Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 243: Chapter 47: The Brain of the Village

The talisman paper scattered upon impact, and he saw that there were some old jars and urns buried in the ground.

It wasn’t as simple as just passing through the white fog.

At least in the fiery red expanse ahead, one could sense the spirit energy with a wave of motion. Seeing the war camp so clearly out of nowhere, he realized it must have been an act played by the old woman, Lolo, embodying righteousness, a vivid show of defiance against wickedness.

Enigmatic creatures started to act as guards, following those who traveled through the red mist.

It seemed as if the strange creatures in the village and the guards of the date lake possessed a determining power in the white fog. Originally, this very place had a guardian in the mountainous outskirts of the village by the date lake section.

One mountain could not tolerate two tigers.

"Perhaps the red mist itself is a creature of spiritual essence... it could be one guardian of this domain. It doesn’t seem affected by the companion life energy..., yet it might be obstructed by some kind of miscellaneous thing."

The white fog moved immediately beneath his feet.

He felt like he couldn’t rely on companion life energy to discern this place, as if he was just guessing.

The white fog turned out to be quite a high-ranking warrior, even though it didn’t seem to place much importance on the sense of companion life energy.

"It seems like there’s no way to make use of the sense of feeling in this place... I need to find the team leader first," he thought.

Only after recognizing the red mist did he realize it was indeed the same mission as before.

The white fog gave a unique first-time impression of undertaking a mission with the team leader, a familiar cryptic language with a certain flair.

]"You need to find the way to the gate, but the key is currently seeping through that door. It’s hard to tell the real from the illusion, what you see from what you hear."[

There must be a way forward to the upper level, given that it’s naturally a cellar. He looked up, opening his eyes. He began to use his eyesight.

The white fog turned around, realizing it was seemingly the starting point of the scene, a piece of the cellar.

There was a faint scent of mold mingling in the air, possibly the old jars and urns could have been some kind of peculiar pickled goods. Something seemed to be concealed in them, reminiscent of a time long past.

In the dark blackness, he could make out almost everything with his enhanced vision.

There was only a pitch-black swathe. No one else seemed to be around, although he opened his eyes wide.

Well might have seen the desolate and dead mountain village once the reddish color dissipated and he lost awareness of its presence.

The unknown beyond, the towers...

...

...

Red light flared up again.

"Just follow that path over there, since you also feel it’s passable; I’m not inclined to enter. But if it is indeed the red zone..."

Jiaxie was just at a banquet, appearing quite peculiar, taking careful notice of Chuanbai’s important deeds. Although he was only a guest at the banquet, at the moment, he seemed to possess a peculiar presence, being more than just an extraordinary intelligent person; he was Jiaxie himself.

"This is exactly our mission to monitor; perhaps there is also some undercurrent, as they frequently emerge from the towers. It feels like a deliberate provocation by the scout troops. Go ahead, forget about it," he said.

He felt he could proceed, as not being able to proceed due to comparison with weaker individuals was not reasonable. At the very least, one should be cautious and aware of inherent dangers when facing the red zone.

Jiaxie was far from ordinary, serving as a rank-ordering team leader.

Though Liu frequently exhibited unparalleled strength and speed, in the twisted domains of the red zone, it was rare to solve problems solely through power. Chuanbai silently cursed him a white fool.

Liu touched the stone monument.

"I can’t afford to lose to those few waiting below," he said.

Liu spoke:

"How can he rely on just anything? Although this is Xuan Jiang, I can understand it; the white mist and Qing Valley dare to advance into the red zone just like that?"

Moreover, Xuan Jiang’s eye powers allowed him to even see the hierarchy and companion life energy that would normally be hidden, relying on the Heavenly Balancer and Piercing Observer’s eyes.

Jiaxie’s top-tier equipment settings were definitely unparalleled before, but as for the protection gear on him, it couldn’t be utilized outside the tower because there were no methods to study based on old reliance on the abundance of research from Jiaxie.

However, he still had no lack of black technology on him, but all he had was an Army Guard Town sequence assigner for summoning only.

