Chapter 29: The Villagers’ Secret
His friend erected this gravestone here in his memory. May he rest in peace.

Chen Bin had trauma from these things. The moment he saw an entire swarm of them, his hands and feet went numb from fright.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“They were just talking about sewing dolls, right?” Yu Wen hid behind a tree trunk, staring wide-eyed ahead.

“None of us touched the dolls today. The only person who sewed was my brother!”

He suddenly gasped.

“Those things are looking for my brother! He has to be over there!”

Old Yu finally understood what You Huo had meant by “preparation.”

No wonder he’d sewn the dolls…

So he’d planned ahead in advance—marking himself so that if he got sealed into a coffin, the ghost hands would come searching for him.

And apparently one disturbance wasn’t enough.

He’d made sixteen dolls in one go.

Was he treating monsters like hunting dogs?

No—

not just dogs.

An entire excavation team.

And this excavation team was highly motivated and absurdly efficient.

Blades flashed through the night in streaks of light. They hacked tirelessly, dirt flying everywhere as the soaked mud was churned upside down within moments.

Everyone stared in shock.

Fortunately, they didn’t remain frozen forever.

Old Yu clenched the hemp rope in his hands and swallowed hard while staring at the sea of blades.

“That’s my biological nephew. I can’t just stand here.”

“You all… I’m not forcing anyone, but I’m going in.”

“Me too!” Yu Wen immediately said.

Chen Bin looked toward the frenzy ahead. Every flash of blade made him tremble.

He slapped his own cheeks twice, forcing courage into himself as he muttered:

“Before this… okay, maybe I didn’t always stick with the group, but I’m not heartless either.”

“There are so many monsters. No way you two can handle this alone.”

“Don’t leave me out. What kind of person do you think I am?”

Everyone else quickly agreed.

Old Yu nodded.

“Alright. Then here’s the plan—”

Trying to fight head-on was impossible.

They were hopelessly outnumbered.

Besides, as the saying went: “The ruthless fear the desperate.”

And those severed limbs had no lives left to lose in the first place.

The more they attacked, the crazier they became.

Old Yu dug up some long-forgotten skills and started making rope snares.

“You know how to do this?” Chen Bin asked in surprise.

“Don’t let this drunk fool you,” Old Yu grinned.

“Twenty years ago, I had skills.”

But after years of alcoholism, his fingers were no longer nimble. His knot-tying looked painfully clumsy.

“Stop bragging already. Your belly’s almost bigger than Sister Yu Yao’s.”

Yu Wen hated hearing his father mention drinking. He snatched the remaining ropes and rapidly started tying knots.

Same technique.

Completely different level of skill.

“You know how too?” Yu Yao asked softly.

“I taught him!” Old Yu said proudly, though a little emotional too.

“When he was little. Didn’t expect him to remember.”

Yu Wen rolled his eyes.

Within seconds he finished all the snares.

“Here, swing these by the loop.” He demonstrated once before distributing the ropes.

“Seen it on TV before? Accuracy matters.”

This student spent his life being useless at proper things.

Bad grades.

Hopeless at exams.

But darts, slingshots, carnival games? Always top score.

As a kid he’d played lasso games with Old Yu back when the old man wasn’t fat yet—landing perfect catches every time.

The only reason Yu Wen managed to date in high school, besides his face, was basically because of these skills.

Old Yu hefted the rope in his hands.

“Target the legs first. Knock them off balance.”

“Hands are way scarier than legs anyway…”

Yu Wen muttered:

“How come there aren’t any heads? Could’ve tied one up and swung it like a mace.”

“……”

Everyone fell silent for two whole seconds.

Because they suddenly realized…

they were discussing combat strategies against exam questions.

“Whatever.” Old Yu gritted his teeth.

“One step at a time. Worst case scenario, we run!”

…

In the blink of an eye, the coffin lid above You Huo’s head exploded with a loud bang.

He knew the soil had already been dug away.

The blades were coming down.

More than a dozen cleavers crashed onto the coffin lid like a violent storm, wood splinters raining everywhere.

The coffin nails jammed into the corners loosened almost instantly.

Unable to withstand the blows, cracks rapidly spread through the coffin lid.

Fresh air leaked in.

You Huo stretched his neck and limbs slightly before smashing open half the coffin and climbing out.

He intercepted a blade in two swift movements, preparing to fight head-on.

But halfway through their charge, the ghost limbs suddenly jerked to a stop, their cleavers slicing through empty air.

You Huo focused his gaze.

Only then did he realize all the limbs had ropes looped around them.

The other ends were being pulled tightly by people behind the trees, restricting their movement.

“BRO!!”

Yu Wen and the others burst out from behind the trees.

You Huo snatched the ropes, and while the pale limbs were still confused, tied them together tightly and confiscated every weapon.

…

The entire reversal happened in an instant.

