Ji Heng said, “Very insightful.” He stepped forward and casually slipped the red paper into the other person’s pocket, speaking calmly, “But no matter how good a driver is, a car still needs airbags.”
Accidents like flipping a car often come without warning.
Once was enough—Su Er didn’t act coy again like receiving a red envelope at New Year, pretending to refuse it. Instead, he sincerely said thank you.
Only forty minutes after leaving, Wang Sansi returned.
Beside him was a girl in a white dress, her long, straight black hair braided into pigtails. With her delicate facial features and the way her eyes blinked so innocently, she gave off an air of pure charm.
“Hello,” the girl said with a gentle smile. “My name is Xiao Cui.”
‘Xiao Cui’ was usually a simplified nickname—unlikely to be a full name. It was Su Er’s first time hearing someone introduce themselves that way.
Wang Sansi helped carry Xiao Cui’s luggage and escorted her into the house.
Su Er stared at their backs, then suddenly asked, "Where’s the staff member who went out with you?"
Wang Sansi paused but didn’t look back. "The token Xu He gave me—a brooch—fell on the way. He stayed behind to help look for it. I came back to drop her off first."
A stamp ghost would kindly help someone find a brooch?
Once Wang Sansi was out of sight, Su Er turned to Ji Heng with a smile. “Do I look that easy to fool?”
Such a clumsy excuse, so carelessly thrown out.
Ji Heng replied, “He probably thinks that no matter how good the excuse, you’d still be suspicious.”
Su Er thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. “That’s true.” Then, with some uncertainty, he added, “Charm values don’t seem to work here.”
Ji Heng: “Oh?”
“When I first got to the Xu household, I tried to take a sip from the Xu brothers. They tasted the same. Then I got curious and tried the stamp ghost. No difference from a normal person.” Su Er frowned. “If it’s just because of the illusion, isn’t that a bit far-fetched?”
The stamp ghost was a real entity. How could there be no trace of yin energy?
Ji Heng thought for a moment and made a guess. “It might be the scent of the incense.”
Su Er: “You mean the incense burner?”
Ji Heng: “The incense’s aroma can mask yin energy.”
Su Er’s interest was piqued. “The incense burner the adult store owner later bought was probably one that had leaked out from the Xu family. But it was much weaker in comparison.”
Ji Heng nodded. “Those incense burners didn’t have anything sealed inside.”
The incense burner in Xu He’s possession had deliberately buried red paper inside—who knew what might be sealed in there.
Su Er mused, “The scent masks the flavor, but I still have my eyes.”
If he couldn’t sense it through taste, he could use the eye inside him to examine Wang Sansi.
He was a man of action—without hesitation, he turned and strode after them.
In the main hall, Xiao Cui had just poured a cup of water and handed it to Wang Sansi, thanking him for picking her up.
Su Er halted at the doorway and didn’t step forward.
Sensing someone’s presence, Xiao Cui turned with a gentle smile and took out some local snacks from her luggage to give to him.
“Could I have a few more?” Su Er smiled a little awkwardly. “My friend really loves these.”
Xiao Cui was generous and handed over a few more. Su Er expressed his thanks sincerely, then turned around and walked off, expressionless.
He had barely taken a few steps before nearly bumping into Xu He. The latter was hurrying to meet his fiancée and jogged past while apologizing.
In the Xu family courtyard, a separate area was used for growing vegetables—the leaves were lush and green. As soon as Su Er approached, he saw Ji Heng standing there, arms crossed, apparently admiring the greens.
Very down to earth.
A soft sigh floated in on the breeze. Ji Heng shifted his gaze away from the vegetables, and seeing Su Er’s expression from the corner of his eye, his lips curled up faintly. “Came back empty-handed?”
Su Er said in a low voice, “Can’t see through him.”
Using that internal eye, every image he saw looked like it had been pixelated.
Ji Heng didn’t seem surprised. “The game would naturally try to balance the power of the eye you possess.”
Su Er only cared about practical outcomes. His eyes lit up. “But that indirectly proves that distinguishing humans from ghosts is key to completing the task.”
Otherwise, the game wouldn’t bother restricting this ability.
Ji Heng was silent for a moment, then said, “Let’s go for a walk.”
Su Er didn’t ask questions and followed.
They arrived at a secluded spot. Ji Heng gave him a serious instruction: “Shout as loud as you can.”
Su Er froze, then drew in breath and shouted ‘Ah!’ into the sky.
The sound didn’t disperse immediately—it felt heavy, muffled, with a faint echo.
