That night, Chang Dong didn't go down to the cellar to sleep. Ye Liuxi asked Fei Tang to carry the shadow puppet theater box up, and also to bring up the bedding for the three elders. Sometimes, men are softer than women. Fei Tang hesitated a moment, stammering, "Miss Xi, what if Mr. Jia's frame comes back again? What about these elderly and frail folks..." Ye Liuxi noticed that Fei Tang's only ulterior motive was to deceive or trick—so long as no one got hurt or bled, he'd be willing to take advantage of every opportunity in half of Hong Kong. But when things got serious, he simply froze. Ding Liu yuan stared at him and said, "What's so special about the elderly and frail? If they do something dishonorable, they deserve their comeuppance. Besides, isn't Dong Brother also up there? If Dong Brother can sleep, why can't they? Who's going to show off their delicacy?" Indeed, if she went on, it would seem as though she were compromising her own position. So Fei Tang carried the things and went up. Ye Liuxi glanced sideways at Ding Liu, "Little Liu, your Ding Liu was overjoyed when Ye Liuxi praised her. Since childhood, she'd always admired people who were decisive, sharp, and unyielding—she felt it was a proud honor to serve such individuals. Since she'd been praised for her "clear and pleasant speaking," she continued: "I was actually quite worried about just leaving those three outside—what if something else went wrong? Having Dongguang there gives us peace of mind; they're more restrained, and we can all rest well." She then lay back comfortably. "Xijie, since you're tired, why don't you rest early?" In the late night, the breathing in the cellar was deep, steady, and even. Ye Liuxi turned over and looked out, noticing the quilt she had pulled askew on the empty bed beside her. She dragged it over, then gently prodded it with her fingers, pushing each crooked section back into place, until it took on the neat, square shape of a block of tofu. At dinner, Fei Tang and Ding Liu leaned close, chatting quietly. The two had worked well together the night before—whenever Ding Liu knocked over one, Fei Tang would rush over and knock down another—quickly strengthening their bond. Ding Liu: "I heard others' attitudes were completely ruined, but only this one was singled out. Even after the incident, she still has a grave. Why? Just because she's a woman?" Fei Tang replied: "I don't know. There must have been something else that happened yesterday—otherwise, my Dong brother wouldn't have reacted that way." ... Gao Shen sat by the side, quietly drinking porridge, occasionally glancing at Fei Tang. He didn't feel jealous—he only felt envious. Though they had been the closest at first, now Ding Liu was warm and friendly with everyone, while he still felt like an outsider. Ye Liuxi didn't look at Chang Dong. She knew he was in the half-collapsed side room, silently carving shadow puppets. But she didn't go over to see him. Even if she did, she felt she couldn't do anything. She believed she was naturally bad at saying comforting words. She carried a knife and a bottle of mineral water, called out the old sign to the yard, and walked with her until they reached under the hawthorn tree, where she sat down. There was a half-projecting stone beneath the tree. Yefu Li opened the mineral water and poured a little onto the stone surface, then began to sharpen the knife. The old sign’s face was pale, his legs trembling like a sieve; gazing at the swaying tree, he felt as though he would spill blood at any moment. Midway through, Yefu Li said, “Sit down. I had a fight with someone yesterday over a matter of form—my whole body aches, and I’m very tired today. Can you see that I’m tired?” The old sign didn’t know what to reply. “When I’m tired, I don’t like to speak much, but I really enjoy listening to others. So let’s play a game: you speak, I listen. I’ll ask just one question, and you must answer everything related to it. Once I ask a question, you lose one point. I’ll keep asking until you’ve lost all your points.” The old sign glanced at the knife blade and a line of coolness "Don't worry—the questions are all things everyone knows, but the same thing, when told by different people, tastes different… Is this person's air of formality something unique to this place, or is it common everywhere?" Old Qian answered immediately: "Unique to this place!" Ye Liuxi raised her eyelid slightly. Old Qian realized: when she said she "didn't like talking," it meant he should speak more—detail by detail, thoroughly—only