Chapter 78: Deceiving Heaven, Altering Fate (3)

"You take a look at the writing on this paper—does it match your father's handwriting?"

Li Cheng handed the paper to Xiao Feng, who examined it carefully before firmly shaking his head, "My father's handwriting isn't like this."

"Alright, if it were, it'd be simple." Li Cheng sighed, "Keep looking around the room for other papers—just a birth chart alone couldn't have shaken Zhao Xinglang so badly; there must be more content."

You Anjian flipped through the books on the bookshelf, still gripping his sword, "This old paper and its writing clearly aren't from the past two years. Could it be the wandering fangshi Old Feng mentioned from ten years ago?"

Bai Zhi shook her head and pulled open a drawer of the bookcase, "Xiao Feng was only about twelve ten years ago, right? Back then there were no killing grounds—what kind of wandering mystic could be so accurate in predicting marriage destinies, even foreseeing what birth chart his future wife would have?"

"Maybe it really was accurate? I saw an ad for one just a while back."

Like Zhao Xinglang trapped in a death loop, Wang Beipo was also replaying his final moments, sprinting again across the second floor.

The living memory seemed to record only the person's own movements, not the effects they caused. In everyone's sight, Wang Beipo passed directly through the wall.

Li Cheng stepped forward, pressing his hand against the wall and feeling it—sure enough, he detected subtle variations in depth. He pushed hard along the edge of the depression, and a hidden door opened.

Wang Beipo sprinted relentlessly, as if perfectly aware of his destination, heading straight for the center of the corridor and crashing into the wall.

You Anjian's eye twitched again, "Where's a mouse on TV? And why is it on the top bunk? This is weird."

For such a skilled person to die so inexplicably proves the force that killed him was no ordinary curse from a common human.

The second time was forced open from the inside. The timing was recent—likely today.

Li Cheng suddenly shifted his voice, speaking in a rich, resonant tone: "Destiny is ordained by heaven; happiness is yours to claim. Want to know your fate with your beloved? Send your name and your partner's name, like Guo Jing and Huang Rong, to XXXXX to find out."

"Follow him."

The others trailed behind, annoyed by the two ordinary people's slow pace; You Anjian simply hoisted Xiao Feng onto his shoulder, while Bai Zhi picked up Xiao Feng's wife and child.

Li Cheng analyzed: "Considering the burn marks on the paper's edge are fresh, it wasn't Zhao Xinglang who burned it—I lean toward the second explanation."

The story's outline was becoming clear: someone had been deceived by this so-called "Supreme Cave Source Scripture for Altering Fate," attempting to resurrect the deceased Feng family matriarch, and ultimately brought about a tragedy.

"Resurrect a corpse that's been dead for years."

Moreover, from Zhao Xinglang's final phone call, it's clear he knew that person would harm Xiao Feng's family—especially little Feng.

He stepped out of the study and walked toward the foyer; the hurried "tap-tap-tap" of footsteps echoed again from the second floor.

Tap-tap-tap.

You Anjian's eye twitched, unable to resist complaining, "This joke is ancient—it's exposing your age!"

The first time was opened from the outside, then resealed with the original old nails. The timing was one or two months ago.

He turned to Xiao Feng, "Do you know about this secret room?"

Li Cheng crouched low, dipped his fingers into the skull's interior, and felt the blood's temperature, "Still warm—the time of death is extremely recent. Almost identical to Zhao Xinglang's."

The paper was the same material as the one in the study; the front bore the title "Supreme Cave Source Scripture for Altering Fate," and the back read: "Should any mortal suffer unjust calamity and misfortune, they may seek among relatives or friends one whose fortune is abundant and destiny exceedingly rare, ****, thereby deceive heaven and alter fate, extend life, eliminate all illnesses, even refine the body under the Yin, shed the corpse, and transform the physical form."

Zhao Xinglang must have seen the partially burned paper inside the wooden coffin, understood the truth, rushed to confront that person, and met his own death as a result.

"This is my mother's coffin," Xiao Feng said hoarsely, recalling the funeral scene, "She wasn't cremated."

Li Cheng said this, then pulled a timed explosive from his backpack and dropped it into the coffin.

A middle section of text had been deliberately covered over with ink.

Normally, modern cremation rules require complete incineration, but wealthy families like the Fongs always find ways.

"Hey, is that right?" Li Cheng nodded, "Then what I saw on TV must've been: 'Online connection links hearts, cherish this bond—click the mouse to follow the link, check your destiny sign, true love might be right above you.'"

In other words, your mother rose from her coffin and revived."

The coffin was half-open, its lid nailed shut with rusted iron nails. Based on the rust, it had been sealed for years.

