Zhou Shan

"Actually, I never intended to let you leave alive."

"After Xiao Mei died, we didn't even hold a funeral. The Village Chief told us not to tell anyone who didn't know, and forbade the villagers from bringing it up among ourselves."

"It was as though she'd never existed in this village... sometimes even I get confused and feel like it was all a dream."

"There was no one I could talk to. I was afraid that if this went on, even I would forget Xiao Mei had ever lived."

"That was why I came to you... so I wouldn't forget the pain."

"But doing that broke the village's rules. If anyone found out, I would die, and so would you."

"...This village has gone mad. If I hadn't seen Xiao Mei again, I probably would have gone mad along with it."

Song Qingzhang opened his mouth, then finally voiced the question weighing on his mind. "Why do all of you... obey the Village Chief so completely?"

Although people in remote villages generally had a stronger sense of community, the degree of conformity they displayed was downright strange.

Aunt Wang remained silent, as though those words had drained all her strength.

"Then can you tell us what the River God actually is?"

Li Xian asked the question he most wanted answered.

"Stop asking!"

Aunt Wang suddenly grew agitated, looking at Li Xian and Song Qingzhang with a hint of terror in her eyes.

"None of this has anything to do with you. Once everything is settled, leave this village as soon as you can!"

"Pretend I never said anything today!"

With that, Aunt Wang looked at them with a complicated expression. Finally, she let out a deep sigh, turned, and left the room.

It was already well into the night, with only a few hours left until dawn. Neither of them felt sleepy anymore, so they closed their eyes and rested against the headboard, silently waiting for daybreak.

A blackish-purple tentacle quietly crept onto the edge of the bed from a corner no one could see. It waited a while, then, once Li Xian's breathing had steadied, reached over and lightly tapped his palm.

Li Xian frowned. His palm felt slightly itchy, but when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing.

"Was I imagining it...?"

At daybreak, Li Xian got out of bed, feeling as though his mind was somewhat sluggish.

"Is it because I didn't get enough rest...?" Li Xian rubbed his temples, ignored his discomfort, and left Aunt Wang's house.

The two returned to the Village Chief's house. The moment they entered, they heard a jumble of voices, accompanied by the thick smell of blood.

There was no one in the living room. They took a few steps farther inside and saw Xu Yao standing pale-faced in the hallway, facing a wide-open doorway.

It was the innermost room. Li Xian recalled that it belonged to Li Hongqiang.

They walked over to Xu Yao and called her name.

She seemed not to have recovered from what she had just seen. It took her a moment to turn toward them, and then she drew in a sharp breath-

"W-what happened to your neck?"

Li Xian instinctively touched his neck. A jolt of pain made him realize that the marks Shen Xiaomei had left when she strangled him had frightened her.

Without a mirror, Li Xian could only infer from Xu Yao's expression that the marks on his neck were probably quite gruesome.

He buttoned his shirt all the way up. "Never mind that for now. What happened in the room?"

Xu Yao stepped aside.

Inside, Li Hongqiang lay on the bed, his eyes wide open and blood smeared across his face and around his mouth. He was clearly dead.

The blood seemed to have spilled from his mouth, running down his cheeks onto the bed and soaking through the sheets.

Zhao Fengyi and Qian Xin were examining the body, though neither dared get too close.

Hearing the voices outside, they turned and saw Li Xian and Song Qingzhang. Both froze.

Qian Xin blurted out in surprise, "I thought you two were dead."

Li Xian raised an eyebrow.

Only then did Qian Xin realize how inappropriate that sounded, and he hurried to smooth things over. "No, no... I was just a little surprised..."

Li Xian entered the room, carefully avoiding the blood on the floor. "What happened to him?"

Zhao Fengyi said, "He's dead."

"Do you know what caused it?"

Zhao Fengyi pointed at the wide-open window beside the bed. "Most likely, he didn't lock the window. The wind blew it open during the night, and the rain fell straight onto him."

He sighed.

"There's nothing else to see."

The door was gently pulled shut. Everyone looked grim, but there were still things they had to do:

"Let's go fetch today's water first."

On the way, the others naturally asked where Li Xian and Song Qingzhang had gone the previous night:

"Yesterday, right after we got back to our rooms, the rain suddenly came pouring down. We'd planned to go out and look for more clues, but that fell through. And we waited forever, but neither of you came back... I thought you must have been caught outside in the rain."

Qian Xin kept rambling:

"So where did you end up staying? This is the first time I've seen anyone spend the night somewhere other than the lodgings provided by the instance and still come back alive. What a... what a rarity!"

"We found Shen Xiaomei's mother," Li Xian answered.

"Shen Xiaomei?" Zhao Fengyi asked. "The Xiao Mei mentioned in the note?"

Li Xian nodded.

"What did she tell you?"

Li Xian and Song Qingzhang told them what had happened the previous night. After hearing the story, everyone exchanged bewildered looks.

"Wait... that's possible? There are two brides in this instance? Then which one are we supposed to put in the coffin?" Qian Xin was completely baffled.

