The tires crushed the paper money on the ground as the villagers leading the way gathered gradually at the back of the vehicle, expressionlessly watching them leave.
Uncle Jiu looked through the rearview mirror at the group of people in the car, their faces deathly pale. Just as a gleeful look appeared in his eyes, he heard a voice sigh, “The villagers are really warm-hearted. They even came this far to see us off.”
Uncle Jiu: “?”
The group of people who were scared out of their wits: “…?”
Li Zhi waved to the villagers behind them with genuine sincerity, “Thank you. This is far enough. We’ll definitely invite the whole village to the feast later.”
The NPC’s eerie smile seemed to freeze for a moment.
Lian Qinglin couldn’t help but let out a goose-like honk of laughter.
Uncle Jiu shot them a vicious glare but said nothing, slamming on the accelerator. The hearse skidded a few times before finally coming to a stop in front of a courtyard wall.
White mourning banners were already hanging at the entrance of the courtyard, and two thin, expressionless men stood at the door, dressed in mourning clothes, staring maliciously at the people in the car.
Uncle Jiu turned off the engine, glanced back, and said, “It’s the custom in Guanping Village that children must personally conduct their parents’ funeral. Not a single step can be entrusted to someone else. The village chief’s body is still lying in the bed, untouched.”
He smiled, “He’s been waiting for you for a long time.”
With a loud bang, the car door opened, and a gust of wind carrying the scent of incense and ash blew in, making everyone shiver. When Chi Yi stood up, her legs went weak, and she almost fell. Li Zhi quickly helped her up, “Careful.”
Chi Yi’s eyes reddened again, her voice trembling, “I’m so scared of dead bodies.”
Xu Shu comforted her from behind, “Dead bodies aren’t scary; the scary ones are the ones that move.”
Chi Yi: … Thank you, now I’m even more terrified.
One by one, everyone got out of the car. The two men dressed in mourning clothes walked up to the car and carried the paper figures down. Uncle Jiu greeted them, “Has the yin-yang master arrived?”
The two men nodded, “He has, he’s in the main hall.”
The players followed behind the NPCs, and Lian Qinglin whispered, “What’s a yin-yang master? Someone who’s really good at being sarcastic?”
Xu Shu gave him a look as if he were an idiot.
Li Zhi, not wanting friends from a parallel world to think everyone in this world was a fool, explained, “In some places, the master who performs feng shui and divination is called a yin-yang master. Funerals require a yin-yang master to conduct the rituals.”
As they spoke, the group entered the courtyard, where a simple mourning hall had already been set up. Wreaths surrounded a long table, and the eight paper figures from the hearse stood four on each side of the table, making the black-and-white memorial photo on the table appear even more sinister.
The elderly man in the photo was dressed in an old-fashioned Zhongshan suit, his graying hair meticulously combed, but his drooping skin caused his mouth to sag, his eye bags hung heavily, and the whites of his eyes were prominent, giving him a harsh and malevolent appearance. At this moment, he seemed to glare sullenly at the unfilial children, as if resenting their delayed arrival.
No one dared to look at the photo for long, and under Uncle Jiu’s urging, they hurried into the hall where the body was laid.
The moment they entered the house, the temperature dropped several degrees. The damp chill made the entire floor sticky with moisture, emitting a faint moldy smell. The hall was large and square, but the old hanging light overhead couldn’t fully illuminate the room, leaving the corners shrouded in darkness.
In the center of the room was a peeling redwood bed, and lying on it was their deceased father, the village chief of Guanping Village. He was covered with a white sheet, only his head exposed. Under the dim yellow light, his peaceful, ashen face revealed large patches of livor mortis.
Someone in the group retched a couple of times.
Xu Shu helpfully reminded them, “Last time, a player threw up in front of the corpse, and it was deemed disrespectful to the dead. They triggered a death condition and were choked to death on their own vomit.”
A sudden gulp echoed in the room as someone swallowed their fear.
Damn! That’s even more disgusting!
Everyone desperately clamped their hands over their mouths in horror.
Uncle Jiu stood by the bed, relishing their fear. The flickering light cast a strange, sinister smile on his face. “Welcome home. First, kneel and pay your respects to your father.”
The most timid of the group, Gao Shijun, resisted with a look of dread. He whispered, “What happens if we don’t kneel?”
Xu Shu glanced at him coldly, “You’ll die.”
