TEFSCBSS Chapter 65

Chapter 65: The Manner of Wang Bokao’s Death

Seeing that Zhao Si still refused to back down, Wang Bokao grew furious. He had ventured into the mist alone, with no one to witness what he had endured or the hardships he had suffered.

His anger flared as he took a large step forward, ready to seize Zhao Si.

“Hah! Back then, Zhao Huolang didn’t know about your Shan Shi Village’s secrets and was easily deceived. But we’re not that gullible.” Wang Bokao reached out, grabbing Zhao Si’s arm. “Be honest about this village’s affairs, or you won’t like what happens next!”

Zhao Si scoffed. From the moment he played Werewolf with Wang Bokao, he had found him insufferable. Later, Wang Bokao started showing up at the script shop every other day with a gang of Wang family members, causing a ruckus, throwing his weight around, and spreading his so-called Werewolf strategies among his kin, dominating the script shop’s games.

As the top-ranked attendant of the script shop, Zhao Si had been unseated from his hard-earned place on the leaderboard because of Wang Bokao. This was a humiliation he could not tolerate!

Old grudges combined with new ones, and soon the two of them were locked in a fierce struggle.

Still, Zhao Si was professional enough to stay in character. Even as he fought Wang Bokao, he shouted dramatically, “Don’t interfere with my plans! Without Gu Qing, how am I supposed to leave the village?”

“If the ritual succeeds today, we’re all doomed!”

“You, you, all of you will die! And so will I!!”

“Let me go!”

But Wang Bokao paid no attention. He turned to Gu Qing, who was standing there dumbfounded, and snapped, “Stop standing there and help me!”

In the end, Zhao Si was outmatched and ended up tightly bound by the two of them.

His face twisted in anger as he shouted, “Let me go! If you don’t, we’re all going to die!”

Wang Bokao ignored him. He leisurely smoothed out his robes, adjusted his tousled hair, and sat atop the coffin lid.

“Now, tell me—what the hell is going on?”

He even pulled out his folding fan and began fanning himself dramatically.

Gu Qing: …Why does he act more impressive than I do?

Zhao Si let out a helpless sigh. Damn it, all because of Wang Bokao! If he hadn’t interfered, Zhao Si would have followed his original plan—getting Gu Qing to pick up the Act Two script and take his place in sabotaging the ritual. That way, he could have finished his role and returned to the script shop to rest.

Thankfully, the shopkeeper had given each of them multiple storyline triggers. Zhao Si had two options: if he couldn’t get Gu Qing into the coffin, he could at least reveal part of the truth about the ritual and guide them into stopping it.

“What’s the point of telling you? Do you think you can stop the ritual?”

Zhao Si knew how to use provocation to his advantage—it was second nature to him by now.

“The village chief and the others have had enough of this life without freedom. They want to break away from the village entirely. Not long ago, a strange monk arrived and told them how to do it.”

“Now, as long as they sacrifice the right offering to him, we will all be freed. We will return to mortal bodies and leave this place forever.”

Gu Qing frowned, confused. “Isn’t that a good thing for you? Why don’t you want it?”

Wang Bokao was puzzled as well. Yeah, wasn’t escaping the village what they all wanted? Why was Zhao Si trying to stop it? And why was he so desperate to possess Gu Qing?

Zhao Si sneered. “What do you know? What good is a mortal body? Right now, we’re practically immortal!”

“Even if only a few of us can leave each year, so what? We live forever!”

“Hah, with enough time, I can experience everything—wealth, land, beautiful women—I can live a different life every few years. That is true freedom, that is real luxury! You guys wouldn’t understand!”

Though he sounded arrogant, deep down, Zhao Si was just following the script. He didn’t believe all this. No, he only cared about Chun Ya. But she had been cast as the big boss this time, and she hadn’t even spared him a single glance. Damn it…

Wang Bokao and Gu Qing were speechless.

This half-living, half-dead existence? They wouldn’t want it even if it was handed to them for free. This village was filled with a suffocating gloom—what use was gold and treasure in a place like this? Wasn’t it better to just live a free and normal life?

Gu Qing sighed again. Ah, how he longed for true freedom.

“Then why go through all this trouble?” Wang Bokao pressed. “If you wanted to stop the ritual, why not just go and destroy it yourself? Why possess someone else?”

He shot a glance at Gu Qing, who was still sighing and looking sentimental. Wang Bokao rolled his eyes. Tsk, in the end, I still have to do everything myself. No one else is as reliable as me when it comes to uncovering the truth.

Zhao Si glanced at Gu Qing regretfully. “Because we villagers can’t harm him. Only an outsider’s body can.”

“Him? Who is ‘him’?”

“Uh…” Zhao Si hesitated, then said, “Oh, you mean him.”

…Wang Bokao was unimpressed.

“You’re talking about that so-called deity written in Zhao Huolang’s diary, aren’t you?” Zhao Si’s face twisted with disdain and resentment, clearly disgusted by the so-called “deity.”

