No! She remembered that in the Rules of the Strange Tales dungeon, NPCs have their own fixed lines of dialogue. And those lines must be what "He" in the Rules of the Strange Tales world wants adventurers to believe.
Yan Qing realized she had fallen into a misconception: that "He" was the opposite of the adventurers. Therefore, what Lingxi had said earlier might not have been correct.
It seems the real secret can only be found in the ancestral hall.
When the two of them finally made their way into the ancestral hall, they saw the steward kneeling at the entrance burning paper money.
"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, the grievance has its source, the debt has its debtor—"
Why did these words sound like something a servant would burn for their master? Instead, they carried a sense of fear.
The butler burned the paper money for a full fifteen minutes before dusting himself off, getting up, and leaving.
By the light of the candle, she noticed that the housekeeper seemed much more haggard, and his gait was unsteady.
"Brother, you go inside the ancestral hall to look for the portrait later, I'll keep watch outside for you."
Yan Qing glanced at the flickering candlelight, feeling somewhat uneasy. She added, "Don't try to save my spirit coins. Turn on your magic shield; safety is paramount."
Activating the magic weapon "Heavy Water Pearl" requires spirit coins, costing one thousand spirit coins per minute—a veritable money-burning machine. However, for the Yan siblings, this is a minor matter.
They're not short of money!
Yan Che entered the ancestral hall wearing a blue protective shield. The moment he entered, a gust of wind suddenly blew up and extinguished several candles.
Yan Che was startled, but he had all the necessary tools at hand. He immediately took out a flashlight to illuminate the room and began to search carefully.
He had his back to Sima Yuanwai's coffin, so he didn't see it open silently. Sima Yuanwai's corpse sat up abruptly.
He wore a strange smile, his mouth slowly stretching to the sides, his bright green eyes meeting Yan Qing's eyes outside the ancestral hall.
Yan Qing immediately covered her mouth, not daring to breathe.
Sima Yuanwai's corpse was twisted into a kneeling position with its head turned 180 degrees. It quickly crawled out of the coffin in a strange posture, and then jumped and landed on the blue protective shield behind Yan Che.
Yan Che was completely unaware and continued searching diligently.
"That's strange, where is it? How could it not be here?"
A voice suddenly came from behind, "Look under Madam Sima's memorial tablet."
After Yan Che did as instructed, he indeed found a small statue under the memorial tablets. Without bothering to see what it was, he turned around and left the ancestral hall.
The moment I stepped out of the ancestral hall, all the candles inside suddenly lit up again.
Yan Che shuddered in fright, but when he turned around, he saw that the ancestral hall was quiet and the coffin lid was tightly closed, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
"You scared me to death! Hey girl, what's wrong with you?"
Yan Qing didn't know whether she should tell him the truth, that the Sima family man had been following her all the way, clinging to her protective shield.
She was certain that if she said something, Yan Che might just kneel down on the spot in gratitude.
Moreover, what happened just now was indeed quite shocking, but my elder brother was protected by a magical artifact, so the opponent couldn't hurt him. That's why he had no choice but to retreat.
However, the way Master Sima glanced at her as he retreated to the coffin made Yan Qing wonder if he was now unable to leave the ancestral hall at all.
"Hey sis, I—" Yan Che was excitedly preparing to present his treasure when he saw his sis grabbing him and running away faster than a rabbit.
Only after entering her own room in the guest courtyard did Yan Qing let go of the hand and lie down to the side, panting heavily.
"Phew—I'm exhausted! I've never run this fast in my life!"
"Are you stupid? Nobody's chasing you, why are you running?" Yan Che was completely baffled.
Yan Qing told her older brother what had just happened. After hearing it, Yan Che was so shocked that he sat down on the ground.
"What? You're saying that Master Sima has been following me all this time? Really? Girl, you're not kidding me!"
"Why would I lie to you! That Master Sima was all twisted up like a spider, staring straight at me. I didn't even dare to breathe loudly."
Yan Che belatedly realized, "Then it wasn't you who gave me the hint earlier?"
"Of course not!" Yan Qing didn't know what had happened to him, but she still patiently explained, "Don't you think about it? I'm so far away from you, I might not even hear you if I speak loudly, let alone softly."
She looked at her brother, and the hairs on her body stood on end. "No way? Brother—"
"Don't mention it, please don't mention it, otherwise I definitely won't be able to sleep tonight!" Yan Che shoved the portrait into her arms and ran away without looking back.
The figure looked like it was fleeing in panic.
Yan Qing placed the portrait in front of Lingxi and asked, "Is this it?"
Lingxi opened it and took a look, then froze instantly.
"She, she—how, how is this possible?" Although she is a strange person, this kind of thing is even more unbelievable than strange, okay?
Yan Qing peeked out and realized she was right. The woman with gentle smiles in the portrait was none other than the new Madam Luo.
"But—" Lingxi still couldn't believe it, "Master, does reincarnation really exist in this world?"
Yan Qing rolled her eyes at her, "You can become a ghost after you die, so what's so strange about being reincarnated?"
"But—but—" Lingxi seemed to want to explain something, but couldn't utter a single word. She wanted to tell her master that while it was possible for the dead to become ghosts due to their obsessions, the heaven-defying magic of reincarnation was absolutely forbidden!
Yan Qing, being observant, immediately noticed Lingxi's odd behavior. It seemed that she had serious doubts about this reincarnation technique.
Could it be that reincarnation is not allowed in this world of strange and unpredictable rules?
She began to try her best to recall the details of the original book. In the original book, the male and female protagonists went through so many instances, and there was indeed no case of reincarnation. It seemed that this must be the case.
“Lingxi, I’m starting to have some doubts about this reincarnation. I feel like there’s something fishy about it. It’s all too coincidental,” Yan Qing probed.
Lingxi's eyes lit up, proving that the idea of reincarnation was absolutely fabricated.
Having figured this out, one thing is certain: this Luo family member was definitely planning this for a long time and deliberately trying to get close to Master Sima.
This greatly increased the suspicion against Luo for murder.
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