Chapter 24: Understand the Rules, Use the Rules
Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Understand the Rules, Use the Rules
"’Are there definitely two gods? Could there be a third, or even a fourth?’"
"’Besides gods, are there no demons, ghosts, or Spirit Monsters that can affect memory?’"
"’Did the Teacher’s departure definitely lead to the invasion of the two gods? If the gods didn’t invade, the Teacher wouldn’t have left? What kind of logic is that?’"
"’The Big Cricket’s intentions are uncertain, and so is the existence of the entity to the west it mentioned.’"
"’What if another entity invaded, snatched the souls, and left, and the two gods are actually a contingency plan left behind by the Teacher...?’"
As he wrote various theories on the ground, a sharp light glinted in Zhu Ge’s eyes, a brilliance that even his bloodshot veins couldn’t conceal.
The crooked characters and arrows representing his deductions clearly laid out Zhu Ge’s line of thinking on the ground.
He wrote down all sorts of propositions, then either affirmed or negated them, or simply marked them with a question mark.
Yu the Scholar watched from the side, dumbfounded.
He would even interrupt from time to time with phrases like, "Wait, I don’t get that step," "Huh? Why?" and "You know I’m not good at this, brother," reminding Zhu Ge to slow down.
Finally, after a long series of deductions, Zhu Ge left only a few lines of text on the ground.
The final few propositions all revolved around memory and Hua Xiaomei!
First, the conditions.
The Teacher had said that only after a living being dies can it possibly transform into a Ghost God.
And how had Zhu Ge and Yu the Scholar deduced that Hua Xiaomei had become the Wedding God after her death?
Because some of the villagers had lost their souls.
Because Hua Xiaomei was dead.
Because Hua Xiaomei was supposed to marry Zhu Ge.
From this, they had inferred that Hua Xiaomei had died, become the Wedding God, and stolen the minds of some villagers, leaving them soulless.
But of these assertions, only a few could be confirmed.
For example, it was certain that Hua Xiaomei was dead, but had she necessarily become the Wedding God?
Even if she had become the Wedding God, was she necessarily the one who had stolen the villagers’ minds?
Zhu Ge only realized this after his conversation with Mr. Chong, the Big Cricket.
They had been focused only on their own little mountain village, forgetting that Jianshan Village was also part of the larger surrounding environment.
Not everything originated from here.
"...So, some of our recent memories are fake..." Yu the Scholar let out a slow breath.
Zhu Ge nodded in agreement. "It’s obvious. We have two sets of memories, but both contain false parts."
"That one god used cognitive inertia to make us focus on certain true facts that were pieced together from false information."
"For example: Hua Xiaomei is dead, a god has appeared in the village, and the villagers’ minds have been stolen. It was only natural for us to assume that Hua Xiaomei became the Wedding God after her death and was the one who did it."
"After all, the memory in my head is that Hua Xiaomei and I had no marriage contract. Suddenly being told to marry her would naturally make me resist and assume she was malicious."
"But the logic in between doesn’t hold up."
"What if Hua Xiaomei didn’t become the Wedding God, but became Xigui instead? What if she wants to marry me because I’m the only one whose mind hasn’t been stolen and she wants to protect me, or for some other benevolent reason?"
"Or what if we did have a marriage contract all along, and she loved me very much, but I’m the one who forgot?"
Zhu Ge sighed. "In short, it’s hard to see clearly when you’re in the thick of it. We’re both caught up in this. We need to look at the bigger picture, like a fish leaping out of the water, and not be swayed by cognitive inertia."
His memories—the ones he, Zhu Ge, a transmigrator, had received from the original owner of this body after arriving... were fake!
When he had first deduced this, he found it hard to believe, but that was the final conclusion.
Fortunately, he had been cautious from the start and hadn’t fully trusted his memories.
’After all, in a world of gods and ghosts, who knew if his memories could be relied upon?’
But now, after using event-based logical analysis, he had finally uncovered a clue.
Hua Xiaomei was not necessarily a god!
And it was possible that he and Hua Xiaomei really did have a marriage contract!
"Hua Xiaomei didn’t become a god. Instead, she became one of the Wandering Ghosts, residing in her own home, and she hasn’t devoured anyone’s soul. She’s a good Ghost," Yu the Scholar sighed.
"I didn’t think of that before."
When a living being dies, it either dissipates or becomes a god or a Ghost.
Hua Xiaomei died and became Xigui.
In that case, the villagers’ minds were clearly stolen by another entity.
This means the other entity must be a god. Otherwise, it would be impossible for every single villager to become soulless.
"Zhu Ge..." Yu the Scholar hesitated. "Are you sure your method is correct?"
"The method itself is sound. Logical analysis is a type of analysis that sets aside personal, subjective feelings. It’s similar to mathematics—yes, like arithmancy," Zhu Ge explained.
"Our senses of sight, hearing, taste, and even our intuition can be misled. But in math, right is right and wrong is wrong. Under a given set of conditions, if 1+1=2, then we can calculate that 2-1=1."
"As long as a line of reasoning can be proven correct from the original proposition to its contrapositive, then it is correct. But if there is any room for doubt, logical deduction cannot prove its validity."
Zhu Ge couldn’t help but think of stories from his past life, like *A Chinese Ghost Story* and other tales from *Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio*, and his tone grew wistful.
"Besides... Hua Xiaomei was one of our villagers. Even if she became a Ghost, wouldn’t she still be one of our village’s Ghosts?"
"It’s her own village. Even as a Ghost, of course she’d help her own people!"
"True, Hua Xiaomei was always a good, quiet girl." After hearing him out, Yu the Scholar couldn’t help but nod. "The more you talk, the more sense it makes!"
Then he glanced Zhu Ge up and down. "Strange. I remember you used to be as dense as a block of wood. How did you get so quick-witted all of a sudden?"
"Maybe I just had a breakthrough." Zhu Ge rubbed his nose and smiled. "In any case, things will be much simpler now..."
"First, we make contact with Hua Xiaomei. Then, we find the other, real god and destroy its shrine!"
"Exactly!" Yu the Scholar nodded, then thought of something else. "I probably have thirty or forty years of my lifespan left. You should be frugal with it, but don’t hesitate to use it when the time is critical."
"Okay," Zhu Ge nodded.
The two of them shared a tacit understanding, neither of them mentioning what would happen if their lifespans ran out.
They both had the same realization.
The Teacher had most likely met with disaster.
He hadn’t returned for many days, and the world outside was fraught with danger. Who knew if the Teacher had encountered some terrifying entity?
Therefore, their only option now was to save themselves!
If they failed, even having two hundred years of life would be useless!
And if they succeeded?
Even if they only had two years left to live, it was better than being dead!
"Also..." Yu the Scholar said hesitantly.
"I feel like when my true soul is dormant, I have a vague awareness of the outside world. Maybe you can use that to make the ’other me’ useful to you as well."
’A vague awareness?’
Zhu Ge raised an eyebrow. "You mean... we can exploit the other god’s characteristics to manipulate things?"
As he said this, Zhu Ge’s eyes lit up.
’That’s it!’
’Such mechanical, rigid behavior... it can definitely be exploited!’