Yama Rising

“There’s a cursed passenger aboard this plane!”

“He’s about to act up… I can sense it. There’s an incredibly powerful force emanating from his body, and it’s neither man nor ghost!”

Curse?

Qin Ye’s eyes flickered softly. He was suddenly reminded of a statement that he’d heard just a little while ago.

“The legendary nameless god of death, known to be cold and cruel. If he’s personally involved in this incident, then what comes after the supernatural outbreak would most likely be a curse.”

“They can run, and they can hide, but every victim cursed by the nameless god of death would still certainly die.”

Am I going to see firsthand the results of those who’ve experienced the Gyeonggi Province disaster?

Whether for fear or concern, they’re thinking of returning to Daehan for a visit… and they’re currently on board this plane?

At once, he couldn’t help but tense up in fear.

It was because the people of Gyeonggi Province would most probably have experienced the abyss of the living dead!

He was going to experience the Train to Pusan!

With the curse came the living dead, otherwise known as zombies. If memory served him well, all who had been bitten by zombies, or had somehow had their bodies tainted through blood contamination or suffusion of energy, would all find themselves cursed and doomed to devolve into another zombie!

It was an endlessly spreading pathogen!

To be fair, Qin Ye would never worry if that were all there was to it. Zombies weren’t even Operative-class Yin spirits, and they would at best be slightly stronger than regular human beings. To an Infernal Judge like himself, dealing with a whole truckload of them would be as easy as batting an eyelid.

What made matters worse was the fact that they were flying several thousands meters in the sky.

If a pathogen like that was allowed to spread unchecked, everything they had planned thus far would be doomed to fail!

Such a massive incident would trigger endless investigations, and they’d no longer be able to stick to the cover that they had picked out for themselves. So long as the Daehan Underworld gets wind of this, Liu Yu would soon discover Qin Ye’s presence, and all of their plans would be completely foiled!

“Tsk…” Qin Ye frowned with annoyance. He wanted to alert his counterparts, and yet Kim Sang-woo’s presence made it difficult for him to do so. Then, just as he was about to shut his eyes to get some rest, the curtains separating the cabin ahead suddenly flung open, and a stewardess dashed out with an ashen expression. Within moments, she rushed right up to Kim Sang-woo and spoke in English, “Senior… Y-you’ve got to come see this…”

“Calm down!” Kim Sang-woo took a deep breath. Cold sweat beaded up on his forehead at once.

He had a bad feeling about this.

“The VIP cabin…” The stewardess’ voice trembled, “Someone’s going mad in the VIP cabin… a-and he’s exhibiting the same symptoms as the ones the airline corporation has warned us about…”

Kim Sang-woo shuddered violently. Then, just as he was about to rush right over, he caught sight of something on the stewardess’ wrist, “What happened there?”

“I--...”

Before she could even explain herself, Kim Sang-woo wrested her hands free from each other, only to discover three bloody wounds on her wrist.

At once, his entire body trembled profusely, and he looked back up at the stewardess with a complicated look in his eyes.

“I-is something going to happen to me?” Their eyes met. She could tell that Kim Sang-woo was hesitant right now, and she grabbed his sleeves desperately, “N-nothing’s going to happen to me… right?”

Yet one could easily tell that greenish purple traces were already starting to spread from the wounds on her wrist.

“You’ll be fine.” King Sang-woo stood up and led the woman back towards the VIP cabin.

I can’t say more… There are already a number of passengers staring at us because of the commotion…

There are some lavatories ahead of us. Kim Sang-woo was filled with vigilance, and his hair stood on end. Bit by bit, he led the stewardess towards the lavatories. Yet he was the only one who knew the truth of what he was holding onto right now.

Thunk! Just as they were about to arrive at the lavatories, the stewardess suddenly tripped and fell to the ground with a resounding thud.

“What’s wrong?” “What happened?” “Is everything alright?”

At once, several passengers in the plane asked with concern. Most of them spoke in Daeian.

