Suspicious Points

"Three, Zhu Li, the person who took the hairpin for him wasn't Madam Zhao. Madam Zhao was trapped in Old Zhu's family's place and couldn't leave. So, who was that woman? The answer is on Zhu Li's tombstone."

Zheng Wuyou didn't wait for everyone to react before revealing all her findings to those present.

At the same time, she wrote keywords for each point on the ground.

One, Mid-July.

Two, the back mountain is full of graves.

Three, Zhu Li.

This wasn't a secret; she hid nothing from everyone in the room except for the woman inside.

Originally, she couldn't connect these questions.

If she hadn't discovered Zhu Li's grave yesterday, she might never have found the common thread between these questions.

"What do you mean Mid-July? How do you know the children's rhyme?" Hu Yu looked at the words on the ground, her voice filled with confusion and bewilderment.

Zheng Wuyou sighed softly.

She had indeed thrown out too many questions at once.

This time, Wansi was surprisingly proactive, rushing forward to explain excitedly for Zheng Wuyou, "Didn't you guys hear it at night? Every day, the children's rhyme rings in our ears like a curse..."

"And as soon as night falls, all sorts of ghosts and monsters come out! The desolate scenery at night is the real Zhu Village!"

Wansi's reaction this time surprised Zheng Wuyou.

Her voice, with a childlike tone, was filled with determination, expressing sentiments beyond her age.

This strange and timid little girl was now like a sparkling gem. Zheng Wuyou, while surprised, also cast a look of admiration.

Wen Dian, concentrating, shook his head. He really hadn't paid attention to the commotion at night.

"The flower platform is the entire Zhu Village. The first point encompasses the latter two," Miao Laisheng's indifferent voice sounded from behind everyone.

He stood behind the group, who were crouched in a circle, with his hands tucked into his chest.

The dark blue pajamas made a faint rustling sound.

His arrogant demeanor made him seem like a different person compared to his previous cool temperament.

Zheng Wuyou nodded in agreement, building on his words, "Yes, the first two points combined reveal that all the graves on the mountainside are filled with people trapped in today's Zhu Village."

Zheng Wuyou pointed to the ground, drawing the shape of a tombstone.

Before, she didn't understand why the sacrificial altar would reference a sundial.

Now, she understood in an instant.

Here, day after day, the sundial was the key to the village's countdown.

Wen Dian recalled the tombstone he had seen and remembered from yesterday. He thought he had glimpsed Zhu Youcai.

At the time, he thought it was a common name and didn't pay it any mind.

Thinking of this, goosebumps rose all over his body.

The sunlight outside was warm, but upon learning this conclusion...

The sunlight in his eyes was suddenly replaced by a cold tone, as if a layer of dark clouds had enveloped the sunlight.

"So, we... have been in contact with dead people all along!?" Guo Mu exclaimed, sitting on the ground, no longer caring if his pants would get wet from tea.

Even the main hall, where half the sunlight shone, now felt like a chilling wind.

Glancing around, he saw the man in the dark blue pajamas calmly shake his head. "Half right. The other half of the answer is clear when you look down on this desolate village."

His gaze drifted out the door.

Everyone began to imagine the full picture of the desolate village.

Only Zheng Wuyou quickly conceived a shape in her mind.

It was the place she had found eerie the first time she arrived.

On both sides of the stone path were neatly arranged houses with black walls, contrasting with the white-painted wooden house at the end.

And the entrance to Zhu Village was a plaque.

Also black.

This looked like...

"It's so similar..." Uncle Cai's mumbling voice came from the crowd.

Sensing everyone's gaze on him, Uncle Cai paused before sheepishly explaining, "I used to work in funerals. Although I didn't understand what you were saying, when I heard that young man talk about looking down on the whole village, I thought of... Ah, this shape looks too much like the bottom of a coffin with white pillows."

The bottom of a coffin...

This sentence struck everyone like a bolt from the blue.

"Could there be a Chu Renmei hidden here too..." Guo Mu quickly turned to look at the corner behind him, as if an unknown entity was lurking in the shadows.

This guess made him involuntarily shiver.

"I knew we shouldn't have gone to the 83 Shopping Mall! I'm so unlucky!" Hu Yu kicked the door, making a loud thud.

"Every night, this village is covered in yellow paper and countless white candles in front of the doors. That's all the information I have. Are you guys... really not noticing anything unusual?" As she said this, Zheng Wuyou's sharp gaze swept unintentionally towards Wen Dian and Guo Mu.

Her words were pointed, and anyone who understood would grasp the meaning.

"I..." Wen Dian hesitated for a moment.

As expected, the wooden house wasn't the only place with unusual occurrences at night.

Zheng Wuyou stood up, stretching her numb legs, and gestured for him to continue.

"Actually, I've also heard a children's rhyme, but it's not quite the same as what you heard..." Wen Dian recalled the first night. Besides the snoring, there was a faint sound of a child singing.

He had gotten up to search several times, but without a light source, he could only grope his way forward in the dark.

Finally, in the west corner of the second room from the east, he clearly heard the content of the children's rhyme.

The tune sounded very familiar, like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Relying on his hazy memory, Wen Dian hummed the tune he had heard at the time.

Then, he vaguely sang the lyrics along with the tune, "Rose symbiosis joins hands and feet, the Judge measures the scales askew."

"Mid-July sets up the flower platform~ King Yama collects graves with a masked face~"

Wansi's slightly childish voice calmly sang the tune, as if recreating the night scene.

The two lines naturally came together with the melody.

Guo Mu's eyes were filled with disbelief.

What was "rose symbiosis"?

And how did the scales come into play?

If it weren't for these people, he really wouldn't be able to figure out this game!

One problem wasn't even solved before a new one appeared!

[Rose symbiosis joins hands and feet, the Judge measures the scales askew.]

[Mid-July sets up the flower platform, King Yama collects graves with a masked face.]

Zheng Wuyou silently recited the lyrics of the children's rhyme in her mind.

Her gaze fell upon the empty list, and an extremely bold guess suddenly surged into her heart.

Almost instinctively, she turned her head to look at the person beside her in the dark blue pajamas, only to find their eyes also fixed intently on the blank paper.

Clearly, they had arrived at the same conclusion.

Their gazes both focused on the list that had no tasks on it.

"So... what does this children's rhyme have to do with whether we can get out of here or not?"

Uncle Cai looked at everyone blankly, completely unable to follow their jumpy train of thought. However, feeling that he shouldn't appear too slow-witted, he could only chime in with a casual question.

At this moment, all he could think about was rushing home to look after his precious daughter.

Ever since his wife had gotten into trouble and been drawn into this bizarre place, his daughter was left all alone at the police station. The thought of her feeling lonely and helpless made Uncle Cai's heart ache as if it were being pricked by needles.