"How could this be…" Feng Yushu's legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground. The horrific scene before her shattered her will, just as it had when Gu Yunqing died.
Simple violence or poisoning wouldn't frighten her this much—those were traceable, avoidable through action. But in this village, the rules were invisible and silent. Unless you violated them yourself or witnessed others do so, they operated perpetually in unobservable corners, never revealing themselves.
When punishments are unknowable, their power becomes immeasurable. Traditional Chinese harbor two deepest fears: the unknown and guilt.
Feng Yushu felt like a blindfolded person walking a tightrope in the sky, every step taken with trembling caution, on thin ice. She couldn't judge what each footfall might bring—only inch forward by instinct toward some half-remembered direction, where every step could mean death.
But one person seemed to ignore the surrounding darkness and uncertainty entirely. His eyes weren't blindfolded; his gait was leisurely as a stroll through a garden, everything under his control.
Ning Zhe approached the collapsed Feng Yushu and extended his hand.
"Come with me," he said, shielding her trembling gaze with his palm. "Don't look back, or you'll die."
"Alright…" Feng Yushu grasped his wrist, struggled to her feet, and left the temple under the Serpent God's watchful gaze.
Feng Yushu noticed the "Ye Miaozhu" who had appeared in the temple was gone—the instant she reached out to flip the almanac, her body had dissipated like wind-scattered dust or a sand pile crushed by waves, leaving no trace.
"That was a ghost," Ning Zhe said. "It stole Ye Miaozhu's identity and used her to kill by proxy."
Behind them, clear wind swept through the temple, rustling the opened almanac page. It fluttered like a withered leaf butterfly, reluctant to settle, as if urging them to turn back and glimpse tomorrow's secrets. Ning Zhe dared not look back, pulling Feng Yushu quickly away.
Only after leaving the temple did Feng Yushu's composure return. She stared at his profile and asked tremulously, "Why? What happened? Ye Miaozhu, how could she…"
"Calm down—you're becoming incoherent," Ning Zhe said. "Surviving this environment requires enduring great pressure and strong psychological fortitude. Poor emotional management leads to desperate, panicked flailing that only gives ghosts opportunities."
"So stay calm, or you'll be killed, Auntie."
Feng Yushu shook her head frantically, gripping his wrist tighter: "Even if you say that… how can I know how to avoid being killed by ghosts? I don't even know how they steal people's identities."
When you don't know which direction bullets will come from, all your evasive movements seem laughable to the sniper.
"How do ghosts steal identities? That depends on your definition of 'identity' and 'person,'" Ning Zhe's tone suddenly relaxed as they walked. "Auntie, what do you think your 'identity' is?"
"Me?" Feng Yushu considered. "I'm my husband's wife, my daughter's mother, my parents' daughter… which specifically do you mean?"
"All of them," Ning Zhe said. "Humans are the sum of all social relations. Your image differs in everyone's eyes who knows you."
"To your husband you're a dignified wife, to your daughter a gentle mother, to your parents a married-off daughter. To school teachers you're a certain student's parent, to shop clerks a wealthy customer… and so on. Which of these identities is you? Answer: all of them."
"Everyone who knows you—their different perceptions of you overlap to form the complete you."
Ning Zhe continued, then shifted direction: "I don't know if you can understand this explanation—initially, the ghost didn't replace the complete Xie Sining, but rather the Xie Sining that Zhang Yangxu knew."
"When the real Xie Sining died by the river, 'Zhang Yangxu's Xie Sining' was replaced. This Xie Sining's image perfectly matched the legal advisor Zhang Yangxu knew—speech and behavior flawless—but it couldn't answer highly technical legal questions Zhang posed, because its identity was incomplete."
"It was only 'Xie Sining as Zhang Yangxu perceived her,' not the complete Xie Sining herself."
"How could Zhang Yangxu's perception of Xie Sining know answers Zhang himself didn't know?"
"But logically it should know… so when Zhang posed legitimate questions it couldn't answer, the 'Xie Sining' rule locked up."
As Ning Zhe spoke, they reached a house some distance from the temple on South Street. Smoke from its roof had died down—the residents were eating breakfast.
Feng Yushu carefully digested his words, then heard him continue: "So Auntie, why do you think the ghost impersonating Xie Sining called you on the way back to the temple?"
This froze Feng Yushu. His words struck like lightning through her brain, connecting the crucial node.
After much hesitation, she ventured: "To… steal the identity of 'Xie Sining as Feng Yushu knew her'?"
"Correct." Ning Zhe gave her a thumbs up. "That's the puzzle's answer."
Two rules existed in Hejia Village, corresponding to two mysteries:
[Mystery 1: Why did the Serpent God go mad?]
[Mystery 2: How do ghosts impersonate others' identities?]
Mystery 2's answer now lay before Feng Yushu.
"Just as the Serpent God can only punish you when you violate taboos, ghosts can only steal specific identities under specific conditions—and that condition is 'perception.'"
Ning Zhe stepped forward, leaning against the house's outer wall:
"When you saw the caller ID on your phone screen and thought the ghost calling you was Xie Sining, it truly became her."
"When Zhang Yangxu, hiding by the willow tree, heard footsteps on fallen leaves and thought the approaching ghost was Xie Sining returning from the bathroom, it truly became her."
The more people who knew Xie Sining fell into cognitive error, believing the skin-wearing ghost was Xie Sining, the more complete its portrayal became.
Complete enough, it might even fool the Serpent God.
"This is that ghost's rule."
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild
Reference Glossary:
When punishments are unknowable, their power becomes immeasurable - Paraphrase of a concept from classical Chinese legal philosophy, emphasizing how uncertainty about consequences creates maximum psychological control.
Humans are the sum of all social relations - Quote from Karl Marx's "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), which became influential in Chinese Marxist thought, stating that human essence is determined by social relationships rather than individual nature.