Su Er frowned and shouted again. The strange sensation only grew stronger.
Ji Heng: “Any thoughts?”
Su Er lowered his head in thought. “It feels like we’re inside a sealed space…”
He didn’t continue right away, his mind searching for an appropriate metaphor.
Ji Heng finished the thought for him: “A coffin.”
Su Er was momentarily stunned. Now that it was said out loud, it really did fit. Even standing in a place with few people, the air didn’t feel fresh—instead, it felt suffocating.
Ji Heng smiled. “There’s a whole other world inside a coffin. Now you’ve seen it for yourself.”
Su Er was still a bit skeptical. “There’s one thing that doesn’t make sense. The stamp ghost swore this illusion was its own creation.”
And that did seem to be the case—Xia Zhi’s injuries didn’t show at all here.
Ji Heng said, “If the ghost’s power was given by the coffin, then it’s not a contradiction.”
Recalling the details of his interactions with the stamp ghost, Su Er twitched the corner of his mouth. “Could it be that the stamp ghost never even realized that?”
Unless the ghost was pulling off Oscar-worthy acting, its self-confidence felt genuine. From its words and mannerisms, it clearly believed itself to be the creator of the illusion.
“Probably used up all its brainpower on weaving stories,” Ji Heng said flatly. “You could already tell when it thought Xu He was a good person.”
The stamp ghost had admitted it couldn’t remember many things. Looking back, it wasn’t just memory loss—it was more like confusion.
On their way back, Su Er observed the surrounding scenery carefully. “I wonder if we’re in a moment from the past, or in a coffin-generated illusion.”
If it was the past, did that mean their actions could change the future?
Ji Heng suddenly stopped. “When solving problems with formulas, do you ever look into where the formula came from?”
Su Er replied, “Sometimes.”
Most of the time, he just cared about the results and preferred to memorize formulas by rote.
Ji Heng said calmly, “Xu He definitely has an agenda. Whatever he’s after, we just need to beat him to the prize.”
Su Er swallowed. “But what if he just wants to kill people…”
Ji Heng responded rationally, “Then we kill him first.”
Su Er nodded admiringly. “One conversation with you is worth ten years of study.”
The mood at the Xu’s residence wasn’t great.
Xiao Cui clung to Xu He with reliance, while Xu Han, though he said nothing, had disapproval written all over his face.
A few staff members from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs tried to smooth things over, praising how pretty Xiao Cui was and how well she matched with Xu He.
Xiao Cui smiled faintly, but from a bystander’s perspective, Su Er felt that her smile looked a bit forced.
The courtyard gate wasn’t locked, and a creak rang out as someone pushed it open.
The stamp ghost actually returned, walking straight up to Xiao Cui and opening its hand to reveal a brooch.
Xiao Cui was genuinely surprised that the lost item had been found.
Xu He held her close and thanked the ghost. “That’s great! You’ve found our token of love.”
Seeing this, Su Er whispered under his breath, “She has an injury on her waist.”
Ji Heng nodded. He’d also noticed that when Xu He wrapped his arm around her waist, Xiao Cui involuntarily tensed up for a moment. But she didn’t dare pull away—she just casually reached for his wrist and subtly pressed his arm down a little.
The Xu family didn’t care for entertainment—no chess, no mahjong or cards, even the TV wasn’t on much.
With so many people around, they were just awkwardly making conversation.
Trying to ease the tension, Xu He volunteered, “Let me show everyone the treasures I bought recently.”
Everyone immediately looked intrigued.
Xu He led them to a small room. Xia Zhi was standing under a tree nearby, clearly trying to hide her panic.
Xu He didn’t question what she was doing there and instead warmly invited her to join them in viewing the collection.
Inside the room, every censer was burning incense. Xu He’s gaze revealed a subtle obsession.
“Are these… antiques?” One of the staff members from the Bureau was fairly well-informed but lacked expertise in appraising antiques.
“Better than antiques,” Xu He said, his face full of mystery. “They say that on certain special days, the smoke from these censers will drift continuously for thousands of meters, leading the way to Free Town.”
Silence fell immediately after his words.
After a long pause, the head of the Bureau finally came to his senses. His lips trembled with excitement. “Is that true?”
Xu He stared at him for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. “Just a legend. I thought it was interesting, so I bought them.”
Then he looked affectionately at Xiao Cui. “Who knows—maybe one day these incense burners will really work, and we can go to Free Town together.”