Though the result was a complete victory, everyone came away injured to some extent.

Yu Wen and Chen Bin lacked strength. Wrestling with the ghost limbs left them rolling in mud, their faces and necks covered in scratches from bushes and branches.

Old Yu had slammed his arm into a tree and dislocated his shoulder.

You Huo dragged the bundle of ropes behind him as they headed back.

Yu Wen suddenly shouted in alarm:

“Your arm!”

Dark red blood streamed from You Huo’s forearm to the back of his hand, then dripped through his fingers onto the ground.

At first glance, it looked horrifying.

“It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”

You Huo flicked his hand once, scattering blood across the dirt.

The wound wasn’t deep, but it was long.

Probably scraped against the blade while stealing the knife earlier.

He removed his mud-covered coat and casually wiped away the blood with the lining.

“How can you be like this? At least treat it properly!” Old Yu snapped while painfully forcing his own shoulder back into place.

The winter cold quickly slowed the bleeding until it hardened into a thin dark line.

“It stopped.” You Huo showed him the arm briefly, clearly having no intention of dealing with it further.

Old Yu: “……”

Just after thoroughly irritating his uncle, You Huo looked up and met the proctor’s gaze.

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

After being trapped inside the coffin and losing blood, his complexion was even paler than usual.

The firelight couldn’t warm that color at all.

Instead, it reflected brightly off his earring until it almost dazzled the eye.

Qin Jiu’s gaze seemed to move away from his injured arm before briefly sweeping over the earring.

He lifted the scarf in his hand slightly.

“Nothing. I was going to show some concern for an examinee and lend you temporary bandages.”

“But apparently you don’t need them.”

You Huo’s lips moved slightly.

But before he could decide how to answer, Qin Jiu had already wrapped the scarf back around himself.

You Huo’s gaze swept across the front of Qin Jiu’s shirt.

In the freezing winter wind that cut across their faces, Qin Jiu still wore his collar casually open by two buttons.

Watching him tuck the scarf back beneath his coat collar, covering his throat and Adam’s apple, You Huo once again thought this person was truly strange.

After several days together, he already knew Qin Jiu wasn’t afraid of cold at all.

Yet he always wore scarves.

But never properly.

Just loosely covering his chest as a symbolic gesture.

You Huo stared at the scarf for a moment before finally saying in a muffled voice:

“I can throw away a coat.”

“If your scarf gets blood on it, I’d have to wash it for you.”

“Do you know how hard bloodstains are to clean?”

Qin Jiu laughed softly.

“I rarely end up injured like this. So no, I wouldn’t know.”

You Huo: “……”

That was definitely provocation.

With an icy expression, he turned to leave.

But Qin Jiu suddenly asked:

“So you really were determined to save the system one help card?”

“What if those monsters had arrived any later?”

“What then? Suffocate to death?”

You Huo thought: I’m not an idiot.

But aloud he merely said:

“Oh.”

“You guess.”

…

That night, despite being unable to answer the questions, they gained a tremendous amount.

This time they didn’t waste the opportunity.

Dragging a huge cluster of ghost limbs behind them, they ventured deep into the forest.

The woods remained filled with dense mist and poisonous air.

But this time they’d prepared.

The Black Hag’s houses contained old tea leaves that sharpened the mind.

Everyone stuffed handfuls into their mouths and chewed them dry.

The taste was awful.

But at least it helped suppress the dizziness.

About half an hour later, the frenzied limbs finally slowed down.

Within a clearing surrounded by wild grass, they began clawing and digging at the dark mud, trying desperately to burrow inside.

Under the torchlight, something beneath the mud reflected a dim metallic sheen.

“What is that?”

“Looks like… a gravestone?”

Everyone cautiously approached.

You Huo pushed away the mud with his foot and crouched down.

“Light,” he said.

Yu Wen and the others moved their torches closer, illuminating the object fully.

It was a flat gravestone.

There was a photo of the deceased.

A cause of death.

And a line containing an address.

The reason they could read it so clearly—

was because every word on the gravestone was written in Chinese.

Name: Zhao Wentu
Exam Registration Number: 860511-12091327-745

His friend, villager Ding, erected this gravestone here in his memory. May he rest in peace.

At the very bottom was the information of the person who erected the stone:

Ding
Address: Chasu Village No. 4

Cold damp wind swept through the forest, producing long hollow whistles.

Everyone’s expressions went blank.

The forest fell silent.

In the gravestone photo, the dead examinee had thick brows and bright eyes, looking energetic and spirited.

But the longer they stared, the more familiar he began to seem.

If he grew stubble…

If his hair became longer and messier…

If he changed into smoke-stained filthy clothes…

Then he would look exactly like the mad villager who claimed he’d seen Qin Jiu before.

And Chasu Village No. 4—

the address listed beneath “Villager Ding”—

was precisely the madman’s home.