Su Muyue felt a chill run down his spine and followed closely behind Su Deng, "Are all these people already dead...?"
The memorial tablets in the ancestral hall must all belong to people who have already died.
But how many people were in this village that so many died?
The dates are all relatively close together.
Snap—
The wind blew in from outside, causing the white gauze curtains in the dimly lit room to flutter, and two memorial tablets were blown over and placed face down on the ground.
Su Deng turned back to the ghost statue, which was covered in dust and even had spiderwebs. The light in his hand fell into the small incense burner on the table in front of the ghost statue. Inside was a pile of ashes and a piece of paper that had been burned down to only one corner.
Su Deng reached out and took it out.
It must have been a long time; the writing on the paper is quite blurry.
But it's still visible.
[The mountain spirit has thoughts, but the mountain god does not—]
[I hereby swear—]
[curse--]
A diagonal angle, arranged down, reveals these few words, not even forming a complete sentence, and impossible to guess.
Xiuxiu had previously said that what was happening in the village wasn't some ancient curse, but rather a curse.
Could this be the old Yao Village?
Su Deng pondered for a moment, then picked up the scrap of paper and took Su Muye outside, saying, "Let's go take a look."
This place is the village committee service station in the modern Yao Village. It is located at the entrance of the village, and there is a large leisure square outside the gate.
But the ancestral hall they were in was located in the village, surrounded by houses and enclosed by walls made of large stones, wood, and bamboo, which swayed coldly in the darkness.
The further into the village you go, the clearer the sound of the suona becomes. The cries of children accompany the singing of opera, a mournful and plaintive melody that is terrifying in the dead of night.
Su Deng grabbed Su Muye's hand, "Stay close to me."
Even if she didn't say anything, Su Muye would still follow closely, carrying the little ghost image on his back.
Walking west along the road, it wasn't long before we arrived at what seemed to be the entrance to the village. There stood a giant tree that required five people to encircle it. In winter, only the branches and trunk remained, with no leaves. Under the tree were a round well and a stone tablet.
The well opening was covered with a stone slab.
Two characters were engraved on the stone tablet—
Yao Village.
Su Deng was stunned for a moment.
This is indeed the old Yao Village!
Is this what the ancient village festival means?
If she'll be in ancient Yao Village at night, what's the point of her putting on that show in modern Yao Village during the day?
In particular, she told a series of lies and cried her eyes out in order to gain trust.
She thought the villagers believed her, but they just wanted to detain her...
Su Deng: "..."
Her toes involuntarily curled, and a feeling of utter despair washed over her.
Hold!
Thank goodness, thank goodness I didn't go live, so no one saw it.
It took Su Deng quite a while to calm herself down.
"Mom." Su Muyue tugged at her clothes and pointed in a direction in the village, "There's a light over there."
As you walk along this road, there are some lights at the intersection ahead, and the sound of opera singing seems to be coming from there.
Su Deng led Su Muye over, turned the corner, and after walking a short distance, they were stunned by the scene that came into view.
In front of us was a huge square with a stage set up. Several elderly men were sitting on the side of the stage, playing drums, cymbals, and suonas.
There are five people performing on stage.
They were all wearing brightly colored theatrical robes.
The paintings, rendered in bold watercolor ink, depict red faces, black faces, and even ghost faces.
The singing was in a strange, incoherent way, like Peking Opera but not quite, making it impossible to understand what they were singing.
There were five or six rows of seats in the audience.
Thirty or forty people sat neatly in rows, men, women, young and old, dressed in ancient cloth clothes, some with patches on their clothes. They all sat upright, their eyes fixed on the stage, listening attentively to the opera.
The sight of so many people singing and watching opera in the middle of the night is eerie and terrifying.
Similarly, everyone's face was so pale it looked like they weren't alive.
So close, yet I couldn't sense a single living soul.
"They're not all ghosts, are they?" Su Muye whispered.
Su Deng thought the same thing.
Although it was night, everything they saw along the way from this ancestral hall was dilapidated and desolate, not at all like a place where anyone lived.
If there were really living people in this village, how could the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall be covered with such a thick layer of dust?
Su Deng approached silently, wanting to get closer to observe them, but her expression turned slightly serious when she saw the people sitting in the last row below the stage.
Liu Sangua!
He was here too, sitting in the back watching the show?
Su Deng frowned slightly, and then saw Liu Sangua turn his head and wave at her.
Su Deng instantly recalled the scene in the modern-day Yao Village, where he watched her perform a lie, and those words he spoke…
So he probably knew from the beginning that this game instance would enter another timeline at night.
Liu Sangua got up and walked over, smiling faintly, "You arrived faster than I expected."
Su Deng narrowed her eyes. "Who exactly are you, and what is your purpose in following me?"
“I am Liu Sangua, a gamer.” Liu Sangua raised an eyebrow. “Besides, the game world is only so big, how can I say I’m following you?”
The answer was the same as during the day.
But he seemed very familiar with the game.
Su Deng asked in a deep voice, "This isn't your first time playing this game."
The tone was affirmative.
“The second time, but…” Liu Sangua didn’t deny it, looking at Su Muye beside her with a meaningful look, “I found that some parts of the game’s plot are different from last time.”
He discovered it as soon as he entered the game.
For example, the two children in the modern Yaocun sacrificial ceremony were originally selected from the village, but this time one of them turned out to be adopted.
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