by speaking more would he please her. He quickly began: "Since the Eye-Tombs only appear in this region, the Yadan formations here are different from those elsewhere—they're pure, bright white, with higher salt content, and the Eye-Tombs particularly enjoy the taste of that saltiness…" Ye Liuxi felt a spark of understanding. That meant the terrain and landscape inside the pass were similar to those outside. It made sense that they encountered Kong Yang so quickly. The photo Chang Dong had seen at a glance and immediately recognized as being from the Bai Long Dui—this judgment was correct. The only mistake was that the Bai Long Dui in the photo did not exist in the real world; it needed to pass through a threshold first. She said, "Then let's start with the Eye Tomb." Old Lian's mind buzzed: one point deducted. He steadied himself, searching his memory: "The Eye Tomb is a legendary spirit. Most of the time, it's asleep—its duration of slumber varies, sometimes decades, sometimes centuries. So even though there have been disturbances from the Eye Tomb here, people still live in the village, because you never know when it will awaken. If you're lucky, you might never encounter it at all." "It looks exactly like a human, but one of its eyes can consume people—by eating eyes, it builds a cemetery, hence the name 'Eye Tomb.' " "At first, it pretends to be a newcomer settling into the village. But gradually, the villagers begin to dwindle—blood and bones disappear, one by one, day after day." Ye Liuxi remained silent, recalling the eyes it had swallowed in her dream, and the loosened laces of her shoes. "But it can't keep eating forever. The more it eats, the heavier its eyes become. When they grow so heavy that it can no longer move, it returns to the Yadan formations, digs a hole on the earthen platform, and buries its old eyes inside. Then it grows new eyes to continue haunting people." "That old eye, fused with the Yadan platform, becomes a living tomb filled with ill will—desiring blood and flesh, yet unable to move. Over time, as such tombs accumulate, the entire Yadan area transforms into a place people dread, known as the 'Tomb-Stacked Yadan.' When the Eye Tomb is asleep, it is said to be protected by these living tombs, which act as its own sentinels. People avoid approaching them, for fear of being drawn into the grasp of these living tombs and transformed into 'human skeletons.' Human skeletons remain hidden during the day, emerge at night, and feed on blood. As a result, the area around the Tomb-Stacked Yadan becomes even more of a forbidden zone." Now I understand—hence Ahu's observation that wherever the Eye Tomb appears, human skeletons follow. These two phenomena are fundamentally interdependent. Ye Liuxi asked, "How long can a human framework live?" The elder signer felt his throat tighten—already at two points deducted. "Newly formed human frameworks are usually young and strong, but after five or six years they begin to weaken and eventually fade, being consumed by newer generations. They're not truly human at all, lacking human qualities." He was afraid Ye Liuxi would ask further questions, so he strained to think: "Actually... a human framework isn't one out of every ten. It's like hatching eggs—there are always some that fail to hatch. The phenomenon of small human frameworks being born and then raised is also passed down through generations. But once raised, how do they survive? They're eventually torn apart and eaten." Suddenly, Ye Liuxi thought of something: "That doesn't make sense." The elder signer felt a sudden jolt, his words stumbling: "How exactly doesn't it make sense?" Ye Liuxi explained: "People avoid approaching them, the living tombs remain immovable, human frameworks cannot reproduce, and they never manage to retrieve people to feed the living tombs. According to this logic, at most, within ten years, human frameworks will go extinct." It's a simple truth: without a source, you've severed the head; if you don't produce on your own, you've lost your backdoor. The current generation of people, with their established routines, will fade away within five or six years. The surrounding villages are already depopulated, with entire families wiped out—how long will it take to wait for another unfortunate soul to stumble upon a pile of corpses and雅丹 formations? Unless... someone is feeding them. It’s said there’s electricity there, generated by wind or solar power, on a small scale, with intermittent supply. You can watch short films on computers