Uncanny Valley

Chapter 10

Zhou Liwei, with no time for anything else, focused intently on examining Xue Mingfei's body. Indeed, in this bizarre death, the corpse was the most direct clue. Luo Fei trusted Zhou Liwei's professional skills and analytical abilities; would he make a discovery?

All the villagers of Ni Hong Village remained silent, the sudden and bizarre turn of events leaving them without even the courage to speak. In the center of their gazes, Bai Jian'e stood blankly at the entrance of the Dragon King Temple. He could stand ramrod straight, but he couldn't hide the bewilderment in his eyes.

Only Yue Dongbei looked restless, craning his neck to peer into the Dragon King Temple. If it weren't for the lingering fear from the earlier confrontation, he probably would have already rushed into the temple.

The air seemed to freeze. In this atmosphere, a dark cloud quietly approached the village, gradually obscuring the bright morning light and making the square appear even more gloomy.

This change seemed to touch a nerve with Bai Jian'e. He suddenly became alert, took a step outside the temple, and pointed at Xue Mingfei's corpse, asking, "Is he... dead?"

Zhou Liwei nodded with absolute certainty.

Bai Jian'e's eyes narrowed slightly, gathering a sharp light, and his expression hardened again. Then he faced the villagers in the square and shouted, "You've all seen it! The revered god is weeping blood! I can also tell you, Xue Mingfei is dead!"

The villagers were kneeling some distance from the Dragon King Temple, and could only see the general outline of what was happening at the temple entrance. Only then did they realize the seriousness of the situation, and a commotion immediately broke out.

Seeing this, Luo Fei and Zhou Liwei exchanged a puzzled look. Bai Jian'e's words were more detrimental than helpful in controlling the situation; they wondered what his intentions were.

Bai Jian'e raised his hand, and the noise in the square gradually subsided. He then turned around and strode into the temple. As he passed the entrance, he whispered, "You two guard the entrance. Don't let anyone in!"

Wu Qun and Zhao Liwen drew their swords, their faces fixed menacingly outside the temple.

Bai Jian'e knelt before the statue of the deity and proclaimed loudly, "Your Excellency is above! The entire Ni Hong Village is utterly loyal to Your Excellency. Your Excellency is weeping blood today, and Bai Jian'e is filled with fear and trepidation. Please enlighten us on where we have offended you!"

After saying these words, he raised his hands high, bowed deeply to the ground, and slammed his head heavily onto the prayer mat, remaining there for a long time.

The villagers also quickly knelt down, crying out in unison, "Please, Your Majesty, reveal the truth!"

Blood was still seeping from the eyes of the statue of "Li Dingguo". Could "he" still say something?

Luo Fei vaguely sensed that Bai Jian'e was up to something, but he couldn't quite figure it out. Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly saw Bai Jian'e leap up and rush out of the temple in a few steps. His face was ashen, his eyes were wide open, and he looked extremely angry.

"Who disobeyed my orders and came to the temple before dawn today, disturbing the deity?!" he shouted sternly at the villagers.

The villagers looked at each other, none daring to speak. After a moment, Old Wang suddenly kowtowed repeatedly from the crowd, his voice trembling as he said, "I...I came to offer sacrifices, but it was definitely before the day was over, last night...it can't...it can't be counted as today..."

Bai Jian'e's two sword-like gazes immediately shot towards Old Wang, and he pressed, "And after you? Is anyone else coming?"

"Yes, yes." Old Wang seemed to wake from a dream and answered repeatedly, "Xue Mingfei, Xue Mingfei came after me."

“That’s right.” Bai Jian’e sighed, looked up at the sky with a compassionate expression. Then he rushed back into the temple, knelt down, and loudly proclaimed, “Xue Mingfei has offended the revered deity and has reaped what he sowed. We beg the revered deity for forgiveness and mercy, and to bless Ni Hong Village with favorable weather and peace for generations to come! Revered deity, have mercy!”

The villagers followed suit, bowing and chanting. Bai Jian'e's words undoubtedly made them "understand" the whole story, and a huge weight was lifted from their shoulders. Although some unease remained, their cry of "May the revered gods have mercy!" was particularly unified and resounding!

