The village chief stopped mid-sentence, noticing several people glancing involuntarily at Jiang Cheng. More bizarrely, Jiang Cheng was looking at someone else: A Biao.

Even the fierce A Biao suddenly cowered, his throat bobbing.

Jiang Cheng looked away. "Alright, everyone, stop looking at Brother A Biao. From now on, we must work together to complete tonight's mission. This 'offering and marriage' is clearly a lie." Jiang Cheng grew agitated. "It's a trick to sow discord among us brothers! Don't fall for it!"

Fatty: "..."

Du Moyu: "..."

Chen Hao: "..."

Lei Mingyu: "Heh..."

A Biao: "Brother Jiang Cheng is right! Don't fall for it!"

Jiang Cheng turned and patted A Biao's shoulder, saying in a reliable and sincere voice, "Brother A Biao, as long as I'm here, I won't let the second scenario happen."

A Biao stared at Jiang Cheng's face, suddenly finding the man less repulsive.

Yu Chengmu scoffed, interrupting Jiang Cheng's performance. He glanced at A Biao and Jia Jinliang, seemingly surprised at how close they had become to Jiang Cheng.

An unnameable sense of crisis welled up, but vanished as quickly as it came.

In this mission, he had all the advantages. His odds of winning only increased as they went along. As long as Jia Jinliang and A Biao weren't completely on the other side, he had nothing to worry about.

In the end, these people...they would all die, without exception.

As for the night watchman's scheme, he had a good idea of it. It was truly a clever trick, but unfortunately...he had run into him, a genuine *mō jīn xiào wèi* (grave robber).

But there was still one thing he needed to clarify. According to his calculations, the village chief was holding back the most important piece of information. "Old man," Yu Chengmu asked casually, "Is that all that was in the letter? Did it mention the Wu family mansion?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the village chief nodded repeatedly. "Master, you're amazing! How do you know everything?"

"Indeed, indeed it mentioned the Wu family mansion," the village chief added. "The night watchman's letter said you should go to the ancestral hall where you kept watch on your first night—that is, the Great River Goddess Temple—at the third watch. You will begin your journey tonight from there. The night watchman's coffin will be placed there at that time."

"Oh, yes, the letter also said that you don't need to carry the coffin. Just make sure it arrives safely at the Waterside River. And remember, don't let the coffin open along the way." The village chief lowered his voice, his expression mysterious.

This sentence changed the expressions of Jiang Cheng and the others. It was truly a lot of information.

The first question: If they didn't have to carry the coffin, then...who would?

Moreover, the coffin was being kept inside the Wu family mansion. Since they had arrived in this world, other than the night watchman—who was either a person or a ghost—no one else had entered the Wu family mansion.

The second question: The village chief said not to *let* the coffin open along the way, not to *open* the coffin along the way. The difference of a few words reflected something completely different.

"Don't open the coffin" definitely meant that they weren't supposed to open the coffin. The subject was them, the people sending the coffin.

But "don't let the coffin open" meant the subject was the coffin. But the coffin contained a corpse, a dead person. How could a dead person open a coffin? Wouldn't that be raising the dead?

Or...had the night watchman not died at all? Was he hiding in the coffin, with his own plan?

Jiang Cheng thought this was also possible and had to be guarded against.

Others had also thought of the questions Jiang Cheng was thinking of. After organizing his thoughts, Chen Hao was the first to speak. "Village chief, besides us, will there be others sending the night watchman off tonight?"

"Are they...villagers?" Du Moyu asked.

If the village chief answered yes, then these villagers were probably other *yin* (underworld) masters working with the night watchman. Perhaps they could take this opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

At the very least, they had to find out where these people came from and what their ultimate plan was.

But the village chief's answer made their hearts turn cold. The village chief shook his head, his tone equally puzzled. "I don't know. I haven't heard of any villagers going to send off the night watchman. He's always been a loner, and I've never heard of him having any friends."

After a moment, the village chief's throat bobbed. He suddenly lowered his voice. "Besides...you know, the people in our village usually don't go to places like the Wu family mansion."

Fatty finally found the village chief's sore spot and immediately turned hostile. "You're too afraid to go, so you're telling us to go? You have no conscience!"

The village chief shrank back at these words, muttering very quietly, "But we paid you! You were happy to take the money back then, saying you'd take care of everything. I still have the letters we exchanged."

"Alright," Jiang Cheng interrupted the pointless exchange. He suddenly remembered something: the paper figures he had seen in the paper craftsman's warehouse.

Back then, those paper figures had carried several large coffins all the way from the Great River Goddess Temple to the Waterside River. In the end, they had returned to the paper craftsman's house.

If it wasn't underworld people coming tonight, then it was very likely these paper figures!

Paper figures again... The image of the paper figures in their exaggerated outfits and deathly pale faces flashed through Jiang Cheng's mind. He now had lingering trauma from these paper creations.

Most importantly, the philandering paper figure named Lu Jianli had a face identical to his own.

"Offering and marriage..." Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth. Why did he hate that name so much?

The village chief's face showed a hint of confusion. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Seeing his hesitation, Lei Mingyu waved his hand, telling him to say what he had to say and get it over with.

"There's something I don't know if I should say," the village chief said with a troubled expression. "In short, I think you masters should be careful tonight. There might...there might be danger."

Jia Jinliang couldn't help but sneer, thinking that the village chief must be blind. They were losing one person almost every night. The danger was obvious. Anyone who could count would know that.

"I'll just say it directly, masters. There's been a rumor in our village for a long time. Not long after we built the Great River Goddess Temple, people often heard crying late at night." After a pause, the village chief emphasized, "A woman's crying, especially miserable, coming from the Wu family mansion. But at that time, the Wu family mansion...was already empty."

"The villagers couldn't keep their mouths shut and said all sorts of things. Some said the Great River Goddess's soul was still there. Others said there was a treasure hidden in the mansion, a treasure that even the Great River Goddess yearned for."

"The Great River Goddess is crying because she can't find the treasure." A mysterious look flashed across the village chief's face. "With that treasure, you can be safe."

Yu Chengmu's eyelids twitched.