The next day in the underworld

The chaotic noise at the entrance of the River God Temple sounded like a deadly whisper from hell. Lin Chaoying's heart pounded like a drum, and the image of Xiao Mei's smile as she reached out to her flashed before her eyes. A belated sense of suffocation washed over her.

Lin Chaoying shook off the messy hands blocking her body, rushed out of the crowd in three strides, and raised her hand to give Wang Bo a loud slap across the face.

Wang Bo was stunned and didn't react in shock.

Lin Chaoying kicked him hard in the stomach, and Wang Bo fell to the ground in pain, clutching his stomach with both hands. She picked up the fallen stick and swung it at his face, once, twice, three times... As it fell, the man screamed in terror. He tried to grab the stick back, but he was always caught off guard by the chaotic way she hit him. He felt his left cheek was already numb, and his hands, which were covering his face, were covered in blood.

Qian Fei used to joke that Lin Chaoying never had any fighting techniques and just relied on brute force to fight randomly, which her opponents couldn't defend against.

Qin Ming and Kong Yue quickly stopped them when they saw this. Wang Shao led his men to help Qiu Chen untie himself. Some rescued him, while others broke up the fight. The scene was chaotic.

"Let me go!" Lin Chaoying lost control, kicking Wang Bo, whose face was covered in blood, as she struggled to break free.

Wang Shao quickly stepped in front of his younger brother, saying with a look of grim determination, "Enough, enough!"

Lin Chaoying's reddened eyes were filled with cold indifference. "Who do you think you are?" She brushed the stray hairs that had been blown across her forehead by the wind, the bloodstains on her hands unintentionally smearing onto her face, and fiercely warned all the villagers present, "If I hear anyone say anything bad about Xiao Mei... that is, Wang Ge's wife, like she's cheating or being immoral, I'll tear their mouths apart on the spot!"

Wang Bo, still defiant, covered his face and tried to charge forward again, but Qian Fei reacted quickly, grabbed him by the collar, threw him to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw, and kicked him into the River God Temple, cursing, "She can't kill anyone, but I can kill one with ease! Try messing around again!"

Jiang Chuangu took out a tissue and wiped the bloodstains from Lin Chaoying's face and hands, smiling bitterly, "At least it proves that Xiao Mei didn't break off relations with us back then..."

"It would be better to..." Lin Chaoying's voice trembled uncontrollably, "to break off all contact..."

The woman was holding Qiu Chen, crying her heart out. Just as she let go, "whoosh—" followed a sharp gust of wind, and Lin Chaoying heard a muffled sound of flesh being pierced and torn open. Turning her head, she saw a bloody, sharp knife protruding from Qiu Chen's chest, just millimeters away from the woman's eyes.

"Ah—" After a piercing scream, Qiu Chen was carried away by the villagers and taken to the village clinic. Kong Yue and Qin Ming followed.

Wang Bo disappeared from sight. Qian Fei, shocked by what had just happened, turned back warily to observe the temple. "Where did that knife come from?!"

The three of them entered the temple and carefully examined it. The incense burner in the courtyard, the golden statue of the river god in the main hall, the simple and normal one-courtyard temple, there was nothing strange about it. Where did the knife come from?

Qian Fei walked around and around, breaking out in a cold sweat, and said, "I don't want to stay here! It's so uncomfortable!" As she spoke, she ran out of the river god temple, giving the river god statue a meaningful glance, "The river god doesn't look like a deity, does he?"

Lin Chaoying heard this and asked her, "What do you mean?"

Qian Fei stood at the doorway. "The statues of gods I've seen always exude an aura of majesty and an inexplicable sense of oppression, but this river god looks just like a human..."

Lin Chaoying didn't notice anything different about the temple, but she could clearly see that the blade passed through the body in a flat direction, without any angle, indicating that it came from directly behind Qiu Chen.

Where is that person?

Jiang Chuan Gu: "I remember Wang Ge was very strong; he could break iron objects with his bare hands. If it were him, this knife could probably pierce through three or four people..."