Luo Fei stared intently at Bai Jian'e, his mind already clear. He nodded to himself: This Chief Bai is indeed a formidable character!

Chapter Twelve: A Century of Mysteries

After a series of thrilling and dramatic events, the ritual to worship the rain god at Ni Hong Village was finally completed. The dark clouds above the village indeed gathered thicker and thicker, and by noon, the raindrops finally began to fall.

This was a life-saving moment for the villagers who had been eagerly awaiting its arrival. They rushed into the rain, singing joyfully and expressing their gratitude to the rain god for his "mercy." Xue Mingfei, who had died mysteriously for offending the rain god, seemed to have been completely forgotten by them.

In such a secluded place, long-term faith will undoubtedly cause people to lose the ability to think independently.

In Mi Hong Village, Bai Jian'e's words carried supreme authority. Having already determined the cause of Xue Mingfei's death, the villagers had neither the need nor the courage to question it further. Perhaps in their hearts, the death of one person in exchange for a timely rain was a worthwhile exchange.

As for the weeping rain god statue, the villagers had no interest in it. The "revered god" was far too high and unattainable for them. Communicating with the "revered god" was something only the wise Chief Bai could accomplish; all they needed to do was enjoy a peaceful life under his protection.

So Bai Jian'e hastily collected Xue Mingfei's body and sealed off the Dragon King Temple, and none of the villagers raised any objections.

However, Luo Fei and the other two were sober. After lunch, they gathered in the side room of Old Wang's house, and their conversation naturally revolved around the strange events that had occurred at the Dragon King Temple that morning.

"They actually used knives! Don't they know how to respect scholars?" Yue Dongbei muttered indignantly while fiddling with his digital camera. "They wouldn't let us into the temple. Luckily I brought this, hehe, this is high-end stuff, these barbarians have probably never even heard of it."

"Did you take any pictures?" Luo Fei was quite disappointed that he couldn't go inside the temple to check. He hadn't expected Yue Dongbei to have such a trick up his sleeve. "Let me take a look later."

“Of course. To do academic research, you have to seize every opportunity and go everywhere, otherwise how can you get first-hand information?” Yue Dongbei proudly adjusted the operation buttons on the camera, then put the screen to his nose and looked at it carefully for a moment, and said, “Hehe, look, it really is blood flowing out.”

Luo Fei took the camera from Yue Dongbei and saw that the camera had been zoomed in on the Rain God statue's eyes. Red liquid was seeping from below the eye sockets, and several streaks of liquid were clearly visible on the nearby cheeks.

Having served as a police officer for over a decade, Luo Fei was extremely familiar with blood. Indeed, the liquids in the photos were identical to blood in both color and texture.

“Professor Zhou, you’re a doctor, why don’t you take a look?” Luo Fei handed the camera back to Zhou Liwei.

Zhou Liwei looked at it carefully for a while and nodded: "It is very likely to be blood."

Luo Fei lowered his head and pondered for a while, then suddenly asked, "Have you noticed that there is a dried bloodstain on the cheek of the Rain God statue?"

After Luo Fei's reminder, Zhou Liwei also noticed that of the three bloodstains below his left eye, two of the longer ones were still flowing, while the other one, which was very short and less than a centimeter long, had already dried up.

Yue Dongbei also came over at this moment, and rushed to adjust the magnification of the display screen to the highest level. Now it was even clearer that the dried bloodstain had cracked and the edges were curled up.

"Ha, it's 100% blood!" Yue Dongbei clapped his hands excitedly. "A blood-soaked idol, how does science explain this?"

Luo Fei knew that Yue Dongbei was provoking Zhou Liwei again, and fearing that the two of them would get entangled, he quickly waved his hand: "Let's not discuss this topic for now. I'm asking you, what do you think of Bai Jian'e's final actions, which were accusing Xue Mingfei of offending the Rain God or something?"

"It's obviously a cover-up, an attempt to appease people!" Yue Dongbei chuckled coldly. "We all saw Bai Jian'e's panicked reaction to what Xue Mingfei said before he died. But he was quick to react; as soon as Xue Mingfei was dead and there was no way to prove anything, he immediately came up with this method of framing him."

