Xie Xinglan didn’t speak for several seconds.

Xie Chi wondered, “What are you thinking?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“En.” Xie Chi whispered.

Xie Xinglan smiled. “I was thinking about holding your ass while you wrap your arms around my neck and…”

“T-That’s good.” A light red colour appeared on Xie Chi’s face and his limbs were slightly stiff. Then he provoked casually like nothing was wrong, “Brother, you can think about it more deeply.”

Xie Xinglan originally intended to tease him only to be stung. He had to smile helplessly. “Xiao Chi, your mouth…”

Xie Chi licked his lips, face expressionless. “It won’t be cheap for you in the future.”

Xie Xinglan froze for a few seconds, feeling like he had been slightly scratched by a cat again. “Fuck.” His voice was hoarse. “You are really terrible.”

“Are you praising me?” Xie Chi undid the top button of his shirt, dispersed the heat in his chest and shrugged. “If you want me to die then hurry out and come out to kill me.”

He wasn’t afraid of mouthing off.

Xie Xinglan, “…Xiao Chi, you’ve learned bad things.”

Xie Chi raised his eyebrows slightly and showed no shame. “You are used to it.”

“…” Xie Xinglan suppressed the evil fire in his heart. “Does it hurt? Do you want to change with me?”

“No change, I will go to Zhang Linu. Brother, if you accompany me and talk then I won’t be hurt.”

Xie Chi laughed. He wasn’t really afraid of pain. His cleanliness also depended on habit. If his brother was sleeping then he wasn’t afraid of pain and had no cleanliness. It was only after his brother woke up that he was in pain and felt a desire for cleanliness.

[The bigshot was arguing with Taoist Lian Xi just a second ago and now he is silent and… blushing? He is blushing, right? Am I right?]

[How can he smile when his little partner’s life or death are uncertain? He has no conscience.]

[Is the above person moral kidnapping? The bigshot has divided his priorities and did everything he could. Why can’t he laugh? Do you want him to be like Lu Wen with red eyes and slumped shoulders?]

Taoist Lian Xi evenly poured the children’s blood into the pit, glanced at Lu Wen and Xie Chi’s injuries and stated, “I’ll go outside to buy some herbs.”

Xie Chi immediately responded in a well-behaved manner. “Thank you, Master Uncle.”

He had been worried about how to interrogate Zhang Linu with Taoist Lian Xi present. After all, the scene might be too bloody. It would be troublesome if Taoist Lian Xi changed his decision to let Xie Chi be the zombie controller.

Taoist Lian Xi ordered, “Watch him. The moment the toy layer of children’s blood is dry, immediately pour a new layer. Don’t make any mistakes.”

The two of them nodded.

Due to Yan Jing’s affairs, Zhang Linu had been forgotten in the corner. At this time, Xie Chi grabbed a bench from the side and sat down. Then he pulled out the clothes stuffed in Zhang Linu’s mouth.

Xie Chi asked, “What relationship do you have with Mrs Zhao?”

Zhang Linu spat out fiercely, “Don’t try to get any information out of my mouth. I won’t tell you even if I die!”

“Aren’t you quite brave?” Xie Chi glanced at him and chuckled. “You aren’t afraid because your hands are gone, right? I understand.”

Zhang Linu’s eyes showed a bit of fear but he was unable to figure out what this person meant.

Xie Chi suddenly leaned closer and pinched his chin with burning eyes. “Then are you afraid of pain? I can make your life worse than death.”

Lu Wen was secretly ashamed. Xie Chi’s character and behaviour was too villainous. He was cunning and did whatever he wanted. Who could bear it? He might think so but he still silently placed the peach wood sword into Xie Chi’s long and beautiful hands.

Zhang Linu’s eyes widened with horror. The man in front of him was bloodied and gave off a strong bloody smell. The blood stains on his fair and soft skin were a frightening contrast and his eyes were appalling. They were filled with undisguised malice.

Zhang Linu didn’t doubt that if he stayed silent, this person could open up his skin.

The tip of the sword was approaching. Zhang Linu was sweating and shaking all over. Once the sword tip finally touched him, ready to cut open the fragile skin, Zhang Linu finally collapsed. “Don’t do it! I’ll say it!”

