"Could you give me a little time?" Ning Zhe looked up and smiled at Feng Yushu. "I need to be alone and think quietly so I can make sense of what just happened and what we should do next."
"I'll listen to you..." Feng Yushu left the Ancestral Hall, gathered her skirt, and sat on the threshold at the entrance. Every so often, she glanced back anxiously at Ning Zhe, who was leaning against a pillar, lost in thought.
Before long, a buzzing vibration came from her thigh. Her phone was ringing—not with a call, but with a text message.
Feng Yushu unlocked the screen and saw who had sent it: Zhang Yangxu.
"Huh?"
Meanwhile, inside the Ancestral Hall, Ning Zhe sat before the Snake God and went over everything he had done that morning.
The logic behind Ning Zhe stealing the Snake God's offerings was actually very simple. It could be summed up in one sentence:
[When someone mistakes me for the Snake God, then I really am the Snake God.]
This was a rule, one even the gods had to obey.
When someone discovered the traces Ning Zhe had deliberately left behind while stealing the Snake God's offerings, all it would take was a single villager thinking, "The Snake God ate these," for the rule to be triggered. He would then use the believers' mistaken understanding as a medium to steal part of the Snake God's "identity."
Judging by the Snake God's reaction, Ning Zhe knew he had succeeded.
"At least one person mistook me for the Snake God. As time passes and more traces of the stolen offerings are discovered, there may be even more."
Ning Zhe quickly figured out his current state. "Right now, I've stolen at least part of the Snake God's identity as understood by one believer. Considering that, the sudden darkness and the hallucinations I saw just now might be an added effect of obtaining the Snake God's identity."
So that hallucination, that faceless woman, and the song she hummed... were they all memories of the Snake God?
Was that it?
Ning Zhe couldn't be sure. Only time would tell. "Now all I can do is wait and see whether more people mistake me for the Snake God, allowing me to steal more of its identity."
His successful experiment didn't fill Ning Zhe with much excitement. Figuring out this rule and successfully stealing the Snake God's identity wasn't the end of this Weird Event.
On the contrary, this was only the first step in his attempt to unravel the rules governing this world.
"Now that I have the Snake God's identity, I can act a little more freely."
Having sorted out the situation, Ning Zhe straightened up and left the Ancestral Hall. He still didn't understand what the hallucination meant, nor what the sorrowful melody signified, but that didn't stop him from knowing exactly what he was going to do.
As soon as he stepped outside, Ning Zhe saw Feng Yushu sitting on the threshold, staring blankly at her phone.
"What are you looking at?"
"Ah! Ning Zhe... N-nothing." Feng Yushu shook her head repeatedly, stuffed her phone into her pocket, and stood up. "I was just wondering, can we really solve the mystery and get out of He Family Village this way?"
"I'm not sure, but do you have any better option than trusting me?" Ning Zhe asked in reply.
"Fair enough." Feng Yushu shook her head, dismissing her tangled thoughts. After hesitating for a while, she took the phone back out of her pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Ning Zhe. "Here."
Ning Zhe took the phone and saw a chat window on the screen. The other person was Zhang Yangxu.
"Zhang Yangxu just texted me," Feng Yushu said. "Read it yourself."
Ning Zhe gave a quiet hum. He sat down beside Feng Yushu on the Ancestral Hall's threshold, and the two of them read through her chat with Zhang Yangxu:
Zhang Yangxu:
[Ye Miaozhu is dead.]
[She went alone to the He Manor estate and was killed by a Ghost.]
[If Ning Zhe hadn't deliberately provoked her, Ye Miaozhu wouldn't have been alone, and she wouldn't have died.]
[Ning Zhe did it on purpose.]
[He may have already figured out some of the special rules in He Family Village. He deliberately provoked Ye Miaozhu to make her go off alone and draw the Ghost's attention.]
[That man is insane. He doesn't care in the slightest whether other people live or die.]
[Are you sure you still want to stay by his side?]
[Ning Zhe was willing to use Ye Miaozhu's life to test his suspicions. He could just as easily use yours to achieve some other goal.]
[He doesn't care whether anyone else lives or dies. You're nothing special to him.]
Feng Yushu:
[I know what you mean, but I don't know who you are.]
[Are you Zhang Yangxu? Or a Ghost?]
Zhang Yangxu:
[You can ask me some questions to test whether I'm really Zhang Yangxu.]
[Or we can meet in person.]
Feng Yushu:
[I don't know you well enough to know what questions would distinguish you from a Ghost.]
[Also, why did you text me?]
Zhang Yangxu:
[What do you mean?]
Feng Yushu:
[I mean, why did you choose to text me instead of calling?]
[This would clearly be easier to discuss over the phone.]
[You know Ning Zhe is beside me, so you don't dare call, right?]
Zhang Yangxu:
[Isn't that obvious? You're always with him.]
Feng Yushu:
[No. If that were really the case, you wouldn't have texted me either.]
Their conversation ended there. "Zhang Yangxu" didn't send any more messages.
After reading the chat, Ning Zhe handed the phone back to Feng Yushu. "How did you know he was a Ghost?"
Feng Yushu took the phone and said, "Because you're very perceptive and sensitive. Zhang Yangxu knows you well. He knows what kind of person you are."
"While I was with you, he never dared to act rashly. You were like a tiger guarding its prey, lying in wait beside me. You'd notice the slightest disturbance. In a situation like that, he couldn't call—and even a text message would have been noticed."
"But that brief moment just now was different."
Feng Yushu continued, "You weren't in a good state just now. We were still together, but I was sitting outside while you were inside the Ancestral Hall, thinking by yourself. In that situation, you would have heard a call, but not a text."
Ning Zhe thought about it, then smiled. "Auntie's getting smarter."
"I learned from you," Feng Yushu said softly.
"But why compare yourself to prey? Don't you trust me?" Ning Zhe asked.
Feng Yushu nodded. "Actually, the Ghost was right. You don't care whether anyone lives or dies. You're cold and heartless—even more terrifying than a Ghost."
"Then why are you still following me?" Ning Zhe laughed.
"Because it's my only way to survive." Feng Yushu raised her head, her slightly unfocused gaze settling on Ning Zhe's eyes. "If you're a dangerous tiger, then that Ghost is a deadly venomous snake hidden in the darkness, waiting to devour anyone it can. It wants to swallow both you and me."
What a strange comparison...
"But you won't hand your prey over to it, will you?" Feng Yushu asked.
"Who knows?" Ning Zhe didn't answer her question.
The only thing they could be sure of now was that Zhang Yangxu was probably already dead.
Before you continue