Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 246: Chapter 50: Who Will I Marry After All

Who are these people in disguise at the Zhu family’s wedding banquet? Could it be that the leader of the group is... but no, it doesn’t make sense. Do those paper figures in the house really make the coffins out of human material? And God Granny, the new bride of the Zhu family, those paper people...

It all is like a scene from the first act, where every disguised person is indistinguishable from the real thing. Who exactly is the boss of these people in disguise, it’s very curious indeed.

With the oddness of the white fog, one would almost think of a wedding.

"Perhaps I could find some clue on her body, having seen some evil omen... the new bride of the Zhu family."

Biting back the swirling doubts, Liu let the plot unfold, resisting the urge to ponder the white fog.

"If I am indeed the real me inside some strange thing in my brain, then this strange thing of spiritual energy is certainly a class of its own, very distinct from the bright red God Granny. There are still too few clues."

God Granny? The paper figures’ leader? Lake Ghost? Or maybe Zhao Kuan? Zhu family’s new bride?

What ultimate question could this... be the key, posed directly before the white fog?

"You will also maybe get to enter other people’s minds afterwards, may see up to the locked room inside... or perhaps inside, you’ll harbor the darkest secrets or the softest memories. No need to waste time trying everything to pry it open."

Chu Qing, having uttered these words far in the past, had now come to realize he himself was beginning to feel as if he were inside some strange thing in his own brain. White fog began to swirl around him.

This scene was quite startling... two figures clad in red wedding attire, their music echoing eerily all around.

It was indeed a scene from the red mansion’s courtyard—one would guess, following white fog’s conjectures, if history proceeded accordingly.

"Who exactly am I... this segment of memory at our place, why has he brought up the Zhao family’s eyes? But such memory is of Zhao Kuan, if I am speaking logically. Am I Zhao Kuan? But what does memory even have to do with me; I am the one disguised as Zhao Kuan in the first and second scenes..."

White fog expressed his confusion.

At this moment, God Granny, Chu Qing, Liu—all had been through such an unsettling scene just now, sticking to the Zhu family’s mysterious figures.

"They are currently living through the same circumstances as you, there in this cluster of artisans and not among these four people you are trying to find; no need to look for them, their artifacts are just to provide information."

—Reincarnation took note of this piece of information. White fog frowned, peering into the courtyard crowd of the Zhao family.

The Zhao family had just arrived, an omen as foreboding as a death god’s curse—unknowable to the Zhu family...

Today’s streets were extra festive, clearly celebrating something, as if the whole village could be brought good fortune for both families, given this marriage. The Zhu family had tried so hard to put a favorable spin, but the God Granny was even bought by the Zhu family—it was too much for the Zhu family. But the question remained, the Zhao family didn’t actually want this.

The Zhu family had people come forward to propose the marriage. God Granny said that only a great joy could suppress the evil misfortune. After the Zhu family inquired about God Granny,

But the Zhu family was already cursed, no one dared to contact them, and people were only staring at the household.

Who would want to let their own son marry a daughter from the Zhu family, a major household of the village?

But then, quite suddenly, the circumstances had turned dangerous, more unfamiliar than Lake Zao, more unfamiliar than the mountain village itself.

Just as this ancient village was starting to have many such bizarre incidents occur, the world outside was unraveling as its end approached.

Even precisely the animals, once so docile, turned violently rabid, some biting people to death mercilessly. Or one might fall into the water and drown during a casual walk by the lake, or someone might suddenly be burned to death inside their home by a mysterious fire, or be bitten by a venomous insect while out hunting: all deaths were violent and unnatural.

Why should the eldest of the family have to die, why should they commit suicide—every household that had crossed with the cursed being had bloodshed in their family without exception; they were all young people, just like those in the Zhu family before them.

The Zhu family, having encountered some evil entity, sought the only help in the village—God Granny.

These people are the Zhu family, who are about to marry off their daughters and sons.

At this time, with the white fog rising, the thought occurred that the men of this ancient village would be fifty or sixty years old, while the women would be in their early twenties when the marriage became due.

A huge crowd surged into the courtyard to celebrate, which seemed quite festive.

Zhao’s gate was quickly thrown open, and the sunshine within the courtyard was just right.

The white fog crawled out from under the bed.

This strange creature must have very great powers... it was the water ghost in the lake, this also became evident.

It looked more like it was draped in a large number of filthy, rotting aquatic plants than like it had actual hair... He always felt that wasn’t quite right.

Only when the white fog passed behind the strange creature did he catch a glimpse of the dense hair gathering on its back, as the creature had turned over by then.

With the sounds of firecrackers and gongs and drums from outside the house getting closer and closer, it—as if it had never come through before—jumped out from the Zhao family courtyard, leaving a few yards between them almost instantly, leaping out of a window with one kick of its legs, and letting out a sharp piercing scream after.

The standoff between the white fog and the strange creature didn’t last long.

Liu was lying prone under the bed at this very moment, limp and powerless; he truly wished he could be a third-person observer to this horrifying scene, rather than a part of it.

A bone-chilling head-turning sound, slowly twisting its neck like just a tapestry tiger, ensued, making it appear as if the water ghost was slowly strangling itself under the bed, but then it quickly bounced off after only a moment.

Its incessant strange shouts seem like the chanting of arcane spells by a witch from ancient times, bearing an unfathomable meaning.

Its gaze still unnaturally penetrating, the white fog gazed at the creature, but obviously that wasn’t the answer.

Could it be that—Liu even went so far as to think—the Zhao family’s child and the water ghost were playing hide-and-seek? Given the severity of this kind of crisis, though it was just his imagination at every moment, he actually hoped that this was not the case.

Yet, white fog even managed to put on a stiff, frozen smile.

"Ha, you finally found me! This time you came looking for me?"

... Why on earth would he get himself killed like this? And yet he was even taunting it.

It shouldn’t be that hard to leave just a little bit of living space to give a playground for any play, but no, not with such a big mouth.

... White fog shouldn’t have said that, he thought.

It was the first time the white fog had seen such a reaction from the creature, contrary to his expectation.

Only this strange creature emitted a certain thoughtful gaze... that’s really strange.

He vaguely guessed that the creature might be willing to cease harassing humans only if it saw them trembling in fear. White fog acted out a severe case of the shakes.

"Apologies, but I don’t understand. Are you trying to frighten me all the time? But right now, I’m in this situation."

White fog felt as though it was performing some kind of ritual, with its gruesome expressions accompanying it.

This sound was more piercing than any other noise—it was as if something was stuck in its throat, just like this anomaly from the lake—it only emitted ancient and strange calls.

Once the battle ceremony is witnessed, and this special creature takes form, converging with the sacrificial offerings falling into the lake, clinging to certain obsessions, gathering together—the ghost that is most scary at just the hint of its appearance, when it has yet to actually emerge, representing a fragment of horror that has already settled in the dust.

Reincarnation: "[In the next instant, a myriad of things from inside the lake died, following their collective obsessions. I have no way to tell you how it happened, as if some sacrificial object had fallen directly into the lake, mingling with the obsessions and forming this unique creature, just like how dust settles once everything is done, representing the ultimate horror that lies just beyond the unseen.]"

The thick hair seemed to be each individual water plant twisted and writhing together, appearing like a lush thicket. With its enormously bulging eyes taking up much of its forehead and that flat mashed nose, the superordinate facial features were exceedingly discordant with the face that emerged before Liu in this moment.

"Is there such thing as a revival mechanism in this game?"

"Is it not you who I’ve come to kill?"

Suddenly opening his mouth to speak, he retreated several centimeters, staring at this face in the white mist.

At that time in Zhao family’s history, Zhao Kuan’s son was frightened into a swoon.

That sinister chill in his heart, the black muck on his face, even the white mist could barely make out this filthy stain in the murky darkness under the bed.

Just a few centimeters apart, his face nearly pressing against this grotesque creature’s face, white mist emerged from beneath the bed in the same fashion, revealing an extremely ugly, non-human snout.

But in the blink of an eye, the eerie, chilling gaze suddenly locked him in, and just as White Mist blinked, he let out a breath he had been holding.

Slowly moving away from the bed, the black webbed foot began to stir, but not for long.

If he didn’t feel a sense of impending doom, all he needed to do was to not panic, and he would remain calmly hidden under the bed.

At this moment, White Mist could feel a chilly wisp of vengeful spirit slowly spreading, as the black webbed foot paused beside the bed.

Everyone was a surviving character, the first priority was whatever game this was, regardless of the role one had to play.

He held his breath.

Just by appearing here, he might encounter death-bringing creatures; considering this was an underworld prison of sorts, White Mist didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

White Mist suddenly recalled those day’s warnings about otherworldly horrors like ghostly water, the eerie lake...

It was clear this was some kind of monster and not a human. Those webbed feet were more like those of a duck, not at all similar to human feet.

Suddenly, White Mist saw two pitch-black feet, and then, as if on cue for the commencement of this game, he began to realize the truth while hiding under the bed.

White Mist came to a quick conclusion about his own confusion.

"Why should I be hiding under the bed for no reason?"

Being part of the Zhao family, a major household in the village, and being a descendent of the Zhao family in this mountain village, he began to recall his own circumstances and no longer pondered deeply.

Although it was obviously Liu Hu, the only one among the six villagers who was exceptionally crafty, White Mist was still very concerned about the safety of his own family leader.

