Chapter 53 The Sleeping Curse (17) [This Sun God doesn't sound...]
[Oh my god, the song started again, and this one sentence gave me goosebumps. If this were used for dubbing in a comic, it would scare me to death...]
[Just a moment ago they were proudly declaring they couldn't stand the rumors, and now they're saying "I'm guilty"? What happened?]
The master is blind in one eye, and the innkeeper is also blind in one eye, but they don't look alike, so they can't be the same person. What's the significance of "blind in one eye"?
[Is the master Black Goat? He also mentioned the sun. Didn't Rui Rui mention it too?]
I have a guess: people have been going missing in the town, right? It's probably because the master sacrificed these people to the "sun god" in the sea in exchange for peace in the water.
But the entrepreneur's outburst caused a huge uproar, and nobody came anymore. Then Pan Ling came along, and with one shout, even more people came, and the sacrifices were no longer a problem.
She thought she had revitalized her hometown and sparked a trend throughout the bay, achieving both fame and tangible contributions, and was loved by everyone. But what if the truth were suddenly revealed…?
Xie Tan continued thinking about what the forum had said. She was focused on her career, singing the best songs and making the most of her fame. She regarded the town's reputation as her own and the town's residents as her own family. She was full of gratitude and determined to help the land that gave her birth break through yesterday's gloom and share in the glory.
Then the soil was not firm; growing by the sea, it was like floating on water, crumbling at the slightest impact, and filled with maggots that had lived there for years.
In the end, she realized that she had been an accomplice to evil spirits, harming countless people.
The more famous she was, the more you realized how much blood she had stained with, and how many sins she had committed.
Returning to the comic, during his investigation, Xue Hong encountered many residents lying asleep in their beds, and he asked them what was going on.
Next, Xie Tan finds the green-tiled house and meets Old Man Han, who takes care of the clansmen. It's the part where he most earnestly pretends to be a young master.
Old Man Han answered Xue Hong's question remotely, saying that three years ago, a dormant curse suddenly spread.
But looking back now, Xie Tan realizes the curse has lasted at least twenty years, starting with Pan Ling's song that brought him back to life.
Old Man Han was just using the fact that the town was isolated from the outside world to fool him by saying that the sleeping clansmen had been in the town for years.
So, in the comic, when Old Man Han asked, "Did you come here to awaken him?" Xie Tan simply got up and left, saying indifferently, "Shouldn't you be the one to ask that?"
No matter how you look at it, it has a sarcastic tone, like saying, "Stop pretending, I can't be bothered to put on an act with you."
[A mirror? Is this a portrait of someone in mourning? Old Sheep, you still say you're not a branch of the Order!]
Actually, black flames were originally used by goats, in some important family ceremonies.
[I felt something was off when that master, Old Sheep, talked about the Sun God. Isn't the Order also recycling solar energy?]
So, the two major powers are using the same power? Hmm, they don't actually believe in the same god, the sun god, do they?!
No wonder, no wonder these two always clashed when they met in previous series; they even seemed to have called each other "imposters"!
[Old Yang always criticizes Jingjing for being a cultist, but what he did wasn't any different. Two religions believe in the same God, so there must be differences; otherwise, they would have merged long ago. It must be a difference in doctrine, that is, different interpretations of God, which is why they can't stand each other and feel that the other is blaspheming their God and blocking their path.]
[It's starting to feel like a twin entity]
[Suspected of vying for favor with the sun god]
[Seeing everyone calling the cult "Quiet," I had a sudden inspiration, everyone! Isn't this sea called "Quiet Sea"? It's actually also called "Mirror Sea," right? And we know the mirror fragments represent solar energy, right?]
Mirror Sea... For some reason, Xie Tan was touched by this word on the vast sea.
The waves surged restlessly, the small boat swayed and seemed about to capsize at any moment, but it inexplicably kept moving forward without sinking.
The petals of the corpse flower were swept up by the water flow, like tea leaves being poured out, gurgling and rolling. They hadn't fallen out of his arms, and they spread all the way to the hill.
He drifted off into his own thoughts, thinking about Mexico's Day of the Dead, where marigolds, the flowers of the dead, guide the deceased through the water.
