the truth

The seven returned to the village chief's house and began another round of thorough searching.

"Come and see!" Lin Wanxing found an old ledger under a vase by the window. The ledger recorded the village chief's long-term expenditures on "Baitu Village specialty tea." "Could the village chief have bought all his tea from that old lady just now?"

“Yes, and it was poisoned.” Shen Zheyu shook the sediment at the bottom of the teapot and then showed everyone the note he had just found under the tea tray.

The note read "Diagnosis" aloud: "'Kumu San' is colorless and odorless. After being left for a long time, it will leave a brown precipitate that is not easily detected. After three months of use, the user will feel tired and weak, and after five months, they will vomit blood and die suddenly. The village chief and his wife have been using it for four months..."

“No wonder that old woman was able to kill the village chief and his wife,” Shen Zheyu frowned. “And what about that old woman Liu? And what about all this blood in the house…”

“Old Lady Liu is the village chief’s mistress—” Cheng Zixuan covered his nose and pulled a black box from under the bed. “There are love letters between the village chief and Old Lady Liu here…cough cough cough…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was choked by the dust that rose up and started coughing again.

Seeing this, the comments section erupted in mockery again—

"Cheng Zixuan looks so unlucky, hahaha..."

"He always covers it up the most tightly, but he's always the one who finds the evidence hidden in the dirtiest corners. Who can understand the despair of a germaphobe, haha..."

"Cheng Zixuan is so dramatic, I can't stand a grown man like this..."

...

The group examined the black box. On the top layer were some jewelry, and underneath were several letters, all of which were secret correspondence between Granny Liu and the village chief.

The envelope was slightly deformed from being crumpled. At the bottom, there was a divorce agreement between the village chief and his wife.

"After much deliberation, I'd rather suffer the pain of unrequited love..." Reading the words in the letter, Zhao Lingyi snorted coldly, "Quite a few tricks up your sleeve..."

"So that grandma used the village chief and his wife's marital discord to set a trap and kill them, right?" Zhou Xiaoxiao concluded. "If grandma's goal was to avenge Hongxiu, does that mean Hongxiu is already dead? But where is Hongxiu's body?"

Chu Yiran continued, "Hongxiu's body must have been hidden by the village chief."

He flipped through the old ledgers that Lin Wanxing had just found. On the back of the few yellowed pages, there were records of the village chief purchasing large quantities of "cinnabar" and "black dog blood," dated the third day after the ghost marriage.

There was also a step-by-step diagram tucked into the gap between the papers, depicting scenes of wizards dancing around the coffin. Chu Yiran knew what the village chief was planning without even looking at it.

“He’s performing a ritual…” Chu Yiran whispered, “After Hongxiu died, the village chief feared she would become a vengeful ghost, so he wanted to trap her soul—”

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew open the door to the room, and the lights inside went out instantly.

"Ahhh—" Zhou Xiaoxiao shouted, and the group huddled together in a panic.

Suddenly, a dim red light shone through the window, and the sounds of gongs and drums filled the air. The streets outside came alive as sedan chair bearers carried the bridal sedan chair through the middle, while villagers on both sides shouted encouragement.

"Congratulations, Village Chief! Tian'er is truly blessed!"

"Grandma Liu's idea of ​​bringing good luck through marriage is quite good. It seems that Tian'er's illness will get better soon."

"Yes, village chief, the bride is so beautiful, you must treat her well from now on!"

...

The next second, the lights outside went out instantly, and all sound stopped abruptly.

After a while, the woman's screams echoed throughout the space again, and the scene outside changed back to that of the ancestral hall. A middle-aged couple sat indifferently in the main seat, and a large coffin was placed in the center. Servants were dragging a woman dressed in a wedding dress into the coffin.

Zhou Xiaoxiao exclaimed, "That—that's Red Show, right? It's Red Show!"

She pointed at the scene ahead while patting Cheng Zixuan's arm. Cheng Zixuan said irritably, "Everyone can see it! Let go of me!"

Su Jing said, "It seems the production team is giving us a recap of the events."

Hongxiu shouted, "Zhao Tian is dead! You're lying to me! You're all lying to me!"

At that moment, a middle-aged woman rushed over and shouted, "Let go of my daughter! Let go of my daughter!"

Hongxiu cried out in protest, "Mother! Save me, Mother!"

The village chief, sitting at the head of the table, tapped his cane and urged, "Hurry up, all of you! Don't miss the auspicious time!" Beside him stood Granny Liu, dressed as a shaman.

"Your son is dead, and you still want to drag my daughter down with him!" Hongxiu's mother desperately tried to crawl towards her daughter, but her hands and feet were held down tightly. She cried out in despair, "Zhao Qing, you will die a horrible death!"

Finally, the bride was nailed into the coffin, struggled a few times, and then fell silent.

