"This old hag Meredith Allison is seriously vicious. She said we’d come to her place at midnight to carry the body, so why the hell did she bury her first?"

"She just wanted quick cash and less hassle, that’s all. You’ve been doing this job for over ten years. Don’t tell me you still can’t see through something this basic. Hurry up and dig. Don’t mess up the timing."

...

Serena Whitmore was wrapped in a straw mat, lying inside a freshly dug grave, listening to the dull thud of shovels striking dirt above her.

The hole was getting shallower bit by bit, and the soil covering the mat was slowly cleared away.

Relying on the power of the spirit spring, Serena gradually got her senses back. Then came strength, little by little, returning to her limbs.

"This woman Meredith Allison is such a joke. She knew her daughter-in-law died in childbirth, and when she buried her, she didn’t even bother changing her clothes. Look at this mess, covered in blood like this. How are we supposed to carry her?"

One of the corpse thieves yanked open the straw mat, lifted a torch, and looked Serena up and down in the pit, his face full of disgust.

"No need for you to carry me. I can walk on my own."

Serena’s eyes flew open. She braced her hands and shot straight to her feet.

"Holy crap! She’s alive—alive, alive, alive again..."

The corpse thief didn’t even have time to process what he was seeing before he stumbled backward in terror, scared out of his mind by the scene in front of him.

"Y-you... how are you still alive?"

The other thief’s legs gave out on the spot. He dropped to the ground with a thud, and the torch in his hand almost slipped free.

"Why shouldn’t I be alive?"

With one step, Serena leaped straight out of the grave, more than a meter deep, moving so clean and fast she looked nothing like someone who had just crawled out from among the dead.

"S-s-she’s not a ghost, is she?"

"W-we... we didn’t get played by Meredith Allison, did we?"

The two corpse thieves stared at each other, their eyes full of shock and suspicion.

They had clearly confirmed it with Meredith Allison. The woman had stopped breathing at noon, and she’d already been buried here for more than three hours.

So now... now the thing they’d dug up was actually a living, breathing person?

"What were you digging up my grave for?"

Serena Whitmore ignored the shock and confusion in their eyes. She just looked at them coldly, her gaze sharp as ice.

"W-what else could it be for? W-we were gonna... gonna take you for a ghost marriage."

The corpse thief was shaking all over, scared out of his mind. Serena’s eyes had completely rattled him. His head was a total mess, and the truth slipped right out before he could stop it.

"When did Meredith Allison come to you?"

Serena knew exactly what had happened. Meredith Allison had secretly made her drink safflower soup, and that was what pushed her into the massive bleeding.

Back then, though, she’d just given birth. She was so weak she couldn’t even lift a hand. On top of that, the news of her husband’s death had hit her like a brick, leaving her dizzy and broken. She simply hadn’t been able to hold on.

"T-the day before yesterday. She said you were having a hard labor, said you’d been trying to give birth for two whole days and still hadn’t delivered. Said even if the baby came out, y-you probably wouldn’t make it, so that’s why..."

The corpse thief’s teeth were chattering so hard they clicked. He wouldn’t even meet Serena’s eyes, his gaze darting everywhere, like he had no idea where to look.

"Hah. I only started having pains at seven o’clock last night. By a little after eleven this morning, I’d already given birth. What hard labor? You and Meredith Allison planned this together. This was straight-up murder."

"And another thing, ghost marriage is feudal superstition. On top of that, you’re stealing and selling corpses. Put those two crimes together, and if the police get involved, you won’t have enough bullets to go around."

Serena pulled back her gaze and casually pushed aside her tangled hair, though her fingers were still cold.

Inside, her thoughts were racing. Should she deal with these two right here on the spot, or drag them down the mountain and send them to the station with Meredith Allison so they could all answer for it together?

【031974, confidential mission one has been successfully completed.】

【In recognition of your outstanding performance, aside from granting your pre-rebirth wish, the organization has also secured two additional rewards for you.】

【One: Farm Space. Two: Animal Speech Ability

random species

.】

【May your days ahead be safe, smooth, and full of plenty.】

【031974, keep it up.】

The crisp little notification in her mind made the corners of Serena’s mouth lift before she even realized it.

"What? Th-then what are we supposed to do..."

After hearing what Serena Whitmore had just said, the two corpse thieves felt their hearts sink straight to the bottom.

And now, seeing that eerie smile suddenly spread across her face, they instantly broke out in cold sweat.

"Relax," Serena said, rolling her slightly numb arm as she spoke. "I’ll make sure you stay alive long enough to taste a bullet."

The two grave robbers still hadn’t processed what she meant by that when she moved.

One chop each.

Both of them dropped unconscious on the spot.

Serena didn’t waste a second. She dragged them both neatly into her space.

After stomping out the torch and tossing that into the space too, she turned and hurried down the mountain.

