After the three of them had given the body a simple burial, they returned from the mountain. It was still only morning, and the funeral for Zhou Yongsheng that the villagers had discussed was still a long way off.
By this point in the game, the deductionists had clearly split into little groups. Apart from Carlos, who was nowhere to be found, and Ju Lan, who was dead, the two Xu brothers had barely interacted with Yu Xing and the others. It was hard to tell whether they had found any clues.
They had entered the village at dusk last night, eaten dinner, and then gone their separate ways. They still hadn't shared any information. Yu Xing thought that was a little stupid. These people were too rigid, only acting alongside those they knew and trusted. They weren't making use of their advantage in numbers at all, like a plate of loose sand.
Carlos was the only one who seemed to understand the need to gather information, yet he had vanished off somewhere to fiddle with something.
Yu Xing felt... sure that nothing had happened to Carlos. That blue-haired magician clearly had something up his sleeve.
In short, the deductionists in this game lacked experience. Otherwise, even those who were at odds with each other would have exchanged information while keeping their differences in check. After all, figuring out the truth and staying alive were common goals that couldn't be compromised.
For now, under the strange gazes of several villagers, Yu Xing made a suggestion to Xiao Xuechen and Wei Fan—
There was still plenty of time, and the key to the game was probably tonight. They should use this stretch of free time to learn more about every aspect of Guan Family Village.
They could investigate separately, then meet up and put their clues and information together for analysis.
Neither Xiao Xuechen nor Wei Fan objected. There was no problem with splitting up. They weren't in a horror movie, after all. Unlike the doomed protagonists in horror films, they had some ability to fight back against supernatural creatures. And since it was broad daylight, there were only so many kinds of trouble they could run into. It wouldn't be that hard to deal with.
Although the houses in this little village were old and shabby, they were laid out in a fairly orderly way. Once he was on his own, Yu Xing quietly climbed over the walls into several courtyards. He found that nearly every household had one or two empty rooms, though he had no idea what they had originally been used for.
He also paid special attention to whether the villagers kept coffins in their homes. After all, it was Coffin Village. If there was only one coffin in the ancestral hall, that would be a little underwhelming.
As an eye-catching outsider, it took Yu Xing quite a bit of effort to investigate without being noticed.
He skipped lunch. After what had happened last night, Xiao Xuechen, Wei Fan, and the Xu brothers all claimed they had no appetite and didn't go to the village chief's house to eat. Even Yu Xing, who had seemed to have an excellent appetite from beginning to end, simply said he didn't feel like eating.
By afternoon, he leaned against a wall and caught his breath. His once snow-white shirt had gotten dirty from all his sneaking around, and his palms were dusty from climbing over walls.
He'd more or less finished investigating... and there really were a few things that seemed off, broadening the range of possibilities he was considering.
For example, the villagers never visited each other's homes. If they wanted to chat, they went to the open space outside, as if each house had a strict limit on how many people could be inside. Combined with the rules that had constrained the deductionists the night before, Yu Xing had a hunch this was an important clue.
Another example was the hunched old man they'd encountered when they first entered the village. Yu Xing had looked around nearly every house but hadn't seen him again.
The old man had seemed to appear out of thin air, then vanish just as suddenly.
And then there was the least logical thing of all—this village had no farmland, and no one was responsible for going out to buy supplies. So where did the villagers get the meat and vegetables for their three meals a day?
And... there was no cemetery. Where had all the people who'd died in this village over the years been buried?
They had agreed to meet at four. Just after three, Yu Xing headed to Ju Lan's room.
He climbed in through the window and calmly surveyed the room.
Ju Lan's backpack sat in one corner. Two wooden beds stood side by side, separated by a narrow aisle. One bed clearly showed signs of having been slept in. On the other...
The blanket had been pulled back, and a tiny paper figure sat in the very center of the bed.
Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. Carlos had obviously put it there on purpose. The magician always seemed to have little paper figures on hand. It was quite interesting.
He walked over. Judging by the traces left behind, Ju Lan had gotten out of bed during the night and realized her companion was missing. She'd pulled back Carlos's blanket and found the paper figure, then made her way to the door.