[Tsk tsk, Ah Tan's last sentence is quite suggestive. Could the sleeping curse have been cast by the goats?]
[The scene should be Xie Tan, who is supposed to be replacing the young master, playing the old man, but it felt like the old man wanted to play Xie Tan, but Xie Tan was too lazy to pretend with him, haha.]
[Tan: I still have to play a stunt double, it's so annoying]
[Actually, I think Ah Tan's acting when he's roasting people is pretty satisfying, hahaha]
Did that old man know that Ah Tan was an imposter?
[I know, Wolf Dad has come looking for him.]
Xie Tan saw that after he left the blue-tiled house in the comic, Su He went into the inner room and climbed in from somewhere else.
Old Han bowed respectfully: "Mr. Su He."
Su He waved her hand, sat down in her seat with a flourish, glanced at the hot tea on the table, and noticed that the little brat hadn't taken a sip. She raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "You're quite picky."
Old Han paused, a shrewd man at heart, and felt that the statement was somewhat illogical and "peaceful".
[Does Mr. Su He know that boy?]
He removed the cup of tea and poured a new one for Su He, just in case there was something he didn't know about it. He probed, "Would a fake one work? Can it be collected from underwater? To dare to use inferior goods... to dare to deceive the clan, these two have really had enough of living. Sir, have you already taken them down?"
He initially wanted to say "inferior goods passed off as superior ones," but then he thought that the original was also useless, good for nothing except for having some family blood, and not as reliable as the imposter.
"Why bother?" Su He said Xie Tan was picky, but he himself wasn't interested in tea. He preferred drinking. He didn't even look at the tea, and raised his chin slightly to the sleeping clansman on the bed. "Their son is dead. It was the murder case in the rain. He learned some shoddy skills from the one on the bed. One dared to study it, and the other dared to believe it. The drawing is utter nonsense. What a load of crap."
Old Man Han had expected this, and his expression darkened slightly: "Don't they have a child?"
“What good is a little kid? Didn’t someone already come up with a plan for you?” Su He handed him a talisman. “They’re doing the soul cleansing ceremony here. Take the coffin back. Their skills aren’t good enough. Before they leave, do the fire ritual again to make sure it’s complete this year.”
Old Han took the talisman, and the scribbles on it snaked around the paper, pointing west.
This was a clever scheme; they would use this substitute. He was relieved; it would be fine to use her as a sacrifice.
"Soul cleansing? A clan secret technique, only those who have been exposed to the sun..." Old Man Han paused, remembering that Su He didn't like beating around the bush. They had just reunited yesterday, and Su He had said, "Are you Shakespeare? Speak like a human being," which shut him up. That was why he had felt that Su He's attitude towards that kid was a bit nice.
So he put it more bluntly: "Only those who have used the power of the Sun God and are considered 'fellow believers' can be cleansed. Besides, he's not a member of the clan, so the effect is even less. The couple just grabbed him randomly, thinking it was a lucky coincidence. But I think that little devil deliberately walked into the trap. Is he?"
Su He nodded casually: "It should be the cult. I investigated the case in the rain, but I didn't find anything. They've cleared away all the traces."
Old Han chuckled, "That's a pity." But his eyes gleamed with excitement.
He then cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "Leave the ceremony to me. Rest assured, I have never slacked off over the years."
Su He: "You're thorough in your work." Her expression was somewhat puzzling.
When Old Man Han looked up again, the man had already climbed out the window and left.
This section ends here.
Xie Tan understood.
He said that burning your hair could allow you to swap the first half of someone else's life with another person, which is too easy.
The family wanted to revive itself, so they spent their days loitering on the streets, playing with other people's hair—a more efficient way to find hidden gems in the countryside who were more talented than their unworthy descendants.
It turns out that they must be "fellow travelers," those who have used the power of the sun, and preferably members of the Black Goat Clan, because their families possess a hair knot that represents a portion of their destiny.
Moreover, it is said to be a soul cleansing, which means reversing memories.
Although experience shapes character, and character determines destiny, he felt that it might not be the same as the soul.
It's also possible that he preserved his memory, his mind was more confused, but it was also a kind of clarity, so he could say such a big thing.
