Cultivation Reconstruction in the End Times

Chapter 5 Brutal Killing

When Zhang He entered his aunt's house, he found that his aunt had actually invited his uncle's parents over. Several people were sitting in a row on the sofa, all of them were elders, and they seemed to be ready to negotiate with him. If he hadn't been in urgent need of money, he might very well have turned around and left.

After closing the door, his aunt brought out a plate of sliced watermelons. Instead of directly talking about the house, they first ate the watermelons and chatted about some everyday matters.

Zhang He hadn't eaten watermelon for a long time and almost forgot what it tasted like. It was very sweet in his mouth. He used to eat it often and didn't think much of it, but now he realized that watermelon was really a good fruit. It quenched his thirst and could replenish his sugar. Once he got the money, he would definitely buy some and store them in the space.

After eating the watermelon and chatting warmly, his aunt finally seriously brought up the matter of the house. Every word she said was related to being poor. She said that her uncle had a fixed salary, and at most, it was only forty or fifty thousand yuan a year. She sold small general merchandise in the shopping mall. It was just about okay a few years ago, but in recent years, due to the financial crisis, business had been getting worse and worse. Then his uncle also chimed in beside her. In addition, the two elderly people in their sixties with gray hair, who had come a long way from the countryside, also said that the money they had saved in their lifetime was not easy to come by and they were still short of a few tens of thousands of yuan, asking Zhang He to be accommodating.

Zhang He just listened and didn't interrupt. In fact, he had already expected this before coming. Although everyone was the same when buying a house, they had to keep looking at the price and the layout and negotiate continuously. Most homebuyers wanted to save every penny they could. But for him, it was not worth wasting time on this. He just wanted to settle this matter as quickly as possible. So he kept looking at the digital clock on the wall and listened impatiently. He knew that his aunt wanted to buy the house from him at the cheapest price. If he kept insisting on 400,000 yuan, his aunt would definitely buy it in the end.

Because if this building was to be demolished, the owner would at least receive a compensation of about 500,000 to 600,000 yuan. A demolished house worth 400,000 yuan was a great deal that was hard to come by, and his aunt wouldn't want to let it go. However, with her character of doing business for years, she would definitely haggle with him for a long time over the price. She could afford to waste time, but he couldn't. In order to get the money as soon as possible.

Finally, Zhang He interrupted their words and took the initiative to reduce the price by 50,000 yuan. The meaning in his words was firm. The price of 350,000 yuan couldn't be reduced any further, otherwise he wouldn't sell the house.

After hearing Zhang He's words, the several people looked at each other. His aunt's family had been in good financial condition in recent years and had saved some money. But now the housing price was changing every day, and the speed of saving money couldn't keep up with the rising speed of the housing price at all. So she had set her sights on the building of more than forty square meters that her nephew was living in, thinking of buying it for 300,000 yuan. In the future, the couple would move into it when they got old and leave the current house for Pang Pang to use when he got married.

If Zhang He's parents were still alive, this matter wouldn't even be mentioned. But now that both of them were gone and there was only their nephew, who didn't live in the building all year round, she naturally had the idea of taking advantage.

To be honest, this matter was a bit unethical, and the couple naturally felt guilty. But they originally only had more than 200,000 yuan on hand. Only by taking out the old couple's life savings could they barely scrape together 300,000 yuan. They didn't expect that their nephew would ask for 400,000 yuan at the beginning.

According to his aunt's idea, she wanted to buy it for 300,000 yuan and didn't want to borrow money from relatives anymore. Not to mention that there were few wealthy relatives and friends around, and their relationship with them had been bad in recent years. But seeing that the price of 350,000 yuan couldn't be negotiated any further and Zhang He had already made it clear, if they continued to haggle, the relationship would become strained.

They could actually see that Zhang He seemed to be in urgent need of money. They were also afraid that if they made the situation worse, he would turn around and sell the house to someone else. Then that piece of fat would fall into someone else's mouth, and all their efforts would be in vain for others.

So his uncle gritted his teeth and decided on 350,000 yuan. He would try to borrow 50,000 yuan from his colleagues in the company. It didn't matter if the interest was a bit higher, as long as they could buy the house first.

By the time it was finally settled, it was already noon. Zhang He got up to leave, but his aunt and uncle asked him to stay for dinner. His aunt felt somewhat guilty towards him and greeted him warmly. Since there was a free meal, Zhang He naturally wouldn't refuse. He planned to have the meal and then go back.

