Chapter 20

At 07:15 in the morning, while exposing the identity of "Zhang Yangxu," Ye Miaozhu witnessed the eerie scene that Zhang Yangxu had once witnessed.

【After I finally determined from the bottom of my heart through various tests and inquiries that the "ghost" in front of me was absolutely not Xie Sining, it disappeared. Like a wisp of smoke, it completely vanished. That's how I got rid of it.】

That was how Zhang Yangxu had gotten rid of the ghost disguised as Xie Sining at the time.

Now, Ye Miaozhu also saw it. The body of the "Zhang Yangxu" in front of her quickly became illusory, like a sandcastle washed away by water collapsing rapidly, and like a wisp of smoke, it disappeared.

It just disappeared like that.

"Is it over..." Ye Miaozhu let out a sigh of relief.

After a brief moment of calming her mood, she tried to turn on her flashlight to briefly explore this warehouse. Just as Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said, the rules might be silent, but they wouldn't lie. Although those slanderous words that tempted one to lower their guard were dangerous, every sentence was true.

Ye Miaozhu walked past the shelves displaying the dowry items with her phone and walked quickly to the dressing table to check the mirror embedded in it, finding nothing unusual.

But when the light from her hand inadvertently shone toward the back of the dressing table, illuminating the gap between the mirror and the wall, a male corpse in a suit and leather shoes appeared before her eyes.

"Zhang Yangxu?" Ye Miaozhu's expression froze, and she immediately understood what had happened here: "The ghost killed Zhang Yangxu, impersonated his identity, and wanted to lure me to achieve some purpose of its own..."

But what was the ghost's purpose? Filled with doubt, Ye Miaozhu squatted down, preparing to perform a simple autopsy on Zhang Yangxu's corpse, but suddenly, the pupils of her eyes dilated, and her soft body collapsed powerlessly to the ground.

She was dead.

At 06:48 in the morning, He Family Village, bathed in sunlight, became lively.

On the streets, one could see some small vendors selling vegetables or side products. The noisy human voices added a bustling popularity to the village. At the village entrance, farmers carrying hoes had just returned from the fields. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the roofs to the sky; that was the villagers making breakfast at home.

The people of He Family Village all believed in the Serpent God. Every household worshipped the Serpent God's portrait. Before every meal, they had to scoop out a small portion into a small bowl and present it in front of the Serpent God's portrait at home before anyone dared to use their chopsticks.

"Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, what exactly are you trying to do?" In a small alley along the street, Feng Yushu stood cautiously by the wall, her nervous gaze frequently looking toward the alley entrance: "Didn't you say you wanted to solve two puzzles? What are you doing now..."

"Solving the puzzle," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe leaned against the wall and replied casually.

But you are clearly just standing there in a daze right now...

Feng Yushu's doubts grew even stronger, but she didn't dare to ask more. Since she had chosen to trust him, there was only one path to follow to the end.

She turned her head to look at a window not far away. The fragrance of candle fire drifted out from inside. A village woman walked out hurriedly from the kitchen next to it, carrying a white porcelain bowl. In the bowl was neatly arranged rice, green beans, and meat slices. In the rice was also embedded a golden-brown fried dumpling and a pickled plum.

The village woman carried the porcelain bowl into the independent small room from which the smell of candle fire drifted. A moment later, she walked out, only the bowl was no longer in her hand.

Watching the village woman leave the small room and return to the kitchen, incidentally tripping on the way, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe finally stood up straight and walked directly toward that small room.

"What are you going to do?" Feng Yushu asked hurriedly.

"Solving the puzzle," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said lightly: "Wait for me here."

Feng Yushu didn't dare to say more, so she had to stay where she was, watching Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walk forward leisurely, strolling into the small room from which the smell of candle fire drifted.

Just as he entered the door, a pair of lifeless, hollow eyes came into Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's view.

