening, a water ghost carrying bags large and small passed through its territory.

Tao Yao was puzzled. How did this ghost, who was incredibly fragile out of water, dare to pass through its territory?

So, it intercepted the water ghost. The water ghost was very agitated, gesticulating wildly as it spoke. Tao Yao's face turned paler and paler.

Can't stay in this damn place anymore! Gotta go!

Qingxi Town had made a lot of money from the gimmick of the zombies and that half-human, half-snake creature. Later, Fang Zhiyi sold the zombies. Although everyone got a share of the money, no one complained about having too much. At this time, Fang Zhiyi launched his new product.

The "Demon Catching and Ghost Hunting Rookie Starter Pack."

It contained enchanted peach wood swords, yellow cloth for wrapping ghosts, talismans to weaken monsters' abilities... And so, the townspeople of Qingxi began a vigorous mass capture campaign.

In the past, spirits and monsters abounded here because humans feared them. But now the tables had turned. When those humans saw a monster or ghost, they would howl and charge forward. The demons and ghosts within a hundred miles of Qingxi Town all fled.

It wasn't that no demons fought back, but these humans weren't afraid at all. They had powerful backing. At the slightest disagreement, they would pull out sticks that breathed fire and go "rat-a-tat-tat." Any blind demon facing this concentrated firepower was blown to smithereens.

Cursing under its breath, Tao Yao struggled to pull its roots out of the soil. It was going deep into the mountains to find a place without humans! It would never come out again in this lifetime! Never!

A hundred years later, inside a dormitory.

"These photos come from a foreign reporter and have been preserved in their library for over a century." The AI voiceover in the short video explained as a photo appeared on the phone screen. In the black-and-white photo, there were several iron cages. Standing inside the cages were several "humans" with bared fangs. Below the cages stood a police chief with perfect posture, a man in casual clothes, and a foreigner.

Several more photos followed.

"Locked in this cage is a half-human, half-snake monster. According to investigations, this monster didn't live for long. The woman next to it with messy hair was likely a mental patient. Perhaps there were no medical conditions to treat her at the time..."

"The one in the middle is the locally recorded Mr. Fang, a renowned Feng Shui master. Local opinion of him is mixed. According to records, he was the first to sell zombies to foreigners as 'national treasures.' At the same time, he used zombies and monsters as exhibits to attract tourists, boosting the local economy."

"Hahaha, that's ridiculous!" A girl laughed, rocking back and forth.

"What a genius! Selling zombies as national treasures, I never would have thought of that!"

"Short videos these days are getting more and more outrageous. Yesterday it was dragons, today it's zombies."

"Hahahaha..."

The girl holding the phone let out a soft sigh. "I was originally curious about the history of Qingxi Town—you know, how it was abandoned and became a famous ghost town. But all I found were wild rumors and folklore."

She was just about to swipe to the next video when another photo popped up with a caption: "All the preserved zombie specimens in our country were destroyed during the war. However, word is that a Western nation possesses a perfectly intact body and intends to return it to us."

"For real?"

A video clip followed, showing the zombie sealed inside a glass case. Its protruding fangs were terrifying. Even though its eyes were closed, looking at it evoked a suffocating dread, as if an invisible hand were squeezing one's heart.

"As for whether it's true or not, folks will just have to wait for the official news. But if zombies really do exist, this could be a monumental discovery in human history."

The girl stared blankly at the phone screen, seemingly entranced, until her roommate nudged her.

"What was that for?"

The girl shook her head, looking perplexed. "It sounds strange to say, but... I feel like I've seen that man before..."

"The zombie? Is he a relative of yours?"

"Get lost. I'm talking about that Mr. Fang. He looks so familiar..." Her face was filled with confusion.