The Answer

Xu Chunliang sat down beneath the willow tree and rubbed his head.

He tried hard to recall everything that had happened today.

After roll call that morning, the new captain, Zhou Dafu, had given him and Shi Qin a task,

telling the two of them to go to Guo Family Village on their own and investigate whether anything eerie was happening there.

They had arrived at the village and toured it with Guo Si, the steward of Squire Guo's household.

They had found nothing,

and he had even been teased by a young wife who was nursing her baby, who had pinched his cheek.

Everything had been perfectly normal.

Nothing unexpected had happened.

But why did he keep feeling an emptiness in his heart?

Xu Chunliang instinctively glanced at his panel.

Name: Xu Chunliang.

Age: 16.

Attribute points: 13.

Grade: Transcending Mortality Grade+ (10 attribute points required to raise star rank and advance grade)

Skill: Eerie Tiger Saber+ (beginner level)

Remaining reloads: unlimited.

Current reload point: waiting beneath the willow tree with Shi Qin and Liu Yong this morning for Constable Liu to return with information.

Liu Yong? Liu Yong!

Had he come along today too?

The panel couldn't be wrong, so there was only one answer!

His memories had been altered!

Xu Chunliang pounded his head with his fists, trying desperately to find his missing memories, only to discover that he couldn't remember a thing.

"What kind of eerie thing is this?! It's terrifying!"

He cursed inwardly.

Then he smiled and said to Shi Qin:

"Brother Qin, since there's nothing wrong with Guo Family Village, let's head back."

The two of them then left together.

After they had walked five li, Xu Chunliang stopped Shi Qin and said to him:

"Brother Qin, something's wrong with Guo Family Village. We need to go back and take a look."

"Hmm? You think something's wrong?" Shi Qin was taken aback. He tried to recall what had happened, then said, "I didn't notice anything unusual."

Xu Chunliang smiled and said, "I think it would be safer to go back for another look. It'll be dark soon. Maybe everything looks fine during the day, but something might happen at night."

Shi Qin took Xu Chunliang by the arm and had him sit down with him by the roadside. He pulled a large scallion flatbread from his robes, tore it apart, and said earnestly:

"Xiao Liang, we're just doing a job at the Demon-Slaying Bureau, earning enough to get by. Since we looked and found nothing wrong, then there's nothing wrong. Why go looking for trouble?"

"You didn't know your father was my master, did you? He taught me that, and today I'm passing it on to you."

"Noticing every tiny detail and single-handedly turning the tide—that's what important people do. For us, this is just a job."

"Have some bread."

He pressed half the flatbread into Xu Chunliang's hand, then froze and reached into his robes.

From inside, he pulled out a packet of life silver.

Xu Chunliang hurriedly felt around his own body and found that someone had also hung a packet of life silver behind his waist, though he didn't know when.

Eighty-eight taels, not one tael missing!

"Something really is wrong with Guo Family Village!"

Shi Qin snatched the life silver from Xu Chunliang's hand and said with relief, "Luckily, we didn't spend it."

"Wait here. I'll take this life silver back."

With that, Shi Qin stood up.

Whoosh...

A gentle breeze blew past,

and Shi Qin was plunged into darkness. A pair of pitch-black official boots descended from the sky and appeared before his eyes.

A cold, ominous aura enveloped him.

Pfft!

A scale hook pierced his chest and hoisted him high into the air.

Xu Chunliang stared as Shi Qin suddenly vanished before him, and couldn't help freezing.

Immediately afterward, his memories of Shi Qin rapidly disappeared...

"So that's how it is!"

Before his memories faded, Xu Chunliang grabbed the packet of life silver that had slowly floated up and was about to hang itself from his waist,

then turned and headed for Guo Family Village.

Darkness appeared, and Yu Chunliang's eyes widened as he watched everything before him.

He wanted to know who had altered his memories.

And who had killed Shi Qin and Liu Yong.

Cold and numbness enveloped him, and a constant, faint, insubstantial ticking reached his ears.

Drip~

A drop of blood fell on his shoulder. Xu Chunliang looked up

and saw a pair of official boots. Above them was Shi Qin, dressed in the Demon-Slaying Bureau's fish-dragon uniform. The blood that kept dripping was flowing from his chest.

A scale?

Xu Chunliang began to ponder.

Pfft!

Xu Chunliang died.

Beneath the willow tree, Liu Yong chattered on and on.

Xu Chunliang took hold of Shi Qin and said softly:

"Brother, I don't see anything wrong with Guo Family Village. We'd better leave."

"Are you sure?"

"If you want to leave, you two go. Liu Neng said there's another five hundred taels of silver. I'm not leaving." Liu Yong glanced at Xu Chunliang and cursed him inwardly as a coward.

"Xiao Liang, did you discover something?" Shi Qin asked curiously.

Xu Chunliang shook his head. "I didn't discover anything. I just think that since everything looks fine here, we should head back."

"Let's go, Brother Qin."

Shi Qin hesitated, seemingly reluctant to give up the five hundred taels of silver, but he still nodded and said, "All right."

The moment he said it,

darkness descended, and a scale weight appeared.

Cold, numbing, ominous, covered in rust, with old and young hanging from it.

A steelyard scale that had suddenly struck and killed someone.

Xu Chunliang saw the thing again, then died.

Standing beneath the willow tree once more, Xu Chunliang decided to try again.

He turned and walked back without saying a word.

But the darkness descended again, and the steelyard scale and forest of corpses appeared.

Xu Chunliang died.

Leaving had become a distant hope. Even if he left with the life silver, he would probably have his life taken one day by the suddenly appearing steelyard-scale eerie thing and return here again.

Only by breaking out of the predicament could he be free.

Xu Chunliang looked toward the peaceful Guo Family Village, a flash of madness in his eyes!

"If you can, kill me for good!"

Everything went as before. Liu Yong took the lead, Shi Qin came second, and Xu Chunliang brought up the rear,

as the three entered the village.

Accompanied by the steward Guo Si, they arrived outside the courtyard where people worshipped the Scale Immortal.

Xu Chunliang studied the people kneeling on the ground.

Men and women, old and young, kowtowed continuously, their mouths opening and closing without making a sound.

What were they chanting?

Xu Chunliang concentrated, but still couldn't hear a thing.

Beside him, Liu Yong had already gripped the hilt of his saber and begun asking questions.

"Scale Immortal?"

"What the hell is that?"

Xu Chunliang whipped around and saw a smile appear on Guo Si's face as he slowly knelt.

Immediately afterward, Liu Yong, standing before him, broke apart

and suddenly vanished.

Liu Yong had vanished outright, just like Shi Qin, who had died before his eyes!

Xu Chunliang understood.

Immediately afterward, Xu Chunliang noticed that his memories were beginning to go missing.

Everything he knew about Liu Yong was fading from his mind.

So Liu Yong died here.

Why did that rusty steelyard scale kill him at this moment?

Why did the steelyard scale spare me and Brother Shi?

Why do memories of a person disappear after the steelyard scale kills them, and why does it even alter memories?

Does a person's light go out when they die? Does death cause memories of them to fade? Or is there some other reason?

No! It can't be everyone! It's erasing and altering my and Shi Qin's memories. It might be erasing every trace of Liu Yong from everyone's memories throughout the world, but that would be the power of a god!

What secrets is Guo Family Village hiding?

If Shi Qin and I leave with our altered memories and the life silver, will we still die?

Xu Chunliang thought as hard as he could, but found no answers.