A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 415 The Tale of the White Robe

Faced with Ning Zhe's question, Qin Shou did not answer immediately. Instead, he concentrated on holding the pen and drew flowing ink marks on Ding Wei's face.

After finishing this task, he slowly raised his head, looked at Miao Miaomiao beside him, and asked, "How much battery does your boyfriend's camera have left?"

"Let me see..." Miao Miao squinted and leaned closer to the small screen to take a look: "What's going on? 100%? Full charge!?"

To ensure uninterrupted filming, Ding Wei replaced the camera's battery after boarding the train. Due to the size and weight limitations of handheld devices, the camera's battery life is not very long; after filming all the way from the train, the remaining power should not exceed 20%.

"Awei, did you change the battery just now?" Miao Miaomiao asked hurriedly.

Ding Wei, lying on the bamboo chair, shook his head repeatedly, his face blank as he looked at the few strokes of his brush: "No, I just changed it when I got on the bus."

"Then what is this..." Miao Miaomiao suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but turn her gaze to Ning Zhe.

"It seems you noticed this a long time ago?" Qin Shou said with a smile.

“I use my phone quite often.” Ning Zhe took out his phone and waved it in front of him: “This thing has been running without losing battery for most of the day, which I find quite strange.”

—It’s actually not surprising at all.

Ning Zhe actually knew the nature of the 'Time Worm'. The station it chose was not a literal 'location', but a combination of time and place.

For example, the first stop is not the "mortuary", but the "mortuary on the fourth day of the second lunar month".

The moment they boarded the train, they left the real world and climbed into the bodies of the Time Worms. Their physical state was frozen at the moment of boarding and did not change. The food in their stomachs stopped digesting, the battery power stopped flowing, only the thoughts in their brains continued to flow, and the electronic devices operated in a strange way, responding to external stimuli in their 'appropriate' way.

"This stop is the mortuary on the fourth or fifth day of the second lunar month."

Qin Shou held the paintbrush, lightly dipped it in paint, and said:

"After noon tomorrow, the train parked outside the village will disappear. It didn't leave; we just left the station it stopped at and left the 'mortuary on the fourth or fifth day of the second lunar month'."

"So..." Ning Zhe frowned slightly and said, "If we can't finish the funeral procession, clear out the ghosts blocking the road at the mortuary, and get on the vehicle by tomorrow afternoon, we'll be stuck here forever?"

Qin Shou put down his paintbrush and said softly, "I have been here for three years."

Everyone was silent.

Having learned about the current situation, Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu found a bench and sat down side by side, leaning together as they watched Qin Shou draw on Ding Wei's face. He drew each stroke with great concentration, as if he never knew fatigue.

Time passed second by second, and Ding Wei's impermanent mask was mostly complete, with only the final touches of painting the ghost's eyes remaining.

Qin Shou straightened up, rubbed his sore lower back, and looked out the window with some doubt. "Strange, why hasn't that brother surnamed Xu returned yet?"

“I don’t know, Zhang Genjian said he went to see him before,” Feng Yushu said, linking arms with Ning Zhe.

"When did this happen?" Qin Shou asked again.

“A long time ago,” Ning Zhe said. “Judging by the time, when Zhang Genjian and we separated to go find Xu Beicheng, Ding Wei’s face shouldn’t have even started to be painted yet.” Qin Shou frowned and clicked his tongue. “There’s been no news for so long, something must have happened to him.”

He brandished the paintbrush in his hand and said, "I can't leave right now. Could you two please go out and look for it?"

“Alright.” Ning Zhe did not refuse, took the aunt’s hand and left the small house with her.

Outside the door, Zhang Genshuo, dressed as Bai Wuchang, was still wandering around the stage. Ning Zhe casually grabbed a mud ball from Qin Shou's table and put it in his mouth. To his surprise, it was sweet.

"Old Zhang, your brother Zhang Genjian hasn't come back for so long. Could something have happened to him?" Ning Zhe mumbled through his mouth full of mud, "Could you come with us to look for him?"

"Gen-geun hasn't returned yet?" Jang Geun-suk left the stage, carrying a lantern as he floated over: "Alright, I'll look for him with you."

The three of them left the open space in the center of the village together and headed west, towards the area that Xu Beicheng was in charge of.

On the way, Ning Zhe tried asking Jang Geun Suk, "Why were you circling the stage just now?"

“That’s called suppressing the filth,” Zhang Genshuo mumbled in his ghostly language. “Tomorrow, all the wandering ghosts in the village will gather under the stage, and Qin Shou will go on stage to sing ‘The White Robe’ for the ghosts to see.”

"The Tale of the White-Robed General, I remember it's about the story of General Xue Rengui, the White-Robed General, right?" Ning Zhe couldn't help but ask, "Can he sing it all by himself?"

“Of course he can’t sing it, so he never intended to sing it himself,” Jang Keun-suk said.

"Before we arrived, Qin Shou had made many paper figures and painted them with the faces of Jing, Chou, Xiaosheng, etc., corresponding to different roles in the play 'The White Robe Story.' He was just waiting for tomorrow to hide behind the curtain and control these paper figures to perform on stage."

As he spoke, Jang Geun-suk glanced back at the stage receding into the distance, and continued:
"Now those paper figures are placed one by one behind the stage curtain. However, according to Qin Shou himself, the paper figures with painted faces are all spiritual and need someone to watch over them. Otherwise, they may cause some unclean changes. It would be best to have underworld officials patrolling around to keep those paper figures in check."

"Are you sure you'll be alright if you come with us now?" Ning Zhe couldn't help but ask. "Or do you want to go back? We can find it ourselves."

"What could possibly happen?" Zhang Genshuo, eager to find his brother, waved his hand, his long tongue swaying in front of his chest: "Aren't there two paper figures with black and white faces painted on them? With two paper figures, one black and one white, there can be considered that there are underworld messengers on guard."

"I hope you're right." Ning Zhe was still a little uneasy, but he didn't dwell on it too much and just quickened his pace.

The mortuary was not large, and the three of them quickly arrived at the west side of the village, the area where Xu Beicheng had previously been in charge of distributing offerings.

Jang Geun-suk, relying on his ability to pass through walls and fly, traversed houses and searched the surroundings. Feng Yu-shu, on the other hand, used her special ability to sense shadows and walked through the streets and alleys with Ning Zhe.

After searching for a while, neither Zhang Genshuo nor Feng Yushu could find any trace of Xu Beicheng or Zhang Genjian.

"There are offerings in front of the coffins in these houses. Xu Beicheng did come here and made offerings to the dead." Ning Zhe asked doubtfully, "Did he go back to the mill after making the offerings?"

The three of them then returned the way they came and arrived at the mill at the east end of the village, but the mill was still empty and no one was there. There were only a few bags of bean dregs piled up in the corner, and the unwashed stone mill gave off the smell of raw beans.

“There’s none here either,” Feng Yushu said softly. “I didn’t sense anyone else.”

(End of this chapter)