He Can Be Replaced

07:15 AM. While exposing the identity of Zhang Yangxu, Ye Miaozhu witnessed the same eerie scene that Zhang Yangxu had once seen.

[After I had finally, through various tests and inquiries, become completely convinced from the bottom of my heart that the "ghost" before me was absolutely not Xie Sining, it vanished. It disappeared completely, just like a wisp of dissipating smoke. And just like that, I was free of it.]

That was how Zhang Yangxu had freed himself from the ghost disguised as Xie Sining.

Now, Ye Miaozhu saw the same thing. The body of the "Zhang Yangxu" before her rapidly turned illusory, collapsing like a sandcastle washed away by water, then vanishing like a wisp of dissipating smoke.

It had disappeared just like that.

"Is it over..." Ye Miaozhu let out a sigh of relief.

After briefly calming her nerves, she tried turning on her flashlight to conduct a simple exploration of the storeroom. Just as Ning Zhe had said, the rules might be silent, but they would not lie. Although the seductive whispers that had tempted her to let her guard down were dangerous, every word spoken had been true.

Ye Miaozhu walked past the shelves laden with dowry items, then hurried to the dressing table to inspect the mirror embedded within it, finding nothing unusual.

But when the light in her hand inadvertently shone toward the back of the dressing table, illuminating the gap between the mirror and the wall, the corpse of a man in a suit and leather shoes appeared before her eyes.

"Zhang Yangxu?" Ye Miaozhu's expression froze as she immediately understood what had happened here: "The ghost killed Zhang Yangxu, assumed his identity, and tried to lure me into fulfilling some purpose of its own..."

But what was the ghost's purpose?

Filled with doubt, Ye Miaozhu crouched down, preparing to perform a simple examination of Zhang Yangxu's corpse. Suddenly, however, the pupils of her eyes dilated, and her supple body collapsed limply to the ground.

She was dead.

06:48 AM. Bathed in sunlight, He Family Village had become bustling.

Small vendors selling vegetables or side dishes could be seen on the streets, and the noisy chatter of people added a lively atmosphere to the village. At the village entrance, farmers carrying hoes were just returning from the fields, and wisps of cooking smoke rose from the rooftops toward the sky; it was the villagers cooking breakfast at home.

The people of He Family Village all believed in the Snake God. Every household kept a portrait of the Snake God, and before every meal, they would serve a small portion into a tiny bowl and present it before the portrait. Only then would they dare to pick up their chopsticks.

"Ning Zhe, what exactly are you trying to do?" In a small alley facing the street, Feng Yushu stood stiffly against the wall, her nervous gaze frequently darting toward the alley entrance: "Didn't you say we were going to solve two mysteries? What are you doing right now..."

"Solving the mystery." Ning Zhe leaned against the wall, answering nonchalantly.

But you're clearly just standing there in a daze...

Feng Yushu's confusion deepened, but she dared not ask further. Since she had chosen to trust him, there was only one path left to follow to the end.

She turned her head to look at a window not far away. The scent of candle flames drifted from within. A village woman hurried out of the adjacent kitchen carrying a white porcelain bowl. Inside the bowl was neatly arranged rice, green beans, and slices of meat. Embedded in the rice was a charred, golden fried dumpling and a pickled plum.

The village woman carried the porcelain bowl into the small, independent room from which the scent of candle flames drifted. A moment later, she walked out, but the bowl was no longer in her hands.

Watching the village woman leave the small room and return to the kitchen—tripping on the way—Ning Zhe finally straightened his body and walked straight toward the small room.

"What are you going to do?" Feng Yushu asked hurriedly.

"Solve the mystery." Ning Zhe said lightly: "Wait for me here."

Feng Yushu dared not say more and had to stay where she was, watching as Ning Zhe strolled forward, sauntering into the small room filled with the scent of candle flames as if he were taking a leisurely walk.

As soon as he entered the door, a pair of lifeless, hollow eyes came into Ning Zhe's view.

It was a portrait about one meter wide and tall, pasted on the wall directly opposite the room door. The content of the portrait was an Azure Jade Serpent with a pair of curved, long horns growing on its head. It had beautiful, layered scales and a graceful, ethereal posture. Yet, beneath the bright and glamorous exterior lay a filthy, rotten essence.

