Chapter 009 Sacrifice and Sacrificial Tablet_1
The script for the fourth act didn't provide any useful information, however, the development of the plot within the script left Qian Cangyi somewhat surprised.
Bian Zhe and Zhang Zian were already planning to leave Yu Xi Village. So, as the one playing the role of Bian Zhe, could he leave Yu Xi Village?
Will there be new changes in the plot?
Qian Cangyi was already eager to know the rest of the plot, because it was related to his survival.
Now, the most important thing was still to investigate the house in front of him.
Qian Cangyi cleared his throat and read his lines:
"Zhang Zian, what do you make of this situation? I believe it's impossible for both of us to be hallucinating simultaneously."
Following the script could increase his character rating. Qian Cangyi wanted his character rating to be as high as possible.
That way, his Honor Value and film remuneration would be higher too.
Qian Cangyi hadn't forgotten what Hawkeye had said on the bus - the movie he needed to participate in was not just this one.
"Let's go. Don't waste time." After Hawkeye dropped this sentence, he walked into the living room.
Qian Cangyi was taken aback. He didn't expect Hawkeye to respond in this way.
Three seconds later, Hawkeye had already entered the bedroom on the right. Qian Cangyi sighed and walked towards the living room.
According to the plan, Qian Cangyi was to search the bedroom on the left of the living room. He pushed the wooden door open with his right hand, and then peeked inside to observe the situation.
The layout inside the bedroom was no different from the previous rooms, the only difference was that the village chief's house was larger, so there was another door in the bedroom leading to the next room.
Qian Cangyi searched the room proficiently. After several searches, he had become a pro.
About a minute later, he had searched the entire bedroom, not even missing the insides of the pillows.
After confirming that there were no clues, he walked to the next door, grabbed the door handle with his right hand and pushed the door open.
This room was a workspace or study.
An office desk in dark red was placed near the window. Shelves and bookcases were arranged on both sides of the walls.
The shelves displayed a variety of items, including small stone carvings and potted plants;
The books on the bookcases were of all kinds and were divided into two categories according to their newness and oldness:
One category was mostly famous works spanning from ancient to modern, from home and abroad, as if dragged back from an old bookstore. The other type was relatively new and mainly consisted of books on rural wealth creation.
Qian Cangyi entered the study. His first target was the office desk.
A desk calendar with a twenty-four solar terms background was in the top left corner of the desk, the date frozen on June 11.
In the middle of the desk close to the office chair, a deep-blue notebook caught the eye, and a black signature pen was neatly arranged on the right side of the notebook.
Qian Cangyi extended his hand to unclasp the notebook, and then turned to the first page.
The name Wei Guangyuan appeared before him.
"Wei Guangyuan, it seems to be the name of the village chief."
Qian Cangyi placed four fingers of his left hand on the inside of the notebook page, with his thumb on the side of the notebook. Then his thumb pushed hard to lift all the pages up and begin flipping through them.
The first few pages to fall were clean white, with no marks at all.
"What is this?" Qian Cangyi flipped through and found that besides the name written on the title page, only the first few pages of the entire notebook had any writing on them.
An assumption occurred to him. Wei Guangyuan might have deliberately left the notebook on the office desk with the intention of leaving a message.
Qian Cangyi's eyes brightened. He quickly flipped the notebook back to the first page.
Neat handwriting appeared before him, with no difficulty in reading at all.
However, after scanning it briefly, Qian Cangyi did not continue reading but picked up the notebook, held it in his arms, and walked towards the living room.
Qian Cangyi hadn't forgotten about the earlier incident with Black Shadow.
At that time, he was warned by the content in the script, so he was able to be prepared in advance. Now, without any warning from the script, would the Black Shadow not take the opportunity to ambush him?
Qian Cangyi didn't know, but he wanted to be safer.
"Zhang Zian! I've found an important clue. Come quickly."
His voice echoed through Wei Guangyuan's house.
By the time Qian Cangyi walked into the living room, Hawkeye had also emerged in the living room.
"I haven't looked yet. I'm worried there might be Black Shadow." Qian Cangyi held up the deep-blue notebook in his hand.
Hawkeye nodded and said,
"We might as well go into the courtyard."
Qian Cangyi agreed.
From the previous attack of Black Shadow, it was clear that Black Shadow's method of attack was suitable for ambushing in a narrow environment.
The courtyard was spacious, and any ambush by Black Shadow would be immediately discovered.
The two men stood in the courtyard.
"You look first, and organize it at the same time." Hawkeye vigilantly scanned the surroundings.
Qian Cangyi opened the notebook, placed his right index finger on the first line of text, and began to read.
[I don't know if anyone will see this note, but I will write everything I know in here.]
[The turning point began last night. For some reason, the people of Yu Xi Village feel like they're being watched by something.]
[It's not just me, my family, but also other villagers who have the same feeling.]
[Later, I realized what was watching us was a shadow, a black shadow. Those shadows seemed to be alive, hiding in the dark.]
[After the strange incident occurred, I thought of someone, Li Chenxi, who lives near behind the Mountain.]
[Li Chenxi's parents died when he was young. Somehow, after he turned 18, he developed a strange disease. He often becomes blind but recovers after half a day. No problems could be found at the Hospital.]
[Yesterday, a villager came to me and said that Li Chenxi had carried a black stone tablet to the open space behind the Mountain. He had also prepared candles and paper money. It was very strange, and asked if I wanted to have a look.]
[I was quite busy at the time, and seeing as Li Chenxi often did similar things, I didn't think much of it.]
[In retrospect, if I had gone to stop Li Chenxi then, perhaps all of this wouldn't have happened.]
[Anyway, the next day, I found Li Chenxi and asked him what he had done? What was the stone tablet he moved to behind the Mountain?]
[Li Chenxi told me that the stone tablet was called the Sacrificial Tablet. What he was conducting on the open space behind the Mountain yesterday was a death sacrifice.]
[When I heard the word sacrifice, I felt something was off. What kind of ritual would be called a death sacrifice? I've only ever heard of living sacrifices.]
[Li Chenxi said the death sacrifice was a sacrifice to death. After the ceremony, one could achieve immortality, no longer having to worry about things like lack of money or illnesses, and live happily ever after.]
[I asked him whether he saw any strange black shadows last night and if he knew what they were.]
[Li Chenxi shook his head, saying he didn't know. But he didn't care as he firmly believed that he would achieve immortality. All he had to do was wait.]
[At that point, I thought Li Chenxi must have gone mad. I didn't ask him any further and instead went to the open space behind the Mountain.]
[The death sacrifice, the Sacrificial Tablet, I believed that the so-called death sacrifice must have something to do with the Sacrificial Tablet. As long as the Sacrificial Tablet was destroyed, everything would end.]
[When I arrived at the open space, I found that the ground was covered in half-burned white candles and ashes of paper money, but I didn't see any stone tablet. I searched the entire open space and found nothing. So, I went back to find Li Chenxi. Of course, this time, I brought several people along.]