Zuo Meng was confused, but he quickly finished his meal and prepared to go check on Ye Tianxuan.
He wanted to be able to help if Ye Tianxuan was in danger.
As he approached the direction Ye Tianxuan had gone, Zuo Meng faintly caught a pleasant scent in the air.
"A fragrance? Floral scent?" Zuo Meng took a deep breath. In this cold, desolate village, the only smell that had lingered before was the scent of burning incense and paper money; this was the first time he had smelled such a refreshing floral fragrance.
He followed the scent for a while, and then he faintly heard the sound of something heavy falling, not just once, but many times, rising and falling, sending chills down his spine in the silent night.
Zuo Meng broke out in a cold sweat, continuing to follow the floral scent. As he rounded a corner in an alley, a sliver of light suddenly flashed before his eyes.
It was a wisp of smoke mixed with tiny purple lights, carrying the faint fragrance of flowers.
A floral fragrance... Purple smoke?
Zuo Meng was startled. The sounds of heavy objects crashing down grew closer, echoing around the corner, one after another, incredibly muffled, even mingling with a hint of blood amidst the lingering floral scent, making the sounds even more eerie.
Zuo Meng tremblingly mustered her courage and stepped over the corner of the alleyway in the funeral district. Her gaze was instantly stunned by the dense figures in the alley.
Villagers... those figures were the villagers Ye Tianxuan had just taken away.
But now, all the villagers were kneeling before the bride's house, repeatedly kowtowing against the door, their heads rising heavily and then slamming down to the ground, drawing blood.
Yet no one uttered a sound of pain; all the villagers simply repeated the mechanical act with blank stares.
The dense figures repeated this cycle, rising, slamming their heads to the ground, rising again. Amidst the splattering blood, the heavy thuds of heads hitting the ground sent chills down Zuo Meng's spine.
What happened? These villagers... why are they all like they're possessed, silently kowtowing at the bride's house?
Zuo Meng stood there, stunned, his mind blank amidst the surrounding floral fragrance.
Until his gaze shifted slightly, noticing the only figure standing at the far end of the crowd.
In the cool evening breeze, Ye Tianxuan, wearing a coat, leaned against a tree outside the door, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
He took a deep drag of his cigarette, then parted his thin lips slightly, exhaling a hazy plume of smoke.
The smoke was purple, carried by the night wind through the crowd, drifting towards Zuo Meng, carrying the scent of flowers.
Zuo Meng remembered that the information about Boss Ye in the town was compiled from various sources: the ring was an item, the tongue mark was a contract, the price of using the item was lifespan, and the characteristic was the purple smoke carrying a floral scent.
He hadn't seen Boss Ye wearing that ring recently, and he assumed Boss Ye had broken the contract, but it seemed that a contract with such a high price couldn't be easily broken.
Was Boss Ye punishing the villagers by making them kowtow at the bride's door with cigarettes?
Zuo Meng was stunned for a long time, while the villagers, who were constantly kowtowing, gradually collapsed. Even with their heads bleeding, they remained numb, simply repeating the same actions.
The person outside the crowd just stood there smoking, his hands untouched by blood, yet he had caused such a large group of villagers to die. Zuo Meng finally understood why Brother Xiu had told him not to worry; the villagers were indeed suffering more.
Ye Tianxuan exhaled the last puff of smoke, extinguished his cigarette, threw it back into the pack, and turned to notice Zuo Meng standing there blankly. He smiled, stepped over the corpses, and came to him. "Why did you come here?"
"I was worried about Boss Ye, so I came... to see..." Zuo Meng said woodenly, his gaze passing over Ye Tianxuan to the villagers behind him, bleeding profusely. For a moment, he didn't know whether he should finish his sentence.
"I'm fine." Ye Tianxuan adjusted his coat, turned, and walked out. "Let's go back."
Zuo Meng glanced at the villagers and immediately followed Ye Tianxuan. "Boss Ye, are you also punishing those who died in the village?"
"Sort of. I want a bride who has completely let go to appear, and those villagers who caused her death should also disappear." Ye Tianxuan casually played with the cigarette between his fingers, a slight smile playing on his lips. "And that way, no one will bother you to hang the red thread."
Zuo Meng was touched. "So Boss Ye also considered my safety."
Ye Tianxuan smiled, speaking lightly, "Just a side effect."
The two went back, and the people under the tree didn't ask where they had gone. Without the villagers' interference, Zhong Mu found a deck of cards to pass the time.
So the group started playing cards under the tree again.
"Why didn't you bring your doctor tonight?" Ye Tianxuan pondered the cards in his hand and asked Zhong Mu.
"It's not convenient tonight, I have something more important to do." Zhong Mu smiled, then turned his gaze back to the cards, hesitating over the cards.
Yin Xiu, standing beside him, looked up, "What important thing?"
Last night they seemed to have secretly done something in the village behind his back, were they not taking him tonight either?
Zhong Mu didn't answer, but Ye Tianxuan filled in for him, "You'll find out in a bit, no rush."
The three of them played cards, Zuo Meng didn't participate, he just sat to the side staring in horror at the little tendril-like ball hanging from the tree, feeling at a loss.
Yin Xiu could clearly sense that Ye Tianxuan was hiding something from him, but he didn't press further, and the three of them continued playing cards.
Zuo Meng watched from the side, keeping track of the time.
When the time was almost up, he did as Ye Tianxuan had instructed, went to find a basin, put the photos and medical records in the basin, and then began to climb the marriage tree.
Yin Xiu, who was playing cards peacefully, caught a glimpse of Zuo Meng climbing a tree out of the corner of his eye. "What's he doing?"
He hadn't expected this kid to also want to get a piece of the Love Thread to leave the instance.
"I don't know, maybe climbing trees is just a hobby." Ye Tianxuan replied with a smile, calculated the time, and, finding it was about right, put down his cards and stood up.
Yin Xiu was completely confused. Looking up, he saw that Zuo Meng hadn't climbed up to get the Love Thread, but had taken another piece of thread from his pocket and tied it to the tree.
"Is it midnight?" Zhong Mu looked up blankly, then, noticing Zuo Meng, also put down his cards and stood up. "That was fast."
Yin Xiu noticed that both of them had stopped playing and looked up in confusion. "Aren't you going to stop playing?"
"Let's stop for now, we'll play again when we get back to town." Ye Tianxuan calmly took out a box of matches from his pocket, pinched a small wooden stick, and lit a small flame.
In the distance, the sound of suona horns rose, creating a lively atmosphere. Along the main road of the village, the faint sound of a woman's sobbing drifted closer.
The flames in the basin flickered, outlining the figures of several people, eventually engulfing two smiling faces in an old photograph, turning them little by little to ashes.
Under Yin Xiu's puzzled gaze, he tossed a match into the basin, the sparks instantly igniting the medical case photograph.
A sudden gust of cold wind swept through the silent village, causing the red ribbons on the trees to sway violently in the night breeze.
Yin Xiu immediately gripped the hilt of his knife, alert to the direction of the sound.
But only a voice arrived; no one appeared.
In the last second before the flames died down, an announcement suddenly rang in everyone's minds:
[Congratulations to the player for clearing the dungeon: "The Bride"]
[Dungeon completion rating: Five stars.]