Chapter 174: Phantom Shadows in the Abandoned Village

As she descended the mountain, the sky turned overcast once more. Li Zhi quickened her pace toward the village chief’s home.

During daylight, ghosts could not kill freely—at most, they could pull minor tricks, like when the shadow in Liu Dajun’s house tried to crush her by toppling a door.

So Li Zhi wasn’t too worried that the now-unsealed village chief’s family would kill her during the day. Still, the audience watching the increasingly close-up house on camera grew tense.

She pushed open the gate. It was quiet inside. The chief’s family wasn’t visible, but the overgrown yard was littered with fallen bricks and tiles, as if some structure had collapsed. Li Zhi looked up, realized something, and headed to the second floor where she had hidden in the wardrobe the night before.

As expected, the previously intact roof of Liu Erqiang’s room now had a large hole. The falling roof had smashed the wardrobe into pieces.

This family of ghosts wasn’t stupid.

Unable to directly destroy the wardrobe, they had used external force. Had she stayed instead of following Liu Xiaoyan last night, she would’ve been crushed to death.

Descending to the main hall, Li Zhi approached the coffins. The previous night she had only broken the seals—not actually opened them. She now pulled a shovel from her bag and walked to the first coffin.

Viewers watching the stream buzzed with excitement:

—What’s she doing? The chief’s family is out now and she’s still messing with their coffins?!
—Open them! Open them! Open them!
—Even in the day this is risky! What if the six of them are hiding in the house watching her?
—Is she gonna drag the corpses out and desecrate them? Hardcore!
—I’m in awe of her guts. After being hunted by them last night, she’s still bold enough to raid their HQ!

Amid the flying comments and gifts, Li Zhi pried open the first coffin.

A stench of rot burst out with the falling lid. She shone her flashlight inside—there lay a dried-up corpse, leathery skin clinging to bones, the tattered clothes still stained with large brown patches of blood. Logic said it should’ve decayed into skeletons by now, but this place defied reason.

After a glance, she kept working.

Coffin lids thudded one after another. All six were opened, revealing six mummified corpses—each matching a member of the village chief’s family. She identified Liu Daqiang by the size of the body and dragged out the other five.

Everyone watching, both in and out of the instance, was stunned.

Soon, Li Zhi had dragged the corpses outside to a clearing beneath the old tree. The gloomy sky hung low as five corpses lay side by side, deeply unsettling.

Dry branches were everywhere. She quickly built a pyre, tossed the corpses on, and lit a match.

The fire caught instantly, roaring to life.

Crimson flames illuminated Li Zhi’s calm smile.

The fire burned until dusk.

She tossed in the last bundle of wood. After the flames died, she used a bamboo basket found in the chief’s house to collect the ashes and spirit tablets of the five.

As darkness fell, the wind picked up, howling with ghostly shrieks. Li Zhi slung the basket on her back, looked toward the house, and chuckled:

“I’m only doing to you what you did to Zhou Xuan. What’s there to be unwilling about?”

Her guidebook on paranormal investigations said: after burning corpses to ash, scatter them across the cardinal directions, then toss the rest along with birthdate-engraved spirit tablets into a body of water. Water carries the dead away—without complete remains, resentment fades, leaving them wandering, powerless ghosts.

Liu Youcai’s parents were born and raised in Liu Village—their roots were there. Rural folks valued "returning to one's roots after death." Plus, the village still had Liu Youcai’s relatives who wouldn’t allow the chief’s family to burn them.

So they merely sealed the old couple in the cellar—still a form of burial.

But Zhou Xuan had no kin. No one cared if she had a grave.

Tortured in life, she had no intact body in death, not even a tomb. She could never return to her true home.

The chief’s family paid the price—they, too, would become ghosts unable to return home.

When she dumped the final ash and tablets into the water, night had fully fallen.

A mechanical voice chimed in her ear:

“Congratulations, player. You have reached 5 million likes and completed the ‘Phantom Shadows in the Abandoned Village’ instance. You may log out at any time. Would you like to exit?”

She had cleared the level.

Li Zhi glanced at her stream—likes had exceeded 5 million and continued rising.

Different instances had different rules—this one allowed manual logout. A panel appeared in front of her, and she selected “No.”

The like count inside the game was enough, but not her total popularity.

Other players might stay to uncover the mystery and gain more fame. If she logged out now, she might fall behind.

Tonight was the third night. The danger had escalated. Both the village chief’s house and the cabin from the night before were no longer safe havens. She’d need a new shelter.

The system confirmed:
“Player has completed the instance task and may now log out. You can summon the system at any time.”

