Infinite: Dawn Game

Yu Shijiu stopped in his tracks and turned his head slightly to look at the gate.

Lin Feng quickly stepped forward to catch the lantern, hung it up, and gently nudged Yu Shijiu, letting out a faint sigh of relief.

"Let's go inside, we're already late."

Since there was a woman's voice, it's highly likely that some players entered the ancestral hall before them.

Distracted by this, Yu Shijiu immediately abandoned the idea of ​​hanging lanterns and pushed the ancestral hall door open again.

This time, the ancestral hall door was easily pushed open.

The creaking of the wooden door echoed in their ears, accompanied by the woman's increasingly shrill screams, as the two of them quickly entered the ancestral hall.

Compared to the daytime, the ancestral hall was now bathed in a slightly scarlet candlelight. Almost every step you took, you could see burning red candles hanging in every corner that was within sight.

—When they arrived that day, there were no red candles in the ancestral hall.

In addition, the interior of the ancestral hall was entirely red, with large areas of red cloth flowers tied together, and even red embroidered balls glued together. Silk strips wrapped around the memorial tablets on the steps, and even the crossbeams were covered with tied red embroidered flowers.

Yu Shijiu stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at the vast expanse of red for a moment.

"what is this?"

Having grown up in a completely enclosed white space with little exposure to television dramas, the boy only found the red color in front of him rather eerie, without making any further connections.

But this kind of attire doesn't look like something out of a ritual.

Lin Feng stopped walking immediately.

She stared blankly at the ancestral hall, which was decorated in a way that could almost be described as bright red.

Is the so-called sacrificial ceremony in Changsheng Village really this unusual? Compared to the usual solemn or eerie "sacrificial rites," it looks more like the scene of an impending wedding—

marry?!

Lin Feng suddenly looked up, and as if struck by a sudden realization, her tone became urgent:

"I forgot, I almost forgot, there's a high possibility of consanguineous marriage within Changsheng Village!"

Lin Feng didn't pay much attention to it because it was just a guess, but now, this uncertain "clue" has been remembered by Lin Feng again.

Yu Shijiu turned and glanced at her, his eyes showing realization:

“Oh right, I remember now, all the ancestral tablets in this ancestral hall belong to the surname Liu.”

People from the same village and with the same surname, men and women all sharing the same surname... It's understandable for the first group, but if it's like this for generations, it becomes hard to comprehend.

You can't expect someone to change their surname every time they marry into Changsheng Village or become a son-in-law of someone from Changsheng Village, can you?

Almost the instant Lin Feng and Yu Shijiu finished speaking, the screaming female voice that had been echoing in their ears stopped.

So it was an NPC, not a player?

Yu Shijiu raised an eyebrow slightly, his amber eyes darting around before landing lightly on a corner where earthworms often roamed.

I wonder if the earthworms will still come out tonight...

After the woman's voice disappeared, the entire bright red ancestral hall fell into complete silence, with only the wind blowing in from outside the gate causing the red silk embroidery inside to float continuously.

wind?

Yu Shijiu and Lin Feng belatedly realized something, and the two slowly turned around, their pupils filled with a fiery red.

Unbeknownst to them, the wooden door behind them, which had only been pushed aside by the two people, was now wide open on both sides. The dark night outside was illuminated by red lanterns, giving the illusion that the darkness was spreading outwards.

"Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough—"

As the old man outside coughed, his voice thick with phlegm, Lin Feng, startled by the sudden change in her vision, instinctively moved closer to Yu Shijiu.

"It's an illusion again."

Yu Shijiu didn't seem to notice the red color approaching from outside the door, and turned his head with a grin, saying:

"Sister, what do you think we'll see later?"

Is it a giant, man-eating earthworm, or... a bound "bride"?

Lin Feng swallowed hard, then, feigning composure, pinched her palm.

"do not know."

Yu Shijiu: "..."

He remained silent for a few seconds, then walked directly towards the door without hesitation.

Lin Feng took a deep breath and followed closely behind.

The moment they stepped out of the ancestral hall, the red shadow that had just slowly spread to the door suddenly accelerated and surged up onto Yu Shijiu and Lin Feng's calves.

Neither of them tried to break free. As a wave of dizziness washed over them, they both closed their eyes at the same time.

"Liu Laosan, is your family getting married off another daughter?"

An envious male voice rang in her ears, and Yu Shijiu slowly opened her eyes, only to see a dense crowd gathered at the village entrance.

It was a group of villagers who looked to be around forty or fifty years old. They were standing together, with a middle-aged man at the front who looked very proud.

The middle-aged man slightly raised his chin, his tone a forced, insincere smile:

"Oh, not at all. It's just that my kids are obedient, so I don't have to worry about them."

The other villagers were filled with envy upon hearing this. A short man in the crowd sighed, looking dejected, and said:

"Make things easier for the children? How else can we make things easier for them? Ever since a few teachers came to the village, look at our children, do they even care about the rules and prohibitions in our village anymore?"

"Oh my!" A middle-aged woman with flaking skin chuckled, saying with a smile:

"Then just don't send your kids to school! I think those city teachers have corrupted their minds!"

"Exactly! I think those teachers from the city are out of their minds! They say there's something wrong with the way we marry in our village! They say it will cause all sorts of diseases for our offspring... But we've lived like this for generations, and we've never gotten sick?"

"..."

Such remarks increased until they became so loud they resembled noise and disturbance. At that moment, the middle-aged man called Liu Laosan coughed and clapped his hands.

"Alright, alright, alright! Everyone, stop arguing! Tonight is my third daughter's wedding day. If you ask me, let's not talk about those unhappy things. Let's talk about these things after my daughter and son's wedding is over, okay?"

As soon as Liu Laosan finished speaking, the villagers who were still indignant instantly calmed down. They looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

"I think it's a good idea. The children's wedding is the most important event in our Changsheng Village. We can't let our children suffer because of those teachers!"

"That's right, alright, everyone, let's all help set up the scene. Tonight will be a big day for Liu Laosan's kids!"

"..."

After the villagers finished speaking, they began to grab the red cloth, ribbons, and other wedding supplies in front of them and enthusiastically began to decorate the entrance of Changsheng Village.

From Yu Shijiu's perspective, he saw Liu Laosan walk to the stone tablet at the village entrance, stand on tiptoe, and paste the "囍" character in his hand onto the stone tablet with rice paste.