Chapter 1 Listening to Li Bai's Almost Testament

Hearing Li Bai's almost last words, Fatty grasped her hand, his eyes reddening, tears swirling within. His lips trembled, unable to utter a single word.

Li Bai spoke of the optimal solution. Making Shao Tong a scapegoat was unwise, something everyone understood, but emotionally, no one wanted Li Bai to be the one to leave.

A commotion arose outside the courtyard gate, as if many people were approaching the courtyard. The sound of shoes scraping against the ground was lengthy and irritating, as if everyone was dragging their feet.

"There's no time. Give me that bowl of white rice!"

Li Bai struggled to sit up. She was afraid of death too, but all she could do now was avoid burdening her friends. Jiang Cheng, Wang Fugui, and Yao Shunyu had come so far, but unfortunately, her path with them ended here.

Jiang Cheng took out the wooden牌 (pai, tablet) from his pocket and stuffed it into Li Bai's pocket. "Although I don't know the purpose of this wooden牌 (pai, tablet), it might be useful if you carry it with you."

Holding the bowl of white rice, Li Bai tremblingly picked up the chopsticks. Just as she had accepted her fate, a hand grasped hers, taking the bowl away as well.

"You..." Li Bai looked at the person in confusion.

Shao Tong held the bowl in one hand and pointed to Li Bai's pocket with the other, saying calmly, "Don't be in such a hurry to die. I can translate the words on that牌 (pai, tablet)."

"You can translate?" Fatty was overjoyed. "Then why didn't you say so earlier?"

Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie's faces turned livid with anger. Jiang Cheng glanced at Shao Tong but said nothing. Zhang Qizheng, however, nodded at Shao Tong. "Good scheming. You were testing us. If we were determined to use you as a scapegoat, you would take this secret to your grave, and we would forever lose the opportunity to decipher the wooden牌 (pai, tablet)."

Shao Tong smiled, showing no respect for Zhang Qizheng. "Old man, you and these two idiots should thank Brother Jiang and Miss Li Bai. Without them, all of you would be dead!"

When had Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie ever suffered such insults? Their fists clenched tightly, but fearing the information Shao Tong possessed, they dared not do anything to him.

"You better not be lying to us, or believe me, your end will be very unpleasant," Tang Qisheng said with a cold smile, unwilling to lose face.

Taking the wooden牌 (pai, tablet), Shao Tong pointed to one side and said, "This side is the front, and it says, 'Living Open the Way'." Then he turned the牌 (pai, tablet) over. "This side is the back, and it says, 'Dead Return Soul'."

"This牌 (pai, tablet) is not only the key to opening Daotou Village, but also an indispensable item for the revival ceremony. With this牌 (pai, tablet), as long as it is used properly, Miss Li Bai may not die tonight," Shao Tong said with certainty.

Seeing that the others did not believe him, Shao Tong did not waste words. He picked up the牌 (pai, tablet), front side facing out, and casually put it into his pocket, then took it out again for everyone to see.

Fatty looked but saw nothing wrong, which was within Shao Tong's expectations. The second time, he turned the牌 (pai, tablet) over in front of everyone, back side facing out, and then put the牌 (pai, tablet) back into his pocket. But this time, when he took it out again, everyone finally realized something was wrong.

"How... how did the牌 (pai, tablet) turn back?" Fatty's eyes widened. He clearly remembered putting it back with the back side facing out, but when he took it out, it was facing up again.

Shao Tong took a deep breath, his expression becoming solemn. "The problem lies in this牌 (pai, tablet). This is no ordinary wooden牌 (pai, tablet), but a验身牌 (yan shen pai, body-checking tablet) used by Xiangxi corpse drivers."

"Legend has it that what corpse drivers fear most is not corpses that have died tragically, but living corpses. A living corpse refers to a corpse sent by the family that has not completely died, but due to the level of medicine at the time, some people who were not completely dead were also treated as corpses, and driving such corpses was a major taboo."

"These people, with only half a breath left, cannot withstand the torment and will soon die on the corpse-driving road. These people have not exhausted their lifespan and suffer such a calamity, harboring great resentment in their hearts. In addition, the paths chosen by corpse drivers are mostly remote and sparsely populated. Once they are tainted with陰氣 (yin qi, negative energy) in the high mountains and dense forests, those living corpses are prone to corpse revivals, which ordinary corpse drivers cannot deal with, and they often die tragically."

"It was not until the appearance of the验身牌 (yan shen pai, body-checking tablet) that this changed everything. By placing the验身牌 (yan shen pai, body-checking tablet) on the corpse sent, it can be easily determined whether the person is dead or alive, even if only half a breath remains."

"The牌 (pai, tablet) is divided into two sides, the front side representing life, called the 生門 (sheng men, gate of life), and the back side representing burial, also called the 死門 (si men, gate of death). The specific method is to place the牌 (pai, tablet) with the 生門 (sheng men, gate of life) facing up, inside the corpse's clothes. If it is still the 生門 (sheng men, gate of life) when taken out, then the person is still alive, even if only half a body remains, they must still have a breath."

"Conversely, if the 生門 (sheng men, gate of life) is placed in and the 死門 (si men, gate of death) is taken out, then the person is definitely dead and can be safely carried away."

Shao Tong's explanation was vivid, and everyone understood it. Judging from the level of detail, Shao Tong had definitely not just discovered this. What he said before was not bluffing. He did know a lot of information about this mission, which must have been inadvertently revealed to him by Lu Qin, or perhaps by some Night Watcher.

Jiang Cheng had no time to listen to his detailed analysis. Footsteps were already scraping outside the courtyard gate. "Stop talking nonsense. Tell us directly what we should do."

"This验身牌 (yan shen pai, body-checking tablet) can verify life and death, and the villagers are also relying on this牌 (pai, tablet) to distinguish whether we have been affected. As long as we find a way to work on the牌 (pai, tablet) to turn the 生門 (sheng men, gate of life) into the 死門 (si men, gate of death), so that Li Bai can feign death and fool the villagers, I don't think eating that bowl of rice is so important."

Looking at Shao Tong's face, Jiang Cheng sneered. "What you said earlier was still reliable, but as for that bowl of rice, I can say for sure that it is absolutely necessary to eat it."

A simple thought would reveal that if the villagers come in and find that the rice in the bowl has not been touched, and then say that Li Bai is dead, these villagers are ghosts, but they are not idiots.

Moreover, the villagers had稻草 (dao cao, rice straw) on their heads, which Jiang Cheng saw very clearly. There was probably a connection between this稻草 (dao cao, rice straw) and the evil white rice. The villagers were not so easily fooled.

Knocking sounds came from outside the door, very slow, a long time after the first sound before the second, but the pressure it brought was not reduced at all. Fatty could even imagine how stiff the arm knocking on the door was.

If these villagers did not get a satisfactory answer after opening the door, it could not be ruled out that they would directly remove their disguise and kill them all.

"Brother Jiang, what do you think about letting them go and stabilize the villagers first, and we stay behind to deal with this matter?" Shao Tong winked at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng agreed. Soon, only he, Shao Tong, and Li Bai, who was gradually losing consciousness, were left in the room. She was completely holding on.

"Hoo—" Shao Tong breathed a sigh of relief. "You're right, that bowl of rice must be eaten. I have no way to solve the problem of the rice, but you can."

"Me?" Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow.

Shao Tong stretched out his hand and pointed at Jiang Cheng, then slowly moved it down, finally stopping at Jiang Cheng's shadow. "To be precise, it can."