Chapter 56: Fox City 06

Chapter 56: Fox City 06

After the punishment, it was already noon. They carried the bodies back to the inn.

When they went out for lunch, a townsman spat on the ground upon seeing Lu Zai Chuan, "Ptui. Foreigners!"

Another person rushed forward, furiously shouting, "Those who do not revere the Fox Deity will not have a good death! You cannot achieve immortality!"

"Get out of Fox City!"

Facing many disdainful glances, they hurried into their usual restaurant for refuge.

Zhou You remarked, "If we had known, we wouldn't have stepped forward. Now, with five days left in our journey, how are we supposed to complete it? The townspeople are all against us."

Red Nine also chimed in, "Exactly. Those Starlight brothers really caused us trouble. We were told to revere the Fox Deity, how could they behave like that?"

The others remained silent, only these two kept complaining.

When the food was served, Pei Yi noticed that the dishes seemed unusually red, but everyone else ate heartily. He had little appetite and ate very little.

Halfway through the meal, there was a knock at the private room's door.

Lu Zai Chuan put down his chopsticks and went to open the door.

It was the restaurant's owner. "Dear guests, Black Mama wants to see you, probably regarding your friends' matter."

Lu Zai Chuan turned back to glance at his friends, "Pei Yi, come with me."

Pei Yi stood up and joined Lu Zai Chuan. They entered another private room, where Black Mama, who they had just seen, was waiting.

Black Mama, polite and respectful, bowed to them. She appeared very composed, her eyes brimming with wisdom. "Gentlemen, we are very sorry about today's incident, but it is the rule of Fox City. Please abide by it."

They couldn't really say anything in response to her appeal.

"It's not a big deal," Lu Zai Chuan said.

"As compensation, we invite you to attend the Fox Deity worship ceremony at the Fox Temple tomorrow. We respect your presence, which will purify our spirits and elevate souls."

Pei Yi asked, "What does this worship ceremony involve?"

Black Mama replied, "You will understand once you attend. Tomorrow, you will witness a miracle. The Fox Deity can bring your friends back."

Hearing this, Pei Yi and Lu Zai Chuan exchanged glances. "How can they come back?"

"Please attend on time. However, if they remain disrespectful after returning, the Fox Deity will take away this honor. We have already sent the twins back to your inn; please guard them tonight to prevent their bodies from being consumed by evil spirits." After saying this, Black Mama left with a prayerful gesture.

Pei Yi commented, "There's no resurrection in this world." He looked at Lu Zai Chuan, "Unless Starlight and Starry were never human to begin with."

Having said that, he left the private room.

He was already convinced it was a hoax. But he had heard of such scams before. The question was, what were they aiming for?

Selling medicine? Telling them resurrection was due to their medicine? But everything in Fox City was free. If it wasn't about money, then what was it? Was it really just because the Fox Deity was protecting them?

Pei Yi stopped at the shrine of the Fox Deity in the corridor, lighting an incense stick. If there really was a Fox Deity, he hoped for some guidance.

Unnoticed by Pei Yi, Lu Zai Chuan had also left the private room, watching his back for a while before returning.

After lunch, the afternoon was free as the system had not arranged any tasks.

Pei Yi decided to explore alone, harboring many questions. He didn't venture out during midday and took a nap instead. But this sleep was unusually deep and heavy. Waking up, he realized it was already past three in the afternoon.

Why had he slept so deeply?

Upon inspection, he found incense burning in the room. Pei Yi extinguished it, suspecting it was the reason for his deep sleep. Who had placed it there?

Just as he was about to inquire, Zhou You approached him, "Brother Pei."

"Did you light the incense?"

"No," Zhou You shook his head, "I think it was Chen Mo."

Pei Yi nodded, "I need to step out for a bit."

"Why go out now? It's pouring outside."

。”

Pei Yi looked outside at the rain pouring down heavily, but despite the downpour, he knew he still had to venture out.

He borrowed an umbrella and first headed to the residence of Black Mama, which was about to close in half an hour. With the heavy rain, there were hardly any visitors inside. Pei Yi, shielding himself with the umbrella, revisited the place.

Indeed, she was an extraordinary woman, exceptionally accomplished in her time. During those impoverished years, she had done much for the people.

Arriving at the attic from last time, he moved to the backyard. Entry was still forbidden, and photography was not allowed. These were rules not to be broken lightly. But what would happen if he did break them?

Pei Yi raised his wristband, snapping a photo of the attic. With a click, the image appeared on the screen, but strangely, nothing was captured in the photo.

