"Stop!" At that critical moment, the village chief raised his arm high, bellowed with all his might.

That shout was remarkably effective; the crowd **ceased moving within seconds.

The village chief raised his staff, pointing it at the two of us, and commanded, "Keep an eye on these two.

Set up a temporary wake in the main hall for the body.

We'll deal with them after the police investigate the situation." The moment the words fell, two or three men stepped forward automatically, shoving Wang Jue and me into the inner room before slamming the door shut.

This was immediately followed by the distinct shush-shush sound of chains being locked.

If one sentence could describe our current predicament, it would be, "Failure before achieving the goal." We had traveled a thousand li to find Hua Jinlan to save my elder sister, yet we hadn't found her, the sister remained unsaved, and we ourselves were effectively dead in the water.

I hadn't examined this inner room closely before, but looking around now, there was no bed, no table, no cabinet—the four walls were bare.

The stool I had used to help move the body earlier had also vanished, I didn't know when it was taken out.

In a normal household, this room would likely be a bedroom for the owner or a guest.

But here? Nothing at all.

It was truly bizarre.

Even stranger was the fact that the crossbeam was over three meters high.

Without any tools to stand on, how on earth did Scarface manage to hang himself from it? I knew that Wang Jue and I had stood in the main hall for a full two hours.

During that time, no one—except Scarface himself—had entered this inner chamber.

Bringing in stools or tables was even less likely.

If there had been someone else inside, we should have seen them come out! Wang Jue slid down to the floor, resting against the wall.

It was clear he was utterly exhausted.

A continuous trek spanning dozens of hours without sleep was no small feat, even for a normal person. "It'll be fine once the police arrive," I tried to reassure him. "Mm," Wang Jue took a deep breath, nodding with his eyes closed.

Silence stretched for a long time, and I soon sat down beside him on the ground.

I couldn't tell how much time passed before the faint shush-shush sound of chains echoed outside again.

The door opened just a narrow crack, and an earthenware teapot was pushed through the gap.

I reached out and took the pot, then leaned against the door to peer out.

The one handing over the tea was a little girl of about seven or eight, with two pigtails bouncing on her head and a pair of bright, flickering eyes that were quite lovely. "Little girl, what's your name?" I asked, smiling at her. "Ali." "Ali, can you do me a favor?" "What kind of favor?" "Help me call the village chief over for a moment, I have something I need to tell him.

This candy is for you." I figured the person with the most authority in the village was the only one who could help us escape this predicament in the short term.

If we could dispel his suspicions, perhaps we could be released. "No can do.

The chief said not to listen to anything you say, just wait for the police to take you away," Ali replied, her big eyes blinking as she showed she was determined to stick to the rules.

It seemed Wang Jue’s sweet persuasion wasn't effective on every child.

For those who were resolute and particularly obedient, we could only sigh longingly at the candy. "Well then, okay.

Did the chief say you couldn't play with me?" Ali looked up at the ceiling, paused in thought for a few seconds, then shook her head at me.

Heh, a child is always a child.

I said, "How about we play a Q&A game, you and I? I ask the questions, you answer them, and if you get it right, I give you a piece of candy."