After that thunderous explosion rang out, his first instinct was to rush to the Ancestral Temple to see what had happened.
He completely forgot there was still that creature waiting for a midnight snack, lurking and watching him with predatory eyes in the darkness.
So, unsurprisingly, he died.
Unexpectedly, when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the moment of offering incense during the You Hour.
When he heard the Steward announce once more that the woman in the qipao would be keeping vigil tonight, he decisively intercepted and took her slot.
Because he wanted to know—
What kind of situation could possibly create such a huge commotion?
As the others gradually left, soon only Xu Xi and the Steward remained inside the Ancestral Temple.
"Third Young Master, since you insist on taking Eldest Young Miss's place for the vigil, this old servant needs to remind you of a few rules for the night."
After listening carefully, Xu Xi found that these seven rules were largely the same as what the crew-cut man had recounted earlier.
He nodded in acknowledgment.
"Before the hour of Mao, no matter what happens, Third Young Master must remain inside the Ancestral Temple."
The Steward offered this final reminder before slowly retreating from the temple.
After the heavy wooden door slowly closed, the Ancestral Temple immediately fell into complete silence.
Xu Xi casually walked a circle around the room.
The curling incense smoke, the paper effigies of the Boy and Girl Attendants, the pitch-black coffin, the layers upon layers of ancestral tablets...
Seeing everything appeared normal, his gaze involuntarily fell upon the coffin positioned at the very center.
If anything was most likely to cause a sudden change, it was probably this coffin.
Could it be... the coffin exploded?
This was actually the first time he had experienced a reload that sent him back to a timeline earlier than his death point.
Xu Xi wasn't sure what this meant.
But he vaguely suspected that particular node was probably a dead save.
And that sudden disturbance that originated from the Ancestral Temple's direction was the reason.
The reload system judged that even returning to the moment before he left the room wouldn't guarantee his survival, so it could only push him further back along the timeline.
Thinking this, Xu Xi stopped dwelling on it.
Since the system had already determined that time point was unsalvageable, there was no point in him obsessing over it.
It was better to think about what different things he could do this time, having been sent back so much earlier.
After all, for him, no matter how bizarre the reload node might be, a path to survival always existed.
Xu Xi originally planned to simply lift the coffin lid and see what was inside first.
However, after trying with his own hands, he discovered the coffin lid seemed nailed shut. No matter how much force he applied, it didn't budge an inch.
After a moment of silence, he withdrew his hands.
Fine.
If it won't let me look, then it won't.
Suppressing his restless curiosity, he glanced around the room and finally sat down on the cushion in front of the coffin, prepared to wait for the arrival of that earth-shattering disturbance—the one so severe it forced a reload into a dead save.
He hadn't forgotten that the young man with the earring had been dragged inside the coffin, and his fate remained unknown to this day.
He didn't know if the disturbance was related to him.
*
Time slowly passed. The incense in the Incense Burner had long since burned out, leaving only several charred, black stubs crookedly stuck in the grayish-white ash.
Xu Xi still sat cross-legged on the cushion, boredly counting his own heartbeats.
Before this, he had even idly taken several photos out of sheer boredom.
And then he discovered: the incense smoke had issues, the paper effigies had issues, the coffin had issues, the ancestral tablets had issues, even the pastries on the incense table had issues.
Xu Xi: "..."
So, basically, nothing in this room is normal?
Oh wait, that's not right. He himself was completely normal.
In the photos, bluish-black incense smoke twisted and coiled in mid-air, yet was invisibly contained within the halo of light from the two Eternal Lamps in front of the table. It seemed restrained by some unseen force within a specific boundary, unable to drift out.
The other items were similarly affected, as if all suppressed by the candlelight flames within the lanterns.
Seeing this, Xu Xi finally gained a clear understanding of those rules.
When he could no longer sit still and prepared to stand up and stretch his limbs, a sudden, intense hunger violently seized him.
This wasn't the ordinary, slight emptiness that could be ignored. This was his stomach abruptly tightening, a violent hunger as if he hadn't eaten for days.
Xu Xi's movements froze.
He looked down at his own hands—his fingers were trembling slightly.
Something's wrong.
Cold sweat seeped from his temples. Xu Xi felt dizzy and blurry-eyed from the hunger, as if something inside him was frantically screaming "Eat, eat, eat!"
So hungry... I want to eat so badly...
He raised his head, his gaze falling upon the incense table nearby.
Several plates of pastries were arranged on it.
"If you feel hungry, there are pastries prepared on the incense table over there."
The Steward's words now clearly surfaced in his mind.
The pastries looked very appealing, pinkish-white petal shapes sprinkled with dried fruits of varying sizes.
If he hadn't taken those photos, he might have believed it.
The hunger grew increasingly intense, a clawing sensation in his stomach urging him to eat quickly.
Xu Xi slowly took a deep breath, suppressing the bizarre urge to take a bite out of his own arm. He quickly walked to the incense table and, expressionlessly, grabbed several pieces of pastry and stuffed them into his mouth.
As the food went down, the hunger gradually subsided.
But another sensation welled up.
Starting from his stomach, an indescribable feeling of nausea rapidly spread, forcing him to retch twice.
"If you feel nauseous or disgusted while consuming them, please stop eating immediately."
Recalling the second half of the rule, Xu Xi immediately threw the half-eaten pastry in his hand back onto the incense table.
The nausea in his stomach didn't intensify further, but it didn't fade either. It remained stuck there, uncomfortable like a thorn.
Standing in place, feeling the faint churning in his stomach, Xu Xi slightly furrowed his brows.
The next second, he pulled out his phone from his pocket, opened the camera, and aimed it at his own abdomen—
*Click.*
In the photo, visible faintly through the fabric, a blurry, shadowy mass of bluish color was coiled in the area of his stomach.
Pollution. This was the thought that instinctively popped into Xu Xi's mind.
Whether this thing was actually pollution or not wasn't important.
The patterned wedding candy item he obtained in the second instance could clear all his negative status effects. As long as he ate it, no matter what this was, it would be cleared away.
Even without the patterned wedding candy, he still had the mixed-team competition reward item—the Sealed Misfortune Storage Jar, which could store up to three types of all negative statuses affecting the holder.
But Xu Xi just slowly sat back down on the cushion.
Of course he could use the items, but it wasn't necessary.
It's not lethal anyway, and he's still alive.
If he dies, he can just reload.
After all, there's only one patterned wedding candy, and the Sealed Misfortune Savings Jar isn't unlimited either.
Right now, it's just a little discomfort in the stomach, no other symptoms for now, the impact is minimal.
Xu Xi continued sitting cross-legged, his expression normal as he thought:
If you won't die, then just survive by any means necessary.
After going through that ordeal, any drowsiness he had felt earlier had completely vanished. He was now as awake as he could possibly be.
Coincidentally, the hour of Hai was approaching. According to the rules, he needed to go to the kitchen to replace the offerings.
However, the next moment, a series of knocks sounded at the door—not too light, not too heavy.
