After discussing it, the four agreed they should wait a little longer in the ancestral hall. If there were any survivors in Hejia Village who understood the concept of "taboo," they would surely come to the hall and consult the almanac to check today's auspicious and inauspicious omens.
But tonight something strange happened: every door in Hejia Village was shut, every window closed, and not a single household ventured out to the hall to check the day's omens.
This was highly abnormal—and abnormality meant something uncanny.
"Any leads?" Zhang Yangxu asked while they waited.
"None," Ning Zhe shook his head. "Hejia villagers always come to the hall at midnight to consult the almanac. Today they didn't come—either they no longer care about seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune, or they have another way of knowing the omens. Or… maybe something dangerous is in the hall, and they dared not enter."
"Oh?" Zhang Yangxu sounded curious. "Is that so?"
"I don't know—just speculation," Ning Zhe spread his hands.
"Danger…?" Feng Yushu turned pale at the thought. A devoted Buddhist who had witnessed the serpent god's strangeness in Hejia Village, she was already trembling with fear; every action felt perilous.
She glanced at the spirit tablet and the serpent-god statue on the lotus pedestal, then looked imploringly at Ning Zhe. "Why don't we step outside and wait? Staying before the serpent god—might that be offensive?"
"I think that makes sense," Ning Zhe agreed, glancing at Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining. "What do you think?"
"That's reasonable. One doesn't linger in someone else's ancestral hall, especially here," Xie Sining agreed. "Mr. Zhang, shall we step out?"
Zhang Yangxu exchanged a brief look with Ning Zhe and nodded. "Let's go."
The four left the lotus pedestal and stood under the eaves outside the hall.
Strangers had little to talk about. Xie Sining suggested they share how each had become trapped in Hejia Village. Perhaps they could uncover common clues or find a way to leave.
Feng Yushu went first: "Yesterday—or rather, the day before—I stayed in a hotel in Gubei Town with my husband and daughter. Because my husband often works alone at night, we booked three rooms: his, mine, and my daughter's.
"At about 7 p.m., I made some coffee to take to his room… but when I opened the door and stepped over the threshold, I didn't find the hotel room. Instead, I stood in a narrow lane paved with bluestone slabs."
Her voice trembled as she continued, "In my hand, the stainless-steel doorknob had become an old brass latch. Behind me stood a low stone-and-tiled cottage, empty inside—as if I had just emerged from its doorway."
Zhang Yangxu nodded. "Similar here. My car was parked at a gas station outside Gubei Town. My driver went to the restroom; I asked Sining to buy me a pack of cigarettes. She didn't return, and my messages went unanswered. I opened the car door to look for her—and found myself here."
Xie Sining added, "I did buy the cigarettes at the gas station's shop. When I pushed open its door, I wasn't on the concrete forecourt any longer, but on the stone slabs of Hejia Village's street."
"I'll be blunt," Ning Zhe nodded. "I returned home, pushed open the old mansion's gate—and arrived here."
Zhang Yangxu's eyes narrowed in thought.
Coincidence? Or destiny? Whether it was an old mansion gate, a hotel room door, a shop's glass door—even a car door—the four had entered Hejia Village through some kind of door. Ning Zhe's expression remained calm, though he thought: Too bad Lin Zhiyuan is dead—otherwise I could ask how he came here. Was it through a door, too?
Suddenly, a black shape flickered at the edge of Ning Zhe's vision and vanished.
"There's someone in the alley opposite—he's running!" Ning Zhe immediately pulled out his phone, turned on its flashlight, and aimed it at the narrow lane across the street.
A phone flashlight's beam is short—Ning Zhe did this simply to transmit the black shape's location quickly and clearly to the others. Descriptive words would lag and might mislead.
Strangely, the dark figure who had fled stopped upon seeing Ning Zhe's flashlight.
He took two steps forward—and a white light clicked on in his hand. A flashlight.
"Thank goodness—survivors!" Feng Yushu exhaled so hard her heart pounded in her chest.
As they approached, they saw not one but two people: a young man and woman, both looking scarcely older than college students.
"Hello, I'm Gu Yunqing," the young man introduced himself, then gestured beside him. "This is my senior—our names are on our internship IDs from Qinzhou Medical University."
"I'm Ye Miaozhu," said Gu Yunqing's senior. "Were you also accidentally drawn here?"
Ning Zhe nodded.
After exchanging their stories and confirming identities with their internship cards, Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu explained they were intern doctors. Qinzhou Medical University had a tradition of sending students to rural clinics for experience, like a teaching-service program, and their clinic was in Gubei Town.
Like Ning Zhe and the others, they had both arrived by pushing through a clinic door and a pharmacy door.
"See—doors again," Ning Zhe's theory felt more certain. "If we all entered Hejia Village through 'doors,' might there also be a hidden door here that lets us leave this eerie world and return to reality?"
"Possibly," Zhang Yangxu agreed.
He then asked Ye Miaozhu, "You know about taboos and auspices, so why didn't you enter the hall to check the almanac? Why wait in the alley?"
Ye Miaozhu shook her head. "We dared not enter."
Gu Yunqing added, "Hejia villagers always come at the proper time to check the almanac—but today, none have come. Do you know why?"
"Why?" Feng Yushu asked hurriedly.
Gu Yunqing drew a deep breath. "I overheard two older villagers saying… that the serpent god is ill, and today is the day of Its sickness."
Reference Glossary:
Ancestral hall – A traditional Chinese building where ancestors' tablets are enshrined and rituals are performed.
Chinese almanac – Atraditional calendar and fortune-telling guide used to determine auspicious and inauspicious days.
Hour of Zi – The first of the twelve traditional Chinese double-hours, roughly 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Snake God – A local deity often worshipped in rural southern China, associated with fertility, rain, and protection.