The Horrifying Resurrection chapter 2

After Jack returned to the hotel, he met a man of the same race as him. This man was tall but looked very melancholy. Jack immediately started chatting with him and learned that his name was Tom, a tobacco merchant in charge of tobacco planting and purchasing for a big American company in the island nation. His daughter, Lily, came to visit him from the United States two months ago but suddenly died of a high – fever. The exact cause of her death was still unknown. Because of the hot weather, her body couldn’t be transported back, so she was buried locally. Tom had been in low spirits since his daughter’s death. When he learned that Jack was a photographer from the United States, he was very happy and proposed, “Let’s go somewhere and have a drink!”

“Sure!” Jack readily agreed. The two walked along the street to a small bar, ordered two bottles of wine, and chatted while drinking. They got on very well. After finishing the two bottles of wine, they were a bit drunk. Tom suggested going for a sauna, and Jack agreed immediately. They found a bathhouse named “Mandala” on the street and went in. The waiter was very attentive and arranged them in two adjacent luxury private rooms. After Jack took a shower and returned to his room, the waiter brought a girl to give him a massage.

Jack was surprised to find that it was a white girl. She had long hair and deep – blue eyes, just like the girls in the United States. In the island nation, apart from the indigenous black women, there were usually no other girls working as massage girls. Jack tried to talk to her in English, but she didn’t respond at all. Looking closely, although the girl was beautiful, her expression was dull, her eyes were listless, and she seemed absent – minded. Noticing that her massage skills were very unprofessional, Jack knew that she mainly provided sexual services, so he stopped talking, closed his eyes, and let her massage him. Before he knew it, he fell asleep.

After an unknown period of time, he heard Tom calling outside the door, “Jack! What’s going on? Haven’t you finished yet?” Jack opened his eyes and saw that the girl was still slowly massaging his feet. He quickly said, “Tom, come in. I’m almost done.” Tom walked into the room. As soon as he saw the girl, his eyes froze and his body began to tremble. This girl was none other than his daughter, Lily, who had died two months ago! “Lily, is that you?” Tom tentatively called out, but the girl didn’t show any reaction. Tom suddenly pulled the girl over, held her head, stared into her eyes, and asked, “Lily, say something. Why are you here?” The girl’s eyes remained motionless, with no expression on her face. Tom was stunned for a moment, then quickly pulled down her zipper, turned her around, and sure enough, he found a small green birthmark with a red mole on her left shoulder. Tom let out a scream and shook the girl’s shoulders forcefully, “Lily, say something, Lily!”

Just then, two big black men rushed in and carried the girl away as easily as if she were a chick. Jack was so shocked that he was speechless. “Tom, are you sure you didn’t mistake her? Is she really your daughter?” “How could I mistake my own daughter?” Tom murmured, “But she’s dead! How could she be here? And how could she become like this?” Jack thought for a while and said, “You should go back to her cemetery right away and see if there’s anything unusual.” Tom said, “I’ve thought of that too. I’ll go back right away to find out the truth and solve this mystery! Jack, can you keep an eye on this bathhouse for me?” Jack said, “I’ll try my best. Go and come back quickly.”

After Tom left, Jack really took on the responsibility of monitoring the “Mandala” bathhouse. He often wandered around the bathhouse and secretly took some photos of the exterior, but he didn’t find anything valuable.

Finally, one day, Jack saw the bathhouse owner take the girl out and get into a carriage. He quickly got into another carriage and followed them quietly. The carriages left the city and arrived at a rural farm. There were green tobacco fields, and a dozen black people were lazily hoeing the grass in the fields. Soon, the farm owner came out, whispered a few words with the bathhouse owner, counted out a stack of dollars, and took the girl into the house.

Jack used a zoom lens to take pictures of the whole process from a distance. He was shocked to find that the black people working in the fields had the same expressions and behaviors as the girl. They were dull – looking, their movements were rigid, and they seemed listless, just like living corpses without souls! Jack felt an inexplicable fear. When he got back to the city, he went to a post office and sent a telegram to Tom, telling him about his discovery.

Not long after, Jack made another discovery: a local indigenous man was training Lily to cut tobacco leaves. He stuffed a pill into Lily’s mouth, mumbled a spell, and then taught her how to use the scissors hand – in – hand. If she did it right, he would reward her with a piece of cassava; if she did it wrong, he would whip her. Jack was so angry that he trembled all over. “Damn it! How dare they treat people from the United States like livestock!”

Two days later, Tom came back. He was accompanied by a translator and two police officers sent by the local police in the island nation. Tom told Jack that after he went back, he opened his daughter’s coffin and found that her body was indeed gone. So he went to the police station for help. With the series of photos Jack had taken, it was easy to rescue Lily. However, after being rescued, Lily had lost her memory and the ability to think. She didn’t know anything and didn’t even show simple expressions like crying or laughing. Tom held his daughter in his arms, unable to shed tears. Jack didn’t understand the reason, so he asked the translator. The translator simply told Jack that Lily was actually dead. She was just a “zombie” made by the indigenous people in the island nation using witchcraft. The same was true for those working in the tobacco fields.

In this local area, some indigenous people had an extraordinary ability to extract a special toxin from tropical plants. As long as this toxin came into contact with human skin, it could cause a high – fever and lead to death. Within 24 hours after a person’s death, they could use another toxin to make the dead “come back to life”. At first, this was just a form of revenge against enemies. Later, since these zombies could do some simple work, it gradually evolved into a form of “human” trade. This was an open secret in the island nation. So some families, worried that their dead relatives’ bodies would be stolen to make “zombies”, would cut the dead’s necks or pierce their hearts with big nails when burying them.

So that’s what it was! Jack finally understood the reason for the scene he saw at the indigenous funeral where they cut the dead man’s neck. Jack shook his head repeatedly and said, “This is so barbaric and terrifying! But why did they poison Mr. Tom’s daughter? He’s a friendly foreign merchant!” The translator sneered and said, “Yes, it’s precisely because Tom’s tobacco company has monopolized the tobacco market in the island nation, turning countless islanders into cheap ‘zombies’. So the indigenous people in the island nation used this ancient method to take revenge on him.”