The truth

After Gaoyang finished, Officer Huang and Qingling fell into thought. Pang Jun shuddered, looking both bewildered and terrified. As for Wang Zikai, he hadn't understood a word. "What? What? Slow down and say that again."

"This is the real Gu Family Village from back then," Gaoyang repeated.

"Oh..." Wang Zikai slapped his forehead and admitted without shame, "I still don't fucking get it."

"If this is Gu Family Village, then what was the village we went to before?" Qingling asked.

"Also Gu Family Village."

"Can you speak like a normal person?!" Wang Zikai snapped. "What is this, a fucking nesting doll?!"

Gaoyang gathered his thoughts. "Thirty years ago, an entire family was massacred in Gu Family Village. Not long afterward, every villager disappeared, right?"

"That's what the case files say," Officer Huang replied.

"I believe," Gaoyang said with conviction, "it wasn't the villagers who disappeared. It was the entire village."

Officer Huang paused, then narrowed his eyes. "Go on."

"I don't know how it happened, but the whole of Gu Family Village was transferred into this domain. The village we visited before was a knockoff... More precisely, a replica."

"What makes you think that?" Officer Huang asked.

"The ancestral hall we visited on the first night had a lot of spirit tablets. Wang Zikai even read out a few names. Do you remember? One of them was Gu Huawu..."

"Master Wu," Qingling realized.

"Right. The village chief's name is Gu Huawu," Gaoyang said. "He's clearly not dead, so why would his name be in the memorial hall? Something had to be wrong with that place."

"Ah!" Pang Jun panicked. "They've been dead all along! What we're seeing now are ghosts..."

"Ghosts, my ass!" Wang Zikai smacked Pang Jun on the head. "Didn't you see that Fourth Master Gu was a lizardman? I bet the village chief is one too."

"Quiet. Gaoyang, keep going." Officer Huang was close to piecing it together.

"Ever since we arrived in this Gu Family Village, I've felt that a lot of things were wrong. Take Hua Zi's house, where we're staying now. The massacre happened less than half a month ago, but his house looks like it's been empty for years."

Gaoyang paused, then continued, "And the coffin they buried today looked very old too, as if it had been used before. When I got closer, I saw dried mud on its bottom. The soil around the grave pit on Grave Hill was strange too. It was all pale, as if it had been dug up over and over. And then there were the bones in the coffin..."

"Bro, what exactly are you trying to say?" Wang Zikai grew more confused the longer he listened.

"I understand." Qingling looked at Gaoyang. "They're repeating it."

"Exactly." Gaoyang nodded. "My conclusion is that we didn't travel back thirty years. The entire village is trapped inside this special domain, and the villagers have been repeating the events of this period ever since. Repeating the massacre, repeating the funeral... for thirty whole years. With a body like Fourth Master Gu's, he should have grown old and died long ago. But some irresistible force keeps him repeating it. That's also why his body involuntarily transformed into a Beast. If he were a machine, he would have broken down ages ago..."

After a brief silence, Officer Huang asked, "What is that irresistible force?"

"I don't know." Gaoyang shook his head. "It should be whatever we're supposed to deal with. If we can find the starting point of the village's next repetition, we might be able to track down that force..."

"Woooo-"

Before Gaoyang could finish, an air-raid siren suddenly sounded outside. Its oppressive, muffled, drawn-out wail made them deeply uneasy.

"Woooo-"

Officer Huang walked to the window and pulled the curtain open a crack. His expression darkened.

Gaoyang and Qingling moved closer. At some point, a thin mist had shrouded the entire village. Within it, the villagers slowly stopped whatever they were doing.

Everyone stood rooted in place, looking up at the sky with blank, numb eyes. Even the villagers who had already gone to bed emerged from their houses one by one, stepped into their courtyards, and looked skyward.

"Woooo-"

After its third wail, the air-raid siren cut off abruptly. The mist hanging over the village gradually dispersed. The whole process took less than a minute.

For that minute, the five people hiding inside the house felt as though their hearts were caught in a tight grip.

"Wh-what are they doing?" Pang Jun's face was ashen, and he could barely get the words out.

"The repetition must have started," Gaoyang guessed.

One villager moved first, stepping forward like a soulless husk. Then the others began moving as well. With slow, silent steps, they converged in the same direction.

Qingling was the first to realize something was wrong. She had a keen sense of direction. "They're surrounding us!"

Shit!

Gaoyang's heart sank. I should have thought of this! Now it's too late!

In less than a minute, more than fifty villagers filed into Hua Zi's front courtyard. Under the moonlight, their faces were deathly pale and expressionless, possessed of a strange, filthy sickness, like walking corpses. Their hollow eyes all stared at the tightly shut front door.

The air froze, like the sea before a storm: silent and still, yet seething with hidden currents. They were waiting for that first flash of lightning and crash of thunder to unleash the towering waves.

"Wh-what... do they want?" Pang Jun backed away in terror.

"How many people were in Hua Zi's family?" Gaoyang asked.

"Five. Four men and one woman," Officer Huang answered.

"Ah, I get it! That's exactly like the five of us!" Wang Zikai was delighted with himself for figuring out something so obvious.

"The repetition has started, beginning on the wedding night." Gaoyang clenched his teeth. "They... have come to slaughter the family!"

He should have realized it sooner. Hua Zi's family had been killed by the Beasts of the entire village. Only that could explain why their bodies had been dismembered and scattered everywhere. But why had these Beasts transformed and attacked Hua Zi's family for no reason? And why had they forgotten everything afterward?

There were still many unanswered questions, but none of them mattered now. What mattered was staying alive!

"Run! Let's run!" Pang Jun sounded close to tears. "We can't beat them. We'll die... We're all going to die!"

"It's too late." Qingling drew her blade. She had already accepted their situation.

"We'll die even faster if we go outside!" Officer Huang pulled out his pistol and made the call immediately. "Ever played a tower defense game? Hold the house and kill them as they come! Remember, aim for the head and heart! Gaoyang, Pang Jun, guard the back windows! Qingling, Wang Zikai, the three of us will hold the front door!"

"No problem!"

Wang Zikai charged to the doorway and took up a fighting stance.

Qingling stood to Wang Zikai's left, gripping her blade with both hands. She lowered her body, ready to strike.

Officer Huang stood behind Wang Zikai and to his right, covering them both with his pistol. He turned and shouted at Gaoyang, "Turn on the lights! Poor visibility won't hinder them, but we need to see!"

Gaoyang immediately switched on the lights, then quickly closed his eyes.

[Entering system]

[Warning: you are in danger. Fortune point acquisition rate increased to 100 times normal]

[You currently have a total of 72 Fortune points]

-Unlock a Talent.

[Unlocking a Talent costs 60 points. Would you like to...]

-Hurry up!

[Unlocking...]

[Unlocking...]

[Unlock failed]

-Fuck! You haven't come through even once!

-Put everything left into agility!

[Your agility has permanently increased by 12 points]

[Constitution: 27　Endurance: 28]

[Strength: 17　Agility: 39]

[Willpower: 137　Charisma: 47]

[Luck: 132]

Gaoyang opened his eyes. Whether it was just his imagination or not, his body felt a little lighter.

As things stood, once the ten seconds of the Blade God Talent he borrowed from Qingling ran out, he would be practically useless. Adding a dozen points to his other attributes wouldn't help much, but being a little more agile would let him dodge more attacks and create a few opportunities. At least... he could take a little longer to die.

Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. Officer Huang shouted, "They're coming!"