Is this what a zombie is?

4. Midnight has arrived.

At this moment, those emerald green eyes were like two will-o'-the-wisps, staring at Jiang Chen and sending chills down his spine.

Just as he was wondering what to do, the old-fashioned wall clock in the lobby downstairs suddenly rang out with a dull thud.

Boom—

thump—

thump -- thump -- thump --

The bells tolled continuously, striking twelve times.

Midnight has arrived!

As the chimes echoed through the empty old house, the thick smoke inside was like a calm lake, suddenly rippled when a pebble was thrown in.

As the ripples spread outwards, all the furnishings in the room began to be renovated.

It's called a renovation, but it's more like pressing the back button.

In Jiang Chen's clear-cut black-and-white vision, a bizarre and fantastical time reversal unfolded.

The peeling paint on the walls resembled wrinkles smoothed out by an iron; the wooden floor, covered in a thick layer of dust, regained its shine after being brushed by the waves; and a genuine leather sofa appeared out of nowhere in the corner covered in thick cobwebs.

In just a few short seconds, the entire bedroom was restored to its tidy and vibrant state, full of life.

Even more bizarrely, a man and a woman appeared in the room without any warning.

It cannot be said that they appeared out of thin air; they have been standing here from the very beginning.

Jiang Chen's appearance was the abrupt and out-of-place third party.

This startled Jiang Chen, who stumbled back several steps and bumped into the dressing table.

However, his body passed through the dressing table without any hindrance, as if it had been molded through, and only when he hit the wall did he feel the real touch.

Jiang Chen quickly realized that everything before him was what had happened in the past, and he was a ghost who was not a bystander.

The young couple ignored him, engaged in a fierce, silent argument. Because Jiang Chen couldn't hear anything, he was an intruding third party, forced to watch a silent drama unfold in the past.

The woman's face was streaked with tears, her lips moved constantly, and she gestured wildly, clearly showing that she was very emotional.

The man's face was ashen, and veins bulged on his forehead, indicating that he was not at peace and was on the verge of exploding in rage.

Jiang Chen watched all this silently, and at that moment, he understood the identity of the female corpse under the bed.

Then it becomes obvious what will happen next.

In a fit of rage, the man shoved the woman hard.

The woman stumbled and hit the back of her head on the corner of the dressing table, falling right under Jiang Chen's nose.

The woman's body slid limply to the ground, her eyes still open, her chest rising and falling slightly, and her mouth opening and closing.

She is still alive and struggling for help.

This time, when their eyes met, Jiang Chen was able to read her gaze, because the longing in her eyes was also his.

Do men know how to call an ambulance?

If that were the case, her body wouldn't still be left in the old house.

Jiang Chen hadn't expected that after a brief moment of panic, the man would do something so crazy.

He grabbed a still-burning incense stick from the incense burner and stuffed it into his wife's slightly open mouth, completely blocking any possibility of her calling for help.

That's it!

He had been wondering before, why is the Resurrection Incense held in the mouth?

Unexpectedly, the reason this resurrection incense was in her mouth was not to save her, but to shut her up and let her die silently.

Shortly afterward, there was some unusual movement on the bedroom door.

The man hurriedly and roughly pushed his wife's still-warm body under the bed.

He took a few deep breaths, walked to the door, and opened it.

There was an elderly couple outside the door. The man was talking to them when he left with them and locked the bedroom door from the inside.

Soon after, it became late at night.

The man returned carrying a huge black woven bag, clearly preparing to dispose of the body.

But when he lay on the floor, searching for the body under the bed...

Under the bed... there was nothing there.

His wife's body vanished into thin air.

Jiang Chen, standing to the side, was equally dumbfounded and incredulous.

The man had left the room, but he hadn't, so he knew better than anyone else.

The body remained under the bed, untouched, and many years later, she lay in that same spot.

He met her gaze and received the Resurrection Incense from her mouth.

Jiang Chen's gaze followed the terrified man as he scanned the room repeatedly.

Finally, the image suddenly froze on the windowsill.

There, a completely black cat was crouching, unnoticed.

A pair of emerald green eyes were coldly watching everything happening inside the room.

These eyes perfectly matched the pair Jiang Chen had seen in the thick smoke.

And it seemed to have seen Jiang Chen as well.

Is that even possible?

The illusion ends here.

The thick smoke in the bedroom was pulled by an invisible force and poured out through the window that had been opened at some unknown time, quickly dissipating into the cold night.

The bedroom returned to its dilapidated, gloomy, and dusty state that it had been sealed off for many years.

Jiang Chen stood alone by the dusty bed, his mind still replaying everything that had just happened, his thoughts churning like the ocean tide.

Why can I see this replay of the past?

Why did that woman, despite holding the resurrection incense, not regain her mobility like I did, but instead become a corpse with some remnants of life?

Most importantly, she disappeared from under the bed, as if she had traveled through time and arrived many years later.

Travel through time and space!

Therefore, the efficacy of the Resurrection Incense is not simply about "resurrecting the dead"; it involves time.

The case just now was repeated, the female corpse mysteriously disappeared, and a letter from a hundred years ago—all of this seemingly absurd things seemed to have a traceable origin.

Jiang Chen shook his head vigorously, forcibly suppressing these chaotic mysteries in his heart.

Regardless, his immediate priority is to survive.

The incense stick with the unknown liquid in his hand had long since disappeared.

The round beaded pendant hanging on his chest had changed its appearance.

The second piece of Resurrection Incense that he had acquired fit perfectly with his beaded pendant, without any gaps.

It's as if they were once a whole, only to be artificially separated.

One, a whole.

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. According to the information he found, there were a total of three Resurrection Incense.

There's a third one.

Does he need to collect all three pieces to be resurrected?

But where is the third piece of the Resurrection Incense? It wasn't written in the letter from a hundred years ago.

Could it be that there was a second letter?

Jiang Chen had too many questions in his mind, and subconsciously looked towards the window.

There, a black cat was lying.

It was the one that pushed the window open, and just like many years ago, it lay by the window, silently watching everything that happened here with its emerald green eyes.