Chapter 31: The Inn Ablaze (Part Two)

Kerosene, firewood, and charcoal—all were highly flammable. The moment they met the flames, they ignited at once, and the fire soared ever higher. In just a short while, the entire inn was swallowed by an inferno.

Billowing black smoke rose into the sky, shrouding half the heavens above the inn, a truly spectacular sight. The crowd gathered to watch, their emotions rising along with the flames and smoke—fear mingled with excitement as they whispered among themselves.

The county magistrate’s assistant had already retreated into the crowd. Stroking his beard with a satisfied smile, he watched the fire he’d set grow into a raging blaze, feeling a sense of accomplishment. Where one falls, one must rise again. He’d suffered humiliation in this very inn before, but today, he would reclaim his dignity with this fire. No matter what demons or ghosts lurked within, all would be reduced to ashes in the blazing flames.

“Hmm, what’s that smell? Where’s that fragrance of roast meat coming from?”

Just as the assistant was relishing his triumph over evil, an enticing aroma of roasting meat drifted from the burning inn.

“That’s strange. Why would there be a smell of roasting meat in the inn? Could it be that some pork or lamb left in the kitchen is being roasted by the fire?”

Someone muttered under his breath, but then his expression changed as he realized what kind of “meat” might be roasting. Others, who had the same thought, couldn’t suppress themselves and ran aside to vomit.

The aroma was most likely from bodies inside the inn, now roasted by the flames.

Everyone in the crowd covered their mouths; once the truth was known, the alluring scent only made them nauseous.

Fang Yue, too, felt sick, but something else occurred to him. He saw Constable Li standing by the magistrate’s assistant and squeezed his way over.

“Constable Li,” Fang Yue called without preamble, “There are other buildings around the inn. Though they’re a bit distant, we should still prevent the flames from spreading and causing a fire.”

Constable Li glanced around the inn and shared the same concern. He leaned in and repeated Fang Yue’s warning to the magistrate’s assistant.

The assistant recognized Fang Yue as the scholar who’d once helped him in the inn and held him in some esteem. He ordered Constable Li to take some yamen runners and militia to patrol the area, making sure the fire wouldn’t spread to nearby homes.

The blaze raged for the better part of a day before it finally began to die down.

The terrifying events that everyone feared did not come to pass. Throughout the burning, all remained calm—at least for the most part. There were minor incidents: Fang Yue, Constable Li, and their patrol encountered a few occasions where flames leapt toward neighboring houses. Thankfully, they caught these in time and put them out before any damage was done. For his efforts, Fang Yue even gained dozens of merit points—a pleasant surprise.

Aside from that, nothing else happened. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the two-story inn was reduced to a heap of ashes.

Some spectators were disappointed that no demons or monsters had escaped the burning inn; it felt anticlimactic. But most of the crowd breathed a sigh of relief. Missing out on excitement was a small price to pay—witnessing a huge fire was thrilling enough. If something had actually emerged from the blaze, lives would surely have been lost.

After the fire, the magistrate’s assistant, brimming with pride, stepped forward and declared loudly, “I have not failed in my duty. The evil spirit that haunted the inn has been purged by this fire. You may all rest easy now.”

The townsfolk looked at one another, then finally erupted into applause.

The assistant nodded in satisfaction. Once the applause had gone on long enough, he raised his hand for silence, signaling that he had more to say.

“Though the evil has been vanquished, the ruins must be cleared. There may still be the bodies of the missing men inside, and they should be recovered and given proper burial. Who among you is willing to volunteer for this task? Rest assured, the county office will reward you handsomely.”

When he finished speaking, silence fell. The townsfolk exchanged uneasy glances—no one stepped forward.

No one had actually seen the evil spirit; they couldn’t be sure it had truly perished in the blaze. If it was still lurking under the ruins, clearing the debris could be deadly. Those men who’d entered the inn and never returned now lay in there, reduced to charred corpses—a grim warning to all.

Moreover, handling corpses was a grave taboo, especially those burned to cinders, said to be filled with vengeful energy.

For all these reasons, no one volunteered. And as for the “handsome reward,” few trusted the county office’s promises. Who knew if, after braving danger and taboos, the officials wouldn’t fob them off with a few copper coins? The gentry might claim the reward had been distributed, but whether it reached the volunteers depended on the petty clerks.

Seeing no one respond, the assistant wasn’t disappointed—he’d anticipated this. “Since you all value your lives, I won’t fault you. Bring Zhang Yekun and Zhao Sicheng forward.”

Two prisoners in shackles were brought forward by yamen runners.

The assistant’s expression turned stern. In a harsh voice, he said, “You two have committed crimes time and again, refusing to reform. You should be exiled to the frontiers, a fate from which few return. However, Heaven cherishes life, and I will give you a chance to redeem yourselves. Retrieve the bodies from the inn’s ruins, and you may atone for your crimes.”

The two prisoners hesitated. The strange events in the county had been the talk of the prison, and they’d heard all the rumors.

“What are you waiting for? Get on with it!” The crowd grew restless and began to jeer.

These two were notorious in town and had few sympathizers.

In the end, Zhang Yekun and Zhao Sicheng steeled themselves and went ahead. Exile meant near-certain death; here, at least, they had a chance to survive.

Both were hardened rogues. Once they made up their minds, they threw themselves into the task. Over the course of several hours, they dug out more than a dozen charred bodies from the ashes, drawing gasps from the onlookers.

These remains were surely those of the men who had vanished in the inn—all of them met a tragic end.

When the first body was retrieved and nothing untoward happened, the prisoners’ nerves eased. They worked all the harder, eager to atone for their crimes so easily rather than risk exile—a rare stroke of luck.

With the recovery of the corpses nearly complete and the ordeal drawing to a close, everyone felt a wave of relief. It seemed the evil haunting the inn had truly been dealt with.

Most fear springs from the unknown; if human hands can resolve it, then there’s nothing to dread.

Some even thought, “If an evil spirit can be burned to death, it’s not so fearsome after all. The other monsters and demons in town could be dealt with the same way—a good fire would cleanse them all.”

But just as everyone let their guard down, disaster struck.

The charred bodies—over a dozen of them, lying in the ashes—suddenly sprang up like frightened frogs in a pond, kicking their legs and leaping toward the crowd in a frenzy.