Chapter Thirty-One: The Return of the Dead

Lady Jade Pool had prepared a sumptuous lunch for us, the kind that would cost at least three hundred gold coins on the thirtieth level. Her image grew ever more radiant in my eyes.

Master Helsing remarked, “You never heed advice, woman. I told you to rest more—why exhaust yourself making so much food?”

Lady Jade Pool only smiled at him while Helsing kept his head down, eating silently.

She said, “Helsing came to the Black Coffin for my sake. I am ill, and only here, within the Black Coffin, can I go on living.”

Helsing replied, “I’m here for myself, because I fell out with the Sword and Shield Society. I had nowhere else to go.”

Lady Jade Pool nodded, smiling, “Of course.”

I resolved to seek Lady Jade Pool’s help once more, even though I didn’t believe in so-called magical rites; that room truly exuded an uncanny atmosphere. I asked, “Have you heard about the murder on Mann Street?”

Lady Jade Pool sighed, “The lower levels are far larger than the upper ones—this place is almost like a small town. Gangs run rampant here, turf wars are constant, murders not uncommon.”

I said, “The victim was a ranger named Rita Mann. Do you know her?”

Lady Jade Pool gasped, “Rita? It was her? How did she die?”

I noticed how grief-stricken she looked, as if she had lost a loved one. “She died in her own home; I’d rather not describe the condition of her body.”

Tears shimmered in Lady Jade Pool’s eyes. “She was a good girl—the most righteous and courageous guardian angel of the fifteenth level. But the gangs here are wicked, colluding with the Black Coffin’s upper echelons. She insisted on investigating them—I always knew this day would come.”

My mind was thrown into turmoil. If her words were true, did this case involve the gangs as well? Would that lead us to the Black Coffin’s higher-ups?

Stories like this I had read before—those who naively challenged the darkness usually lost everything. By taking this case, had I dug my own grave?

Perhaps I should tell Le Gang I was not cut out for solving crimes, and wash my hands of this mess.

Lady Jade Pool clasped my hand. “Please, you must find the truth. My husband and I will do everything we can to help.”

I was about to politely refuse when Salvador interjected, “That room—have you been inside it?”

Lady Jade Pool replied, “Many times, bringing her small gifts. But I haven’t seen her in quite a while.”

Salvador said, “There’s something oppressive about that place, as if the killer still lurks in every shadow.”

Lady Jade Pool looked to Master Helsing. “Is it soulblades?”

Helsing answered, “It’s possible. Or perhaps just lingering brainwaves.”

Lady Jade Pool said, “Please, you must let me see the place.”

Salvador seemed unaware of how dangerous things might become. If we unearthed some great secret implicating those above us, disaster could strike at any moment.

Master Helsing said, “I’ll come as well. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Unable to dissuade them, we finished our meal in haste and set off for that ill-fated home. As we stood outside, Lady Jade Pool began to tremble, whispering, “Netherfire.”

Mirse and I asked in unison, “What is netherfire?”

Lady Jade Pool shook her head. “Let me focus. Please forgive me if I don’t answer now.”

She ascended the stairs. Upon seeing Rita Mann’s corpse, tears streamed down her cheeks, but she stifled her sobs, closed her eyes, and pressed her hand to the heart of the body. After five minutes, she lifted her hands high, as if scattering confetti. Only then did we see it: white flames burning throughout the room, writhing like insect eggs or translucent cicada cocoons, clinging to every surface, radiating filth and corruption. Normally invisible, Lady Jade Pool had forced them into view.

Helsing asked, “Was the girl made into a living corpse?”

Lady Jade Pool said bitterly, “No. She changed—she became an aberrant corpse.”

Helsing clenched his wooden staff, his knuckles white. This master swordsman, so formidable, now brimmed with anger, as if a storm was building within him.

I asked, “What is a living corpse? What is an aberrant corpse?”

Lady Jade Pool explained, “It’s an ancient, evil rite. The sorcerer collects decaying bodies and stitches them tightly together, then, using the forces of nature, resurrects the corpse as a cursed monster.”

I immediately responded, “I’ve read about this—in a book. The creature in ‘Frankenstein’ was made the same way!”

Lady Jade Pool smiled, “You are very learned. Yes, that’s right.”

I asked, “So Major Rita was always… a walking corpse?”

Lady Jade Pool shook her head, “Impossible. I would have noticed. She had been missing for days; she must have been killed during that time, then revived through magic.”

I said, “The book describes not magic, but supernatural science.”

Lady Jade Pool sighed, “If you insist on seeing it that way, so be it.”

I said, “She had a boyfriend, and a younger brother—they both disappeared too.”

Mirse deduced, “If you’re right, madam, then the deceased here had already died. The one left at the scene was merely… a zombie?”

Lady Jade Pool replied, “An aberrant corpse. When a living corpse mutates, it becomes a half-human, half-beast monster.”

I said, “The aberrant corpse attacked Rita’s boyfriend. He fought back and killed ‘Rita.’ That explains the claw marks on the wall—they were left during their struggle.”

Lady Jade Pool said, “Aberrant corpses are hard to kill. They revive again and again.”

