Caught off guard by the question, Xie Fan nearly choked.
Fortunately, he quickly recovered and gave a muffled response.
Xiao Yao sighed with an air of maturity. "This is the first time we've ever had outsiders in the village during the ritual. I hope that group of outsiders will already be gone before next month's ceremony."
Xie Fan recalled the plot.
That was probably impossible. If he remembered correctly, not only did the protagonist group not leave, they even participated in the ritual together, didn't they?
But what did he need to prepare for the ritual?
Xie Fan felt like he knew absolutely nothing, yet didn't dare ask anything either. At this moment, he could only bitterly regret that the original owner hadn't had the habit of keeping a diary.
If the original owner had written a diary every day, he wouldn't be stumbling around completely in the dark like this.
Forget it. There was still a month left. If he slowly observed everyone else, he should be able to imitate them and get everything ready, right?
Thinking this with some uncertainty, Xie Fan casually gathered up the bowls and chopsticks, only to realize that the sky was already almost dark.
And Xiao Yao still had no intention of going home?
"Brother A-Xie, it's so annoying. Why does the village chief talk so much? We have to have a meeting at this time every week. I'm already sleepy."
As she spoke, Xiao Yao couldn't help yawning.
Xie Fan: ……
Another meeting?
He knew something was up.
That was close. He had almost given himself away!
But judging from Xiao Yao's words, the villagers gathered at this fixed time every week. Did that mean A-Qi going from house to house to notify everyone that day had actually been the exception?
It seemed that particular meeting really had only been held to prepare for the tour group's arrival.
Xie Fan fell into thought and stood up with Xiao Yao. This time, he didn't forget to bring his candle.
Truthfully, even though he had already attended one gathering, Xie Fan still felt uncomfortable coming to the village chief's house again, especially when he thought about how the village chief wasn't quite like a normal person.
Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at the threshing ground around them and found something else strange. They were gathering here in the middle of the night. Wasn't the village chief worried that the protagonist group might see them?
As though she knew what he was thinking, Xiao Yao whispered, "Brother A-Xie, did you forget? Those outsiders can't wake up at night."
Can't wake up?
Xie Fan froze.
Did she mean what he thought she meant?
His first thought was that someone had drugged them, but judging from Xiao Yao's expression, that didn't seem to be it.
Xiao Yao didn't really understand it herself, but she still explained, "Maybe it's because the deity protects us."
"They can't sense it, and they can't see it."
Xie Fan nodded and didn't ask any more questions. After all, even Xiao Yao herself didn't know. But a term suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Spiritual intuition."
The "spiritual intuition" that had been mentioned repeatedly throughout the book.
Could it have something to do with this?
He subconsciously glanced toward the guesthouse, which was separated from them by only a single wall.
The two-story wooden building nearby was pitch-black, without even a trace of light.
It seemed the protagonist group really had fallen asleep. Otherwise, the guesthouse wouldn't be this quiet.
Xie Fan slowly exhaled.
The village chief didn't say much this time. After all, there were outsiders in the village now. He raised his white candle and spoke expressionlessly.
"Everyone should be grateful that the deity has been in a very good mood recently. Nothing has happened in the village."
"But the more that's the case, the more seriously we should take the ritual."
"Whose family's turn is it to provide the offerings this year?"
The old man's cloudy eyes swept toward the right through the darkness, and someone stood up.
"I-It's our family's turn."
The voice sounded slightly nervous. Xie Fan followed everyone's gaze and was surprised to realize…
Wasn't that Xiao Yao's family?
The blue clothes in the same color scheme, along with the woman's familiar tone of voice, were unmistakable.
Xie Fan looked at Xiao Yao and saw that she had become serious as well.
The village chief nodded. "Then your family will provide the Five Sacrificial Animals this year."
To show their respect, the village prepared the Five Sacrificial Animals for the ritual every year. The responsibility rotated from household to household, and this year it happened to be Xiao Yao's family's turn.
The woman hurriedly responded.
"Yes, we're already preparing them."
"Don't worry, Village Chief."
When Xiao Yao had returned with the eggs earlier today, Xie Fan had realized that there must be places in the village where chickens, ducks, cattle, and other livestock were raised. He simply didn't know where they were. So he wasn't surprised to hear Xiao Yao's mother say this.
After briefly mentioning the offerings, the village chief moved on to other matters.
Xie Fan didn't dare stare blankly at the village chief's legs again, so he could only obediently lower his head.
The next second, someone poked his arm.
Xie Fan: ……?
What the hell?
He inexplicably raised his head and saw that at some point, the person standing beside him had become…
Sun Zhou?
The man's tall stature was extremely conspicuous. Xie Fan glanced at the scar on Sun Zhou's arm.
