Folk Customs Were Simple and Honest

Watching the mission prompt appear before him, Xiao Ran froze for just a second. He was surprised, but somehow, it also made sense.

If he wasn't here to deal with this evil ghost, what else was the point of his being here?

He couldn't help cursing under his breath. He was clearly furious at being shoved into the task like this.

"All right, I agree!"

Though he was cursing inwardly, Xiao Ran didn't hesitate to agree aloud. Then his expression turned helpless. "But... to be honest, Grandma, I'm not exactly strong. Forget subduing a female ghost—I doubt I could last three punches against one of the village women."

The moment Xiao Ran nodded, the Old Woman's face bloomed with a smile. She hurriedly patted his hand and said:

"Good boy, don't worry. I'm not really asking you to risk your life fighting that evil ghost. We've spent all these years figuring out how to deal with her. We're just missing someone with strong yang energy to help us. There's no time to lose. While the evil ghost hasn't noticed you, we'll act tonight."

"Then... all right!"

Seeing Xiao Ran agree, the Old Woman smiled and gestured for him to rest there while she went back to gather people and make preparations.

"Oh, right!" Just as she reached the door, the Old Woman suddenly remembered something. "If you need anything, just tell Zhang Mazi."

The Old Woman pointed to the middle-aged woman with a lame leg, who was hiding by the kitchen doorway.

When Zhang Mazi heard the Old Woman call her, she hurried out of the kitchen. She didn't say a word, only nodded repeatedly at the Old Woman and Xiao Ran.

Seeing this, the Old Woman nodded in satisfaction, then slowly left with the help of two women.

Only after the Old Woman had gone did Zhang Mazi come out of the kitchen.

Xiao Ran hurriedly invited Zhang Mazi to sit down and eat with him, but she shook her head and pointed at the room beside them. She opened the door, then pointed toward Xiao Ran, apparently indicating that the room was prepared for him.

Seeing that Zhang Mazi still wasn't saying anything, Xiao Ran wondered, Could Zhang Mazi be mute?

That meant his hope of getting some information out of her was dashed.

After hurriedly eating a few bites, Xiao Ran headed outside for a walk.

As soon as he reached the door, Zhang Mazi came limping after him. She clutched his backpack tightly in both hands, staring at him in terror.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran quickly waved his hands and explained, "I'm not leaving. I'm just going for a walk to help digest my food. Uh... I'll leave my backpack here and come right back."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran set down his backpack and handed it to Zhang Mazi.

Only after Zhang Mazi took the backpack did she let go of Xiao Ran. She still didn't go back inside, though. Instead, she stood in the doorway, watching him as if she were afraid she'd lose sight of him if she looked away for even a second.

Following the stone-paved path, Xiao Ran wandered around the village. Whenever he spotted some villagers, they would come up and surround him, asking after his well-being before he could even greet them.

More than anything, they wanted to hear what the outside world was like.

It was clear they had been trapped in this village for a long time, cut off from the outside world for an entire era.

Xiao Ran casually told them a little about things like streetlights, paved roads, and cars. He didn't say much more, but it was already enough to leave them utterly enthralled.

An old man was afraid Xiao Ran might get tired of talking, so he even brought him a bowl of water.

"The outside world sounds wonderful. We want to go out and see it, too."

"I've never left the village in my life. One day, we should go see what those iron horses that can run a thousand miles in a day look like."

Even the little boy standing nearby in a red bellyband, about seven or eight years old, lifted his head and said happily, "Then I want to go to school, too, and make more friends to play with."

The child's innocent voice made everyone laugh. "Niu Wazi, all you ever think about is playing!"

Xiao Ran's arrival seemed to bring some color back to their lifeless world.

The villagers' simple smiles were bright. Xiao Ran sat among them with a grin, but his eyes kept studying their faces. Their smiles seemed genuine, yet their expressions... he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something just felt off.

They chatted and laughed, and before long, the whole morning had passed. Xiao Ran got up and left, taking the opportunity to make a complete circuit of the village.

Standing on a dirt slope on the East Side of the village, Xiao Ran looked down at it, scrutinizing it. The more he looked, the more tightly his brow furrowed.

It was noon now. A layer of white mist still shrouded the entire village, but visibility was much better than it had been that morning. From where he stood, he could make out the village's general layout.

There were only a few ramshackle houses, with broken bricks and tiles. Most of them had probably collapsed, and people had rebuilt them with stones.

What puzzled Xiao Ran was the heavy, heavy Death Qi in the village. Despite it being so dense...

