In the third year of the Shaoding era, 1230 AD, Southern Song, Jianning Prefecture.
The night was as dark as ink. Clouds rolled across the heavens, with thunder seemingly rumbling in their depths. In the public mortuary behind the Jianning Prefecture yamen, a lone lamp swayed in the wind, illuminating several bodies laid out inside. The room was utterly silent, save for raindrops falling from the eaves, like the slow passage of time.
Suddenly
“Bang!”
A dull thud sounded as the mortuary door blew open. A chill wind rushed in, making the flame flicker wildly. A constable peered inside, and cold sweat instantly ran down his back
The newly interred woman’s corpse at the center of the room had opened its eyes!
“Lord Song, the corpse... the corpse has come back to life!”
In the rear hall of the Jianning Prefecture yamen, several constables knelt on the floor, trembling with pale faces. Behind the desk, a middle-aged man in a dark blue-green official robe set down the documents in his hands and looked up at them.
