Chapter 40

This was the drawback of sleeping in a communal bunk: Jiang Luo resigned himself to fixing his hair, then used his quilt to create a barrier between himself and the people on either side.

After a difficult night, at six in the morning, the competitors had to leave the rest area.

Liao Si moved slowly; by the time he was ready, the room was empty of everyone else.

He wasn't the least bit hurried. He leisurely packed his luggage, took out twenty palm-sized plastic bags, collected hairs from the bedding of every competitor except himself, sealed them in the bags, and wrote a name on each one.

He placed these bags into his suitcase, and finally pulled out one plastic bag he had prepared the night before.

Inside the small bag, a single long, slender hair coiled and bent. Among all the competitors, only one person had hair like this.

Liao Si studied it curiously for a long moment, muttering to himself, 'Huali, why do you think our Master made me press down on Jiang Luo's hair last night?'

'If he wanted a hair, couldn't he have just picked one up this morning?'

No one else was in the room, but a chilling voice spoke out of thin air. 'How should I know what the Master is thinking? Your thoughts can be read by him. Why don't you ask him yourself?'

Liao Si smiled. 'You know the Master can control my body at any time, can know my thoughts. But I was curious all last night, thought about it all night, and the Master didn't answer me once. That's why I'm asking you.'

Huali didn't want to continue this topic. 'If you don't go out soon, someone will come looking for you.'

Liao Si sighed leisurely and walked out of the rest area.

Jiang Luo was listening to a staff member explain the details of the Third Trial.

The staff member said, 'Deep in the dense forest, there is an isolated village called Shentu Village. A month and a half ago, the police received a call for help from Shentu Village, but when they drove there, they found no telephones in the entire village. After investigating, the police discovered that Shentu Village had suffered from strange diseases many times over the years, each outbreak killing half the population. Yet even so, the people of Shentu Village never left. In recent years, the strange diseases have stopped, but something even stranger began to happen—'

'Every time someone dies in Shentu Village, a new life appears in the village. Their total population hasn't changed in years.'

The staff member said, 'Competitors, your task is to uncover Shentu Village's secret within one week, and survive.'

Next came the familiar routine of signing the Death Exemption Agreement, but everyone's expressions were much graver than during the previous trial.

The road to Shentu Village was impassable by car; they had to go on foot. Baihua University and Shanhai University had the most people, so the two Schools naturally split into two teams. The other solo competitors exchanged glances and formed a final temporary team.

But one person ignored everyone else, picked up his Compass, and walked alone into the dense forest.

'That's He Zhi from Wenxing University,' Liao Si said, ambling over to Jiang Luo's side. 'He's a real loner. But I'm not. Jiang Luo, can I walk with you all?'

Jiang Luo turned to look at him. Liao Si gave a frail smile. 'Even though I'm not in good health, I am a corpse-driver. I won't be a burden.'

The identity of a corpse-driver was highly useful, and this was the Xiangxi Region. Jiang Luo had no reason to refuse. He nodded, then asked as if casually, 'But shouldn't a corpse-driver have a strong constitution? After all, you have to escort corpses back to their hometowns from distant places, traversing thousands of miles on foot.'

'You're right,' Liao Si said calmly. 'I learned the corpse-driving skills, but I've never actually driven a corpse. I was born with a weak constitution; I can't walk that far. If I could, I'd like to try it.'

He sighed. 'But to put what I've learned to use, I'd probably need a different body.'

After Liao Si joined their team, their pace slowed considerably.

Shentu Village was deep in the forest. It was indeed nestled against mountains and beside water, and it was genuinely remote and backward. Only a single footpath led into the village. Before they were halfway there, Liao Si was already drenched in cold sweat, his face deathly pale.

Kuang Zheng and Lu You took turns supporting him. Three hours later, the group finally reached Shentu Village.

At the village entrance stood a large, leafy locust tree. The yellow earth beneath it was flat, and a vast patch of shade spread below. A light breeze rustled the leaves.

