Chapter 301: The Cause of the Big Yellow Dog

Dawn.

Wu Xian was awakened by the shrill chirping of cicadas.

After Yang Bin left last night, Jian Lingyu tore strips from her skirt to briefly bandage Jiang Chun's injuries, and then their group began taking turns resting.

He slept soundly, so his energy and spirit were fully replenished.

"Sigh, not woken by birdsong—somehow lacks charm."

Since the Great Catastrophe forty years ago, birds in this world had mysteriously dwindled, yet strangely, insect populations hadn't increased much—they remained balanced.

Wu Xian pushed open the door.

Morning light made him squint, but he still gazed eagerly toward the center of the village.

There, just as yesterday, stood a row of tables.

"Two, four, six… eleven tables. No one died over there last night?"

As Wu Xian puzzled over this, the main house door opened, and Wei Hengbo and Li Juxian carried out Ran Qiuhua's corpse.

"Hmm, so someone did die."

Last night, they hadn't fought Yang Bin and had obtained six pieces of information, so Wu Xian had guessed the five in the main house might be attacked by Aunt Miao—now it seemed his guess was right.

"Wait."

"Ran Qiuhua is dead—then why are there eleven tables in the yard?"

Suspicion rose in Wu Xian's mind. He looked carefully at each statue: every table held a statue, an incense burner, and incense sticks; ten tables bore engraved names of survivors, but one table was smooth and new, with no trace of any name.

Wu Xian tried to pick up the incense stick on that table, but found he couldn't lift it—meaning the table had an owner.

After Ran Qiuhua's corpse was carried out,

the next to emerge from the main house was Gao Fushuai, cradling the corpse of the big yellow dog.

Perhaps out of respect, he hadn't dragged the dog's body roughly, leaving him smeared with dog blood.

Wu Xian frowned again.

Did the big yellow dog die too?

That shouldn't be…

While Wu Xian pondered, others gradually emerged from the thatched huts.

Jiang Chun collapsed upon seeing Ran Qiuhua's corpse, sobbing uncontrollably as she rushed forward, tears streaming, gasping for breath several times.

It wasn't because she and Ran Qiuhua were close.

Though they shared an apartment, worked at the same company, and often fed the dog together, after the brutality of the Blessed Land, she wouldn't weep like this over Ran Qiuhua alone.

She saw in Ran Qiuhua's corpse her own future fate…

…

The ten survivors.

Decided not to worship yet, but to stay together and exchange experiences from last night.

After brief communication, both sides envied the other.

The main house group envied Wu Xian's group for encountering the amiable Yang Bin, who gave them information without fighting.

Wu Xian's group, in turn, envied them for having monsters to fight and earning the right to worship.

After locking the door last night, the Wei siblings discovered Aunt Miao's corpse had dissolved, leaving three Sui Incense sticks; the moonlight monster's corpse had dissolved into two Sui Incense sticks and one white flower; five statues had silently appeared in the room's corner.

Compared to those pieces of information,

the chance to worship was the real prize.

In the end, Li Juxian and Wei Hengbo each gained two worship opportunities; Wei Qinglan gained one worship opportunity and received the white flower.

Gao Fushuai voluntarily forfeited his reward—he had contributed nothing but chaos, and had no right to take what others had fought for.

Hearing this,

Wu Xian was slightly surprised.

This kid had some self-awareness.

Wen Chao looked at Wei Qinglan: "Could you show me that flower?"

Wei Qinglan handed it over: "You can look, but don't smell it—this flower induces hallucinations; its scent may show terrifying visions."

While Wen Chao and the others examined the flower,

Wu Xian pulled Du E aside and whispered: "You can sense people's yin virtue—check if these four's yin virtue has changed."

"If I could just look directly, I wouldn't need to partner with you."

Du E rolled her eyes: "In the Liu Mansion, I could see yin virtue directly because of the Heavenly Demon Egg—but there's only one such egg, and now I can't monitor it anymore."

"But you told me last night that Wen Chao's yin virtue was low."

Du E thought a moment: "That's a feeling—it takes time spent together to form a vague sense. You can't tell instantly."

Her blessing was called "Yansheng Holy Body."

Similar to Shi Ji's "Innate Impurity Holy Body," this blessing made her more likely to receive curses, misfortunes, and related items.

But using the Yansheng ability on someone with high yin virtue would damage her own yin virtue, so after spending time with someone, she could tell whether casting a malevolent spell on them would backfire on her.

The stronger the backlash, the higher their yin virtue.

The weaker the backlash, the lower their yin virtue.

Du E didn't explain in detail, but Wu Xian understood—this path was temporarily blocked. Still, Du E had picked up on something from his question.

"Did you notice something?"

Wu Xian shook his head: "It's just a hypothesis for now…"

When they returned,

everyone had finished examining Wei Qinglan's flower and was about to go together to worship at the tables—but Wu Xian stopped them.

Wu Xian looked at Wei Hengbo: "Before we formally begin worshiping the gods, I'd like you to describe again in detail the deaths of the big yellow dog and Ran Qiuhua."

Wei Hengbo didn't understand Wu Xian's intent and didn't want to respond, but Wei Qinglan pinched his arm, so he reluctantly repeated it.

"The most unreasonable thing about what happened last night is that the big yellow dog died first!"

Wei Qinglan asked in confusion: "What's the problem? The big yellow dog could warn people, so the ghost naturally chose to kill it first."

Wu Xian countered: "Did the big yellow dog notice Aunt Miao entering the house? After confirming Aunt Miao's presence, did it locate her position?"

Wei Qinglan paused: "Aunt Miao emitted a strange odor—the smell prevented the big yellow dog from warning properly."

Du E's expression cleared.

She finally understood what Wu Xian meant.

Wen Chao and Su Xuan also suddenly snapped to attention; though they hadn't figured it out, they both sensed the contradiction.

As a ghost, Aunt Miao clearly disliked humans even more, and since the big yellow dog couldn't detect her anyway, she should have killed a person first—so for the big yellow dog to be attacked first was extremely unreasonable.

Wu Xian continued: "Since Aunt Miao had no reason to kill the big yellow dog, let's assume the big yellow dog wasn't killed by her—then why did the killer kill the big yellow dog first?"

Du E picked up: "It must be because the big yellow dog's keen senses posed a serious threat to what the killer planned to do next!"

"Then what happened next?"

Su Xuan looked at Ran Qiuhua's corpse: "Next… Ran Qiuhua died!"

(End of Chapter)