Ita Era

Chapter 26 Peach Blossom Village (24)

The three walked to the side, and the village chief and the others had no objections. Ding Shi subconsciously followed, his mind trying to connect what he had observed with the truth, attempting to understand it once more.

Zhang San said, "My point is simple. If we want to leave the instance, we either die or take the minibus at 8 AM on the eighth day. Assuming there's no danger, we can complete the main quest and leave the instance happily. But if there is danger, and the villagers all run away, who will take our place? Won't the ghosts just come after us directly?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Qi found it quite reasonable. After all, she had seen ghosts before, and said, "That makes sense." She looked at Ding Shi, hoping he would say something.

Ding Shi looked at Zhang San: "Have you guessed why Haitang disrupted the sacrificial ceremony?"

Zhang San turned his head and said, "Don't talk nonsense, I don't know."

Ding Shi said, "At first, I knew you might have had a shady past, so I never thought about other possibilities. But the village chief's rules were beyond my expectations. He said that even if you were sleeping, you didn't break the rules of the ritual. After thinking about it carefully, I realized that I had treated Haitang as an NPC who lacked player emotions."

“Haitang is a young woman in her prime. She fell in love with you at first sight, and she’s quite young, plus she’s a rural woman of this era,” Ding Shi said. “I don’t know what kind of personality Haitang has, and I don’t know how eloquent you are, but based on my experience with similar girls, you’ll at most reach second base within six days. I came to the San Niang Temple yesterday morning and saw Haitang. She seemed normal, but she seems a bit off today.”

Zhang San said, "Wang Wu, don't be so clever. We're facing a problem now, and we need to work together to solve it."

Ding Shi looked into Zhang San's eyes and said, word by word, "You forced yourself on her, and she forgave you and accepted you."

Sun Qi looked at Zhang San in shock. Zhang San opened his mouth several times but stopped, finally uttering only one sentence: "You're talking nonsense."

Ding Shi continued, "Regarding the fate of her substitute, Haitang, I can't guess whether Third Sister resents her for not fighting back, pities her for her misfortune, or is angry at her for not doing anything. But Third Sister's resentment stems from this."

Sun Qi snapped out of his daze and angrily said, "Can't you men control your lower bodies? Zhao Liu's example is still fresh in our minds."

Zhang San said urgently, "Keep your voice down." He glanced at the village chief and the others.

The small circle quieted down, and Zhang San said, "I truly love her."

Ding Shi nearly vomited, saying, "No, don't explain to us. Since she has forgiven and accepted you, it has nothing to do with anyone else." If Haitang asked Ding Shi for help, he would definitely lend a hand. He believed that most people would help her, even if it was just to call the police for her.

Zhang San said, "How about this, it's better to believe it's true than not to believe it's not. Let Haitang repent at the San Niang Temple. Maybe San Niang can forgive Haitang? In any case, we can't agree to let the villagers leave the village."

Ding Shi agreed with this after consideration.

Sun Qi nodded in agreement; of course she understood the basic principle of "better to die than to die for oneself."

Zhang San led the two back, and after adopting the opinions of the three players, the village chief and Daoist Baiyun decided that the sacrificial ceremony would proceed as scheduled.

Zhang San suggested, "Since the Taoist priest has calculated that this matter may be related to Haitang, why not let Haitang stay in the San Niang Temple to repent?"

Ding Shi and Sun Qi exchanged a glance but remained silent. The best course of action now was to explain the situation to Haitang, who still didn't know how she had angered San Niang. If Haitang could offer targeted repentance, it might be able to appease San Niang's spirit.

Zhang San pulled Haitang aside and spoke to her in a low voice for a long time. Haitang nodded obediently.

Many people understand repentance as making excuses for one's actions. Ding Shi believes repentance is unconditionally accepting one's mistakes. For example, when late for work, many people explain to their supervisor that they were stuck in traffic, while others admit their mistake and promise not to repeat it. Supervisors are obviously more likely to accept the latter explanation.

As the spirit of the supervisor, San Niang should have wanted to hear Haitang analyze her mistakes, not listen to Haitang make excuses for herself. As a victim, she was not wrong in the first place, but the mistake lies in forgiving or even accepting the abuser.

Ding Shi knew perfectly well that Haitang would say Zhang San acted uncontrollably because he deeply loved her, and that she was willing to forgive and accept him because she loved him too. Besides, San Niang was really meddling in other people's business.

……

On the sixth day at noon, after lunch, the fog grew even thicker. Ding Shi walked to the village entrance and saw that the thick fog had covered the road. Zhao the Blind, sitting in the bus shelter, said, "No one can leave now."

Ding Shi was startled and turned to look at Blind Zhao: "What are you doing here during mealtime?"

Zhao the Blind sighed, stood up, walked to Ding Shi's side, looked at the thick fog a few meters away, and replied, "No one is cooking."

Ding Shi asked with a smile, "Uncle Zhao, is it more tragic to have no one to cook, or to be shrouded in this thick fog?"

Zhao the Blind said, "You can still laugh? Do you know what will be released if the sacrifice fails?"

Ding Shi asked, "Third Sister's soul?"

Zhao the Blind said, "No, it's an evil spirit, a bound spirit. It can enter and exit houses in its soul form. When it wants to kill someone, it will revert to its true form and deliver a fatal blow to its target."

Ding Shi said, "I have heard that evil spirits are subject to the restrictions of the Heavenly Way."

Blind Zhao: "That's right. It kills people under certain conditions. Most evil spirits only have one condition for killing, while a few have two. For example, sight—if it sees you, it can kill you. Or sound—if you make a certain sound, or make a loud sound, it can kill you. The evil spirit Third Sister is a little different; her range of activity is the entire village. The wider her range of activity, the more conditions are required for killing her."

Ding Shi asked, "Based on your experience, Uncle Zhao, what are the possible preconditions for Third Sister to commit murder?"

Blind Zhao: "Three kinds."

Ding asked, "Which three?"

Blind Zhao: "I only know one thing: don't make eye contact with it."

Ding Shi didn't understand: "It's a spirit, we can't see it, we can't make eye contact with it. Since we can't make eye contact with it, we can't trigger the prerequisites, so Third Sister can't turn into a physical form to kill people."

Zhao the Blind Man said with some distress, "I don't quite understand it either, but this is a saying that was passed down from my grandfather."

Ding asked, "Why don't we talk about people during the day and ghosts at night?"

Zhao the Blind said, "This is just a folk taboo. It is said that if you talk about ghosts at night, the ghosts in the neighborhood will be attracted. It's like banging on your bowl while eating, which will attract beggars to your door."

Ding Shi handed Zhao the blind man a cigarette and said, "Uncle Zhao, you don't seem nervous at all. Do you have a way to escape? Why don't you tell me, and we can escape together?"
Instead of answering, Zhao the Blind asked, "From what you're saying, you're quite certain the sacrifice will fail."

Ding Shi laughed and said, "How could that be? Haha." I knew the sacrifice had failed, yet I still agreed to continue it. Without waiting for San Niang to intervene, I would end up like Li Si: beaten to death and buried by the villagers.

Blind Zhao walked back, accompanied by Ding Shi. Looking at the village, Blind Zhao sighed, "Why did such a good village have to suffer such a calamity?"

Why? Because of us.

(End of this chapter)