I nodded, “So the boyfriend could only burn ‘her’ to death. He had no other choice.”

The conclusion sounded absurd, yet it explained all the strangeness at the scene.

Salvador asked, “If this is true, the boyfriend is innocent. The real villain is the fiend who turned Rita into a living corpse. Who did this to her? Why resurrect her? And why send her back home?”

Lady Jade Pool said, “To create a living corpse, only another living corpse can do it. Inside them dwells an evil power called ‘netherfire,’ which makes humans uncomfortable and repulsed. This netherfire animates the dead. Usually, we can track the source of netherfire to find a living corpse.”

We were all shocked. “There’s another living corpse on this level?”

Lady Jade Pool said, “I can’t be certain.” She touched Rita’s body, tears streaming down.

I said, “It must be on this floor. If someone had to move a stitched-up ranger through the elevator and down the halls, how could it escape a patrol’s notice?”

Helsing replied, “You’ve never seen a living corpse. They appear as ordinary people. Their netherfire can cast subtle illusions, hiding stitches and scars, making them look perfectly normal. Still, the killer might have murdered Rita, transformed her, then delivered her here. He could be on any floor, perhaps even outside the Black Coffin.”

The mention of living corpses brought to mind the resurrected ones from the Waterless Village. The thought chilled me to the bone.

“So where do we start searching? Isn’t this like looking for a needle in a haystack? Maybe we should forget it. It’s getting late—I should go home to my wife…” I glanced at my wrist, but of course, I had no watch and didn’t know the time.

Lady Jade Pool moved her hands in circles, gathering the netherfire together. She took out a black cloth, wrapped it up, and handed it to me. “With the remnant netherfire inside this, if you get within a certain range, you’ll sense another living corpse.”

I asked, “What range?”

She said, “Within thirty meters.”

I said, “Forgive me, but what good is that? We have no direction. This matter needs more thought. We should report back first…”

Lady Jade Pool said, “The netherfire in this cloth will only last twenty-four hours.”

I felt utterly at a loss. Helsing said, “I heard Rita was recently investigating the Blood Pact Gang.”

I asked, “Master, how do you know?”

Helsing said, “She trusted me, spoke of it when we talked. This likely has everything to do with the Blood Pact.”

I sighed, “Then we must pay the Blood Pact a visit.”

At that moment, Lieutenant Bohr came up from downstairs, speaking in a low voice, “Sir, I heard you’re planning to go after the Blood Pact?”

The look on his face told me much. I asked, “What about them?”

Bohr said, “They’re the largest gang on the lower levels—ruthless, controlling much of this floor. That area is a veritable den of dragons. They have bases on other floors, even outside the Black Coffin. The wise thing is to report to our superiors and await orders, not act rashly.”

I asked, “Why does the Black Coffin tolerate the Blood Pact…?” But I realized the answer was simple: the authorities couldn’t be bothered with the lower levels, and the Blood Pact was likely controlled by a noble.

I felt discouraged, but the memory of Rita’s horrific end lingered before my eyes. She died for these neglected and suffering people—killed by the deliberate indulgence of the Black Coffin’s nobility.

How could I let the life of a heroine slip away in vain? If… if the victim were Lamia, would I give up halfway?

I wanted to be a ruler, not a coward who shrank from hardship.

After thinking a moment, I said, “The Blood Pact’s headquarters are on this floor?”

Bohr said, “No. The fifteenth floor is the hub for the lower levels, but the headquarters are elsewhere. No one knows where.”

I said, “Someone must know.”

Bohr replied, “Most likely… the Blood Pact ‘floor boss’ on this level knows. But their gang is heavily armed—dozens of guns pointed at you at once. It’s more dangerous than a demon’s lair.”

I raised my voice, “Would they really dare attack a ranger?”

Bohr said, “Don’t forget, they’re likely the ones who killed Rita Mann.”

I said, “But they wouldn’t dare oppose us openly.”

Bohr said anxiously, “That’s only because we’ve never stormed their base to arrest their boss! If we push them too far, they’ll strike first.”

Suddenly, Salvador said, “Lieutenant Bohr, you can go for now. Don’t worry—we’re not fools, we won’t act recklessly.”

Bohr, relieved, said, “That’s more like it, sir. We don’t do things rashly here.” Muttering to himself, he left the house.

Once he was gone, Salvador said, “I’ve heard that the rangers responsible for this floor’s security might tip off the Blood Pact. If we insist on going, we might walk straight into a trap.”

I asked, “Is Bohr with the Blood Pact? If so, he already knows who killed Rita Mann?”

Salvador said, “He looked genuinely frightened—I doubt it. He’s completely in the dark, just terrified of getting caught up in something beyond his control.”

I asked again, “Is there anyone on this floor you can truly trust?”

Salvador said, “I know a militiaman—a friend of mine. I was the one who recommended him for the Black Coffin job. He won’t betray me.”

Mirse asked, “What do you plan to do?”

I said, “The ‘floor boss’ can’t stay in his lair forever. Where are the entertainment spots here? Would he go out at night? If we track his movements, catching him will be easy.”