"What are you doing?"
The village chief was still talking. Wasn't this guy afraid of getting caught?
Even when Xie Fan talked to Xiao Yao, they only did it before the village chief arrived.
Sun Zhou smiled, his deep honey-colored eyes fixed on Xie Fan.
"Were the eggs good?"
"They were pretty good."
Xie Fan quietly replied, only to suddenly realize something strange.
Wait.
How did he know that Xie Fan had eaten eggs at noon?
With the village chief still discussing important matters nearby, Xie Fan turned his head away. Yet in the next instant, when he looked back, he suddenly discovered that Sun Zhou was gone.
No, hadn't he just been standing right here?
Xie Fan froze in confusion, having no idea where the guy had suddenly run off to. Seeing Xiao Yao look at him questioningly, he finally withdrew his gaze.
Meanwhile, on the second floor of the guesthouse:
Shen Xun was asleep when he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
He had left his flashlight on when he went to sleep.
Why was it off now?
The room was pitch-black, leaving him dazed for a moment, unable to tell whether he was awake or dreaming.
He was probably still dreaming?
Feeling unable to move, as though he had fallen into one of those endless dreams from childhood that he could never wake up from, Shen Xun heard a jumble of noise and turned his gaze toward the window.
The second-floor window was half-open for ventilation, no different from before he had fallen asleep.
His head felt like it was splitting apart in the dream. He subconsciously glanced outside, but the moment he walked over, he suddenly saw…
Countless white candles glowed eerily across the threshing ground.
The moment he stood before the window, they turned toward him in perfect unison, like puppets…
"Cough."
The next second, Shen Xun jolted awake and immediately looked at the table.
The flashlight was still on.
Had that really just been a dream?
He calmed himself, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then took a deep breath and looked outside.
Unfortunately, there was nothing outside but the pitch-black night sky. After a moment of hesitation, he suspected it had simply been a nightmare, but he still gathered his things, got up, and left the room.
The moment Shen Xun stepped outside, he ran into Pei Jing emerging from the room at the very front.
He wasn't asleep this late either?
They exchanged glances. Seeing the dark shadows beneath Shen Xun's eyes, Pei Jing frowned.
"You had a nightmare too?"
That "too" was rather significant.
Shen Xun's expression became strange.
"You too?"
So he wasn't the only one who had experienced a strange dream?
Pei Jing had dreamed something as well?
Then what about the others?
Their gazes shifted toward the other rooms, and both of them couldn't help frowning.
Early the next morning, He Cheng had barely gotten up when he discovered that Shen Xun and Pei Jing were already sitting in the main hall.
"What's wrong?"
"Why are you two up so early?"
He Cheng looked bewildered.
Shen Xun looked at his childhood friend. "You didn't dream about anything?"
"Dream about what?" He Cheng looked puzzled.
He had washed up and gone to bed early last night and hadn't dreamed about anything at all. Actually, although the village was backward and extremely remote, the environment really wasn't bad.
Ancient trees surrounded the place, with greenery everywhere. It was practically a natural oxygen bar. Even his insomnia had improved a little last night.
Shen Xun and Pei Jing exchanged surprised glances.
Tan Qingxian caught on. "Looks like the two of you dreamed about something last night?"
"Unfortunately, I didn't dream about anything."
Shen Xun breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help pressing his fingers against the space between his brows.
"Pei Jing and I both had nightmares last night."
"But we dreamed about completely different things. Maybe our nerves really were just too tense."
Shen Xun looked at Tan Qingxian.
"Last night, I dreamed about countless white candles."
"And Pei Jing dreamed about that little girl from yesterday."
It had only been a fleeting image without even a complete scene. It really did resemble a fragment of an incidental memory surfacing in a dream.
Tan Qingxian nodded thoughtfully.
Hearing that neither of the other two had dreamed anything, the coldness in Pei Jing's expression eased slightly as well.
"Looks like it really was just a coincidence."
Perhaps that village girl had simply left too deep an impression on him yesterday.
He had barely finished thinking this when there was a knock at the door.
"Are you awake?"
"Knock, knock, knock."
The sound came through the heavy wooden door.
They exchanged glances. Tan Qingxian walked over and peered through a gap in the wooden door. Only after seeing that it was someone from the village did he leisurely open it.
"Hello. Is something the matter?"
A-Qi was already somewhat impatient at having to come over and deliver a message so early in the morning. But remembering the village chief's instructions, he suppressed his irritation and spoke calmly.
"It's nothing important."
"We rarely get outsiders in our village. You can be considered the first guests to come here from so far away. To welcome you, the village chief plans to hold a welcoming ceremony for you on the threshing ground tomorrow night."
