A Time-Traveling Zombie Romance (GL) - Chapter 21

The night was pitch-black over the water; I couldn’t see any objects in the river. Suddenly my irises turned red — as if I had night-vision goggles in my eyes — and everything around me became red; I could see clearly underwater.

So red eyes have that kind of function too! I thought to myself.

I searched in the water for a long time but saw nothing. I hurried up to the surface and took a breath. “Phew—”

“Brother, did you find anything?” Siqing asked nervously when she saw me looking tense.

“Junior brother, don’t keep searching for now — I feel we should get ashore,” Yunxi also said anxiously.

Seeing how concerned everyone was for me, even Menghui’s cold expression softened slightly with worry; it warmed my heart and I smiled. “I’m fine, I’ll look a bit more.”

I took a deep breath and dove back into the river.

After searching for a while, I swam down to the riverbed and looked up: the bottom was about ten meters below the surface. While I scanned the area, I suddenly noticed a small dark shape not far away and rushed toward it.

When I got closer I realized the dark shape was a corpse — a woman of around thirty-five, dressed as a married woman and quite beautiful; her clothes were fine, not like those of common townsfolk. Her eyes were wide open, her face ghastly pale; her hands were bound to her body, and a large stone was tied to her feet. Her whole body was swollen — she must have been soaking in the water for at least three days. I frowned, thinking about how to get the body out of the water.

I immediately swam up to the surface to breathe.

“Cheapskate, what did you find?” Qingyang asked anxiously.

“Hm, I just found a female corpse on the riverbed, likely soaked for at least three days. Wait, I’ll haul her up,” I said.

“What?! A female corpse?!!” Everyone gasped.

Qiyichen, Qiu Heyu, and Lin Ji were so shocked they vomited what was in their stomachs.

“Junior brother, let me help you,” Yunxi said.

“No, senior sister, the water down there is very toxic. It would be dangerous for you to dive,” I hurriedly said.

“But you’re alone in the water — nobody’s helping you,” Yunxi replied.

“It’s okay, I can handle it.” With that I dove down again.

I unfastened the hemp ropes binding the corpse’s hands and feet, hoisted her onto my back, and swam toward the shore.

Carrying a corpse through the water was indeed exhausting, especially a heavy body; just thinking about it made my whole body crawl. When we reached the riverbank, I placed the corpse on the shore and sat down, gasping for breath.

Yunxi and the others hurried over. My irises returned to their normal color instantly, but Qiyichen saw them change and paused slightly; he wondered if he’d misseen it.

“Cheapskate.”
“Brother.”
“Junior brother.” The three of them surrounded me, concerned.

“I’m… fine,” I said, blushing.

“Quick, look at this corpse. I think it’s a murder case,” I said after I’d caught my breath.

“Ah!” Qingyang and Siqing turned deathly pale at the sight and felt sick, running off to retch.

Yunxi frowned but suppressed the urge to vomit and asked, “Junior brother, why do you think that?”

“I swam down to the riverbed and saw her hands were tied with hemp rope. If this wasn’t a murder, would she bind herself?” I retorted.

“Tsk tsk, this woman died so pitifully,” Zhu Chao commented.

“Yes, she died restless — look how wide her eyes are,” Li Shaomin said.

“For now our priority is to figure out how to remove everyone’s poison, not inspect this corpse,” Menghui said coldly.

Hearing that, I felt a deflation and disappointment wash over me. “Alright. Let’s all think together.”

Sigh — when will Menghui ever care about me like this? Probably never in this lifetime…

We thought of many methods but still couldn’t figure out how to cure the poison.

I scratched my head. “This toxin will at most delay its effects for three days. During these three days we should think of a cure. But should we first bury the woman and sketch her portrait? Tomorrow morning we can go to the county to look around for her.”

“Yes, young master.” The five guards bowed.

Then the six of us dug a grave in an open spot. There was no other choice — the heavy work had to be done by men. Although I’m not male, Qiyichen refused to do it, which puzzled me; finally Menghui stepped forward and that persuaded me to stop arguing.

“He really cares so much about him,” I muttered discontentedly as I walked away.

