Chapter 131
The opera troupe on stage was also startled. Their rhythm fell into disarray, and the entire piece became disjointed. Amidst the villagers’ screams, they gradually stopped their movements, their eyes staring blankly at the memorial hall.
Even the players who had just arrived couldn’t process it for a moment, gaping at the empty coffin that had been split in two.
The lingering sound of the suona, accompanied by the questioning of the villagers and the whispers of the players, completely transformed the once orderly scene.
It was chaos. Utter chaos.
The instigator of it all—Jiang Liu—swallowed her last mouthful of noodles before calmly raising her eyes to survey her surroundings.
Before she could speak, a light breath approached her ear, the voice tinged with confusion. “That was a bit of an overreaction.”
Jiang Liu lowered her gaze slightly, giving Yang Caisi a look of agreement. “Indeed,” she said softly.
It would be normal for any family to panic if something like this happened.
But the villagers’ reactions were far too extreme.
The village chief, who had just been amiably serving them noodles, seemed like a different person. His face turned an uncontrollable, deathly white, and even his dark complexion could no longer hide the eerie aura of death.
Then there was the deceased’s mother. She had already been in low spirits this morning, and now, shaken by this turn of events, she staggered. It seemed she wanted to go forward and see what had happened but lacked the strength to investigate, propping herself up on a table as she swayed.
Logically, a stolen corpse was either a case of illegal theft or a supernatural event like Corpse Reanimation.
It was inevitable for the villagers to panic if they had never experienced it before. But this was a sizable village with at least a hundred people, young and old; there should have been a few brave souls to take charge.
They should have taken some measures, either calling the police or calming everyone down to investigate.
But they didn’t.
From the moment the coffin exploded, all the villagers began to tremble uncontrollably. A closer look would reveal their pupils constricting, as if they were trapped in a state of immense terror.
It wasn’t because of the event itself. It was more like—
“They know the consequences of it being lost.”
Jiang Liu murmured to herself, her gaze sweeping past the frantic crowd to the area behind and to the side of the memorial hall.
Everyone’s reaction was identical, except for one person at a table over there. He remained seated, his back to the crowd, completely unmoved.
Jiang Liu was certain she had never met this person, yet she found his back strangely familiar, as if she had seen it in some memory she couldn’t quite recall.
She couldn’t help but frown slightly, repeatedly searching her mind for any clue, but found nothing.
Yang Caisi had been watching Jiang Liu’s expression the whole time. Seeing that something was amiss, she couldn’t help but purse her lips and lean in. “Did you find something?”
Jiang Liu lifted her chin. “Do you know that person?”
Yang Caisi tilted her head and stared for a long time before shaking her head. “No impression.”
Although she had entered by exploiting a Bug, she was still a quasi-NPC with an identity and a house in the village. She naturally knew the identities of all the villagers, but the person Jiang Liu pointed to was a complete unknown.
It was strange. The area for condolences was huge, with more than enough room for dozens of tables. There was no reason to seat someone in such a position.
The two exchanged a look, both finding it odd.
“Let’s go have a look.” Jiang Liu tapped the table subconsciously and rose calmly, heading in that direction.
Experience told her that mavericks in an Instance usually had special identities and were likely the key to clearing the level.
But before she could even take a step, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching from a distance. The voice was breathless as the person screeched to a halt in front of them, speaking urgently without even looking to see who it was.
“I’m late, I’m late! What’s going on here?”
Yang Caisi was nearly knocked over. It was only because Jiang Liu quickly pulled her back a couple of steps that a collision was avoided.
The speaker was the young man they had briefly met at the memorial hall last night. He had clearly had some sort of accident on the way; he was covered in mud that was half-dry on his clothes, emitting the stench of a sewer.
As soon as he appeared, everyone nearby pinched their noses and retreated.
The man was clearly a bit embarrassed. He wrinkled his nose sheepishly, his gaze scanning the area until it landed on Tang Ruo, at which point his eyes lit up.
“It’s you guys! What happened here?”
They knew each other?
Jiang Liu raised an eyebrow, casting a questioning glance at Tang Ruo.
The latter shrugged. “We met at the village chief’s house last night and chatted a bit.”
After explaining, she pointed to the coffin in the memorial hall and made a gesture of something splitting in two. “It broke,” she said succinctly.
“Oh? It really broke? How’d it break?” the man asked.
He was clearly a friendly, outgoing person, curiously looking around but unable to figure anything out.
Tang Ruo cleared her throat, and just as she was about to say something, another angry shout rang out.
“You! Stop right there!”
They all turned to see the girl who had been with him last night finally catching up, a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, though she wasn’t as disheveled as the man.
She hadn’t even caught her breath before she started scolding him. “What’s the rush? It’s not like the corpse can grow legs and run away, can it?”
The speaker was careless, but the listener took it to heart. Zhao Ziming guiltily rubbed his nose, muttering to himself, But it did grow legs and run away.
The man didn’t get angry at being scolded. He pulled the girl over to look at the memorial hall. “The coffin’s broken! I told you we shouldn’t have gone up the mountain first. We missed all the excitement!”
“Is the excitement more important, or is clearing the level more important?” The girl shot him a glare, shaking off his muddy hand with a frown. Only then did she notice Jiang Liu and the others.