Zhao Fengyi frowned as well. Clearly, this was not something he often encountered. In the end, he could only offer an uncertain answer:

"Although the Village Chief has been telling us to find Li Xiaojuan's body, the fact that Shen Xiaomei was also a bride probably isn't a coincidence."

"My completion rates haven't been very high in any of the instances I've cleared, but I've heard from others that the path to the true ending can be completely different from the normal ending..."

"So I think we can clear the instance by putting either body in the coffin. The difference would be the difficulty and the rewards afterward."

"The true ending?"

Meeting Song Qingzhang's puzzled gaze, Zhao Fengyi nodded. "Besides the instance's mystery-solving rate, puzzle instances also distinguish between NE and TE-the normal ending and the true ending. Generally speaking, reaching a mystery-solving rate above ninety percent triggers the true ending."

"The true ending is harder, but the rewards are supposedly very generous. There are special rewards in addition to points."

Song Qingzhang looked thoughtful. "Then which route is closer to the true ending right now?"

"That's what I'm wondering too. Shen Xiaomei seems more closely connected to the core of the instance. In theory, pursuing her story should give us a higher mystery-solving rate."

Zhao Fengyi paused.

"...But why can't we find any clues for the supposedly easier route?"

"Maybe you guessed wrong," Qian Xin said. "Don't overthink it for now. We'll take whichever bride we can find. Clearing the instance comes first."

From a distance, the group spotted a villager drawing water at the well. They instinctively slowed their steps, intending to wait until he left before approaching.

Song Qingzhang suddenly nudged Li Xian.

"Doesn't he look like the Village Chief's son?"

Li Xian narrowed his eyes. The man at the well had his back to them. He stood straight and moved quickly; judging by his physique, he was indeed in his prime.

"You think he's Zhou Shan?"

Song Qingzhang nodded. "According to Aunt Wang, he's the only young person left in the village."

Just then, the man seemed to finish drawing water. He turned around and came face-to-face with the group.

His skin was rough and sallow, probably from prolonged exposure to the sun, but he looked no older than thirty.

Li Xian approached him. "Excuse me, are you Zhou Shan?"

The man's gaze swept over the group as though appraising them. It paused briefly on Xu Yao, then moved away without interest before finally settling on Li Xian's face. A smile appeared on his lips.

"I am."

Li Xian keenly caught a flicker of excitement in his eyes.

"It's been ages since I saw anyone my age in the village. When I heard a few outsiders had arrived, I wanted to meet you, but I was too busy to find the time to say hello."

Zhou Shan was exceptionally friendly, showing none of the aloofness the other villagers displayed toward outsiders. He even reached out to help Li Xian draw water.

Li Xian immediately refused. "No need."

Zhou Shan's fingertips brushed the back of Li Xian's hand. After being turned down, he withdrew his hand and discreetly rubbed his fingers together.

"If you need anything, come find me anytime. I live right next door to the Village Chief."

As Zhou Shan spoke, he paid no attention to anyone else. His gaze stayed fixed on Li Xian, and he placed extra emphasis on "anytime." Then he picked up his filled bucket and left.

[Is it just me, or is this Zhou Shan guy so friendly it's kind of disgusting?]

[He never offered to help anyone fetch water in this instance before. Why the sudden change?]

[Could he be into the streamer?]

[No way, right? Didn't he marry Shen Xiaomei? Even if the wedding never went through.]

[Aren't you overthinking it? Leaving aside whether he's gay, have you ever seen an instance character take that kind of "interest" in a player?]

[But something about his gaze really creeps me out. Maybe I'm overthinking it...]

Inside the instance, the others also found Zhou Shan's friendliness strange. Qian Xin scratched his head in confusion.

"That's weird. Why was he so friendly to you? Just because he saw a young guy around his own age?"

"Maybe." Li Xian gave Zhou Shan's retreating figure a meaningful look.

The others soon put the encounter out of their minds and went to draw water from the well. Only Song Qingzhang wore a complicated expression as he quietly told Li Xian:

"The way he looked at you was a little strange."

He had stood beside Li Xian throughout their conversation and had noticed all of Zhou Shan's discreet little gestures.

"I know," Li Xian replied.

Since Li Xian did not deny it, Song Qingzhang continued, "He's interested in men, but he still married a woman?"

"Maybe he wasn't willing, or maybe he simply didn't care."

Song Qingzhang frowned. "Isn't that utterly heartless?"

Li Xian nodded silently. Along with his disgust, a suspicion began to take shape.

If Zhou Shan had been forced to marry Shen Xiaomei, that would give him every motive to kill her.

Besides, since they were getting married, he would certainly have spent time alone with Shen Xiaomei, giving him the opportunity to commit the crime.

Li Xian did not believe that the "River God" Aunt Wang spoke of had killed Shen Xiaomei.

The villagers regarded that name with unusual fear and reverence. If someone deliberately exploited that fear, they could easily pin Shen Xiaomei's death on the "River God."

And if those suspicions were correct, the Village Chief's role in all this was far from innocent.

But what exactly was the River God?

On the way back to the Village Chief's house, Li Xian kept considering that question. At last, he reached a conclusion.

He needed to see what lay behind that iron door. There had to be some clue hidden in the Village Chief's room.