Chapter 119: Shuangxi Town (Part 13) The Statue of the Joyous God

The town’s paths twisted and turned endlessly. Houses with white walls and black tiles, of varying heights, lined both sides in a seemingly endless procession. The monotonous architecture gave the illusion of walking in circles.

Qi Si didn’t have much to say to Shang Qingbei and Du Xiaoyu. Apart from some casual chatter at the start, the three of them fell into silence.

While deliberately memorizing the route, Qi Si maintained a brisk pace.

Milky white mist gradually rose from both sides without notice, weaving together into a vast, hazy expanse that blurred the scenery and objects ahead.

Soon, it felt like sailing through a sea of fog, with his entire body immersed in damp, moist air that made even his breath feel wet.

From the distance came the sharp, piercing sound of a suona, mournful and plaintive, accompanied by a strained, high-pitched singing of blessings:

“Whose daughter is coarse and foolish, simple-minded and easy to raise.”

“Whose family’s prodigal son, with great fanfare, buys a bride.”

“A Coffin serves as the red sedan, white papers flutter to open the ghostly path.”

“Praying only that husband and wife share life and death, their souls returning to the same mound on the same day.”

The sound grew from far to near, reaching their ears in just a few breaths, tirelessly playing and blowing.

Remembering the ‘Folk Song Collector’ achievement, Qi Si retrieved the Recorder from his inventory and pressed the record button.

For some reason, pressing it felt insubstantial, soft and floppy like kneading cotton.

Had the Recorder broken, or was it something else?

“Brother Qi, look over there…” Du Xiaoyu’s voice called out from behind, sounding distant.

Qi Si strained his eyes to see a massive, dark cluster moving slowly through the fog ahead, approaching and then receding.

It was a Coffin.

Double Joy, double joy—one for marriage, the other for burial.

The marriage had already been performed with great pomp and circumstance, and now, the ‘burial’ had arrived.

Qi Si quickened his steps to catch up, positioning himself half a step behind the Coffin, following at a steady pace.

A faint sound, light as a mosquito’s hum yet continuous, emanated from the Coffin. It seemed like soft sobbing, mixed with indistinct cries for help.

“Save me… let me out…”

Tilting his head to listen, Qi Si suddenly felt an urge to open the Coffin and see what was inside.

Coffins are for the dead, and the dead don’t speak. So, what was with the cries for help? He really wanted to investigate… “Qi Wen, how about we open the Coffin lid and lie down inside together?” Shang Qingbei’s voice said in a coaxing tone.

Qi Si stroked his chin in thought. After two seconds, he refused: “No, you didn’t wash up yesterday. You’re dirty.”

“Lie down inside, let’s never come out…” the voice continued to entice.

Annoyed by the noise, Qi Si abruptly turned to look.

Behind him, there was no one to be seen… he was alone. Meanwhile, after placating the groom’s relatives, Sister Xu led a group of men, heading with fierce determination toward Xier’s house.

Li Yao pulled Liu Bingding along, stealthily following at the rear of the group without attracting any NPC’s attention.

【Name: Extra】

【Type: Skill】

【Effect: Slightly reduces presence, lowering the probability of being noticed by NPCs】

【Note: You leap into the sea of people, merely a drop of water; you raise your voice in a shout, no louder than a mosquito’s hum; no one will pay you special attention, you are just an Extra】

This was the skill both of them had obtained in their third instance, coincidentally identical—a rare occurrence.

The skill’s effect was weak, only exerting a negligible influence on NPCs; the note felt more like a mockery of their real lives. Yet, they hadn’t expected it to come in handy here.

Sister Xu walked swiftly, agile beyond what one would expect from someone her age.

Li Yao and Liu Bingding struggled to keep up, panting heavily just to match her pace.

They dared not follow too closely, maintaining a distance of ten meters from Sister Xu, afraid that being spotted by NPCs would break the skill’s effect.

Turning a corner, they came upon a single-courtyard residence. The walls were peeling, red silk piled up, and the wooden door stood half-open, as if inviting entry.

They had arrived at Xier’s house.

Sister Xu and the men were nowhere in sight; they had clearly entered the residence first.

The sky had darkened without notice, casting a hazy gray shadow over all the red and white buildings. With the sunlight gone, the recently dispersed white mist began to rise again from the shadows, stretching out gracefully like sheer white silk.

Having just witnessed a death, even the breeze carried a damp, deathly chill. The air was eerily quiet, with only the flapping of clothes in the wind breaking the silence.

Unconsciously, Li Yao lightened her footsteps, treading softly on the bluestone slabs as she approached the main gate.

She gently pushed the wooden door open. Despite her care, it emitted a creaking sound.

The door swung fully open in the wind. After the lingering sound of wood scraping faded, there was no other noise in the world.

Holding her breath, Li Yao waited for two seconds. Nothing happened.

In the courtyard, not a single NPC was in sight.

