The Earth God Wouldn't Take Him

Gu Yunqing's lifeless body plunged into the water. Cold droplets splashed onto Ye Miaozhu's face, making her mind swim.

"Yunqing... is dead?"

Ye Miaozhu murmured blankly, her eyes vacant. Ning Zhe reacted quickly, darting forward and grabbing Gu Yunqing by the sleeve so the current wouldn't sweep him away.

Clutching Gu Yunqing's corpse, Ning Zhe quickly glanced at Feng Yushu, who was trembling all over and too terrified to move, then at Ye Miaozhu, whose mental state was clearly unstable. He realized he could only rely on himself.

He unbuttoned Gu Yunqing's clothes and quickly examined the body.

Though he wasn't a medical student, even a basic examination allowed him to make a few preliminary judgments. "Like Xie Sining, Gu Yunqing has no external injuries or internal bleeding. He didn't drown or suffocate, and there are no signs of poisoning..."

Aside from the lingering warmth in Gu Yunqing's body, since he had only just died, the two corpses showed no difference in how they had died. They were exactly alike.

"Their bodies show exactly the same signs. Were they both killed by that thing that can impersonate other people? Or is the river itself dangerous?"

Ning Zhe didn't know the answer, but he didn't dare take any chances.

He set Gu Yunqing's body down and backed away from the riverbank. Feng Yushu, already so terrified that her nerves were frayed, hurried after him. Only Ye Miaozhu remained slumped where she was, staring blankly into space.

"Yunqing... how could he just die like this?" Ye Miaozhu's gaze drifted, clouded with confusion. "We haven't broken any taboos. We didn't go out, bury anyone, or hold a funeral... and we certainly didn't make an offering. Why did Yunqing die?"

Ye Miaozhu clutched her head, tangling her once-smooth hair. "Even if examining a corpse counts as holding a funeral... why did Yunqing die while nothing happened to me?"

"I don't know." Ning Zhe shook his head. "How would I know..."

"Is that so? You don't know either." Ye Miaozhu bent down and buttoned Gu Yunqing's clothes, one button at a time. Holding his corpse, she turned her head and watched the river slowly flow downstream. The bright white moon was reflected on its surface.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Ning Zhe frowned. "I noticed what Gu Yunqing was doing before he died. A few seconds before he lost his vital signs, he was looking down at the river by the bank. I don't know whether the danger lies with corpses by the river or with the river itself, but copying what he did before he died is obviously asking to die."

"So what?" Ye Miaozhu raised her head and stared straight at Ning Zhe, her eyes lifeless. "I've had enough."

Ning Zhe was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I understand, but I don't agree."

They were all ordinary people. They studied, worked, and lived ordinary lives, keeping their heads down and assuming life was nothing more than one uneventful day piled upon another.

But after opening a single door, they had ended up in this inexplicable place, forced to follow nonsensical rules and endure irrational terror.

Death weighed so heavily that it left everyone struggling to breathe. Rules that changed every day tormented their fragile nerves, keeping them trembling and treading on thin ice.

Ning Zhe didn't know what kind of relationship Ye Miaozhu and Gu Yunqing had, but in an environment where tomorrow was never promised, they had grown used to relying on each other.

Ye Miaozhu wasn't particularly strong. Without someone she knew by her side, the threat of death—which could arrive at any moment—would have crushed her long ago. She could never have lasted this long in this strange village, so full of the uncanny.

Now Gu Yunqing was dead. Without her emotional anchor, she'd lost the courage and motivation to keep struggling to survive.

Ning Zhe didn't approve of her carelessly throwing her life away, but he didn't oppose her trying to die just then, either. In fact, it would be good for him.

"After Ye Miaozhu dies, there'll be three ready-made cases of death here," Ning Zhe thought. "I can't see the logic behind one or two bizarre deaths, but what about three? Four? There'll be clues eventually... Every mystery can be solved."

Others might break down, give up, or throw caution to the wind. He wouldn't.

Looking at Ning Zhe's cold, unreadable gaze, Ye Miaozhu suddenly laughed. "I actually wanted to take my anger out on you. If you hadn't asked us to examine Xie Sining's corpse, Yunqing wouldn't have died. But feeling his body slowly grow cold, I realized I don't even have the strength to be angry anymore."

"Good thing you don't," Ning Zhe said casually. "If you threw a tantrum at me, I'd kill you."

"Psycho," Ye Miaozhu cursed venomously.

But then she seemed to let it go. "Still, maybe only a heartless psycho like you can survive in this heartless place. You seem right at home."

"Seeing as you're about to die, I'll let that insult slide," Ning Zhe said indifferently.

The riverbank fell silent. The faint words were swallowed by the crystal-clear water. Ye Miaozhu held Gu Yunqing's corpse in her arms, quietly watching their reflections on the water, like a condemned prisoner at the Execution Ground closing her eyes and waiting for death.

But second after second passed. Ning Zhe checked his phone again and again: five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes... Ye Miaozhu remained seated quietly by the riverbank, letting the cold evening breeze steal away her warmth. Nothing else happened.

"Looks like the Snake God thinks you're not meant to die yet." Ning Zhe walked down the sloping green stone bank and held out a hand to Ye Miaozhu, who was still slumped where she sat. "Let's go. Since whatever that thing is gave your life back to you, you should cherish it."

Ye Miaozhu lowered her head. After a long silence, she made no move to resist as Ning Zhe took her hand.

Ning Zhe pulled her up from the riverbank, swiftly organizing what they knew so far in his mind:

"First, the Snake God has some kind of madness and suffers regular episodes every month. The cause and symptoms are unknown."

"Second, besides the Almanac's auspicious and inauspicious signs, which affect people's luck, there are other hidden rules in He Family Village that directly cause death. For example, looking through tomorrow's Almanac."

"Third, Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing both appear to have died after breaking hidden rules. Their bodies showed exactly the same signs as Lin Zhiyuan's."

"Fourth, although Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing's bodies were both found in the river, Ye Miaozhu has proved that their deaths were not directly related to it."

"Fifth, there's a special entity in He Family Village that can impersonate others. It seems to be connected to the hidden rules that cause death."

As the information accumulated, Ning Zhe's thoughts gradually fell into place. Among the seemingly disorganized fragments, he found the first lead:

"The Ghost that took Xie Sining's place stayed with Zhang Yangxu for a long time without killing him. After it noticed me, it didn't attack me either. Why didn't it kill us? Did it not want to? Or is it actually incapable of killing people directly?"

"Or, to look at it another way, the Ghost doesn't need to approach us to kill. It needs to meet some specific conditions—needs us to trigger certain... rules?"

The fog cleared from the road ahead. From the tangled knot of deaths, Ning Zhe had seized the thread that would unravel the truth.

Just then, Feng Yushu's phone vibrated. Someone was calling.

The caller was Zhang Yangxu.

"Answer it. Hang up immediately if anything seems wrong," Ning Zhe said softly.

Feng Yushu didn't dare answer, but she still nodded despite herself, her smooth, pale fingers trembling as she pressed the answer button.

As soon as the call connected, a loud warning, practically shouted, blasted from the speaker:

"Watch out for Gu Yunqing!"