However, the stewardess didn’t respond to them. Instead, she simply stood up with great trembling. At once, Kim Sang-woo grabbed her hand tightly. His heart was thumping right out of his chest as he glanced around at the passengers, “It’s fine… she probably just tripped and fell. I’m a doctor, I’ll take care of it…”

Nobody could see how unusually straight and erect his back was right now.

Nobody could see the stewardess’ head, so nobody would be able to see the fresh wound on her head right now. When she fell earlier, she had struck her head against the armrest of an empty seat so hard that her face had completely caved in!

This would have been a fatal injury to any regular person. But… she didn’t die. Instead, she continued to make a soft, gurgling sound from the back of her throat. Saliva dribbled down, while her eyes rolled back so much that only the whites could be seen. Grotesque, grayish veins slowly spread from the base of her collar, and her face revealed a hideous and vile expression. She even appeared to be sniffing something with her nose.

She seemed to be sniffing at… the fragrance of blood.

Kim Sang-woo’s mind practically went blank in that instant. His heart thumped wildly. Shit! How could I be so damned unlucky?! There’s a ton of us LSD agents deployed to flights right now, so why would I of all people encounter something like this?!

The vile creature in front of him was poised to strike at any moment, and there was even the source of pathogen to deal with ahead of him!

He picked up his pace. He could sense the vile creature’s strength growing stronger and stronger! Seconds later, he picked up the stewardess and ran straight for the lavatories, opened the door and tossed her right in.

Crack… Just like a broken toy, the stewardess crashed into the toilet seat, and her limbs cracked and snapped, and became completely twisted at noce. King Sang-woo stared at the horrific sight blankly. Just then, the stewardess that was slumped on the ground suddenly lifted her head and smiled at Kim Sang-woo.

Black blood trickled down the corner of her lips. Only the whites of her eyes could be seen right now. Her dishevelled hair draped down all over her face, barely concealing her menacing expression. Her entire body was convulsing horribly. Kim Sang-woo gasped and slammed the door shut.

At once, he pulled out his communications device.

“Calling the co-pilot… Please radio out immediately. Red alert! I’m taking command! I’ll be heading over to the bridge at once!”

……………………………………………

“Mom…” The cabin was silent and tranquil once more. A little Daeian girl seated in front of Qin Ye was just playing with her Rubik’s cube when she suddenly spoke up, “Did you see how that sister fell earlier? Her feet were twisted backwards. It’s so scary!”

“Shh. Stop being ridiculous.” Her mother hastily covered her mouth, “How is it humanly possible to have one’s feet twisted backwards? Now, be good. We’ll be back in Hanyang soon.”

“But I really saw--...” The little girl pouted.

“You saw it as well?” Another man to the left wearing a hat chuckled grimly, “I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me as well… That stewardess seems to have been hurt rather badly by the fall.”

“That’s right… I saw it too. I thought it was just an illusion.” “This might be on the news! How can someone sustain such severe injuries while working?” “Sigh… How pitiful…”

Just then, a high-school boy glanced at the lavatories with a frown, before turning to the girl beside him, “Sister Kim Shu, I saw the doctor shove the stewardess into the washroom, before scuttling off to the front. Why do you think he did that?”

Kim Shu was just watching some drama serials on her iPad, and she responded lazily with a pout on her lips, “Brother Changho, you’re just being overly sensitive. What’s that got to do with you anyway? Besides, it’s not a long flight to Hanyang, so what’s the use of caring so much about these things?”

Changho paused for a moment, “I mean… haven’t you read the news lately? About… that super virus? The one that’s already taken a lot of lives…”

Kim Shu finally looked up and blinked at Changho. Then, she suddenly trembled, “Are you saying--...”

“Let’s not remain here in this cabin any longer…” Changho whispered, “We should head forward into the VIP cabin ahead of us. The doctor went that way, didn’t he? He’ll know where the safest place on board would be. Besides, that’s also where the staff lounge is located. I’m certain that would be the safest place on board this place. Given how the doctor was acting earlier, I sincerely think this is the best option…”

Kim Shu bit down on her lips, and then nodded. Without even bringing their things along, they carried their backpacks and slowly made their way towards the front.