The young master's skin was like an ill-fitting garment, loose in some places and tight in others, the fabric rubbing against him and making him uncomfortable everywhere.
If everyone's guess is correct, the power of both major forces originates from the sun?
[It's not just the two major powers; ghosts and monsters also probably possess solar energy, right? The cult always talks about 'recycling,' so they're just using this as a pretext to legitimately steal these scattered solar cells, even though they claim to be followers of the Sun God?]
However, some were not recycled.
Xie Tan noticed that none of the stories he hadn't participated in had their titles retrieved.
"..." He's quite good at choosing stories to mix in.
However, he felt that those stories probably didn't utilize the main characters much, so they weren't part of the main storyline.
[Just to clarify, this secret technique has appeared before. See episode 18 of the Paraquat series for details. It's not a real soul swap, but rather using one person's memories to erase another's memories, or brainwashing for short.]
It's a secret technique passed down within the Black Goat family. It requires using a hair knot, which allows one to borrow a bit of the soul's shadow, making things go more smoothly.
The hair knot can be understood as the unique "birth date and time" of the Black Goat tribe.
Now, a new setting has been added: if the person being treated is not from a particular family (i.e., does not have a hair knot), they must have been exposed to the power of the sun, but the effect will be weaker.
[That hair knot should also be solar-powered, so if you don't have a hair knot, someone who has used sunlight can barely replace it.]
Why would Old Yang's family possess such a secret technique? It's chilling to think about...
Not to mention Ah Tan, he seems completely unaffected. Ah Tan is just using this opportunity to roast people, hahaha.
So, is Ah-Tan really a person of the Mirror? He's solar-powered, so he's either a goat or a Mirror, right?
But the vice-leader and Rui Rui don't know Atan.
[RuiRui doesn't recognize him, and you can't tell from the vice leader's attitude.]
Could it be one of the cult leader's subordinates? The cult leader is always elusive, and it seems like the deputy cult leader is the one who contacts his subordinates every time.
I still think he's a member of the Black Goat tribe. Atan seems to know everything about the town and the truth behind the Black Goat tribe. What is he doing here?
[Yes, Old Man Han even had a moment of doubt that Wolf Dad knew Ah Tan, so I also voted for Black Goat.]
Doesn't anyone think that the name "Sun God" sounds suspicious?
After glancing at the speculations about his identity, Xie Tan nodded in agreement with the last comment on the floor.
He thought so too.
The comic continues with them meeting on the beach, where the most radiant person smiles and places the wreath of good fortune on Xie Tan's head.
Amidst the forum's flood of posts exclaiming "I'm so excited!", Xie Tan was about to look down when suddenly a rumbling sound came from afar, like fireworks exploding underwater. Wave after wave surged up, forming a steep wall of water that collapsed after a moment, capsizing the fragile little boat.
Her long hair immediately flowed downwards, binding Xie Tan's arms and upper body, ready to pull him underwater at any moment.
The human-skin monster in the bouquet suddenly jumped out. Xie Tan thought it was going to open its body to block the huge wave. What difference was there between this and a mantis trying to stop a chariot?
He frowned, grabbed a corner of human skin, and pulled the monster back.
But unexpectedly, a wreath was found in that corner, which it had been carrying around. It must have taken it from his house. It quickly put the wreath on Xie Tan's head.
Just then, another turbulent wave, swept diagonally by the sea breeze, struck the stern of the boat, gently propelling it forward and allowing it to brush past the massive, all-consuming wave.
The flying waves splashed against the surface of the human skin umbrella, like drums made of human skin.
The wreath on Xie Tan's head, with the four-leaf clover nestled among the wildflowers, trembled and swayed in the wind and rain before being blown away.
It was a close call, but no real danger.
Xie Tan held onto the flower wreath, and when he looked down, his phone screen, wet with water, showed him in the comic book making the same gesture as Lu Jinzhao, saying, "Then let me benefit a little from this."
After his conversation with the freckled girl at the dinner table, he deliberately avoided thinking about her, and was suddenly struck by a sudden thought.
The wave may have escaped physically, but it could not have escaped mentally.
He couldn't defend against it.
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