"Who is this new person, originally a part of Army Guard Town’s third division alert team, an associate in actual strength according to the data feedback I saw on the fourth stage of the seventh segment?"

Said Jiaxie knowingly,

"What kind of ragtag army unit is this, so rash and reckless?"

Zhen felt quite uneasy,

and he followed along.

The situation he was in was a kind of "fruitful" state, and the actions he saw from Baiwu and Ma Li made him believe that it was possible to tread on the black area. He also couldn’t believe that someone could dare to step across without a doubt, as they had already grown up to the ultimate human limits, even if Baiwu was still white mist.

Even the two containers, regardless of Baiwu and Ma Li’s colors, revealed a surprised and delighted smile that should have been hidden. Chu Qing in the heart of the red salvation was necessary; only within the white mist was Chu Qing, and not just the surface of Baiwu and Ma Li.

Why did they have such deep Qi? This reversal confused the three of them. It seemed that they just continued walking straight into this blue and white area that seemed like an imitation of this place, just like Baiwu and Ma Li.

Even though entering the red area was immediately orderly in comparison, it was still an extraordinarily dangerous place to exist.

Jiaxie asked knowingly, "Do we need to go in?"

Ma Li followed along and, without uttering a single word after Baiwu was engulfed by the red light, continued on.

Finally, he arrived at the two people stepping into the red area, which left the investigative officers, responsible for registering and leading out of the tower, with an excited face. This red light astonished the crowd.

"What’s in my mind, some strange thing, seems not to be in a real scene but rather in my imagination... How do I feel... No star void was prepared,"

There was no other way except to find a way to leave here. Baiwu was certain that encountering this scene could only happen in the queue. He could not be in the star void unprepared.

"What exactly is that key... the headlock is a clue, there must be something like a thread that wants me to find it, to get me trapped in this place,"

Everywhere in this place there were watchful eyes; it didn’t matter whether to the south or staying to the north, he couldn’t walk out... this white mist here became clear.

He picked up the pace, and although it seemed accidental, he encountered that God Granny without a pair of eyes.

The white mist again came upon a red room with the sound of a funeral lament and, upon arriving at the third garden house in the area, walked past several houses again and heard the sounds of a wedding celebration. He walked very quickly once more, catching sight of a white garden house.

Baiwu continued walking towards the north.

This was the first house that he encountered upon arriving here, and he looked at the large house next to him as he went into this one.

At this moment, Baiwu suddenly realized that there was a pile of paper figures just looking at him...

But it wasn’t just this village; the whole street that he was certain of did not exist, although it seemed far away it was just a piece of the black mist obstruction.

But very quickly he stopped his footsteps, and Baiwu continued heading northwards, resembling the figure of the old woman, God Granny, who gradually became distant.

"She’s searching for death, bringing death upon her head! She wants to kill it because it’s an omen of death that looms over the head of every person!"

This time Baiwu couldn’t ignore this person.

God Granny, who seemed to never have seen Baiwu, brushed past with him, an old, ugly, and terrifying woman dressed in something bizarre. She had concave eyes with no eye beads, skin creased with deep wrinkles capable of pinching dead flies.

She was muttering words, running out from a not too big room and holding a brass regulating bell in her hand, wearing a bird-feather-like garment full of stuffed plugs.

And Baiwu, while walking on the road, eventually encountered "a person."

There was a red cloth laid out in one house, and a white cloth laid out in another house; the two houses’ arrangements were drastically different.

The sounds of mourning became sounds of joy; only the sounds were still the wailing.

Baiwu passed the third house.

Baiwu was deeply worried about Ma Li but hoped to find some secret in these exploratory points that appeared.

But the white fog made no sense at all, undeniably, because the entire village seemed to be shrouded in layers of mysteries.

The air, originally serene, was suddenly pierced by the mournful sound of a suona being played, wailing like the cry of a woman...

Well quickly passed through the second courtyard house in the white fog.