"Make sure you come."
Wait, had they ever said they were attending?
And now they had to come?
He Cheng raised an eyebrow, his expression darkening. He was just about to refuse when Tan Qingxian stopped him.
Even in a remote mountain village, the young man still wore a white shirt, looking gentle and refined. He smiled.
"Thank the village chief for his hospitality. We'll be there."
Only after hearing this did A-Qi's expression improve slightly. He nodded, then turned and limped away with his cane.
He Cheng: ……
"What was that about? Why wouldn't you let me refuse?"
He glared at Tan Qingxian.
"You can go if you want. I'm not interested in whatever 'welcoming ceremony' this place has."
With that, He Cheng turned and headed upstairs.
Tan Qingxian shrugged and looked at the others.
"What about you two? Going or not?"
Pei Jing stood up. "We'll see when the time comes."
Shen Xun thought for a moment. "I'll go take a look."
He was still somewhat bothered by the dream from last night, especially since the threshing ground had appeared in it too.
Looking past the corner of the wall, he saw the threshing ground standing completely empty in the daylight. The blazing sun scorched the ground, and it looked…
Completely devoid of even the slightest trace of darkness.
Perhaps he really had been overthinking it?
……
If Xie Fan knew what the protagonist shou was thinking, he would only tell him that he wasn't overthinking anything.
"Run!"
But it was already too late to run now. The village chief was already planning to hold a welcoming ceremony for them. Even if they wanted to leave, it would be impossible.
Xie Fan had spent half of last night's meeting lost in thought, but there was one thing he had remembered.
—"Welcoming ceremony."
This was an important plot point in the book.
Because starting from the "welcoming ceremony," people were going to begin dying in 《God Worship》.
And the one who died was him—the cannon fodder who coveted the protagonist shou and recklessly courted death!
Xie Fan: ……
His life really was miserable.
Just thinking about the welcoming ceremony being tomorrow night made him lose his appetite. He put down his chopsticks, stood up, and couldn't help pacing back and forth around the room.
This was going to kill him.
This time, he hadn't coveted the protagonist shou at all. He hadn't even seen the protagonist shou's face yet.
Surely nothing would happen to him, right?
Xie Fan took a deep breath, completely uncertain whether he had actually managed to avoid this plot point.
But then he suddenly thought of Sun Zhou.
That guy had openly questioned the village chief on the very first day, and he was still perfectly fine now.
So Xie Fan should be fine too, right?
A sliver of hope rose in his heart. Xie Fan glanced at the sun outside, then turned and prepared to go find Sun Zhou.
But the moment he stepped out of his house, he froze.
Wait.
Where did that guy live?
After wandering around the western part of the village for ages, Xie Fan stopped and felt like there had to be something wrong with his brain.
He should have asked Xiao Yao first!
If he searched house by house like this, how long would it take?
And thinking about it carefully, not knowing where Sun Zhou lived didn't contradict his character at all.
As a gloomy, reclusive cannon-fodder character, wasn't it perfectly normal for him not to know where a fellow villager he barely interacted with lived?
The sun was blazing hot now, and Xie Fan felt like he was about to be roasted alive.
Just as he thought about finding somewhere to escape the sun, he spotted a limping figure emerging from around a bend in the distance.
A-Qi?
The familiar gait made Xie Fan pause. He hadn't expected to run into the village chief's nephew here.
His first instinct was to hide, but then he remembered A-Qi's status. After hesitating for a moment, he ultimately stopped where he was.
A-Qi hadn't expected A-Xie not to hide from him today either.
This brat normally lowered his head and looked lifeless whenever he saw anyone. But today, he actually seemed a little more pleasant to look at.
The lame man swept his gaze from the top of Xie Fan's head down to his face, muttering inwardly.
"Where are you going?"
Xie Fan had originally planned to say that he was just taking a walk, but that excuse was completely inconsistent with the original owner's personality.
The original owner was absolutely not the sort of person who would come outside for a leisurely stroll in broad daylight.
Noticing that there was no suspicion in A-Qi's eyes and that he seemed to be asking purely out of curiosity, Xie Fan hesitated.
"I'm looking for Sun Zhou to trade for something."
Judging from Xiao Yao's behavior, exchanging goods between the villagers of Xican Village should be perfectly normal.
As for why he specifically needed to find Sun Zhou, Xie Fan desperately searched his mind for an excuse…
But before he could explain, he saw A-Qi's expression inexplicably turn strange.
Sun Zhou?
A-Qi stared oddly at A-Xie.
He had only just thought that this guy seemed a little more pleasant today.
Who would have expected that there was actually something wrong with his head?
"Since when has there been anyone named Sun Zhou in our village?"