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"He... he isn't dead! It's impossible, his heart has already stopped beating... how could this be..." The bespectacled doctor stood frozen, pointing at Li Zhisheng, who was slowly opening his eyes.
I felt a mix of joy and shock. "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and save him!" I shouted.
"Oh... oh, right!" The two doctors squatting beside Li Zhisheng snapped back to reality in unison.
In the meantime, the medical staff had lifted Li Zhisheng onto a stretcher, and the three of us—Hu Fang, Meng Zhuang, and I—followed the doctors down the stairs.
We intended to accompany the ambulance to the hospital, but one of the doctors raised a hand to stop us. "No need for so many people; just one will do."
Without hesitation, I stepped into the back of the ambulance and turned back to say, "I'll go with you; you can take a taxi after you get there..." Before I could finish, the medical personnel in the driver's seat shouted, "Are you done? Hurry up!"
Hearing this, the doctor next to me quickly slammed the back door shut with a loud bang and replied, "Done! Let's go!" As the door closed, the vehicle started moving.
Inside the ambulance, Li Zhisheng lay flat on a stretcher, secured by two black safety belts around his waist and legs, with a transparent oxygen mask covering his face.
I sat beside him, concerned. "It's okay; we'll be at the hospital soon. Hang in there!" At this moment, Li Zhisheng was gradually regaining consciousness. He opened his mouth to respond to me but suddenly coughed up a stream of blood that stained the oxygen mask red.
"Doctor! Doctor!" I tapped the doctor who was preparing an injection, signaling him to check on Li Zhisheng. But without looking back, he hurriedly drew medication from a bottle into a syringe. "Don't disturb me; keep talking to your friend. Don't let him fall asleep again..."
After hearing this, I wanted to continue encouraging Li Zhisheng when unexpectedly he pulled his hand out from under the safety belt. He removed the oxygen mask from his face, and blood immediately flowed out from it.
Li Zhisheng opened his bloody mouth and said, "I'm not going to die; there's no need to worry." With that, he tossed aside the oxygen mask and reached for the knife embedded in his chest.
"What are you doing?!" The doctor turned just in time to see this scene. Both the doctor and I reached out simultaneously to stop Li Zhisheng. But in an instant, Li Zhisheng tightened his grip on the knife's handle and yanked it out forcefully, causing blood to spurt from the wound.
The doctor quickly grabbed some gauze nearby and pressed it against Li Zhisheng's chest. "If you pull it out like that, you'll die! Do you understand?"
Li Zhisheng scoffed lightly. "I'm not going to die... Just move aside; I'm fine now. Let me out of here."
"How could everything be fine? Just look..." The doctor raised his hand, preparing to give Li Zhisheng further treatment. I chimed in, "Please, just listen to the doctor."
But as soon as the doctor's hand left, I noticed that the deep wound had completely healed. Aside from the torn clothes and some bloodstains around, there was no trace of any injury—no scar left behind.
Although I had experienced something similar before, Li Zhisheng didn't have a Nine Star Diagram. Could it really be true that after being implanted with Soul Burial, he couldn't die?
"Do you believe it now?" Li Zhisheng looked at the doctor, who was dumbfounded. The doctor seemed unable to accept what he was seeing; he rubbed his eyes and searched Li Zhisheng's body again until he finally tried to believe it when he confirmed that Li Zhisheng was indeed healed.
"What kind of monster are you... Oh no, what kind of person are you?!" The doctor stammered. Li Zhisheng coldly replied, "Now that you believe it, let me out of the car."
"Stop, stop the car!" The doctor knocked on the glass window connecting the back seat to the driver's cabin. The driver turned around and, seeing his colleague signaling to stop, pulled over.
Before long, the two doctors in the front opened the back door and asked, "What happened?" I was momentarily at a loss for how to explain.
"This person just suddenly got better for some reason..." one of the doctors said. "We clearly saw him almost dead; how could he possibly recover out of nowhere..." As they spoke, the two doctors stepped into the cabin.
After a thorough examination, several medical staff finally accepted that Li Zhisheng had healed and allowed me to get out of the car. As I left, I kept apologizing to them and assured them that I would cover any related costs incurred during this incident. However, they thought we were playing a prank and sternly reprimanded us not to do such things again.
As soon as the ambulance drove away, I asked Li Zhisheng, "What exactly happened? Who did this to you?"
"It was me..." Hearing this made my blood boil. But considering his unstable emotions at that moment, I forced myself to suppress my anger.
