The rain began to ease, growing lighter. In the cemetery, small pools of water reflected the moonlight, casting a silvery glow. I stood quietly among the graves, waiting for Jonas Darong to appear.
I could never truly know how David Wu died. Even if I arrived at the well in the center of the village at exactly midnight, within a single second, by then David Wu had already been dead for several hours. Judging by his corpse, pale and bloated from soaking, I could infer as much.
Only Jonas Darong knows what happened here. He entered the village fourteen years ago, accompanied by Darren Rong’s younger sister, Yuna Darong. I only saw her once, in a fragment of Leo Liu’s memory.
"Village Chief, you’re watching, aren’t you? Come out and talk. None of this is peaceful—it should have ended long ago, shouldn’t it?"
I raised my head and shouted. Then I sat down, feeling the ghostly energy within me quickly draining away. The rain had stopped completely. In this endlessly repeating day, so-called tranquility can only exist if memories are erased. If memories cannot be wiped away, all that remains is torment.
Jonas Darong still did not appear. I slowly drifted upward and headed toward the temple across the river. Arriving at the small earthen shrine, I raised my hand and, with a swift motion, drew out Hell’s Sentinel.
I had always found it strange—this weapon’s radiance could unravel my power. Now, I intended to test it. Before, I had relived these days in memory, but now things were different. I was in the Man-Eating Outcast Village.
When the clock struck midnight, time would rewind. I walked step by step toward the two totems. Just then, a green light flared, gradually gathering before me and taking on a human shape.
"Stop this nonsense. The hope you offer is only temporary. You can’t change anything—not even you. A freak like you cannot stand against her."
"How would I know if I didn’t try? Tell me, Village Chief—what is really happening here?"
At this moment, the Village Chief’s face was full of helplessness. He sighed and shook his head.
"Come with me."
Jonas Darong slowly drifted toward the village. I followed closely behind, watching him head for the far side of the village. He didn’t go straight through, but skirted the village’s edge. Soon, we arrived at the village entrance.
"Is there something here?"
I looked at the only road leading out of the village. Jonas Darong stretched out his hand, pointing at the path out of the village.
I stared for a long time at the bend in the road, which marked the end.
"Go on, if you truly want to know everything."
I responded softly and slowly walked onto the road. I had never tried leaving the village before; I’d only seen Leo Liu and the others attempt it. The three of them ended up right back at the village entrance.
After walking some distance, I didn’t return to the front of the village. The moment I looked back, the village was gone. The road behind me stretched endlessly, flanked by woods on both sides.
A wave of panic rose in me, but after a moment’s thought, I kept moving forward. I walked and walked, finally reaching the bend I’d seen before. The scenery on both sides remained unchanged.
No matter how far I walked, even when the bend in the road was out of sight behind me, I kept trudging along the muddy forest path. Then I began to float, drifting forward at great speed.
There was no end, no beginning. I wandered this road for who knows how long. By now, I could no longer fly—my ghost energy was nearly exhausted.
But then I had a strange feeling: I hadn’t really left the village. The distance between me and the Ghost Souls that had flown from my body was only a kilometer or two. Even though I’d walked for so long, the gap between us hadn’t closed at all.
I couldn’t go back, nor could I reach the end. I stopped on the road and walked into the woods. The moment I approached the trees, I felt something strange, and then—bang—I was bounced back.
The woods rejected me. They seemed to exist only as an image. I stood up again and tried to enter the woods—and this time, I made it in.
"Well? Can you feel it?"
I stared in astonishment at Jonas Darong. He was waiting for me at the village entrance, just outside the woods. The place I stood was where I’d entered the Man-Eating Outcast Village before.
The moon hung high overhead. I had no idea what had just happened. Glancing again at the road out of the village, I walked toward Jonas Darong. He pointed at the sky, then waved his hand. To my shock, it was Leo Liu’s pager—the time read 4:16 a.m.
"You entered at this exact time—and now, it’s still the same time."
I stared at Jonas Darong in disbelief.
"Is it time? The place I entered—time had come to a complete stop."
Jonas Darong nodded.
"This Man-Eating Outcast Village doesn’t exist in the world of the living or the dead. It only exists in time—inside the Chronostone."
I stared at Jonas Darong in shock. Just hearing about the Chronostone left me astonished.
"Is this the power of the Ghost Sovereign?"
I asked. Jonas Darong nodded again.
"What is the relationship between Lady Yvonne May and you all?"
"Our Darong clan are descendants of the May Family, and for generations we have served as their guardians. But all of that has been abandoned—our clan, and Lady Yvonne May’s primal essence, both have been cast aside."
I swallowed, looking at Jonas Darong. His aged face was filled with sorrow.
"What could have happened to cause all this?"
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I asked again. Jonas Darong smiled.
"Everything happened under the influence of that evil ghost, Quentin Yin. I don’t know the details, but I do know that hundreds of years ago, Lady Yvonne May abandoned her primal essence. After that, our clan was forever trapped in the current of time, endlessly repeating, day after day. There are countless overlapping Harmony Villages here, countless versions of us. Every thirteen years, another Harmony Village appears."
I quietly watched Jonas Darong. Although I didn’t fully understand his words, I knew he wasn’t lying.
"What really happened fourteen years ago?"
Jonas Darong smiled again.
He began to speak slowly. Time’s flow is like a small ball. As time passes, a slightly larger ball encases it, repeating endlessly. The ball grows larger, but inside, there are countless smaller balls, invisible and intangible. Human society develops in much the same way.
Harmony Village is just like that ball, like a nesting doll from some country. The shape gets bigger, but if you peel away the surface, there’s a smaller doll inside—layer upon layer, perfectly aligned, never deviating.
After listening for a while, I found it hard to understand. Then Jonas Darong continued speaking.
"The Harmony Village you see in the world of the living is also fake. Even after death, our clan remains under the influence of the Chronostone—never fading, never ending. To protect everything of Lady Yvonne May, we must exist here. Our clan’s Tricolor Totem represents earth, sunlight, and dreams—the functions that make up a simple world, providing eternal power for what we protect."