I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

First mirror copy.

Lin Jianguo led a few people toward the old locust tree at the entrance of the village.

Several elderly people were sitting here, all with gray hair and sunken mouths, looking as if they had lost all their teeth.

On the way, Yang Hexuan kept muttering, "What's so taboo about rats... There are so many cats in the village, how come there's still a rat infestation?"

"The stranger something is, the more likely there is a problem."

Lin Jianguo glanced at him and said, "Don't talk nonsense later. I'll ask you. Xiao Yang, especially you, don't bring up the 'human-headed rat' thing right away, understand?"

"Understood, Uncle Lin." Yang Hexuan was a little unconvinced, but he still agreed.

The other players walked alongside, saying little, but their eyes were always on the wall.

The player squatted down in front of a house and pointed to a small hole in the wall:

"Look, a mouse hole. The entrance is completely bare, which means mice frequently go in and out of here... But why is this mouse hole so big?"

It looked several times larger than the holes dug by ordinary animals, and there were a few fresh rat droppings scattered around it.

This huge rat was stuck to the house, looking like an ugly patch.

But this family didn't fill in the rat hole.

……

Three old men sat cross-legged under the old locust tree, puffing on their pipes and chatting idly:

"This year's harvest is good, and our children and grandchildren are all filial."

"In the winter month, a young man went into the mountains and was carried off by wolves—"

"Oh dear, his parents must be heartbroken. They raised him to be this old, and he should have been married by now, but he's gone."

Upon seeing the player approach, the old man stopped talking, looked over, and his eyes showed no emotion.

……

"Gentlemen, are you taking a rest?"

Lin Jianguo walked over with a smile, patted his pockets, and then reluctantly put his hand down. "We are a film crew invited by the village chief to shoot a folk documentary. We want to ask about the local customs and traditions of our village so we can include them in the film."

The old men stiffly moved their necks.

"Film a documentary? Go ahead and film it. Our village held such a grand funeral; it'll be famous for miles around from now on."

The white-bearded old man spoke, his tone tinged with envy:

"Grandma Huang is blessed. All four of her sons are successful and filial, and her birthday banquet was a grand affair."

The old man next to him chimed in:

"Yes, her husband died young, and she raised her children as a single mother. If her four sons are unfilial, they'll be struck by lightning."

"Our village is wonderful, the people are wonderful, and the water is wonderful."

"Yes, yes, yes."

Lin Jianguo squatted down and, as if chatting, continued the conversation:

"I see that every household in our village is living a good life. They live in small villas and drive cars. It's better than living in the city."

There's something strange, though. I see rat holes in every house's door. Are there a lot of rats in our village?

Upon hearing this, the smiles on the three old men's faces instantly froze.

As if he had asked something he shouldn't have, an old man with a white beard drooped his eyelids, his expression inexplicably sinister:

"Rats? There are no rats at all. Our village is very clean. Young man, don't talk nonsense."

"Yes, yes, no mice."

Another old man immediately chimed in, "But the stray cats have become quite a handful, stealing chickens and ducks every day, it's so annoying. There are no mice, never—and you're not allowed to kill mice either..."

The three people's mouths opened and closed, their eyes glazed over.

It doesn't resemble a living person, but rather a pre-programmed sequence, replicated on some kind of puppet or paper effigy.

There's something strange about it.

There are rat holes in the village, but they say there are no rats in the village.

But then he changed his mind and said that killing rats was not allowed in the village.

But this is a very crucial clue.

Lin Jianguo understood: "So that's how it is. Those stray cats meowing all day is really annoying. I heard them meowing all night when I entered the village. Are there many cats around here?"

"So many! Absolutely so!"

When cats are mentioned, the old men become more talkative, their voices filled with fear:

"They are all stray cats that no one cares about, some are black and some are yellow. They meow like they are crying at night, it's really creepy."

They even bit Old Li's son to death a while ago; they're really wicked.

Upon hearing this, the players' expressions changed.

What kind of cat can bite a person to death?

They inexplicably thought of the claw marks on the quicklime.

"Grandpa, did Grandma Huang also keep cats before?" Yang Hexuan interjected.

"I've raised them before."

The white-bearded old man nodded, and for some reason, his lips trembled slightly.

"When Grandma Huang was alive, she raised a big black cat. She brought it home as a kitten, and then she really raised it like her own son."

The old lady died, and then the cat disappeared; nobody knows where it went.

"How big is that cat?"

"It's quite big."

The old man next to him gestured:

"It's almost half a person's height. I've raised it for over ten years, it's practically a spirit. The old lady wouldn't even eat a steamed bun herself, she'd give it to the cat first."

Later, when the old lady couldn't get up, the cat started stealing things everywhere, feeding her steamed buns, meat, and stuff... sigh, never mind.

—It seems that none of the four brothers in the Huang family are filial.

Lin Jianguo became increasingly certain: his own mother couldn't even afford a steamed bun, and when she was seriously ill and unable to get out of bed, it was the cat that "fed" the old lady out of gratitude.

So, could the eerie meowing of cats in the village be related to the missing black cat?

Yang Hexuan was about to burst out, and winked at Lin Jianguo, signaling him to ask about the human-headed rat.

The latter carefully chose his words and gave him a look.

Yang Hexuan immediately interjected:

"Sir, when we were filming the encoffining ceremony just now, we saw a rat in the morgue with a human head. It was absolutely terrifying! What was that?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the three old men's faces turned pale instantly.

Their necks made a "crackling" sound as their heads turned around simultaneously, the sounds hoarse and strained.

"There are no rats in the village."

"There's a cat plague in the village."