Liu Bingding leaned in and whispered, “What’s going on? We couldn’t have taken a wrong turn. Could it be that Sister Xu never actually came to Xier’s house?”

Li Yao uttered three words: “A Ghost Wall.”

“What should we do? I don’t understand any of this; I’m completely in the dark…”

“Let’s go in first. With no one here, it’s the perfect opportunity to explore.” Li Yao strode into the courtyard.

The West Wing, sealed with red paper and red cloth, was a blaze of crimson. Strands of red cloth strips hung from the eaves, resembling the tongue of a White Impermanence, trembling and rustling in the wind.

Li Yao stepped on the red paper scraps littering the ground as she walked toward the West Wing’s doorway, obscured by pasted paper, her steps producing a rustling sound.

She stood still by the door, staring blankly for a moment at the crumpled ‘囍’ character pasted on it, then finally pushed the door open and entered.

The room seemed long uncleaned. As the door opened, a puff of dust hit their faces, causing the two at the entrance to cough dryly.

Fibers and dust particles floated in the air. The scent of damp, rotting wood filled the space, settling in their lungs with a stifling sensation.

There were no corpses or any signs of people in the room. It appeared to have been sealed for a long time, as if nothing had ever entered.

Li Yao walked step by step toward the base of the wall.

Liu Bingding’s gaze followed her steps, landing on the mottled, large brown stains on the grayish-white wall.

“It’s blood,” Li Yao said. “Judging by the splatter pattern and angle, it’s likely bloodstains from a struggle.”

Liu Bingding noticed that the brown stains on the wall varied in intensity, clearly indicating they had been splattered at different times from different angles.

There was also a smear, darker at the bottom and lighter at the top, likely made by slamming a wounded person against the wall.

Li Yao looked around, her gaze finally settling on a wooden bed against the wall.

The wooden bed was intricately carved, but thick cobwebs clung to its corners.

The bed was covered with a bright red wedding quilt and mattress, long since dust-covered, their color muddied into a wine-red reminiscent of a festering wound.

Li Yao walked over, unzipped the edge of the quilt, and pulled out a folded gray sheet of paper.

It was a newspaper. Unfolded, it revealed a report with a photograph:

【20-Year-Old Female University Student Missing During Travel, Police Investigate】

Liu Bingding leaned in for a look, his eyes fixing on one spot.

Pointing at the missing person’s face in the photo, he said hesitantly, “This… isn’t this Xier? I’m good at recognizing faces; I can’t be wrong. But isn’t Xier supposed to be a fool?”

“Sister Xu lied to us,” Li Yao said coldly.

The moment her voice fell, the surrounding scene curled and folded like paper soaked in water, crumbling and shattering from the edges, dissipating like a collapsing skyscraper into clumps of gray-white mist. These gradually stained a bright crimson, burning like flames, outlining a new picture.

【side quest refreshed】

【side quest:…】

…On the road in the town, the mist was as dense as clouds, obscuring all scenery, leaving only a massive black Coffin parked before Qi Si, emitting pitiful, sorrowful weeping sounds.

“Let me out… You lie down inside instead…”

It seemed they realized they couldn’t deceive Qi Si anymore. The voices of Shang Qingbei and Du Xiaoyu gradually distorted, reverting to the initial female voice.

Qi Si stood quietly in the fog, listening. He lowered his eyes, surveying the Coffin from head to toe.

He noticed that each of the Coffin’s four corners was nailed with a strangely styled bronze nail. They weren’t driven in firmly, each having come loose by about half its length. Fortunately, none had fallen out completely.

“Save me… Let me out…”

The young female voice inside the Coffin continued pleading for rescue. Muffled by the thick Coffin lid, it sounded distorted, as if coming from underwater through a heavy layer of mist.

“Why should I save you?” Qi Si asked curiously. “What benefit can you give me?”

The air fell silent in an instant. The thing inside the Coffin seemed stunned by the question and didn’t make another sound for a long while.

Qi Si grew a bit bored waiting. He walked forward, took out a small awl from his special bracelet, and hammered each of the loose Coffin nails back in place.

As he hammered in the last nail, a fierce gale swept through, blowing the Coffin into a pile of gray sand. Much of the mist was also swept away, leaving behind a clear and bright scene.

The footsteps that had disappeared for a while reappeared behind him, exactly two sets, no more, no less.

It was clear that Shang Qingbei and Du Xiaoyu, like Qi Si, had encountered the eerie scene of the Coffin funeral procession.

Du Xiaoyu’s voice carried a palpable sense of lingering fear: “Brother Qi, did you see that just now? So damn creepy. Someone in the Coffin was begging me to let her out… I also heard your voice and that kid’s…”

“What’s there to be afraid of? Based on my experience, that probably wasn’t a death point, just a special plot providing clues.” Shang Qingbei dismissed it. “Putting marriage and funeral together, it’s either a ghost marriage or sending the bride off in a Coffin. I’ve heard some remote, backwater places have such bizarre folk customs.”

