How Can You and I Distinguish

After witnessing the deaths of Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu, Ning Zhe left the clinic and flew out along the town's main road.

According to Zhang Yangxu's own account, the opportunity for him to enter He Family Village arose while he was parked at a gas station, and there was only one legitimate gas station within a 5-kilometer radius of Ancient Tablet Town, known as the "Sunshine Gas Station."

Ning Zhe soon arrived above the Sunshine Gas Station, but he did not immediately see the car Zhang Yangxu was suspected to be riding in. The gas station only had a few scattered, ordinary family sedans and cargo vans parked there; clearly, these vehicles did not match the status of Zhang Yangxu as a real estate tycoon.

"It seems there is still some time before Zhang Yangxu arrives here." Ning Zhe lowered his body, hiding in a tall Loquat Tree next to the gas station. Using the dense leaves to conceal himself, he waited patiently for Zhang Yangxu's arrival.

While waiting, Ning Zhe organized his train of thought, attempting to reconstruct the events that had occurred in He Family Village:

1. The Snake God "Zhaoyou" was the native god of He Family Village, while "Taiyi" was an invading Wandering Ghost;

2. Taiyi wandered through He Family Village and, by guiding the villagers' misconceptions, stole the identity of the Snake God, causing the Snake God to fall into madness;

3. The symptoms of the Snake God's madness were unknown. Because Ning Zhe had successfully cleared He Family Village before the Snake God went mad, they never got to see what the Snake God looked like when he lost his mind;

4. When Ning Zhe flipped through the Almanac and violated the Death Taboo, he simultaneously possessed three identities: Ning Zhe, Taiyi, and Zhaoyou.

Then, the subsequent development of events was easy to deduce...

"Assuming the Snake God identity I possessed was complete enough to deceive the rules, then the Death Taboo I violated by flipping through the Almanac would be viewed as having been violated by the Snake God. According to the rules, the Snake God must kill himself, which is Zhaoyou."

"But besides the Snake God Zhaoyou, I also simultaneously possessed the identity of the Wandering Ghost Taiyi. Since both of the Snake God's eyes were blind, He could completely view the person who violated the Death Taboo as a ghost; therefore, if the Snake God killed Taiyi, it would also conform to the rules."

"Or there is another explanation..."

Ning Zhe turned his head, staring at the gas station below through the gaps between the loquat leaves:

"That is, the Snake God also mistook me for a ghost."

Ning Zhe could use the identity of the Snake God Zhaoyou to violate the Death Taboo, but Zhaoyou himself knew better than anyone whether the Snake God had actually flipped through the Almanac.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Snake God, who had been driven mad by a ghost stealing his identity, it was the Wandering Ghost Taiyi who was using His identity to flip through the Almanac, and it was Taiyi who attempted to use the Death Taboo of the rules to kill Him completely. The Snake God had sufficient reason to believe this... but in reality, the person who committed this crazy act was merely a youngster named Ning Zhe who had been accidentally dragged into He Family Village.

So, when He Family Village shattered, who did the rules actually kill? Was it the Snake God? Or the ghost?

"Perhaps the answer would be... all of them."

After all, Ning Zhe was not the only existence who had stolen the Snake God's identity. There were still many villagers who had not been deceived by Ning Zhe, and the Wandering Ghost Taiyi could completely transfer the Death Taboo punishment he received onto the Snake God Zhaoyou.

But doing so would further anchor the Snake God's erroneous cognition that "it was Taiyi who opened the Almanac."

Ning Zhe lowered his head, examining the black and white feathers with a touch of cyan-blue on his body, as well as the two claws that were gripping the branch tightly:

"The Snake God mistook me, who violated the Death Taboo, for a ghost, and the ghost transferred the Death Taboo punishment he received to the Snake God, which in turn made the Snake God further convinced that I was the ghost..."

"If the facts are as I think, and both the Snake God and the ghost were killed by the incorrectly triggered rules, then the only one left in this world who still possesses the identity of 'Taiyi' is me."

Both the Snake God and the ghost were killed, and the person who successfully cleared He Family Village obtained Taiyi's abilities. It actually fits the game logic of killing monsters to level up.

This was no wonder he had previously suspected whether the He Family Village that Baizhi dreamed of could be a plot dungeon from some game work.

"Speaking of Baizhi, why did she dream of the scene in He Family Village?" Ning Zhe was a bit curious: "When it hits 7:00 PM and Aunt returns, I'll go find her and have a chat."

If Feng Yushu was still alive by then.

While organizing his thoughts, Ning Zhe hid in the loquat tree and waited quietly. About 4 hours later, at 11:31 AM, a sophisticated-looking black luxury business car entered his field of vision.

Ning Zhe didn't know much about cars, nor did he recognize the brand or grade of this luxury business car, but he subconsciously felt that this car must be very expensive. So, he left the canopy of the loquat tree, landed in the green belt closer to the black business car, and observed silently.

Not long after the car stopped at the refueling spot, the rear door was opened. A tall woman wearing a women's suit and a black tight-fitting skirt stepped out and walked straight toward the general store.

"Xie Sining." Ning Zhe recognized her at a glance.

According to what Xie Sining said herself, she had entered He Family Village while helping Zhang Yangxu buy cigarettes at the gas station and pushing the door to leave the general store. As for Zhang Yangxu, he had waited in the car for a long time without her returning, and wanting to get out to see what was happening, he was also dragged into He Family Village the moment he pushed the car door open.

Facts proved that at least regarding this matter, neither Zhang Yangxu nor Xie Sining had lied, and the subsequent developments were exactly as they had described.

From afar, Ning Zhe saw Xie Sining, having finished buying the cigarettes, push open the door of the general store, and then her body went limp, and she died on the spot right at the entrance, scaring the boss of the general store out of his wits.

"Xie Sining really did die, so is the next one Zhang Yangxu?"

Thinking of this, Ning Zhe left the green belt. Instead of spreading his wings to take flight, he hopped along the ground with his bird claws until he reached the underside of the luxury business car.

A few minutes later, Zhang Yangxu, having waited a long time for Xie Sining to return, opened the door on the other side of the back seat in confusion. At the same time, the light in his eyes suddenly extinguished, and his limp body leaned against the back seat.

Zhang Yangxu was also dead.

Ning Zhe seized the opportunity to jump onto the car, transformed from a magpie back into his original Ning Zhe form, sat next to Zhang Yangxu's corpse, and slammed the car door shut.

Bang—

"Director Zhang, what's wrong?" Ning Zhe's action of closing the door was heavy and loud, causing the driver in the front seat to ask with some confusion.

The driver looked up at the rearview mirror, only to see "Zhang Yangxu" had moved to the seat where Xie Sining had been sitting earlier, which made him even more confused.

"Sining has been gone for quite a while." Zhang Yangxu's voice, carrying a hint of a smoker's rasp, came from Ning Zhe's throat: "You go out and take a look, and urge her to hurry up."

"Alright, Director Zhang, I'll go right now." The driver immediately got out of the car and walked toward the general store.

Ning Zhe took a deep breath, fished the phone out of the pocket of the slumped Zhang Yangxu, and then stuffed his corpse into the trunk from inside the car.

—From Zhang Yangxu's memories, Ning Zhe already knew that this business car was not equipped with internal surveillance or recording equipment, and the car windows were one-way glass that could not be seen through from the outside.

After hiding the corpse, Ning Zhe casually tucked Zhang Yangxu's phone into the inner lining of his suit, sat calmly on the leather-wrapped back seat, and waited for the driver to bring back the news of Xie Sining's death.