"There are no rats in the village."

"There's a cat plague in the village."

The shadow of the locust tree fell directly onto the area around the eyes of the three old men, so dark that the color of their pupils was impossible to discern.

Coupled with the eerie tone, it sent chills down everyone's spines.

At this inopportune moment, Lin Jianguo remembered that in his hometown, locust trees were called "ghost" trees.

Are all the people in this village really alive?

The moment the thought crossed Lin Jianguo's mind, a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

……

……

Seemingly fearful of the darkness of Wenshan Village, the remaining two groups of players also rushed back to the ancestral hall before dusk.

Suya and Yang Asha returned with a bag of lime—the lime they had sprinkled the night before had been mostly soaked by the snowmelt, and Suya had asked Huang Facai for some more.

Yang Hexuan and Lin Jianguo and a few others also rushed back.

After all ten people gathered, they returned to the ancestral hall one after another, closed the door, and sat around in the side room to gather information.

"These are the few things we can confirm at the moment."

Suya took out paper and pen and marked it out in the notebook, listing it out one by one—fortunately, her role in the dungeon was that of a director, so she could find these things.

"First, Old Mrs. Huang died unjustly. Her four sons appeared to be filial, but in reality, they were not. The villagers were very secretive about how the old lady died, which suggests that Old Mrs. Huang probably did not die a natural death."

"Secondly, the old lady had a large, pure black cat that was very intelligent and had a human-like nature.

The cat disappeared after the old woman died, and the villagers became very wary of it, getting angry and turning pale at the mere mention of it.

"Third, there are many stray cats in the village. They dare to squat on the walls and stare at people during the day, and they are even more ferocious at night."

Village chief Huang Facai repeatedly emphasized that quicklime can repel stray cats, indicating that these cats do indeed break into homes and may even kill people.

"Fourth, the village has a rat infestation, with rat holes in every household, but the villagers never mention it, or they will get angry if they do."

Four clues, clearly listed on the paper, still form a tangled mess when strung together.

"I think this black cat came for revenge!"

Xiao Ding spoke first, his tone very certain: "I've seen too many stories like this. A son is unfilial to his own mother, the cat understands human nature, so it avenges its owner and comes out at night to kill!"

"revenge?"

Yang Hexuan immediately retorted, "If it wants revenge, it should go find the Huang brothers! Why is it coming after us outsiders? We didn't harm the old lady!"

That hit the nail on the head.

Yes.

Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor; go find the person who caused the harm.

What are those cats doing staring at this foreign film crew?

No one thought that the cat had been circling outside the ancestral hall all night just to come in and be affectionate.

That's a killer cat!

"Could it be... that I've mistaken someone for someone else?"

Yang Asha whispered, "We have a saying where I'm from that place: animals have developed intelligence, but in the end, they're still not as smart as humans."

Did she not recognize the person who harmed her master, so she killed indiscriminately, or... did she think all outsiders were bad people?

"That's possible."

One player scoffed, "A beast is still a beast. Even if it understands human nature, it's not as smart as a human. It might even think that everyone in the village is the murderer of its master."

The crowd discussed it animatedly, and the more they talked, the more plausible it seemed.

Suya's mind was in complete turmoil.

She always felt it wasn't that simple.

If it's just the cat taking revenge, then what about the rat infestation?

How do you explain the human-headed rat that Yang Hexuan saw?

Why are the villagers so secretive about rats, and even forbid them from killing them?

"Don't stray from the main plot."

She interrupted the discussion, saying, "Our main task is to help Grandma Huang fulfill her wish."

The problem now is that the old lady is dead, and no one knows what her wish was.

Whether they want to seek justice, find the cat, or something else, these are all just our guesses at the moment.

"What should we do then?" Xiao Ding frowned. "The person is dead. How can we know the wishes of an old woman from the countryside?"

If her wish is something abstract like "having filial children and grandchildren" or "living another five hundred years," then we can't fulfill that wish either.

"So the problem still lies with the mission."

Lin Jianguo said in a deep voice, his gaze sweeping over Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Qian, "Out of five tasks, we only completed three and obtained three clues."

"If we manage to provide food and blindfold them, we might learn even more."

Upon hearing this, both of their faces turned pale instantly.

All eyes were on the two of them.

"Is it all my fault?"

Xiao Zhuang was a little angry: "How was I supposed to know there were so many rules for setting up a meal? I didn't do anything wrong. If you're so good, then you do it."

"that is."

Xiao Qian chimed in with a low voice, "It's not entirely my fault that I didn't complete the task."

Seeing that another argument was about to break out, Su Ya was a little tired and quickly waved her hand to smooth things over: "Alright, everyone stop talking, arguing won't get us anywhere."

She looked at the group, her tone calm:

"Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the morgue again; that should be the room where the old lady lived before she died."

See if you can look inside the house for letters or anything like that; maybe you can find the old lady's wish.

"Go...go again?" one player hesitated. "That house is really eerie. What if the old lady comes back to life?"

"It's okay if you don't want to go."

Lin Jianguo said calmly, "Then everyone can stay here and wait until the lime stops working and the cat comes in to kill us."

He had absolutely no idea that the lime could protect them indefinitely.

The players looked at each other, and the leading players had no choice but to accept the proposal.

So everyone prepared to rest and recharge tonight, and look for more clues tomorrow.

Suya and Yang Asha are on night duty tonight. The first half of the night went peacefully.

only……

Su Ya touched her lips and felt that her skin was prickly, as if something was struggling to grow out.

"It's just an illusion."

She tried to comfort herself, clutching the porcelain bottle and silver bell hanging around her neck.