The screen goes black, followed by several flashbacks. Unable to save Hongxiu, her mother is forced to hide in the village, using ghost stories to scare the villagers and the village chief's family. Hongxiu's death not only fails to bring her son back to life but also throws the village into chaos. The village chief and his wife, in a state of panic, seek advice from Granny Liu. Meanwhile, Hongxiu's mother is constantly looking for opportunities to sell poisoned tea to the village chief's family and also tries to lead the village chief's wife to discover the affair between the village chief and Granny Liu.

Many years later, one night, the village chief's wife, Cuixia, discovered that the village chief and Granny Liu were having an affair in their home. Enraged, she grabbed a knife and attacked the two of them.

Cuixia rushed onto the bed with a knife in her hand: "No wonder you were in such a hurry to divorce me! It's all because of this vixen!"

Village chief Zhao Qing shouted, "You crazy woman, stop right there!"

Once they were exhausted, the poison in the tea was activated.

Hongxiu's mother appeared last, first killing Granny Liu and Cuixia, then raising her knife to the village chief in the corner: "Zhao Qing, where is my daughter? She's not in the coffin, where did you take her?"

"So it was you!" Zhao Qing's mouth was full of blood, and he laughed wildly. "Your daughter's life was worthless too. Since she can't bring my son back to life, then let her serve my son in the underworld for all eternity. She can't leave our Zhao family, whether she's a human or a ghost!"

Hongxiu's mother attacked him like a madwoman, Zhao Qing's voice echoing in her ears: "You'll never find your daughter..."

The next second, the screen went black, and the entire space fell silent.

After a while, a faint white light shone on an elderly woman who was walking alone on the street, repeatedly muttering, "Hongxiu, where are you? Mother wants to take you home, Mother wants to take you home..."

Then the lights went out, and the old woman disappeared at the end of the road.

The lights in the room were turned back on, and all seven remained silent.

Let the comments flood in!

"This show is a big production!"

"The scene just now was so touching, I even cried..."

"The NPCs have such a strong sense of conviction, and their acting is superb!"

"The village chief is really wicked. He couldn't get a ghost marriage done while the living were together, so now he's going to imprison Hongxiu's corpse..."

...

Lin Wanxing slammed her hand on the table and said angrily, "That village chief's family is utterly wicked! They deserved to die!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao wiped her eyes: "Hongxiu's mother is so pitiful. It turns out she's been searching for her daughter's body all this time..."

Shen Zheyu pondered, "Where would the village chief hide Hongxiu's body?"

“In the scene just now, the village chief said that he wanted Hongxiu to serve his son for all eternity, and he also wanted to use ‘cinnabar’ and ‘black dog blood’ to trap Hongxiu’s soul. So Hongxiu’s body must not be too far away from Zhao Tian…” Chu Yiran looked around and finally landed on the bed board they had come from. “We still have to go back to the ancestral hall where Zhao Tian’s body is kept.”

The seven returned to the ancestral hall, where Zhao Tian's coffin sat quietly in the center, the flickering candlelight casting the runes on the coffin on and off.

They searched the room but found nothing. Cheng Zixuan pointed to the ceiling: "Now the only thing we haven't searched is the ceiling. Do you think there might be some kind of mechanism in the ceiling?"

Chu Yiran shook his head: "In the past, people clearly distinguished between superiors and inferiors. Zhao Qing would not allow Hongxiu to be above his son."

Since that's the case... a thought flashed through his mind, and Chu Yiran walked to the coffin.

The coffin lid was still open. Zhao Tian's body was lying on the left side, while the bottom of the coffin on the right side was turned upside down, leading to the village chief's room.

Chu Yiran lifted Zhao Tian's body slightly to check if there was anything at the bottom of the coffin.

Just as Chu Yiran was about to speak, Su Jing stepped forward and said, "Let's carry him out first."

It wasn't pleasant to have one's thoughts read at a glance, but business was more important. Chu Yiran didn't say anything, but silently carried the body out with Su Jing.

With nowhere else to put it, the two casually placed the doll's corpse on the altar, and Zhou Xiaoxiao, who was standing to the side, quickly moved far away.

Chu Yiran returned to the coffin. He squatted down at the bottom of the half where Zhao Tian's body lay and looked down. He found a gap at the bottom of the coffin and a stone slab under the contracted half of the coffin.

Chu Yiran said, "We need to move the coffin completely to take a look."

With everyone's help, the coffin was pushed open, revealing the stone slab underneath. In the center of the dark green stone slab were two copper coins, one facing up and one facing down.

"Qian represents Heaven, Kun represents Earth, the Gate of Life is in the Northeast, the Gate of Death is in the Southwest..." Chu Yiran traced the hexagram with his fingertips, "There should be another secret room below."