The group walked under the tree's shade. A refreshing coolness washed over them. Liao Si leaned against the trunk to rest, breathing heavily. Lu You teased him, 'Liao Si, you're even more useless than Jiang Luo used to be.'

Jiang Luo smiled, tilting his head back to take a drink of water. Suddenly, he saw a pair of bare, bluish-purple feet appear above Lu You's head.

He froze, his gaze traveling upward. A male corpse, hanged who knows how many years ago, its face rotted, dangled from a rope on the locust tree directly above Lu You.

Jiang Luo said, 'Lu You…'

The instant he spoke, the male corpse vanished.

In broad daylight, the ghastly sight from a moment ago seemed like Jiang Luo's hallucination.

Lu You turned his head. 'What's wrong?'

Jiang Luo licked his dry lips. 'Come over here. Don't stand there.'

Lu You didn't understand, but he obediently walked over. After drinking half his bottle of water, he said, 'Weird. I felt an itch on my scalp standing there, like something was scratching my hair. It's much better over here.'

Jiang Luo didn't have the heart to tell him it was a dead man's feet touching his hair.

When they had rested enough, Jiang Luo urged them to get up and leave the shade of the big locust tree.

At the village entrance, the Village Head was receiving the competitors with his son, Wang Qian.

Their attitude was lukewarm. From the Village Head, Jiang Luo learned they were the slowest of the three groups of competitors.

But Jiang Luo noticed the Village Head didn't seem to know they were competitors here to investigate the village's secret; he treated them like ordinary university students on a trip.

The Competition organizers must have paid Shentu Village well. The rooms they cleared for them were even better than the rest area prepared by the organizers.

After showing them to their rooms, the Village Head said flatly, 'Our village has a sacrificial ceremony tonight. You may attend, but you must stay at the very back and remain silent. If you attend, remember: the unclean cannot participate. You must not utter foul words during the ceremony, must not point at the altar table, and must not touch anything on the altar with unwashed hands.'

These were basic rules for sacrificial ceremonies. They naturally understood and nodded without question.

The Village Head nodded, satisfied, his attitude softening slightly. 'We have many snakes, insects, rats, and ants here. Don't go up the mountain unless necessary. If you get bitten, come find me immediately.'

After these warnings, the Village Head and his son left.

All the rooms in this area housed competitors. Aside from He Zhi, who had entered the village first, all twenty-one others were present.

Xu Yan from Shanhai University hesitated, then walked over. 'Did you meet any villagers on your way into the village?'

Jiang Luo nodded. 'We passed a few.'

'I just asked the Village Head. He said there are exactly 311 people in their village,' Xu Yan said. 'Just like the staff said. The Village Head said that number hasn't changed in years.'

311, if analyzed by the numerical angle corresponding to the Primordial Eight Trigrams, it was the Gen trigram. Gen stands for mountain, implying barriers and obstruction.

Jiang Luo narrowed his eyes. 'Why are you telling us this?'

He was suspicious of everyone now. Who would share information for no reason in the middle of a Competition?

Xu Yan lowered his voice. 'We wanted to thank you. Last trial, we only advanced because of the information you shared…' His expression dimmed. 'And you were the one who discovered Bai Ye Feng was possessed by an evil ghost. Thankfully he was saved, otherwise we wouldn't have the face to continue the Competition.'

Confirming his expression was genuine, Jiang Luo said magnanimously, 'It was nothing. Don't mention it.'

Xu Yan shook his head. 'If we get any clues later, we'll come tell you. Thank you for helping us advance, and thank you even more for saving Bai Ye Feng's life.'

Having said that, and as if afraid Jiang Luo would refuse, he turned and left before Jiang Luo could react.

Zhuo Zhongqiu sighed. 'Last trial, that Xu Yan was still quite wary of us.'

Jiang Luo said with perfect seriousness, 'This is what they call virtue rewarded with virtue.'