or TV DVDs—though the selection is limited and hasn’t been updated significantly over the past two years, it still draws strong interest. There are cars available, but few people can afford them due to the high cost of fuel. Those who can afford a car fall into three categories: those who hold military strength, whose lineage traces back to the Yulin Guard; those who possess the ability to exorcise spirits, naturally stemming from the role of court alchemists; and those who have rebelled. It’s no wonder the times are so difficult. Nevertheless, one point made by the elder official was accurate—people must go to the market, where common folk pass on stories, though these are mostly hearsay. The real secrets, however, are found among the influential figures—such as how to actually pass through the gates. Although she hasn’t visited Changdong at all in the past two days, she remains well-informed about his situation, thanks to the growing urgency in Fei Tang’s concerns. “West Sister, what’s really going on with my elder brother? Even if he wants to be "Stuck there, motionless, silent, only focused on carving the skin—never letting us speak. It's suffocating! I can't take it anymore. I have to talk to him." Ye Liuxi said, "You dare?" Pausing, she added, "If you're not able to deliver meals, then have Gao Shen or Ding Liu do it—just don't waste a single word." The result of Gao Shen and Ding Liu's deliveries was no different from Fei Tang's. Fei Tang was utterly frustrated and came by again that evening to complain, "Xī Jiā, please go talk to my Donggē." Ye Liuxi replied, "Wait one more day." Fei Tang couldn't understand, "Why?" "He'll be so hungry he'll have no strength. When I go, I'll simply knock him into submission—making him actually wash his face, eat, and sleep." Fei Tang found this quite convincing, and that long-dormant interest in watching Changdong get beaten stirred up once again. —— On the third morning, Ye Liuxi instructed Fei Tang to take Changdong's toiletries out and bring a fresh basin of hot water. Then she entered He was still carving, not lifting his head, with dried blood streaks on the skin and split fingers—perhaps he'd cut his hand and hadn't even noticed. Yexiau walked over, kneeled down halfway, found an opening, and swiftly pulled the chisel from his hands. Changdong stared, slightly stunned, turned to her. She had grown thinner, three days without dressing, with a faint bluish beard on her chin, but her eyes remained clear and steady. She called her, "Liu Xi." Yexiau said, "Do you still remember me?" Changdong replied, "How could I not? You've been absent for three days." Yexiau didn't know what to say, paused, and asked, "Are you still unable to accept that Kong Yang has passed?" Changdong said, "I've accepted it for two years now. All I've hoped for is to dream of her a few times, or to believe that ghosts truly exist, so I might see how she's doing." "Is that what it means to not accept her as she is now?" Changdong smiled, "Liu Xi, Kong Yang has passed." No matter what happened to her body—what it had become—she wasn't really her. It was true she would feel sad, but I simply couldn't understand that. He lowered his head, remained silent for a while, then looked up and asked her, "Why won't someone let me speak?" "Ah?" "Fei Tang and the others come to bring or take away meals, always dragging their feet, sighing and murmuring—never actually speaking. It must be something you've asked for. What do you really want?" Ye Liuxi countered, "What do I really want?" Chang Dong replied, "I've been thinking about that too." "After all this thinking, I keep coming back to the idea that you might be trying to say: I don't want anyone to urge me. I want to eat when I feel like it, even if I'm not hungry. I want to rise on my own when I'm not ready to die. Don't think we're treating you as anything less than important. And then, when I'm reduced to barely breathing from hunger, you'll come in, criticize me, and even kick me." Ye Liuxi asked, "Then why don't you see me as someone worth treating well "Yes, there's another possibility—that you don't want people to disturb me, so you'd like me to stay quiet for a while, to think things through on my own, and then come back to see if I'm worth the effort to pull me along." Ye Liuxi hummed, "So what do you think I'm going to do now?" Chang Dong said, "Maybe I'll have to hit someone." Ye Liuxi smiled, paused, then reached out and took her hand. "Come with me," she said. Chang Dong reached out and gently grasped her hand.