Miao Village? I strained to recall everything that had happened there: Scarface hanging himself, the zombie breakout, the capture of Scarface, the appearance of Bai Huaqian… I filtered every single detail through my mind, terrified of missing even a fraction. Yet, after thinking for ages, I still couldn't piece together a coherent sequence.

Xiao Shu was beside me, helping me sift through these events, hoping to find a clue related to Wang Jue.

So far, the only strange things I could remember happening to Wang Jue, besides being enchanted by the mermaid, were the night we captured Scarface, when he transformed into a warrior alongside the other villagers to fight the zombies. However, he had absolutely no memory of that incident, and it seemed no one else suffered the same 'fae-like' issues he did; at least, Hua Gu hadn't mentioned anyone else in the village being like Wang Jue.

“Right,” Xiao Shu asked, “did anything happen to any of the women you encountered along the way?”

“A woman having an issue?” My first thought went to my elder sister, but she had returned to normal now, so it shouldn't be her. The second abnormal woman was undoubtedly Hua Jinlan. Yes, it must be her!

As I recounted the circumstances of meeting Hua Jinlan, I told Xiao Shu, “We should consider if Hua Jinlan warrants suspicion. We first went to Wu Zhuang to find her, learned she had returned to her hometown for a funeral, so we followed the trail to Miao Village. Upon arriving, we couldn't find any record of a death in her family; instead, people said she was hiding in the mountains raising Gu worms. Her husband, Scarface, mysteriously hanged himself in his house, but she didn’t even return for his funeral. Only after I burned Scarface’s body did she appear, claiming she was indeed Scarface’s wife, Hua Jinlan. After that, she peeled off a face mask to become my sister, and then peeled off another to become Bai Huaqian. I always assumed the one shape-shifting that night was the real Bai Huaqian. If that’s true, we might never have met the real Hua Jinlan from beginning to end.”

Xiao Shu nodded, agreeing with my assessment: “The problem likely lies with this woman. She never truly appeared from start to finish; it seems Bai Huaqian was impersonating her the whole time. Even the matter of the Gu-infestation—it looked like Hua Jinlan’s doing on the surface, but Bai Huaqian already admitted that it was part of the plan she had with Li Xiaohao. So where is the real Hua Jinlan? What happened to her that she has stayed hidden from us?”

“Good question. It seems we have to go back to Miao Village after all. Besides, when we left last time, I promised Granny I’d do something for her, and thanks to her sister’s Gu poison, I was cured. We should return as soon as possible.” A sliver of hope appeared before my eyes. At least this trip back to Miao Village would accomplish two things: fulfilling my promise and investigating the connection between Hua Jinlan and Wang Jue’s current predicament.

Just as we reached a consensus, the bedroom door creaked open. Xiao Shu and I both snapped our heads around, staring intently across the room.

Wang Jue emerged, hair disheveled and wearing slippers, looking as if he hadn’t woken up yet: “Xiao Yu, how did we get home?”

This question stumped me! I thought he had returned with us; why did he seem so amnesiac?

Before I could speak, Wang Jue froze near the balcony door, his eyes wide as he stared at Xiao Shu, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly for a long moment.

Suddenly, he turned his head toward me and asked with sharp surprise, “Xiao Yu, what is going on here? When did the enemies become friends?”