NOVEL NEXT 009 The Earth God Does Not Accept
Gu Yunqing’s lifeless body collapsed into the water, the cold drops splashing onto Ye Miaozhu’s face, causing her to become momentarily disoriented.
“Yunqing… is dead?”
Ye Miaozhu murmured absent-mindedly, her eyes unfocused. Ning Zhe reacted quickly, stepping forward in a swift motion to grab Gu Yunqing’s sleeve, preventing his body from being carried away by the current.
Holding onto Gu Yunqing’s body, Ning Zhe glanced at the trembling and paralyzed Feng Yushu, then at Ye Miaozhu, whose mental state was clearly off. He realized that he could only rely on himself now.
Unbuttoning Gu Yunqing’s clothes, Ning Zhe quickly examined his body.
Although he wasn’t a professional medical student, a basic inspection allowed him to make some preliminary judgments: “Like Xie Sining, Gu Yunqing has no external injuries, no internal bleeding, didn’t die from drowning or suffocation, and there’s no sign of poisoning…”
Apart from the residual warmth in Gu Yunqing’s body, which hadn’t yet cooled, both bodies showed no difference in their state of death—they were identical.
“The manner of death is identical for both of them. Did they both die because of that thing which can impersonate others? Or is it the river itself that’s dangerous?”
Ning Zhe didn’t know the answer but didn’t dare to take any risks.
After putting Gu Yunqing’s body down, Ning Zhe took a few steps back, distancing himself from the riverbank. Feng Yushu, who had become somewhat neurotic from fear, hurried to follow him, leaving only Ye Miaozhu sitting motionlessly on the spot, in a daze.
“Yunqing… how could he die like this?” Ye Miaozhu’s gaze was vacant, filled with confusion. “We didn’t break any taboos, we didn’t travel, didn’t bury anyone, didn’t perform a mourning ritual… and we certainly didn’t offer sacrifices. Why did Yunqing have to die?”
Ye Miaozhu hugged her head with both hands, tangling her originally smooth long hair into a mess. “Even if examining the body could be considered a mourning ritual… why did Yunqing die, but I’m fine?”
“I don’t know,” Ning Zhe shook his head. “How could I know…”
“Is that so? You don’t know either,” Ye Miaozhu lowered her body and began to button up Gu Yunqing’s clothes, which Ning Zhe had undone. Holding his body, she tilted her head to watch the river water slowly drifting downstream, the pale moon reflecting on its surface.
“Are you trying to die?” Ning Zhe frowned. “I noticed that before Gu Yunqing lost his vital signs, just a few seconds before, he was looking down at the riverbank. I don’t know if the danger comes from the corpse by the river or the river itself, but if you’re now imitating what he did just before he died, you’re definitely testing fate.”
“So what?” Ye Miaozhu raised her head, her dead eyes staring at Ning Zhe. “I’m tired of this.”
Ning Zhe was silent for a moment, then spoke softly, “I understand, but I don’t agree.”
They were all ordinary people, living ordinary lives, studying, working, and abiding by the rules, thinking life would be a series of these mundane days stacking up.
But in the time it took to open a door, they found themselves in this inexplicable place, forced to follow nonsensical rules and endure illogical fears.
The weight of death was so heavy, suffocating everyone. The constantly changing rules tortured their fragile nerves, making them wary, walking on eggshells.
Ning Zhe didn’t know what kind of relationship Ye Miaozhu and Gu Yunqing had, but in this environment where life could end at any moment, they had grown used to relying on each other.
Ye Miaozhu wasn’t a particularly strong person. If not for having familiar faces by her side, she would have been crushed by the looming presence of death long ago, and wouldn’t have been able to last in this strange, eerie village.
But now that Gu Yunqing was dead, she had lost the mental support to keep struggling, and with it, the courage and motivation to keep fighting for survival.
Ning Zhe didn’t approve of her hasty decision to give up on her life, but he didn’t oppose her seeking death either, because that would actually benefit him.