There was no wine at home. His uncle and his grandfather had just gone to the supermarket downstairs to buy beer. His aunt and his grandmother were cooking in the kitchen. At this moment, Zhang He was the only one left in the living room. Pang Pang poked his head out of the room at some point. When he saw Zhang He, he rolled his eyes, then ran out of the room without talking to him and went directly to the computer in the living room to play games.

Zhang He glanced at it. It was a stand-alone game. Pang Pang was controlling an airplane and playing by himself, making the sound of cannons with his mouth. Zhang He rarely came to his aunt's house, so he wasn't very familiar with Pang Pang. In the past, he didn't have the time, and now there was no need. However, thinking of the smell of blood coming from the door of the opposite neighbor's house before he came to his aunt's house, he wanted to ask Pang Pang something.

So he changed his expression to a smile and took the initiative to chat with Pang Pang. If he wanted to get close to the child, he had to talk about things the child was interested in, and games were one of them. At first, Pang Pang ignored Zhang He. Later, when he saw that Zhang He was teaching him how to play and seemed to know a lot about it, he gradually started talking.

Zhang He took the opportunity to ask him why he didn't go to play at the opposite neighbor's house. Pang Pang immediately said unhappily, "My mom won't let me go there. She said there's a leopard in their house that can bite people, and if I get bitten, I have to go get an injection."

Zhang He followed his words and asked, "How can the little leopard in the cage bite people?"

Apparently, Pang Pang was also very interested in the leopard. He glanced at the kitchen and then whispered to him, "Their leopard is a wild one. It's very fierce and even bit through the iron wires of the cage..."

Hearing this, Zhang He paused, "Did it escape?"

"No." Pang Pang seemed hesitant to speak, "Later, it was caught by Xiaoxun's father... But..."

Seeing him stuttering, Zhang He tentatively asked, "Was it sent back?"

"No." Children couldn't keep secrets. After thinking for a while, Pang Pang whispered to him mysteriously, "That little leopard can't live anymore. It didn't eat anything before. After biting through the cage, it also scratched a lot of things in the room. So Xiaoxun cut off all its four paws..."

Zhang He couldn't help frowning. Just as he was about to speak, his uncle opened the door and came back. When he saw Pang Pang playing games, he scolded him and sent him back to his room to do his homework.

At noon during the meal, under his uncle's repeated persuasion to drink, Zhang He also drank a lot. After the meal, he felt a bit sleepy. He didn't dare to stay for long. He walked out of the building in one breath. Blown by the wind, his head became a bit clearer than before.

Since he already knew about the appearance of the living dead, when he was walking, he didn't take a too secluded route. Even in places with people, he was extra careful. When he saw anyone or anything suspicious, he would directly go around.

Although he couldn't be said to be observant and alert in all directions, he was definitely cautious. When passing by a trash can shaped like an ancient tree in the park downstairs, suddenly a strong smell of blood rushed into his nostrils, making Zhang He stop in his tracks.

He scanned around and didn't see any suspicious people. It wasn't until his gaze shifted to the trash can. Most of the things inside were food packaging bags, toilet paper, or ice cream wrappers. There was also a black plastic bag in the right corner. The tied opening was half open. Looking closely, there was a faint red color, which seemed to be bloodstains. It might have been thrown in not long ago, and it hadn't attracted any flies or insects yet.

Zhang He could have just ignored it. But he didn't know if it was because he had drunk a bit too much or he suddenly thought of that fierce-looking cub of a leopard for no reason. On an impulse, he reached out and opened the black bag.

The things inside made him freeze on the spot. Although he was used to bloody scenes in the apocalypse and had some mental preparation, he was still shocked. Fortunately, there were no passers-by around, and there were no women either. Otherwise, if they had screamed after seeing it, he might have run away too.

At this moment, the black cub of a leopard was in the bag. But it was no longer as lively and fierce as the one he had seen a few days ago. Instead, it was a corpse, lying on its back in the bag. Its four limbs, as Pang Pang had said, were all cut off. And it wasn't just cut off with one snip; they were cut into several pieces separately. Its abdomen was also cut open with scissors, and its internal organs were oozing out in a bloody mess. The bag was full of blood. Even more terrifying was that, even though it was dead, its pair of amber eyes were still open, staring fixedly at Zhang He.

Zhang He subconsciously closed the bag, avoiding that tragic gaze. In an instant, he calmed down. His first thought was of the forbidden technique recorded on the other piece of silk he had discovered a few days ago.

He didn't know if it was a coincidence or fate. The corpse in front of him actually matched the requirements recorded on the silk one by one.

