Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 131: Strange Script

Night had fallen.

Fang Xiu curled up in a corner of the room, stroking his exposed left arm. The anomalies abilities granted by the Underworld were still with him. If he wanted, he could summon the Weishan Village offering table right now.

But this wasn’t the time to reveal his powers. If the other side noticed something, it would complicate things.

The Guishan Sect disciples clearly had no idea what was going on and treated this as just another routine E-resolving task. The food shortage that had plagued them earlier didn’t even count as a real problem to Disaster Resolvers…

“This looks like somewhere near Xushan.”

Grandpa Dao stroked his well-kept beard. “Too bad the weather’s terrible. If we could stargaze, maybe we could figure out the location.”

“Near Xushan is good enough. There’ll definitely be a shrine around here, and at worst a graveyard. Offerings won’t be lacking.”

This came from the leader of the other team. She was a sweet and cute girl.

She called herself Dou Dou, wore twin ponytails, and had meticulously done makeup. Her smile revealed charming teeth and dimples. Her eyes shone with an innocent clarity… She didn’t look twenty, probably younger than her actual age.

Her two teammates had a sleek commercial look, one male and one female, resembling a young idol and her assistants.

Grandpa Dao looked at Dou Dou with grandfatherly affection. “We’ll check the offerings first thing in the morning.”

Dou Dou raised both arms. “Yay! I hope there’s something tasty~”

With just a few words, the Disaster Resolvers had already found a breakthrough point. Confirming the “food taboo” was just a matter of time.

The two Guishan Sect teams made no attempt to hide their cooperation, but Fang Xiu didn’t act suspiciously either, even though he knew they were watching him. It was all so amicable it made one a little nauseous.

Like right now.

Dou Dou had just finished cheering and turned smoothly to Fang Xiu, waving at him in an extremely friendly way like she was onstage somewhere.

Fang Xiu returned the gesture with a polite smile, even adding just the right amount of shyness.

But under his slightly messy bangs, Fang Xiu’s gaze toward the sweet-faced Dou Dou was as cold as ice water.

He stared at her until a flash of white blocked his view. Bai Shuangying casually stepped in front of him, speaking seriously, “Do you have a plan?”

Wow, it was rare for his ghost to be so engaged. Thinking back to the first ritual when Bai Shuangying was totally indifferent, it felt like another lifetime.

But the question was obviously a pretense.

“I’m thinking about how to handle the two team leaders,” Fang Xiu answered truthfully.

Bai Shuangying looked at him silently for a few seconds, then smoothly stepped aside, returning Fang Xiu’s full view.

Fang Xiu couldn’t help laughing under his breath and sighed softly. “Shame I’ve only managed to get data on the ‘faces’. The ones in charge hide themselves too well. Info’s too limited.”

“Faces?” Bai Shuangying asked, curious.

“That ‘Dou Dou’ does livestreams to build a fanbase. Her public image is cheerful, sunny, witty, and popular.”

Fang Xiu had to admit, the Guishan Sect was good at choosing spokespeople—young men and women for the youth, elderly sages for the seniors. Polished, trendy, and seemingly harmless.

However…

“Privately, she uses ‘metaphysics’ as a gimmick to post carefully packaged Guishan propaganda in her VIP fan groups. She also connects with rich backers and introduces them to the sect offline. It’s a variation of how Mei Lan was recruited.”

“That Grandpa Dao runs a wellness-themed account. He loves giving benefits to followers and has decent recognition among seniors.”

Fang Xiu didn’t bother hiding the disgust in his voice. “You block one batch and another springs up. Like cockroaches. These two climbed this high, so they must be very good at hiding things.”

Got it, so good at hiding that only a dead person would be able to report them, Bai Shuangying thought privately.

Fang Xiu muttered these things under cover of his posture. From the outside, it just looked like he had his lower face in shadow, quietly crouched in a corner.

Noticing Fang Xiu didn’t say much, Dou Dou skipped over. “We can stand watch tonight! My team’s really good at that, so everyone can sleep easy… Or if you don’t trust us, feel free to have someone keep watch with us!”

Her tone was cheerful and reassuring, but Guan He only felt dread. Dou Dou’s words were just like what Lao Mian had once said.

“We trust you,” Fang Xiu said graciously, not at all bothered by this deja vu.

Stop it, Fang Ge! Guan He hugged his head, more silent than he was during the original first ritual.

Bai Shuangying leaned in. “I’ll keep watch for you.”

Then he blinked. He had spoken instinctively, but his words had ended up exactly like what he’d said during the first ritual.