Viewers outside the instance were even more thrilled than Li Zhi:

【Congrats to Litchi for being the first to clear the instance!】
【While others are still trying to scrape likes, our girl already holds the key to logout!】
【She chose not to leave! Is she after the truth behind the murders?】
【Love streamers who care about the story. Hate when they bail halfway.】
【Tonight’s gonna be dangerous! She burned Liu Daqiang’s family—he’ll go berserk!】
【Lucky she didn’t log out. Otherwise, Huo Shao might’ve overtaken her in popularity. He’s clearly staying for the mystery.】

After finishing, Li Zhi hoisted her bag and walked back toward the village chief’s house.

Viewers realized she was returning there and broke into nervous sweat—yet they couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

The tree near the courtyard, scorched by the day’s fire, creaked in the wind.

Only the faintest light remained in the sky.

Li Zhi donned the red dress again.

In the abandoned village, footsteps rustled through the dead grass—ghostly villagers emerging as night fell.

Two barks rang from afar. Li Zhi turned to see Liu Xiaoyan waving from behind a tree, Big Yellow at her side. Li Zhi smiled and gestured for her to stay back.

Liu Xiaoyan watched with worry but didn’t move.

Li Zhi turned, entered the collapsed courtyard.

Wind howled. Upstairs windows banged. She looked up—there, behind a dusty pane, stood Liu Daqiang.

His hands were bloody as he furiously pounded the glass, red handprints glowing menacingly.

Li Zhi called out, “Liu Daqiang!”

His dark face snarled, mouth roaring. Then he leapt from the window, brandishing a blood-soaked cleaver. “You’re not Xuanxuan…”

Li Zhi flashed a smile—and ran.

He chased her down.

As the red-dressed figure fled through the village, ghostly shapes backed away, frightened not by her, but by the raging Liu Daqiang behind her.

At first he screamed in rage, cleaver swinging. But halfway through the chase, Li Zhi heard him start to yell, “Xuanxuan!”

Already mentally unstable, he’d clearly been triggered.

She glanced back. Blood-covered, dazed, he now looked eager rather than furious. “Xuanxuan, wait! I’m here to save you…”

The red figure dashed into a courtyard.

Liu Daqiang’s eyes went wild. “Liu Youcai! Xuanxuan is my wife! I’ll kill you!”

He charged in. The red-dressed figure stood trembling near a crumbling stove.

Slowing down, he softly said, “Don’t be scared, Xuanxuan. I’ll take you home…”

As he approached, Li Zhi quickly pulled out the Confusion Bracelet—a tool that made the wearer appear as the target’s most loved one upon touch, lasting three minutes.

Liu Daqiang stared, about to speak, when she tapped his shoulder.

Yin energy surged into his bones. His face softened, full of emotion.

Li Zhi thought she had become Zhou Xuan in his eyes—until he threw himself at her sobbing: “Mom! I missed you so much!”

Li Zhi: “…”

Of course. How could Zhou Xuan be the one he loved most? She was just a commodity to them.

Dodging his hug, Li Zhi watched him flop to the ground, tearfully asking, “Mom, do you still hate me?”

Lowering her voice, she said, “Do you know why I hate you?”

“I do… Mom hated Dad and me. You never smiled at me…”

Li Zhi realized the truth.

His mother—the village chief’s wife—was probably also trafficked.

A grand tradition in Liu Village, it seemed.

She crouched beside him, coldly: “So why did you still buy a wife? Why do the same to Zhou Xuan?”

“I didn’t, Mom! I was good to her… I never hit her, I fed her…”

He probably meant he didn’t abuse her the way his mother had been.

But that woman never accepted this place or him.

There was no trace of her in their home—she must have died long ago. No wonder he missed her so much.

“No time for your tears,” Li Zhi said. “Why did you kill those people in Liu Village?”

He froze, like a child caught lying.

“Did you kill Liu Dajun’s family?”

He looked away.

“Daqiang! Don’t lie!”

He caved. “I… I did.”

“Why?”

“I… was locked upstairs. I missed Xuanxuan. Got up at midnight to pee… and saw her waving to me from below. She was crying, wearing red. I jumped down.

“She ran into Liu Dajun’s house. I chased her in to rescue her. But Liu Dajun blocked me. She kept crying—they were all bullying her. So I killed them! Xuanxuan is my wife! No one can take her!”

“And then?”

“Dad locked me up again… even chained me…”

The clues were coming together.

“Did you kill Liu Dafu too? Because you saw Zhou Xuan go in?”

“No, Mom! That wasn’t me!”

She exhaled. “So Liu Guiren and Liu Jianguo’s families weren’t you either.”

“I swear it wasn’t me, Mom! Believe me—”

But then his eyes glazed over.

The bracelet’s effect had worn off.

He stared blankly at her in the red dress. “You…”

Li Zhi turned and leapt into the cellar. The talisman-lined tunnel still had power—Liu Daqiang couldn’t follow.

This sealed cellar that once held Liu Youcai’s parents—would now be her shelter for the night.