First, it had to be a fierce beast, and a wild leopard should be considered a fierce beast. Second, it had to have strong spirit, energy, and vitality. Spirit, energy, and vitality could also be said to be the vitality of life. Thinking that it had endured being tortured for more than half a month and still hadn't died, this requirement should also be met. Third, it had to be brutally killed before death so that the resentment would condense and not dissipate, and the greater the resentment, the stronger the future combat power would be. Just by looking at its eyes after death, Zhang He knew that this point was also in line. Although it was still just a cub of a leopard, it could already hold grudges. Otherwise, it wouldn't be like a person who couldn't close its eyes in death.

Having the help of a powerful and obedient black leopard would undoubtedly be like having an extra life in the apocalypse. He would be safer and more at ease when encountering danger. However, because the forbidden technique was recorded as too bloody and there was a risk of backfiring, he had given up the idea.

But now, such a brutally killed fierce beast was right in front of him, and it had definitely not been dead for more than four hours. So he didn't need to do much himself. As long as he took it back and refined it according to the method recorded on the silk, it would be okay.

Zhang He's heart began to stir for a moment. Thinking of the possibility of backfiring, he hesitated again. But if he gave up this opportunity in front of him, he was afraid that there wouldn't be such a chance again in the future, and he wasn't sure if he would regret it later.

But thinking of the danger after the apocalypse came a year later, he suddenly became alert. Even though he had come from the apocalypse, he wasn't sure that he could escape unscathed. He naturally couldn't miss an extra chance to save his life. Moreover, the backfiring of the forbidden technique wasn't necessarily inevitable, and it could be avoided by being careful. There wasn't much recorded about the result of the backfiring. It only said that it wasn't necessarily fatal, and the worst outcome wouldn't be worse than becoming a living dead person. And the failure rate of the forbidden technique was very high. Even if he refined it, it wasn't necessarily successful. This was related to many factors and might also depend entirely on luck.

Although he had thought a lot in his mind, it had only been a little over half a minute. While he was hesitating, a group of men and women suddenly walked over from the nearby corner. Not wanting to attract attention, Zhang He could only make his final choice. He raised his hand and quickly tied the bag tightly to block the bloody smell inside, then picked it up and turned around to leave.

His aunt's place wasn't far from his residence, but at this moment, the bag in his hand felt like a hot potato, making Zhang He feel that the journey was very long.

After returning home, he calmed down. He put the bag in the utility room and then immediately took out the silk from the peach pit space and started looking at it attentively. To control a beast, that extremely stinky black mass was the most important. According to the record of the forbidden technique, this thing was the essence of an ancient beast. According to Zhang He's understanding, the essence of an ancient beast should be the concentrated essence of all the powers of an ancient fierce beast. In the description of the forbidden technique, this thing was also very rare in ancient times.

The essence of the beast wouldn't smell bad, but due to the long storage time, some substances inside had undergone alienation, so it would have an unpleasant smell. It needed to be simply refined before use.

Zhang He didn't have much Taoist skill. So he could only refine it with a talisman. He got up and took the cinnabar talisman paper left by his father. According to the record in his father's handwritten notes, he drew a Soul-Fixing Talisman and then pasted it on the bag outside the leopard cub's body.

The Soul-Fixing Talisman didn't have high requirements for the person drawing it. He had been forced by his father to practice for two years when he was a child, and he could just imitate the pattern. For others, they might have to waste several pieces of paper to successfully draw one talisman. But for some reason, Zhang He had a very high success rate in drawing talismans. That was why his father had forced him to draw them and even once thought that there was hope for the continuation of the sect.

It was a pity that his father had pushed too hard and it had backfired. After Zhang He started studying, he had been extremely disgusted with talismans and hadn't touched them for more than ten years.

Although the Soul-Fixing Talisman had imprisoned the soul of the leopard cub in the bag, he couldn't determine how long its effect would last. He could only try not to waste a single minute and speed up the process.

Then he took out the black mass of the essence of the beast. According to the refining method in the forbidden technique, he needed to continuously draw several kinds of magic talismans to continuously dissipate the unpleasant smell in the essence of the beast until the stench was completely removed.

Zhang He hadn't drawn talismans with a pen for a long time and was very rusty. Fortunately, he had a high success rate in drawing ordinary talismans, which saved him a lot of time. It wasn't until the evening that he completely removed the unpleasant smell from the black mass.

However, it made many passers-by who came out for a walk or to buy things after dinner in the nearby park retch. Even the snack bars and small stalls downstairs were affected. Not only was the business so cold and quiet that they didn't make much money in the afternoon, but they also couldn't find out where the bad smell was coming from. The passers-by were running and covering their noses with their hands. A few fruit sellers couldn't stand it anymore. Afraid that the fruits on their carts would be spoiled by the smell, they closed their stalls and pushed their tricycles away directly.