Lost in the Otherworld

"Don’t you hate men?"

"In my eyes, you’re not a man."

"You might have misunderstood me..."

"Shut up. I’m resting on behalf of my sister."

"Oh."

Gao Yang maintained an uncomfortable position, initially unable to sleep, but eventually, exhaustion took over, and he drifted off without realizing it. He had no idea how long he had slept, but when he woke, light streamed through the gaps in the door and window. He was still holding onto Qingling, his arm numb and stiff, and at some point, she had turned over.

Just as he was about to move his arm, Qingling... no, Qingling opened her eyes.

Their faces were only a fist apart, their breaths intertwined. Gao Yang’s hand was still around her soft waist. The silence was suffocating.

"Please don’t chop me up, I can explain..." Gao Yang’s survival instinct kicked in.

"No need. I can guess what happened." Qingling moved his numb arm aside, sat up, and gracefully gathered her long black hair into a ponytail with practiced ease.

She stood up and stretched, clearly having rested well. Glancing at Gao Yang still lying on the mattress, she said, "Thanks for your hard work last night."

"It’s nothing..."

"Wha-!" Wang Zikai, just waking up, saw the scene before him and leaped to his feet. "You two, seriously?! In this setting?! Under these conditions?! And you still had the nerve to 'work hard' together? I think the ones working hardest are us, the third wheels!"

Gao Yang sat up, deliberately mocking him, "Getting anxious, virgin?"

Hitting him where it hurt, Wang Zikai instantly panicked. "Ha? Me? A virgin? I had girlfriends when I was three! I was picking up girls while you were still playing with toy cars..."

Gao Yang sighed in relief: successfully diverted the topic.

...

At dawn, the five of them left Huazi’s house. The village's funeral procession on the hillside was lively—gongs, drums, and firecrackers filled the air, accompanied by exaggerated wailing.

"Is it the burial already?" Fat Jun asked.

"That’s how it is in the countryside," Gao Yang nodded. "Funerals last two days, burial on the third morning."

As they spoke, seven or eight young men carried an old black wooden coffin out from under a shed. Leading the procession was a man dressed as a Taoist priest, holding a peach wood sword and bell, performing rituals while muttering indistinct chants. Following behind were women dressed in mourning attire, supporting each other as they wept loudly, though rather theatrically. A few men, also in mourning clothes, walked beside the coffin bearers, holding baskets of paper money to scatter along the path. The other villagers, all dressed in black, walked in groups to send off the deceased.

In no time, the procession reached the village entrance, passing by the five of them.

Yesterday's Elder Gu was at the rear of the procession. Upon seeing Officer Huang, he greeted him, "Officer Huang, you're here early today?"

Officer Huang nodded. "Yes, I can’t sleep with the case unsolved."

"Take care of yourself. You and your lads don't look so good."

Gao Yang thought to himself: After nearly thirty hours without food or drink, how good can we possibly look? If it weren’t for my awakened abilities and significantly enhanced stats, I’d probably have fainted from low blood sugar by now.

"Grandpa, why is there only one coffin for a family of five?" Officer Huang asked.

"Yes," Elder Gu sighed heavily. "Huazi's family isn’t well-off. They scraped together what little savings they had for his wedding, but then this tragedy struck right after. The coffin was funded by the villagers—five coffins aren’t cheap, and we couldn’t afford it. Besides, it didn’t seem necessary... As you know, there aren’t any intact bodies left from Huazi’s family. Given the mess, it made sense to put them all together..."

Elder Gu said no more, shook his head, and rejoined the procession.

"Shall we follow?" Officer Huang asked the group.

"Let’s," Gao Yang had been planning to do so.