Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Yezi grew increasingly excited, her words coming faster and faster. “That’s it. The lanterns ward off evil. That’s why nothing happened when you carried one outside during the day, while Zhou Ke died. Later, when you stopped using the lantern, Qin Wen clearly felt something following him.”

Cheng Miao nodded slowly. “That seems true so far, but we still shouldn’t depend too heavily on the lanterns.”

Yezi said nothing, but her pursed lips made it clear that she did not agree.

Cheng Miao did not argue. There was something else that bothered her: Yan Qi.

She had assumed Yan Qi would be waiting at the old house. Instead, Lin Zhu said there had been no sign of him. Meticulous as always, Lin Zhu had worried that a villager might enter while they were away and plant something inside, so he had wedged a strand of hair into the crack of every door.

Every strand remained in place when they returned. Yan Qi had never come back.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. He may have died with Zhou Ke, and we simply haven’t found his body.” Qin Wen pulled Qin Wu beneath a lantern. “No matter how capable Yan Qi was, once something targeted him without a lantern, he probably couldn’t escape death.”

“Look! Is that the Village Head?” Zhang Lele rose on tiptoe and peered down the alley.

A small black figure carrying a dim lantern appeared in the depths of the alley. As it drew closer, they recognized the Village Head’s hunched back.

Cheng Miao frowned at the approaching figure. “Why is he coming from that direction? His home is the other way.”

The others did not know where the Village Head lived. Lin Zhu pointed out the road he had taken earlier, confirming that he had indeed left this way.

That road… Cheng Miao frowned as she recalled the rough map the veteran players had assembled after exploring on the first day. The road was a dead end with nothing along it.

Before Cheng Miao could dwell on why the Village Head had visited a dead end, he was already standing before them.

His aged face looked sinister beneath the murky yellow light. After coughing twice, he rasped, “The ancestral ceremony begins tonight. Our village has a rule that no one may leave their room after midnight. I’ve brought you some chamber pots. Make do with them if necessary.”

Everyone stared grimly at the three large buckets stacked in his hand. Only then did they understand that he expected them to handle all their bodily needs inside the rooms.

“But… we can’t do that!” Zhang Lele and Xiao Xu flushed bright red. Their embarrassment overcame their fear, prompting them to object.

The Village Head offered no explanation or reaction to their attitude. He set down the buckets and turned to leave.

Noticing that the lantern in his hand was also close to going out, Yezi hurriedly called, “What about our lanterns tonight? They’re about to go out.”

The Village Head stopped and slowly looked back at Yezi. His lips curled into an enigmatic smile. “Don’t worry. Villagers will come light them for you before midnight.”

The reassurance allowed Yezi to relax completely. No one said anything else as they silently watched the Village Head depart.

This time, he truly was walking toward his own home, Cheng Miao noted.

Two people were dead, while Yan Qi remained missing, neither alive nor confirmed dead. Zhang Lele and Xiao Xu began discussing new room assignments.

Li Fei had died after staying in Yezi’s room, leaving one empty place. Zhang Lele could move in, but Song Yu refused to accept that arrangement.
Li Fei’s death had left an empty place in Yezi’s room, so Zhang Lele could move in. Song Yu, however, refused.

“We hardly have any veteran players to begin with. Two people from our room are dead, and now Zhang Lele wants to move out. Am I supposed to spend tonight alone with this sis… with Su Shuang?” Sweat had plastered Song Yu’s hair to his forehead, giving him an almost comical appearance.

He had nearly called Su Shuang a sissy before remembering that Su Shuang also counted as a veteran player, even if Song Yu did not consider him particularly reliable.

How reliable could a man be if he still worried about hand cream inside an instance?

“Then what do you want to do?” Qin Wen folded his arms and studied the young man who no longer possessed any of his original charisma.

That was what an instance did. It drove people mad and transformed them into someone else.

Song Yu’s gaze clung to Cheng Miao. Qi Jiajia ran a hand down her braid and fixed him with a bloodthirsty stare.

Song Yu immediately looked away. What he truly wanted, of course, was to share a room with Cheng Miao.

Cheng Miao was capable. She seemed cold but was actually kind. She was the only veteran player who analyzed clues with the newcomers and reminded them of important precautions.

And her teammates each looked more formidable than the last. Qin Musong’s mere presence was a natural shield.

But there was no possibility of separating Cheng Miao’s group of four. Song Yu had already experienced Lian Ge’s power among the remaining players, which left Yezi as his only option.

Yezi’s room had two veteran players, but it was already full.

Qin Wu would never separate from Qin Wen, and the two young women insisted on staying together. How irritating.

As Song Yu stood there neurotically biting his nails, Qin Wen looked at the sky and frowned. “My brother and I will move into Su Shuang’s room. Since you want this room so badly, you can have our places.”

Song Yu was about to object, but Qin Wen had already led Qin Wu inside. Su Shuang gave Song Yu a knowing half smile, languidly fanned himself with one hand, and returned to the room as well.

Song Yu swallowed his dissatisfaction. This was the only solution. Qin Wen’s priority was protecting his brother anyway, so Song Yu’s presence would make little difference.

Remembering how Yezi had advised and looked after him on the first day, Song Yu felt slightly reassured and followed the already impatient Yezi into the room.

Inside her own room, Cheng Miao stared through the crack beside the door. The old house had no windows, so they had no way to know what was happening outside. The crack was nothing more than a hair-thin line, and she could see nothing through it.

“Once we turn off the light, we’ll be able to sense it if the lantern outside is lit.” Qi Jiajia played a round of Little Bee with Lin Zhu while speaking to Cheng Miao distractedly.

Qi Jiajia was young and had the sharpest perception of them all. Cheng Miao had discovered the previous night that after the light went out, the room became truly pitch-black. The darkness came from the complete absence of even the faintest light.

She still felt as though she had overlooked something. Lying on the brick bed, Cheng Miao reviewed everything that had happened that day.

That lunatic… Cheng Miao could not stop thinking about him. He looked so much like Zhang Min. Who could he be?

Could he be the real Zhang Min?

No. The lunatic had not been locked away. If the Village Head were truly passing off an impostor as the real man, he would at least hide the genuine one.

Time passed quickly as Cheng Miao thought. When the hour arrived, Qin Musong signaled to everyone already on the brick bed and pulled the light cord.

The room instantly plunged into pure blackness. Only the crack beside the door revealed the faintest, most secretive trace of red.