On the second morning, the sky was still grey and overcast.

Bai Youwei couldn’t remember when she had fallen asleep. She asked Shen Mo — it was already eight o’clock.

The feeling was deeply unsettling.

Especially with the village elder’s wife, Madam Ma, and Scabby Li’s neighbor, Madam Liu, having both committed murders in the middle of the night one after another. It made Bai Youwei feel increasingly that falling asleep at night was a very dangerous thing.

Voices could be heard from outside — Du Lai and Fu Miaoxue seemed to already be up.

Bai Youwei also slowly got out of bed, mulling over the game’s puzzles while washing up at an unhurried pace.

Silvery laughter rang through from outside from time to time. She had no idea what that couple out there was laughing about. Bai Youwei’s brow furrowed slightly, but she said nothing.

Shen Mo, beside her, had already finished getting ready with his usual efficiency. He conferred with Bai Youwei:

“Though the information is fragmented, we actually have a fair number of clues in hand.

Li Shi had no family name of her own;

Li Shi married Li Qianggui — a man who was very poor and covered in scab sores;

Li Shi was married for decades without bearing any children;

Li Shi harbored deep hatred toward the entire village;

Li Shi would not permit outsiders to touch her remains…

In ancient times, there were traffickers who specialized in buying and selling people. Li Shi’s arrival in this village was certainly not of her own volition. We can look among the other women who also had no names of their own — if we can find women who were bought in the same batch, we might be able to piece together Li Shi’s true identity.”

They had the village’s name register — they could go through it household by household.

Bai Youwei gave a single nod. “Alright.”

When they opened the door, Du Lai and Fu Miaoxue were indeed outside in the garden.

Those two were certainly in their own little world.

Du Lai was performing magic tricks to entertain Fu Miaoxue — first conjuring a peony, then a peony-type bloom, his slender, nimble fingers dancing through the air in something like a dance belonging entirely to the hands.

Fu Miaoxue saw Bai Youwei and Shen Mo’s door open and smiled cheerfully in greeting: “Morning~”

Bai Youwei smiled back. “In such good spirits — does that mean you’ve figured out how to clear the game?”

Fu Miaoxue’s smile froze: “……”

*Damn it.* This woman was a demon, wasn’t she?

*(Note: 册那 — Shanghai dialect expletive, used to express frustration or surprise, roughly equivalent to “damn it” or “what the hell.”)*

“No… there’s nothing like that~” Fu Miaoxue took Du Lai’s arm and tilted her head to rest it on his shoulder, smiling sweetly. “As long as I’m with my boyfriend, even if I can’t clear the game, I’m happy~”

“Good to hear.” Bai Youwei gave a perfectly earnest nod. “Though I’m sure me and my boyfriend will make it out — we do have two unused puzzle pieces, after all. Now that I think about it, those two pieces originally came from your boyfriend’s hands. He told you, didn’t he? He exchanged puzzle pieces with me for an item. Looking back now, he must have made that exchange specifically to save you. So in a roundabout way… you indirectly saved mine and my boyfriend’s lives, didn’t you~”

Fu Miaoxue: “……”

Demon demon demon demon DEMON!

Bai Youwei blinked at her. “Are you all right?”

“……Fine.” Fu Miaoxue quickly rearranged her smile, plucked a peony bloom and stuck it in her hair, then asked Bai Youwei: “Look — my boyfriend gave it to me. Pretty, isn’t it?”

Bai Youwei’s expression became slightly puzzled. She glanced at the nearby flower beds and said: “Doesn’t it feel strange to put those flowers in your hair? There might be a corpse buried under them.”

Fu Miaoxue tensed. “Surely not…”

“Look there.” Bai Youwei pointed toward the base of the flower beds.

Fu Miaoxue looked — and beneath the thick, lush flower leaves, half of a pale white arm lay nestled in the dirt.

“AHHHHH!!!”

Fu Miaoxue screamed!

She yanked the peony flower off her head with full force and fled into the house as if she’d lost her mind, scared nearly out of her wits!

“Miaoxue!” Du Lai hurried after her.

Once both of them were gone, Bai Youwei’s expression went cold. She stared at the arm in the dirt, her face blank.

“Stop playing dead. Come with me.” *And today she hadn’t turned into a puppet either.*

—