“I agree with that analysis,” Zhou Liwei chimed in. “And this method is indeed very ingenious. At that time, there was really no way to deal with the situation without doing it this way. If things had gone wrong, the prestige that the chieftain had built up over decades would have been destroyed in an instant.”

Luo Fei thought so too. He nodded, seemingly talking to himself: "Then what is he trying to hide?"

"The resurrection of the devil, huh?" Yue Dongbei rolled his eyes. "You all heard what Xue Mingfei said before he died."

“That’s not right. If you do that, there’s a huge flaw in your academic work.” Zhou Liwei suddenly looked at Yue Dongbei with a mocking gaze.

Yue Dongbei, however, seemed completely unconcerned, waving his hand casually: "What loophole? Tell me, and I'll explain it to you."

"According to you, this 'demon's power' is intertwined with Li Dingguo from back then, and was later sealed in a blood bottle. Now that the blood bottle has been broken, this power has been resurrected. But what reason does it have to wreak havoc in Mi Hong Village? These villagers are all descendants of Li Dingguo's subordinates, and they revere Li Dingguo as the 'Rain God'."

"Have you forgotten that they are all descendants of surrendered soldiers?" Yue Dongbei, prepared for this, replied calmly, "Li Dingguo was most intolerant of his subordinates surrendering to the enemy. So although they have revered Li Dingguo as a god for generations, his spirit may not necessarily forgive them. Besides, this guy surnamed Bai... hehe."

"What's wrong with the guy surnamed Bai?" Luo Fei asked, seeing that Yue Dongbei seemed hesitant to speak.

"If nothing unexpected happens, his ancestor should be Bai Wenxuan, the most capable general under Li Dingguo." Yue Dongbei said a few words, but then became mysterious again, "I won't say more, because this is just my personal speculation. As a scholar, I must find more factual evidence."

Luo Fei was not familiar with history and had never heard the name "Bai Wenxuan" before. However, he still gained some inspiration from Yue Dongbei's words and leaned forward to ask, "Could the general who led the villagers to worship the 'Rain God' in the legend, who was Li Dingguo, be Bai Wenxuan?"

Yue Dongbei nodded repeatedly: "It's possible, it's very possible!"

Luo Fei remained silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, then reached out his hand: "Let me see the camera again."

Zhou Liwei handed the camera to Luo Fei. Yue Dongbei had secretly taken six photos in total, and Luo Fei examined them carefully, one by one, not missing a single detail. Sometimes he would zoom in on a particular part, study it for a while, and then bury himself in thought. This process repeated itself; at first, he spent a long time thinking, but later it became shorter and shorter. Finally, his furrowed brows relaxed, and he smiled and said, "Mr. Yue, I don't think Bai Jian'e is trying to hide anything about a demon. Even if, as Xue Mingfei said before he died, a demon really exists, Bai Jian'e doesn't know what a demon is. In his eyes at that time, the confusion was clearly far greater than the fear. Of course, the more important reason why I am so confident in refuting your point of view is that I already know the real answer, an answer derived from reasonable inference based on some facts."

Yue Dongbei scratched his bald head, looked at Luo Fei seriously, and said, "I'm very interested to hear your opinion."

"First of all, my analysis is based on the premise that the 'Rain God' in the Dragon King Temple would never shed tears on his own, much less shed blood from his eyes. Mr. Yue, although you believe in metaphysics and we may have disagreements in many areas, we both live in modern society, and we should agree on basic common sense, right?" Luo Fei began with this opening statement.

Yue Dongbei chuckled: "Metaphysics is a very profound subject. It studies areas we don't yet understand, or rather, forms of matter and life that we don't yet understand. It doesn't violate the laws of matter recognized by basic science. We saw the statue up close yesterday; it's just a stone sculpture. If a stone sculpture could cry, that's not metaphysics, that's charlatanry!"

Yue Dongbei's words were forceful and resolute, somewhat surprising Luo Fei. Zhou Liwei looked at him with even greater surprise: "Oh? It seems you're not entirely without reason after all."

“I’ve said it so many times, I’m a scholar. I’m researching Li Dingguo and the legendary ‘demon power,’ which is a field of study! But you always treat me like a charlatan,” Yue Dongbei said seriously, his tone filled with deep dissatisfaction.

