“…So, that’s the situation.”

“If anyone else in the village finds you, things will get very dangerous.”

Wu Wang explained her terrible predicament, his voice solemn.

“I’m going out for a bit. You just stay here and don’t move around.”

The best-case scenario was that the Spirit Calamity Game had created this Instance world based on reality, and the girl before him was just an AI version of Wu Xiaoyou.

As for the worst-case scenario…

This was the past, five years ago. His actions here would affect the real world. If the teenage version of Wu Xiaoyou were to die in this damn village, the Second Sister who bickered with him at home every day would also disappear.

No matter what, it was a gamble Wu Wang couldn’t afford to take.

“Huh? Do I know you?” Wu Xiaoyou asked uncertainly, watching the little beggar get up to leave.

This person gave her a strange sense of familiarity, a feeling of safety and comfort.

Even after he’d told her a bunch of utterly absurd things right after they met, she surprisingly felt no need to doubt him. She subconsciously chose to believe him.

“I have a generic face. Some can copy my looks, some can copy my moves, but they can’t copy my spirit.”

With that, Wu Wang leaped high into the air.

To avoid breaking the wooden door, he used a double jump to flip out through the hole in the ceiling.

Wu Xiaoyou, resting on the bed, was dumbfounded.

Holy crap! What was that?

Mama, I just saw Qinggong!

This guy couldn’t really be the reincarnation of Zhang Sanfeng, could he?

After leaving the thatched hut, Wu Wang immediately began to observe his surroundings.

This Yin Fate Village was quite large, with an estimated hundred or so households. The houses were arranged in an orderly fashion, not built haphazardly like one often sees in the countryside.

No, it was more than just orderly. It was as if the entire village’s layout had been deliberately designed to form some kind of pattern. From his position, however, he couldn’t get a bird’s-eye view to determine the specific details.

Strangely, only a certain brownish-black building directly opposite him and his own thatched hut were located on the mountainside. All the other buildings were at the foot of the mountain.

He had to admire that auntie. She had to climb this high mountain path every time she brought food for “Zhang Sanfeng.”

After briefly noting the suspicious layout, Wu Wang sprinted down the mountain at an incredible speed. He was so fast that he caught up to and overtook the auntie who had been slowly walking down moments before. Walking beside her was a scruffy, unshaven uncle.

The double jump allowed Wu Wang to move as if he were on level ground. He avoided their notice and got down the mountain ahead of them.

As he neared the village entrance, the skin on his face suddenly began to melt. His body became slightly plumper, no longer the stick-thin frame of the little beggar. His features transformed into those of the middle-aged auntie who had just delivered the bread.

He’d already expressed his admiration. Might as well borrow her face for a bit, too.

Luckily, the auntie’s figure hadn’t gone too far out of shape. Otherwise, his own tattered clothes might not have fit.

A bare-chested man was butchering a pig at his doorstep, bleeding it out. When he saw the disguised Wu Wang, he called out.

“Yo, Aunty Li, back from bringing food to that little madman again?”

“That’s right. Can’t bear to see the kid go hungry.” Wu Wang’s tone was perfectly natural.

Such seamless and excellent acting skills were all thanks to a certain period in his life. For a time, he had intensely focused on crashing wedding banquets in hotels, as well as the occasional funeral or housewarming feast that popped up in the streets and alleys.

This was because the province where Mingyang City was located had a rather crass custom of holding banquets for every occasion, big or small, to collect gift money. Wu Wang strongly condemned this practice.

To this end, he spent a solid month where, for almost every meal, he would find a hotel with a “Congratulations to XX and XX” sign and walk right in. Or he’d spot a funeral banquet in an alley and join the mourners.

He would lie about being a relative, find a random seat, and start eating. If anyone struck up a conversation, he would spin a web of lies about distant aunts and uncles, rambling on to give them the illusion that “this person might actually be one of us.”

To this day, he had never been caught and kicked out.

“You just have a kind heart. Hurry back and prepare for the ritual; it’s getting late,” the man said cheerfully. His hands never faltered as he bled the pig, his movements a model of speed, ruthlessness, and precision. He was clearly an expert butcher.

Wu Wang took the opportunity to ask, “What offerings is your family preparing for the ritual this year?”

Hearing this, the man gave a sly grin. He patted the pig’s back with his knife.

“The usual. Two pigs, two cows, and two sheep! By the way, Aunty Li, your family’s harvest doesn’t seem too good this year. Don’t fall short on the offerings and anger the Yin Fate Great God.”

“It’s fine. You go on with your work.”

Wu Wang laughed it off and bluffed his way into the village.

A few minutes later, the real auntie and uncle walked down the mountain. Seeing the man busy with his butchering, they greeted him.

“Daozi, still not done?”

The man was just wiping sweat with a towel. He responded subconsciously, “Yeah. Aunty Li, after you delivered the food and came down the mountain… huh? Wait, didn’t you just go back home?”

He immediately rubbed his eyes with the towel and blinked hard at the auntie, his expression a mask of confusion and bewilderment.

It wasn’t a mistake. Aunty Li and Uncle Li were indeed coming from the direction of the mountain.

Then who was that person he was just talking to?

Did I just see a ghost in broad daylight?

The man shivered involuntarily, a chill running down his spine. These next few days were the special preparation period for the Yin Fate Grand Ritual. He was genuinely afraid of encountering something unclean.

“What’s wrong, Daozi? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Uncle Li joked.

Unexpectedly, the man’s face turned grim, and he nodded.

“Uncle Li, I think I really did see a ghost.”

The man recounted what had just happened. He then asked Uncle Li to lend a hand so he could quickly finish butchering. Afterward, he planned to go into the village and ask the elders about the situation. For something like this to happen on such a special day was deeply unsettling.

They wanted to know if strange things had happened during the Yin Fate Grand Ritual in previous years. But as they entered the village, they saw that most of the villagers they passed had strange expressions on their faces.

There was even a couple, usually extremely loving, screaming insults at each other as if all pretense was gone.

This left them rather baffled.

“What’s going on, everyone? Why are you all fighting like enemies?” Uncle Li stepped forward and grabbed one of them to ask.

A young man replied, “My sister-in-law said she saw Brother Wang go into the widow’s house, close the door, and not come out for a long time. Brother Wang said his wife was flirting with Doctor Chen. Sister Zhang said she saw her own kid talking nonsense to the empty air in an open field. And Big Wa from the Hu family said his dad beat him for no reason, even though his dad was at the plaza helping set up for the ritual the whole time!”

“In short, a lot of people have seen their family members appearing in places they shouldn’t be.”

“Uncle Li, don’t you think this must be the work of ghosts?”

Uncle Li and Daozi looked at each other, their scalps tingling with fear. It seemed the incident at the village entrance wasn’t isolated. It was happening all over the village.

Everyone discussed it for a moment, clamoring to go find the village chief and ask what was going on. He was old and experienced, after all.

Just then, a young boy with a head full of lumps ran over from the direction of the Ancestral Hall, crying out.

“Grandpa! Grandpa! Stop hitting me! I didn’t do it!”

Everyone inquired about what had happened. Their expressions became even more peculiar. It was the village chief’s grandson.

People from the Ancestral Hall revealed that the boy had just gone inside and spoken nonsense to the village chief. He had only said two things.

“Grandpa! Since it’s the Yin Fate Grand Ritual, will you promise me one thing?”

“I’ve called you Grandpa for so many years. Just once, why don’t you call me Grandpa and let me hear how it sounds?”

Everyone in Yin Fate Village fell silent.

What kind of unclean thing had possessed their village?