At 07:15 in the morning, while exposing "Zhang Yangxu's" identity, Ye Miaozhu witnessed the same uncanny scene Zhang Yangxu had once seen.
[After putting it through all kinds of tests and questions, I finally became completely certain, from the bottom of my heart, that the "ghost" before me definitely wasn't Xie Sining. It vanished. Like a wisp of smoke dispersing, it disappeared without a trace. That was how I got rid of it.]
That was how Zhang Yangxu had escaped the ghost disguised as Xie Sining.
Now Ye Miaozhu saw the same thing. "Zhang Yangxu's" body quickly turned indistinct, like a sandcastle crumbling under a rush of water, then vanished like a wisp of smoke.
Just like that, it disappeared.
"Is it over...?" Ye Miaozhu let out a breath of relief.
After taking a moment to steady herself, she tried turning on her flashlight to explore the storeroom. Just as Ning Zhe had said, the rules might fall silent, but they didn't lie. The tempting words that had tried to make her lower her guard were dangerous, but every one of them had been true.
Holding her phone, Ye Miaozhu walked past the shelves lined with dowry items, then hurried over to the dressing table and examined the mirror set into it. She found nothing unusual.
But when the light in her hand accidentally fell behind the dressing table, illuminating the gap between the mirror and the wall, a man's body in a suit appeared before her.
"Zhang Yangxu?" Ye Miaozhu froze, then immediately understood what had happened. "The ghost killed Zhang Yangxu and took his identity, trying to lure me into helping it achieve some goal..."
But what was the ghost's goal?
Puzzled, Ye Miaozhu crouched down to perform a simple examination of Zhang Yangxu's body. But suddenly, her pupils dilated and her limp body collapsed to the floor.
She was dead.
At 06:48 in the morning, He Family Village came alive beneath the sunlight.
A few street vendors sold vegetables and other groceries. The noisy chatter lent the village a lively bustle. At the entrance, a farmer carrying a hoe had just returned from the fields, while wisps of cooking smoke rose from the rooftops as villagers made breakfast.
Everyone in He Family Village worshipped the Snake God. Every household kept an image of the god, and before each meal, they set aside a small portion in a little bowl and placed it before the image. Only then would they dare to eat.
"Ning Zhe, what are you trying to do?" In a narrow alley off the main street, Feng Yushu stood stiffly against the wall, her anxious gaze darting repeatedly toward the alley's entrance. "Weren't we supposed to solve two riddles? What are you doing now...?"
"Solving a riddle," Ning Zhe replied carelessly, leaning against the wall.
But you're just standing there doing nothing...
Feng Yushu was even more confused, but she didn't dare ask. She had chosen to trust him, and now she could only see it through to the end.
She glanced at a nearby window. The aroma of incense drifted from within. A Village Woman hurried out of the kitchen carrying a round white porcelain bowl. Neatly arranged inside were rice, green beans, and slices of meat, with a golden-brown fried dumpling nestled among them and a pickled plum on top.
The Village Woman carried the bowl into the small room that smelled of incense. A moment later, she came back out, but the bowl was gone.
After watching the Village Woman return to the kitchen—and take a fall along the way—Ning Zhe finally straightened up and headed for the small room.
"What are you going to do?" Feng Yushu hurriedly asked.
"Solve the riddle," Ning Zhe said lightly. "Wait here."
Feng Yushu didn't dare say another word. She stayed where she was, watching as Ning Zhe strolled over and wandered into the little room filled with the scent of incense.
As soon as he stepped inside, a pair of lifeless, vacant eyes met his.
The image, about a meter tall and a meter wide, was pasted on the wall directly opposite the door. It showed an Azure Jade Serpent with a pair of long, curved horns on its head, beautiful scales layered one over another, and a graceful, ethereal pose. But beneath its dazzling exterior lay a filthy, rotting core.
Ning Zhe stepped closer. Black mold covered the roots of the Snake God's scales, and milky-white fungal threads crept out between them. Its eyes were hollow and lifeless. The left was completely clogged with mold, while fungal grime wound around the right eye socket.
"It's just like the Snake God in the Ancestral Hall." Ning Zhe recalled the wooden statue there, which had been just as rotten, with mold growing all over its eyes.
The wooden Snake God in the Ancestral Hall and the image in the villagers' homes were both rotten and decayed. Was there a connection?
Unable to figure it out for now, Ning Zhe didn't waste any more time. He strolled over to the small round table beneath the image. A white porcelain bowl sat on it, filled with a neatly arranged meal—the offering the Village Woman had just made to the Snake God.
Ning Zhe lifted his head and met the Snake God's gaze. He reached out, picked the pickled plum out of the bowl, and tossed it into his mouth.
"Too sour..." Ning Zhe swallowed it whole, then used the chopsticks beside the bowl to loosen the neatly arranged rice. Only then did he turn and leave the room.
As soon as he stepped outside, Feng Yushu hurried over to him, looking anxious.
"What's wrong?" Ning Zhe asked.
"N-nothing." Feng Yushu shook her head again and again.
So she'd been frightened staying out here alone... Ning Zhe checked the time on his phone. "Come on. Let's go to the next house."
Feng Yushu didn't ask what he was doing anymore. She quietly followed behind him, waiting outside each home to keep watch while he snuck in and ate the Snake God's offerings.
Ning Zhe moved quickly, taking only a small taste from each bowl. In less than twenty minutes, he had visited seven or eight homes.
Plums, fish balls, and shumai weren't very filling. Ning Zhe wasn't sneaking bites of the Snake God's offerings because he was hungry. He had his reasons, and he was willing to risk his life to test his theory.
After making his way through the homes near the Ancestral Hall, Ning Zhe circled around and returned to it.
Standing outside the Ancestral Hall, he could clearly see the couplets pasted on either side of the entrance, written in red on white paper:
[Ba Snake's case holds pearls and jade, bearing witness to our ancestors]
[Before Lotus Hall, descendants add incense together]
[Source Flows Long]
On the Lotus Platform where the Snake God statue stood, there were many offerings: rice cakes, rice crackers, roast chicken, rice, a fruit platter...and a jug of wine.
Ning Zhe lifted his head and met the gaze of the wooden Snake God, one of whose eyes was hidden behind mold.
He took a deep breath and calmly approached. He picked up a red rice cracker and popped it into his mouth, then peeled the seal off the nearby wine jug and took exactly one sip. Only then did he start on the other offerings, taking just a small bite of each.
Outside the entrance, Feng Yushu covered her mouth with both hands, staring at the shocking scene in disbelief. "N-Ning Zhe! What are you doing?!"
Ning Zhe tore off a small piece of chicken skin and tossed it into his mouth. "I told you. I'm solving a riddle."
"But..." Feng Yushu still couldn't make sense of this bizarre sight, and Ning Zhe had no intention of explaining further.
He took out his phone and checked the time. It was 07:17 in the morning, still a long way from lunch.
Just as Ning Zhe reached toward the fruit platter before the Snake God, an inexplicable sense of danger flashed through his mind. He turned instinctively and saw a disheveled woman standing in front of him, her long hair untidy and her expression wan.
"Ye Miaozhu...?" Ning Zhe's eyes narrowed. Then he immediately realized, "No. It's a ghost."
Ning Zhe watched as "Ye Miaozhu" appeared before him out of nowhere. Her pretty face broke into a dazzling, flirtatious smile.
Without a word, she walked over to the Lotus Platform and reached out to open the Almanac.
The next moment, Ye Miaozhu died.
"So it was true..." Ning Zhe closed his eyes and murmured.
Before you continue