“You are so quick to act pragmatically.” Xie Chi whispered in a sarcastic tone.

It also saved him a lot of trouble.

Xie Chi threw the sword back to Lu Wen and leaned against the chair. “Confess yourself.”

Zhang Linu nodded with a pale face. For the next 30 minutes, Zhang Linu confessed the cause of the matter.

Zhang Linu’s family had lived doing puppet shows for generations. The puppets used to perform the shows were also made by the family members themselves and this skill had been passed down to Zhang Linu. Zhang Linu’s puppets were the best and most famous.

Zhang Linu was obsessed with puppets. He held them day and night and couldn’t sleep easily without them. He wasn’t married and naturally had no children. He made his own puppets and regarded them as his wife and children. All his heart was poured into them.

Zhang Linu was in a depressed state when he learned that he had reached the greatest height of puppet craftsmanship. He started to be dissatisfied with the cold and rigid puppets. He felt that puppets should have souls. He searched for puppets everywhere, wanting to keep improving, until one day he saw a dirty puppet at a stall.

This puppet was very common and even ugly. Zhang Linu swept past, ready to ignore it when he found that the puppet winked at him. Zhang Linu looked again and the puppet remained intact. Zhang Linu’s heart thumped. Then he calmly bought the puppet and hurried home.

The puppet’s surface was slippery and very oily. Zhang Linu didn’t know what it was until he pulled a white handkerchief from the puppet’s back. According to the words on the handkerchief, Zhang Linu knew that the surface of the puppet was actually… human skin.

The white handkerchief stated the method of refining a human skin puppet: peel off the woman’s skin, wrap it around the built body frame, soak a silk thread with the heart blood of the person and then embed the silk thread into the puppet.A puppet created using this method would have the remnant soul of the original body and would be able to think and speak, but they could only act as the puppet master ordered. Zhang Linu hesitated at first but his hesitation didn’t last long. He soon grabbed his first woman.

This woman was Peony. Peony was a prostitute. Zhang Linu grabbed her at night and peeled off his skin while she was alive.

Lu Wen heard this and finally couldn’t control himself. “You animal! You killed them!”

Zhang Linu turned to look at him and laughed a few times, the laughter hoarse and uncomfortable.

“Who said I killed?” Zhang Linu looked at Lu Wen’s face. “Look at you. Do you think this thing on your face is very scary and do you often feel inferior because of it?”

Lu Wen’s face became cold. “What does this have to do with you killing people?”

Zhang Linu exclaimed, “Don’t you feel pain if you are stabbed? A person’s skin is imperfect. How can it be called murder? Peony used to have only one nipple. The other one was bitten off by her benefactor. After I peeled her skin and made her a puppet, I can make her whole as long as I lightly touch my tools to her body. I also retouched her face. Isn’t she a national beauty now?”

Zhang Linu’s eyes showed pride and madness. “I saved her remnant soul. She just exists in another form. I gave her a perfect shell and eternal life. She should thank me for it.”

“You!” Lu Wen was so angry that he wanted to use his sword to kill this person.

Xie Chi just watched calmly with no ripples on his face.

Zhang Linu smiled strangely. “Do you really think that I killed all 10 ladies here?”

Lu Wen frowned with doubts and asked coldly, “What do you mean? You didn’t kill them. Does this mean Madam Zhao killed them?”

Xie Chi crossed his legs and suddenly smiled. “These women voluntarily sent themselves to the door, whether it was for beauty or life.”

Zhang Linu glanced at him with surprise.

“Miss White Apricot, she was lingering on a sickbed and wasn’t willing to die. She asked me to make her a puppet. As for Peach, her husband liked her because she was charming and beautiful. Then she accidentally ruined her appearance and her husband disliked her. She made many inquiries and actively sought me out. She wanted to gain the ultimate beauty and live a life of lasciviousness in order to get revenge on her husband.”

Lu Wen looked incredulous. “Is there really someone crazy like this? Who would be willing to endure the pain of being stripped alive?”

Xie Chi cocked his head to look at Lu Wen and smiled. “You’re not a fish. How can you know if a fish isn’t happy?”

Zhang Linu glanced at Xie Chi with surprise. “If I hadn’t been entrusted with this job by Mrs Zhao, I might’ve become friends with you. You and I have the same madness of doing something at all costs.”

