Chapter 26: The Vast Sea, the Boundless Sky

“Forgive me for this life of wild, unrestrained love of freedom...”

“I fear one day I’ll fall—oh—no—”

A melodious Cantonese song emanated from Ning Zhe’s body, darkening his expression; under Feng Yu’s curious gaze, he pulled out his phone—the screen, constantly lit, showed the caller ID: Gu Yunqing.

“You can’t even pretend anymore,” Ning Zhe murmured softly: “Calling directly from a dead man’s phone.”

Ning Zhe hung up without hesitation, but it was too late—Feng Yu beside him had already begun to feel “confused.”

Because Ning Zhe’s phone was always on silent, calls only vibrated—no ringtone had ever sounded; the ringtone just heard was not from his phone, but from someone else’s.

Lin Zhiyuan’s.

“Ning Zhe… have you always had two phones?” Feng Yu asked, puzzled; while modern smartphones—except Apple’s—commonly support dual-SIM, very few people still carried two phones.

Under normal circumstances, this would never have drawn her attention—but in Hejia Village, everyone still alive had become hyper-sensitive.

As Ning Zhe opened his mouth to speak, his phone rang again—this time the caller was: Ye Miaozhu.

He hung up without hesitation, but another call came in immediately—this time: Zhang Yangxu.

The empty street was eerily silent, save for the continuous sound of Jacky Cheung’s song, turning Feng Yu’s face pale: “Ghost… ghost, why…?”

Why was the ghost constantly changing identities, endlessly calling Ning Zhe’s phone?

Amid her fear, Feng Yu suddenly realized something: “Wait—how did the ghost get your phone number?”

The ghost had stolen the identities of Xie Sining, Zhang Yangxu, Gu Yunqing, and Ye Miaozhu; knowing Ning Zhe’s number wasn’t surprising—but the phone receiving these calls wasn’t the one Ning Zhe had exchanged numbers with others on. It was another one.

Feng Yu had never seen Ning Zhe pull out this second phone; in other words, Ning Zhe had never revealed its number to anyone.

So how did the ghost know it? Or… was this phone in Ning Zhe’s hand truly his own? Watching the trembling caller ID on the screen, Ning Zhe’s face turned utterly grim. He slowly raised his head, gazing at Feng Yu, standing before him, brimming with confusion.

“The ghost is forcing me to kill you,” Ning Zhe said calmly.

“Huh?!” Feng Yu’s already pale face turned even whiter: “What? Why?!”

“Don’t ask. Don’t dig. I demand you blindly trust me from now on. Stay in this state of ignorance. Don’t try to uncover the truth—or you’ll die,” Ning Zhe’s voice remained calm, betraying no panic: “I will too.”

Feng Yu nodded shakily. Ning Zhe looked at her as if she were already dead.

Ning Zhe seized her wrist, silenced the phone, and pulled her forward with swift strides.

“The ghost is trying to expose me,” Ning Zhe walked fast, his thoughts moving faster.

In less than two minutes, he had understood what had just happened.

—The ghost kept changing identities and repeatedly calling Lin Zhiyuan’s phone to expose Ning Zhe’s lie, to tear apart his disguise. Ning Zhe knew clearly: though he now seemed to hold a slight advantage by stealing part of the Snake God’s identity, the truth was far worse—he was in extreme danger, dancing on the edge of a blade.

Stealing the Snake God’s offerings and usurping its identity seemed simple, but the actual process was complex and extremely fragile.

It involved the rules of the ghost wandering in Hejia Village.

Its rule: 【When someone mistakes a ghost for someone they know, the ghost may steal that person’s identity—and all information tied to it—using the mistaken perception as a medium.】

When Zhang Yangxu mistook the ghost for Xie Sining, the ghost gained the identity of “Xie Sining as known by Zhang Yangxu,” along with all memories Zhang Yangxu held of that identity.

Ning Zhe stole the Snake God’s identity by exploiting this same rule: he made villagers who saw their offerings stolen mistake him for the Snake God, using their mistaken perception as the medium to steal the identity of “the Snake God as known by Villager A.”

But was it really that simple? Could anyone just steal some offerings and pretend to be the Snake God? Of course not.

“Identity theft via perception” was the ghost’s rule—and only the ghost could trigger it.

Just as only the Snake God had the right to punish those who broke the almanac taboos.

Ning Zhe could exploit this rule to steal the Snake God’s identity because before impersonating the Snake God, he first impersonated the ghost.

—On the temple roof, Feng Yu once received a call—the caller: Lin Zhiyuan.

“Knowing Lin Zhiyuan was dead, his call terrified Feng Yu. I used verbal manipulation to make her believe ‘the ghost is calling you using Lin Zhiyuan’s phone.’”

Ning Zhe strode across the empty street, his phone still trembling in his hand: “But in truth, Lin Zhiyuan’s phone is in my possession. I was the one calling her.”

【Feng Yu mistook Ning Zhe for the ghost.】

It was through this mistaken perception that Ning Zhe triggered the ghost’s rule and stole part of the ghost’s identity.

After successfully acquiring the identity of “the ghost as known by Feng Yu,” he then began stealing offerings and impersonating the Snake God, deliberately triggering the rule to steal the Snake God’s identity.

【If only the ghost can trigger the ghost’s rule, then why not just pretend to be the ghost?】

Ning Zhe’s plan was meticulous and intricate, like a precisely calculated domino chain—pull one, and the whole structure collapses.

But this plan, though brilliant, was also extremely fragile, because Ning Zhe knew: he could trigger the rule to steal the Snake God’s identity only because he possessed the ghost’s identity—and he possessed the ghost’s identity only because Feng Yu had misperceived the morning call.

Because Feng Yu mistook Ning Zhe for the ghost, Ning Zhe could then impersonate the Snake God using the ghost’s identity.

But if Feng Yu learned the truth—that the “Lin Zhiyuan” who called her that morning was not the ghost, but Ning Zhe—then…

“Like a skyscraper with its foundation pulled out, everything collapses,” Ning Zhe gritted his teeth, his grip on Feng Yu’s wrist tightening unconsciously.

(End of Chapter)