It was a portrait about 1 meter long and wide, pasted on the wall directly facing the door. The content of the portrait was a green jade giant snake with a pair of curved long horns growing on its head, beautiful scales layered one after another, and a soaring posture as if it were a celestial being. But beneath the bright and beautiful exterior was a filthy and rotten essence.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walked closer and saw that the scales on the Serpent God's body in the portrait were piled with black mold at the roots, and milky-white fungal hyphae grew out from the gaps in the scales. The two eyes were hollow and lifeless, with the left eye already completely filled with mold, and the eye socket of the right eye also entangled with fungal filth.

"It's actually the same as the Serpent God in the ancestral hall." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe recalled the Serpent God wood carving in the ancestral hall, which was also in such a dilapidated state, covered in rot and fungal spots in its eyes.

The Serpent God wood carving in the ancestral hall and the Serpent God portrait in the villagers' homes were both in a state of rot and decay. Was there any connection between them? Unable to figure out the connection for the time being, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't waste any more time. He strolled to the small round table below the portrait, on which was placed a white porcelain bowl. Simple meals were neatly arranged inside. This was the offering the village woman had just presented to the Serpent God portrait.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe raised his head and met eyes with the soaring Serpent God in the portrait. He reached out, plucked the pickled plum from the rice bowl, and threw it into his mouth.

"So sour..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe swallowed the plum whole, then used the chopsticks next to it to stir the originally flat rice to make it looser, before turning to leave the room and walking outside.

Just as he walked out the door, Feng Yushu, who was waiting outside, hurried up to him, her expression a bit anxious.

"What's wrong with you?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe asked.

"N-nothing," Feng Yushu shook her head repeatedly.

Alright, so she was just afraid of being alone... Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe took out his phone to check the time and said: "Let's go, to the next house."

Feng Yushu didn't ask him what he was doing again, just followed quietly behind Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, keeping watch for him outside while he went into each household to steal the Serpent God's offerings.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's movements were very clean. He only tasted a little of each bowl of offerings. In less than 20 minutes, he had visited seven or eight houses.

Plums, fish balls, siu mai, and other small things didn't fill one up. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe stealing the Serpent God's offerings wasn't because he was hungry. He had his own reasons and intended to risk his life to verify his guess.

After eating at all the houses near the ancestral hall, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe wandered around and returned to the ancestral hall.

Standing outside the ancestral hall door, one could see the couplet pasted on both sides of the main gate at a glance, white paper with red characters, very eye-catching:

【The pearl and jade on the Ba snake table testify to the ancestors together】

【Descendants add incense together in front of the lotus hall】

【A long-standing source】

Walking closer, the lotus platform where the Serpent God statue was located was also placed with many offerings: rice cakes, rice fruits, roasted chicken, rice, fruit plates... and a jar of wine.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe raised his head and met eyes with the Serpent God wood carving, whose one eye was covered by mold.

He took a deep breath, strolled forward, picked up a red rice fruit, and stuffed it into his mouth. Incidentally, he also tore open the seal of the wine jar next to it, drank exactly one mouthful, and then began to eat the other offerings, eating only a small bite of each.

Feng Yushu, who remained outside the door, covered her mouth with both hands, looking at this shocking scene in disbelief: "N-Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe! What on earth are you doing?!"

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe tore off a small piece of chicken skin from the roasted chicken, threw it into his mouth, and said lightly: "I said it, solving the puzzle."

"But..." Feng Yushu still couldn't understand this mind-boggling scene, and Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't intend to explain much more to her.

He took out his phone and checked the time. It was 07:17 in the morning, still a long way from lunch.

Just as Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe reached for the fruit plate in front of the Serpent God, suddenly, a sense of inexplicable crisis flashed through his mind. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe turned his head subconsciously, only to see a woman with disheveled long hair and a listless expression standing in front of him.

"Ye Miaozhu...?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately reacted: "No, it's a ghost."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe saw that "Ye Miaozhu" appear out of thin air in front of him without any warning, her pretty face showing a charming and bright smile at him.

She walked to the lotus platform without saying a word, reached out, and flipped open the almanac.

The next moment, Ye Miaozhu was dead.

"So it is..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe closed his eyes and whispered to himself.

(End of chapter)