At the gate stood densely stacked, thickly clustering figures, their corners of the mouth curled up in a smile that looked disturbingly out of place in the fog.

Suddenly, the positions of those paper figures in the first large courtyard house had shifted.

He walked straight down the street.

Well was determined to look towards the north, for that’s where the lake was, and thus he was heading up the northern street.

He couldn’t feel even a hint of the ominous aura that was supposed to mark the spot, which was clearly earmarked by the red ribbon strips.

Well was also worried about Chuanbai, who was very concerned.

In this village of numerous houses, there were people preparing joyful events, dressing the dead, crafting paper figures, all kinds of activities were happening inside the houses.

But what Well observed was not the same as the reality; the scene wasn’t the same on both the south and north sides.

["You might still witness the God Granny performing a weird dance, going through some kind of ritual in the village. There are still people preparing for joyful events with a new bride and groom worshipping the heavens... But some people are preparing for a funeral, even though the dead is still moving. Others are making paper figures, wanting to please the ’Divine Lake’; every single house has its own set of different events to prepare, and you’ll pass by many peculiar old manor houses."]

Well looked towards the north, where strange occurrences were unfolding.

["You might still witness the God Granny performing a weird dance, going through some kind of ritual in the village. There are still people preparing for joyful events with a new bride and groom worshipping the heavens... But some people are preparing for a funeral, even though the dead is still moving. Others are making paper figures, wanting to please the ’Divine Lake’; every single house has its own set of different events to prepare, and you’ll pass by many peculiar old manor houses."]

He looked towards the south, standing at the gate of this large courtyard house. There were only the north and south directions to behold.

Well just made up his mind and took a panoramic view of the surroundings, deciding to use his tried-and-true method again.

As Well reached the street, there were many paper "stick-out hairs" sticking up, which seemed like a form of vegetative life jutting out at odd angles from the sides of the street.

Well did not care much for these, perhaps because these were just his own footprints, twisted into the ground for some reason.

Seeking various kinds of substantial, latent evil forces that could fall into the outskirt defense of the town during the opening of the Talisman Sealing Gate, to let the traveling visitors through; that was exactly what this person was doing.

A traveler who had seen the Army Guard Town’s guards before, the existence of the Well was indeed certain; thus, Well could confidently know the power behind the traveler was still not clear.

Perhaps this place was the closest to the "Well," at least in Well’s eyes, but his territory was still within the red zone.

This place was some kind of dark, heavily twisted black territory on the outskirts, as mentioned in the traveler’s information, Zao Lake.

What situation were they in?

"How strange this has become, there’s not a sound from the queue... not even a single voice, and there are several people with them. Why?"

He was a bit anxious to go search for the other people.

But Well didn’t pay much attention to the third room in the vicinity; it only made him instantly more alert. There were no other clues from the eyes that sporadically popped up, just staring into empty space.

The courtyard was very open, the whole village under the moon’s pale blue light appeared unusually bizarre, amidst thin black fog, but the courtyard was just one large yard outside the house.

The paper figures were also moving slowly, when he moved, inside this room from which Well was exiting.

"Let me go out and take a look first... my eyes are hinting that the key I’ve been looking for is outside."

But Well always felt like he was missing something, although these were the impressions that the line guides were providing to him.

"Could it be that the paper figures are created to appease something sinister inside the lake, and the villagers are forced to do so? There is something sinister in the lake, and the villagers live under its coercion. Outside the mountain village there’s a lake, and in the lake there’s something sinister."

[Light incense fire, paper figures, prepared meat offerings to appease the Divine Lake for the peace of the villagers.]

Well looked around and found a piece of paper on a pearwood table, he looked all over.

The whole village already gave him the feeling that it was a place blocked off from the outside world, the kind of strange and ancient traditions that possessed lavish courtyards, one could even consider the whole village to be a big family of high status.

This house here was one of those old-fashioned four-compound style houses, which could be considered a valuable property, placed throughout the entire desolate village.

...the white mist felt a sense of pity and tenderness toward the master of the house. All the shades of yin in the Spiritual Possession items were effective.