Xie Chi declined to comment.

[Hahahahahahahaha, the bigshot has won the favour of a villain.]

[Bigshot: complicated mood.]

“What happened later?” Xie Chi asked lightly.

Perhaps it was because he met a confidant but Zhang Linu completely opened his mouth,

“I killed Peony and fled with her skin. However, I was too anxious and left too many clues. I was quickly caught. I thought I would die and spent several days in prison, but then I was released.”

Xie Chi raised his eyebrows. “Mrs Zhao?”

“Yes, when I got out of jail, I was knocked unconscious and secretly brought to the Zhao house. I saw Mrs Zhao and she said she wanted to cooperate with me.”

Xie Chi mused. “She has the power to help you escape your crimes and provide you with suitable people to be puppets. As for you, did you serve her?”

“Yes.”

Xie Chi changed questions. “What happened with the children’s blood? Is it a necessary material for weaving the illusion?”

Zhang Linu shook his head. “This is the only place where you are wrong. In fact, ordinary human blood will do for my illusion. It is just best with children’s blood. In fact, it was Mrs Zhao who really wanted to kill these children.”

Lu Wen stared. Hearing Zhang Linu’s words in person, he really knew how great the contrast could be.

The doorman said that Mrs Zhao fasted day and night while praying for the children, but it was actually her who killed them…

Zhang Linu continued, “She asked me to abduct the children with my puppets and kill them to take their blood. The blood you see in the blood pool is actually just a small part of it. Most of the blood was transported to the Zhao home by me.”

Xie Chi’s expression sank slightly.

Lu Wen’s hands clenched. “How many children have you killed?”

Zhang Linu was dying and there was nothing he didn’t dare to say. “Huai Ao should have six or seven. We didn’t dare take too much out of fear of provoking those higher up. Therefore, the goal was relatively scattered. We took children from the surrounding towns and it should add up to 30 or 40.”

He spoke lightly, as if 30 or 40 lives were nothing in his eyes. Lu Wen gritted his teeth, eager to stab this person with the sword.

Xie Chi wasn’t affected. “She loves her husband very much?”

Zhang Linu had always been paying attention to Xie Chi’s expression, secretly thinking about how he could satisfy Xie Chi so he didn’t end up tortured. He had been with Mrs Zhao for many years. If he said he didn’t know anything then Xie Chi definitely wouldn’t believe it. However, how could Zhang Linu be satisfied?

He also expected Mrs Zhao to kill these people to avenge him.

Zhang Linu secretly calculated things in his heart but he didn’t show it on his face. He spoke quickly, “Yes, Mrs Zhao really loves her husband.”

Xie Chi smiled in a slightly intriguing manner. “She wants children’s blood and a powerful zombie. Combined with her dead husband who she really loves, does she want to use… use the zombie to revive the soul so that he continues to live?”

Zhang Linu’s tone was as usual. “I don’t know. I only worked for her and I don’t know anything else. I wasn’t qualified to know.”

“The last question.” Xie Chi paused. “Can a man be refined into a puppet?”Zhang Linu didn’t understand the meaning of this question and replied without thinking, “No, the handkerchief said that women are really ruthless, hundreds of times more ruthless than men. Only they can survive the severe pain of their skin being peeled off to be reborn as an immortal puppet.”

“Men can’t, only women can become puppets right?” Xie Chi somehow asked again.

Zhang Linu spoke truthfully. “I’ve never tried it on a man so I don’t know.”

“What else do you know?”

“Nothing.”

Zhang Linu had just said the word ‘nothing’ when Xie Chi and Lu Wen’s mobile phones rang.

[The plot progress has been updated and the following plot has been reached: Zhang Linu’s confession. Note: the horror movie’s protection mechanism is activated and no more valid information can be found from asking questions.]

[Note: The specific plot exploration degree isn’t provided in the middle and late stages of the movie. The specific data can be viewed after the shooting.]

The two of them had just finished reading the update and looked down to find that Zhang Linu had already died of excessive blood loss. Before he died, there was a strange and unknown smile on his face.

He looked up at Xie Chi and Lu Wen, as if cursing them to go to hell with him.