Something must have persuaded her to open it... and then things had taken the worst possible turn.
After thinking it through, Yu Xing ruled out the possibility that Carlos had been working toward a different objective and had deliberately harmed her.
He was certain Carlos was human, not a ghost, so if Carlos had wanted to kill Ju Lan, there would have been no need to go to so much trouble.
He looked back at the paper figure and picked it up to examine it.
Carlos's paper figures were three-dimensional, little paper dolls rather than flat cutouts.
The figure was only about the size of his palm. Strangely, though it had originally been pure white, it was now stained with blood. More than half of its head was missing, and several deep tears ran across its body.
"These wounds... they're just like Ju Lan's. Could it be a paper substitute, taking the curse of the night's rules for Carlos?" Yu Xing narrowed his eyes. Just then, a voice suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Residual traces of a sacrifice detected. Evaluating.] [Your level is lower than the target's. Unable to retrieve information.]
"Oh, so this is a sacrifice?" He'd already guessed as much, but hearing the system confirm it still piqued his interest.
Both Zhao Yijiu's knife from earlier and Carlos's paper figure now held some appeal for Yu Xing.
Because... he had a sacrifice on him too, one he couldn't see or touch. He had a vague idea what it was, so he needed to get closer to more sacrifices and study things that had once been beyond his reach.
Yu Xing held the little paper figure, which looked as if it had already died, and muttered in a low voice, "Hmm... no, this probably isn't the sacrifice itself. It's just one way the sacrifice's power manifests, and even then, it's only a remnant."
When Carlos had come to share information last night, one of his paper figures had had its head opened up on the spot as part of his "magic trick." So he definitely had more than one.
Carlos was probably carrying the actual sacrifice with him. The one on the bed was just one way of using it.
There wasn't even a trace of Carlos's backpack in the room. He must have taken it with him when he left.
Yu Xing thought, Did Carlos leave Guan Family Village and head for the town beyond the mountain?
That was a new possibility. The task only required them to attend the funeral; it didn't say whether they could leave beforehand.
In fact, no one had said they had to stay in Guan Family Village until the funeral began. They could leave whenever they wanted, as long as they came back before it started.
It was Yu Xing's first time playing this kind of deduction game, so he hadn't thought of that. Now his eyes lit up.
He'd learned something new. A whole new door had opened!
In future deduction games... he'd be sure to let his thinking roam a lot more freely!
Hope the ghost's okay.
That was all he found in Ju Lan's room. After leaving, Yu Xing turned a corner and headed to the house where the Xu brothers were staying. Their courtyard was a little smaller than the village chief's, but only an old woman lived there, leaving two empty rooms. One had been given to Xu Yuan and Xu Hong, the other to Wei Fan.
According to Wei Fan, the brothers were ultimate homebodies who stayed in their room all the time.
Only fools sat around waiting to die. That clearly didn't describe deductionists, who had to think their way through every game. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made it this far.
So the Xu brothers had to have some way of gathering information.
This time, instead of climbing over the wall or coming in through a window, Yu Xing straightened his clothes and knocked on the old woman's door.
More than twenty seconds later—
"Creak—"
The door was clearly old, and it let out a sharp squeal. A short old woman stood with one hand on the door and a cane in the other. It was impossible to read any emotion on her deeply wrinkled face.
She asked in a hoarse voice, "Who are you?"
The old woman had trouble walking. Yu Xing had never seen her outside, and none of the other villagers came in either. In other words, she was cut off from the village's gossip. Apart from the village chief bringing three outsiders in last night, she probably knew nothing.
"Hello, Grandma. I came to visit the people staying at your place." Yu Xing blinked at her obediently, without giving his name.
"An out-of-town guest... Come in." The old woman shuffled aside to let him through, and Yu Xing walked in with ease.
The courtyard was in terrible shape. Some of the weeds had grown quite tall, but the old woman was probably too frail to tidy up or sweep.
Yu Xing thanked her and headed for the Xu brothers' room.
The door was firmly shut. He could faintly hear them talking inside, though the room's soundproofing was practically nonexistent. Unfortunately, the brothers were probably experienced. He could hear their voices, but not a word they were saying.