They returned to their room to drop off their luggage. Before nightfall, they hurriedly made a circuit of Shentu Village.

Shentu Village was larger than they'd imagined. Two High Mountains flanked the village, enclosing it in the middle. They split into five groups to see if they could map out the village's layout that day.

Jiang Luo went with Lu You. Along the way, they saw many Shentu villagers. These villagers were no different from those of any other village; on the contrary, they seemed exceptionally happy, with smiles on more than half their faces.

Green mountains, clear waters, old men, young children—at first glance, it looked like a secluded paradise.

Lu You said, 'The people here seem to live very well.'

As they spoke, they reached the village's edge. Weeds grew thick on both sides. Jiang Luo suddenly said, 'Something's off.'

Lu You asked, 'What?'

Jiang Luo pointed at vegetable plots among the weeds. 'Look at these fields. They're wilted, the crops withered. Clearly, they haven't been tended in a long time.'

Lu You scratched his head. 'Maybe the person farming this plot is just lazy?'

'In rural areas, especially isolated villages like this, people mostly rely on themselves for food, clothing, and shelter,' Jiang Luo shook his head. 'When cooking, you step out to pick a scallion or pull a vegetable. So vegetable plots are usually planted in one's own yard or right outside the door. Families who come all the way to the village edge to plant vegetables do so because what they grow at home isn't enough. They'd be more diligent, not lazier. Otherwise, why bother planting if you're not going to tend it?'

Lu You thought this made sense. 'Should we go back and take another look?'

This time, on their way back, they observed more carefully. Sure enough, every household had a vegetable plot of some size in front of it. Some plots were meticulously tended and thriving, while others were nothing but withered stalks, desolate and overgrown.

Strangely, the houses with withered fields weren't empty; people lived there but ignored the plots, as if laziness were the only explanation.

The two retraced their steps. Nearing their lodging, a little girl in a red dress suddenly dashed out from a corner, crashing right into them.

Both stumbled back a step. Jiang Luo steadied the girl, putting on his specially-for-deceiving-people friendly face. He smiled. 'Little sister, why are you running so fast?'

The girl in red looked about eleven or twelve, her head reaching just to Jiang Luo's waist. She had long black hair like Jiang Luo's, her bangs dirty and plastered to her forehead. Dust and dry grass clung to her face. Her eyes were large but empty and lifeless, like the inorganic gaze of a doll.

The little girl said, 'I'm going to find my mom and dad.'

Lu You said warmly, 'Where do your mom and dad live? We'll take you there.'

As soon as he finished speaking, a couple came running from behind the girl. The woman still wore an apron; the man wore slippers. Both wore identical expressions of anxiety. Seeing the girl, their faces lit up with relief. 'Xiao Ya, it's almost dinnertime. Why are you running off?'

Their features bore a faint resemblance to the girl's, making their familial relationship obvious at a glance. Lu You said to the girl, 'Your mom and dad are here.'

But the girl ignored the calls from behind her. She said woodenly, 'I'm going to find my other mom and dad.'

Other mom and dad?

Before Jiang Luo could think further, the couple had already reached the girl. They coaxed her gently and carefully. The mother softly brushed dry twigs and leaves from the girl's clothes. The father lovingly stroked her forehead. After a few words, they took her hand and led her back the way they'd come.

Their love for the girl was obvious, even excessively anxious.

Jiang Luo watched their retreating figures, frowning, then returned to their lodging with Lu You.

Soon, the others returned as well. No one had gained any useful information. They could only wait quietly for the evening's sacrificial ceremony.

At six in the evening, the Village Head's son, Wang Qian, brought them cloth Masks that covered the lower half of the face.

On each Mask, a red smiling mouth was embroidered with crooked stitches. The fabric was coarse, with four thin strings sewn on each side to be tied at the back of the head.

Wang Qian repeated his instructions. 'During the ceremony, you must wear a smile. If you can't smile, put on the Mask before you go out. This is our village custom. Please respect it.'