An hour later we buried the woman and placed a rotten tombstone at the head of the grave that read “Unknown Person’s Grave.”

I’ll arrange a proper burial for you later…

At dawn the next day we set off for Yu County. After all, Yu County was not a remote backwater — it lay near the capital and had many travelers daily: paved stone roads and bustling streets, a place blessed with talented people.

We found an inn and booked six upstairs rooms. After putting our things down, I took three of the guards with me and went out to ask people about the woman’s portrait.

“Sir, have you seen this woman in the painting?” I asked a vendor.

“No,” the vendor shook his head, looking puzzled.

“Ma’am, have you seen this woman?” I asked a vegetable seller carrying a basket.

“No.”

“Madam, have you seen this woman?” I asked another passerby.

Suddenly I noticed a young woman wearing luxurious clothes walking by and hurried over.

“Oh my, young master, you’re so handsome.” The young woman’s eyes lit up and little hearts seemed to pop out. “Hmm? Isn’t this the wife of the Jin County Magistrate?”

“The wife of the Jin County Magistrate?” I was startled. “Thank you.” I bowed and hurried back with the three guards.

Back at the inn I assembled everyone in a room.

“I’ve discovered the identity of the corpse,” I said calmly.

“Brother, who is she?” Siqing asked anxiously.

I paused slightly and then replied, “The corpse is the wife of Yu County Magistrate Jin Nuo — Madam Jin.”

“Madam Jin? If she’s missing, why hasn’t Magistrate Jin sent people to look for her?” Yunxi frowned.

“Exactly — that’s what puzzles me, so I’ll pay Magistrate Jin a visit myself,” I said with my arms folded.

I then took Li Shaomin, Xu Rui, and Zhu Chao to the county yamen.

When we arrived at the county yamen we saw that the buildings were very extravagant. This magistrate must be embezzling a lot of money, I thought.

As we approached the yamen, the yamen officers at the gate stopped us.

“Who goes there?” they asked.

“We have business with your county magistrate.” I bowed.

Seeing my ordinary clothes, an officer looked down on me and lazily said, “The magistrate’s busy right now — can’t you see?”

“Then at least inform him,” I asked.

The officer pointed lazily at something and extended his hand.

I could tell immediately what he was asking for and was furious. I shoved his hand away.

“Damn, you expect us to bribe you before we can meet the magistrate?” the officer sneered.

“How dare you speak to my young master like that — you’ll lose your life!” Xu Rui shouted.

“And who are you to talk? I can say what I want here; your young master is nothing,” the officer retorted.

My face darkened and a murderous gleam appeared in my eyes. I smiled coldly and said, “Oh? Then who’s the boss here?” I took out a white jade token from my belt — the token used by the heir of the Xiaoyao Prince’s household. The token bore clear characters: “Xiaoyao Prince’s Heir, Zhang Xiaoqi.” On the back two dragons played with a pearl, carved in relief.

The officer rubbed his eyes in disbelief. When he realized it was true, he trembled and fell to his knees, pounding his forehead frantically. “Your Highness! I was blind and disrespectful; forgive me, Your Highness, spare my life!”

“Heh, now who’s the boss here?” I bent slightly and teased.

“You are the greatest, Your Highness. The whole Yu County belongs to you…” the officer stammered, nearly crying.

I impatiently gave the officer a kick. “You insolent wretch. Is all this land not the Emperor’s? Are all subjects not the Emperor’s? Are you implying I intend to rebel and seize the throne?”

“Not at all! Not at all! It was my foul mouth — I didn’t mean it,” the officer babbled, nearly collapsing under the pressure.

“Report to your magistrate that our young master has arrived,” Li Shaomin said disdainfully to another officer who had been kneeling.

“Yes… yes, I’ll go. Your Highness, please wait in the front hall for a moment,” the other officer ran inside in a panic.

“You other people — beat that officer fifty strokes,” I ordered.

“Y-Yes…” the two other officers stammered weakly.

The kneeling officer kept kowtowing and pleading, “Thank you, Your Highness, thank you for your mercy,” while sobbing.

I ignored him and strode into the yamen’s inner hall.