His words broke the silence, but they ushered in a new wave of it.
Several gazes fell upon him, mostly divided between two reactions: ‘This guy is crazy.’ and ‘This guy is dangerous.’ The first to break was Li Shouzhang. “The Guard Chief is usually chosen from a prestigious family.”
“That’s not a problem. We can work behind the scenes and claim that I’m your long-lost brother.”
This guy must have lost his mind.
Since Su Er was someone he had brought into the team, Ji Heng simply shook his head and looked at Shen Jiangbei. “I'm taking Wen Buyu with me.”
Shen Jiangbei frowned, about to speak when Ji Heng added, “In exchange, I’ll give you an extra piece of information—he’s poisoning his elders.”
Wan Yi and Shen Jiangbei had only gathered evidence of the affair. They hadn’t expected this.
On the other side, Wen Buyu exhaled in relief, cautiously eyeing Wan Yi as she pressed herself against the wall and moved toward Ji Heng.
Su Er glanced at the sky and estimated that in half an hour, it would be work time. “Are we heading back?”
Ji Heng shook his head.
“Skipping work isn’t a good thing,” Su Er commented.
Ji Heng turned to Shen Jiangbei and Wan Yi. “I’ll leave it to you two.”
As they left the alley, Su Er glanced back.
“They’ll be working for free just to dig up information on the Li family,” Ji Heng said. Then, his expression turned cold as he looked at Wen Buyu. “I hope your intel is worth something.”
Fresh from a crisis, Wen Buyu’s face was slightly pale, but she forced herself to remain calm and nodded.
“There’s something off with the voting.” She spoke while observing Ji Heng’s reaction. Seeing no particular change in his expression, she continued, “According to protocol, the outgoing Guard Chief reads the votes one by one while someone records them. Last year, the one responsible for recording was Li Shouzhang. He said that the total number of votes exceeded the town’s population by several hundred.”
Su Er remarked, “Maybe some residents voted multiple times?”
“Impossible,” Wen Buyu said. “Li Shouzhang said the voting process is highly strict.” She hesitated, then took a deep breath. “He reported it to the Guard Chief, but the Guard Chief just told him to keep quiet.”
She lowered her head. “Do you think… the extra votes were cast by ghosts?”
Ji Heng remained unfazed. “Perhaps.”
Wen Buyu made a small sound of surprise, astonished at his lack of reaction.
Meanwhile, Su Er recalled the night they encountered the Tongue-Pulling Ghost. The first thing Ji Heng asked was whether there were more of its kind in town. At the time, the female ghost had confirmed that there were.
Ji Heng said indifferently, “My Spiritual power isn’t as high as Qi Yun’s, but it’s not low either.”
Spiritual power above eighty could lead to possession by malevolent spirits. Su Er quickly pieced things together. “Wait… could it be…?”
Ji Heng nodded. “On my first day here, a spirit tried to possess me.”
A spirit possession could grant the person access to a ghost’s power, but the risks were significant.
Curious, Su Er asked, “Qi Yun’s spiritual power is off the charts. Wouldn’t ghosts be fighting over the chance to possess him?”
Ji Heng was sure it wasn’t his imagination—somehow, Su Er had a way of making things sound strange.
Wen Buyu, however, looked envious. “With a high spiritual power, you can sometimes sense where the ghosts are. The benefits outweigh the risks.”
Su Er’s spiritual power was still far from the critical threshold, so his curiosity quickly faded as he refocused on the current problem. “If the votes were suspicious, yet the Guard Chief ignored it, then he must know something.”
Wen Buyu added, “One more thing. The town has people assigned to monitor residents' behavior. If they notice any infractions, they immediately report them to the Guard Chief.”
Su Er figured the Host might fall under this category.
Wen Buyu now looked a little nervous. “I’ve told you everything I know. I just want to get out of here alive. I promise not to cause any more trouble.”
Ji Heng replied, “In an instance, survival depends on one’s own luck.”
At least he didn’t outright reject her. This rekindled Wen Buyu’s hope. Ge Xuyan was dead, so she had eliminated her biggest threat. In that sense, this wasn’t a total loss.
After walking a while in silence, Wen Buyu suppressed her curiosity and followed them without question.
Their steps finally came to a halt outside the ancestral hall.
There were no guards. On the contrary, the townspeople avoided the place with visible fear. Su Er rolled up his sleeves, revealing clear whip marks—wounds that likely wouldn’t heal until they left the game.
Wen Buyu’s face also darkened at the memory of the beating she had received upon arrival.
Inside the ancestral hall, plaques honoring past Guard Chief were displayed. The most common surnames were ‘Li’ and ‘Zhou’. A thick, heavy voting box sat in a corner outside, partially covered by a red cloth.
Ji Heng suddenly turned to Wen Buyu. “Did Li Youzhang ever mention what happens to old votes?”
“I think they get destroyed in bulk.”
Ji Heng walked over, reached an arm inside the box, and quickly withdrew it. Su Er noticed the question mark symbol on Ji Heng’s badge—where his physical power value should be—flicker briefly. “You okay?”
Ji Heng shook his head, then flipped the voting box over and went outside to find a sharp rock. He struck the bottom a few times and scraped at it. The exposed material underneath gleamed white.
At first, Su Er thought it was chipped paint. But when he got closer, he realized what it was. “Wait… is this made of bone?”
Ji Heng nodded. “Looks like human bones. And they were taken from the living, which is why the resentment is so strong.” He returned the voting box to its original position and suddenly turned to Su Er. “The Guard Chief’s house or the graveyard—where do you want to go?”
