In the game, the Tian family appears harmonious, but beneath the surface, currents churn.
On the outside, the Tian family seems to be living a life of luxury, but in reality, they are quite poor. This is because the family's wealth was initially accumulated by Tian Xiangrong through tomb raiding and selling artifacts.
However, after Tian Yu got married, Tian Xiangrong retired from his illicit activities. Without the income from selling looted relics, the Tian family gradually started to struggle to make ends meet.
During this period, Tian Xiangrong also tried to create legitimate sources of income for his family. He asked people to find a job for his son, converted one floor of their house into a public phone booth store, and even developed a habit of buying lottery tickets, hoping these efforts would improve the family's financial situation.
Yet, despite Tian Xiangrong's many attempts to fix the family's finances, there was no improvement.
He spent a considerable amount of money on connections for his son's job, but there was no outcome.
The public phone booth store he ran didn't bring in any income for the family, and he never won the lottery jackpot.
Seeing their savings dwindle, Tian Xiangrong knew he couldn't wait any longer. So, he contacted Wang Jincai, the convenience store owner who had teamed up with him for grave robbing in the past, and decided to take a risk for one last job.
Shortly after this, Tian Yu died of epilepsy. Tian Xiangrong's wife, He Guilan, then believed that their son's death was a consequence of Tian Xiangrong's bad karma from grave robbing.
In reality, however, the Tian couple's own superstitious beliefs were to blame. They had treated Tian Yu's epilepsy with various folk remedies since he was young, never taking him to a major hospital for treatment, which ultimately left Tian Yu beyond medical help.
Ironically, in the game, Tian Xiangrong repeatedly claims he is not superstitious.
Unwilling to accept his son's death as retribution for his actions, Tian Xiangrong blamed the town clinic doctor, Ye Jingshan, for his son's death, barging into the clinic and breaking Ye Jingshan's ribs.
Because of this, Zhao Xiaojuan, feeling guilty, would often secretly visit Ye Jingshan, and they became friends.
Later, the Tian Xiangrong couple met a fortuneteller. He Guilan believed this fortuneteller could summon spirits, allowing them to speak with their deceased son.
From then on, every week, Tian Xiangrong and his wife would support this fortuneteller, using the fortuneteller's voice to communicate with their dead son.
Meanwhile, Tian Fangfang met a new volunteer Chinese teacher. In Fangfang's eyes, the new teacher, Ms. Chen, was very different from the previous ones. She was gentle and kind, made Fangfang happy, and taught Fangfang origami.
This Ms. Chen was Chen Qingsui, who, to investigate the artifact smuggling of her grandfather, Tian Xiangrong, posed as a volunteer teacher and intentionally approached Fangfang as a way to infiltrate the Tian family and investigate their situation.
After the Tian Xiangrong couple started consulting the fortuneteller, the atmosphere at home became increasingly strange. Zhao Xiaojuan feared this bizarre environment would affect Fangfang and wanted to take her away, but the elderly couple always found excuses to prevent Zhao Xiaojuan from leaving.
Not long after, the so-called fortuneteller was arrested by the police.
Tian Xiangrong and his wife were incredibly anxious. They poured all their wealth to get the method of "inviting spirits" from the fortuneteller.
Using this method, they believed their son's soul could possess their daughter-in-law, allowing them to see their deceased son.
To achieve this, they began to create an eerie atmosphere in their home, trying to break Zhao Xiaojuan's mental defenses and make her believe that Tian Yu's soul had returned, thus making it easier to bring their son's soul back into their daughter-in-law.
With no other options, Zhao Xiaojuan sought help from Ye Jingshan.
Ye Jingshan, who had been trafficked into Qingtan Town as a child, listened to the desperate Zhao Xiaojuan explain her situation. He felt as though he saw himself trapped, and he wanted to save her, to let her see the beautiful world in his place. So, he gave her an idea.
Pretend to be possessed by Tian Yu, using that identity to persuade her in-laws to let Zhao Xiaojuan take her daughter Fangfang out to study.
Therefore, Zhao Xiaojuan wrote false information in her diary, bought cigarettes from Wang Jincai, claimed to be Tian Yu, and even did things she had never done before.
Meanwhile, Chen Qingsui, having heard the news, contacted Zhao Xiaojuan and explained her intentions. The two then reached an agreement.
Zhao Xiaojuan would help Chen Qingsui obtain evidence of her father-in-law, Tian Xiangrong's, artifact smuggling. In return, Chen Qingsui would help Zhao Xiaojuan and Fangfang leave Qingtan.
Everything was supposed to be perfect, but in this whole affair, there was someone who witnessed everything yet understood nothing – Tian Fangfang.
Since Tian Yu's death, coupled with the stress of pretending to be possessed by Tian Yu, Zhao Xiaojuan suffered immense mental pressure and had to rely on sleeping pills to fall asleep. One day, Fangfang accidentally saw the pills and asked her mother what they were.
Zhao Xiaojuan told Fangfang, "This is medicine to make you forget your troubles. After taking it and sleeping, all your worries will disappear," but warned that children shouldn't touch it.
Just as Zhao Xiaojuan was about to leave Qingtan Town with Fangfang, Tian Xiangrong and his wife became increasingly dissatisfied with their need to see their son. Especially, what would happen to Tian Yu's possession after Zhao Xiaojuan left?
Tian Xiangrong learned that if the original soul was completely separated from the body, the summoned soul could permanently possess the body. This meant he needed to kill Zhao Xiaojuan so his son's soul could possess her.