Ning Zhe walked closer and saw that the roots of the scales on the Snake God in the portrait were covered in black mold spots. Milky-white fungal hyphae grew from the gaps between the scales. The two eyes were hollow and dull; the left eye was completely filled with mold spots, and the eye socket of the right one was also entwined with fungal filth.

"It's actually the same as the Snake God in the Ancestral Hall." Ning Zhe recalled the wooden carving of the Snake God in the Ancestral Hall, which also had that same filthy, rotting appearance, with fungal spots growing in its eyes.

The wooden carving of the Snake God in the Ancestral Hall and the portraits of the Snake God in the villagers' homes were both in a state of decay and rot. Was there a connection between them?

Unable to figure out the connection for the time being, Ning Zhe did not waste any more time. He strolled to the small round table beneath the portrait, where a white porcelain bowl was placed. Simple food was neatly arranged inside; these were the offerings the village woman had just presented to the Snake God portrait.

Ning Zhe raised his head, locking eyes with the soaring Snake God in the portrait. He reached out, plucked the pickled plum from the rice bowl, and tossed it into his mouth.

"So sour..." Ning Zhe swallowed the plum whole, then used the chopsticks nearby to stir the originally flat rice until it was looser. Only then did he turn and leave the room, walking outside.

As soon as he stepped out, Feng Yushu, who had been waiting outside, hurried up to him, her expression somewhat anxious.

"What's wrong?" Ning Zhe asked.

"N-nothing." Feng Yushu shook her head repeatedly.

Fine, so she was just scared of being alone... Ning Zhe picked up his phone to check the time and said: "Let's go, to the next house."

Feng Yushu did not ask him again what he was actually doing; she just followed quietly behind Ning Zhe, keeping watch for him while he entered house after house to steal the Snake God's offerings.

Ning Zhe's movements were swift. He only took a small taste of each bowl of offerings, and in less than 20 minutes, he had visited seven or eight houses.

Small items like plums, fish balls, and shumai were not enough to fill him up. Ning Zhe wasn't stealing the Snake God's offerings because he was hungry; he had his own reasons, and he intended to risk his life to verify his hypothesis.

After eating his way through the houses near the Ancestral Hall, Ning Zhe circled around and returned to the Ancestral Hall.

Standing outside the door of the Ancestral Hall, one could see the couplet pasted on both sides of the main gate at a glance. The white paper and red ink were very striking:

[Ba Snake on the altar, pearls and jade testify to the ancestors]

[Lotus Hall before, descendants add incense together]

[Source Flows Long]

Walking closer, the Lotus Platform where the Snake God statue sat was also laden with many offerings: rice cakes, rice crackers, roasted chicken, rice, fruit platters... and a jar of wine.

Ning Zhe raised his head, locking eyes with the wooden Snake God carving, one of its eyes obscured by mold spots.

He took a deep breath, strolled closer, picked up a red rice cracker, and stuffed it into his mouth. He also tore open the seal of the wine jar nearby, took a measured sip, and then began to eat the other offerings, taking only a small bite of each.

Feng Yushu, who had remained outside the door, covered her mouth with both hands, watching this shocking scene in disbelief: "Ning... Ning Zhe! What on earth are you doing?!"

Ning Zhe tore off a small piece of skin from the roasted chicken, tossed it into his mouth, and said indifferently: "I told you, I'm solving a puzzle."

"But..." Feng Yushu still could not comprehend this bizarre scene, and Ning Zhe had no intention of explaining further to her.

He pulled out his phone to check the time; it was 07:17 in the morning, still a long way from lunch.

Just as Ning Zhe reached his hand toward the fruit platter in front of the Snake God, a sudden, inexplicable sense of crisis flashed through his mind. Ning Zhe turned his head instinctively, only to see a woman with disheveled long hair and a listless expression standing right in front of him.

"Ye Miaozhu...?" Ning Zhe's eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately realized: "No, it's a Ghost."

Ning Zhe watched as that "Ye Miaozhu" appeared out of thin air without any warning, her beautiful face flashing a charming and radiant smile at him.

Without saying a word, she walked up to the Lotus Platform, reached out, and flipped open the Almanac.

The next moment, Ye Miaozhu died.

"So that's how it is..." Ning Zhe closed his eyes and whispered to himself.