"Are we skipping matchmaking and jumping straight to flirting after repeated failures?" You Anjian felt cold sweat forming on his forehead, "Next thing you know, the neighborhood committee will hang banners warning everyone not to sext strangers online to avoid scams?"

"Open it and see."

So the question is: who is that person? How did they kill Zhao Xinglang? What content is missing from the paper? And where was the paper burned?

That is, the person burned the paper to destroy evidence—but didn't burn it completely, and Zhao Xinglang saw it, triggering the chain of events that followed.

"Hard to say. Maybe he used some kind of detection skill after being attacked. Or maybe, while wandering around, he deduced the villa contained a secret room from measurements—the room dimensions, wall thickness, corridor length—he spent half a day longer here than we did."

Or rather, a hidden door disguised as a wall.

Li Cheng patted the coffin lid with a touch of solemnity, "From the twisted angles of the nails, the direction of splintered wood, the color of the holes on the coffin's side panel, and the rust stains around the holes—the coffin was opened twice."

Li Cheng pushed open the coffin lid, picked up chopsticks, and probed inside for its contents.

"Your mother was in good health—she even opened the coffin herself."

In the living memory, Wang Beipo's corpse rapidly melted and liquefied, leaving only a bloody, unrecognizable skull that merged with the blood-soaked bones in the corner.

Inside was a modest space; ropes strung with masks, ancient coins, brushes, and paper fans lined the walls. In the corner lay a pile of blood-soaked bones, and on the floor sat a cluster of long-extinguished candles. In the center of the candles rested a redwood coffin nearly two meters long, half-open.

Li Cheng poked through the ashes with his chopsticks and extracted the only sheet of yellow paper not fully consumed by fire.

In the living memory, Wang Beipo's expression was tense; he flipped his palm and summoned a long-handled great axe from thin air, striking the coffin with all his might.

The fabric fragments were unmistakably from a woman's funeral attire—aged for years, soaked through with corpse oil. The bronze basin, however, was relatively new, its bottom filled with ash, its rim marked by fire scorching.

According to player forum recommendations for stat allocation, Wang Beipo's level was at least Lv8, possibly Lv9.

Heavy, sticky footsteps echoed down the corridor—clearly different from the footsteps in Wang Beipo's living memory.

"Possibility one: Zhao Xinglang saw the full clue elsewhere, got too excited, and brought only one sheet. Possibility two: he brought the complete clue, but the person he spoke to took the other papers away."

Li Cheng pushed off the railing, flipped over, and leapt onto the second floor, chasing after Wang Beipo.

Li Cheng passed over the corpse and looked toward the coffin in the center of the candle pile.

"If you want to know the answer, there's only one way."

Xiao Feng shook his head in shock and fear, "I don't know. Since my mother died, I've only come back once a year—for Chinese New Year."

Bai Zhi held the door open so the hidden entrance wouldn't fully close, covering her nose and mouth, puzzled: "How did Wang Beipo find this place?"

The general meaning: if anyone suffers calamity and misfortune, they may choose from among relatives or friends someone with a suitable destiny, through some method, alter fate, eliminate illness, extend life, even transcend death.

Inside the coffin were fabric fragments and a bronze basin, along with dried stains left by the corpse's advanced decay. No bones were visible.

"Still searching for fate? Outdated—why not download Momo, Tantan, Soul, Local Night Chat, Nearby Friends now?"

This axe is a rare-quality weapon. Its special effect consumes stamina to unleash a powerful slash. It requires a Strength attribute of 10 or higher.

If I'm not mistaken, following him should lead us to a clue."

Just as the blade was about to land, Wang Beipo himself shuddered—something pierced through his chest from behind, crushed his heart, and made him stiffly pitch forward and crash to the ground.

Li Cheng glanced at the axe covered by Wang Beipo's dissolved corpse. In the Killing Game, equipment and items would have their binding state severed upon the holder's death; any player could see its attributes and could store it in their inventory.

You Anjian came back to his senses. "That doesn't make sense. The soul scattered ages ago—even a perfect-quality large healing potion couldn't pull this off. Unless it's the Wishing Chamber in the Hidden Realm, or the River of Death. Whether those two places even exist is another matter. Could it be necromancy?"

The image ended here, and the next cycle began.

On first hearing, this line sounded a bit like a curse, yet it fit the moment quite well. Xiao Feng stood speechless, unable to imagine why any of this had happened.

"Hahaha, that's impossible—everyone's installed the anti-fraud app now." Li Cheng stopped searching and pushed up his glasses. "Hmm, so there really aren't any remaining pages in the study?"

All three players realized this at once. You Anjian silently drew his sword and stepped sideways out of the hidden door.

In the corridor, a skinless blood corpse, its tendons exposed all over, was clutching the housekeeper's wide-eyed, unclosed-eyed head and walking slowly toward them.

(End of this chapter)

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