Why? Could it be true, as Ying Jun said, that this was a realm of ghosts?

As he was about to take another picture, a staff member approached.

"What are you doing? Hand it over!" The man in the mask was furious.

"I haven't done anything," Pei Yi responded calmly, adept at keeping his composure even when lying.

"Don't play dumb! Didn’t you see the sign? No photography allowed at Black Mama's residence! Hand over the photo and delete it!"

As he spoke, others also rushed over, demanding, "Hand it over! Delete it!"

Knowing better than to resist in such a situation, to avoid any further violation of rules and potential punishment, Pei Yi deleted the photo in front of them. After all, it hadn’t captured anything.

"This is a warning! If you disrespect the Fox Deity again, we will report you to Black Mama!"

Pei Yi nodded and apologized. Since he had already made a mistake and was now under close watch, it seemed impossible to discover anything more. Feeling it was pointless to stay, he left the residence.

It was already four o'clock when he came out. Most attractions were closed by then.

Thinking for a moment, he walked towards the river, to the site of today's water burial. Just as he was about to crouch down for a closer look, someone suddenly pushed him hard from behind, sending Pei Yi tumbling into the river.

He was a capable swimmer, but his current intention was to inspect the corpse that had sunk to the riverbed.

The river was exceedingly deep, seemingly bottomless. Pei Yi swam for several minutes without sighting the corpse until he spotted the white cloth. Swimming closer, he decided to lift it for a look. The body, swollen from prolonged immersion, bore no resemblance to a human.

It was indeed a real body that had undergone the water burial.

After some thought, Pei Yi swam back to the surface.

Reaching the surface, he found himself in a predicament. There was no way to climb out; the riverbanks were sheer, slick rock faces without a single crevice.

The sky poured rain heavily, and no one was around to rescue him.

With no other option, he decided to save himself. He swam along the river for about half an hour before finding a spot where he could climb out, gripping a protruding rock. This point was quite distant from his lodging in Fox Village.

Drenched, he trudged back to Fox Village. Upon arrival and pushing open the door, the few people sitting in the hall were stunned.

Zhou You was the first to react, "Pei Yi, where have you been?"

Lu Zai Chuan also looked up at him.

Pei Yi nodded at them and returned to his room to take a shower. Coming out, he noticed the incense lit again in the room. Just then, Chen Mo entered, "Chen Mo, did you light this?"

Chen Mo shook his head, "Not me." He seemed hesitant to speak.

"Pei Yi," he said, glancing outside the door, "while we were chatting, Bai Qi secretly told me she found something odd. She said Red Nine would stand up and stare at her at night, which terrified her."

"Same as Zhou You?"

Chen Mo nodded, "She was scared. She wanted to tell you, but you weren’t around, so she came to me. You know how serious Lu Zai Chuan is, Bai Qi wouldn’t dare go to him."

Pei Yi remained silent, it was becoming clear that this was related to the red juice. It seemed Red Nine and Zhou You were already addicted.

"We must stop drinking that fox juice. You and Bai Qi both."

"I didn't drink much, and Bai Qi didn’t either."

Pei Yi asked, "What about Ying Jun and the others? Any unusual behavior?"

"Not that I know of. They drank a bit, but not much. Pei Yi, what's wrong with the fox juice?"

"I'm not sure, but everything here feels off. Better safe than sorry." He sneezed as he spoke.

"Pei Yi, you've caught a cold. There aren't any pharmacies around here."

Pei Yi waved it off, "I'll be fine after some sleep."

Sitting on his bed, he pondered over breaking the situation. Yet, no clear solution came to mind. The rules were explicit - they just needed to act with sincerity to pass safely.

That's why Zhou You and the others were so relaxed today, burden-free. Delicious drinks, fun activities, all for free. Wouldn't playing for seven days be nice?

His plunge into the river was surely no accident. These seemingly amiable citizens of Fox Village must have ulterior motives.

As he drifted off to sleep, he faintly heard voices.

"He's close to finding out. What do we do?"

"We can’t afford more slip-ups."

Pei Yi struggled to open his eyes but felt utterly drained, unable to shout, his throat in searing pain, head throbbing. Weak and in agony.

"Pei Yi," someone approached, "take your medicine."

With all his strength, Pei Yi pushed the hand away, croaking, "I won’t drink it!"

The medicine spilled on the floor.

Then a taller figure entered, "Drink the medicine, be good." This person was much stronger, holding Pei Yi's head and prying his mouth open to pour the medicine. After struggling, Pei Yi managed to spit it all out.

In his drowsy state, Pei Yi sensed the familiar smell of incense lit again…