The sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard. The entire hall fell silent. Every single person stared at the head that had landed in front of Ma-shi.

The village head’s remains had already been cleaned and arranged, so when the head fell, there was no fresh blood — yet the horror it carried was not diminished in the slightest.

The head was a grayish-white color — ashen hair, ashen skin, eyes tightly shut, skin wrinkled and slack.

Where it had been severed, a layer of glutinous rice paste had been smeared, applied thickly and stickily. It was the village head’s sons who had put it there, hoping to paste the head back in place.

Now the glutinous paste smeared all over Ma-shi, tinged with a faint flesh-pink from the blood that had seeped out of the skull.

Ma-shi’s gaze moved, blank and vacant, from the coffin to the head lying in front of her.

She reached out both hands…

Slowly… she cradled her husband’s head in her palms…

Everyone watched Ma-shi with pounding hearts, tense with anxiety — and then Ma-shi suddenly burst into wild laughter.

“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!”

Everyone was seized with shock, staring in disbelief at the old woman convulsing with laughter!

In the mourning hall, before the remains of the dead, Ma-shi laughed hysterically, uncontrollably — like a woman gone mad!

“HA HA HA HA!

HA HA HA HA!

AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!”

The sound was sharp and grating, reverberating through the entire room!

Fu Miaoxue was so frightened she clutched Bai Youwei’s hand in a death grip!

Being a puppet, her fingers were harder than those of a living person — they dug painfully into Bai Youwei’s hand.

Across the room, Ma-shi stood up, still cradling the village head’s skull, flailing her arms and dancing about! Her eyes were wide open, pupils contracted, the corners of her mouth wrenched apart — and then it kept stretching wider and wider and wider!

Until her mouth could no longer close! Exposing her gums and tongue!

Her expression was grotesque and terrifying, like a demon!

“Ma-shi is possessed!!!” a villager suddenly screamed.

Ma-shi’s sons and daughters-in-law snapped out of their stupor and rushed at her, pinning the hysterically laughing Ma-shi to the ground! One of them slapped her hard across the face twice!

But Ma-shi still did not come to her senses. Her laughter was frenzied — like someone at the pinnacle of joy, or at the pinnacle of agony!

“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!…”

Tears streamed from her eyes, her mouth wrenched open to the limit, lips cracked and split at the corners, blood seeping through!

In the chaos, more and more people crowded in. Someone shouted for a rooster to be slaughtered for an exorcism; someone dragged in a rope of straw and bound Ma-shi with it; someone else hurriedly retrieved the village head’s head, wiped it clean, and placed it back in the coffin —

Utter pandemonium in every direction!

Bai Youwei and Fu Miaoxue were jostled to the side, swept along with the other villagers out of the main hall.

The mourning hall was in chaos. The funeral proceedings came to a temporary halt. The courtyard was full of people rushing about and relaying the news. Ma-shi’s sons and daughters-in-law were still inside wailing miserably, and the entire scene could not have been more chaotic.

“Should we leave too?” Fu Miaoxue asked Bai Youwei, looking left and right. She had been terrified just moments ago, but now wore an expression of complete and utter nonchalance.

“Aren’t you afraid of headless male corpses anymore?” Bai Youwei said irritably, shaking her hand free — it had gone red.

Fu Miaoxue stared wide-eyed and shook her head: “Compared to his wife, that head was nothing.”

Ma-shi’s hysterical laughter had been far too horrifying.

Bai Youwei glanced toward the mourning hall and said: “Ma-shi has lost her mind now, and her sons and daughters-in-law are all in the hall. Shall we go take a look at the back?”

Fu Miaoxue nodded. “Sure.”

The two of them headed toward the rear of the main hall.

Behind the central hall were the sleeping quarters and a small backyard. On one side of the yard was a kitchen; on the other, a pile of firewood.

Beside the firewood was a tree stump.

Embedded in the tree stump was an axe.

The axe was covered in blood.

If you looked closely, you could even see a few bloodstained hairs caught on the blade.

Fu Miaoxue said softly to Bai Youwei: “Case solved, right? The village head was definitely killed by his own family.”

Why else would the axe in their own yard be soaked in blood?

Bai Youwei narrowed her eyes slightly and followed the direction of the axe, her gaze trailing all the way to the threshold of the sleeping quarters. On the ground were several dark reddish-brown smears of blood — though earth had been rubbed over them, they were still clearly visible.

“Strange…” she murmured. “If the village head’s head was severed by someone in his own household, then who cut off Li-shi’s husband’s head?”

—