Chapter 35: God Positions and Empty Spaces

In his hazy consciousness, he seemed to hear someone calling his name.

“Mr. Shiba Daye?”

“Mr. Shiba Daye?”

“Honestly, I wore such a sexy swimsuit on purpose, and you actually fell asleep!”

Her voice carried a hint of resentment.

“Hehe, but it’s precisely because of this that I really want to touch you. I can’t help but want to tease you.”

“Even if the System says attacks aren’t allowed during the day, it doesn’t mean the daytime is necessarily safe.”

“Seriously, how careless… oh.”

“As expected, the face under that messy fringe is quite handsome — very clean-cut.”

“If I didn’t have things to do, I’d really want to stay and sleep here with you for a while.”

“It’s a pity… in a Death Game, you can’t truly relax.”

“…”

“Goodbye, Mr. Shiba Daye~”

***

When Yi Mo woke up, the sky was already dark and overcast.

He blinked in a daze, wiped away some drool, and rubbed his head.

It throbbed slightly.

Subconsciously, he looked toward the lake and the surrounding area; Dieyu was nowhere to be seen.

‘I actually fell asleep. That was way too careless…’

‘Though, I really didn’t sleep well yesterday…’

Yi Mo opened the System page and checked the time.

It was shortly after 3:00 PM.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late, but the once clear weather had turned gloomy.

It seemed… a violent storm was imminent.

Yi Mo thought for a moment.

He and Dieyu had arrived very early, so she had likely returned a long time ago.

After confirming there was nothing wrong with him, his gaze drifted toward the Ancestral Hall not far away, and he walked over.

When he had chatted with Dieyu earlier, she mentioned the Ancestral Hall was eerie.

Aside from many spirit tablets, there was nothing there, so there was no need to go.

But Yi Mo still wanted to take a look.

As Yi Mo approached the Ancestral Hall, the sky grew darker, and a sudden wind picked up.

Looking back, many birds were circling over the lake, and fallen leaves tumbled across the grass.

The Ancestral Hall was dilapidated.

Moss grew on the blue bricks, and the corners were draped in spiderwebs.

A broken swallow’s nest appeared to have been taken over by insects.

“It’s certainly different from those thatched huts outside…”

“The architectural style… is it from the Republic of China era?”

Yi Mo felt the Ancestral Hall was somewhat out of place, but as raindrops the size of beans finally began to fall with a patter-patter, he didn’t think much more of it and quickly pushed the door open to run inside.

Creak — !

The door was in poor condition and made a piercing sound.

Since it was already overcast and the Ancestral Hall had no windows, the interior was extremely dark.

It gave Yi Mo the feeling of being inside a horror movie.

Cold light flickered in Yi Mo’s eyes; he wasn’t afraid.

He had always believed that compared to ghosts, people were the most terrifying.

“Five people have been here?”

Since the Ancestral Hall had been abandoned for an unknown amount of time, a thick layer of dust covered the floor.

There were several sets of footprints on the ground.

To get here, one had to cross a stream.

The marks left by the dust being moistened by water were still quite obvious.

“Something isn’t right…”

Just as Yi Mo confirmed how many people had visited, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Goosebumps erupted all over his body, and he suddenly turned his head.

Crack!

A bolt of thunder struck, and the sky was dyed deep blue.

Behind Yi Mo were exactly nine rows of spirit tablets, covered in thick dust and leaning haphazardly!

Splash… splash…

Creak… creak…

Following the thunder was the sound of the rain growing heavier, pounding against the grass outside.

The wooden door, rattled by the wind, creaked incessantly in his ears.

The atmosphere was incredibly eerie, as if something had awakened.

Yi Mo’s subconscious kept telling him something.

Someone was watching him.

This Ancestral Hall did not welcome him!

This place was dangerous!

Yi Mo clenched his fists tightly, gritted his teeth, and carefully scanned the bushes and trees outside the hall.

Only after confirming that no one was there did he turn back around.

He continued to examine the footprints on the ground.

“Someone… was here recently…”

Yi Mo pinched his messy fringe while staring at the chaotic footprints.

Four of them were completely dry.

But the smallest one, which had no tread pattern…

It was wet!

Meaning, while Yi Mo was asleep, someone had come here!

Moreover… that person wasn’t Dieyu.

