Su Nian did not retreat.
Not because she wasn't afraid.
She simply knew that in a scenario like this, turning her back on the unknown was more dangerous than facing it head-on.
She stared at the face that was identical to hers.
From the features and expression to every crease in her clothes, there wasn't the slightest difference.
Even the tiny old scar at her temple was exactly the same.
"Found you."
The other Su Nian slowly rose from the coffin, a strange smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
"Now it's your turn to come inside."
She lifted one foot and climbed down from the coffin step by step.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
With every step, the candlelight in the ancestral hall dimmed another notch.
The girl with glasses could barely stay on her feet. In a trembling voice, she asked, "What... what is she?"
Su Nian didn't answer.
Because she had noticed something.
The way it walked was exactly the same as hers.
Even the small habit of instinctively landing with her left foot first was identical down to the last detail.
If not for those lifeless eyes, Su Nian wouldn't have been able to tell which one was real.
"The dead are more honest than the living..."
She repeated the System's hint under her breath.
Suddenly, inspiration struck.
Wait.
If the dead were more honest than the living...
Then could the thing in front of her be unable to lie?
"Who are you?"
Su Nian suddenly spoke.
The other Su Nian stopped.
She tilted her head, and the smile on her lips deepened.
"I'm you."
"No."
Su Nian's tone remained calm.
"You're not me."
"What are you?"
Silence fell over the ancestral hall again.
A few seconds later,
her counterpart still didn't answer.
She only smiled.
And kept smiling.
Su Nian's eyes sharpened.
It hadn't answered.
Not because it didn't want to.
Because it couldn't.
Was it restricted by the rules?
At that moment, a sound came from another coffin.
Thud—
A man in a suit sat up inside it.
Everyone recognized him at a glance.
It was the middle-aged man who had just died outside the door.
But now his skin was deathly pale, his eyes pitch-black, and a stiff smile hung from the corners of his mouth.
"I'm back."
His voice was completely flat.
Everyone still alive retreated in unison.
But Su Nian noticed another detail with keen eyes.
The man had said—
"I'm back."
Not "Help me."
Not "Run!"
He sounded as if he were merely stating a fact.
The next second,
all the figures inside the coffins stood up.
Seven of them.
Each one corresponded to one of the players who was still alive.
"Found you."
"Found you."
"Found you."
The same words came from seven mouths at once.
The entire ancestral hall seemed to turn into one enormous echo chamber.
Su Nian drew a deep breath.
She began to observe.
Her "double" kept staring at her.
But it didn't attack immediately.
The other doubles were the same.
They simply approached their respective originals one step at a time,
as if waiting for a certain moment.
Just as the distance between them shrank to three meters,
the System's voice rang out again.
【The third hidden rule has been unlocked.】
【Do not let it replace you.】
The instant the voice ended,
her double lunged forward!
It moved too fast to be human.
Su Nian turned sideways almost on instinct.
Whoosh—
A blast of icy air grazed her ear.
The double's palm slammed into the wooden pillar behind her.
Boom!
Several cracks split the entire pillar.
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
That kind of strength was completely inhuman!
Su Nian didn't meet it head-on.
She quickly widened the distance between them, analyzing at top speed.
It was faster than her.
Its strength far exceeded hers.
She had no chance of winning in a direct confrontation.
Then the solution had to be something other than combat.
It had to be the rules.
She looked at her double again.
Suddenly, she noticed something strange.
Every time it moved, it cast no shadow.
But her own shadow was still there beneath the candlelight.
At that moment, she suddenly remembered the words in front of the altar table.
"The dead are more honest than the living."
The dead had no shadows?
No.
That wasn't it.
It was that these things—
weren't human at all.
Her gaze shifted to the incense on the altar table.
Nearly half of the three sticks had burned away.
They didn't have much time left.
And at last, her eyes settled on the dusty bronze mirror in the center of the altar table.
The mirror faced all the coffins.
But...
inside the mirror, there were only the seven living players.
Not one of the seven doubles appeared in its reflection.
Su Nian's heart lurched.
She knew she had finally found the real key to breaking through this stage.
Su Nian didn't say it aloud right away.
She forced herself to stay calm.
Because she knew that in a scenario like this, once everyone learned the way to break it, someone would inevitably do something stupid out of fear.
And stupid things...
were often the conditions for death.
She deliberately stepped to the right.
Her reflection moved right with her.
Her double moved right as well.
But—
inside the mirror,
there was still no double.
"Just as I thought..."
Su Nian slowly exhaled.
At that moment, her double lunged at her again.
It moved like a blur.
This time, she didn't dodge.
Instead, she suddenly shifted to the side.
Bang!
The double crashed directly into the bronze mirror in front of the altar table.
Unexpectedly,
the mirror didn't shatter.
Instead, ripples spread across its surface like waves on water.
Buzz—
The next second,
the double's entire body seemed to be caught by something.
