“She was extroverted, lively, cheerful, and talkative. She was highly empathetic and very brave,” Shen Jiayi replied without hesitation, her tone resolute.
“She’s had a keen sense of smell since she was a child. In high school, she fell in love with blending fragrance samples and would give them to her classmates and teachers. She was very popular.”
Bai Ci listened, mentally comparing this with what had happened that morning.
According to Shen Jiayi, the personality Shen Tan had displayed when introducing perfumes to her and Qu Ling was her normal self.
What on earth could have happened to turn such a lively and cheerful person into someone as dull and numb as a doll?
Bai Ci spoke up, sharing what she had witnessed during the makeup trial that morning. “When my colleague and I went to Shen Tan's home for the trial this morning, she kept her face covered with a veil the entire time. Her demeanor was cold and lifeless, just like a puppet.”
“She seemed like a completely different person from the girl you described.”
Shen Jiayi frowned. “I've worn that veil too—three times, in fact. It shouldn't be anything anomalous. But Shen Tan...”
“The Honey Bride is just a ceremonial role in the village. It only lasts for a few days of preparation and the ritual itself. It shouldn't be enough to completely shatter someone's personality and grind a living person down into a puppet...”
Mid-sentence, she suddenly stopped and let out a short, self-deprecating laugh.
“I have no right to judge. I didn't even know the village was replacing living people. I was just a fool blinded by my own ignorance.”
“I didn't notice anything unusual during the past three years of rituals, but Shen Tan might be different.”
Shen Jiayi looked up at the sky. Although it was still bright, there wasn't enough daylight left to make a round trip to the cave past the sunflower field.
“Will you be fine going to the cave alone tomorrow? I think I need to go check on Shen Tan.”
Hearing Shen Jiayi's plan, Bai Ci nodded slightly. “No problem. I can go to the cave by myself.”
For her, investigating alone was actually more convenient.
If she went with Shen Jiayi and encountered some bizarre danger inside the cave, she would have to use Gluttony to protect herself, which would then require spinning a complicated web of lies to cover it up.
Seeing that Bai Ci wasn't just putting on a brave face, Shen Jiayi didn't push further. She picked up a dry branch from the ground and began sketching the route to the cave in the dirt.
“Follow the paved path up the mountain. Around the halfway point, you'll see a sea of sunflowers.”
“Take the dirt path right through the middle of the fields. Avoid the herb-gathering trails cleared by the villagers. The entrance to the cave is in the deepest part of the dense woods to the west.”
“The entrance is covered by wild vines. It's very hard to spot if you aren't looking closely.”
“I've got it,” Bai Ci said, committing the route to memory.
Once Bai Ci repeated the route back to her, Shen Jiayi wiped the sketched map away with the sole of her shoe, satisfied.
Seeing that it was getting late, Shen Jiayi went outside first to look around. After confirming that no one was passing by, she opened the door and let Bai Ci quickly slip away.
Shen Jiayi only slowly withdrew her gaze once Bai Ci's figure disappeared around the corner of the alley.
She raised a hand to touch her cheek, the hatred in her eyes growing clearer and more defined.
Bai Ci retraced her steps back to the village chief's house. The courtyard was dead silent, and the main hall on the first floor was empty. Sounds and the aroma of cooking wafted from the kitchen; the village chief's wife was likely busy preparing dinner.
She quietly climbed to the second floor. The door to the guest room where the girls slept was left slightly ajar—a gap Xie Lai had intentionally left for her.
Pushing the door open gently, she stepped inside to find Xie Lai alone.
She was currently sitting at the desk, staring blankly at her computer screen. Her ankle was still slightly swollen and rested on a wooden stool, her face flushed with frustration.
She was clearly overwhelmed by the reports she had to write.
Hearing the movement, Xie Lai immediately spun around, her eyes lighting up. She instinctively lowered her voice and asked, “Sister Bai, you're back! Did it go well?”
Bai Ci nodded and quietly highlighted a few key clues for Xie Lai.
“Yes, it went well. I spoke with Shen Jiayi.”
“But she has absolutely no idea that the village is replacing living people. I suspect she casually mentioned something to Wang Huizong, which led him to discover the truth.”
“So, I shifted the focus to the details of her conversations with Wang Huizong.”
“After filtering out the trivial bits, I narrowed it down to three locations that might hold information.”
“The flower fields on the back mountain, the apiary in the village, and the cave in the dense woods to the west of the sunflowers. Of these, the cave offers the most privacy and is the most likely to hide the village's secrets.”
“So, striking while the iron is hot, I plan to personally head to that cave tomorrow.”
Xie Lai's brow instantly cleared, her heart filling with relief.
“That's amazing, Sister Bai! Having you handle the investigation is so efficient. It's way easier than me running into dead ends everywhere trying to dig up info.”
After her brief joy, Xie Lai looked down at her swollen, red ankle. A wave of self-blame washed over her, and her tone turned low and apologetic.
“It's just such bad timing that I sprained my ankle. I can't help with the physical search at all and can only stay here doing busywork, dragging you down the whole time.”
This self-blame and uneasiness were entirely genuine, not an act.
“You've never been a drag,” Bai Ci said softly, stepping in to soothe Xie Lai and stabilize her mental state.
Her tone was sincere and gentle—at least, it sounded that way, without a single flaw.
“Take my meeting with Shen Jiayi just now. The breakthrough was that torn letter you found.”
“Without that letter, I would have had no way to gain Shen Jiayi's trust, and I wouldn't have gotten these clues.”
“We're teammates now, aren't we? We just have different roles.”
“I'll handle the cave tomorrow, and you'll cover for me. This part is also crucial; we can't let the villagers find out we're investigating.”
“The risk of this is no smaller than going into the mountains.”
“I understand, Sister Bai!” Xie Lai's gloom vanished instantly, and she nodded vigorously.
Since the NPC had already set up the quest to this extent, how could she not follow through?
She was no fool.
“I'll keep a close eye on everyone's movements and cover for you. I won't let a single soul realize you've gone into the mountains.”
With their roles decided, the atmosphere in the room settled.
Bai Ci glanced at the computer screen. The cursor was resting on a document page—the rough draft of the logistics application report and the inventory ledger that Xie Lai had spent the afternoon putting together.
“Before the team leader and the others get back from the Red Church, I need to look over your progress from this afternoon. That way, I won't blow our cover if he asks about it.”
“I'll also help you polish the draft. When they return, you can hand in a proper, compliant report to the team leader, and you'll get through this afternoon's hurdle just fine.”
Xie Lai hurriedly pushed the laptop toward Bai Ci. Remembering the grand ambitions she had voiced before Bai Ci left, she now wished she could sink through the floor.
Since when was writing easy?
“Sorry to trouble you, Sister Bai. This stuff is seriously hard to write. I worked myself into a headache just to squeeze out this jumbled mess.”
Rate on N.U.
