The Door and the Illness

After some discussion, the four of them unanimously agreed that they should wait a while longer at the Ancestral Hall. If there were other living people left in He Family Village who knew about the existence of "taboos," they would certainly come to the Ancestral Hall to consult the Almanac and check the fortune for the day.

For some reason tonight, every household in He Family Village had their doors and windows tightly shut; not a single person had come out to the Ancestral Hall to check the day's fortune.

This was highly abnormal, and in the Weird World, abnormality meant danger.

"Do you have any ideas?" Zhang Yangxu asked while they waited.

"None." Ning Zhe shook his head. "The He Family comes to the Ancestral Hall to check the Almanac every night at the hour of the Rat, but they didn't come today. Either they no longer care about Averting Bad Luck, or they have other ways to know the day's fortune. Or perhaps... there is some kind of danger inside the Ancestral Hall today that keeps them from coming."

"Oh?" Zhang Yangxu asked, curious. "Is that so?"

"I don't know, it's just a guess." Ning Zhe spread his hands.

"Dan... danger?" Upon hearing that there might be danger in the Ancestral Hall, Feng Yushu's face turned pale. She was a devout Buddhist, and after witnessing the horrors of the Snake God in He Family Village firsthand, she had been walking on eggshells, terrified of every move she made.

Feng Yushu cast a lingering, fearful glance at the memorial tablets of the deceased and the statue of the Snake God on the Lotus Platform, then looked at Ning Zhe with a pleading expression. "Why don't we go outside and wait? Staying here in front of the Snake God for so long... wouldn't that be offensive?"

"I think so too." Ning Zhe agreed, shifting his gaze to Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining. "What do you think?"

"It makes sense. A place like the Ancestral Hall isn't meant for outsiders to enter, let alone linger in." Xie Sining agreed. "Director Zhang, shall we head out?"

Zhang Yangxu looked at Ning Zhe silently for a moment before nodding. "Let's go."

The four of them left the front of the Lotus Platform where the Snake God was enshrined and stood under the eaves outside the main gate of the Ancestral Hall to wait.

There wasn't much for the strangers to talk about, so Xie Sining suggested they share how they had been dragged into He Family Village, hoping to find common ground or clues on how to leave.

Feng Yushu spoke first. "Yesterday... no, it must have been the day before yesterday. My husband, my daughter, and I were staying at a hotel in Ancient Tablet Town. Because he has a habit of working alone at night, we booked three rooms—one for him, one for me, and one for our daughter."

"Around 7:00 PM, I made some coffee and prepared to take it to my husband's room... but after I opened his Room Door and stepped over the threshold, what appeared before me wasn't a hotel room, but a narrow alley paved with stone slabs."

Feng Yushu said, still shaken, "At that moment, the stainless steel door handle I was holding turned into an old brass door bolt. Behind me was a low-rise folk house made of stone and tile, and the room inside was empty... it was as if I had just walked out of that very door."

Zhang Yangxu nodded slightly. "My situation was similar. My car was parked at a Gas Station outside Ancient Tablet Town. The driver had gone to the restroom, and I asked Sining to go buy me a pack of cigarettes. She didn't return for a long time and didn't reply to my messages, so I opened the car door to go find her. The moment I stepped out of the car, I arrived here."

Xie Sining continued, "I bought the cigarettes Director Zhang wanted at the Gas Station convenience store, but after I pushed open the Glass Door and left the store, the ground beneath my feet was no longer the concrete of the station, but the stone slabs of the streets in He Family Village."

"I was more direct." Ning Zhe nodded. "I returned to my hometown, pushed open the gate of my Old House, and then I was here."

Zhang Yangxu's eyes narrowed, lost in thought.

Was it a coincidence? Or was it inevitable? Whether it was the gate of an old house, a hotel Room Door, the Glass Door of a convenience store... or even a car door, while the four of them had arrived in He Family Village through different means, all of them were related to a "door."

Ning Zhe's expression remained calm, but he thought to himself, It's a pity Lin Zhiyuan is already dead. Otherwise, I could have asked how he got here—if he also came through a door.

Suddenly, a black shadow appeared at the edge of Ning Zhe's vision, vanishing in an instant.

"There's someone in the alley across the street. They're trying to run." Without hesitation, Ning Zhe pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and pointed the beam toward the alley across the street.

The phone's built-in flashlight didn't have much range, but Ning Zhe did this to convey the shadow's coordinates to the others in the most direct and efficient way possible; verbal descriptions were too slow and prone to distortion.

But strangely, the black figure that had been trying to run stopped in its tracks upon seeing the flashlight in Ning Zhe's hand.

The person walked two steps toward them, and then a point of white light flickered to life in their hand—it was also a flashlight.

"Thank goodness, they're living people." Feng Yushu let out a sigh of relief; her heart had been ready to jump out of her chest.

As they drew closer, they realized there wasn't just one person in the alley across the street, but two. A man and a woman, both young, looking like university students.

"Hello, my name is Gu Yunqing." The young man introduced himself first, then gestured to the young woman beside him. "This is my senior. We are both students at Qinzhou Medical University."

"I'm Ye Miaozhu." Gu Yunqing's senior introduced herself. "Were you all accidentally dragged here too?"

Ning Zhe nodded.

After some exchange, the group shared their information and identification. Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu both produced their internship IDs.

Both were intern doctors. Qinzhou Medical University had a tradition of sending students to rural areas to intern at small clinics to gain experience, similar to volunteer teaching, and their internship location was the designated medical point in Ancient Tablet Town.

Just like the four of them, Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu had arrived here after pushing open the doors to their clinic and pharmacy, respectively.

It really is related to doors. Ning Zhe's suspicion grew more certain. If we all entered He Family Village through "doors," does that mean there is a "door" hidden somewhere in this village that can let us leave this Weird World and return to reality?

"Not certain, but it's possible." Zhang Yangxu acknowledged his theory.

Zhang Yangxu then asked Ye Miaozhu, "You must know about the existence of fortunes and taboos, so why didn't you enter the Ancestral Hall to check the Almanac, but instead hid in the alley across the street?"

Ye Miaozhu shook her head. "We didn't dare go in."

Gu Yunqing added, "The He Family usually comes to the Ancestral Hall on time every day to consult the Almanac and check the fortune, but not a single one of them came today. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Feng Yushu asked hurriedly.

Gu Yunqing took a deep breath and said, "I overheard two elderly villagers talking... they said the Snake God is sick, and today is the day of His affliction."