As he spoke, he turned the copper coin, and the stone slab moved away with a crash, slowly covering the entrance to the village chief's room and revealing a deep secret passage on the other side.

The secret room was pitch black. Shen Zheyu took a white candle from the offering table to light the way and took the lead in going down.

The steps leading to the secret chamber were very difficult to climb, and Shen Zheyu reminded everyone, "There's a handrail on the right, so be careful."

After walking a few steps, Shen Zheyu noticed that there were many candlesticks on the wooden posts of the handrail, so he lit all the candlesticks one by one as he went down the steps.

"ah--!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao screamed, and everyone looked up.

The secret chamber was like a stone cave, with pitted and uneven walls all around. They hadn't walked far before they reached the center of the chamber, and the scene that greeted them was quite terrifying.

A female doll's corpse was nailed to the wall with black nails, dark red bloodstains sliding down the nails. Her body was wrapped in red thread, her head drooping lifelessly to one side, a smear of vermilion on her forehead, and a large pool of blood at her feet had long since dried, congealing into a dark brown stain. Seven candles were arranged in a circle on the ground, their flickering flames suggesting some unfinished ritual was still in progress.

The doll was incredibly lifelike, with its eyes wide open. Cheng Zixuan swallowed hard: "This...this must be Red Show."

The secret room was very narrow, and the seven people were only two or three meters away from Hongxiu's body. No one dared to move rashly.

Lin Wanxing stepped on something. She bent down and picked it up; it was a yellow talisman with many words written on it: "Soul-Locking Array... Red thread binds the body, cinnabar seals the spirit, black dog blood suppresses evil, the sealed one will never be reincarnated or cause trouble again..."

Zhao Lingyi said angrily, "The village chief and Granny Liu want to trap her forever!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao covered her mouth, her eyes reddening: "It's too cruel..."

Just then, the loudspeaker inside the secret chamber announced: [The ghost marriage ceremony is complete; you may leave the secret chamber now.]

According to the task card, they only needed to carry Hongxiu's body up to be buried with Zhao Tian to complete the task, but at this moment everyone remained silent, and no one wanted to take this step.

"No!" Zhou Xiaoxiao was the first to stand up. "Hongxiu has already suffered enough; we can't hurt her any more!"

Cheng Zixuan hesitated: "But the mission requires..."

"Actually, compared to the mission..." Su Jing suddenly spoke, feigning ease, "Isn't conscience a little more important?"

Chu Yiran glanced at him in surprise.

Su Jing continued, "Our most direct solution right now is to complete the ghost marriage and leave the secret room. However, the old lady kept mentioning taking Hongxiu home, and I personally believe that every word the NPC says is a hint. So perhaps we have another way to leave the secret room..."

Zhou Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up: "Give Hongxiu back to the old lady?"

"Will this work?" Cheng Zixuan hesitated. "That grandma just now was going to burn us alive. What if she returns Hongxiu and then tries to get back at us?"

Su Jing continued, "So the worst outcome is—returning Hongxiu to her mother, but the mission fails..."

"Oh well, so be it if we fail!" Lin Wanxing frowned and said dismissively, "Does the production team think they can keep us stuck here forever?"

“Exactly!” Zhou Xiaoxiao said with even more confidence. “Why don’t we vote? Let’s see whether to go through with the ghost marriage or return Hongxiu to the old lady.”

Since things have come to this point, the final conclusion is naturally to return Hongxiu to her mother.

The comments started rolling again—

"Su Jing is so handsome! He completely carried the whole game!"

"Zhou Xiaoxiao usually seems timid, but she's actually quite kind-hearted in situations like this!"

"The best escape team ever! Everyone here has such positive values!"

"It's ignited! Hongxiu has been trapped by the village chief's family for twenty years, why should she be allowed to complete the ghost marriage ceremony!"

...

They looked around and found a stretcher standing in the back corner. Together, they lowered Hongxiu's body down from the wall and carefully placed her on the stretcher.

Lin Wanxing and Zhou Xiaoxiao helped her tidy her messy hair. Chu Yiran took out a tissue from his pocket and gently wiped the cinnabar from her forehead: "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes..."

Finally, they carried Hongxiu's body back along the secret passage and took her to the old woman's courtyard.

The old woman knelt before her daughter, trembling as she stroked her face, tears streaming down her face: "Hongxiu, your mother has finally found you! My poor daughter..."

"Thank you... thank you for helping me find Hongxiu..." Her voice was hoarse as she rose and led the group to a secret passage hidden behind the wall in the courtyard. "You can get out from here."

As the seven people left, a beam of light slowly illuminated the dark village road behind them, as if a long nightmare had finally come to an end.

The old woman knelt beside her daughter, holding her in her arms and murmuring, "Hongxiu, Mother is taking you home..."

The program's voice rang out: "Congratulations to the escape team for completing the mission. Game over."