"Why would you do something like this?" I asked in a relatively calm tone. "I apologize for not telling you about this beforehand. The reason I didn’t is that I knew if I did, you would definitely try to stop me..."
After hearing this, I struggled to keep my emotions in check. "So can you tell me now..."
He nodded. "Soul Burial has three stages. The first stage is slumber; if I die during this stage, then Soul Burial will enter a permanent 'death' state with me and will be difficult to summon again. The second stage is dormancy; during this stage, Soul Burial can awaken but cannot directly merge with me yet—it must wait for an opportunity."
"But once Soul Burial enters the second stage, as far as I know, it can no longer be removed. It can share this body with me, and I will enter an immortal state, allowing me to become the incubator for Soul Burial. The third stage is called 'Surprise,' at which point Soul Burial will have fully adapted to my body and found the best moment for fusion..."
As he spoke, Li Zhisheng appeared somewhat sorrowful. He sighed deeply and continued, "If it reaches the third stage, my two souls will merge with Soul Burial, completing the soul refining within me. At that time, my main soul will disappear, replaced by one that can destroy an entire city, or even more—'Burial.'"
Hearing this, I pondered, "Burial? So this is the true meaning of Soul Burial, not the burial implied by Death Apostle, is that right?"
"Exactly. Soul Burial is not a method of creation; rather, the Vengeful Spirit within me is called Burial. Moreover, the soul refining in the human world is entirely different from that in the Underworld. The Vengeful Spirit refined from within the human body is like a vampire unafraid of the sun, able to move freely during the day while possessing even greater power. When that time comes..."
"So you want to use suicide to seal it?" I interrupted him. "There's no need to wait until then; before that happens, I will find a way to expel 'Burial' from you. You know yourself that this thing was created by your ancestors, and since it can be created, there must be a way to break it. Trust me." I placed my hand on his shoulder.
Li Zhisheng glanced at my hand on his shoulder and said, "Since you've gone this far, it would be unseemly for me to seek death. I believe you!" He then placed his hand on my shoulder as well, and we exchanged smiles...
It was already early morning as we walked under the dim streetlights. The streets were deserted, with only a few private cars speeding by on the side.
"Oh no!" Li Zhisheng suddenly exclaimed. I hurriedly asked, "What’s wrong now?" He replied, "Didn't you say for Hu Fang and Meng Zhuang to follow us out? They must be almost at the hospital by now..."
I slapped my forehead and said, "Right! How could I forget about that..." I reached for my phone to call them but realized that in my earlier panic, I had smashed it to pieces.
Li Zhisheng chuckled and handed me his phone. "When I woke up and saw the phone fragments on the ground, I guessed it was yours... Use mine."
I pretended to be angry. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten! And it's all because of you. Just so you know, you have to buy me a new phone for the one you broke; otherwise, we’re not done..."
With that, I dialed Hu Fang using Li Zhisheng's phone. "Hello? Is this Li Zhisheng?!” came Hu Fang's surprised voice from the other end.
I chuckled mischievously. "Li Zhisheng is dead; it's me, Shen Xu..." Upon hearing this, Li Zhisheng punched me hard on the back. I yelped and quickly said into the phone, "He’s not dead! He’s not dead..."
On the other end of the line, Hu Fang sounded confused. "Is he dead or not?! Where are you guys? I'm at the hospital but can't find you!" It seemed she sensed my joke; her voice relaxed slightly.
I replied, "We're on our way home now. Let's talk about it when we get back..." With that, I hung up the phone and handed it back to Li Zhisheng.
We walked home in silence along the road. As soon as we entered the house, I noticed that Hu Fang and Meng Zhuang had returned before us.
I asked as soon as I stepped inside, "How did you get back so quickly?" Upon hearing my voice, Hu Fang turned around in a hurry, but when she saw Li Zhisheng's bloodied face, she almost screamed, "Are you... human or ghost?"
At that moment, Li Zhisheng's mood had returned to normal. He made a ghostly face and said in an extremely low voice, "I am a ghost."
Seeing this, Hu Fang was not scared at all; instead, she walked over and patted Li Zhisheng on the shoulder. "You're alive? What on earth happened..."
I smiled and nodded towards Li Zhisheng. "You should ask this ghost..." With that, I went into my room and changed out of the blood-stained clothes.
Sitting alone by the bed, my expression darkened. I thought to myself, "The Soul Burial on Li Zhisheng is like a ticking time bomb that could 'explode' at any moment. If I let him move out, not only would his life be in danger, but those around him—and even this city—could face disaster..."
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