“Sorry, my brother fell into a mud pit. I hope the smell didn’t get to you,” she said apologetically. Her gaze swept around and landed on Jiang Liu. Sensing that she was the leader of the group, she gave a slight nod.
“It’s fine.” Jiang Liu shook her head and stared at the siblings. “You went up the mountain?” she asked.
The girl nodded. “The village chief said the road was blocked, so I thought I’d go check it out.”
She clearly had more to say, but sensing the tense atmosphere, she held her tongue and jogged toward the memorial hall, trying to get a look at the coffin.
The situation was so chaotic that none of the villagers stopped her, letting her walk right up to it.
“Sister, should we go over?” Zhao Ziming, who had been quiet all this time, finally spoke up. His eyes darted around, gesturing for them to look to the side.
With someone taking the lead, the other hesitant players also grew restless and started to crowd around to see.
Although they were the ones who had done it, all the other players were gathering around. It would be a bit unsociable for just their group to remain aloof.
Jiang Liu and Yang Caisi exchanged a look and followed the crowd.
The girl was clearly quite bold. She wasn’t afraid of the gloomy coffin. Instead, she knelt down to carefully examine the cracks, frowning and muttering, “It doesn’t look like it was dropped.”
The wood used for coffins was usually a single solid piece. No matter what, it shouldn’t have split so cleanly. But she glanced at the people around her and said no more.
There was a moment of silence before a player spoke up in a low voice. “What do you all think?”
A group of people began chattering, each offering their own opinion. Jiang Liu didn’t join in, instead narrowing her eyes at something in the distance.
From this angle, she could only see half of the silhouette of the man from before. What was worth noting was—
There was now a stout figure next to him, and they seemed to be talking in low voices.
“I think that’s the village chief,” Xu Meng, who was standing behind, explained softly when she noticed Jiang Liu’s movement.
After speaking, she belatedly realized something and looked at the villagers strangely. “Hey, why did they stop screaming?”
At some point, the frantic and panicked villagers had all quieted down. They stood motionless in place, staring in unison at the people in the memorial hall. The atmosphere was so bizarre it was unsettling.
“Be careful,” Jiang Liu warned. Before she could say more, she suddenly heard a shout.
“Alright, alright, everyone quiet down.”
Turning her head, she saw that the village chief had finished his conversation. When he walked over again, he was completely calm, his demeanor no different from before the incident.
“Ahem, as you can all see, there’s been a bit of an accident at the memorial hall. I’d like to ask all our friends from out of town to please step aside for a moment. Please, step aside.” Village Chief Liu cleared his throat, walking over with a brisk pace.
He politely urged everyone to leave temporarily, his deep voice seemingly equipped with a megaphone that quickly reached every corner.
Strangely, as his voice fell, the villagers seemed to have swallowed a calming pill. Their complexions finally returned to normal, and they came forward to help shout people away.
Yang Caisi’s eyes darted around. Taking advantage of her special status, she took the initiative to step forward and ask, “Uncle Liu, do you need our help?”
As she spoke, her gaze subtly swept over the coffin, her tone somewhat troubled.
The village chief gave a simple, honest smile, revealing four slightly uneven teeth. “Dr. Yang, this was all too sudden. How about this, you help take them back to rest for now.”
He sighed. Although his words were a request, his hands were firm as he pushed the people at the front to move away, his refusal obvious.
“You guys go back first,” Jiang Liu instructed Jiang He. Ignoring the others, she strode quickly toward the side of the memorial hall.
After bypassing the obstructing building, she finally got a clear view of the man’s true appearance.
He was an extremely old man, the skin on his entire face sagging on his skeleton. Only his eyes remained clear and sharp.
Looking at his back, she would have never guessed he was a man well past seventy.
The old man seemed to sense something. He turned his head while holding a bowl, his eyes meeting Jiang Liu’s probing gaze. He then curved his lips into a smile.
Jiang Liu froze on the spot, her scalp tingling.
The reason was simple: the smile was utterly kind and benevolent, which only served to highlight the man’s ancient features. Just by looking at his appearance, it was hard to imagine a person could age to such a degree.
Against the backdrop of that face, the smile became increasingly strange and eerie, as if it originated from the depths of his soul rather than from a decaying body.
Her footsteps faltered for a moment as she finally realized where that sense of familiarity came from.
—It was the old man who had been arguing with Mother Zhao in the courtyard last night.
The smile lasted only for an instant before the old man put down his bowl and prepared to leave.
Jiang Liu reacted quickly, chasing after him almost on instinct.
But despite his age, the man was surprisingly fast. It was as if he had anticipated Jiang Liu’s move in an instant. He made a light turn, and as if possessing some superpower, he was suddenly two or three meters ahead of her.
He was too fast. His agility was nothing like that of an old man.
A thought stirred in Jiang Liu’s mind, and she quickly called out, “Please wait a moment.”
Strangely enough, the old man, who had just been fleeing as if he’d seen a ghost, actually slowed down upon hearing her words. His gaze fixed on Jiang Liu, making her hair stand on end.
Seeing that he had finally stopped, Jiang Liu hesitated for a moment, but his voice beat her to it.
The old man sighed, his voice hoarse. “Young lady, my condolences.”
Condolences? What did that have to do with her?
Her mind couldn’t process it for a moment, and before she could ask, someone running up from behind gave her the answer—
“Sister Jiang, something’s happened! Zhao Ziming is about to die!”