"Just one person needs to carry a light—we don't know how long before we can get out. Conserve your phone's battery and remember to switch to power-saving mode," Ning Zhe said as he clicked on his flashlight. "I'll go first—I've got a power bank on me."
"All right." Feng Yushu nodded.
By flashlight beam, the two threaded their way through the alley. Beneath the flagstone path, water gurgled in a drainage channel.
Just as Zhang Yangxu had warned, this evening in Hejia Village every door was locked and every window shuttered. Ning Zhe tried several doors—all were bolted tight and wouldn't budge. He stopped in frustration.
"Hm… Ning Zhe?" Feng Yushu whispered.
"Nothing. I wanted to ask you something," Ning Zhe said after a moment's thought. "Auntie, you said that after you pushed open the hotel room's door you found yourself here. The stainless-steel doorknob instantly became a bronze latch, and the hotel's security door turned into an old wooden one…"
Feng Yushu nodded repeatedly. "That's right. What do you want to know?"
"I want to find the door you opened when you first arrived in Hejia Village," Ning Zhe said directly. "Let's go see it."
"Ah? Sure." Feng Yushu agreed and led the way.
The shrine to the snake god stood on the village's south side, while the door Feng Yushu had opened lay near the village center. From the shrine, she guided Ning Zhe northward, deeper among the stone-and-tile houses.
All along the way, Ning Zhe tried pushing locked doors, but none offered any hint of weakness. In the stillness, the moonlight guided them through the maze of bluestone alleys until a stone arch bridge appeared ahead.
Hejia Village sat beside a river that split it into east and west halves. Three arched bridges spanned the flow; this was the southernmost.
Crossing to the far bank, they soon reached the house Feng Yushu had first emerged from.
"This is it." Feng Yushu stopped at a door that opened outward—the only unlocked door they'd seen.
"The single-story room is empty inside. Only a few stray straw bundles lie on the floor. It must have been a woodshed or an abandoned cowshed," Ning Zhe observed. He shut the door and opened it again—nothing happened. "As expected…"
There was no easy way to find an exit from the village.
Feng Yushu glanced at her watch: 1:10 a.m.
Forty minutes had passed, leaving less than an hour before their agreed meeting time of 2:30 a.m.
"Let's go back and look elsewhere on the way?" she suggested.
"It's our only option," Ning Zhe admitted.
They retraced their steps across the arch bridge. By now the clouds had parted, and bright moonlight shimmered on the water below as it rushed beneath the bridge.
Leaning on the stone railing, Ning Zhe hurried onward—when suddenly the ground gave way under his foot.
"Ning Zhe!" Feng Yushu cried.
With a crack of stone, he lost his balance and one leg plunged through the collapsed bridge deck. Reacting swiftly, he braced himself with both hands and prevented a complete fall. The stone slab he'd stepped on had broken off and tumbled into the river, sending a spray of water into the air.
"What the hell…" Ning Zhe frowned, hauled himself up from the gaping hole, and hurried off the bridge, his heart pounding.
Feng Yushu rushed over, shining her flashlight over him. "Are you hurt? It's good you're all right… How could this happen? The bridge just collapsed…"
Ning Zhe stood at the bridge's edge, gripping a stone column, equally baffled.
"What's going on… Why do I have such lousy luck? And why this clumsy kind of bad luck?" he muttered. "I didn't break any taboo, so how could I be jinxed?"
He replayed the day's auspices in his mind:
● Allowed: (none)
● Forbidden: Travel, burial rites, funeral processions, offering sacrifices
"I definitely didn't violate the travel prohibition. Hiding Lin Zhiyuan's body beneath the altar isn't 'burial' or a 'funeral,' and I didn't perform any 'sacrifice.' Who did I sacrifice to?"
He ran through every event since midnight but found nothing conflicting with the day's almanac.
"This makes no sense. Could the snake god have gone mad and started killing at random, without waiting for someone to break a taboo?" That was the only explanation he could conceive—though reason told him it might be wrong.
"No, think again. Did I truly violate none of the forbidden acts?"
He retraced every step: travel—no. Burial—highly unlikely. Funeral procession—no. Sacrifice—wait… could it be sacrifice? But what sacrifice had he made? "Who did I sacrifice to?!"
Feng Yushu watched him anxiously, terrified by his inexplicable misfortune.
"Hold on—sacrifice! Of course. I sacrificed to the snake god… I used Lin Zhiyuan's body as an offering."
Everything clicked into place. Even their safe passage through the shrine earlier was explained.
"Ning Zhe? Are you all right?" Feng Yushu asked tentatively.
"I'm fine." He sighed and shook his head. "I unknowingly broke today's taboo, and that's why I got unlucky. Fortunately, it wasn't fatal—just a warning from the snake god, who is generous even when angered."
"I see. We must be extra careful not to offend again," he murmured.
He looked up at Feng Yushu. "Let's hurry back to the shrine."
"All right." She nodded. As they turned to leave, her phone rang.
She unlocked it and saw the caller ID—Xie Sining.
"Why is Xie Sining calling?" Feng Yushu wondered aloud as she answered.
Before she could speak, her face drained of color and she screamed, pointing at the river: "Ning Zhe! There's something in the water!"
Ning Zhe spun around. In the moonlight, they saw a human-shaped form drifting downriver. The figure wore a women's suit jacket and a tight pencil skirt with black stockings. One high heel was missing, its ribbons fluttering at the ankle.
"That body is… Xie Sining?"
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild