Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 248: Chapter 52: The Source of Resentment

"How could we possibly know any path through this white fog, a transformation that cannot be altered by a few mere mortals like us?"

He had already sensed that this domain was fraught with mortal danger, more than just an intense resentment lingering in the air...

To him, these resentful spirits gathering in Dazhong Lake were likely to spawn some ghastly anomaly outside the realm of the ordinary. He had but an inkling of the bewitched village, where many had perished, misled by unfathomable beliefs and delusions.

The ceremonies were not for the living, they were but discordant notes masquerading as celebration, a marriage ceremony for a young couple, now a ruined household due to the death of both husband and wife.

Because he had come to know the terrifying truth, the one who sat enveloped by paper figures as his family was bound to throw himself into the lake in desperate suicide, tortured by inner guilt.

He knew he had to venture to Dazhong Lake, seeking the coffin’s presence in a previous scene. Ultimately, he would suffer a living death, entombed alive in a coffin that sunk into the lake.

The one who would ultimately end up hiding in a fake coffin, waiting for a false death, was none other than himself, disguised as the undertaker from Old Plank’s funeral parlor.

But although Erleipu did not yet know what to do for the second act, he had understood the entire course of events, the fate of each individual in this hamlet.

It seemed like Elder Zhao was recounting an event from seven hundred years ago, a Spiritual Possession embodied in paper figures. Elder Zhao directly engaged with these paper figures, as if they were living things, in the first scenario of sequence 66.

At the same time, sequence 66 could summon a Spiritual Possession object from this world, possessing one-third of the properties, a summoning device that could randomly call upon any one of the three pre-existing Spiritual Possession artifacts.

Erleipu was already halfway to unraveling the entire mystery of the village’s origins and its many secrets.

...Yet, among these mystified townsfolk, he was the one who adhered to the science of belief, the one with the most information. Although he was but one individual, different from the rest, this was his designated second scenario.

Elder Zhao caught sight of a black shadow, another uncanny occurrence.

The man he was disguising as was called Feng Haiping.

Reversing the flow of his memories, tracing the threads, Erleipu’s memory began to load, stirring as he awakened from the coffin...

...

...

...It was the lake, Divine Lake, pointed out by the paper figure. "95... has obtained the guidance..."

But Ma Li, however solemn his face might appear daily, as though he owed everyone money, was becoming more tender and humanly warm. Yet that strange creature had to be deliberately struck off-center, so rigid it was during Ma Li’s performance against it.

There was only a calming adherence to belief as he prepared to leave this scene.

...Following the natural course of events, Ma Li would eventually jump into the lake, putting his portrayal of this father through a history of tragic scenes.

95’s method was straightforward, always search-hunting through the white fog for more information.

If 95 used the most effective pointing gesture, ending up favored in memory by his superiors, he might just be able to input a deceptive code and somehow traverse this long queue of scant information in the white fog. If that were the case, he would certainly manage to lead a long queue backward.

...But 95 was already in possession of the complete information...

There was no doubt in 95’s mind that this was an extremely strange place possibly connected to these paper figures and the entire bewitched setup he found himself in.

spoke truth to the paper figure. "I have found my path, and it leads in this direction," he said.

But wasn’t this paper figure also him, disguised as one of the people? On a sudden whim, that seemed likely. The eyes, though crudely made, seemed even more detailed than the other paper figures, which were exquisitely crafted.

Although the materials and painting of this paper figure were coarse compared to the other delicately painted paper people, there was one that stood out as particularly ugly. Ma Li bent down to examine it more closely.

It was very clearly a signal of some sort, an indicator or perhaps a clue. However, suddenly emerging paper figures had no response to give.

"Are you the one who can guide me on my path?"

Only a single paper person appeared, suddenly emerging in front of him, in the same way as before.

The entire village became eerily silent, as he emerged for a brief moment, and then time seemingly sped up around him.

The hustle and bustle that one couldn’t ignore earlier was now nowhere to be heard around Elder Zhao.

Elder Zhao could still hear the bustle during the day, a bustling village was quite ordinary, but at night, it would become a bit terrifying. Despite this, the daytime scene was but the second act of the play, while the night was the first, when Elder Zhao had not heard the voice of a single person for quite some time.

"There were clearly still people just a moment ago, where did everyone go?" freeweɓnøvel.com

Elder Zhao showed a puzzled expression as he looked around.

The previously noisy street had somehow become quietly peaceful... As the strange, black creature moved away.

It climbed the wall, went onto the roof, and flipped over, resembling nothing more than a wall tiger—after a few seconds of silent contemplation, Elder Zhao reacted in such a manner, though he hadn’t expected such a strange creature.

The black creature looked back at Elder Zhao as it departed, incomprehensible to him.

"It seems I have no choice but to replace these paper people for you; though they’re quite hardy and shouldn’t crumble or wrinkle just from that, don’t worry, I will make new ones for you," Elder Zhao said, finally leaving the room.

Before leaving, Elder Zhao thought that he should examine the white fog closely and pay meticulous attention if he were genuinely going to learn something from it.

"You can slowly play with these paper people while I’m gone," he said, heading for the door.

Although Elder Zhao wanted to ask the villagers about these many peculiar things, he might simply do some research on his own, since outsiders had already brought so much information.

Elder Zhao didn’t know, and the others who were present merely acted their parts for Erleipu through the white fog.

Elder Zhao didn’t quite understand what this meant, as the creature’s eyes seemed only slightly moist.

The creature’s black silhouette looked at Elder Zhao with its head tilted at an odd angle, and it slowly retracted its head back after hearing these words, as if it should understand what was said.

"Do you want to keep playing with these paper people, or should I go out and take a look? Never mind that," Elder Zhao said, moving to brush aside one of the paper people.

It seemed almost like he was mumbling an incomprehensible spell, as Ma Li, frightened, let out an ancient cry.

"Do you like these paper people very much?"

Elder Zhao suddenly wondered to himself upon seeing the black creature with no visible movement—it seemed like even Elder Zhao was not frightened by this creature.

Naturally, he was not carrying a knife, and he had only been pretending to be this person all along.

Though Elder Zhao felt compelled to draw his knife at the mere sight of it, the creature, now with its grim facade gone, looked at Elder Zhao with its filthy body and did not respond.

"Who are you?"

Determined to continue studying the white fog, Elder Zhao quickly suppressed the fear rising in his heart—he was not scared at all.

Many years ago, a child who bore a striking resemblance to his dead father had scared some villagers half to death by hiding among the paper people, simulating exactly the kind of event that had occurred.

Elder Zhao’s heart began to flutter with some fear as these memories resurfaced. This creature represented death and curses.

Though Elder Zhao had his own share of such haunting memories, he was only part of the second act.

As for the first act, Elder Zhao was utterly ignorant—even of the rumored curse of Divine Lake.

The horror of Incident One was such that behind the paper effigy hid a strange creature.

Its very long hair, black as the water grass, seemed capable of entangling and suffocating a person.

In front of their eyes, this black thing looked very much like a dark water ghost, with the suppressive talisman for dark water ghosts hidden within the first scene of the cellar.

Following the disassembly of the paper effigy, Elder Zhao caught a glimpse of a completely black figure.

Ma Li then approached the part of the paper effigy where those eyes could move.

Undoubtedly, transitioning from the first to the second scene would simply the situation, as Ma Li, firmly believing in academic knowledge, had not been scared by this kind of small-scale scene.

It blinked only once when Ma Li was staring at it intently.

...But those double eyes were too real, although there was a huge disparity between this person and reality, no matter how meticulously the paper effigy was done.

At the very corner of the room, Ma Li caught sight of a pair from these uncommon spiritual eyes of paper effigies.

Feeling a bit regretful that he had overlooked some details which caused many paper effigies to lose color, he was only conscious of these intricacies, but Ma Li was unaware of this particular custom.

If one were to draw the eyes, as if truly possessing a divine transmission, would this thing come to life? One must go beyond just drawing tiger eyes on horse figures, as the finer the work a master craftsman does.

Actually, there was not a single established rule within this traditional art form, be it painting or sculpting in ancient times.

However, Ma Li noticed that although the eyes of the paper effigies weren’t well-painted, the workmanship was quite detailed.

These placed paper effigies within his bedroom signified his childish thoughts toward his father, being coerced into such a blind faith.

Unlike the first scene, which was rather unnerving, the paper effigies now merely appeared in large numbers.

Ma Li hadn’t seen those ominous paper effigies and simply walked into the bedroom, although he had encountered the first scene in the cellar.

"What is this Dazhong Lake Grand Sacrifice again? Isn’t it difficult to believe that his son has already died?"

There seemed to be some oddness to all this, the contents of this envelope were only that, and he had not actually played out this role. Suddenly, he became his own father, waking from the coffin materials.

Ma Li furrowed his brow.

"You won’t despise them, they’re a lot of very good friends that dad has found for you. Just come back and visit dad if you ever feel lonely, my dear. Though dad has made you many paper effigies, it’s not because the big family doesn’t love playing with you or because you were ugly when you were a child—I knew that. But with the help of God Granny, every single one of us relies on the Divine Lake’s blessing to live. The Divine Lake has always been a sign of warning to our big family, to protect the entire village’s peace and ensure a smooth year without worries about food and clothing."

"Do those antler horns actually bloom flowers? You said they don’t, but some people claim to have seen blooming antler horns. And with people continuing to go missing outside the village, these weird things have already begun to occur over the past few years. It seems my turn has arrived this year... Dad really cannot bear to part with you. Our village has been guarding Divine Lake for thousands of years, generation after generation. Dad thinks about you every moment without cease, and it has already been over a year since the last Dazhong Lake Grand Sacrifice."