“After Ye Miaozhu dies, there will be three ready-made death samples here,” Ning Zhe thought to himself. “One or two strange deaths don’t reveal the logic behind it, but three? Four? There will be a clue… The mystery can always be solved.”
Others might break down, give up, or abandon all hope, but he wouldn’t.
Looking at Ning Zhe’s calm and indifferent eyes, Ye Miaozhu suddenly laughed. “I actually wanted to be angry at you because if it wasn’t for you making us examine Xie Sining’s corpse, Yunqing wouldn’t have died. But now, feeling his body slowly turn cold, I realize I don’t even have the strength to be angry anymore.”
“Good thing you don’t,” Ning Zhe said nonchalantly. “If you threw a tantrum, I’d kill you.”
“Madman(tl: It said pervert idk why, pervert doesn’t sit well so changed to madman),” Ye Miaozhu muttered bitterly.
But then, she relaxed. “But maybe only someone like you, a heartless madman, can survive in this heartless place, thriving like a fish in water.”
“Seeing as you’re about to die, I’ll let the insult slide,” Ning Zhe said indifferently.
The riverbank fell quiet, and the few fragmented words were drowned in the clear, bottomless water. Ye Miaozhu held Gu Yunqing’s body in her arms, quietly staring at their reflections on the river, like prisoners on the execution ground, closing their eyes to await the arrival of death.
However, as time passed, Ning Zhe checked his phone repeatedly—five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes… Ye Miaozhu remained sitting by the riverbank, letting the cool evening wind take away her body’s warmth, but nothing else happened.
“It seems the Serpent God thinks your life shouldn’t end just yet,” Ning Zhe descended the stone slope and reached out a hand toward Ye Miaozhu, still sitting motionless. “We should go. Since whatever that thing is has given you your life back, you should cherish it.”
Ye Miaozhu kept her head down, silent for a long time, and finally made no response, letting Ning Zhe grasp her hand.
Ning Zhe pulled her up from the riverbank and quickly organized the known information in his mind:
“First, the Serpent God has gone mad, suffering from periodic attacks every month, with unknown causes and symptoms.”
“Second, besides the bad luck brought by the Yellow Calendar, there are other hidden rules in Hejia Village that directly cause death, such as flipping through tomorrow’s Yellow Calendar.”
“Third, Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing likely died from violating these hidden rules. Their deaths are identical to Lin Zhiyuan’s.”
“Fourth, although Xie Sining and Gu Yunqing’s bodies appeared in the river, Ye Miaozhu has proven that their deaths are not directly related to the river.”
“Fifth, there exists a special being in Hejia Village capable of impersonating others, and it seems connected to the hidden rules that cause death.”
As he gathered more information, Ning Zhe’s thoughts became clearer. Amid the seemingly disjointed pieces of information, he found the first breakthrough:
“That ghost which impersonated Xie Sining has been following Zhang Yangxu for a long time without killing him. It didn’t attack me either when it saw me. Why didn’t it kill us? Is it because it doesn’t want to? Or could it be that it simply can’t kill directly?”
“Or, thinking from another angle, perhaps that ghost doesn’t need to get close to us to kill. It might need certain specific conditions to be met, or for us to trigger certain special—rules?”
The path ahead cleared, and from the tangled knots of death, Ning Zhe grasped the thread that would unravel the truth.
At that moment, Feng Yushu’s phone vibrated, a call coming in.
The caller was Zhang Yangxu.
“Answer it, but hang up if something feels off,” Ning Zhe whispered.
Feng Yushu hesitated but still unconsciously nodded and nervously pressed the answer button.
As soon as the call connected, a loud, almost shouted warning came through the speaker:
—”Be careful of Gu Yunqing!”
(tl: In the context of 地神不收 (“The Earth God Does Not Accept”), the title may metaphorically highlight that Gu Yunqing’s death was irregular or defied natural laws, preventing his soul from being peacefully “accepted.”)