"You forgot?" Lin Chaoying said, "After Wang Ge was captured by Qin Ming, Kong Yue was given both inhibitors and sedatives. When we last saw him in the detention room, he didn't even have the strength to speak."

Jiang Chuan Gu: "If it really is Wang Ge, then he should only have one purpose."

Lin Chaoying: "To avenge Xiao Mei."

"That's not right," Qian Fei said, puzzled. "He has strong superpowers. Shouldn't he have sought revenge eight years ago when he saw his wife die? Are these villagers worth him carrying out an eight- or nine-year revenge plan? And isn't his revenge supposed to involve hanging people in the river, like Zhuang Huan?"

All three phones vibrated simultaneously. Upon opening them, they saw a message from Qin Ming in the group chat: [Qiu Chen is dead.]

"My God!" Qian Fei exclaimed in horror, "Only the second day, and a third person has died? Is this a paradise or the underworld?"

Lin Chaoying scrutinized the golden statue of the River God. Sunlight shone on his reclining legs, dazzling and magnificent. His upper body was shrouded in the shadows of the temple, a faint smile playing on his lips, yet tears glistened in his lowered eyes...

On the table laden with offerings before the statue, red candles burned, their flames meandering upwards, much like the villagers' greed sacrificing their lives after a fierce fire, leaving only wax residue on the table...

Is Taoyuan Village worshipping the river god, or human greed?

At noon, the five people gathered at a small wonton stall at the village entrance. As expected, Qiu Chen's wife, following the village chief's advice, planned to bury him the next day, without considering calling the police or having an autopsy. Kong Yue and Qin Ming were so angry that they almost got into a fight with the villagers at the clinic, and were eventually pushed out the door by the group.

According to the village chief, the knife came from the temple, indicating that the river god was unhappy that people were disturbing his peace. In addition, Qiu Chen had never set foot in the river god's temple in the past eight years because of Xiao Mei's death, and had not made the offerings that he should have made as a villager of Taoyuan Village. This made things worse. Therefore, in order to prevent the river god from blaming Qiu Chen's family for their sins, the village committee required Qiu Chen's wife, Zhang Dai, to pay a fixed amount of incense money every month.

Qian Fei was furious, almost throwing the bowl in his hand. "How despicable! When I first came to the village, I thought the village chief was a good person, but I never expected the whole village to be full of beasts!"

Qin Ming said helplessly, "Then what can we do? The two of us can't get involved. Even if the police get involved, who do you think the villagers will listen to?"

Jiangchuan Valley said calmly, "River God."

Kong Yue couldn't eat anything and kept stirring the wontons in her bowl. "I don't know how Zhang Dai will survive here with the child, with wolves and tigers all over the village."

Qian Fei continued, "Yes, isn't Wang Gao's family also left with only an old man and a 6-year-old girl?"

“This village…” Lin Chaoying realized the problem, “Why are parents getting into trouble so frequently? Wang Gao is one, and now Qiu Chen is another, both of them have a five or six-year-old child at home? Who do you think will be the next one to get into trouble?”

Kong Yue realized, "Zhang Dai?"

Qian Fei: "Could it be that Wang Ge's parents died, and his wife died without cause, so he hates the village? Did he invite us here to watch him kill someone? Or is it just a provocation?"

“That’s not right,” Jiang Chuangu said. “Today, when Wang Bo publicly humiliated Xiao Mei for Zhuang Huan’s sake, he died on the spot as the adulterer accused by all the villagers. If it really was Wang Ge taking revenge, I don’t see the logic in that.”

Qin Ming asked Qian Fei, "If you were Wang Ge, and your lover publicly humiliated you with a megaphone, what would you do?"

Qian Fei replied, "Of course we should beat him up!"

Lin Chaoying: "People are impulsive. If Qiu Chen was really in his murder plan, and Wang Bo, who considers himself a hero, was insulting Xiao Mei, could Wang Ge control himself?"

"You seem to have forgotten someone?" Kong Yue reminded her, "This morning you just captured a superhuman who can turn invisible."

Wang Yu?

Qian Fei stood up: "Wasn't he injured? Was he taken to the clinic by the boss?"

