Chapter 24

"Give me a moment, okay?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked up and smiled at Feng Yushu: "I need to be alone to think carefully about what happened just now, and what we should do next?"

"I'll listen to you..." Feng Yushu walked out of the ancestral hall with half-belief, gathered her skirt, and sat on the threshold of the main gate, occasionally looking back worriedly at Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, who was leaning against the pillar and wondering what he was thinking.

Not long after, a buzzing vibration suddenly came from her thigh. It was the phone ringing, but not a call, but a text message.

Feng Yushu unlocked the screen and saw that the sender was: Zhang Yangxu.

"Eh?"

At the same time in the ancestral hall, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe sat in front of the Serpent God and re-sorted out everything he had done this morning: The logic of Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe stealing the Serpent God's offerings was actually very simple, and it could be summarized in one sentence: 【When someone mistakes me for the Serpent God, I really am.】

This is a rule, a rule that even God must obey.

When the traces left by Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe when stealing the Serpent God's offerings were discovered, as long as even one villager had the thought that "this was eaten by the Serpent God," this rule would be triggered, and he would steal a part of the Serpent God's "identity" based on the Serpent God believer's wrong cognition as a medium.

And judging from the reaction on the Serpent God's body, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe knew that he had succeeded.

"At least one person mistook me for the Serpent God. As time goes by, more traces of offerings being eaten are discovered, and it is possible for such people to continue to increase."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe quickly determined his current state: "Now I have at least stolen the identity of the Serpent God in the cognition of one believer. Combining this point, the hallucination I saw when I suddenly went black just now might be an extra item brought by obtaining the Serpent God's identity."

So the hallucination just now, the woman without facial features, and the song she hummed... were they all the Serpent God's memories?

Is that so? Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe couldn't be sure, everything could only be left to time to prove: "Next, let's see if more people will mistake me for the Serpent God, allowing me to steal more of the Serpent God's identity."

The success of the attempt didn't bring Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe much surprise, because figuring out this rule and successfully stealing the Serpent God's identity was not the end of this eerie event.

On the contrary, this was just the first step in Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's attempt to crack the operating rules of this world.

"With the Serpent God's identity, I can slightly let go of my hands and feet to do some things."

After clarifying the status quo, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe stood up straight and walked out of the ancestral hall. He still didn't understand what the hallucination represented, and he had no way of knowing what the resentful tune meant, but this didn't prevent him from clearly knowing what he was going to do.

Just as he walked out of the ancestral hall, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe saw Feng Yushu sitting on the threshold, holding her phone and in a daze.

"What are you looking at?"

"Ah! Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe... no, nothing." Feng Yushu shook her head repeatedly, stuffed her phone into her pocket, stood up, and said: "I was just thinking, can we really solve the puzzle and leave He Family Village like this?"

"I'm not sure, but do you have any other better way besides trusting me?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe asked back.

"That's true," Feng Yushu shook her head, casting aside her messy thoughts. She hesitated for a long time before taking out the phone she had just stuffed into her pocket, unlocking the screen, and handing it to Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe: "Here for you."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe took the phone and saw that it displayed a chat interface. The other party was: Zhang Yangxu.

"Zhang Yangxu sent me a text message just now," Feng Yushu said: "Look for yourself."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe gave a faint "um" and sat on the threshold of the ancestral hall with Feng Yushu. The two read the chat content between Zhang Yangxu and Feng Yushu together:

Zhang Yangxu: 【Ye Miaozhu is dead.】

【She ran to the He family mansion alone and was killed by the ghost.】

【If Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe hadn't deliberately provoked her emotions, Ye Miaozhu wouldn't have been alone and wouldn't have died.】

【Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe did it on purpose.】

【He might have already figured out some special rules in He Family Village. He deliberately provoked Ye Miaozhu just to make her alone and be targeted by the ghost.】

【This person is a lunatic, he doesn't care about other people's lives at all.】

【Are you sure you still want to stay by his side?】 【Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe could use Ye Miaozhu's life to test his guess before, and he can use your life to achieve his other goals in the future.】

【He doesn't care about other people's lives at all, you are not special in his eyes.】

Feng Yushu: 【I know what you mean, but I don't know who you are.】

【Are you Zhang Yangxu? Or a ghost?】

Zhang Yangxu: 【You can ask me some questions to test if I am really Zhang Yangxu.】

【Or we can meet.】

Feng Yushu: 【I don't know you, I don't know what questions to ask to distinguish you from a ghost.】

【Also, why would you send me a text message?】

Zhang Yangxu: 【What do you mean by this?】

Feng Yushu: 【I said, why would you choose to send me a text message instead of calling?】

【It would obviously be better to say such things on the phone.】

【You know Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe is next to me, so you don't dare to call, right?】

Zhang Yangxu: 【Isn't this obvious? You have always been with him.】

Feng Yushu: 【No, if that were really the case, you wouldn't even send a text message.】

The chat between the two ended here. "Zhang Yangxu" didn't send any more text messages.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe finished reading the chat history and returned the phone to Feng Yushu: "How did you know he was a ghost?"

Feng Yushu took the phone and said: "Because you are a very sharp and sensitive person. Zhang Yangxu knows you very well, he knows what kind of person you are."

"During the time I stayed by your side, he didn't dare to act rashly because you were like a tiger guarding its prey, entrenched by my side. Any disturbance would be discovered. In this situation, let alone calling, even sending a text message would be detected."

"But that short period just now was different."

Feng Yushu continued: "Just now, your state was not good. Although the two of us were still not separated, I was sitting outside the door, while you were thinking alone inside the ancestral hall. In this situation, a call would be heard by you, but a text message would not."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe thought for a moment and smiled: "Auntie has become smart."

"I learned it from you," Feng Yushu whispered.

"But why do you compare yourself to prey? You don't trust me that much?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe asked.

Feng Yushu nodded: "Actually, the ghost was right. You don't care about anyone's life or death. You are both cold and ruthless, even more terrifying than a ghost."

"Then why are you still following me?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe laughed.

"Because this is my only way to survive," Feng Yushu raised her head, her slightly scattered eyes staring into Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's eyes: "If you are a dangerous tiger, then that ghost is a deadly poisonous snake hiding in the darkness, waiting to devour people. It longs to devour me and you."

A wonderful metaphor...

"But you won't hand your prey over to it, right?" Feng Yushu asked.

"Who knows?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't answer her question.

The only thing that can be determined now is that Zhang Yangxu is very likely already dead.

(End of chapter)