Luo Fei smiled with relief: "That's for the best. Now we can have a common starting point. We all agree that stone sculptures can't cry on their own, but we witnessed blood flowing from their eyes this morning, so there's only one possibility."

The subtext in Luo Fei's words was already very clear, and Zhou Liwei said it for him: "Someone tampered with the statue."

Luo Fei nodded: "That's right. Moreover, judging from the legend, this tampering was already completed when Li Dingguo sent people to build the statue. He secretly left a mechanism in the statue and told his trusted general how to operate it. As long as the general understands how to identify celestial phenomena, he can then seize the opportunity to control the mechanism and make the 'Rain God' 'shed tears' when it is about to rain heavily. From then on, the villagers will surely revere the 'Rain God', and Li Dingguo will have achieved his goal of winning people's hearts."

“If this legendary trusted general is Bai Wenxuan, and Bai Jian’e is Bai Wenxuan’s descendant, then it makes perfect sense that he knows the secret of the statue,” Zhou Liwei added, combining Luo Fei’s previous line of thought.

Yue Dongbei clapped his hands in agreement: "While it's impossible to confirm whether Bai Wenxuan is the trusted general, I do know that after Li Dingguo's death, it was Bai Wenxuan who led a group of surrendered soldiers to garrison at Mi Hong Village. So, it seems his choice was purposeful?"

"The fact that the Bai family's power has remained strong in Mi Hong Village for centuries is clearly not accidental," Luo Fei added meaningfully, without directly answering Yue Dongbei's question. His meaning was crystal clear: Bai Wenxuan chose Mi Hong Village as his base after his defeat because he possessed the secret to manipulating the villagers' beliefs—a secret passed down through generations of the Bai family. In this place where survival depended on the heavens, the Bai family had always held supreme power!

“So when the unexpected happened during the ceremony, Bai Jian’e’s first priority was to cover up the secret in the stone statue. It was a myth that had been passed down for hundreds of years and was also the foundation of the Bai family’s power in Mi Hong Village.” Zhou Liwei suddenly realized and sighed, “Given the passive situation at the time, it was quite remarkable that Bai Jian’e was able to turn things around in such a short time.”

“That makes sense! Absolutely! This deduction aligns with the facts and is completely plausible! I'm willing to accept it.” Yue Dongbei looked at Luo Fei with considerable admiration, then asked, “The interesting question now is, why did blood flow from the statue during this ceremony? And how do you explain Xue Mingfei's death?”

“First, we need to know why Xue Mingfei went to the Dragon King Temple last night,” Luo Fei said, handing over his camera. “Look at that broken pottery jar in the left corner of the incense table. Do you remember it?”

Sure enough, in the photograph, there was a broken pottery jar in the place Luo Fei described, partially hidden by an incense tablecloth.

Zhou Liwei remembered first: "That's right, when Xue Mingfei came last night, he was carrying a pottery jar like this!"

Luo Fei agreed, "Your memory is spot on. I thought it was an offering brought by Xue Mingfei, so I took a closer look. But he didn't put the pottery jar on the altar. Why? Magnify the image and see what was in the pottery jar."

The camera screen displayed a close-up of the broken pottery jar. Near the tipped-over rim, faint traces of undried water could be seen. Zhou Liwei and Yue Dongbei exclaimed simultaneously, "Water!"

Luo Fei smiled and said, "On the eve of the ceremony, Xue Mingfei brought a jar of water. This is obviously not an offering. So what was it for?"

"Add water! Add water to the mechanism!" Yue Dongbei blurted out, and Zhou Liwei nodded in agreement. Indeed, no matter what, if they wanted the statue to weep, there had to be a water source in the mechanism.

Luo Fei wanted to add further explanation, so he immediately asked another question: "Where do you think the switch that controls the statue to cry is located?"

“I thought of that before,” Zhou Liwei replied. “It should be under the prayer mat in front of the statue. When Bai Jian’e kowtows, he can trigger the switch.”