Without further explanation, he stepped up to the bed and knelt. The others, trembling, followed suit, doing their best not to look at the peaceful face of the corpse, and lined up in a row. Li Zhi, resting her forehead in her palm, thought back to the time when her father passed away years ago, and she and her siblings knelt at the funeral home.
If this system could bring spirits back to life, could she one day see her father again?
Lost in thought, she straightened up, only to suddenly lock eyes with a pair of cloudy, lifeless ones.
The dead village chief had somehow opened his eyes. Li Zhi could even sense that the eyeballs slowly rolled, fixing on them at a bizarre angle, staring straight at the group.
This terrifying sight caused the players to scream in panic. Gao Shijun, completely breaking down, tried to crawl out of the room but was too weak from fear, collapsing on the floor with no strength to move.
“Silence!” Uncle Jiu scolded, visibly annoyed. “What’s the big deal? A father takes a look at his children when they return. What are you screaming about?”
He spoke of the dead opening their eyes as casually as one might talk about having dinner.
Reaching out, he gently closed the village chief’s eyes and sighed with satisfaction. “Now that he’s seen you, he can finally rest in peace.”
Afterward, he glanced around at the players and ominously warned, “The rest is up to you. The village chief raised you with great hardship. You must make sure his funeral is handled properly and that he’s satisfied with it. Do you understand?”
With that, he left, leaving only the eight players and a corpse in the room.
The old man on the bed resumed his peaceful appearance, as if the earlier unsettling scene had only been to glance at them. Someone tearfully asked, “What does it mean to satisfy him? What happens if he’s not satisfied?”
No one could answer that question, or rather, everyone already knew the answer.
Gao Shijun, his face streaked with snot and tears, sobbed, “It’s impossible! There’s no way we can make a dead person happy! We’re all going to die here!”
Annoyed by his outburst, Xu Shu snapped, “A grown man, and yet you’re more scared than the women! If you’re so afraid of dying, then get out! Don’t drag the rest of us down!”
Gao Shijun glared at him with resentment before suddenly lunging at Xu Shu, screaming, “This is all your fault, isn’t it?! This system, this fake show—it’s all your alien tricks! I’ll kill you! If I kill you, this will all be over! I’ll kill you!”
Despite his large frame and previously timid demeanor, no one expected him to suddenly go berserk. Xu Shu narrowly dodged his attack, but Gao Shijun, like a cornered animal, unleashed a shockingly vicious assault. Xu Shu, caught off guard, was knocked down and shouted angrily, “Are you crazy?! Let go!”
Gao Shijun ignored him, his hands closing around Xu Shu’s neck. The others were too stunned to react. Zhang Xiao hesitated, wanting to intervene but afraid of being hurt. In the corner of his eye, he saw a quick, agile figure approach, delivering a sharp, precise karate chop that knocked Gao Shijun unconscious.
Xu Shu, finally freed, sat up, clutching his neck and coughing violently.
Li Zhi shook out her hand and muttered, “He’s got a tough neck.”
Xu Shu’s face was ashen. Despite being a veteran, he had almost been taken down by a rookie. If it weren’t for Li Zhi, he might have been done for today.
It wasn’t uncommon for unstable newcomers to cause team wipes by losing their minds under pressure. No wonder his companions had repeatedly warned him before coming—guiding rookies wasn’t an easy job. But he desperately needed the points…
Xu Shu realized he had been affected. He was not one of those emotionally stable experts, and now his initial confidence was shaken. In a hoarse voice, he thanked Li Zhi.
Li Zhi waved it off, signaling that it was no big deal. “Move him aside. He’ll probably be out until night.” She glanced around the room. “Didn’t they say the yin-yang master was here in the main hall? Where is he?”
Only then did the group suddenly remember—there was a yin-yang master after all! They quickly started looking around for him.
Xu Shu noticed that, at some point, the team’s backbone had shifted from him to Li Zhi.
The yin-yang master, who had been forgotten by the players after entering the room, was finally mentioned and made his entrance. The hanging light above swayed slightly, casting moving shadows. From the darkness in the corner of the room, a figure slowly emerged.
He was dressed in a long, blue robe, holding a compass in his hand. His appearance was refined and handsome, like a scholarly teacher from an old movie, completely out of place with the eerie atmosphere of Guanping Village.
He stood tall and graceful, looking like a romantic drama male lead who had wandered onto the wrong set. His voice, flat and emotionless, sounded: “The children have entered the room. It’s time to prepare the body for burial.”
TL: Some of these chapters will be cut since they have more than 3,000 words