Her babies had just been born, and she had died before she even got one proper look at them.

She had no idea how the children were doing now.

...

An hour later, she was back at Quanshui Village at the foot of the mountain.

After marrying into the Allison family, she had lived in their house: three blue-brick tiled rooms, plus two side rooms made of packed mud, with no courtyard wall out front.

The moment she reached the doorway, Serena heard a baby crying from her in-laws’ room.

Right after that came Meredith Allison’s cursing, sharp and nasty.

"What the hell are you crying for? All you do is cry. If I’d known you’d be this much trouble, I should’ve buried you together with your dead mother."

"What kind of crap are you spouting now? Get up and see what’s going on already."

Harold Allison had been woken by the noise, and his tone was sour.

"She’s just a useless little money-loser anyway. Don’t know why you even kept her."

Meredith kept grumbling under her breath, but she still hauled herself up.

"Keeping her around has its use. If you don’t get it, then zip it. Hurry up and calm her down. Don’t let her keep crying, it’s giving me a freaking headache."

Harold Allison urged impatiently, his face full of irritation.

The lamp was lit inside the room, and under that dim yellow glow, the baby’s cries suddenly turned sharper, more piercing, like a needle drilling straight into the ears.

"You little money-losing brat, cry again and I’ll strangle you."

Serena Whitmore knew right away Meredith Allison wasn’t just running her mouth this time.

She was really pinching the child.

Her eyes went cold as ice. She fixed her gaze on that window, then reached up and pulled a black hairpin from her hair.

After forcing open the main room door with the pin, she strode straight toward the room where Meredith Allison and Harold Allison slept.

The second she stepped inside, she snatched the crying baby straight out of Meredith Allison’s hands.

Then her eyes swept the room in a flash.

The other child was nowhere in sight.

Right after that came two crisp slaps.

Smack. Smack.

Meredith Allison’s face swelled up almost instantly.

"Meredith Allison, where is my other child?"

Serena Whitmore remembered it clearly. She had given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Back then, she had obviously heard both babies crying. So why was there only one left now?

"Oh my god—y-y-you... you came back to life?"

The moment Meredith Allison blurted that out, she didn’t even have time to care about the burning pain on her face. She was so scared her crotch turned hot, and she straight-up wet herself.

Then her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot.

"Harold Allison, where is my other child?"

Seeing Meredith Allison had passed out, Serena Whitmore turned and stared at her father-in-law, who was still lying stiff on the bed in a daze.

"Y-y-you... are you alive, or are you..."

Harold Allison had a bit more nerve than Meredith Allison, but he was still shaking all over. One sentence came out of his mouth with his tongue tied in knots.

"I’m talking to you. Where is my other child?"

Serena Whitmore was so anxious she looked like she might snap at any second. There was a fierce edge in both her voice and her eyes.

On top of that, she was still wearing the blood-stained clothes from childbirth. Her hair was a total mess, and both feet were caked in mud.

Looking at her like this, she really did seem like someone who had just clawed her way out of the ground to settle a score.

"It... it... Joanna's place."

Harold Allison didn’t want to say it, but he was even less willing to keep his mouth shut.

After all, what was his daughter’s life compared to his own? No contest.

He had seen with his own eyes that his eldest daughter-in-law had breathed her last. Blood had spilled all over the floor. How could a dead person possibly still be alive?

And when night fell, he and his second son had carried her up the back hill. He had even touched her then. Her body had already gone stiff.

So the thing standing in front of him now had to be a ghost.

Otherwise, why wasn’t she calling them Dad and Mom anymore?

He’d heard people say that women who died in childbirth became vicious ghosts. Scary ones. He needed to send this ghost away, ASAP.

"Why would my child be with Joanna Caldwell?"

Serena Whitmore’s brows drew tight, her face turning cold.

Joanna Caldwell was her sister-in-law. The two of them had gotten pregnant almost one after the other.

She had heard Joanna was about to give birth too. Early this morning, the woman had rushed back home with her big belly and all. So what, she came back for Serena’s baby?

"Because... because..."

Seeing that Serena Whitmore had no intention of leaving, Harold Allison stammered and fumbled, unable to force out the rest.

"You don’t want to talk, huh? Fine. Save it. Once I get my son back, I’ll settle this whole score with you properly."

Harold Allison kept opening his mouth without saying anything, and Serena Whitmore completely ran out of patience. She raised her hand and slapped him twice, hard.

After that, she bent down, picked up her daughter, and turned to leave.

As she passed Meredith Allison, she lifted her foot and drove two kicks straight into the woman’s stomach.

Then she grabbed Meredith by the collar and flung her directly at the wall opposite them.

There was a dull bang, then a shrill scream right after it. Serena Whitmore’s lips curved slightly.

For a long-overdue reunion gift, the old couple should be pretty satisfied with that.