On the seventh day, there are many customs in many places.

Yu Xing has some understanding of this. Since the people in Guanjia Village can mention the words "seventh day", it should represent some ancient customs that are passed down here.

At first, people believed that the ghost of the deceased would return home on the seventh day, and the family should prepare a meal for it before the soul returned, and then they must avoid it and hide under the covers.

If the ghost of the deceased sees the family, it will make him worry and affect his reincarnation.

Later, various films, TV shows, and folk tales increased, and the seventh day gradually became a representation of malevolent ghosts seeking revenge, deeply associated with terrifying images.

Regardless of what the villagers in Guanjia Village think about the seventh day, in any case, Yu Xing believes that since it has been mentioned, Zhou Yongsheng's ghost should appear tonight.

"Hey, what are you so happy about...?" Xiao Xuechen was stunned for a moment, "The seventh day is the seventh day, do you want to summon a ghost? Are you calling for a spirit!?"

"Yes, I want to summon him." Yu Xing lowered his eyes and stared at the coffin board, knocked on it twice, and continued his true summoning behavior, "Wake up, netizen."

What the hell, meeting a netizen? Are you a devil!

Xiao Xuechen's scalp tingled. This person is indeed a big shot, but could it be that his personality has already deviated by more than 20% and been influenced by negative things?

Is this something a normal person can do?

Seeing Yu Xing's high interest in this coffin, she couldn't help but say, "Why don't you just open the coffin?"

Yu Xing agreed deeply, "Makes sense."

"..."

Next, Yu Xing performed for Xiao Xuechen, showing her what it meant to open the coffin and examine the body on the spot.

Yu Xing easily dragged the coffin board that had not been sealed, moved the coffin cover down, and Xiao Xuechen regretted her quick mouth. With a little panic and guilt, she took a glance inside and saw a man's gray head.

The man looked young, about their age, around twenty years old, with short hair and decent features, but there was nothing memorable about him. He belonged to the kind that would be lost in a crowd.

"So this is Zhou Yongsheng." She muttered softly, clasping her hands together and shaking them slightly as a gesture of apology.

Yu Xing caught a glimpse of her small movement and found this girl cute in some ways, "Why are you worshiping him? He can still chat with us online even in the coffin. Such a fashionable and unconventional corpse."

"I am speechless." Xiao Xuechen raised her hand to support her forehead and sighed lightly.

She couldn't help but look at the body, then asked in confusion, "You opened the coffin cover, and now what? It's lying here perfectly fine, no decomposition, no encounter with ghosts. What conclusions can we draw?"

"What do you think the position of this ancestral hall is in Guanjia Village? Or, what role does it play?" Yu Xing responded to Xiao Xuechen while squinting his eyes and leaning closer to the body.

"Well... the only coffin is here, so I think this place must be very important, even... the center." Xiao Xuechen answered, pursing her lips. Yu Xing observed the body up close while she leaned on the edge of the coffin, "What did you find?"

"Since this place is the center, there must be clues. Currently, there aren't many places we can investigate, so let's start with the body." Yu Xing looked at it for a while, then used his hand to open the mouth of the body and looked inside.

"Uh..." Xiao Xuechen found this scene a bit eerie. Such a good-looking young man was touching a lifeless body without any care. The contrast in this scene gave her a visual impact.

Fortunately, the young man let go after a while.

"Look, there are bluish-purple discoloration and swelling on the face, petechial hemorrhages, significant livor mortis, widespread distribution, bleeding from the teeth, also known as rose teeth." Yu Xing's magnetic voice slowly described the characteristics of the body, and he casually wiped his hand on the side of the coffin.

"You can even perform autopsies, huh? Well, these days, artists are so talented." Xiao Xuechen already knew that he was not an ordinary artist, so she took the opportunity to express her admiration and half-jokingly said.

Then she asked, "I don't have much knowledge of medicine, but I can roughly tell that these characteristics you mentioned are signs of death by asphyxiation, right?"

Unexpectedly, this young lady knows a little about this, saving him the trouble of explaining. Yu Xing nodded in satisfaction, "That's right."

Xiao Xuechen paused, "That's normal. Didn't the village chief say that Zhou Yongsheng was buried by a mudslide caused by Xia Yu when he was playing on the mountain? Death by asphyxiation matches."

"Not normal, doesn't match." Yu Xing smiled, "Do you really think that being buried means death by asphyxiation? In fact, the cause of death for being buried alive can be roughly divided into two types. The first type, as you said, is asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen in the lungs. However, for a mudslide of this magnitude, it's basically impossible to wait for asphyxiation. They would have already been crushed to death by the air pressure."

Oh... Xiao Xuechen listened and made a mental note.

"And strangulation, hanging, and strangulation of the neck, these are mechanical asphyxiation, which is more in line with the characteristics of this body." Yu Xing pointed to the neck of the body for her to see.

A circle of dark blue marks that should not appear on a buried corpse was clearly imprinted on the body.

"Strangulation marks!?" Xiao Xuechen widened her eyes, "Zhou Yongsheng was strangled to death, so the village chief lied!"

She felt like she had opened the door to a new world.

Really, when playing deduction games, looking for clues on something that is likely a specter, this is the first time she has encountered it.

It seems that she was on the wrong path before.

