"Is this the place? Are you sure someone lives here?"
After leaving the black market, Qiao Suinian followed the address given by Master Rat and found a somewhat dilapidated courtyard in the suburbs of Kyoto. The gate of the courtyard was covered with dust and did not look like anyone lived there.
"It should be. What Master Rat gave it shouldn't be wrong. I'll go knock on the door."
Ge Liefeng was somewhat uncertain, because the surrounding area was desolate and overgrown with weeds, looking very barren. Even he didn't know that there was such a remote place in Kyoto.
Knock knock knock.
Ge Liefeng stepped forward and knocked on the door. The door wasn't locked at all, and it opened easily with a light knock.
"Is anyone there?" Ge Liefeng called out into the courtyard, but no one paid any attention to him, as if there was no one in the courtyard at all.
Ge Liefeng turned around to ask Qiao Suinian for her opinion, and only after Qiao Suinian nodded did he push the door open and go in.
With a creak, the courtyard gate swung open to both sides, scattering a lot of dust that made Ge Liefeng cough.
Seeing that Ge Liefeng was safe after stepping into the courtyard, Qiao Suinian followed him in. The courtyard was extremely spacious, but it was filled with many lifelike wood carvings, some of which depicted birds and beasts, and others human figures.
The wooden carvings that resembled humans all had the same face: a woman. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she possessed a virtuous and gentle quality. The fact that a single wooden carving could convey the original owner's character showed just how skilled the craftsman was.
Just by looking at these wood carvings, Qiao Suinian understood that Rat Master hadn't lied to him; the address he gave him was indeed the right one.
To carve wood so vividly requires profound skill.
But where are the people in this house?
Qiao Suinian used his mental power to investigate. As a necromancer, he was extremely sensitive to the aura of life. As long as there were living people in the courtyard, they could not escape his perception.
But when Qiao Suinian went to investigate the house in the courtyard, the fluctuations coming from inside made him frown.
Because there are hundreds of life fluctuations inside this house!
The house in front of us is only about 100 square meters. How can a hundred people be crammed into a 100-square-meter house? Is that reasonable?
With a creak, the door to the house was suddenly pushed open, and a thick cloud of white smoke billowed out, obscuring the view inside.
Immediately afterwards, a man with a stubble beard and messy hair like a bird's nest emerged from the smoke, a Furongwang cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking like he had just woken up.
Although the man was slovenly and unkempt, it was still possible to see that his features were incredibly defined, as if carved by a knife and axe. If he were to take better care of himself, he would definitely be a handsome man.
The man scratched his hair, which hadn't been washed in ages, frowned, glanced at Qiao Suinian and Ge Liefeng, and then exhaled a perfectly executed smoke ring.
"Who are you two? What are you doing barging into my house?"
Just as Qiao Suinian was about to greet them, Ge Liefeng suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
"I remember now! He's Wang Yuan! The puppeteer Wang Yuan!"
"Puppet master?" Qiao Suinian glanced at the wooden carvings in the courtyard. Could these wooden carvings be the puppets in Wang Yuan's hands?
“Yes! I didn’t expect that the person Rat Master sent us to find was him! That’s right, with his strength, he’s naturally not much weaker than Liu Haizhu!” Ge Liefeng’s eyes were filled with shock, and then he began to explain to Qiao Suinian.
Wang Yuan was born into a family of woodcarvers. His great-grandfather's generation had made a living by woodcarving. The woodcarvings created by the Wang family were so lifelike and vivid that they seemed to have a spirit of their own. High-ranking officials and nobles would often spend a fortune to buy the woodcarvings from the Wang family, so the Wang family lived a very comfortable life.
Wang Yuan is also living a very happy life. He has a beautiful girlfriend who grew up with him and whom he grew up with. The two are like a perfect couple, which makes countless people envious.
But all of this changed after the apocalypse. In the immediate aftermath, Kyoto was not as stable as it is now. Due to the impact of the alien races, apart from the central city, other places were in turmoil.
That day happened to be the day Wang Yuan and his wife were getting married. The two looked at each other with happiness and sweetness in their eyes, but the arrival of a pale ant beast directly changed Wang Yuan's fate.
With a gentle snip of its massive pincers, the pale ant beast cleaved Wang Yuan's wife in two at the waist, splattering blood everywhere.
Wang Yuan watched helplessly as his newlywed wife died before his eyes. Stimulated by this, he suddenly awakened his puppeteer profession, and all the wooden carvings came to life, tearing the pale ant beast to pieces.
Holding his wife's body, Wang Yuan wept uncontrollably. From that moment on, he could no longer live without cigarettes and could only numb himself with nicotine.
He hid away, and to express his longing, he carved a wooden sculpture in the likeness of his wife and dressed her in a beautiful wedding dress.
These meticulously carved wooden sculptures possessed terrifying combat power, and their sheer number was enough to send chills down one's spine.
Listening to Ge Liefeng's explanation, Qiao Suinian also made a plan in her mind. She had to admit that the man in front of her was indeed very suitable to take to Tianshan Sacred Lake.
"Have you said enough? You should get out of here." Wang Yuan said coldly, the red cigarette butt glowing and fading, the smoke obscuring his face and making his expression unreadable.
"Brother Wang Yuan, don't rush to send us away. We have something to discuss with you." Qiao Suinian politely cupped his hands in greeting.
Wang Yuan didn't reply, but countless wooden sculptures draped in white wedding dresses appeared behind him, their expressionless faces staring intently at Qiao Suinian, looking incredibly eerie.
Qiao Suinian felt a chill run down his spine. Could the life force he had just sensed in the room have come from these wood carvings?
After the smoke cleared, Qiao Suinian finally saw the interior of the room. There were countless wooden carvings dressed in wedding gowns, which sent chills down her spine. In the very center of the room was a crystal coffin.
Inside the coffin lay a woman with her eyes closed and her face pale. This woman looked exactly like the wooden sculpture, which was clearly the model Wang Yuan used to carve the sculpture. But obviously, this woman was already a cold corpse.
The wooden sculpture draped in a wedding dress kept approaching, and Wang Yuan's meaning was clear: if they didn't leave soon, he would take action.
But Qiao Suinian showed no fear; he simply stood calmly in place.
Wang Yuan didn't indulge him. After finishing the last puff of his cigarette, he threw the cigarette butt on the ground. The wooden puppet draped over his body instantly charged towards Qiao Suinian, its slender hand like a sharp blade aimed straight at Qiao Suinian's brow.
However, Qiao Suinian showed no intention of making a move or dodging; he simply spoke softly.
"I can resurrect your lover!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
