Chapter 16: The Village Funeral
The trembling earth suddenly stilled.
What had seemed like violent tremors moments ago now felt like an illusion. Silence stretched across the heavens, broken only by the crackling of torches.
Two groups stood tense and ready for battle. A sinister smile slowly spread across Old Ji’s face as he swung his axe toward the players. But just as he took a step forward, a skeletal hand shot up from the ground, seizing his ankle.
Caught off guard, Old Ji stumbled and fell, his axe flying from his grip. The grin froze on his face, still half-formed.
It was a hand made of countless bones, dripping with a mix of cement and blood. Then another hand emerged, both pushing against the earth to pull the rest of the body up—a grotesque fusion of many corpses.
Someone dropped their torch. The sound snapped the villagers out of their shock, and those who had been charging at the players moments ago now turned and fled in panic.
The skeleton had already pulled most of its body from the ground—its massive frame twisted and deformed. Seven or eight heads sat atop its shoulders, limbs misplaced—arms where legs should be, feet where hands belonged. It looked like a pile of bodies violently mashed together into one monstrous form.
The fleeing villagers seemed to enrage it. All the heads turned ninety degrees in unison. With terrifying speed, it fully emerged from the ground, using countless limbs to crawl forward like a giant spider.
Screams echoed through the night.
Gu Ping Bridge, barely two hundred meters long, became a death corridor. One by one, villagers fell. Their bodies were torn apart as easily as paper dolls under the creature’s grasp.
Blood splattered across the ancient bridge, spreading like tendrils across the planks, extinguishing fallen torches with its crimson touch.
Soon, every villager who had chased after them lay shredded.
The air reeked of blood and death. Under the pale moonlight, the players stood frozen, seemingly paralyzed with fear. But if you looked closely, their legs trembled violently. Chi Yi’s face was ghostly pale. She tried to hold back, but finally collapsed to her knees and vomited violently.
Crack… crack…
The skeleton twisted and groaned. Slowly, all its heads turned toward the players standing near the bridge monument.
Then it moved again, crawling over the blood-soaked bodies, inching closer.
They had seen how fast it could move—it would be impossible to outrun. Gao Shijun sobbed uncontrollably, resigned to death. Xu Shu clutched his survival and attack items, thinking desperately about escape options.
The skeleton reached the spot where Old Ji had fallen. It paused, then raised a bony arm and flipped him over.
Old Ji kept his eyes tightly shut, faking death convincingly—but the faint rise and fall of his chest betrayed him.
For a moment, all the heads stared down at him. Then the monster lifted a sharp bone high, aiming to pierce his chest and rip out his heart.
Suddenly, Li Zhi stepped forward.
“Wait.”
Chi Yi, voice hoarse from vomiting, reached out in terror: “Zhi Zhi?!”
Yet under the moonlight, the creature actually stopped.
All its heads turned toward her. Hollow eye sockets watched as she approached calmly. Cement mixed with blood dripped from its bones like tears, pooling on the ground. Yet as she walked closer, the blood seemed to avoid her steps—as though unwilling for her to tread upon it.
Li Zhi didn’t look at the creature. Instead, she crouched beside Old Ji and yanked him upright by the collar.
His bloated face twitched.
She smiled gently, her tone soft, almost conversational: “Uncle Jiu, twenty years ago, did you do something unforgivable to finish this bridge before the policy changes came into effect?”
Old Ji couldn’t keep pretending. He opened his eyes, glaring hatefully at her.
Li Zhi waited. When he remained silent, she continued quietly: “There’s an old folk custom called dashing sheng zhuang—where people are buried alive in concrete pillars at the bridgehead to appease the spirits disturbed by construction, ensuring the bridge is built smoothly.”
A sharp breath was drawn from behind.
Li Zhi watched his lips quiver. “You killed our parents that way, didn’t you?”
Old Ji struggled, panting heavily. Just as he tried to pull free, the skeleton suddenly pressed a cold hand onto his head. Cement dripped down his face from the fingers, threatening to crush his skull.
He froze.
“It wasn’t murder! It was sacrifice!” His voice cracked. “Building the bridge was important—we needed to appease the spirits! At first, we didn’t offer sacrifices, and the bridge collapsed halfway through! They disrupted the feng shui, angered the mountain god—they deserved punishment!”
He ranted wildly: “Your parents even blamed poor construction! Lies! It was the mountain god’s wrath! Only a living sacrifice could calm it. We had no time—we had to finish the bridge. Gu Ping Village had only one chance! We needed that bridge!”
“So you used innocent lives as offerings?”
Li Zhi tightened her grip. Old Ji’s face turned red from the pressure, yet he showed no remorse: “Gu Ping accepted them when they came as refugees, gave them land and homes. They should have been grateful! They owed us!”
He shouted as if shouting louder could justify his actions, but memories flooded his mind.
Thirteen people bound with ropes at the bridgehead, crying, begging not to be separated from their children.
