How It All Happened

So Zhong Xueran's nickname wasn't Xiao Ran with the character for "so," but Xiao Ran with the character for "burn."

Liu Jingqing stared dumbfounded at the Three Pure Ones Bell in Zhong Xueran's hand and stammered, "Was... was it you who helped us?"

Zhong Xueran nodded. "Yes. I sent you out to scout, so I had to take some responsibility for you."

She freely showed off her Three Pure Ones Bell. "My exclusive permanent item, the Three Pure Ones Bell. Once per Game, it lets me instantly teleport up to three people anywhere within the Game's boundaries! Pretty amazing, right?"

Zhong Xueran looked immensely proud, but Qin Manjiang suddenly asked, "You entered this place a week before us?"

"Correction: six days." Zhong Xueran put away the Three Pure Ones Bell and gave them a meaningful look. "Anyway, thanks to you two, this weeklong Game can end today."

"Come with me!" Zhong Xueran snapped her fingers, looking quite cheerful.

Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing followed her as she explained how it had all happened.

"After receiving the Game summons, I entered Xianyang Village the very next day. I said I was a student from out of town looking to work in exchange for food and lodging, and they accepted me without much trouble." Zhong Xueran spoke as she walked. "The village's strange tale really does come from a legend-a black sheep that helped refugees find a place to settle and rebuild their lives."

"I learned that they've been holding a festival every three years for the past twenty years. It looks like they're commemorating the Immortal Sheep that once helped them, but they're actually using a ritual to bring the Immortal Sheep into a human body. Then they use some means to control that person, thereby controlling the Immortal Sheep and making him grant their wishes."

She casually pointed at the houses belonging to the village's wealthier families. "Look. All of that came from wishes."

"There's no such thing as getting something for nothing. Since they gained wealth, of course they had to pay a price." Zhong Xueran lowered her voice slightly. "They just shifted that price onto the victims who served as vessels for the Immortal Sheep's consciousness."

"Once every three years, including this year-that means at least seven people have died in this ritual." Something suddenly occurred to Zhong Xueran, and she turned to ask, "By the way, what are your code names?"

"I'm Pond Fish, Liu Jingqing," Liu Jingqing hurriedly introduced herself.

"Aby..." Qin Manjiang paused. He was regretting it all over again. Why had he chosen a name like that? "I'm Abyss... My name is Qin Manjiang."

"Ab-what?" Zhong Xueran seemed hard of hearing.

"Abyss!"

"Oh, hahaha!" Zhong Xueran raised an eyebrow and glanced at Qin Manjiang. "No need to be embarrassed about liking a name like that."

"Still, you're pretty perceptive, Mr. Abyss." Zhong Xueran seemed especially fond of teasing Qin Manjiang.

"Miss Zhong... was it really okay to use your item... on us just like that?" Liu Jingqing asked, looking a little embarrassed.

Zhong Xueran waved it off, then reached inside her clothes. "Look. What's this?"

The two of them looked at the object she held between her fingers.

Was that... a writing brush?

"So you were the one who took it." Qin Manjiang remembered how frantic Wang Ju had been when he couldn't find it anywhere.

"Yes. This is the key to controlling the Immortal Sheep. As long as I have it, none of his supernatural abilities can affect me. I can even... control him." Zhong Xueran smiled at the brush. "So we'll be able to end this Game very soon. And don't worry about me helping you earlier. If I hadn't done that, it would've been hard for me to get out safely, too."

She led them toward Village Central Square, speaking as she walked. "Actually, I've spent the past few days looking for where this brush was hidden. Any of the six families—the Chens, Wangs, Zhangs, Lis, Suns, or Xies—could have had it. Finding something like this in those six households was a little difficult on my own..."

"So you gave us the information and steered us toward investigating those six families. Then, as luck would have it, the vengeful ghost struck. Everyone's attention was focused on us outsiders and the ghost, so you took the opportunity to steal the brush kept in the Village Chief's house," Qin Manjiang continued for her.

"Exactly. They knew perfectly well there was a ghost, and they knew even better what they were dealing with. Yet not one of them seemed worried. They had to have something to rely on. Normally, sneaking into the Village Chief's house would have been difficult, but it wasn't my fault their ritual went wrong, was it?" Zhong Xueran deftly twirled the brush between her fingers, confirming Qin Manjiang's deduction.

Liu Jingqing seemed to realize something then. She looked at Zhong Xueran and covered her mouth. "So... the old Village Chief died because you stole his brush?"

Qin Manjiang and Zhong Xueran both turned to her and asked in bewilderment, "Didn't he deserve to die?"

Speaking in unison left them both momentarily startled as well. After they exchanged a glance, Zhong Xueran gave a bright smile and told Liu Jingqing, "I'm not the murderer, you know. They are."

Qin Manjiang nodded.

Liu Jingqing still seemed unable to accept it, but at least she stopped questioning them.

It was perfectly normal for people to have different views.

Different experiences, different ideas, different perspectives, different personalities... Often, people didn't need to understand one another, nor did they have to insist on persuading others. Showing each other basic respect was enough.

Just then, Qin Manjiang suddenly sensed something. He wasn't the only one; Zhong Xueran stopped walking too.

They looked around.

The streets throughout the village were deserted.

The silence was deeply unsettling.

Even if everyone had gone to Village Central Square for the Sheep Transformation Festival, it shouldn't have been this quiet, should it?

Soon, all three of them sensed that something was wrong. After walking a little farther, they reached a conclusion that was hard to believe...

It seemed they were the only three people left in Xianyang Village.

"H-how could this happen..." Liu Jingqing's face went pale. "When we left Village Central Square, the festival had already been suspended. I clearly saw everyone going home..."

No one could answer her question.

"Have you encountered the Immortal Sheep these past few days?" Qin Manjiang suddenly asked.

He looked at Zhong Xueran. Her eyes flickered, as though she were thinking something over.

Hearing his question, she shook her head. "No. Although I entered the village early, everything here was normal until last night, even if the atmosphere was rather eerie."

Qin Manjiang fell silent. In that case, all the abnormalities really had begun after something went wrong with last night's ritual to "create the Immortal Sheep."

Qin Manjiang now had a very unsettling suspicion.

He had seen the Immortal Sheep with his own eyes: a dark, indistinct figure, with only a black sheep's head clearly visible. But the vengeful ghost they had just seen in the Village Chief's room looked completely different from the Immortal Sheep.

Could there be two ghosts?

One was the source of all the strangeness, the Immortal Sheep.

The other was the victim who had died in the ritual to "create the Immortal Sheep," Li Rong.

He glanced at the brush in Zhong Xueran's hand, and his doubts deepened.

Just then, a sturdy, middle-aged man appeared around the corner ahead, bare-chested, his hands covered in blood and his eyes vacant.

"Mr. He Jian?!"

Liu Jingqing cried out in shock.

Her cry snapped He Jian out of his daze. His eyes suddenly lit up, and the moment he saw Qin Manjiang and the others, he shouted, "Run! Get to Village Central Square! Chen Ping is a ghost! He's coming after us!"

That shout made Qin Manjiang, Liu Jingqing, and Zhong Xueran's expressions change abruptly. But Liu Jingqing and Qin Manjiang were shocked that Chen Ping was actually a ghost.

What shocked Zhong Xueran, however, was that name-

"Did you say one of the players with you is named Chen Ping?"

She asked.

(End of chapter)