What was going on?

Fang Xiu politely thanked Dou Dou and returned to his corner. In the dim light, he lightly wrapped an arm around his ghost’s waist and closed his eyes to rest.

Bai Shuangying gave him a skeptical look. “Do you know what’s happening here?”

“No.” Fang Xiu whispered, “But we’re here already, so we’ll just deal with things as they come. If I panic, Guan He and Cheng Jie won’t stay steady either.”

He yawned and drifted off to sleep.

This time, Bai Shuangying actually kept watch and woke Fang Xiu up.

There was a smell of blood.

It mingled with the damp rain and lingered in the room. The wet earth already had a raw scent, but now it was laced with a pungent iron tang.

Dou Dou was sleeping soundly in a cute pose. Grandpa Dao was resting too. Whether they were really asleep or not, Fang Xiu didn’t know and didn’t care.

He stretched and yawned, then suddenly raised his voice. “There’s blood—!!!”

Aside from Dou Dou’s two assistants who were “outside on watch”, the remaining six disciples all woke up.

Dou Dou squeaked, “I-I smell blood too!”

Grandpa Dao took out a pipe and quickly puffed on it. Warm smoke spiraled into the air, brighter than a normal oil lamp.

“A’Liang, Mimi!”

Dou Dou ran to the door, pounding on it. “Did you hear me? Say something!”

Silence.

Panicking, her eyes reddened as she pulled out a weird brown-black lipstick and smeared it on her lips before opening the door.

Her two assistants lay dead outside the empty house.

The man had been chopped into pulp. The woman had turned into a deformed, monstrous “mutant”.

Not just the manner of death, even their corpses were in the exact positions of Lao Mian and Mai Zi from the first ritual.

Cheng Songyun gasped. “They broke a taboo?!”

But that couldn’t be. Lao Mian and Mai Zi had at least given them some kind of newbie tutorial. These two cultists hadn’t even interacted with them, let alone been chosen as Weishan’s new god.

And the Weishan E was gone!

“They went out just before dawn,” Guan He said, black circles under his eyes. In a place like this, he hadn’t been able to sleep, forced to keep his eyes and ears sharp.

He stopped, realizing he’d spoken an all-too-familiar line, and looked like he wanted to bite his tongue off.

Grandpa Dao sighed. “They had protective charms and just stepped outside for a look. Nothing should’ve happened.”

“They died without a sound. I didn’t feel any yin energy either… They must’ve triggered a taboo.”

Fang Xiu made a noise and quietly asked Bai Shuangying, “Are their souls still here?”

Bai Shuangying: “…”

Bai Shuangying: “Not dispersed yet.”

Really, that was the only thing you wanted to ask?

Fang Xiu sighed in relief. Good, the appetizers he prepared weren’t entirely wasted.

“In the first ritual, eight people died,” Fang Xiu recalled. “Lao Mian and Mai Zi, then the auntie from our group who tried to escape, then the four from the Jade Buddha group, and finally Shan Huanzi.”

Was this ritual going to recreate the entire sequence?

He’d only invited eight Guishan disciples. There were no extra bodies. Unless the Immortal Encounter E didn’t count Shan Huanzi.

Fang Xiu felt an inexplicable feeling.

If this were a novel, it’d be one of those “rebirth with memory and skills” infinite loop stories.

But the recreation was slightly off. Those subtle differences made his skin crawl.

There was nothing exciting about this, just unease.

While everyone was lost in thought, Bai Shuangying silently stepped out and tucked the two remaining souls into his sleeve.

When Grandpa Dao checked the bodies and found the souls missing, his expression turned very grave.

“Their souls aren’t here. This place is too strange. Everyone stick together and don’t separate.”

He tapped his pipe. “Don’t move the corpses either. We might trigger more taboos. First, let’s find food and get a sense of the area.”

Fang Xiu shot a sideways look at Bai Shuangying and nodded in agreement.

……

Determined not to fall into familiar traps, Fang Xiu investigated seriously.

Daytime Weishan Village was the same as the one carved into his memory. Even the rotting safety slogans were identical. He found the same pumpkin vine that Blondie had once bitten.

Cheng Songyun and Guan He didn’t need to act. Just seeing the place again made them visibly tense.

The only blessing this time was they didn’t smell any roasting flesh. The Jade Buddha group’s old hideout was empty. Even the wooden cage hadn’t been set up. In the spot where it should’ve been was only one lonely tree.

Fang Xiu: “…?”

Bai Shuangying: “…………”

Why was the Skinny Monkey Tree here too?

