TEFSCBSS Chapter 55

Chapter 55: The Sightseeing Tour of Shanshi Village (Part 3)

“All done reading? Let’s introduce ourselves,” someone suggested.

Wang Bokao looked around at the group. Damn, it seemed like he was the only one who had ever played a murder mystery game before. Everyone else was completely new to this. Was he at a disadvantage here? This was practically uncharted territory—not only was he the only experienced player, but his teammates were just as lost.

Zhao Wen was the first to respond. “I’m playing the role of a traveling scholar, the same identity that Boss Zhao once had. But you can just call me Zhao Wen. By the way, who’s playing the apprentice? I’m looking for the one who picked the peddler’s apprentice.”

Gu Qing raised a hand. “That’s me. My character’s backstory didn’t give me a name, so just call me Gu Qing.”

The rest of the group introduced themselves one by one.

Wan Niang: “I’m Wan Niang. I came here to find a heartless man who abandoned me.”

Li Tiechui: “Li Tiechui. The peddler brought me here to commission some custom-made ceramic jars.”

Wang Bokao: “I’m a bodyguard, escorting someone here to collect something.” He frowned and turned to Jiang Liang. “Don’t tell me the person I’m escorting is you?”

Jiang Liang grinned smugly. “Well, yes, it’s me.”

“What exactly are you here to pick up?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“You—!” Wang Bokao was even more annoyed now. He already didn’t like this guy, and now the story was forcing them to be linked together.

“Enough! Stop arguing!” Wan Niang snapped, her presence as commanding as when she had confronted Liu Tuhu. “Let’s focus on what we know about this village first.”

“Hmph, I’ll let you off for now,” Wang Bokao muttered, shooting Jiang Liang a disdainful look.

“I’ll go first,” Wang Bokao continued. “My background is pretty simple. I don’t know anything about this village. I’m just an ordinary bodyguard, usually stationed in town, traveling here and there, but I’ve never even been near these mountains.”

“Then, out of nowhere, this Jiang Liang comes to me one day, saying he needs an escort to a village deep in the mountains. I thought it was a simple job. But to my surprise, he immediately offered me a hundred taels of silver. Before we even finalized the deal, he threw down half of it as a deposit.”

“That’s when I knew something was up. There had to be a big secret behind this. I mean, hiring a bodyguard for a simple village trip? Usually, people worry about bandits or wild animals.”

“But let me tell you—there are no bandits in these parts. Everyone says ‘live off the mountains,’ but this place is too barren. There’s nothing here for bandits to steal. If they tried to ambush someone here, they’d be left starving, chewing on cold wind.”

“So, everyone, we should interrogate Jiang Liang later. A normal job wouldn’t pay this much. Something’s fishy about it.”

As if recalling something, Wang Bokao frowned. “By the way, murder mystery games usually involve a murder case, right? There should be some connection to a crime, but my background doesn’t mention anything like that. Do any of you know if someone’s died?”

The group shook their heads. Finally, Wan Niang spoke, furrowing her brows. “There were deaths, but only of family members who passed away naturally. They were properly buried, and it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with you or the story.”

She continued, “Let me explain my background, then.”

“I come from a village far, far away. My parents disappeared when I was little, so my aunt raised me. When I grew up, I met a man—he couldn’t hunt or farm, but he seemed to know a lot about the world.”

“He claimed to be a scholar who had traveled far and wide. He said he liked this area and wanted to settle down.”

“We spent more and more time together, and eventually, we fell in love. We even planned to get married and start a life together. But who could have guessed?” Wan Niang gritted her teeth. “Who could have known that this heartless bastard would vanish without a trace the morning after our wedding night?”

“I rallied the whole village. We searched every inch of the mountains, but we never even found a scrap of his clothing.”

“Then I remembered he once mentioned a place called Shanshi Village. He said he was from there. That’s why I came here—to find him.”

“The peddler often came to my village to sell goods. Over time, we got to know each other.”

“But here’s the strange part. Ever since my heartless husband arrived at our village, the peddler only came by once. When he saw my husband from a distance, he turned around and ran off without selling anything.”

“I was desperate, so I went to neighboring villages to ask the other peddlers if they knew him or had heard of Shanshi Village.”

“In the end, one of them said he’d take me there to find my answers.”

Hearing Wan Niang’s story, the group felt both intrigued and unsettled.

“Wan Niang, don’t worry! We’ll help you find that bastard and break his legs so he never runs away again!”

Li Tiechui clenched his fists. He had a daughter—an only child—about Wan Niang’s age. If some man abandoned her like that, he’d make sure to break more than just his legs.

The others nodded in agreement.

Li Tiechui continued, “I’m just a villager from a nearby area. The peddler used to visit our village frequently to sell goods.”

“He traveled all over, knew a lot of people. Me, I’m just a simple craftsman, skilled at making ceramic jars. My family has been doing it for generations.”

“The nearby villages all use my jars, but the problem is, they’re so well-made they don’t even break when dropped. Over time, people stopped needing to buy new ones.”

“I had no choice but to partner with the peddler. He’d help me sell my wares, or if someone needed custom orders, they could come to me.”

“We got along well. He’d often chat with me about the different villages in these mountains—some specialized in tofu-making, others in weaving. Lots of skilled artisans around here.”

“All thanks to the peddler, our villages stayed connected. We could buy and sell anything without having to trek to town. The journey was too long, and by the time you paid for travel costs, you barely made any profit.”

“But one thing is odd—I never heard him mention a place called Shanshi Village.”

“It wasn’t until recently, when he accepted a commission from Shanshi Village, that he came to me for a special order of ceramic jars. He hesitated a lot before telling me about it. When I pressed him, he admitted he didn’t even want me to take the job.”

“Given our friendship, he’d normally come to me first. So I figured either the job was a hassle or the pay was too low.”

“But no—he said the payment was generous. The problem was, I couldn’t make the jars in my village. I had to go to Shanshi Village and make them there.”

“He warned me—Shanshi Village was strange, and he couldn’t guarantee my safety. But he had no other choice. When he tried to find craftsmen from the town, they either refused or weren’t willing to travel this far.”

“I didn’t understand what was so dangerous about the job—until I arrived here with you all. Now, something feels off.”

Sensing that Li Tiechui knew more, Wang Bokao urged him to explain.

“Our village is pretty far from here, and we’ve never even heard of Shanshi Village. But I remember the elders telling stories—long, long ago, something strange happened in these mountains. One day, a thick fog rolled in—not like the dull gray mist we see now, but a pitch-black fog with a faint scent of blood.”

“They say everyone stayed inside, too afraid to go out. But some people didn’t believe in superstitions and ventured into the mountains. None of them ever came back.”

“The only one who did return had lost his mind. He kept muttering, ‘Don’t kill me, don’t kill me…’ and within two days, he was dead.”

“So the moment I saw this fog when we arrived, I got a bad feeling.”

Hiss— The story sent chills down everyone’s spine. Wang Bokao instinctively grabbed Zhao Wen and Gu Qing, pulling them close. The three huddled together for comfort.

“Zhao Xiaogou, did you bring what I told you to bring?”