Peach Haven Village (24)

The three of them walked aside, and the village chief's group raised no objections. Ding Shi had followed them instinctively, his mind connecting the observations he had made as he tried to understand Truth One again.

Zhang San said, "My view is simple. If we want to leave this instance, we either die or take the minibus at eight in the morning on the eighth day. If there's no danger, we can complete the main quest and leave the instance happily. But if there is danger and all the villagers run away, who'll be there to take the hit for us? Won't that ghost thing come straight for us?"

Sun Qi found it quite reasonable. After all, she had seen a ghost before. "That makes sense." She looked at Ding Shi, hoping he would say something.

Ding Shi looked at Zhang San. "Did you guess what Haitang did to ruin the ritual?"

Zhang San turned his head. "Don't talk nonsense. I don't know."

Ding Shi said, "At first, I knew there was a possibility that the two of you had done something improper, so I never considered any other possibilities. But the village chief's rules caught me off guard. He said that even if you slept together, you still wouldn't have broken the ritual's rules. After thinking it over carefully, I realized that I had treated Haitang like an NPC without player-like emotions."

"Haitang is an unmarried young woman. It was love at first sight between her and you, she's still young, and she's a rural woman from this era." Ding Shi said, "I don't know what Haitang's personality is like, and I don't know how smooth a talker you are. But based on the girls I've met who were similar to her, in six days, you could at most have gotten to second base. I came to Third Lady Temple yesterday morning and met Haitang. She was perfectly normal then, but she's not quite normal today."

Zhang San said, "Wang Wu, don't try to act clever. We've run into a problem now. We need to stick together and solve it."

Ding Shi looked Zhang San in the eyes and said each word distinctly, "You raped her. She forgave you, and she accepted you."

Sun Qi stared at Zhang San in shock. Zhang San opened his mouth several times, only to stop himself. In the end, it all became one sentence. "You're talking nonsense."

Ding Shi continued, "As for what happened to her stand-in, Haitang, I can't guess whether Third Lady hates her for failing to fight back, pities her misfortune, or is angry at her for doing nothing. But Third Lady's resentment came from this."

Sun Qi came back to her senses and snapped, "You men, can't any of you keep your damn pants on? Zhao Liu's example is still fresh in our minds."

Zhang San said urgently, "Keep your voice down." He glanced at the village chief's group.

The little circle fell silent. Zhang San said, "I really do love her."

Ding Shi almost threw up. "Don't, don't explain it to us. Since she forgave and accepted you, it has nothing to do with anyone else." If Haitang had asked Ding Shi for help, he would definitely have lent a hand. He believed most people would have helped her too, even if it was only to call the police for her.

Zhang San said, "How about this? Better to believe it than not. Let Haitang stay in Third Lady Temple and repent. Maybe Third Lady will forgive Haitang. No matter what, we can't agree to let the villagers leave the village."

After considering it, Ding Shi expressed his agreement on that point.

Sun Qi nodded as well. Of course she understood the basic principle of sacrificing a fellow Daoist instead of herself.

Zhang San led the two of them back. After accepting the three players' suggestion, the village chief and White Cloud Daoist decided that the ritual would proceed as usual.

Zhang San took the initiative. "Since the Daoist calculated that this matter might be related to Haitang, why not let Haitang remain in Third Lady Temple to repent?"

Ding Shi and Sun Qi exchanged a glance, but neither said anything. The best approach now was to explain the situation clearly to Haitang, who still did not know how she had angered Third Lady. If Haitang could repent with a specific target in mind, she might be able to soothe Third Lady's soul.

Zhang San pulled Haitang aside and spoke to her in a low voice for a long time. Haitang nodded obediently.

To many people, repentance meant finding excuses for one's actions. Ding Shi believed repentance meant unconditionally accepting one's own mistakes. For example, when late for work, many people would explain to their supervisor that there had been traffic and so on. Others would admit their mistake and promise not to do it again. To a supervisor, the latter was clearly easier to accept.

As the supervisor, Third Lady's soul probably wanted more to hear Haitang dissect her own mistakes than listen to Haitang make excuses for herself. As a victim, she had done nothing wrong. But once she forgave and even accepted the perpetrator, that was where the mistake appeared.

Ding Shi could figure out with his ass that Haitang would definitely say that Zhang San deeply loved her, which was why he had lost control and done certain things. And because she deeply loved Zhang San, she had been willing to forgive and accept him.

Still, Third Lady was meddling in other people's business too.

At noon on the sixth day, after lunch, the fog grew even thicker. Ding Shi walked to the village entrance and saw that the dense fog had already covered the road. Blind Zhao, sitting inside the bus shelter, said, "No one can leave now."

Ding Shi was startled. He turned back to look at Blind Zhao. "It's mealtime. What are you doing here?"

Blind Zhao sighed, rose to his feet, and walked over to Ding Shi. Looking at the thick fog several meters away, he answered, "No one cooked."

Ding Shi smiled and asked, "Uncle Zhao, which is more miserable? No one cooking, or this thick fog?"

Blind Zhao said, "You can still laugh? Do you know what will be released if the ritual fails?"

Ding Shi asked, "Third Lady's soul?"

Blind Zhao said, "No. An evil ghost. An earthbound spirit. In its spirit form, it can pass through doors and enter houses. When it wants to kill someone, it will restore its physical form and strike its target dead."

Ding Shi said, "I heard that evil ghosts are restricted by the Heavenly Dao."

Blind Zhao said, "That's right. They need certain conditions before they can kill. Most evil ghosts have only one killing condition, while a few have two. For example, sight—if it sees you, it can kill you. Or sound—if you make a certain sound, or if the sound is too loud, it can kill you. Evil Ghost Third Lady is different. Her range of movement covers the entire village. The wider a ghost's range, the more conditions it needs before it can kill."

Ding Shi asked, "Based on your experience, Uncle Zhao, how many killing conditions does Third Lady have?"

Blind Zhao said, "Three."

Ding Shi asked, "Which three?"

Blind Zhao said, "I only know one. Don't make eye contact with it."

Ding Shi did not understand. "It's a soul. We can't see it, so we can't make eye contact. If we can't make eye contact, we can't trigger the condition. Then Third Lady can't turn corporeal and kill anyone."

Blind Zhao looked troubled. "I don't really understand it either, but this was passed down from my grandfather."

Ding Shi asked, "What about not speaking of people in the daytime or ghosts at night?"

Blind Zhao said, "That's merely a folk taboo. They say that if you speak of ghosts at night, nearby ghosts will be drawn over. Like knocking on your bowl while eating—it'll bring beggars to your door."

Ding Shi handed Blind Zhao a cigarette. "Uncle Zhao, you don't seem nervous at all." Do you have some way out? Why not tell me? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we escaped together?

Blind Zhao answered with a question instead. "From the sound of it, you're very sure the ritual will fail."

Ding Shi laughed. "How could that be? Hahaha." If I knew the ritual would fail and still agreed to continue it, I wouldn't need Third Lady to make a move. Once we went back, I'd end up like Li Si: beaten to death and buried by the villagers.

Blind Zhao headed back, and Ding Shi accompanied him. Looking over the village, Blind Zhao sighed. "Such a fine village. Why did it have to suffer this calamity?"

Why? Because of us.