Fang Xiu was happy to think maybe only eight people had to die again, since Skinny Monkey’s death had already been re-enacted.

But he wasn’t happy about what had been re-enacted…

It was a flickering black humanoid figure, mimicking the twisted corpse of Skinny Monkey.

It twitched and glitched like a corrupted computer image. Something squirmed across its surface, possibly black ants, possibly something else.

Yet no one but him and Bai Shuangying seemed to notice. To everyone else, it looked like a normal tree.

Fang Xiu pretended to investigate and slowly moved closer. He realized what the wriggling “something” was…

Black text.

Though jumbled together, the handwriting was neat. It was hard to tell whether it was printed or written.

[In the dim firelight, ■■’s face quickly went pale.]

[He was dead.]

[His corpse remained in a twisted pose beside ■■.]

[From start to finish, no one but Fang Xiu noticed. Everyone else acted as if nothing were wrong.]

Fang Xiu narrowed his eyes and was about to read more when Grandpa Dao’s voice suddenly came from right behind him, his breath brushed Fang Xiu’s skin.

“Young man, is there something wrong with this tree?” he asked with a cheerful smile.

“Nothing,” Fang Xiu answered smoothly with a flawless expression. “I’ve never seen this kind of tree before. Do you recognize it?”

“You’re from the city, huh? Makes sense. They don’t have this kind in the city.”

Grandpa Dao backed off two steps. “This was… what was it called again… ah, I’m getting old…”

“I’ve finished checking here. Nothing to report. Let’s head to the shrine,” Dou Dou said, sniffling.

She’d just lost two teammates. Her mood was clearly low, her eyes shimmering with tears.

It wasn’t even dark yet. They’d found the shrine earlier than during the first ritual. That was fine with Fang Xiu. He didn’t need to find an excuse to slip away.

As for the strange tree, he could return to it later…

Fang Xiu looked back at the Skinny Monkey Tree and froze.

[Fang Xiu looked back at the Skinny Monkey Tree and froze.]

[The trembling text had vanished, as if it had never existed. The tree was no longer a distorted shadow, but a real, regular tree.]

[He didn’t know the species, but he knew it was a tree.]

[It was a tree. Trees don’t talk. Trees have no heartbeat. It was a tree trees don’t talk trees have no heartbeat this is a wood and an inch—]

It was a tree.

Fang Xiu reached out his hand in disbelief and touched the bark. It looked like something out of a children’s coloring book. Dark brown trunk, fresh green leaves, like thousands of blank, unseeing eyes.

Apart from not knowing its species, it was a perfectly normal tree.

He could no longer find a single word on it.

Shocked, Fang Xiu turned to look at Bai Shuangying. He was kneading the disciple’s soul in his hand, brow tightly furrowed, face unusually serious.

He stared at the new tree like he wanted to crush the soul into a ball.

So it hadn’t been a hallucination. Fang Xiu quickly calmed down.

The lines he’d seen had slightly preceded real events, as if they were dictating what happened. If it weren’t called the Immortal Encounter E, they might as well call it the Ma Liang E*.

*Clarity: He’s referring to Ma Liang’s magic brush which basically has the power to bring things drawn/written come to reality.

“What was that just now? Was it the Immortal Encounter E’s power? Or an effect of the Great God of Calamity?”

As they left the courtyard, Fang Xiu walked at the rear and asked quietly.

“It resembles the influence of the Great God of Calamity,” Bai Shuangying said, not looking at him but at the courtyard behind. “But… something’s wrong with it.”

Seeing Bai Shuangying unable to explain it like he usually could, Fang Xiu patted his ghost’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much. The fact that we noticed anything already shows how capable you are.”

Bai Shuangying ground his teeth slightly and gave a reluctant grunt.

He could make people think the tree was real, but much too lazy to play such tricks. Moreover, this wasn’t just karma pollution, but karma rewriting reality.

Why had a power from his free era appeared here?

What exactly was this “Immortal Encounter E”?

……

Before sunset, the Disaster Resolvers found the village shrine.

It looked the same, small and dusty, but the door wasn’t locked.

The sign above the door read “■■ Shrine”, written right to left. The doors were wide open.

But at the center wasn’t the god statue from Fang Xiu’s memory.

The wood carving of the Weishan God had been replaced by the white porcelain statue from the Temple of All E’s, which was the same size and material, and even faceless. On either side of the statue, the golden couplets had completely changed.

[Human desires run rampant; joy and sorrow pass in an instant.]

[Heaven’s laws endure; even unfeeling plants last ten thousand years.]

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