Du Xiaoyu spat: “You’re just talking nonsense. How come I’ve never heard of such a custom?”

Shang Qingbei hugged his dictionary tighter, giving him a scornful look: “Lack of culture isn’t scary. What’s scary is being ignorant yet still thinking you’re right.”

Du Xiaoyu was about to blow up. Qi Si timely interrupted him: “My father was a folklore professor at a university. He’d heard of similar customs, but when it came to field research, no trace of them could be found.

“And—what I’m more curious about is, since the well is already 【filled with orderly arranged bones】, why not just throw the dead body down there directly after death? Why go through the step of encoffining?”

“Who knows?” Shang Qingbei shrugged. “Maybe the bottom of the well is actually a burial chamber, with Coffins neatly arranged.”

Qi Si raised an eyebrow: “How so?”

Sensing the young man’s inquiring attitude, Shang Qingbei opened up: “I suspect the strange tale we found at the very beginning is precisely the core hint to solving this instance’s mystery. Zhang Sheng 【accidentally fell into the well, saw the orderly arranged bones, and felt profoundly melancholy】. If the well bottom was just a pile of rotting bones, he wouldn’t feel melancholy upon seeing it; he’d only be terrified.”

Qi Si narrowed his eyes and smiled: “Not bad, you’re improving. Keep it up.”

Shang Qingbei: “…”

The trio walked a bit further. Ahead, vermilion temple gates became faintly visible. Two bright red lanterns inscribed with the character “囍” (double happiness) hung before the doors, swaying without any wind.

God of Joy Temple, enshrining the God of Joy.

Inside, someone was probably burning paper offerings. The scent of incense and candles wafted out, mingled with the ethereal smoke of black paper remnants drifting from the doorway, flying high into the sky.

The God of Joy enshrined in the altar seemed to have stepped a bit further outward. Its crimson robes cascaded like flowing flames, dotted with faint golden patterns outlining wave-like undulations.

Only the eyes on the God of Joy’s face remained hidden. Its pale, ghostly visage resembled a corpse from an ice cellar.

The newlywed statues kneeling below the Idol all faced the doorway, as if bowing and kowtowing to the players outside.

The outermost layer of paint on the statues had peeled off in large patches, revealing a bronze-green interior. From a distance, they looked like two freshly unearthed zombies.

Qi Si quickened his pace, walked over, and stepped across the threshold.

The Identity Card in the upper right corner of his vision trembled violently. Gray mist spread, obscuring the visage of the evil entity.

The thing enshrined in the God of Joy Temple was no simple matter.

Qi Si lifted his gaze to look at the Idol seated solemnly within the altar.

The red-clad deity had a very familiar face. Its crimson gaze calmly looked downward, its eyes expressing both compassion and mockery.

After matching the face with his memory, Qi Si finally couldn’t hold back a laugh: “God of Joy? Lady?… Is this role-playing?”

He genuinely hadn’t expected a certain evil god to be so persistent. Appearing once at night was one thing, but now it showed up again.

The “Shuangxi Town” instance clearly had little connection to the deity system behind the Eerie Game. The background story’s Lady God of Joy wasn’t a born evil deity but a malevolent entity born from resentment… From any angle, Qi shouldn’t be linked to this instance. Him replacing the Lady God of Joy and appearing here likely had another purpose… Du Xiaoyu followed Shang Qingbei into the God of Joy Temple. Hearing Qi Si laugh for a while, he hesitantly asked: “Brother Qi, what’s wrong with you?”

Qi Si reined in his inappropriately keen interest, pressed his lips together, and raised a hand to point at the Idol that had been replaced by Qi.

Du Xiaoyu followed his indication and looked over, confused: “Why does this God of Joy look like a man? But quite beautiful, hehe.”

Shang Qingbei also noticed the two points Du Xiaoyu mentioned and scoffed: “What’s so funny about that?”

“Hmm, not funny.” Qi Si pressed his lips back to a normal line, earnestly agreeing.

Under Shang Qingbei’s wary gaze, he nonchalantly shifted his line of sight to observe the surroundings.

The interior of the God of Joy Temple was much larger than it appeared from outside. Besides the central path blocked by incense and candles leading to the altar, there were side rooms on both flanks, each about the size of a side chamber.

The left side room neatly held six Coffins, all identical to the Coffin illusion Qi Si had seen earlier in the fog—same carvings, same Coffin nails.

The smoke from burning paper offerings came from the right side room. Red gauze curtains hung from the ceiling, separating the side room from the passageway.

Through a layer of gauze, one could only vaguely see a hunched figure kneeling in the center of the side room, likely the person burning the paper.

Just now, the players—mainly Qi Si—had made quite a commotion. Yet this person remained unmoving, which was rather peculiar.

Qi Si walked around the candle stand, approached, gently lifted the gauze curtain, and said with a smile: “Hello.”