With that much Death Qi, even if an evil ghost had cursed the place, there ought to be a few lingering spirits who couldn't bear to leave their homes.

But aside from Li Ji, whom he'd encountered when entering the village, Xiao Ran hadn't seen a single ghost after wandering all this way.

When Xiao Ran slowly made his way back, he saw Zhang Mazi still waiting at the door. The tension in her face eased as soon as she saw him. She managed a faint smile and waved him over, urging him to hurry back.

"Sorry, the village is pretty big. I ended up walking around longer than I meant to."

As Xiao Ran walked inside, he saw the meal already laid out on the table and apologized to Zhang Mazi.

Zhang Mazi nodded, then waved for Xiao Ran to hurry up and eat.

After Xiao Ran sat down, Zhang Mazi seemed to realize the food had gone cold. She hurriedly gestured for him to wait, then carried the dishes back to the kitchen to heat them up again.

Seeing her limp, Xiao Ran was about to get up and help, but just then, pain shot through the back of his head. A pebble had struck him.

Xiao Ran froze. A disheveled woman had appeared at the doorway, staring at him with a silly grin.

"It's her!"

Xiao Ran recognized her at once. It was the woman in white from last night.

Before Xiao Ran could say a word, the woman turned and ran. After hesitating for a second, Xiao Ran immediately got up and chased after her.

The woman ran fast, darting through obscure corners. Xiao Ran followed her, winding this way and that until he was completely disoriented. After just one turn, she had vanished from sight.

He looked around. His attention was drawn to a broken wall.

Most of the wall had collapsed. It was covered in moss and weeds, but scorch marks from a fire were still visible on it.

Could this be the wealthy household the Old Woman mentioned?

Xiao Ran went around the wall and saw the collapsed house behind it.

If this was the wealthy household the Old Woman had mentioned, then his own ancestral home would count as the richest house in the village, to say nothing of the village chief's six-story Western-style mansion.

Xiao Ran walked around the ruins but found nothing amiss. Just as he was about to head back, his ear twitched at a faint sound.

Following the sound, Xiao Ran reached the back of the collapsed house. The woman in white was crouching on the ground. Seeming to notice him, she put a finger to her lips, signaling him to stay quiet, then pointed at the ground by her feet.

Xiao Ran leaned closer and saw a narrow, tiny ground-level window.

Beneath the window was what looked like a cellar—or, more accurately, a dungeon.

The dungeon was so deep that even crouching over it, he could smell a strong stench of urine and sweat.

Xiao Ran examined it closely. It was filled with chains, shackles, clubs, whips, and even some tools he couldn't identify.

"What is this place?"

Xiao Ran looked at the woman beside him. Through the gaps in her hanging hair, he saw that her face was covered in scars like centipedes.

The woman seemed to notice his gaze and immediately turned her face away.

"Rustle, rustle..."

A quick series of footsteps interrupted Xiao Ran's thoughts. A figure was walking down the steps into the dungeon.

"It's him!"

Once Xiao Ran got a clear look at the newcomer, he was even more confused.

The newcomer was short and wore a red bellyband. Looking closely, Xiao Ran realized it was Niu Wazi, the boy who had said at the village entrance that he wanted to go to school.

What was he doing here?

"Someone came from outside today. My parents and the others were really happy. They said they'd finally be able to leave here, even if only to take a look."

Niu Wazi walked up to a chest, muttering to himself.

He opened it and began taking things out one by one. From that angle, Xiao Ran couldn't see what they were.

"That big brother from outside is so handsome, and he talks so nicely. He said the roads outside are wide now, and they don't flood when it rains. And there are iron horses that can run a thousand miles in a day. They're called... oh, cars."

A moment later, when Niu Wazi stood up, Xiao Ran finally saw what he had been holding. It was a wooden puppet shaped like a person.

Niu Wazi began telling the puppet about what had happened that day.

Hiding above, Xiao Ran felt a little embarrassed listening in.

So this was just a child talking to himself in private. He thought about it and realized that he used to tell his toys his little secrets, too.

They'd all been children once. Everyone had their own bit of childlike innocence.

Just as Xiao Ran was preparing to leave, Niu Wazi slowly stood up. "From now on, I'll have a new friend. I'll be able to go to school, too. There'll be lots and lots of kids there, and they'll definitely be even more fun. You..."

"You're old news!"

As he spoke, an axe appeared in Niu Wazi's hand. He swung it down onto the puppet's head.

"Thwack!"

The puppet's wooden head split in two. One half fell to the ground as blood gushed from the other half...