Mythology Returns! Starting with Folklore and Strange Tales

Although, as an outsider who was just passing through, he could have easily treated these villagers as NPCs and just done his own thing, his brother's act of sacrificing himself to feed the wolves last night, the comforting words he received afterward, and the villagers rushing to his door to help early this morning...

These scenes made it really hard for him to regard the villagers as mindless NPCs.

As for the game, there are gameplay elements like the Fourth Calamity, and naturally, there's also an immersive aspect. How you play is up to the players, but you also have to bear the consequences of the storyline changes that follow your choices.

"Auntie knows!"

Zhang Wei was pondering how to explain himself to gain the adults' trust, but as soon as he finished speaking, he looked up and saw a pair of eyes that were hard to tell whether it was pity or affection: "My poor Gou Dan, growing up is fine, but he has to run into this kind of trouble!"

When a great man transforms like a tiger, his brilliance shines; when a virtuous man transforms like a leopard, his elegance flourishes; when a petty man changes his appearance, he becomes subservient to his lord...

This is an explanation given by cultured people for the sudden change in the personality and attitude towards life of young people, but people from the countryside don't have such a refined way of putting it.

Boys, in order to grow up, always have to go through some trials and tribulations.

The gentlest evolution is marriage and children, but things are often not as one wishes. Losing one's father in youth and one's wife in middle age are both sources of intense grief that drive rapid growth. In the eyes of the third aunt, she watched helplessly as her own brother was bitten to death by a wolf spirit, and her parents who left home met a similar fate.

The blow of losing a family overnight and having only one person left, if one doesn't grow up and still acts like a child, then that person is no different from a good-for-nothing.

Of course, it's also possible that someone might have a sudden, desperate thought and go crazy.

But the current Gou Dan (Zhang Wei) is clearly the former!

"That old man is about the same age as your grandparents. Farmers of that age are in their prime, so how could he have any difficulty walking? If he really had difficulty walking, would he have managed to stroll all the way to our village?"

Taking a couple of deep breaths to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes, she hugged Zhang Wei's third aunt and explained, "It's just that your uncles have to go out to look for your parents. The village is busy with Niu Dan's funeral arrangements, and they also have to keep an eye on the village and take care of the farm work. They're too busy to manage everything. Otherwise, your aunt would have sent someone to keep an eye on that old man long ago!"

"But it's alright. Auntie will talk to him when people come back from the fields later. If the old man still isn't leaving by dusk, then he shouldn't be leaving!"

As she spoke, a hint of fierceness flashed across Third Aunt's simple and honest face.

None of the survivors of that cataclysmic event were kind-hearted. As for what to do if the old man disappears... these days, isn't it normal for a few people to go missing in the mountains and villages?

They chatted as they walked towards home.

When they got home, his aunt left Zhang Wei alone for a while while she went to do housework.

Zhang Wei was happy to relax and wander around the yard and around the house, and sure enough, he discovered a few good things:

[The newly awakened Kitchen God statue, offerings limited to: meat, cooked food]

[The blind door gods: Qi and Ling]

The somewhat weak-looking Earth God Temple

Sacrifice Requirements: Five Grains, Soul

Without lavish sacrifices, relying solely on meager incense offerings during festivals, the spirituality of the land god, which is fading into slumber, is difficult to sustain.

Effect: Obtain one piece of information about the village each day, and obtain one piece of useful information for each silhouette (copy).

The non-single silhouette can serve as a transit point for traveler information, where one can consume merit points to purchase items, spells, and consumables (this function is temporarily disabled due to the special nature of the silhouette (Traveler Trial)).

Today's message: Due to shifting social sentiments and the simplification of sacrificial rites, the village ancestral hall and household gods have weakened. Lacking protection, the villagers may encounter dangers during the Cold Clothes Festival, a time when yin energy is dominant and yang energy is weak.

Silhouette information: In recent days, many children have gone missing from the surrounding villages. The local earth god has sensed something, but being old and frail and lacking incense offerings, he has only managed to suppress the malevolent forces causing the Cold Clothes Festival uprising to the best of his ability, and is powerless to do anything else.

Of the three statues of gods that could be seen, only the Earth God was still functioning, but none of the information the Earth God provided was what Zhang Wei wanted to know.

"The household gods are weak and lack protection; with the Cold Clothes Festival approaching, children are lost; evil spirits are lurking..."

Others might encounter a monster and escape death, making them protagonists in folk tales. But in his case, there are already three or four mentioned by name, and there might even be a whole group involved.

Is this really something a complete newbie with no experience could handle?

Zhang Wei was brainstorming, pondering his next plan. As he thought about it, he walked around the courtyard gate and stood outside. His casual gaze swept over the distant mountains and forests before he suddenly stopped: "Let's go!"

A figure with steady steps walks along the steep mountainside.

Thanks to his still-developing eyesight, Zhang Wei recognized at a glance that the man carrying a shoulder pole on the mountain was the same old vegetable seller who had tried to touch him earlier.

"Why not take the perfectly good village road and climb the mountain? Is it because you have difficulty walking?"

Thanks to the unique geographical environment of the Loess Plateau, the mountains here are not as lush as those in the south. Unless there is human intervention, the vegetation on the mountains is mostly scattered in patches, and it is rare to see a continuous mountain range. This gave Zhang Wei the basis to discover the other party.

Ever since the wolf spirit's words last night confirmed that the historical backdrop he was in was Men Dundun and Lao Diaodiao, Zhang Wei had been on guard against the kidnapper who might exist in the story's plot.

The old man who was unusually selling vegetables in the countryside was Zhang Wei's first suspect, especially since the man, a stranger, had taken the initiative to pat his head and give him candy.

His decision to climb mountains instead of taking the main road has only fueled Zhang Wei's suspicions.

The scanning gaze gradually swept across the old man's path.

Suddenly, a chilling sensation, like thorns in my back, crept up my head.

Zhang Wei looked in the direction his senses were coming from and noticed a pair of red eyes scrutinizing him from under a grove of trees in the mountains.

Although he felt unwell, he still looked around carefully.

It was something with a humanoid form, but its height far exceeded that of ordinary people. Especially from a distance, in an almost blurry field of vision, Zhang Wei could still feel that the other party was smiling at him.

[Congratulations, traveler, for discovering the main Easter egg – the old cat monkey!]

Red eyes, green nose, four hairy hooves, clattering as it walks, it wants to eat live children...

The sudden appearance of the subtitles startled Zhang Wei, who was already focused on his work. When he came to his senses and looked back at the grove of trees, the eerie, enormous figure was no longer there.

Old cat monkey?

This is more familiar to me than the wolf spirit.

Every child living in the Central Plains region lived in constant fear of the old cat-monkey until they fell into a deep sleep.