No need for a guide; everyone walked straight down the mountain. Xiao Shu, Old He, and I trailed at the very end of the group, chatting about the events unfolding around us as we walked. It was, clearly, a topic that could not be avoided.

“What exactly happened last night? Why have you been stammering ever since we got here?” Xiao Shu pressed, clearly in the spirit of relentless inquiry—she wouldn't rest until she had the whole truth.

“Sigh!” I let out a breath, paused to gather my thoughts, and resigned myself to a lie. “Initially, I was at the granny’s house, listening to her recount old stories in the yard. While she was talking, I realized you and Old He were gone. The granny said you might have gone to the Ancestral Hall, so I panicked and rushed out to follow you. But on the way, I stumbled badly, lost consciousness completely. When I woke up, it was already dark. I found myself lying by the roadside, with a deep gash on my arm, bleeding heavily. I’m not familiar with the village paths, and once darkness fell, I couldn't tell east from west. So, I wandered aimlessly until I stumbled into a thicket and found Wang Jue unconscious there. Carrying him on my back, it took me the entire night to find the way and bring him to where Hua Jinlan’s body lay. At dawn, the eminent monk began the rites of salvation. Then Wang Jue woke up, saying he had dreamed of divine beings and had to go find them, and then he left alone. I couldn't stop him.”

After I finished, everyone reacted with expressions of pity, murmuring things like, “He must have gone mad,” “I heard that people who have been possessed can see things ordinary folk can’t, making them prone to fits of insanity,” and “Won’t he just disappear forever now?”

A complete fabrication spun off the cuff, and they actually believed it. The more enthusiastically they lamented Wang Jue’s fate, the more I admired my own talent for lying. Perhaps I should apply to a film academy someday, specialize in screenwriting, and spend my days weaving stories for people.

Still, reality was something that had to be faced eventually. I almost wished that reality was the same as the story I had just fabricated. If it were, at least everyone’s future lives would be light, free from pain.

Our straggler group finally reached the village entrance just as a chorus of heart-wrenching screams echoed from within the settlement.

“What is it?” Ah Li’s mother cried out, panicked, casting a fearful glance over us.

“I don’t know, let’s go see quickly,” Old He said, quickening his pace, heading toward the loudest cries at the Ancestral Hall along with Ah Li’s mother.

Yellow police tape completely encircled the Ancestral Hall. The corpses inside had already been lined up, covered with white plastic sheeting, the entire scene sealed off by officers. This was the first time I had seen police in this village. I had always assumed the machinery of the modern state wouldn't penetrate this place, so their swift and professional arrival to investigate was utterly unexpected. However, it was also the first time I truly felt that this village existed in the same time-space as the world we lived in, a feeling that made everything I had experienced lately seem even more incredible.

The group of elderly, weak, women, and children who had emerged from the cave earlier had lost the excitement they showed upon exiting. Every movement was steeped in profound agony. They clustered outside the tape—some squatting on the ground, others lying beneath trees, and a few huddled in small groups—either burying their faces in their hands or beating their chests in grief. A chilling sorrow permeated the entire village and everyone in it.

“The second Silent Village!” Old He murmured blankly, gazing at the scene.

It was true: this was the second Silent Village. The young and strong men had all become spirits overnight, plunging the whole community into wails of mourning. And all of this boiled down to three words: the Sea of Souls. The first time was the spirits; the second, the contract. This pool of blood that healed my severed finger and restored Xiao Shu’s life—what mysteries did it hide? How many lives did it intend to claim? If I could speak with it, I would demand answers face-to-face.

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