Yi Mo remembered very clearly that Dieyu wore sandals; they were definitely different from that small footprint with no tread!

‘Taoqimao or the Ordinary Girl Village Chief?’

Yi Mo rubbed his hair, trying to recall their shoes.

If he remembered correctly, one wore canvas shoes and the other wore sneakers.

In other words, it definitely wasn’t that small, patternless footprint!!!

The more Yi Mo thought about it, the more terrifying it felt.

It was as if someone were constantly staring at his back.

“This is… a Werewolf Kill game… not a horror game, right…?”

Yi Mo smiled bitterly and opened the game rules interface to take a look.

It indeed wasn’t a horror game.

Thinking of this, Yi Mo simply let go of his worries.

He stopped overthinking and only wanted to confirm as quickly as possible if there really was nothing inside before leaving.

Otherwise, if there really were ghosts or monsters…

Being here alone in this heavy rain would be too foolish.

In a movie, he would be the disposable side character who practically gave his life away for nothing.

Yi Mo looked up.

Nine rows of spirit tablets were enshrined in the Ancestral Hall, currently leaning in all directions.

Their designs varied, clearly belonging to different eras.

The top row had the fewest tablets, and the number gradually increased toward the bottom.

Yi Mo looked closely; he could recognize the traditional characters on some of the tablets.

[First Generation Hunter: Xu Zi X]

[Fourth Generation Witch: Xu Mao X]

[Third Generation Prophet: Xu Yin X]

[Seventh Generation Idiot: Xu Wu X]

[Fifth Generation Thief: Xu Chen X]

‘Xu’ was likely the surname of everyone in this village.

The second character probably represented the generation, arranged according to the Twelve Earthly Branches.

The nine rows of tablets weren’t complete.

Yi Mo counted several missing ones, unsure where they had gone.

But the footprints on the ground didn’t extend near the tablets.

He deduced they were likely missing to begin with, rather than being taken by a player.

Looking at these tablets, Yi Mo couldn’t help but shake his head.

“It seems Villagers can’t enter the Ancestral Hall. These are all God positions.”

“But for a Thief to be enshrined in the Ancestral Hall is really…”

“A bit ridiculous…”

Thinking of this, Yi Mo actually found it somewhat laughable.

After all, being a Thief wasn’t exactly an honorable thing.

‘Everyone else holds a God position, but you, a special identity, are actually placed alongside their tablets…’

‘It’s really…’

“Wait!”

At that thought, Yi Mo suddenly froze.

A shiver ran through him, and he hurried over to examine the tablets more closely.

He even picked a few up, wiping away the dust that obscured the characters.

After finally confirming almost all the tablets, he picked up one for a Thief.

Pursing his lips, he said, “The Thief is a special identity and can enter the hall.

Cupid is also a special identity, and clearly more aligned with the Gods, yet there’s no tablet for Cupid!”

“No, it did enter the hall…”

Yi Mo looked up at the rows of spirit tablets.

There were several spots where tablets were missing!

He had initially thought they were lost.

But… those tablets hadn’t been taken by players.

They should have been there before but were removed some time before the game started!!!

The varying thicknesses of the dust proved exactly that!

“Dieyu, there’s huge information hidden in here, and yet you said there was nothing!”

Yi Mo’s voice was low.

Instead of leaving, he quickly looked around the hall.

He found a wooden crossbar in the corner that was supposed to jam the door.

Ignoring whether it was clean, he ran to pick it up.

Standing on his tiptoes and brandishing the bar, he actually knocked the tablets into a mess.

Clatter… clatter…

The tablets that were supposed to be standing quietly on the racks were scattered everywhere by Yi Mo.

Although this was very disrespectful to the village’s ancestors, Yi Mo offered a silent apology in his heart and did it anyway.

Only when the tablets were in total disarray did he breathe a sigh of relief and prepare to leave.

But…

Crack!!!

With a muffled roll of thunder, lightning illuminated the entire Ancestral Hall with blinding brightness.

And right in front of Yi Mo…

On the racks that had been filled with tablets just a minute ago, a shadow was cast.

The shadow looked like a corpse tied with a rope, hanging there in the Ancestral Hall, quietly watching everything alongside Yi Mo.

There, it swayed… back and forth…

His heart skipped a beat — !