From the direction of the bloodstains, it was evident that someone had taken the axe from the yard, walked into the village head’s bedroom, beheaded the village head while he slept, then returned to the yard and put the axe back.

The axe handle had the character for “Ma” carved into it — sufficient to confirm that this was indeed the murder weapon.

The bloodstains ending at the tree stump also indicated that the killer had not left this courtyard.

Of course, one could also assume: a skilled assassin had vaulted over the walls to flee the scene, leaving no trace behind. But the game’s setting was not a wuxia novel — it was a remote, impoverished mountain village — and Bai Youwei didn’t think the game would introduce characters so inconsistent with the setting.

She believed, as Shen Mo had said, that the killer was either the bone-carrying woman or a local villager. There was no third possibility.

“Why would his family want to kill the village head?” Fu Miaoxue pondered aloud. “Unless it was to become the new village head, so they killed the old one… but that doesn’t hold up either. If they wanted to cover it up, wouldn’t strangling or smothering him be more convenient? Why use an axe to behead him? And they barely made any effort to deal with the bloodstains… Then there’s Ma-shi — why did she suddenly break into mad laughter?”

She knocked her head in frustration. “I hate having to think!”

Bai Youwei smiled slightly and glanced at her sideways: “Even though you hate thinking, the questions you just raised are all fairly key points.”

Whether this was her natural ability, or potential forced out of her by the test game, she couldn’t say.

“Of course they are!” Fu Miaoxue sniffed, chin lifting. “I’ve been playing the test version of this game — I’ve encountered even more absurd situations than this, and I’ve always unraveled them thread by thread~”

Bai Youwei said: “Regardless, our objective is to find out why the bone-carrying woman refuses to stop. The game won’t provide useless clues. The village head’s death and Ma-shi’s madness must have some connection to the bone-carrying woman. What we’re lacking right now is the bridge in the middle — we have no way to link the clues together.”

“A guest just now mentioned Li-shi — what if we go take a look at Li-shi’s home?” Fu Miaoxue suggested.

Bai Youwei nodded. “Yes, we should go.”

Li-shi was the key to the entire game. They would inevitably have to investigate her home.

The two of them were about to leave when Bai Youwei, seated in the wheelchair, suddenly stopped. Her gaze drifted toward the side of the courtyard wall.

Noticing this, Fu Miaoxue stopped too and looked at her in puzzlement. “What’s wrong?”

Bai Youwei’s eyes widened slightly, her expression a little startled. She looked ahead and said: “…Look quickly — over there.”

Fu Miaoxue looked.

It was just a rooster standing in the corner by the wall, with a few hens roosting nearby.

Fu Miaoxue found it baffling — it was just a few chickens. Was there really any need for such a reaction?

“Is this what you meant by the bridge clue?” Fu Miaoxue asked with a frown.

Bai Youwei shook her head gently, eyes still on the chickens, and said: “I haven’t seen a real animal in a very long time.”

The rabbit in the tortoise and hare race — not a normal rabbit.

The frog in the story of the golden ball — not a normal frog.

The cat in the game of hide-and-seek — not a normal cat either…

In the beginning, there had still been birds in the sky, fish in the water, and the occasional stray cat, stray dog, or mouse fleeing in a panic along the roadside…

At some point she couldn’t quite pinpoint, the birds had vanished from the sky, the fish from the water, and even ants and crawling insects had disappeared — not a single one to be seen.

Fu Miaoxue looked at the chickens, and said with a chill in her voice: “Before long, perhaps you won’t see a single person left either. Come on~”

Bai Youwei was reluctant to go. She said to Fu Miaoxue: “You go ahead. Go and see if the others are back yet. I want to watch the chickens.”

“Watch the chickens?” Fu Miaoxue stared at her, at a loss for words, and walked off, lifting her skirt.

But as she reached the front yard, she felt something was off. Could watching chickens really be more important than going to Li-shi’s home to investigate clues?

She turned around and headed back, and ran into Bai Youwei coming in the wheelchair.

Fu Miaoxue peered over Bai Youwei’s shoulder —

Hm?

Where were the chickens?

…

—