Chapter 9: The Death Rite and the Death Rite Monument

The script for Act Four didn’t offer any useful information, but the plot developments within it took Qian Cangyi by surprise.

Bian Zhe and Zhang Zi’an were already planning to leave Yuxi Village. As the actor playing Bian Zhe, could he himself leave the village? Would the story take another unexpected turn?

Qian Cangyi was eager to find out what would happen next—it was a matter of life and death for him.

For now, the most pressing task was to investigate the house before him.

Clearing his throat lightly, Qian Cangyi recited his lines: “Zhang Zi’an, what do you think is going on? I believe it’s impossible for both of us to be hallucinating at the same time.”

Performing according to the script could improve his character’s rating, and Qian Cangyi was determined to raise his rating as much as possible. That way, his reputation and pay would increase as well.

He hadn’t forgotten what Hawkeye had said on the bus—this wasn’t the only film he needed to act in.

“Let’s go. Don’t waste time,” Hawkeye said, dropping the words before entering the living room.

Qian Cangyi was momentarily stunned; he hadn’t expected such a response from Hawkeye.

Three seconds later, Hawkeye had already gone into the bedroom on the right. Qian Cangyi sighed and headed toward the living room.

Following the plan, Qian Cangyi searched the bedroom on the left side of the living room. Using his right hand, he pushed open the single wooden door and peeked inside.

The layout of the bedroom was no different from the previous rooms, except that the village chief’s house was larger, so the bedroom had an additional door leading to the next room.

Qian Cangyi searched the room skillfully; after several searches, he had become quite practiced.

In about a minute, he had thoroughly searched the bedroom, even checking inside the pillows.

Finding no clues, he moved to the next door, grabbed the handle with his right hand, and pushed it open.

This room was a study or a workspace.

Near the window stood a dark red desk, while shelves and bookcases lined the walls on either side.

The shelves displayed a variety of items—small stone carvings and potted plants alike.

The books in the bookcases were diverse, divided roughly into two categories by age: one filled mostly with classics from various times and places, as if dragged back from a secondhand bookstore; the other newer, mostly books about rural wealth creation.

Qian Cangyi stepped into the study, his first target the desk.

In the upper left corner of the desk sat a calendar themed around the twenty-four solar terms, frozen on June 11.

In the center near the chair was a dark blue notebook that caught the eye, with a black pen neatly placed to its right.

Qian Cangyi reached out, unlatching the notebook, and flipped to the first page.

The name Wei Guangyuan appeared before him.

“Wei Guangyuan—that must be the village chief’s name,” he mused.

He pressed four fingers of his left hand against the inner pages of the notebook, thumb on the side, then forcefully lifted all the pages to begin flipping through.

The first sheets were pristine white, without any writing.

“What’s this?” After scanning the notebook, he realized that apart from the flyleaf with the name, only the first few pages contained writing.

A guess formed in his mind—Wei Guangyuan had deliberately left the notebook on the desk as a message.

His eyes brightened as he quickly flipped back to the first page.

Neatly written words appeared, without any difficulty to read.

However, after glancing through the text, Qian Cangyi didn’t continue reading but instead picked up the notebook, hugged it to his chest, and headed toward the living room.

He hadn’t forgotten the earlier black shadow attack. At that time, the script had alerted him, allowing him to prepare. Now, with no script warning, would the shadow attack again to take advantage and ambush?

Qian Cangyi didn’t know, but he wanted to be cautious.

“Zhang Zi’an! I’ve found an important clue. Come over quickly.”

His voice echoed through Wei Guangyuan’s home.

When Qian Cangyi reached the living room, Hawkeye appeared there as well.

“I haven’t looked yet—worried about the shadow,” Qian Cangyi said, holding up the dark blue notebook.

Hawkeye nodded and said, “Let’s just go outside to the yard.”

Qian Cangyi agreed.

From the last shadow attack, it was clear that the shadow preferred to strike in confined spaces.

The yard was spacious; even if the shadow tried to ambush, it would be spotted immediately.

The two stood in the yard.

“You look first, and organize what you find,” Hawkeye said, eyes alert as he scanned their surroundings.

Qian Cangyi opened the notebook, placing his right index finger on the first line, and began reading.

[I don’t know if anyone will see this notebook, but I will write down everything I know.]

[The strange occurrences started last night. For some unknown reason, everyone in Yuxi Village feels as if they are being watched.]

[Not just me or my family, but other villagers feel the same.]

[Later, I realized that what watches us are shadows—black shadows that seem alive, hiding in the darkness.]

[After these strange events began, I thought of someone—Li Chenxi, who lives near the back mountain.]

[Li Chenxi’s parents are deceased. Somehow, after he turned eighteen, he developed a strange illness—his eyes would go blind for a while but then recover after about half a day. Hospitals couldn’t find anything wrong.]

[Yesterday, a villager told me that Li Chenxi carried a black stone tablet to a clearing on the back mountain. He also prepared candles, paper money, and other odd items, and asked if I wanted to come see.]

[I was busy at the time, and Li Chenxi often did things like this, so I didn’t pay much attention.]

[Now I think, if I had stopped Li Chenxi then, maybe none of this would have happened.]

[Anyway, the next day, I found Li Chenxi and asked what he had done. What was the stone tablet he moved to the back mountain?]

[Li Chenxi told me the tablet was called the Death Sacrifice Tablet, and he was holding a death sacrifice ritual at the clearing yesterday.]

[The term ‘death sacrifice’ sounded strange to me; what kind of ritual is called that? I’d only ever heard of ‘living sacrifices.’]

[Li Chenxi said the death sacrifice was a ritual to worship death. After it’s done, one gains eternal life—no more worries about money or sickness, just endless happiness.]

[I asked if he had seen any strange black shadows last night, or if he knew what they were.]

[Li Chenxi shook his head, saying he didn’t know but didn’t care. He firmly believed he would get eternal life, just needed to wait.]

[I thought Li Chenxi might be mad, so I didn’t ask more but went to the clearing on the back mountain.]

[The death sacrifice and the Death Sacrifice Tablet—I believed they were related. If the tablet could be destroyed, everything would end.]

[When I reached the clearing, I found many white candles already burned down halfway and ashes of paper money everywhere, but no stone tablet. I searched the entire clearing but didn’t find it. Then I went back to find Li Chenxi, this time with a few others.]