### 🗒️ Answer

After Gao Yang finished speaking, Officer Huang and Qing Ling fell into deep thought. Pang Jun shivered, his expression both bewildered and fearful. As for Wang Zikai, he didn’t understand at all, “What? What? Speak slower, say it again.”

“This is the real Gujia Village from back then,” Gao Yang repeated.

“Oh...” Wang Zikai slapped his forehead and said bluntly, “I really don't get it.”

“If this is Gujia Village, then what was the place we went to earlier?” Qing Ling asked.

“That was also Gujia Village.”

“Can you speak plainly?” Wang Zikai snapped, “Are we dealing with Russian dolls here?”

Gao Yang organized his thoughts: “Thirty years ago, a massacre occurred in Gujia Village. Not long after, everyone in the village disappeared, right?”

“That’s how the case file recorded it,” Officer Huang said.

“I believe,” Gao Yang's tone was firm, “it wasn’t the villagers who vanished—it was the entire village.”

Officer Huang paused before narrowing his eyes, “Go on.”

“I don’t know how it was done, but the entire village was shifted into this realm. The Gujia Village we visited earlier is a counterfeit... more accurately, a replica.”

“What led you to that conclusion?” Officer Huang asked.

“The first night we went to the ancestral hall. There were many tablets inside. Wang Zikai read out a few names, do you remember? One of them was Gu Huawu...”

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“Master Wu,” Qing Ling recalled.

“Right, the village chief's name was Gu Huawu,” Gao Yang said. “He’s clearly not dead, so why would his name appear in the ancestral hall? That hall definitely has issues.”

“Ah!” Pang Jun panicked, “They’ve been dead all along! What we’re seeing are ghosts...”

“Ghosts, my foot!” Wang Zikai smacked Pang Jun on the head, “Didn’t you see that Fourth Master Gu is a lizard man? I bet the village chief is one too.”

“Stop arguing, Gao Yang, continue,” Officer Huang was beginning to grasp the situation.

“When we first arrived in this village, I sensed that many things were off. For instance, Huazi’s house, where we’re staying now—the massacre happened less than half a month ago, but the house looks like it’s been abandoned for years.”

Gao Yang paused, then continued, “Also, the coffin that was buried today—it looked ancient, as if it had been used before. When I examined it closely, I found some dried dirt on the bottom. The soil around the grave was odd as well, much lighter in color, as if it had been dug up repeatedly. And the bones inside the coffin...”

“Brother, what are you trying to say?” Wang Zikai was growing more confused.

“I understand now,” Qing Ling looked at Gao Yang, “They’re repeating.”

“Exactly,” Gao Yang nodded, “The conclusion is, we didn’t travel thirty years into the past. Instead, the entire village has been trapped in this special domain. The villagers here have been endlessly repeating these events—the massacre, the funerals... repeating for thirty years. Take Fourth Master Gu’s body, for instance; it should have aged and died long ago. But due to some irresistible force, it continues to repeat. His body’s subconscious transformation into a beast is part of this. If he were a machine, he would have broken down by now...”

After a brief silence, Officer Huang asked, “What is that irresistible force?”

“I don’t know,” Gao Yang shook his head. “But it’s what we need to solve. If we can find the starting point of the village’s next repetition, maybe we can track down that force...”

“Woo—”

Before Gao Yang could finish, the sound of an air raid siren suddenly echoed from outside, a sound that was oppressive, dull, and unnervingly prolonged.

“Woo—”

Officer Huang walked to the window, pulled open a sliver of the curtain, and his face darkened.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling leaned over, and they saw that the entire Gujia Village had been enveloped in a faint mist at some point. The villagers, no matter what they had been doing, gradually stopped in their tracks.

Everyone stood still, gazing up at the sky with vacant, numb expressions. Even those who had already gone to bed walked out of their houses, into their courtyards, and lifted their heads to stare at the sky.