Ma Li was the only one aware that he had written this envelope. Stopping there, he remembered as he began to open the letter.

Speaking one’s own thoughts as if passing them onto another world could be done simply with such an envelope, according to him.

Many people in the village would leave messages in their pillowcases to speak with the deceased. It seemed like this envelope was indeed very important to Ma Li.

Though there were some initial memories, each role was just playing a part in the mist. But in the blurred corners and crannies, there lay the threads of responsibility, and he was naturally unaware of these ancient customs.

Ma Li came to his bedroom and found an envelope hidden in the red pillowcase, where memories began to emerge.

Right in the first scene, those paper figures were indeed the main characters, maybe he was quite kind to them. Having arrived in his own bedroom, he opened the cellar door.

"From the coffin material, I realized something was amiss when I woke up, but there was nothing under the bed, and the cellar was just as it had been," Ma Li recounted.

...

...

White Mist felt a reverence for God Granny, not out of fear but because of the white fog.

But fundamentally, the situation was unclear without a final determination, and White Mist was still resolved to follow God Granny to hear what she had to say.

Yet he perceived another hidden matter; there wasn’t any evil omen in Dazhong Lake, and God Granny—disguising as a mediator, was a deceit for scamming money. This was the second version he felt he had already mapped out.

Although White Mist thought there was still four hours to go and he could follow this God Granny to take a look and see what was going on, he couldn’t say for certain that he might uncover some leads.

"If you want to know about the curse, follow me. I am not any less concerned with human fate than you, but I do not reverence the sky, and even as a child I considered ’fear’ unknowing," said an old woman.

God Granny’s expression suddenly turned solemn.

"How dare you speak to Divine Lake in such a disrespectful manner! Shut up!"

It was without a doubt that these questions had touched upon taboo topics. White Mist hadn’t intended to say something so recklessly.

"Could it be there’s something about Dazhong Lake and Divine Lake that spawned the evil omen? What exactly is this curse? When did it emerge? What is happening? Are there still any such customs in the village, or is it just a sham? But suddenly Divine Lake has become evil, yet there was Divine Lake before, and only after the big families got scared did they start to pretend, setting up this strange situation in the lake. What’s the curse all about?"

"Don’t take the curse lightly, young man, as you’re wrapped in it. No one in your household will be able to live past tomorrow noon if the curse remains on you, and your father is in such a hurry to find me, Old Plank, because if you do not follow me, you will not be able to return, and neither will your family. If you truly do not wish to bring death upon your family, follow me," the elder woman with medicinal knowledge said, sounding very much like one of those old wives from very traditional village images, which could sometimes even make people feel a kinship towards her upon close examination.

At first glance, she seemed like an utterly ordinary old woman, but her eyes were very spirited, despite God Granny still appearing quite ancient and withered in the second act.

Even God Granny looked quite terrifying in the first act, making Elder Zhao, who wasn’t as broad-minded as Erleipu, look mild in comparison to the first and second acts’ God Granny.

God Granny suddenly shut White Mist up with a "...",

"How much did you pay Elder Zhao to speak favorably for you?"

God Granny ignored White Mist’s question, continuing, "...unless your father expressly sought my good word, your curse-laden body will not live past tomorrow noon. Your family will die if you don’t return, as the curse is on you. Black hair on the temple, this is a sign of a curse."

"How do you know what the curse is about? Is my face written with two cursed characters? Where is the curse? How is Dazhong Lake’s evil omen possibly related to the curse?"

As White Mist had accidentally stumbled upon such an important figure, he had to think of ways to extract some information from her, since he didn’t want to stop inquiring just yet.

God Granny blocked White Mist’s way.

In the ancient village of a few dozen households, where God Granny and the village elder held very high status, they learned medicine and even God Granny had gone to the city in her youth. Though the villagers were greatly moved, they hoped to be able to return to the village again.

After drinking the water spells of God Granny, one would open some prescriptions. This head had a lot of doors in it indeed.

But anyone with a minor illness would still seek out God Granny for exorcism and healing, despite the villagers being greatly excited.

However, it would be recognized all the more as an important symbol among the villagers because God Granny drank the water symbol before; her most important task was actually to heal and save people with her medicines.

Although this water symbol could not heal or save people on its own and was not of any importance, it still could provide comfort to the people’s hearts and seemed to ward off disease, disaster, and evil spirits without harming oneself.

Why is this water symbol important?

Every year there’s one minor lake offering and the significant five-yearly Dazhong Lake offering, all of which are also God Granny’s responsibility.

The villagers increasingly believed her words, and the status of God Granny kept rising.

(The White Silver Covenant Master becomes completely useless after the 04/05 upgrade.)