Translator: Cinder Translations
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After speaking, she was gently pushed away and staggered out of this world. Her mind was blank, as if it were being controlled by some strange thought.
As she opened the door and walked in, she suddenly woke up, only to turn back and see Han Jingnian suspended in mid-air, his body pierced through by the ghost.
Each ghost in the various scenarios has its own characteristic. This particular ghost attacks when they turn, so... only one of them is destined to survive and make it to the door to escape.
The lights and shadows in front of her shifted, and she found herself back at their campsite halfway up the mountain, only this time the large camp was left with just her.
Han Jingnian was dead.
Everyone was dead, except for her.
"Crash——"
Lost in her memories, she walked aimlessly, suddenly stumbling over something hard, producing a clattering sound.
She blinked, coming to her senses and looking down, realizing it was some charred bricks.
The bricks were scattered haphazardly on the ground, with one side still retaining the foundation of a wall. It seemed that this used to be a wall that had collapsed in a fire.
Staring at the darkened bricks, an odd feeling surged within her. She slowly crouched down, moved the still-warm bricks, and uncovered what looked like wooden planks underneath.
She wiped away the ash on the planks, revealing three golden characters: Qian Jianguo.
"Are these the memorial tablets of the Qian family?"
Pei Qian arrived first, casting a strange glance at the wooden planks in her hand.
Zhou Rong bent down to pick up two more wooden planks. After wiping off the ashes, they found the names Qian Jianshe and Qian Jianxiu written on them.
Indeed, these were the memorial tablets of the Qian family.
Based on the word "Jian" in their names, these three people should be of the same generation in the Qian family.
Chen Xiaomeng shifted her gaze from the tablets to look around. The fire from last night had been extremely fierce, burning almost everything, yet these three memorial tablets were the only things left, which seemed strange.
"Ahhh!!"
A sudden scream interrupted Chen Xiaomeng's thoughts. Almost instinctively, she crouched down, reaching for her waist.
Jiang Cheng's pupils contracted slightly.
The scream came from Li Lu, who was pointing at Yu Man with a pale face and trembling eyes, saying, "Miss Yu, your hand!"
Blood was leaking from between Yu Man's fingers as she clutched the memorial tablet.
Flipping the tablet over, they were horrified to find a bright red handprint on the back, the five fingers distinct, with blood still fresh, and droplets of blood rolling off.
"It seems that this fire was set by Zhao Xiangmei," Pei Qian stroked his beard and boldly theorized, "The purpose was to lure us here and find these three memorial tablets of the Qian family."
"Did these three Qian family members do something to her?" Li Lu whispered.
"Possibly."
"But whatever they did, they're already dead now," Li Lu said with a puzzled expression, staring at the three memorial tablets, her face uneasy. "Even if they're dead, she still doesn't want to let them go?"
"Perhaps they were involved in something," Chen Xiaomeng casually remarked, "Maybe the truth is different from what we've heard."
With limited clues, everyone knew that further debate wouldn't lead to a conclusion, so Pei Qian suggested they keep the memorial tablets and discuss what to do next.
"Alright!" Jiang Cheng was the first to agree, then turned to Yu Man and gestured for her to hand over the tablets. He said, "Quickly give the tablets to Old Pei. He's older and might be able to make use of them."
Pei Qian shivered.
On their way back, they ran into the village chief and his group. The village chief's face was grim, as if the house burned down last night had been his own.
"Masters!" Upon seeing Jiang Cheng and his group, the village chief's eyes lit up. "We just went to your yard looking for you, but we didn't expect you to be here."
"Last night we saw the Qian family's ancestral hall on fire, so we thought we'd come and check it out," Zhou Rong calmly said. "We thought we might find some clues."
"What clues could there be here?" The village chief paused before asking.
"Hmph, that's hard to say," Jiang Cheng stepped forward with a mysterious expression, elongating his neck and lowering his voice, "Do you know what happened with last night's fire?"
The village chief, deep down afraid of him for reasons he couldn't explain, suddenly felt uneasy the moment he saw Jiang Cheng. After a long pause, he pursed his lips and asked, "What happened?"
Jiang Cheng smiled faintly and made a motion with his mouth.
When the village chief saw Jiang Cheng's lip movement, he was instantly enraged. "Zhao Xiangmei?!"
"That's right!" Jiang Cheng's face beamed with a look of "Well done, village chief! Surprised, aren't you?"
The village chief almost choked, but thankfully, one of the men behind him reacted quickly and helped him steady himself.
Seeing the situation about to spiral out of control, Pei Qian quickly took out the three memorial tablets and interrupted, "Liu Village Chief, take a look at these names and see if you recognize them."
Qian Jianguo, Qian Jianshe, Qian Jianxiu.
After some time, the village chief focused again, staring at the memorial tablets. His voice became much weaker as he said, "These three are all children of Old Village Chief Qian. Qian Jianguo and Qian Jianshe are his sons, and Qian Jianxiu is his youngest daughter."
"Did Zhao Xiangmei kill them?"
"Qian Jianguo and Qian Jianshe, the two brothers, were," the village chief gasped for breath, and after a few seconds, he continued, "But Qian Jianxiu isn't. She died when she was very young, apparently from smallpox."
Zhou Rong thought for a while and suddenly asked, "How many children did Old Village Chief Qian have?"
"Four."
"What about the other one?"
"The eldest son, Qian Jianye, he's dead too," the village chief licked his cracked lips, his gaze dimming as he sighed, "He was also killed by Zhao Xiangmei. All the 'Jian' generation of the Qian family has been wiped out."
Everyone was more interested in why the Qian family's ancestral hall was burned down, but the three memorial tablets had been left untouched.
And strangely, the tablet for the eldest son, Qian Jianye, was missing.
The village chief didn't delay too long. He led his group, along with firefighting tools, toward the Qian family's ancestral hall, intending to extinguish the remaining fire spots and prevent a forest fire.
As they were about to part ways, the village chief suddenly seemed to remember something and, with an apologetic expression, said to everyone, "Last night, it got dark when we returned, so we didn't arrange for dinner to be sent to you. Please don't mind, Masters!"
Upon hearing this, Li Lu staggered, then ran off to a nearby bush, bent over, and began dry heaving.
(End of the Chapter)
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