That educated man had insisted—they could fix the bridge. The collapse was due to improper wind bracing and unstable diagonal supports. He’d explained everything with technical terms.
But the illiterate villagers hadn’t understood. They screamed that the mountain god was angry. Only sacrificing outsiders could calm the gods.
The village chief promised to raise their children well. So thirteen people were thrown into the piers, screaming, cursing, struggling—until concrete silenced them forever.
With guidance from elders, villagers built symbolic tombs and set up the bridge monument as a seal, trapping their souls forever to protect the bridge.
Not long after, government experts arrived, confirming what that outsider had said—the support structures were indeed flawed.
Everyone heard it. But no one spoke of it again.
Guided by experts, the bridge was completed. The village chief rejoiced.
With government help, surely Gu Ping would be chosen for the eco-village project!
But for various reasons, Gu Ping was rejected.
The once-prosperous village nestled among mountains was abandoned, fading into history.
No matter how hard they tried, they could only watch it decay.
Until tonight, when the last of the elders were slaughtered by the skeleton.
Kneeling in the carnage, Old Ji laughed hysterically: “We weren’t wrong! We only wanted to save the village…”
Lian Qinglin exploded with rage, kicking him to the ground: “You were wrong! You murdered innocents for selfish gain—that’s why Gu Ping became a ghost town! This is your punishment!”
He kicked again, then punched him twice: “I told you I’d beat you up once we cleared the level!”
Nearby, the blood-drenched skeleton remained motionless. Though enormous and grotesque, the players now sensed a strange sorrow—and protection—in its presence.
Hesitantly, the others gathered around. Six of them stood beneath it, looking up. The skeleton looked down. A reunion between parents and children, twenty years later.
Finally, Li Zhi whispered: “Mom, Dad—we’re home. Rest in peace.”
A breeze swept through the valley, carrying the scent of trees, clearing the bloodied air and lifting the fog that had hung over the bridge for decades.
Once, the players had tried to cross, only to be turned back by thick, ghostly mist.
Now they understood—it wasn’t a haunted bridge. It was their parents trying to keep them away.
Clack.
The monstrous skeleton began to fall apart. Bones of varying lengths scattered across the bridge. These were their parents’ remains—their real task.
The truth finally surfaced. The audience watched like they were in a dramatic film:
【This cruel and ignorant practice of live sacrifices still exists in some places today—it must be eradicated!】
【Even in death, parents will always protect their children.】
【Why does this horror show have such heartbreaking family drama?! Kill me with anything but parental love T_T】
【So the system has been setting traps since the start. Who could’ve guessed their parents' remains were right beneath them?】
【Checked other streams—this is the replica with the fewest player deaths, all thanks to Li Zhi saving everyone!】
【If Li Zhi hadn’t figured out the truth and acted quickly, this run would’ve ended in total failure!】
【Who hasn’t voted for Li Zhi yet?? Smart, capable, amazing leader!!】
...
Inside the replica, the players collected all the bones and loaded them onto the hearse. Though eerie, none of them feared the remains now.
Lian Qinglin tried to drive, but was firmly stopped by Chi Yi.
Though Li Zhi didn’t have a C1 license either, she drove far more steadily than Lian. By the time they returned, it was already past midnight. After tonight, Gu Ping Village truly became a ghost town.
As the hearse passed the village archway, a black cat leapt onto the road, walking gracefully ahead.
Li Zhi felt a tug in her heart and followed slowly. Over muddy paths, the cat jumped onto a low wall of a ruined courtyard.
Li Zhi parked by the wall. They got out, pushed open the rusted gate, and found a typical rural yard overgrown with weeds.
Inside the house, cobwebs filled the air, dust thick on everything. A photo frame lay broken on the floor. She picked it up, wiped off the grime, and under moonlight saw a young couple smiling warmly, their heads leaning together.
The names on the back matched two of the thirteen on the tombstone.
Perhaps these were the parents of her character, she thought. So young.
Outside, voices called. She stepped out and saw Li Jianxi standing there. She smiled: “Mr. Li, we’d like to hold a funeral for our parents. We’ll need your help.”
Li Jianxi nodded: “The grudges are gone. Keep it simple. Let them rest in peace.”
Unwilling to waste time, they skipped rest and immediately prepared for the funeral. Now experienced, and with the remains too damaged to identify, they opted for a collective burial.
They chose a beautiful site nestled among hills and water, rich in feng shui. Reburying and erecting a new tombstone, they laid the last handful of soil when all—players and viewers alike—heard the mechanical system voice:
——Congratulations, players. You have successfully completed the task of properly burying your family. You have cleared the "Village Burial" replica. Entering popularity calculation phase. Thank you for watching. See you next episode. Goodbye.
Under the golden glow of sunset, the mountain landscape—and Li Jianxi within it—blurred like ripples on water. In her ear rang Xu Shu’s excited voice:
“We cleared it!”