He raised a hand and knocked twice.
"Who is it?"
"It's San."
Xu Hong, dressed in black, opened the door. He glanced warily over Yu Xing's shoulder before asking, "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"You said before that this village was creepy. I believe you now." Yu Xing started with a line that fit his character, then spread his hands with an innocent look. "I saw some really scary things last night, and Ju Lan died today. After thinking it over, I figured you two feng shui masters must know what's going on. Sigh..."
"I'm just a painter with no real talent, so I thought I'd come talk to you. Could you two help save me?"
Xu Hong was still hesitating, but Xu Yuan had already understood what Yu Xing meant. He called out from inside, "Brother, let him in."
"Come in," Xu Hong said, inviting him inside.
Yu Xing smiled gratefully and stepped into the dim room.
Once inside, he quickly took in the room without letting it show. The sun was bright outside, yet the Xu brothers had covered the window with a piece of ornate cloth, keeping the light out.
Xu Yuan sat cross-legged on a hard wooden bed. A sheet of parchment lay in front of him, along with a heap of strange odds and ends. His eyes followed Yu Xing as he moved, then he said, "We did work out a few things about Guan Family Village, but knowing them won't do you any good. You'd better leave as soon as you can."
This one had a convincing character logic too... Yu Xing glanced at the parchment. It seemed to be a hand-drawn map, with mountains surrounding a dense grid in the middle.
The strange thing was that as soon as he got close to the parchment, that same chill returned. It was just weaker than the cold he'd felt near the candle stand in the village chief's house, and it didn't affect him much.
Yu Xing suppressed his discomfort, took another look, then smiled shyly. "I was foolish earlier and already agreed to stay for the funeral with the village chief. Who knows what'll happen if I try to leave now? You two are experts in feng shui. I know some secrets can't be shared with outsiders, but... this is a matter of life and death. I have some additional information too. Maybe we can trade."
That was exactly what they'd been waiting for.
Xu Yuan glanced at his brother, then nodded. "In that case, all right."
Half an hour later, Yu Xing left the Xu brothers' room.
He spotted the old woman sitting dazedly in the courtyard, looking lonely. After a moment's thought, he walked over with a smile.
The cane in the old woman's hand tapped the ground now and then. She stared blankly at the sky above the courtyard.
"Grandma, are you here by yourself?" Yu Xing sat right down across from her and started chatting, without waiting to see if she agreed. "What are you looking at?"
"I'm looking at... the world outside." The old woman didn't lower her head. She kept staring into the distance.
A glint of cunning flashed through Yu Xing's eyes. He probed, "Would you like to go out for a walk? I could help you."
"No, not outside. I mean... the world outside." The old woman's expression turned sad. In fact, aside from the old man at the village entrance, she was the only other elderly person Yu Xing had seen in the village.
"What do you mean by the world outside? Do you mean... beyond the mountains?"
"Yes... When I was young, I went out there too." The old woman's eyes grew more and more wistful. Perhaps because it had been so long since anyone had spoken to her, Yu Xing didn't have to do much to get her talking.
"Everyone from our village used to go out and make a life for themselves. Some went to school, and some went to work." The old woman spoke clearly, and her words were easy to understand.
"But in the end, we'd all be brought back. Then we'd stay in the village forever..."
As Yu Xing listened, he sneered inwardly. Hah, just like Zhou Yongsheng, then?
He'd been studying outside like a normal person, and after he came back, he was strangled to death.
Yu Xing wanted to ask why they all came back, but the old woman didn't seem to know much about that herself. She talked around the subject for a while without saying anything more.
So Yu Xing tried a different question. "Grandma, do you know an old man in the village? My friends and I saw him at the village entrance when we arrived. He was leaning on a cane too, and looked very old."
"An old man?" The old woman looked puzzled. "I should be the last old person left in this village. Oh, did you see him beside the locust tree?"
Yu Xing nodded. "That's right."
"He... he was the previous village chief. After Zhou Facai came back from town, he buried him beneath the locust tree. He... had been dead for a long time!"
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