"Hmm~ Missie, do you now have a direction for your investigation?" Yu Xing didn't cover the coffin, but leaned against the side of the coffin, smiling as he looked at her.

"You're amazing." Xiao Xuechen had to admit that this conclusion can at least explain one thing, that Zhou Yongsheng is or was a victim in this village, and the village chief and others haven't spoken a word of truth. She needs to be more cautious and vigilant.

She originally thought that the biggest crisis in this deduction game would be the funeral the next day. Zhou Yongsheng might pretend to be dead or become the final boss. But now, even if he really becomes the boss, there are many places she can use to her advantage.

She truly admires San.

Xiao Xuechen met the faint smile in the other party's eyes in the dimness and felt a slight movement in her heart. "But... don't look at me like that. Don't you know how powerful your face is?"

"Um, it's my fault for looking like this." Yu Xing turned his face away and stopped looking at her, leaving her with a merciless side profile, "Do you have a lighter?"

"Why, do you want to smoke?" Xiao Xuechen subconsciously thought that San would look good smoking. She touched her pocket, "Unfortunately, I don't have one.""I quit smoking a long time ago." Yu Xing laughed, "I just wanted to try lighting the candles on both sides, maybe we could see something interesting."

"Oh..." Xiao Xuechen put her hands together, not quite understanding.

"Never mind then." Yu Xing patted the dust off his jeans, thinking to give the game some face, "Let's go, it's getting late, let's head back to the village."

"Alright." Xiao Xuechen agreed, and seeing Yu Xing closing the coffin, she took the lead and walked out of the ancestral hall.

Her steps stopped at the entrance of the hall.

"San."

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"What's wrong?" Yu Xing finished restoring the coffin and looked up.

Xiao Xuechen's silhouette stood still, as if frozen in place.

Her voice carried an indescribable emotion: "Just now... Zhou Yongsheng... might have really been here."

"Huh?" Yu Xing raised an eyebrow and quickly walked out.

Then, he understood why Xiao Xuechen said that.

At the exit of the ancestral hall, a large pool of blood had appeared at some point.

The blood spread among the weeds, forming two rows of messy blood characters—

"Do not leave your room between midnight and the crowing of the rooster!"

"Do not let anyone in! No matter what, do not!!!"

The last exclamation marks were quite agitated, one could imagine how certain the person who left the blood message was.

They had just been in the ancestral hall, and neither saw nor heard anyone. The pool of blood seemed to appear out of thin air. So, the only one who could have left this message and given them a hint was the ghost of Zhou Yongsheng, who had been wandering around on the seventh night.

"We opened his coffin, and he gave us a hint. Does this broken village even have chickens?" Xiao Xuechen's focus was quite peculiar, "Should we believe it?"

"I think we can." Yu Xing said, "Actually, up to now, apart from using text messages to lure me and Carlos into this village, he hasn't done anything else malicious. On the contrary, we learned from his body that he was also a victim."

He also put his hands together and bowed slightly to the pool of blood: "Indeed, an unconventional corpse. Friend, you're quite meaningful, I'll remember this."

Xiao Xuechen: "..." So you're talking to him here? Calling him a friend just like that?

...

At nine o'clock, after returning to the village from the ancestral hall and wandering around for a long time, Yu Xing, who had finally restrained himself from stealing the villagers' candles, returned to the village chief's house.

Halfway there, Xiao Xuechen went to find Wei Fan, saying she wanted to tell him about the hint.

Yu Xing agreed with this, as Xiao Xuechen and Wei Fan had entered the game as a team and should have a good relationship. Moreover, there shouldn't be any conflicts of interest among the seven Deductionists in this game, so sharing clues was fine.

A higher survival rate might even lead to a higher score after the game ended.

He inquired along the way, and the village chief had arranged the remaining five Deductionists in nearby houses. The distance was not far, and it only took a few steps to get from one to another.

Not bothering to care whether Wei Fan would tell the others about the clue after receiving it, Yu Xing had been walking for so long that he was tired.

All he wanted to do now was rest for a while and look forward to the excitement of the night.

However, before he could enter the village chief's house, a small paper doll sat on his path. The doll's eyes were painted pitch black with ink, making it look quite eerie and frightening at first glance.

Yu Xing looked down and silently stared at the little paper doll.

"Carlos?"

The little paper doll suddenly moved, standing up shakily and unsteadily. With a tearing sound—

The doll's head was torn in half.

From the torn paper head, a bright red rose emerged.

Carlos's slightly flamboyant voice sounded from beside Yu Xing: "How's this magic trick?"

Yu Xing turned his head to see Carlos, with his messy gray-blue hair, walking over with a grin. He picked up the rose from the ground and handed it to Yu Xing: "Here, my new magic trick. Although it's a bit gloomy... it didn't scare you, did it?"

Looking at the red rose, Yu Xing's face changed for a moment.

This flower... reminded him of someone else.

That person had shown him through actions that one should not accept flowers casually, or else the consequences might be unpredictable.

However, Carlos was different from that person, and the flower was innocent. Yu Xing could only laugh lightly: "Friend, this flower would be more suitable for the two girls. I'll pass. There's no need for me to set up clues, I can just tell you directly."

Carlos's lips curved, and his green eyes shone in the dark night: "I see, very straightforward. I like straightforward people."