Wang Bokao was even more confused. Wasn’t this “deity” the one who granted them immortality? Why did his followers hate him?

It was Gu Qing who finally started piecing things together. After carefully thinking through everything, he seemed to grasp the situation.

He gestured for Wang Bokao to stand up. “No need to ask any more questions. I understand now.”

Wang Bokao: Huh? You understand already?

“Not bad, little Taoist,” he said with a smirk. “You are something. Now hurry up and explain it to me!”

“Let’s go check out the sacrificial site first.”

“What about Zhao Si?”

Gu Qing cast a cold glance at Zhao Si. Even though he knew this was just a scripted game, he couldn’t help but feel irritated. “Evil people will meet their fate. We don’t need to worry about him. Just leave him tied up here.”

Zhao Si panicked. Were they going to just leave him here? What the hell—using him and then discarding him like this?

“Where are you going? Take me with you! I’ll tell you how to disrupt the ritual!”

But the two had already left the small room, their figures disappearing into the distance.

Zhao Si shouted for a while, but when he saw they weren’t coming back, he gave up and lay flat on the ground. He struggled against the ropes, but after failing to loosen them, he sighed in resignation.

He grumbled to himself—why was he always so unlucky? As expected, nothing good ever came from crossing paths with Wang Bokao.

Cursing under his breath, he alternated between calling Wang Bokao inhuman and lamenting how their boss, Zhao, always assigned him the worst roles, leaving him caught in the middle.

Suddenly, a sarcastic voice rang out behind him.

“Oh? Why are you just lying around here?”

Zhao Si’s heart skipped a beat. He flipped over like a startled fish and looked back—who else could it be but his boss, Zhao?

Su Li watched his disheveled state and couldn’t help but laugh. See? That’s what happens when you talk behind someone’s back—you get caught red-handed.

She had heard Zhao Si’s complaints too, and though she felt a little guilty, she couldn’t help it. He was her top assistant, practically her right-hand man. But there just weren’t enough people to fill all the roles, so the key characters had to be played by the best actors.

It wasn’t easy putting this script together. She had recruited a bunch of locals to play NPCs and even trained them for several days. The major speaking roles could only go to Zhao Si and Chun Ya—what choice did she have? She was broke!

Zhao Si, feeling guilty, had no idea how much his boss had overheard. He stayed silent, looking away awkwardly.

Su Li merely rolled her eyes and untied him with a flick of her wrist. “Alright, alright, I know what kind of person you are. Go rest. Your part in the script is over.”

With that, Zhao Si bolted. Damn, he had been acting for so long—he was starving! Time to get a proper meal. Maybe he’d bring something back for Chun Ya too.

Su Li watched him run off, shaking her head before plopping down onto the coffin lid. She furrowed her brows in thought.

“Just what is up with Wang Bokao?”

She had been silently following him while he ventured into the script alone, observing his reactions.

If The Past of Huai Tree Village was based on her and Han Yueyi’s story, then The Cursed Village was undoubtedly modeled after Wang Bokao.

In the script, after Han Yueyi’s death, Wang Bokao completely severed ties with Li Feng and delved deep into supernatural beliefs. Then, he mysteriously vanished.

The next time he was mentioned, Su Yao had already become empress.

During a secret rendezvous with the male side character, Su Yao learned of a rumor—someone had seen Wang Bokao in a remote mountain village.

The village was steeped in ignorance, blindly worshiping an obscure “god.” Every year, they forced a villager to be sacrificed in exchange for prosperity and fortune.

Strangely, their method seemed to work—some villagers had indeed risen to high-ranking positions, even making a name for themselves in the imperial court.

As the superstition spread, the villagers’ faith in this “god” only grew stronger.

And the so-called sacrifices? After they were offered up and killed, their bodies were divided and consumed by the villagers.

When the male side character stumbled upon the village, he saw Wang Bokao, bound and delirious, being prepared for sacrifice. In the end, he was brutally killed in an unfamiliar land.

The male side character pitied the once-great Grand Tutor Wang. Thinking about how heartbroken his grandfather would be if he knew his grandson had been eaten by villagers, he had Wang Bokao’s body retrieved and sent back home.

Su Yao, upon hearing this tale, even praised the male side character for his kind heart.

Yet, barely a month later, Grand Tutor Wang passed away, overwhelmed by grief.

Recalling all this, Su Li couldn’t help but sneer. What kind of nonsense was that? Watching someone die just to retrieve their corpse afterward—if they had discovered him so early, why not save him right away? Even if he was badly wounded or near death, couldn’t they have at least tried to heal him?

The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous she found the novel she once admired. How had she ever been impressed by Su Yao’s so-called “heroic journey”?

Ugh. One was worse than the other.

But what had driven Wang Bokao’s obsession with the supernatural? That, she still couldn’t figure out.

After pondering for a while, she made up her mind—she needed to check out the sacrificial site herself. This was her first time running this script, and she didn’t want these players messing everything up.