The funeral feast

More than a dozen round black wooden tables stood inside the canopy, each surrounded by four long benches, with empty bowls and chopsticks covering the tabletops. The tables were arranged along either side, leaving an aisle down the middle that led straight to the mourning hall.

The mourning platform had been put together temporarily, partitioned off with hanging white cloth and yellow talismans. A long table stood in the middle, bearing a photograph of the deceased, incense, and candles. Behind the photograph, a large coffin was visible, with several women and children in mourning clothes kneeling on either side, whispering among themselves.

Officer Huang approached the mourning hall and accepted incense from a man. He solemnly bowed three times to the photograph on the table, then knelt on a straw mat and kowtowed three times without touching his forehead to the ground. Gaoyang and the other young people were unfamiliar with these customs, but followed his lead.

The makeshift band nearby began banging gongs and drums, their suona horns blaring skyward. Someone set off firecrackers outside. As though someone had flipped a switch on their tear ducts, the women and children in the mourning hall burst into piercing wails and howls. They spoke in dialect, saying things along the lines of "You died such a terrible death," "What am I supposed to do now that you've left me?" and "I don't want to live anymore either."

After paying their respects, Officer Huang sat down at a table in the corner. A burly middle-aged woman brought over five cups of hot tea. "Here, have some tea."

The five of them politely accepted the bowls of tea and held them without drinking.

Officer Huang sniffed the tea, pretending he was about to take a sip. "Are the people behind the mourning altar relatives of the deceased?"

"Oh, what relatives? Hua Zi's family never had many close ties, and they barely had any relatives to begin with. Now that this has happened, what friend or relative would dare come offer incense? Those people back there are kind neighbors we rounded up to help. Everyone in the village pitched in to arrange Hua Zi's funeral, too."

"That was thoughtful of you," Officer Huang said.

"Ah, Hua Zi was an honest, decent man when he was alive. A good man. Seeing him meet an end like this has been hard on everyone in the village. We're just doing what we can so they can leave with dignity and be reincarnated sooner."

Officer Huang nodded. "What should I call you?"

"Just call me Sister Fan."

"All right. Thanks, Sister Fan. We won't keep you from your work."

"Oh, don't mention it. The food will be ready soon, so stay and eat before you leave, Officer Huang. If you have any questions, just ask me. I was Hua Zi's neighbor, so I know a bit about his family."

After Sister Fan left, the five of them began talking quietly.

"Did you see the photograph on the mourning altar?" Pang Jun looked deeply uneasy.

"Yeah, I saw it." Wang Zikai was unconcerned. "What about it?"

"Something's wrong. Why were there only four people?" Pang Jun's voice trembled. "Wasn't it a family of five?"

Gaoyang had noticed it too. The photograph showed only four men, all posing together. Standing in the center was a dark-skinned man in his fifties with an honest, gentle look in his eyes. A young man in his prime sat in the middle, flanked by two teenage boys. It was a black-and-white studio photograph, taken in front of a cheap, unrealistic backdrop depicting the Great Wall.

Officer Huang spoke up. "Before coming to Gu Family Village, I specifically looked through the file on this cold case. The head of the household was Gu Huihua, fifty-four, a farmer. His wife was also a farmer, but she died of breast cancer a few years earlier. Their eldest son, Gu Chunxiu, was twenty-seven. One of his two younger brothers had dropped out of school to farm at home, and the other was still in middle school."

"Who was the fifth person?" Gaoyang asked.

"The family's daughter-in-law, Gu Chunxiu's wife. She'd only just married into the family, and they hadn't had time to take a photograph yet. The whole family was dismembered on their wedding night."

"Their wedding night?" Wang Zikai perked up. "That's wild!"

"What was the wife's name? What about her family?" Gaoyang asked.

"That's the strange part. They couldn't find any information about her identity." Officer Huang took out a cigarette.

Gaoyang fell silent.

"The family's bodies were cut into over a hundred pieces and scattered throughout the village. It took the forensic team two days to put them back together. There were indeed four male bodies and one female body. The only part missing from the woman's body was her head. They never found it." Officer Huang lit the cigarette in his mouth.

Clang, clang, clang! Someone banged a gong, and a man shouted at the top of his lungs, "Food's ready!"

All the villagers working around the grounds stopped what they were doing and streamed into the canopy. Ten tables quickly filled up. Several village women who had helped cook brought out hot dishes, soon covering the table with fish and meat. The five exchanged looks. No one dared pick up their chopsticks.

Gaoyang called to the system in his mind, wanting to scan the dishes on the table, then suddenly remembered that scanning was impossible here. He sighed inwardly. Turning his head, he received a fright: Wang Zikai was already lifting a piece of braised pork to his mouth.

"Wang Zikai, you..."

"What about me?" Wang Zikai's mouth was already slick with grease. "Hey, this is delicious! You guys should have some too."

"I'm not hungry." Pang Jun swallowed, saying the opposite of what he felt.

They didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but after entering Gu Family Village and going through everything that followed, they were already thirsty, hungry, and exhausted. Still, in a completely unfamiliar and dangerous environment, they absolutely couldn't eat whatever they pleased. Any normal person understood that much.

Unfortunately, Wang Zikai wasn't a normal person. He was an idiot.

Wang Zikai ate and drank his fill at the feast. Not only that, he struck up a conversation with a drunken villager beside him. Although neither seemed to be talking about the same thing, they somehow got along splendidly, throwing their arms around each other's shoulders and calling each other brother as they drained two bottles of baijiu.

After the feast, the five of them left ahead of the others.

Gaoyang and Pang Jun supported the slightly drunk Wang Zikai as they walked to the village entrance.

Officer Huang was at a loss. "Judging by what we've seen, the time in this Gu Family Village should be ten days after the murders, thirty years ago. The police still hadn't solved the case, so the villagers decided to hold a funeral for the family. It's recorded in the case file."

"Did we really travel back in time?" Pang Jun was unsettled. Then something occurred to him. "Then... when did all the villagers disappear?"

"The day after the burial. When my team leader came back to investigate, there wasn't a single person left in the village," Officer Huang said.

"So that's tomorrow," Gaoyang said.

"Damn! Doesn't that mean we have to wait another day?" Wang Zikai reeked of alcohol. He was about to say more when he suddenly retched and vomited. He staggered to the roadside, dropped to his knees, and began throwing up uncontrollably.

Qingling watched Wang Zikai with undisguised disgust. "Too much booze, or was he poisoned?"

Officer Huang shook his head and went over to pat Wang Zikai on the back. After two pats, his expression darkened. He turned and beckoned to the others. "Come take a look."

Gaoyang had a bad feeling. He was the first to approach, and his scalp prickled.

The vomit at Wang Zikai's feet wasn't ordinary food he hadn't had time to digest. It was a heap of earthworms and mud-dwelling worms, still writhing.