He said the important thing not three times, but five. Before leaving, as if afraid they'd forget, he looked back anxiously with every few steps.

After he left, Jiang Luo put on the Mask in front of the Mirror. In the reflection, a distorted smile stretched across where his lips should be, reaching almost to his ears. It was deeply unsettling at a glance. Staring longer, he began to feel the reflection of himself grow strange and distorted.

Jiang Luo took off the Mask, turned around, and abruptly came face-to-face with another twisted, grinning visage.

Liao Si stood smiling behind him, the Mask perfectly fitted to the bridge of his nose. When he spoke, the Mask trembled, as if the red embroidered lips were moving. 'The embroidery on this Mask isn't very good.'

A perfectly good-looking, sickly-pale young man now looked like a deranged serial killer with the Mask on. Jiang Luo's eyebrow twitched. 'Can you take that off?'

Liao Si obediently removed it. 'It sounds like the music has started outside.'

Jiang Luo listened carefully. Music was indeed playing outside. They took their Masks and went out to find villagers emerging from every house. The crowd soon formed a long line, swaying as they followed the music.

Children laughed and waved toys. Adults chatted in small groups. Every single person, without exception, wore a smile.

The competitors followed at the very back. Jiang Luo didn't want to wear the creepy Mask, so he curled the corners of his mouth in a perfunctory smile and blended in.

The crowd arrived in front of the Ancestral Hall. The sky darkened, a streak of purplish-red sunset clouds burning on the horizon.

An altar table was set up before the Ancestral Hall, laden with offerings: fruit, a pig's head, and flatbreads. Judging by the arrangement, they seemed to be worshipping some deity.

The Village Head paced anxiously before the altar. He asked his son, 'Has the Divine Lord not arrived yet?'

Wang Qian wiped sweat from his brow. 'Not yet.'

The Village Head's expression twisted for an instant, profound fear making his pupils contract. 'Did we prepare too little?'

Wang Qian's voice trembled. 'Impossible. We put out everything.'

He hurriedly looked over the altar. 'Incense burner, candle holders, flower vases, eight types of offerings, a tea bowl… nothing's missing.'

The Village Head checked each item. Confirming nothing was missing, he relaxed slightly, muttering to himself, 'The Divine Lord must have been delayed. We'll wait a little longer.'

At the back of the crowd, Jiang Luo's face ached from smiling. The ceremony hadn't even started yet. He maintained his rictus grin and glanced around. More than half the competitors had already put on their Masks and were rubbing their cheeks.

Liao Si had put his on too. He looked at Jiang Luo curiously. 'Aren't you going to wear yours?'

Jiang Luo immediately put the Mask on his face. 'Since everyone looks this ugly, I don't feel so bad about it.'

Liao Si chuckled a few times, then coughed softly, saying weakly, 'It's getting colder.'

A sudden wave of cheers rose from the front. Jiang Luo looked up to see a figure cloaked entirely in black, wearing a black hood, emerge from the Ancestral Hall.

This person walked to the Village Head's side and spoke a few low words to him. The Village Head nodded repeatedly, his face glowing with increasing delight, joy and fervor overflowing.

After the black-clad figure finished speaking, the Village Head turned to face the villagers, pressing his hands down. He announced solemnly, 'The ceremony begins.'

The ceremony ended surprisingly quickly. Before the moon had even risen to its zenith, the Village Head announced they could disperse. Before dismissing them, he said one more thing.

'Tomorrow is the day the Ancestral Hall selects people,' the Village Head declared loudly. 'Whether you are chosen or not will not affect the Divine Lord's favor upon us! Sincerity will make the deity manifest. I say this every year, and this year is no exception. Do not be anxious! Do not, under any circumstances, cause conflict! Tomorrow at six in the afternoon, we will gather here again. Do you hear me?'

The villagers answered in unison, 'We hear you!'