But just as they passed by the lavatories, there was suddenly a loud thud, and the lavatory doors bulged slightly.

The bulge… looked like it almost resembled a pair of fists.

“AHHHH!!!” Kim Shu screamed and fell to the ground at once.

Just then, Qin Ye, Oda Nobutada and Wang Chenghao opened their eyes in unison.

It’s begun.

The flight of the living dead has just begun.

Given the sealed environment that we’re in right now, it’s spread… will definitely be extreme!

As if stimulated by the loud shriek, the thumping sound on the lavatory door grew louder… Thud, thud… THUD, THUD!!

It was powerful and intense, nothing like the strength that a mere stewardess could muster. Instead, it sounded almost as though a ferocious beast were desperately trying to burst out of its enclosure right now!

“What’s going on?” “What’s wrong with this flight?” “Isn’t… that the stewardess?” “Hey, kiddo, open the door! What’s going on there? Could something have happened?”

Changho stood right in front of the door, caught between a rock and a hard place.

It felt as though he were standing before a rift. Reason and logic warned him not to open the door at any cost, because he would likely see a snapshot of what the underworld was going to be like. But the endless cacophony of voices spurring him on from back in the cabin caused him to reach out to the lavatory door.

“Tsk…” Wang Chenghao sighed, “Mortals… are so troublesome…”

Just then, the violent thumping sound suddenly stopped.

The silence came so abruptly that it caused Changho to gulp nervously.

Kim Shu shrank behind him, trembling profusely as she grabbed rightly to his clothes. Both of them stared intently at the lavatory doors.

Time seemed to freeze in that instant. Changho felt shivers run down his spine. His back was damp with sweat, and he could hear Kim Shu’s heavy breaths at the side of his ears. And then, he proceeded to wrap his fingers around the handle of the door and open it slightly.

Rustle… Everything was silent. He peeked through the gap. A split second later, he gasped in horror, and Kim Shu screamed at the top of her voice. At once, he immediately slammed the door shut once more, before falling backwards onto the ground.

He saw it. He saw it!

The stewardess didn’t even look human right now! A glimpse of her appearance from the gap through the door revealed that her entire face was gnarly and vile, while copious amounts of black blood poured out continuously from her lips. Even her eyes were pitch-black in colour, just like the evil ghosts from horror movies!

“What the hell is going on?” An old man stood up in consternation and marched right over, “We’ve got to save her! That’s the most important thing right now! What are you doing shutting the door?”

“Run…” Changho’s mind went numb, and simply blurted the only thought running through his mind right now, “Don’t open the door!! Do NOT open the door!! It’s an evil ghost inside! It’s the super virus!!”

CRASH!!!

Just then, the glass door separating their cabin from the VIP cabin ahead suddenly shattered, revealing the true picture of hell before their very eyes.

It was almost as though all of the VIP passengers had assembled, yet all of their limbs were horrifically twisted. Their eyes were dark and hazy, and their hair was scattered everywhere. They stood around stiffly like a series of puppets on strings.

Black blood trickled out of their lips like trails of saliva, and they all bared their teeth with a peculiar smile on their faces as they glanced at the living humans in the regular cabin.

“Ah… ha--...” Changho and Kim Shu were located closest to them right now. Their pupils shrank, and they immediately scrambled back with abject fear.

“My god…” The old man who had marched over valiantly immediately dropped the glass of water in his hands in shock. The rest of the passengers who saw this sight immediately got up to their feet at once.

This was a flight to hell - a flight of the living dead!

A moment later, the zombies unleashed a terrifying shriek as they all charged towards the living humans at once!

“AHHHH!!” “Haaa--...” “Sss!!” Blood-curdling shrieks and terrifying sounds filled the cabin. Within moments, blood and gore were splattered everywhere in the cabin.

Snap! A finger flew across the cabin, landing directly on the Rubik’s cube in the little girl’s hand, staining it with black blood.

“RUN!!!” With a desperate cry, the entire cabin of passengers flew into chaos as they scrambled for their lives!