Ben had already braced herself for a hard fall from the roof.
But after a brief, dizzying sensation of weightlessness, she landed on something about half the height of a house.
It was covered in protrusions that dug painfully into Zheng Wuyou's back and waist, making her wince.
It felt like lying flat on a giant spiked mat.
"Big sis!" Wansi leaned over the eaves, watching Zheng Wuyou fall with concern.
When she saw Zheng Wuyou hadn't fallen straight to the ground, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Zheng Wuyou got up and looked beneath her, discovering a neatly stacked pile of firewood covered with rags beside the Woodshed!
Thankfully, it had cushioned her fall. Otherwise, she might have ended up with a mild concussion.
Zheng Wuyou carefully jumped down, checked that it was safe, then motioned for the others to follow.
But just as she stretched out her arms to catch Wansi, she caught sight of a raging fire suddenly blazing on the second floor to her right.
It was the Wooden House!
Zheng Wuyou stood there in shock. All the ghosts on the second floor had vanished.
All except the woman standing by the window.
She stood with her back to the flames, so no one could see her expression. They only saw her slowly raise her left hand, clenching it as if she were holding something, then abruptly swing it toward her neck.
The woman repeated the motion mechanically until the flames consumed her completely.
The orange glow lit up half the sky...
Even the moon seemed to redden a little.
The wooden second floor couldn't withstand the flames. Burning logs began dropping down, landing at Zheng Wuyou's feet.
No good. This was the Woodshed!
As she dodged, Zheng Wuyou turned and realized that the fire didn't seem to be spreading from the second floor to the first—but there was no telling what would happen if it burned in from outside!
So she hurried the others down faster.
The four of them ran into the Main Hall on the first floor and rushed toward the exit.
But then they spotted a stocky body curled up like a ball on the cold floor of the Main Hall.
It was Guo Mu...
His eyes, facing outward, were wide open, and his face looked deathly pale.
He seemed to have suffered something utterly terrifying before he died.
Blood covered the floor of the Wooden House, flowing through the cracks between the boards. His limbs were twisted up against his shoulders, folded into a ball.
Wen Dian froze, at a loss for how to describe what he was feeling.
The flames behind them began devouring the Woodshed, spreading toward the Wooden House at a terrifying speed.
Thick black smoke swept through the Backyard in an instant.
If they didn't escape now, they'd choke to death even if the fire didn't get them!
Seeing him frozen in place, Zheng Wuyou immediately turned back, grabbed his hand, and dragged him toward the exit. "Don't look!"
As soon as they escaped the Wooden House, Zheng Wuyou saw the other two standing by the door of the room assigned to Sun Wu, each lost in their own thoughts in the candlelight of the White Candles.
"You're all safe! You scared me to death!" Uncle Cai slapped the back of his hand, so overwhelmed at seeing them emerge from the flames that he didn't know what to do.
"Your house is gone. Where can you go now?" Hu Yu had clearly avoided bringing up Guo Mu inside.
"Guo Mu..." Wen Dian muttered under his breath, his voice lost in the crackling of the firewood.
But everyone still heard him.
Uncle Cai shook his head regretfully. "It's my fault. When I ran downstairs just now, I encountered that monster inside and shoved him in a panic..."
"...Uncle Cai..." Hu Yu started to say something, then swallowed her words.
"I'll take responsibility for what I did. Tell me how you're going to punish me." Uncle Cai sat on the ground with a sorrowful expression, looking as though he was waiting to be arrested.
His reaction only left the others at a loss.
"He's already dead. Your daughter is still waiting for you to live on." Zheng Wuyou was the first to offer Uncle Cai her hand.
There was little point blaming anyone under the circumstances.
Uncle Cai looked at the resolute hand and let out a heartfelt sigh.
Only after seeing that no one was going to say anything more about it did he take Zheng Wuyou's hand and stand up.
"Looks like none of us are getting a peaceful night's sleep."
Zheng Wuyou led the way down Stone Path, sweeping away a spiderweb in front of her. She noticed that every door that had been firmly shut during the day now stood ajar, swaying open in the breeze.
"If someone won't let us sleep, we'll go find them."
Miao Laisheng's meaning was clear.
Zhu Li was at the center of this farce. He had to be hiding somewhere, still bound to the place.
Without the slightest hesitation, he bent down and picked up a piece of Yellow Paper that had drifted to the ground, thoughtfully rubbing it between his fingers.
"You mean Zhu Li? But... he's dead. Where are we supposed to look for him? I don't want to dig up the earth in the middle of the night..." Hu Yu had clearly been left with a lingering fear from what happened yesterday afternoon, and flatly rejected his suggestion.
Wasn't the only place the dead could stay the graveyard halfway up the mountain?
"He's the one who maintains the rules. Naturally, he'd hide somewhere both close to the rules and safe." Zheng Wuyou lifted her eyes. The night sky had turned orange-red, creating a striking scene.
The wind carried embers from the blaze, making the air feel even hotter.
"If the fire's this bad, if I were those two, I'd find something with a shell and hide inside it, like... an egg!" The candlelight of the White Candles reflected in Wansi's eyes. It was the first time she'd spoken up so eagerly.
"An egg? A... chicken..." Zheng Wuyou lowered her head and looked at the ground, suddenly remembering the chicken that always appeared at the most inconvenient times. "Find the chicken! Catch the one at Old Zhu's family's house."
Hu Yu was completely baffled. She hurried to stop Zheng Wuyou as she tried to rush off. "What does this have to do with a chicken?"
Hu Yu had grabbed her sleeve. Zheng Wuyou turned back patiently and asked, "Have you seen any other living creatures in Zhu Family Village?"
Hu Yu shook her head like a rattle drum.
Zheng Wuyou continued, "That's what's strange. Even if that chicken is useless, we have to make it count!"
When the rooster crowed three times, the Desolate Village returned to its daytime appearance.
Its presence was the switch between day and night.
"So we're going to catch the chicken at Old Zhu's family's house?" Uncle Cai remembered that Old Zhu's family had always had a chicken, too. He looked across the street, uncertain.
The door to Old Zhu's family's house stood half open, and candlelight spilled through the gap and scattered across the surroundings.
But the back half of the house remained sunk in shadow and darkness.
They probably never would have imagined, even in their dreams, that they'd be chasing a chicken in one.
Zheng Wuyou and Wansi flanked the chicken, working together to corner the seemingly nimble creature.
But it moved like it had mastered an evasion skill, sending feathers flying all over Old Zhu's family's small courtyard.
It deftly dodged every attempt to surround it.
The dim surroundings only made matters worse.
Feathers flew everywhere in the courtyard.
Zheng Wuyou spat, turning her head to spit out the little feather that had flown into her mouth.
Before, almost no one had paid much attention to the chicken's feathers.
This time, in the night, the flickering firelight let everyone see that every feather on the flapping chicken seemed to have a human face.
"This isn't working!"
Hu Yu stood on the right side of the courtyard with her hands on her hips, panting.
She'd just missed again, and her elbow was scraped from rubbing against the gravel.
What kind of idiot came up with this plan to catch a chicken?!
Everyone there agreed with her.
This was such a chicken-brained idea!
Before you continue