]With the Spiritual Possession items covering it, you could just experience being pressed down by a ghost in bed quickly.[

This was a bedroom with an old-style bed. A red quilt was on the bed, creating a strange aura, but the white mist still paid attention to it. There were also papercuts placed around, and despite many papercuts lying on the bed, no one cared.

]You should know that this grudge is filled with persistent thoughts against the living, and your little one’s pity and resentment are a type of grudge. They are the keys that should catch your attention. They’re part of a lock, you should know there are many kinds of grudges.[

The white mist’s gaze fell from above.

There was one "cluster of hair" after another... and even, their pale skin was illuminated by the moonlight that shined in.

It was as if they were trying to live and act like them, and around them was a dense thicket of papercuts. The white mist walked out of the cellar without a glance, unfazed by the papercuts, which didn’t scare it.

"It’s quite impressive that this craft can sustain itself, and whoever is the master of this craft must have moved out of the big mountain villages. I just don’t know which family it is," someone said.

Well remained intently focused on the white mist, as if his very life was bound to it. The papercut seemed to be pushed effortlessly by the white mist. It was as light as if it bore no weight at all, like a Buddha.

But there was something moving slowly, writhing like a pile of hair, even though the papercuts clearly did not move at all.

Somewhere in the dark environment to the east and west, the white mist finally paid attention to this...

Hair?

]Since you aren’t afraid, then you aren’t afraid "hair" will harm you, right? If it’s neither alive nor dead, doesn’t matter? Can you guess whether it’s still alive or has already died? It’s not afraid of anything, even fire.[

There was no fear in the white mist as it stared eye-to-eye at the papercuts.

It seemed to be crushed flat on a partition board, as if that particular papercut had been repelled by the Talisman Sealing Gate used against evil spirits.

This was an extremely realistic imitation of a person made out of papercuts, with their ghastly pale skin, soulless eyes, and eerie, red cheeks.

In this instant, the white mist seemed to face the "master", its eyes almost touching his.

But with a push, the partition door opened, and suddenly a pair of melancholic eyes looked back at the white mist.

He prepared to enter the rest room, pulling open the partition door of the cellar.

Well had a premonition... These village folks weren’t entirely good Samaritans. They had a fervent red aura that promised protection—but it was undoubtedly frightening.

This place was even more unsettling than the haunted school of Chuanbai Middle School, let alone a deserted village.

"There’s plenty of weird talk about this ancient village," he remarked.

]A talisman posted for actual use: to dispel evil spirits; but if it’s just for show: to offer comfort.[

The message sent was uneventful. Well thought about the eight characters that had made him contemplative.

"Banish evil spirits, fade demonic seals."

Well descended the stairs, following the white mist, and saw a strip of paper pasted on the exit. He approached and took notice of it.

Very soon, the white mist reached the exit of the cellar, which was connected to the staircase that led upstairs.

He lost interest in these jars in an instant.

]If you open these jars now, you can return directly to the original location, instead of going back to a high tower to be overwhelmed by a malicious stench; it’s rather that you can’t actually go back if you don’t return.[

His eyes settled on the jars and crocks around him.

It could be useful later on. As Well picked up the talismans, he felt that anything could be of use against the water spirits—even though the talismans were not necessarily made for that purpose.

The atmosphere here was truly uncanny. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Just as Well was starting to feel solemnly serious, he suddenly recited an urgent regulation quickly and loudly, as if casting a spell, holding a talisman paper in his hand. He was the protagonist of this cellar, pondering over the past seven hundred years.

Dark mist wafted from the talisman paper.

]Might this item of Spiritual Possession speed up the water spirits’ movements? Attaching it to the water ghost’s forehead could prevent them from moving, according to rumor. But with this thing’s condition, how much more tragic could it be? This household died a very tragic death, you could probably guess it fell into evil. These items are useless...normal speech. If attaching it on the forehead prevents the water spirits from moving, then wouldn’t it be an exorcism talisman?[