The smile vanished from its face for the first time.
Terror replaced it.
"No..."
It struggled desperately,
but its body was swallowed by the mirror inch by inch.
In a matter of seconds,
it disappeared without a trace.
The ancestral hall fell silent again.
Everyone stood frozen.
"D-Did it die?"
The girl with glasses stared blankly at Su Nian.
Su Nian didn't answer.
She only stared at the mirror.
Inside it,
only her own reflection remained.
And...
it was clearer than before.
"The mirror didn't kill it."
Su Nian suddenly spoke.
"The mirror was taking back what truly belonged to it."
Everyone looked utterly confused.
She didn't explain further, instead pointing straight at the altar table.
"Everyone, come over here."
"Stand in front of the mirror."
"If your double lunges at you, dodge. Don't try to fight it."
By now, everyone regarded her as their only hope.
Without the slightest hesitation,
they did as she said.
The first was the girl with glasses.
The moment she stepped in front of the mirror,
her double charged over like a madwoman.
"No!"
The girl with glasses was so frightened that she fell onto the floor.
Unable to stop in time,
the double crashed into the mirror.
Buzz—
Ripples spread across the mirror again.
The double let out a piercing scream.
"Fake..."
"You're the fake!"
"I'm—"
Before it could finish,
its entire body was swallowed by the mirror.
Gone.
The girl with glasses sat there stunned for several seconds.
Then she burst into tears.
She knew it.
She had survived.
The others followed the same method.
In less than a minute,
all six doubles had disappeared.
The entire ancestral hall was left with only one coffin.
Wang Zhiqiang.
The burly man who had died first.
His double hadn't disappeared.
Because...
its original was already dead.
He slowly turned his head.
His black eyes swept over everyone.
Then he suddenly revealed a vicious smile.
"Finally..."
"It's my turn."
He walked toward the altar table one step at a time.
With every step,
all the ancestral tablets in the hall began to tremble.
Crack.
The first tablet toppled over.
Crack.
The second.
Then the third.
In a matter of seconds,
hundreds of ancestral tablets collapsed one after another.
Pale smoke filled the air.
The sinister aura in the ancestral hall surged.
The old man, who had kept his head bowed, finally raised it slowly.
For the first time, his murky eyes showed a spark of life.
He looked at Wang Zhiqiang.
Then sighed.
"A wandering soul..."
"Shouldn't leave its tablet."
After saying that,
he extended his withered hand.
He tapped it lightly.
There was no earth-shaking explosion.
No dazzling flash of light.
Only a dim yellow flame flew from his fingertip.
The spark landed on Wang Zhiqiang's forehead.
Boom—!
The next instant,
his entire body erupted into raging flames.
Wang Zhiqiang screamed wildly.
"No—!"
"Not me!"
"I want to live—"
Before the words could finish,
his entire body had burned to ash.
Not a trace remained.
The ancestral hall fell silent once more.
The old man picked up his kerosene lamp again,
as if nothing had happened.
He slowly walked to the altar table.
One by one, he set the fallen ancestral tablets upright.
Each time he raised one,
the name carved into it slowly disappeared.
In the end,
only seven tablets remained.
The old man turned and looked at Su Nian.
It was the first time he had truly looked at her.
There was no malice in those murky eyes.
Instead, he seemed to be scrutinizing her.
After a long while,
he spoke hoarsely.
"You..."
"You can see the rules."
It wasn't a question.
It was a statement.
Su Nian didn't answer.
The old man didn't press her.
He simply pulled a pitch-black wooden token from his sleeve.
The token was only palm-sized.
An ancient character meaning "patrol" was carved into the front.
On the back was a rune shaped like an eye.
The old man held the token out to Su Nian.
"The first night..."
"You've passed."
"This is..."
"proof that you're a Night Watcher."
The instant she accepted the token,
the System's cold notification sounded simultaneously in everyone's ears.
【Congratulations, player Su Nian. You have fulfilled the hidden condition.】
【Obtained unique hidden identity: Night Watcher (Incomplete).】
【One of the Five Nian—"Seeing Nian"—has begun to awaken.】
【Current awakening progress: 1%.】
Su Nian hadn't even had time to check the System panel
when a heavy bell rang outside the ancestral hall.
Dong—
Dong—
Dong—
The entire town began to shake violently.
The calm on the old man's face vanished for the first time.
He abruptly looked outside the door.
His hoarse voice held a trace of urgency.
"The sky..."
"It isn't light yet."
"It... woke up early."
The bell rang three times in total.
The instant the third peal faded,
the entire ancestral hall violently shook.
The white candles on the altar table suddenly all turned ghostly green.
For the first time, the old man's hunched body straightened completely.
He stared fixedly outside the ancestral hall.
For the first time, fear appeared in those murky eyes.
"It..."
"How could it... have woken up early...?"