"Therefore, there can't be any water in this mechanism under normal circumstances. Otherwise, if the villagers go to worship the rain god, they might be exposed. The water can only be secretly added by Bai Jian'e's confidants the night before the worship, and the villagers are strictly forbidden from entering the Dragon King Temple before the worship. This series of arrangements is flawless. Xue Mingfei was here to do this, which is why Bai Jian'e went to Xue Mingfei first after discovering the mistake. His arrangements are always flawless," Luo Fei paused, then continued, "Unfortunately, last night, an accident still occurred."

"What accident?" The topic finally reached its most crucial point. Yue Dongbei stared wide-eyed at Luo Fei without blinking.

“The most likely explanation is that Xue Mingfei was attacked.” Luo Fei stroked his chin, speaking thoughtfully. “The pottery jar was broken, and the attacker hid it under the incense table. Then the attacker added blood to the mechanism that was supposed to be filled with water and tested the mechanism, which explains why we saw dried bloodstains under the eye sockets of the statue.”

Yue Dongbei and Zhou Liwei both nodded silently, seemingly agreeing with Luo Fei's speculations.

"Is that Xue Mingfei's blood?" Yue Dongbei asked immediately afterward.

"I can't say for sure." Luo Fei turned to Zhou Liwei. "Teacher Zhou, are you sure Xue Mingfei died from excessive blood loss?"

"That's part of the reason, but not all of it."

Zhou Liwei's answer sounded somewhat puzzling, and Luo Fei raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"What I mean is that blood loss was a major factor in his death, but there is another very direct reason that cannot be ignored."

What is it?

“Terrified!” Zhou Liwei explained, “When Xue Mingfei arrived at the entrance of the Dragon King Temple, although his body was extremely weak, he was not yet in danger of dying immediately; his instinct for survival was still sustaining him. But when he saw the blood-covered statue of the ‘Rain God,’ he was clearly greatly shocked, and this shock caused his will to live to collapse in an instant. To be more precise, Xue Mingfei’s death was physiologically based on excessive blood loss, while the shock was the psychological trigger.”

“I understand what you mean.” Luo Fei tapped his forehead lightly with his fingertips, pondered for a moment, then his eyes flashed. “I have some guesses, see if they make sense. Xue Mingfei didn’t know about his blood loss, but he was given some kind of psychological suggestion: that his blood had been absorbed by the ‘Rain God’. He didn’t completely believe this suggestion was true, so he forced himself to come to the Dragon King Temple to see for himself. When he found that the Rain God statue was indeed covered in blood, and realized that all this blood had been absorbed from his own body, immense fear immediately overwhelmed him.”

“This conjecture is very consistent with Xue Mingfei’s words and actions before his death. According to this conjecture, how could Xue Mingfei not know that he was losing blood?” Yue Dongbei looked at Luo Fei, his tone as if asking a question.

Luo Fei still posed the question to Zhou Liwei: "You carefully examined Xue Mingfei's body, what exactly was the cause of the blood loss?"

Zhou Liwei looked helpless: "I don't know. Logically speaking, with such a large amount of blood loss, there should be serious injuries on the body. But I searched the entire body of the deceased and couldn't find even a small wound. It's as if the blood in his body disappeared into thin air, which is really hard to understand."

Luo Fei frowned and remained silent. Xue Mingfei was completely naked at the time, and his condition was clear at a glance. From the outside, everything seemed normal, and he did not appear to have suffered any harm.

Yue Dongbei suddenly chuckled: "You've finally encountered something inexplicable. You have to admit that there are still many mysterious things in this world that we don't know about. Just because you haven't seen that kind of power doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Zhou Liwei glanced coldly at Yue Dongbei: "Is it your 'devil' theory again?"

"Yes. It's resurrected! It's back! It wants revenge! Don't you remember Xue Mingfei's words? Rebirth from the ashes, what a symbolic scene! It doesn't kill Xue Mingfei directly, it wants to use Xue Mingfei's mouth to say these things. Before it displays its terrifying power, it first wants people to feel its fear!" Yue Dongbei said incessantly, his face flashing with a strange excitement.

“No…” Luo Fei slowly shook his head: “It’s not just about showing fear. There must be a clearer purpose behind this.”

"What is their purpose..." Before Zhou Liwei could finish speaking, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the door. Then the door of the small house was pushed open, and Wu Qun and Zhao Liwen led six or seven strong men in.