Kong Yue remembered glancing at his wound that morning. "It's just a minor injury on his arm. It's not life-threatening, and it certainly won't keep him in bed."

Qin Ming scratched his head and said regretfully, "I really forgot. After that, we all went to the temple gate, and with Qiu Chen's death, I really didn't notice if he was still at the clinic?"

Lin Chaoying was so immersed in the grief of Xiao Mei's death that she didn't notice the unusual sounds around her. If it really was Wang Yu who secretly killed Qiu Chen from behind with a knife, why would Wang Yu do that?

After thinking it over, she dipped her chopsticks in water and wrote the names of Zhuang Huan, Wang Gao, and Qiu Chen on the wooden table. She said, "You heard Wang Bo's shouting today, right? He said that Zhuang Huan caught Xiao Mei cheating? Wang Bo is very convinced that Wang Ge killed Zhuang Huan. Does he have concrete evidence?"

Jiang Chuan Gu: "And what Zhang Dai shouted back then, that Qiu Chen and Xiao Mei are innocent. If Qiu Chen wasn't killed by Wang Ge for personal revenge, it could only be that Qiu Chen knew something and the village couldn't keep him."

"There's one more thing?" Qin Ming was completely puzzled. "Qiu Chen was condemned by the villagers for being an adulterer, yet he didn't leave the village? He's not from Taoyuan Village; he's an outsider. It should be easy for him to leave, right? How can he be so strong-willed? And he even managed to have children here?"

Kong Yue: "I can't believe it now, a village that disregards human life and doesn't respect the dead is called Peach Blossom Village?"

Around dusk, the group returned to the village, looking preoccupied. As they passed the "River God's Shop," the owner waved enthusiastically and called out, "Big stars! You're back? I thought you'd all left!"

Qin Ming smiled and said, "We want to go eat the wontons from the old man at the village entrance." Then, remembering that he had provided so much information without formally introducing himself, he said, "We've talked so much before, but I haven't introduced myself. My name is Qin Ming. You know Jiang Chuangu. These are Lin Chaoying, Kong Yue, and Qian Fei!"

After greeting him, the owner said, "My name is Wang Qi. If there's anything I can help you with in the future, just come to the store and find me."

Remembering that he had mentioned playing with Wang Ge since childhood, Lin Chaoying asked curiously, "I remember you said you used to be very close to Wang Ge. I wanted to ask Xiao Mei, are you familiar with him?"

“Of course!” Wang Qi said, “A few years ago, that kid Wang Ge told me he got married, which shocked me. The next day, he brought a beautiful girl home. I have to say, she was really good-looking and generous! At that time, my little shop had just opened not long ago. She said she wanted to give her friends and family special gifts, so she bought a lot!”

Jiang Chuan Gu keenly realized that he was the only person in the village who, when Xiao Mei was mentioned, did not bring up the affair.

Lin Chaoying continued, "What did you buy?"

Wang Qi said, "Lucky bags, fridge magnets, postcards, little stones with names on them, and a lot of our handmade products, like these handmade umbrellas and hand-knitted lucky bags. I not only bought them, but I also heard that I went to Granny Zhao's house at the end of the alley to learn how to make them myself..." He sighed as he spoke, "I didn't expect that I wouldn't have time to take them with me in the end."

Lin Chaoying: "Are you leaving your things here too?"

Wang Qi shook his head, thought for a moment and said, "She bought it at noon that day. She was in a hurry to go to the tavern and had too much stuff, so she asked me to help deliver it to the old house."

"A tavern?" Qian Fei said, "Qiu Chen's tavern? Is she really related to Qiu Chen?"

Wang Qi nodded and said, "Who can say for sure what happened back then? Besides, it was a chaotic and strange time..."

Lin Chaoying asked anxiously, "Chaos? Where exactly is it chaotic?"

"Oh dear." Wang Qi seemed to freeze up, unable to recall anything. Finally, he said, "I can't remember clearly. I just remember that the whole village was in chaos during that time. The village chief's child was sick, Zhuang Huan went crazy, Wang Ge suddenly got married outside the village and was punished by the elders when he returned, Qiu Chen's tavern was having problems every day, and several elders died one after another..."