The Mystery of Death

Lunar Calendar, 23rd day of the fourth month, 01:22 AM.

Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu, having received the call, arrived at the arched bridge located downstream of the river and waited quietly for the arrival of Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu.

Ye Miaozhu leaned against the stone bridge's railing, resting one hand on Gu Yunqing's shoulder as she looked down at the Call History displayed on his phone screen. The call record was short, only two minutes long; it had been made by Feng Yushu, but it was Ning Zhe who had done the talking.

Ning Zhe had used concise sentences to relay the following three pieces of information to them.

1: Xie Sining is dead; her body is soaking in this river, cause of death unknown.

2: Something that might not be human has replaced Xie Sining's identity and is staying by Zhang Yangxu's side, motive unknown.

3: That thing used Xie Sining's phone to call Feng Yushu.

Ning Zhe believed that the "thing" had used Xie Sining's phone to call Feng Yushu for some unknown, hidden purpose, and the fact that they had happened to discover Xie Sining's actual corpse by the river had prevented this impostor's bizarre maneuver from achieving its intended effect.

Once its goal was reached, some kind of terrifying event might occur.

"It's a bit too coincidental." Ye Miaozhu pressed her lips against Gu Yunqing's ear and whispered.

Gu Yunqing's ears twitched, and he asked in a similarly low, hoarse voice, "What do you mean?"

"According to Ning Zhe, the ghost that replaced Xie Sining had just called Feng Yushu when they discovered the real Xie Sining's body floating in the river." Ye Miaozhu said softly, "Don't you think that's too much of a coincidence?"

"It is indeed very coincidental." Gu Yunqing raised his head and pointed his chin at a collapsed gap on the bridge deck: "This hole collapsed just as Ning Zhe was walking across the bridge; he nearly fell through and died."

Ye Miaozhu nodded: "That's right, Feng Yushu said this was because Ning Zhe inadvertently violated a taboo, which is why he was so unlucky."

"But I don't think it's bad luck." Gu Yunqing said: "Just imagine, if the bridge hadn't collapsed and Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu had crossed normally, and Feng Yushu had received the call from the fake Xie Sining on her way back to the Ancestral Hall, then... would they have been able to find the body in the river?"

"...Hard to say, but in all likelihood, no."

"Exactly." Gu Yunqing hissed softly: "If the bridge hadn't collapsed, Ning Zhe likely wouldn't have discovered Xie Sining's body, and thus wouldn't have learned the truth that she was already dead, nor would he have been able to see through the fact that she had been impersonated by something..."

As Gu Yunqing spoke, his tone grew increasingly gloomy: "Rather than saying Ning Zhe's misstep was bad luck caused by violating a taboo, it's more like the heavens were warning him that there was danger ahead."

"But there is no heaven in He Family Village." Ye Miaozhu's expression turned grave: "There is only the Snake God here."

"Yes, only the Snake God, so perhaps it was the Snake God helping him. But why would the Snake God help him?" Gu Yunqing turned off his phone screen, put it back in his pocket, and said in a low voice: "Feng Yushu said Ning Zhe inadvertently violated a taboo and thus had bad luck, but did she tell you exactly which taboo he violated?"

Travel? Burial? Funerals? Or perhaps a sacrifice? They didn't know.

"This village is strange, and the people in the village are also strange." Ye Miaozhu said softly.

"So if we want to get out alive, we have to be twelve times more vigilant about everything." Gu Yunqing agreed deeply.

The two waited by the bridge for a while longer until two figures appeared on the street in the distance; Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu had finally arrived.

"You're quite late." Gu Yunqing greeted Ning Zhe with a smile.

"Can't be helped, I violated a taboo today, so I didn't dare run too fast." Ning Zhe wore a long face, looking quite distressed: "I really don't know what taboo I violated to be so unlucky; I nearly fell to my death just crossing a bridge."

"You don't know what taboo you violated?" Ye Miaozhu also became worried: "Then it seems we have to be careful too. And... are you sure that retrieving Xie Sining's body won't violate any taboos?"

Burials, funerals, and the like? They were all related to the dead.

"It's possible, but we still have to retrieve it." Ning Zhe said flatly.

Ye Miaozhu had nothing more to say.

Indeed, if they wanted to lift the fog shrouding He Family Village, Xie Sining's death was undoubtedly an important clue. Even if it carried certain risks, it was still better than running around like headless flies.

"Let's go. The current in this river isn't fast, but since so much time has passed, her body should have drifted quite far."

After Ning Zhe finished speaking, he took the lead in walking off the bridge and followed the riverbank downstream at a brisk pace. The other three followed behind.

Just as Ning Zhe had said, the river flowing through He Family Village moved quite slowly—one might even say it was too slow. The rows of willow trees on both sides of the river dropped their emerald leaves, which drifted downstream like stickers pasted onto the surface of the water, moving very, very slowly.

The four of them ran downstream along the river, never forgetting to keep their eyes fixed on the water. They could see the bright moon reflected in the river and the round pebbles covering the riverbed beneath the water.

"Found her."

After walking a long distance, Ning Zhe finally spotted Xie Sining, who had been washed ashore on a bluestone slope downstream. This was where the village women of He Family Village washed their clothes, and Xie Sining's wet, pale corpse was spread out on the ground like a tattered piece of clothing.

The group quickly stepped forward. Without needing to speak, Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu each took a side of the body, one lifting it while the other unbuttoned Xie Sining's clothes to begin the examination.

"The body has been soaking in the water for a long time; the body temperature has completely cooled, making it impossible to estimate the time of death."

"There are no open wounds on the body, nor are there any signs of blunt force trauma or bruises, ruling out the possibility of death by external injury."

"There is no internal bleeding; it is highly unlikely she died from internal injuries."

"There is no obvious water in the lungs; she didn't drown, but was thrown into the river after death."

"No signs of poisoning have been found for the time being, tentatively ruling out the possibility of poisoning, but without professional testing equipment, we cannot be entirely certain."

The more they examined, the deeper the doubts in Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu's hearts became.

"No external injuries, no drowning, no signs of poisoning—whether from the inside or the outside, we cannot find Xie Sining's cause of death." Ye Miaozhu's expression grew increasingly grave as she bit her lip: "It's almost as if... it were an acute, sudden death without warning, or direct brain death."

Gu Yunqing held Xie Sining's shoulders with both hands, looked up at Ning Zhe, who wore a thoughtful expression, and then turned to look at the shimmering river surface. The bright moon floated upon it, and the slow-moving water reflected his own worried face.

"What is going on? How exactly did Xie Sining die...?"

Gu Yunqing gritted his teeth slightly. The baffling situation made his skin crawl. Although he tried his best to control himself and not think about those bizarre, supernatural things, it was clear that He Family Village was a place that could not be deconstructed with conventional logic.

"How exactly did Xie Sining die?" Ning Zhe crossed his arms. He understood that behind this question might lie a crucial secret, one that determined whether he could survive here.

Just as everyone was lost in a fog of confusion, a sudden splash broke the silence of the riverside under the moonlight.

A warm, fresh corpse slid down from the stone laundry slope and plunged headfirst into the rushing river, kicking up a spray of pale water.

Gu Yunqing was dead.

"...Are you kidding me?" Ning Zhe's expression froze.

Was it the ghost that had replaced Xie Sining who killed Gu Yunqing? If so, how exactly did it commit the murder?