Mystery of death

The twenty-third day of the fourth lunar month, 01:22 in the morning.

After receiving the call, Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu came to the arch bridge downstream of the river and waited quietly for Ning Zhe and Feng Yusu to arrive.

Ye Miaozhu leaned on the guardrail of the stone bridge, resting one hand on Gu Yunqing's shoulder, looking down at the call record displayed on his mobile phone screen. The call record was not long, only 2 minutes, it was from Feng Yusu, but the person who spoke was Ning Zhe.

Ning Zhe gave them the following three pieces of information in concise sentences.

1: Xie Si Ning died, her body was found in this river, the cause of death is unknown

2: A thing that is unknown whether it is a human or not replaced Xie Si Ning's identity and followed Zhang Yang Xu. The motive is unknown.

3: The thing used Xie Si Ning's phone to call Feng Yu Shu

Ning Zhe believed that the "thing" used Xie Si Ning's cell phone to call Feng Yusu for some unknown secret purpose, and the fact that they happened to find Xie Si Ning's body by the river just prevented the impostor's strange behavior from achieving the desired effect.

Once its purpose is achieved, something terrible may happen.

"It's a bit too coincidental." Ye Miaozhu put her lips close to Gu Yunqing's ear and whispered.

Gu Yunqing's ears moved, and he asked in the same low voice: "What do you mean?"

"According to Ning Zhe, the ghost who replaced Xie Si Ning had just called Feng Yusu when they found the real body of Xie Si Ning floating in the river." Ye Miaozhu said softly, "Don't you think this is too much of a coincidence?"

"It's indeed a coincidence." Gu Yunqing raised his head and pointed with his chin at a collapsed gap on the deck of the arch bridge: "This pit collapsed just when Ning Zhe was walking across the bridge. He almost fell from here and died."

Ye Miaozhu nodded: "That's right, Feng Yushu said that it was because Ning Zhe accidentally violated a taboo that he was so unlucky."

"But I don't think this is bad luck." Gu Yunqing said, "Just think about it. If the bridge deck hadn't collapsed, Ning Zhe and Feng Yusu had crossed the bridge normally, and Feng Yusu had received a call from someone pretending to be Xie Si Ning on the way back to the ancestral hall, then... would they still have found the body in the river?"

"…It's hard to say, but it's highly unlikely."

"That's right." Gu Yunqing hissed softly: "If the bridge deck hadn't collapsed, Ning Zhe would most likely not have found Xie Si Ning's body, and would have no way of knowing the truth that Xie Si Ning was dead, and would not have been able to see through the fact that she had been impersonated by something..."

Gu Yunqing's tone became more gloomy as he spoke: "Ning Zhe's step on empty air is not so much bad luck caused by breaking a taboo, but rather God is reminding him that there is danger ahead."

"But there is no God in Hejia Village." Ye Miaozhu's eyes became serious: "There is only the Snake God here."

"Yes, there is only the Snake God, so it may be that the Snake God is helping him. But why would the Snake God help him?" Gu Yunqing turned off the screen of his phone, put it back in his pocket, and whispered, "Feng Yusu said that Ning Zhe accidentally violated a taboo and was unlucky, but did she tell you which taboo Ning Zhe violated?"

Travel? Burial? Funeral? Or sacrifice? I don't know.

"This village is strange, and the people in the village are also strange." Ye Miaozhu said softly.

"So if you want to get out alive, you have to be extremely vigilant about everything." Gu Yunqing agreed deeply.

The two waited at the bridge for a while, and two figures appeared on the street not far away. Ning Zhe and Feng Yusu finally arrived.

"You're really late." Gu Yunqing greeted Ning Zhe with a smile.

"I can't help it. I broke a taboo today, so I dare not run too fast." Ning Zhe put on a Sima face, looking very distressed: "I really don't know where I broke a taboo. I'm so unlucky. I almost fell to death when crossing a bridge."

"Don't you know what taboo you've violated?" Ye Miaozhu also became worried: "Then it seems we have to be careful too. And... are you sure that salvaging Xie Si Ning's body won't violate any taboos?"

Burials, funerals, etc., are all related to the dead.

"It's possible, but we still have to get it." Ning Zhe said lightly.

Ye Miaozhu was speechless.

Indeed, if one wants to unravel the mystery surrounding Hejia Village, Xie Sining's death is undoubtedly an important clue. Even if there is a certain degree of danger, it is better than running around like a headless fly.

"Let's go. The water in this river is not rushing, but such a long time has passed. Her body should have floated quite far away."

Ning Zhe took the lead and walked down the bridge, walking quickly downstream along the river bank. The three followed.

Just as Ning Zhe said, the river flowing through Hejia Village flows relatively slowly, one could even say it's too slow. The rows of willow trees on both sides of the river bank drop their emerald green leaves, which look like stickers stuck on the river surface, moving quietly and slowly downstream.

The four of them ran downstream along the river, never forgetting to keep their eyes on the water. They could see the bright white moon reflected in the river and the round pebbles on the bottom of the water covering the riverbed.

"Found it."

After walking for a long time, Ning Zhe finally saw Xie Si Ning who was washed ashore on a gentle bluestone slope downstream of the river. This was where the villagers of Hejia Village washed clothes. Xie Si Ning's wet and pale body was spread out on the ground like a piece of torn clothing.

Everyone walked forward quickly. Without saying anything, Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu each lifted the body while the other unbuttoned Xie Sining's clothes and began to check.

"The body has been in the water for a long time and its temperature has cooled down completely, so it is impossible to estimate the time of death."

"There were no open wounds, blunt force trauma or bruises on the body, which ruled out the possibility of death from trauma."

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

"There was no internal bleeding, so it's highly likely that death was not caused by internal injuries."

"There was no obvious accumulation of water in the lungs, and he did not drown. Instead, his body was thrown into the river after death."

"We haven't found any signs of poisoning yet, and we have initially ruled out the possibility of poisoning, but without professional testing equipment, we can't be completely sure."

The more they examined, the more confused Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu became.

"There are no external injuries, no drowning or suffocation, and no signs of poisoning. Whether from the inside or the outside, we can't find the cause of Xie Si Ning's death." Ye Miaozhu's expression became more and more solemn. She bit her lip and said, "It's just like... an acute sudden death without any warning, or direct brain death."

Gu Yunqing held Xie Si Ning's shoulders with both hands, looked up at Ning Zhe who looked thoughtful, then turned his head to look at the sparkling river surface. The bright white moon was floating on it, and the gentle water reflected his own sad face.

"What happened? How did Xie Si Ning die...?"

Gu Yunqing gritted his teeth slightly. The confusing situation made him shudder. Although he tried his best to control himself from thinking about those weird things, it was obvious that Hejia Village was a place that could not be deconstructed with conventional thinking.

"How did Xie Si Ning die?" Ning Zhe folded his arms. He understood that behind this question might be a crucial secret that determined whether he could survive here.

Just when everyone was lost in thought, suddenly, a splash of water broke the silence by the river under the moonlight.

A warm, fresh corpse slid down the gentle bluestone slope where clothes were washed and fell headfirst into the rushing river, splashing a burst of pale water.

Gu Yunqing is dead.

"… Are you kidding?" Ning Zhe's expression froze.

Was it the ghost that replaced Xie Si Ning that killed Gu Yunqing? If so, how did it kill him?