So, on the day of the incident, September 15th, He Guilan sent Zhao Xiaojuan to buy cough medicine. While she was out, Tian Xiangrong and his wife mixed rat poison into the sleeping pills, intending to harm Zhao Xiaojuan.
Meanwhile, Fangfang, wanting her family to "forget their worries," secretly put sleeping pills into the family's food.
So, when Zhao Xiaojuan returned home, she found only three deceased bodies, poisoned to death.
Seeing Fangfang's death, Zhao Xiaojuan was consumed by despair and hanged herself, leaving behind a suicide note.
After gathering all the clues, the cruel truth was finally revealed.
Upon reaching this point in the game, Ben felt a mixture of emotions. However, he still had some confusion: what role did Ye Jingshan truly play in this incident?
And what about that arson case? What was going on there?
With these questions lingering, Ben pushed forward with the subsequent storyline.
Leaving the Tian household, Chen Qingsui suddenly said she had left something behind at the house and asked Lin Lixun to wait for her.
At the same time, the phone in the Tian family's public phone booth store rang.
Answering the call, the voice on the other end was the newspaper, speaking about Chen Qingsui's call records. It stated that the ledger involved too many people, implicating some high-ranking figures, and certain names could never be publicized.
This meant Chen Qingsui's efforts were largely in vain. The newspaper also warned her that once the ledger was released, many people would come looking for the Tian family and related individuals, so she needed to protect herself.
But what truly sent a chill down Ben's spine were the words "be careful" – the emphasis from the person on the other end was clear.
And Lin Lixun's ability to communicate with spirits, did this mean...?
Ben's heart sank. He recalled an obituary he had seen on the bulletin board at the start of the game. Combined with Chen Qingsui's hidden identity as a volunteer teacher, he got a bad feeling. The subsequent development seemed to confirm his thoughts.
Exiting the Tian house, Lin Lixun waited endlessly for Chen Qingsui to emerge. As the sky began to cool, he decided to report the information about the Tian family case to the police first.
On the way, he saw a missing person poster on a utility pole: Qingtan Town volunteer teacher Chen Qingsui, missing since September 23rd. She was last seen wearing a blue dress, white shirt, a red hair tie, and carrying a red umbrella.
This matched Chen Qingsui's appearance perfectly. He had also seen a red umbrella inside the Tian family's house before.
On the rural bulletin board, further down, was another obituary: "Qingtan Town volunteer teacher Chen Qingsui passed away due to unforeseen circumstances at the age of 27."
Continuing forward, he reached a small riverbank where some schoolchildren were floating lanterns. They said the villagers believed Teacher Chen had accidentally fallen into the water on the rainy day of the 23rd, and floating lanterns here would guide lost souls home.
Lin Lixun paused, fell silent for a moment, then stepped forward and offered to help. After floating the lanterns, accompanied by the melody of a "Farewell" children's song, amidst the starlit sky, he seemed to see Chen Qingsui again.
"This is a patch of open ground behind my house."
"When I was a child, I was playing and accidentally fell into an old well in that open space. It was already night. At first, I was scared, and no one heard my cries. But then I suddenly realized, the starry sky I could see from the well was beautiful. It was so beautiful that I forgot to be scared."
"Then, someone suddenly threw a rope down. I climbed up step by step, and as I got closer to the well opening, my vision widened."
"By the time I finally climbed out, the person who threw the rope was long gone, but my vision was filled with a magnificent star-filled sky."
"I thought it was just an unforgettable experience, but after staying in Qingtan Town for a while, I understood."
"The children here are like me in the well back then, only able to see this patch of starry sky. I want to be that person who throws the rope, to show them a wider world."
With that said, Lin Lixun found himself and Chen Qingsui in the depths of a well, with a rope beside them. Chen Qingsui asked Lin Lixun to go up first and then pull her up.
Clutching the rope, he climbed upwards, seeing the view Chen Qingsui had seen before.
But when he looked back down, the person was gone, leaving only the well water reflecting the starry sky.
Lin Lixun fainted again. When he woke up, he found himself in the infirmary.
Zheng Ming and the forensic pathologist from the police force were there. So, this was the real world? Ben wondered.
Combined with the clues he had found earlier, all the truth was finally revealed.
The bizarre fire case that had led Lin Lixun and the others there had been orchestrated by Dr. Ye Jingshan, the clinic doctor.
Dr. Ye Jingshan, who had advised Zhao Xiaojuan, could not accept that his advice had led her to be accused of infanticide after her death.
So, he deliberately left traces of himself, hinting to the police and patients that he had a smoking habit, purchased a large amount of fireworks, and guided the police to discover the cause of the bizarre fire. The burned body was actually not Ye Jingshan, but Wang Jincai, who had died of illness.
He intended to use these deliberately planted clues to make the police believe that he had poisoned the Tian family to retaliate against Tian Xiangrong.
"Look at this great mountain, its smoky gray texture, like the dense ash left after fireworks have burned out, burying the entire town."
At the end of the game, Ye Jingshan was successfully arrested.
Fireworks were being set off in Qingtan Town. According to local customs, this was believed to help lost souls find their way home.
And by the river at the end, Lin Lixun found Chen Qingsui's unsent resignation letter and a Zack photo booth strip.
The story concluded on a riverbank covered in reeds. Lin Lixun held onto the last remaining memories of Chen Qingsui, gazing at the fireworks the town set off for the departed, silently bidding them farewell, or perhaps, her farewell.
With the farewell music of "Beyond the pavilion, beside the ancient road, verdant grass blends with the sky...", the game came to an end. Despite its relatively short duration of three and a half hours, it left Ben deeply moved.
(End of this chapter)
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