Chapter Forty-Seven: Old Nemesis

"Fourteen... fourteen people?" Left Dingshan listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, utterly bewildered. Fourteen people, they had arrived in a group of fourteen? Was that possible?

"Young man... the meal is ready. Why don’t you eat first and call later," the aunt, whom Left Dingshan remembered as warm and hospitable, beckoned him to join the meal.

"We’ll be there right away," Zhuang Yan replied in a distant voice.

"Right away," the aunt echoed.

"What’s wrong? Fourteen what?" Zhuang Yan asked Left Dingshan.

Their group had never separated, always staying together, since they had known in advance that Ge Hong Mountain might be dangerous and dared not split up.

Others followed Zhuang Yan’s lead, casting questioning glances at Left Dingshan.

"Did we originally have fourteen people?" Left Dingshan covered the phone’s receiver and asked the group.

"Haven’t we always been ten?" Zhuang Yan replied, puzzled.

The others shook their heads, surprised that Left Dingshan would ask such an obvious question.

"But he told me we originally had fourteen," Left Dingshan gestured toward the phone in his hand.

"Who?" Zhuang Yan asked.

"Chen Jin, the group member we met at the restaurant this morning," Left Dingshan replied.

"Could we all be under some illusion? Impossible, right? Is there anyone in this world who could trick all of us at once?" Zhuang Yan was skeptical.

"Could the call be from an impersonator?" someone in the group questioned.

"It’s possible," another agreed.

"I’ll talk to him again," Left Dingshan said, tempted by the idea. He had doubts himself, which was why he’d covered the phone’s receiver, preventing their voices from being heard.

He then removed his hand from the receiver and turned on speakerphone so everyone could listen.

"Hello, Chen Jin, is that you..."

"Leave, leave this village quickly! The woman’s voice you just heard—I’ve heard it before. She’s not alive. You must leave at once," the voice at the other end interrupted, urgent and breathless.

"Calm down, calm down. I can’t just rely on your words to dismiss my current surroundings, right? So you’ll have to give me proof. Prove that there’s something wrong with this village, and also prove that our group was indeed fourteen, not ten. Otherwise, I really can’t believe what you’re saying," Left Dingshan replied in a steady voice, hoping to pacify the agitated caller.

"Ten? Eleven including you?" Chen Jin asked, confused.

"Even with me, it’s still ten," Left Dingshan said, surprised.

"But... but you said earlier it was eleven including you... Oh! Just leave the village, don’t look back, don’t ever look back," Chen Jin now wondered if he’d misheard.

But his cultivation had already reached the level of “Qi Stabilization,” his mind more agile and sensory organs more sensitive than ever; it was impossible to mishear or forget. One more person had disappeared from Left Dingshan’s side.

"But we’re definitely ten, no more, no less," Left Dingshan insisted.

"Just leave the village first. Once you’re out, you’ll know whether what I said is true," Chen Jin’s tone had calmed somewhat.

"I’ll discuss it with the others," Left Dingshan said, uncertain.

He covered the receiver again and looked at his companions.

"The voice is fine, definitely Chen Jin’s. There are no signs of illusion manipulation or hidden coded hints. I’m fairly certain he’s speaking with free will," Zhuang Yan said.

The others nodded in agreement.

"But whether he’s lying, I can’t say for sure. Based on his speech frequencies, there’s no sign of deception, but some people hide it well—I can’t be certain," Zhuang Yan added.

"But we’ve always been ten. Ten when we entered the village, ten when we went into the mountain. We should have him list all fourteen names. I remember we all introduced ourselves when we met. Since he’s started cultivating, his memory must be greatly improved, and our meeting was less than fifteen days ago, so his mind shouldn’t selectively forget our names so quickly," one group member analyzed calmly.

"Reasonable. We can test him that way, and analyze his tone when he mentions names that don’t exist among us, to see if he’s lying," Zhuang Yan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Alright, let’s try," Left Dingshan agreed, removing his hand from the receiver again.

"Could you tell us the fourteen names you mentioned?" Left Dingshan asked.

"Have you left the village?" Chen Jin immediately asked at the sound.

"No, can you list the fourteen names you mentioned? We need to verify whether your advice is misleading us," Left Dingshan replied.

These suspicions were justified.

"How many are in your group now?" Chen Jin asked first.

"Ten," Left Dingshan answered.

"Good, as long as it hasn’t changed. Here they are: first, group leader Left Dingshan... then Zhuang Yan, Zhang Hui, Hao Lian and Hao Lian, Qin Yang, Zhang Jianping, Li Hua, Lan Xingwu, Qi Mingzhi, Lin Lin, Zheng Yumai, Zhao Yunlan, Chen Yawen—those fourteen. Which four are missing?" Chen Jin recited the names in one breath.

"Zhang Hui, Hao Lian... um, Hao Lian, and Qin Yang," Left Dingshan said.

"You might not remember the first three, but the last one, Qin Yang, is the manager of Wang Family Restaurant from this morning. None of you recall him?" Chen Jin pressed.

"There’s no such person. I don’t remember him, nor those other three, nor do any of the others," Left Dingshan replied.

"Just leave the village. Once you’re out, you’ll know everything, you’ll know whether I’m right. I’ve entered this village once before and had my memory altered. Once I left, it was fine. The woman who just called you to eat—is her name Zhang Chunlan? Does she have a husband named Lan Gaoda, and a lover named Lei Dazhu? You can check all of this," Chen Jin exhaled sharply, irritated. The situation was simple: since someone had warned them, just leave the village and see for themselves, why insist on proof? It nearly drove him mad, so he poured out everything he knew.

"He seems correct, but we didn’t know about Lei Dazhu and Zhang Chunlan being lovers," a companion murmured.

"Then let’s try. Let’s leave the village first," Left Dingshan decided.

"Alright..." the others agreed.

"Are you alright? The food is getting cold, aren’t you coming?" Zhang Chunlan’s voice called again.

"Maybe we should eat first and then leave..." a companion suggested.

"...," the others were tempted.

Meanwhile, Chen Jin on the other end realized that after so many years, the village’s power was stronger than ever.

...