The two corpses in front of the door were carrying old-fashioned rifles, wearing light armor, and had swords beside them as weapons.

They looked like they had only recently died. In the mist, the bodies hardly decomposed, making it difficult to determine when they died.

“Based on the previous situation,” Chen Jing said, “they might stand up after we get there.”

"Prepare for battle."

Actually, he didn't need to say anything. Dao Nan had already unloaded Li Si and placed him on the ground. He then took out his weapon and approached Chen Jing together.

At that moment, a peculiar, slightly pungent odor spread instantly, centered on He Lili.

“I didn’t detect any hostility.” He Lili said to the people looking over, “This is my magic. It can detect whether there is any obvious hostility or malice within a range of about ten meters.”

Skilled in divination and deduction... Chen Jing recalled He Lili's previous introduction and nodded.

This ability somewhat counteracts "noise invisibility"... I wonder if it can be maintained long-term...

“I didn’t see any spirits or evil spirits,” Zhang Taoying said, pressing her eyes.

"If only we had been this cautious before..." Dao Nan muttered to himself as he watched his teammates begin to show off their skills.

“Spiritual power is limited and cannot be abused like that,” Chen Jing explained casually, while Li Ai and Dao Nan leaned over with him.

“If the zombies turn into zombies, I’ll be on the left, you’ll be on the right, and Li Ai and the others will finish them off,” Chen Jing told Dao Nan.

Even as they got closer, the body remained unchanged, which secretly relieved everyone.

Chen Jing squatted down next to the corpse and began to examine the wounds.

As the one who lures monsters, Chen Jing occasionally encounters situations where he needs to determine what kind of attack caused the corpse to die, so that he can guess the type of monster and make a judgment in advance.

Chen Jing said, "Judging from the injuries, we can only conclude that one of them died from a blunt force trauma to the chest, and the other died from a massive burn to the chest."

"Spells?" He Lili asked softly from the back of the line.

"It should be. I didn't see any shrapnel or other traces of explosives," Chen Jing said.

Dao Nan inspected the rifle: "The Longsword-IV rifle, the standard equipment for soldiers in the late Song Dynasty, is a bolt-action rifle, 1.1 meters long, with an effective range of 800 meters and an internal magazine of five rounds. Many parts are probably unusable, and it has been neglected for a long time."

Dao Nan, who dreams of becoming a combat repairman, has systematically studied all common weapons.

"Can you take out the magazine?" He Lili asked from behind, "to see if the bullet material is special, or if there are engraved runes."

Chen Jing was examining the other parts of the body.

The blade was forged from fine steel. Straight swords were polarized in the Song Dynasty's equipment system; powerful cultivators used them as their primary weapons, while non-cultivators mostly used them for ceremonial and close-combat purposes, similar in status to pistols. But this sword was already much stronger than the one Chen Jing had thrown into the river before, if it hadn't been damaged by time and lack of maintenance.

The armor is the common infantry armor. This lightweight armor offers almost no protection against bullets. However, the zombies of the Xia Dynasty cannot operate rifles, so equipping them with leg armor and arm guards helps protect them from attacks from the corpses.

Then, Chen Jing saw a necklace, and with a gentle pull, he pulled it out.

“It has engraved runes, so it’s a magical artifact, but I can’t tell what type it is,” Dao Nan said, showing the bullet.

He Lili stepped forward to examine it: "It's a simple enchanting rune. Its effect is to allow spiritual energy to attach to the bullet and break through the natural defenses of some monsters. The rune has expired and needs to be recarved and infused with spirit."

“This means that these two are at least extraordinary individuals, and only extraordinary individuals can use runes.” He Lili calmly analyzed, “This is also why many teams hire extraordinary individuals. Even if their extraordinary powers haven’t separated them too much from ordinary people, being able to control spiritual power means that they can use talismans and other items.”

"For example, the palm-sized thunderbolt we obtained earlier?" Zhang Taoying asked.

“Yes.” He Lili nodded: “That is the simplest talisman weapon, which is essentially just engraving talismans on special stones.”

Chen Jing pulled out the necklace and showed it to everyone: "I found something."

It was a watch face pendant.

Opening the pendant reveals a tattered portrait of a young man and a woman standing happily in front of a landmark building.

“That wretched war…” He Lili said in a low voice.

"The war took away so much," Zhang Taoying said. "Where is this building? Does anyone recognize it?"

Dao Nan leaned over and glanced at it: "Structurally it looks like a temple, and there seem to be a lot of people there. Maybe it's a temple fair."

“The concept of destiny,” He Lili said. “The concept of destiny in the capital city of Liangjing.”

Liang Jingcheng? Chen Jing recalled the historical knowledge he had learned from Pan Fengyu.

There were two capital cities in the history of the Song Dynasty: Liangjing and Meijing. In the middle of the War of Ruins, in 1043, Liangjing was captured by the Xia Dynasty army. They showed no sympathy for the residents and no humanitarianism. Massacre and fire swept through the city for five days, and their corpses were then used to create a zombie army.

But the massacre did not break the Song Dynasty; instead, it reunited the Song Dynasty, which was on the verge of destruction, and once again repelled the invaders.

If he came here after the massacre, it means... Chen Jing suddenly felt sympathy for the corpse.

After finding nothing more on the body, Li Ai pointed towards the door and said, "Shall we go inside? The door is open."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!