Orientation

"Why are we still hesitating? Let's go! It's almost five!"

Having likewise accepted that this was a place beyond ordinary reason, the burly man stood at the door and anxiously waved at the group frozen inside.

He couldn't understand what they were agonizing over. All the tasks had to be completed before five.

He had no intention of becoming the second lamb led to slaughter.

"We don't know what to do or where to go." The man in sportswear, who had barely spoken until now, rolled his eyes at the burly man's anxious tone.

How could there still be people in this day and age who were all brawn and no brains?

He didn't even know the task and was already taking the lead in running around.

Wasn't that just slowing down their task progress?

"...But staying in the newbie village forever isn't an option either! Don't look at me—I can't figure this out!" The burly man was stumped by the question, but he knew he couldn't make sense of all these twists and turns.

So he simply shut his eyes and squatted by the door, imagining ants crawling past the entrance.

"Forget him. Mine says 'East calls to hold a wine jar.' Does that mean I need to go east and hold a wine jar before five?" Toothless Pajama Man pulled down the hood over his head, ignoring the messy cowlick sticking up from his hair.

He stared thoughtfully at the line of words on his List.

Everyone gathered around the five Lists as though watching a spectacle.

Yet they couldn't make sense of the answer being spoon-fed to them.

"No, something's wrong." Zheng Wuyou held Little Girl's hand in her right hand and clenched her left into a fist as she rejected his interpretation.

Her brows were tightly furrowed as she looked at the Lists.

Tasks...

Time...

East, south, west, north...

[After dividing the work, remember to go help Old Zhu's family.]

"Old Zhu's family." Following the fragments of memory from this place, Zheng Wuyou recalled the old man's final words before leaving.

She muttered her thoughts aloud, while her left hand unconsciously reached toward the five Lists.

The old man had told them all to go to Old Zhu's family after dividing the work.

So could the east, south, west, and north on the Lists...

Refer to the directions of Old Zhu's family?

Navy Blue Pajamas tilted his brows slightly and shifted his gaze to Brown Ear-Length Hair, who was deep in thought beside him.

Then, of his own accord, he handed her the List in his hand.

Old Zhu's family.

It looked like... someone had found the key.

"East displays a joyful doll, lives in a new womb."

"North Places a Pig's Head, Long Smoke Celebrates."

"East calls to hold a wine jar."

"West hosts a banquet, East ignites the whip."

"West Enters, Ten Dishes Plow the Muddy Garden."

Zheng Wuyou quickly folded the five Lists in half from left to right, then folded them twice more from top to bottom, leaving only the second phrase visible on the front.

Then she pieced the five phrases together from top to bottom.

Other than short woman and Navy Blue Pajamas, everyone watched Zheng Wuyou with curiosity.

This wasn't an acrostic poem.

What was the point of arranging them like this?

"Miss, I still can't see anything here!" The uncle in capri pants leaned closer, looking left and right without making heads or tails of it.

"Watch the sunset." Navy Blue Pajamas raised his head slightly and looked at the setting sun hanging at an angle outside, its slanting rays casting a little sunlight into one corner of the Main Hall.

His four indifferent words reminded Zheng Wuyou that sunset meant west, and north was to the right.

There were no directional markers in the village, but the houses were arranged neatly.

Judging by the slanted afterglow of the setting sun,

They were now standing in the north.

And the only building in the north...

Was the whitewashed Wooden House where Three snakes meet their master had happened.

Zheng Wuyou's eyes lit up, and her thoughts instantly opened up.

East appeared most often, so they had to start with the directions that appeared less frequently.

She came to the open doorway of the Main Hall, ignored the blood outside, and stepped straight out.

Sunlight fell on her face, warm and comforting.

"The vegetables to the west..."

When she had first entered the village with Little Girl, she clearly remembered passing a rotting, fermenting cesspit. Behind the opposite house was an abandoned, dried-up vegetable garden.

It was also the only vegetable garden she had seen here.

The river lay in the direction where the sun rose, while the vegetable garden was in the direction where the sun set.

So the third house on the western side of the village, the one with a vegetable garden, was where the two chickens belonged.

But all they could infer here was which house held their task, not which one belonged to Old Zhu's family.

Could every household possibly be connected to Old Zhu's family?

"Having all of them doesn't necessarily mean clearing the level, and the reverse is also true."

Navy Blue Pajamas had appeared beside her at some point. His tone remained flat, like an AI with no detectable emotion.

That reminded Zheng Wuyou once again.

Amused, Zheng Wuyou tilted her head and looked up at the man beside her, who stood more than a head taller than her one-seventy. He seemed to have known the answer all along, yet deliberately kept it hidden and only offered guidance.

"...I don't know. It's just a professional habit." Perhaps noticing the doubts of the person beside him, he unusually remained standing shoulder to shoulder with someone and said something that sounded less like an AI.

"I'll believe you for now." Zheng Wuyou slapped the List in her hand against Navy Blue Pajamas's chest. He shot her an incredulous sideways glance, but still took the List she had pressed against him.

Once Zheng Wuyou saw that he had accepted the List, she turned around, rolled up her sleeves, and faced the Main Hall doorway. "Found it."

After learning that the puzzle had been solved, everyone looked delighted and swarmed around Brown Ear-Length Hair.

Even though they knew this was not the end.

"You ladies really are something!" The uncle in capri pants gave a simple-minded grin, and his praise never stopped.

Zheng Wuyou didn't answer. She led everyone to the door of the second house on the west side, mentally preparing herself.

She had thought they might fail to solve the riddle.

Yet the answer had been right before their eyes, and there was still an hour until five.

She didn't dare take the risk.

Because she couldn't guarantee that what she had deduced was entirely correct.

If they knocked on this door and it wasn't the right answer,

Then everyone knew what they would face.

And she did not want to be the first stone used to knock on the door.

"So, are we knocking?" Bangs Woman swept her gaze around the group. She wanted to take her List back from Navy Blue Pajamas, but didn't know how to ask, so she could only look at Zheng Wuyou in confusion.

"Mm. Old Zhu's family should be this house." Zheng Wuyou looked at the heavy wooden door before her, her heart just as heavy.

"What do you mean, 'should be'?" Toothless Pajama Man's voice was muffled as he lowered his head and tried to smooth down his cowlick, standing at the back and repeatedly stretching out and withdrawing his hand.

"Don't look at me. I don't know the rules for knocking on doors in this village." The burly man arrived last and hurriedly waved his hands, unwilling to do it.

"Big Sister, if we open this door, what will happen to the sister inside?" Little Girl still hid behind Zheng Wuyou, blinking her innocent eyes as she asked softly and curiously.

Her words drew everyone's attention to short woman, who stood at the entrance of the Wooden House and still didn't dare take a single step outside.

Short woman had calmed down considerably compared to half an hour ago, when she had crouched fearfully inside the house.

Now she could at least stand and watch the group's movements.

They had to reach Old Zhu's family before five.

If she didn't come over, she would most likely be judged to have failed the task.

And no one knew what consequences she would face.

"It's safe outside now. Come over. Once we finish all the tasks, we can go home."