There were at least a hundred people in the yard, but it was eerily quiet, and even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.

Each person had a look of astonishment on their faces, followed by deep fear.

Wasn't Er Gou already dead over a month ago? Why... why was he here?

The dead came back to life?!

And he was still stealing chickens in the village every night. It was such a bizarre thing that if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you wouldn't believe it.

Could it be that Er Gou didn't die?

That's impossible. He was buried underground for over a month. How could he still be alive?

Look at him, covered in mud, as if he crawled out from underground. Could he be a zombie?

Everyone present felt a chill down their spines. No one could explain what was happening. What was going on?

Suddenly, Er Gou grinned, with a chilling smile, and then spat out a chicken bone from his mouth.

We gasped in horror. So the chickens that had been stolen every night were eaten by Er Gou, and he ate them raw. This was definitely not normal.

Could it be that Er Gou had turned into a zombie?

But there were no obvious signs of him being a zombie!

After a moment of silence, someone in the crowd shouted, "Zombie!"

Fear spread like a plague, and people panicked, screaming and running away. In an instant, everyone fled, leaving only a dozen brave young adults.

Over a month ago, Er Gou was killed by a river monster, drowned to death.

Over a month later, Er Gou, who had already been buried and laid to rest, dug up his grave and returned to the village from the mountain.

Even in supernatural novels, one couldn't come up with such a mind-boggling horror story!

Fatty trembled and asked me what was going on. I shook my head and said, "Who can we ask? This is too bizarre. Perhaps only God knows the truth behind it."

Er Gou's mother arrived in tears, crying and calling out for her son.

For a mother, no matter how her child changes, they will always be her flesh and blood.

Er Gou's mother tried to rush over, but she was forcibly stopped by the members of the small team.

Dad said to Er Gou's mother, "It's dangerous! Don't get close to Er Gou!"

Er Gou's mother cried incessantly, "Let me go. That's my son. My son is still alive. Waaah!"

Dad pointed at Er Gou and said, "Er Gou's mother, look carefully. Er Gou's face is covered in livor mortis, his flesh is starting to decay. Are you sure he's still alive? And he's eating raw chickens every day. I suspect he has undergone corpse transformation!"

Er Gou's mother sat helplessly on the ground, wailing loudly in the late night, "My son, what have you done? Why would God treat you like this? Why?"

In rural areas, there is a strong belief in "rest in peace." It's a deep-rooted concept in China's five thousand years of tradition. So I could understand the sorrow that Er Gou's mother was feeling. It was already painful enough for the living to bid farewell to the deceased, but I never expected such a thing to happen after death.

Dad gestured to the other members of the small team, and two men took out a fishing net and slowly approached Er Gou, trying to catch him in it. They couldn't let Er Gou run around the village now that he had undergone corpse transformation. Although he was only eating chickens for now, it would be troublesome if he harmed people.

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In fact, thinking about it, it was quite terrifying. Every night, when the night was quiet, a dead person would run around the village. The scene was extremely horrifying.

The two men approached with caution, trying to cover Er Gou with the fishing net, but Er Gou suddenly turned around and, like a cannonball, crashed through the low wall of the backyard, escaping into the dark night.

The two men were completely caught off guard, standing there in a daze, holding the fishing net. The low wall now had a large hole, and the chilly wind poured in through the hole, causing everyone present to shiver.

After a few seconds, people came back to their senses and shouted, "Chase him! Catch him before he escapes!"

A group of people with torches rushed out, and Xie Qiang and I had lost all sleepiness, so we joined the search team to catch Er Gou.

Fatty, being a coward, became scared and ran back home in an instant.

About ten to twenty people with torches searched around the village for several rounds, but the torches went out, and they didn't find any trace of Er Gou.

But at this moment, Er Gou was like a timed bomb, unpredictable as to when he would explode, so he had to be found and dealt with.

Finally, after discussing, everyone thought that Er Gou might have run to Hook Mountain.

Dad asked Er Gou's mother to lead the way and go to Hook Mountain first to see Er Gou's grave.

When everyone arrived at Er Gou's grave, the sky was already turning pale.

"It's right there in front, in the bamboo forest!" Er Gou's mother shouted and led everyone into the bamboo forest.

There was a large area of green bamboo here. When the wind blew, the bamboo made a rustling sound, tranquil and elegant.

According to reason, this place had good feng shui and should not have experienced such a phenomenon as corpse transformation. So why did Er Gou become like this?

My intuition told me that things were definitely not as simple as they seemed.

Er Gou's mother arrived in front of the grave and suddenly screamed, almost fainting.

We gathered around, only to see that Er Gou's grave had been dug open, revealing a hole. The coffin underground had also been opened, becoming an empty grave.

Actually, we had already guessed such a scene. Since Er Gou crawled out from underground, his grave must have been destroyed. Otherwise, how could Er Gou have climbed out?

The key question was here. Did Er Gou crawl out on his own? Or did someone secretly dig up the grave and "release" Er Gou?

If Er Gou crawled out on his own, it would be a case of corpse transformation.

If someone "released" Er Gou, then things would be even more confusing. Who released Er Gou? Why did they turn him into this state? What was their purpose?

One of the young hunters in the small team circled the grave and suddenly squatted down, pointing to the ground. "Look here, there are two sets of footprints!"

We followed the young hunter's finger and indeed saw two sets of footprints in the soil behind the grave. One set of footprints was very small, indicating a child's feet. The other set of footprints was clearly from an adult. But it definitely wasn't left by any of us because no one had walked behind the grave.

From the looks of it, someone had indeed been here and had dug up Er Gou's grave.

Er Gou's mother cried out in anger, "Who did this despicable thing? We had no grievances or grudges. Why did they harm my son? I curse them!"