After buying the herbs, Taoist Lian Xi hurried back. He distributed the herbs wrapped in lotus leaves to the two people and hurried to check on Yan Jing’s situation.

Lu Wen moved a stool and was about to sit down. The moment he turned around, he saw Xie Chi had exposed half his shoulders and was applying the medicine with no expression. His movements could be called perfunctory and he seemed to be thinking about Zhang Linu’s words.

Xie Chi’s wound was deep but it wasn’t in a critical position. It wouldn’t affect his actions.

Lu Wen stared at the smooth white shoulders for a few seconds before quietly moving the stool to the side, not daring to look around.

After a while, he couldn’t help looking again. This time, Xie Chi’s approach was very different. It was gentle, meticulous and careful.

Feeling Lu Wen’s gaze, Xie Xinglan covered his shoulder with his hand and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Lu Wen instantly realized this was Xie Chi’s body and shuddered. He looked away and made up his mind not to turn his head.

[Why is the atmosphere so subtle?]

[I want to be the bigshot’s finger.]

Once the work was finished, Lu Wen walked to Xie Chi with a guilty conscience. “Did you find anything?”

Xie Chi spoke quietly. “It should be certain that Mrs Zhao took the zombie to return her husband’s soul to it. This movie doesn’t seem prepared to hide that Mrs Zhao is using the zombie to return her husband to life.”

Lu Wen froze for a moment before explaining, “Zombie movies have always been like this. They don’t pay too much attention to reasoning. Most of the endings are about fighting the boss zombie.”

Xie Chi nodded. “That’s it.”

“You seemed to have asked twice if men can become puppets?”

Xie Chi explained lightly, “I just had a thought. If a man could be refined into a puppet then Mrs Zhao wouldn’t use the method of zombie resurrection.”

Lu Wen suddenly realized. “Yes, if he is a puppet then all his memories will be preserved anyway. Not only can he be healthy, he can also be immortal.”

“Therefore, Zhang Linu denied the possibility of a male puppet and indirectly confirmed the use of the zombie for resurrection.”

“I was in a daze because I suddenly thought of a new problem.” Xie Chi wiped his hands with the cloth handed over by Lu Wen.

“What’s the problem?”

Xie Chi handed the cloth back to him. “If you find a new body for your lover and your lover has become an immortal zombie with eternal life, are you still willing to experience aging and death? If you are Mrs Zhao, who loves her husband, are you willing?”

Lu Wen paused for a few seconds, not understanding the meaning.

Xie Chi smiled. “I definitely wouldn’t be willing.”

Lu Wen was confused but Xie Chi didn’t say much.

“What time is it?” Xie Chi asked.

Lu Wen glanced at the phone and understood his meaning. “There is one hour left before the seventh death day. We can go there in time.”

Xie Chi nodded. He stood up and was preparing to check on Yan Jing before going to Mrs Zhao’s house with Lu Wen when the phone suddenly rang.

Lu Wen’s phone also rang.

[Detected that Actor Xie Chi’s known information is up to standard. The plot needs to be advanced and the special time skip method enabled. It has immediately entered three days later.]

Xie Chi was surprised. “It can still be like this?”

He was well-bred but he couldn’t help saying ‘fuck.’ Xie Chi glanced at the time on the phone. It was indeed three days later…

It meant the chance to stop Mrs Zhao was gone.

[Is the bigshot exploring too fast? Therefore, the movie has to do this to maintain the plot?]

[Hahahaha, I’m laughing. This bigshot has become a bug-like existence.]

[It is understandable. The staff originally calculated that they would have to stay in the illusion for two or three days. Or there is insufficient information and there would be a delay. Who would’ve expected him to move so fast?]

[If the bigshot really destroyed Mrs Zhao’s plan to use the zombie to resurrect the soul, this zombie movie would have no big boss to fight. The boss zombie should be born so is it time for the bigshot to fight the advanced zombie? Can he fight this time?]

[Yue Xiuming is hiding near the Zhao house.]

Lu Wen hadn’t encountered this before and looked nervously at Xie Chi. “What do we do now?”

Xie Chi wanted to take Taoist Lian Xi and go to the Zhao house as planned when Taoist Lian Xi, who had been watching the living zombie the entire time, shouted. “Oh no! It is going to fail! A crack has appeared on his face!”