Su Er pressed his lips together, not answering immediately.
Wen Buyu was incredulous. “…Do you even need to ask”
Any normal person would rule out the graveyard first.
Su Er said, “To be safe, why not check out both?”
Ji Heng seemed pleased with that answer.
The position of Guard Chief followed a tradition of living alone. Upon election, they must distance themselves from their family to demonstrate that they would act without personal bias during their tenure. The current Guard Chief resided in a secluded area, far from the town’s bustle, with even the main gate painted a somber black.
Standing at the entrance, Su Er gazed at the imposing stone lions, sensing an eerie stillness.
Ji Heng stepped forward and knocked on the door.
It took a long moment before it was finally opened. Even at home, the Guard Chief dressed impeccably. Seeing the visitors, he narrowed his eyes in displeasure.
Ji Heng respectfully said, “We grew up without proper guidance from our elders, which is why we made the mistake of sneaking alcohol. You are the most disciplined person in town, and before you step down, we would like to receive your teachings one last time.”
Su Er played along, nodding repeatedly. Wen Buyu, however, looked a little perplexed—who would have thought that Ji Heng, with his perpetually cold demeanor, could lie so smoothly?
Flattered by their respectful words, the Guard Chief’s expression softened slightly. He lifted his chin and said, “Come in.”
The house had almost no modern items. A set of solid wood furniture occupied most of the space, and several calligraphy paintings adorned the walls.
The Guard Chief launched into a lengthy discourse on principles and discipline. Throughout, Su Er kept his head slightly lowered, appearing attentive but in reality, his mind had drifted far away. If not for the strange chill lingering around him, he might have dozed off.
Once the lecture seemed to be wrapping up, Ji Heng asked, “Everyone has an innate tendency toward laziness. How do you manage to maintain complete self-discipline?”
The Guard Chief’s expression darkened, his tone turning cold. “It becomes a habit.”
Ji Heng continued, “Where are those who committed grave crimes in town buried after death?”
The Guard Chief eyed him suspiciously. “Why do you ask?”
Ji Heng replied, “I’d like to visit as a reminder to stay on the right path.”
Supporting the act, Su Er lifted his arm slightly, casually revealing his wounds. “That day, your punishment woke us up. After visiting, we plan to write a reflection piece and share it with those at the Yutang.”
Standing beside them, Wen Buyu had no chance to interject—not that she had anything to say.
Something flickered in the Guard Chief’s eyes, and for a brief moment, his expression twisted with an eerie satisfaction. “You should indeed take a look. That way, you’ll understand the consequences of breaking the rules.”
Following his directions, the three quickly arrived at their destination. Beneath a desolate mountain lay scattered graves. The tombstones had the deceased’s names engraved in tiny characters, with most of the space occupied by descriptions of their crimes. Among them, Su Er noticed a fresh grave—it belonged to the Li family girl who had ‘committed suicide.’ The epitaph was filled with slander, with the words ‘disgrace to the family’ etched prominently.
Though the wind wasn’t particularly strong, an unsettling chill lingered in the air.
“It’s freezing,” Wen Buyu muttered, pulling up her collar and tucking her hands into her pockets.
Su Er remarked, “The temperature at the Guard Chief’s house also felt lower than outside.”
Ji Heng asked, “When I inquired about self-discipline, what was his response?”
Su Er repeated, “It becomes a habit.”
Ji Heng let out a cold chuckle. “The townspeople are controlled by the Guard Chief, but the Guard Chief is under the watchful eye of the ghosts.”
Wen Buyu’s eyes widened. “There’s a ghost in his house? Then weren’t we lying right under its nose?”
“Mind your words,” Su Er said seriously. “When we return, I really will write a reflection. That’s not a lie.”
Ji Heng counted the number of graves. “Enough for a full hundred of ghosts.”
Wen Buyu forced a weak smile, barely able to stand properly. “Not all of them… are necessarily ghosts,” she mumbled, swallowing hard. “The extra votes… maybe just one ghost cast multiple votes.”
Ji Heng didn’t bother arguing with her. Instead, his gaze darkened as he stared at the tombstones.
Wen Buyu understood the real problem—there weren’t many people left in the town, so it was entirely possible that the decision-making power lay in the hands of the ghosts. “Actually, if the three most influential Li brothers were to die, we could rally support for Li Shouzhang, and our chances of winning would increase.”
That had originally been her plan—easy to execute, though not without risks.
Su Er, who had been quietly listening, instinctively responded, “That might not work. If we hadn’t uncovered your ‘relationship’ with Li Shouzhang—”
“Could you use a different word?”
“…Friendship.” Su Er cleared his throat. “If people had voted for one of the Li brothers, you might have won and walked away with the victory all to yourself. But now that we’re working together, the game won’t let so many players clear it so easily.”
Ji Heng had hinted more than once that the game had a twisted sense of humor and was biased in favor of ghosts.
Wen Buyu grew anxious. “Then what do we do?”
Su Er frowned. Many ideas required sufficient strength to execute, and right now, he was as weak as an ant—at best, an electrically charged one. Instinctively, he looked at Ji Heng. The latter smiled and said, “Didn’t you want to run for Guard Chief?”
He gestured toward the mass grave. “Then you’ll need to find a way to make them vote for you.”
A sinister wind swept through the distant valley, carrying with it an eerie echo. Ji Heng’s smile deepened with meaning. “So, what should you do now?”
Facing the graves, Su Er thought for a moment and then answered, “…Start my performance?”
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