[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-9":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2298978,4497,"Chapter 9: The Earth God Won","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-9",9,"\u003Cp>Gu Yunqing’s lifeless body plunged into the water, cold droplets splashing onto Ye Miaozhu’s face, leaving her mind dazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yunqing… dead?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Miaozhu murmured blankly; Ning Zhe reacted swiftly, stepping forward and grabbing Gu Yunqing’s sleeve to keep him from being swept away by the current.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dragging Gu Yunqing’s corpse, Ning Zhe glanced quickly at Feng Yushu, trembling and frozen with fear, then at Ye Miaozhu, clearly mentally shattered—he realized he could only rely on himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unbuttoning Gu Yunqing’s shirt, Ning Zhe swiftly examined his body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though not a medical student, simple inspection allowed him to draw basic conclusions: “Like Xie Sining, Gu Yunqing has no external injuries, no internal bleeding, no signs of drowning or poisoning…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aside from the residual warmth still lingering on Gu Yunqing’s body—freshly dead—both corpses were identical in appearance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Their deaths are indistinguishable. Were they both killed by that thing that impersonates others? Or is the river itself dangerous?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe didn’t know the answer, and he dared not risk it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He dropped Gu Yunqing’s corpse carelessly, stepped back several paces from the riverbank; frightened and mentally frayed, Feng Yushu hurried after him, leaving Ye Miaozhu slumped in place, staring blankly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How could Yunqing just… die like this?” Ye Miaozhu’s gaze drifted, confused: “We broke no taboos—no travel, no burial, no funeral rites… not even a sacrifice. Why did Yunqing die?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Miaozhu clutched her head, twisting her once-smooth long hair into a wild tangle: “Even if examining a corpse counts as a funeral… why did Yunqing die, and I’m still alive?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know.” Ning Zhe shook his head. “How would I know…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that so? You don’t know either.” Ye Miaozhu bent low, carefully rebuttoning each button Ning Zhe had undone on Gu Yunqing’s shirt. Hugging his corpse, she turned her head to watch the river slowly drifting downstream, the pale moon reflected on its surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you trying to die?” Ning Zhe frowned. “I noticed Gu Yunqing’s movements before death—he was looking down at the riverbank mere seconds before losing vital signs. I don’t know if the danger lies in the corpse by the shore or the river itself, but mimicking his final act now is plainly asking for death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So what?” Ye Miaozhu lifted her head, her lifeless eyes fixed on Ning Zhe. “I’m done.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe fell silent for a moment, then whispered: “I understand. But I don’t agree.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were all ordinary people—studying, working, living quietly, believing life was just an endless accumulation of dull, ordinary days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, in the span of opening a door, they found themselves in this absurd place, forced to obey incomprehensible rules, endure senseless terror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Death weighed heavily, crushing every breath from them; daily-changing rules tormented their fragile nerves, leaving them trembling, walking on ice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe didn’t know what relationship Ye Miaozhu and Gu Yunqing shared, but in this precarious world, they had grown accustomed to relying on each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Miaozhu was not a strong person. Without someone familiar beside her, she would have long been crushed by the ever-looming death, never surviving this strange, eerie village this long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that Gu Yunqing was dead, stripped of her emotional anchor, she had lost the will and courage to fight for survival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe did not approve of her hasty surrender to death, yet he did not oppose her desire to die—for it was, in truth, beneficial to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Once Ye Miaozhu dies, there will be three ready-made death samples.” Ning Zhe thought to himself: “Two strange deaths revealed no logic. But three? Four? There must be a clue… the puzzle will eventually be solved.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others might break, might give up, might surrender. He would not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Ning Zhe’s cold, unshaken gaze, Ye Miaozhu suddenly smiled: “I wanted to rage at you—if you hadn’t made us examine Xie Sining’s corpse, Yunqing wouldn’t have died. But as I felt his body grow cold, I realized I’d lost even the strength to be angry.” “Good thing you didn’t.” Ning Zhe said lightly. “If you threw a tantrum at me, I’d kill you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Monster.” Ye Miaozhu spat venomously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then she relented: “Yet perhaps only a monster like you—devoid of humanity—could survive in this inhuman place, thriving like a fish in water.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Since you’re about to die, I’ll overlook your insult.” Ning Zhe was unmoved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The riverbank fell silent; fragmented words drowned in the clear, transparent water. Ye Miaozhu held Gu Yunqing’s corpse in her arms, staring quietly at their reflections on the river’s surface—like a condemned prisoner closing his eyes, awaiting death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But time passed second by second; Ning Zhe checked his phone repeatedly—five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes… Ye Miaozhu remained seated by the riverbank, letting the chilly evening wind drain her warmth, nothing else happening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems the Snake God deems your life not yet due.” Ning Zhe descended the green stone slope and extended his hand to Ye Miaozhu, still slumped where she sat. “Come. Since whatever it is has returned your life to you, cherish it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Miaozhu kept her head lowered, silent for a long while, then offered no resistance as Ning Zhe took her hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe pulled her up from the riverbank, rapidly organizing the known information: “First, the Snake God has gone mad, falling ill on a monthly schedule—cause unknown, symptoms unknown.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Second, beyond the bad luck indicated by the almanac’s auspiciousness, Hejia Village harbors other hidden rules that directly cause death—such as reading tomorrow’s almanac.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Third, Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing likely died by violating hidden rules; their death conditions match Lin Zhiyuan’s exactly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fourth, though both Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing’s corpses appeared in the river, Ye Miaozhu has proven their deaths have no direct link to the river.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fifth, Hejia Village contains a special entity capable of impersonating others—likely tied to the lethal hidden rules.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As his knowledge grew, Ning Zhe’s thoughts sharpened; amid the chaotic fragments, he seized the first breakthrough:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The ghost that impersonated Xie Sining followed Zhang Yangxu for a long time without killing him. After spotting me, it also made no move. Why didn’t it kill us? Was it unwilling? Or is it incapable of killing directly?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Or put it another way: that ghost doesn’t need to approach us to kill—it only needs to trigger certain conditions, certain rules?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The path ahead cleared; from the tangled knot of chaos, Ning Zhe grasped the thread that would unravel the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Feng Yushu’s phone vibrated—someone was calling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The caller was Zhang Yangxu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Answer. Hang up if anything feels off.” Ning Zhe whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yushu dared not answer, yet involuntarily nodded, her pale, smooth fingers trembling as she pressed the answer button.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the call connected, a shout blasted from the speaker:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—“Watch out for Gu Yunqing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1131,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5af395019d32fe66c0f9b5587fa8c34fa33a6416e7c22d574030037dafae1d07","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-10","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-8",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]