"Could it be that person who got eliminated is the team leader?"

White Mist could even faintly hear the sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums from the street outside, he was that sensitive to the environment around him.

The scenery was no longer the same as that otherworldly place; it was still the mountain village, now the second scene of Reincarnation.

Chu Qing had quickly figured out his own identity, and memories related to the role he was playing began to gradually emerge. "I am playing a person... called Zhao Kuan... the son of the Zhao family... sixty years old."

White Mist realized at that moment that he wasn’t really hiding in the coffin material but under the bed; the eyes that revealed such a significant amount of information were still quite substantial.

"It must be reminded to you that you have already given up the chance to leave this place long ago after reaching the lakeside of regrets before. Your very presence means you have permanently opted out of the cycle of Reincarnation and cannot leave under any circumstances. This is why I must awaken you. You are about to make a selection, ultimately based on the information you received before your death. You will be playing five different roles, not the same role in five different households. You five people will participate in this game—congratulations on entering into the second phase of the cycle, the cycle of death. It’s good. As you are a child from the village, not equipped for the role-reversal rules, you have picked up the wrong script—my apologies, oh... you’re already the little sister who has succeeded greatly with her skills, haven’t you woken up yet?"

There was nothing like a coffin here.

Only a very thick white fog was discovered outside of the place where he was lying, but, in fact, he was lying somewhere in a pitch-black void, not in a coffin, however.

He could sense the clamorous noise outside, as if it were time to leave the coffin, when suddenly, from outside, came the sounds of firecrackers and gongs and drums, and the white fog opened abruptly as he opened his eyes.

...

...

In the first round of the scene, there was only Liu Hu, being tortured by those paper figures; by the second round of the scene, five more people had entered, totaling six people in there.

There was also the giggling of a weird old woman, bizarre music playing at the edges of his hearing, and no end in sight to the paper figures lining up before him, completely engulfing him.

—Liu Hu, however, did not care how much he struggled or tore; the last thing he saw was a painted face.

Those hairs began to grow out of control like a mad living thing, taking over the entire space bit by bit, as if lifting some sort of spiritual lock had unleashed them.

As if having a single person break the scene had invited dire consequences, like the six of them coming out of there had already made things worse.

Reincarnation speculated, still quite puzzled by the white fog.

"If I don’t find the thread to hide in the coffin material, in the end, there may not be... those ’hairs’ from that village kid—they will keep increasing, giving more strands to my company; looking ahead from my final judgment, some kind of grievance is what most likely transforms into those things. They are the augmentation, and perhaps, ultimately, we will be trapped by these grudges in a certain place. Like an evil spiritual force that looks so powerful, it’s as if it’s a guardian of this place. Otherwise, if we don’t follow the rules, I’m afraid we will suffer the consequences," he said, summing it up.

"The villagers probably think there’s a method to get rid of that thing in the lake, so they’re alert. God Granny wants to kill the weird creature, while the others use all kinds of superstitious methods, hoping to please the creature with offerings... paper figures, marriage, living in the coffin, and so on. It’s like this every time," he said.

But to anyone in the village, this creature was seen as a disaster. This evil entity born from the lake would bring death and calamity.

Many strange events began to surface in this ancient village, and the people living in the village wanted to survive; their end was possibly near.

—But he had a vague idea that there was some sort of accident behind it all.

In that lake, there might be answers to secrets, the white fog was ultimately leading to somewhere he was destined to go.

There should still be even more profound implications, the God Granny, the ghost wife, hiding in the coffins, and even those paper figures. freewebnσvel.cøm

Yet he still found the white fog’s presence throughout the entire area confusing and elusive.

"But I have to find the door to the area indicated by these words first. Although the key has already started to permeate the lock, I still haven’t found anything that hints at what ’eyes’ might suggest," he mused.

He slowly began piecing things together, waiting for the moment to leave the spiritual chamber within the coffin.

Lying there in this spiritual hall within the coffin felt quite comfortable and warm; even the heavy rain outside was somewhat noticeable.

But he wasn’t really in any hurry, not knowing how long he had been lying there, not even aware of how long he’d been out.

He lay completely still inside the coffin, seemingly unaffected by the passage of time.

Just as the outside became completely quiet, and he seemed to have entered a different world with the sense of the usual clamor ceasing suddenly, the coffin lid was fully placed on top.

With the coffin lid slowly covering it, the smell of decay became stronger, while the white fog still felt quite fresh.

Lying down in the coffin from outside, closing the coffin lid over oneself, was quite a peculiar experience.

(The white silver alliance leader couldn’t make any further additions at this time, grateful for the ten thousand rewards from book friend lɐıl... Books are another form of companionship, the project is 35/100 complete.)