Off to the side, Wang Sansi was spouting the usual compliments about how perfect the couple was, but his eyes were glued to the censer, unable to look away.
Xia Zhi noticed something was off about him. She frowned and deliberately stepped farther away.
“Brother Xu, I’m a bit tired,” Xiao Cui suddenly said in a sweet, pampered voice.
Reluctantly, under everyone’s disappointed gazes, Xu He locked the room again.
The courtyard at dusk looked like the perfect oil painting.
Wang Sansi noticed that the players were all avoiding him, so he took the initiative to find the other three and talk about how he had picked up Xiao Cui.
“She told me that back when Xu He was still in the city, he often used the incense burner legend to lure people into visiting. Later, those people all disappeared. Xiao Cui also complained that Xu He often hit her—he’s not as gentle and refined as he appears.”
Xia Zhi asked defensively, “Why didn’t you say this earlier?”
Wang Sansi replied solemnly, “I was being selfish. I wanted to enjoy the benefits alone.”
It was actually quite normal for players to hide information. No one could really fault him for that.
Before anyone could ask more questions, Wang Sansi’s expression grew serious: “When I first saw those incense burners, I felt an unprecedented sense of danger.”
In that moment, it was as if something was going to burst out of the incense burner and devour his soul.
“So after careful consideration, I decided that betting on teamwork would be more reliable.”
Xia Zhi couldn’t tell if he was lying or not and looked to Su Er and Ji Heng, hoping to hear their take.
Su Er smiled and said, “Many hands make light work. If you’re willing to work together again, that’s good.”
He shifted the topic without even probing whether Wang Sansi was being sincere.
Xia Zhi was confused but couldn’t bring it up directly.
Although Xu He had arranged rooms for everyone, Su Er had been with Ji Heng since dusk. Once night fully fell, they agreed to go eavesdrop.
Rather than go straight to Xu He, they hid outside the locked incense burner room to keep watch.
Thankfully, even though it was summer, there weren’t many mosquitoes in the grass, otherwise it would’ve been a miserable experience.
Around the time the moon rose above the treetops, Xu He finally appeared. He no longer wore the friendly smile from earlier—in its place was a look of reverence.
He entered the room on his knees, bowing with each step. Once inside, he knocked his head seven times before the incense burners.
“The offering will arrive soon,” Xu He said with a twisted smile. “God of Freedom, after this sacrifice, please let me become a coffin bearer. I will be your most faithful servant!”
After bowing seven more times, Xu He left the room.
“Offering…” Su Er murmured, head slightly bowed. “He used an old, weak lock and even showed people the incense burners. Is he trying to lure someone into stealing them?”
And the thief would become the offering.
Ji Heng nodded. “That’s the only plausible explanation.”
If someone broke in recklessly, the risk would be unimaginable.
Su Er gave a light cough and announced his classic pre-action line: “I have an idea.”
They exchanged a glance. Ji Heng sighed, “You want to run for coffin bearer?”
Given his past behavior during the Guard Chief election, this logic was easy to follow.
Su Er replied frankly, “Based on what Xiao Cui said, Xu He’s had the incense burners for so long but still hasn’t become a coffin bearer. That shows this so-called God of Freedom isn’t interested in him.”
Just like a girlfriend who’s dated for over a decade but still hasn’t gotten married.
Ji Heng laughed. “I’m just worried you won’t even get a chance to speak once you go in.”
Su Er said nothing and ran off to the vegetable patch to start molding clay figurines. He made forty or fifty of them—some normal, others with five eyes or three heads and six arms—and secretly injected them one by one with ghost energy using his stun gun.
The last figurine, due to insufficient ghost energy, came out feeble like a premature kitten, even its voice weak and whiny.
Su Er put away the stun gun, frowning. His supply was exhausted, meaning he’d have to risk hunting ghosts again to restock. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. He hurried back with his clay army.
After counting them, Ji Heng glanced at Su Er deeply but said nothing.
Su Er meticulously instructed the clay figurines, while Ji Heng helped unlock the room outside. Then he stepped aside, clearly signaling: The stage is yours.
The clay army followed Su Er’s script, reenacting Xu He’s previous ritual—kneeling every three steps and bowing seven times before the incense burners. The only difference was that the words they spoke were modified by Su Er:
“I have three legs.”
“I have five eyes.”
“I have six big wings.”
After all the self-introductions, they declared in unison: “Oh great God of Freedom, please choose a coffin bearer from among us. We have all the forms you love. Your faithful are ready to serve you in every way.”
The incense burners: “……”
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