Longing for You

Feng Yushu looked away from Ning Zhe and remained silent for a long time.

After figuring out that the Ghost stole identities through "recognition," many things that had happened before finally made sense: Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing's deaths, Zhang Yangxu's experiences, and... Ning Zhe's deliberate mockery and scathing remarks toward Ye Miaozhu.

The more she understood, the harder it became for Feng Yushu to suppress her fear and unease. Looking back on everything with what she knew now, she realized that nearly every one of Ning Zhe's seemingly inexplicable actions had a solid logic and a clear purpose. Behind every decision that appeared risky was an absolute certainty of success.

Ning Zhe seemed never to know fear or confusion. He examined everyone's deaths from a detached perspective and used absolute reason to consider each seemingly nonsensical event. From a tangled mess, he found the one thread that could unravel the knot; in the darkness, he outlined the elephant in the room.

What kind of person was he, exactly...?

The more Feng Yushu thought about it, the more Ning Zhe seemed like a stranger to her—so much so that he didn't seem like a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy, or even like a "person."

"You deliberately provoked Ye Miaozhu, made her lose control of her emotions, and got the Ghost to target her." Feng Yushu lowered her voice and asked quietly, "Were you using her life to test your theory about the rules?"

"What else?" Ning Zhe smiled faintly. "If I were the Ghost and wanted to trigger my Killing Rule, I'd start by picking someone alone—especially some fool swept up in their emotions. They're the easiest targets."

If he didn't find a way to split everyone up and let the wary group stay together, the Ghost would have little chance to strike, and Ning Zhe would have no way to verify his theory about the Ghost's Killing Rule.

Fortunately, Ye Miaozhu was emotional enough, and foolish enough. Her death had settled the matter, confirming Ning Zhe's theory once and for all.

"The puzzle's solved. Now all we have to do is figure out the rules here, step by step." As Ning Zhe spoke, he let go of Feng Yushu's hand, gently patted her tear-streaked cheek, and turned toward the house.

Watching him stroll away, Feng Yushu suddenly understood something.

Rules were rigid and absolute. There was no ambiguity and no room to pay lip service while secretly defying them. Black was black, and white was white. There was no gray area in between. This whole world operated according to fixed rules that allowed for only one or the other, and obeying them was a prerequisite for surviving in it.

"Even gods are no exception," Feng Yushu murmured. "Yes, everything must obey the rules. Even gods are no exception..."

She took out her phone and checked the time. It was just after seven in the morning, not yet eight. Lunchtime was still a long way off.

Ning Zhe walked into the room where the Snake God's portrait was enshrined. This time, Feng Yushu had no doubts. She understood what Ning Zhe was doing—and he had known all along.

Imagine what would happen if Ning Zhe kept going from house to house, boldly stealing the Snake God's offerings.

By noon, the villagers in each home would follow their usual custom of setting aside a small bowl of food before lunch and bringing it to the Snake God's portrait. They would see that the food offered that morning had already been eaten. But who had eaten it?

What would they think then? That a stray cat had stolen it? That a naughty child had eaten it? Or...

Ning Zhe couldn't control what people believed, and the same went for the Ghost. So all he could do was keep increasing his sample size, rushing from house to house to steal the Snake God's offerings and maximize the chance of "that happening."

"If even one household—no... just one person—sees that the offerings have been eaten and thinks it might have been the Snake God, then..."

Ning Zhe looked up at the Flying Snake God in the portrait, picked up a piece of long bean with his chopsticks, and chewed it. "Then I have a chance to win."

Of course, that was an ideal scenario. He couldn't be sure whether what he was doing meant anything, and there was no telling whether his plan would work. But he had no other choice. In this Weird World, ruled by rules, finding a path that might lead to victory was already hard enough. Even if that path led into an endless abyss, he still had to keep going.

Walking at night along the edge of an abyss, every step on thin ice.

Ning Zhe's expression was calm, his hollow gaze as lifeless as a pool of still water.

But the next moment, his face changed drastically. His hands clamped around his throat against his will, and he looked to be in agony.

"Fuck, that's spicy as hell!"

A few minutes later, Ning Zhe left the Zhai Hall where the Snake God was enshrined and called Feng Yushu over. Together, they headed to the next house.

Women were perceptive, and Feng Yushu noticed that Ning Zhe's eyes were slightly red. He looked as if he had just been crying, but had quickly wiped away his tears.

For some reason, seeing this actually made Feng Yushu feel a long-missed sense of "安心." Perhaps it was because she had finally caught a glimpse of Ning Zhe's vulnerable side—or, rather, the side of him that seemed human.

So he could be afraid, too. He could feel fear, too. He could cry alone in some quiet corner, then push all his emotions down and pretend to be strong, as if nothing had happened...

So you can cry, too? Feng Yushu murmured inwardly, her gaze on Ning Zhe's shoulder growing gentler.

Meanwhile, Ning Zhe was hissing through his teeth. That thing he'd just eaten hadn't been a long bean at all. It was a green chili pepper disguised as one.

If I were the Snake God, I'd charge you with blasphemy, at the very least... Ning Zhe grumbled inwardly.

Each with their own thoughts, they walked softly through the streets and alleys of He Family Village, stealing the Snake God's offerings from house to house. They didn't eat much at any one place, but the sheer number of stops meant that Ning Zhe inevitably started to feel stuffed. A growing boy couldn't keep eating like this.

But to maximize the sample size, Ning Zhe forced himself to keep going, eating his way through one household after another.

As they stole the offerings, Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu both stayed highly alert, never letting the other out of their sight.

I don't know how, but that Ghost has shown it can "teleport" within He Family Village. We can't afford to let our guard down, Feng Yushu thought nervously.

She didn't dare let Ning Zhe out of her sight for too long. Who knew whether he would be the one opening the door next time?

Ning Zhe, meanwhile, was thinking about something else.

Of the two mysteries in He Family Village, only the one about the Ghost has been definitively solved. My theory about the Snake God still hasn't been verified.

...What if I'm wrong?

Besides, would the Ghost really just let him carry on like this without doing anything? Would it simply sit back and wait to die?