The danger of being left outside alone in such a world was self-evident. Even if they wanted to return to this eerie haunted house after nightfall, it wouldn't be easy.

Time passed, and everyone's work was nearing completion, but Lu Qin and Shao Tong were still nowhere to be seen. The most crucial thing was that there wasn't even a message from them.

Night deepened, and the atmosphere in the room became increasingly subtle. Zhang Qi was tentatively dialing Lu Qin's phone. The call went through, but no one answered.

Shao Tong's phone was the same.

Something had happened... Everyone was sure of that. But the question now was, had something happened to Lu Qin and Shao Tong, or to those of them remaining in the haunted house?

Shao Tong and Lu Qin didn't seem like people who would easily fall into a trap. Thinking about it another way, they might have discovered some crucial clue, knowing that something was bound to happen in the haunted house tonight.

Looking around, Jiang Cheng's attention focused on the paper bridge, as well as the nearby paper ingots and candles. If something was going to happen tonight, it would most likely be during this exorcism ritual prepared for Fatty.

Jiang Cheng looked at Zhang Qi, who was frowning, and Tang Qisheng, who was busy beside him, "Mr. Zhang, Mr. Tang, how are the preparations for tonight's necessities going?"

Tang Qisheng stood up and wiped the sweat from his cheek with the back of his hand, "Almost done. The paper bridge has been built, the paper ingots and candles are ready, the water basin is readily available in the Yizhuang (a place where corpses are temporarily stored before burial), now all that's missing is Miss Li Bai's paper clothes, oh, and those boots. We bought them all in large sizes. We'll have the Fugui brothers try them on with the paper clothes later."

At this time, Fatty had already accepted reality, squatting on the ground in despair, his expression more unsightly than death. According to what Yao Shunyu had just told him, he would soon have to wear paper clothes and corpse makeup, pretending to be a dead person, and then walk across the paper bridge. Just thinking about that scene made Fatty want to cry.

Jiang Cheng checked the required items one by one, and found no problems. Because he wasn't sure about Fatty's shoe size, Tang Qisheng and others had specially purchased several pairs of boots of different sizes. The boots were leather, looking very sturdy, and covered with a thick layer of white paper on the outside.

They had discussed these things in advance, and in Jiang Cheng's memory, there was nothing wrong with them, but Jiang Cheng just felt uneasy. He scanned these things one by one, feeling that something was wrong.

Until he took out the paper from his pocket, which recorded the things they needed for the exorcism. Jiang Cheng had deliberately kept it, and after comparing the two, he finally found the problem.

Li Bai, who came to his side, widened her eyes, her hair standing on end in shock, "How... How could this be?"

According to the record on the paper, the shoes they needed tonight were called "zangxie" (burial shoes), also known as "laoxie" (old shoes) or "lianxie" (coffin shoes). Usually, the style was black cloth shoes, and burial shoes must never be made of fur, and even more taboo was using leather soles, because such shoes would break through the Naihe Bridge (Bridge of Helplessness) and fall under the bridge, reincarnating as livestock in the next life.

After seeing the record on the paper, everyone was dumbfounded. Tang Qisheng rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He had personally selected the shoes, and as a folklore researcher, how could he have made such a mistake? After a moment, Tang Qisheng looked at Jiang Cheng nervously, "This... This wasn't my intention! I didn't mean to harm brother Wang Fugui, it's my memory... my memory has problems!"

"It has nothing to do with you, it's not just you, our memories all have problems." Jiang Cheng put away the paper and said with a gloomy face, he had realized what the problem was.

Tang Qisheng didn't lie, someone had tampered with their memories, and it was this false memory that drove them to buy the wrong shoes. It wasn't until he saw the words on the white paper that he realized it.

"It's those two guys, Lu Qin and Shao Tong!" Zhu Jie gritted his teeth in hatred, "No wonder they didn't dare to come back, they knew something was going to happen tonight!"

At this moment, Zhang Qi stamped his foot heavily, a undisguised murderous intent appearing on his face, "Wearing such shoes across the Yin Bridge (bridge to the underworld), brother Fugui will definitely not return. Not only that, but following this bridge, who knows what kind of ghosts will come out from the other end. Lu Qin and Shao Tong are not just targeting you guys this time, they want to kill us all!"

"I'll kill them next time I see them!" Yao Shunyu looked at the leather boots, and the anger in his heart had been suppressed to the extreme. The night watchmen really had no good intentions.

Now everything was clear, it was those two guys, Lu Qin and Shao Tong, who had tampered with their memories. This ability was undeniably terrifying. The first time was in the inn at night, the second time was last night, and this was the third time today. These two had tampered with their memories at least three times. The night watchmen were definitely prepared.

As for the purpose, Jiang Cheng had a vague guess. The other party was willing to invest so much, definitely not just to kill them. There must be a bigger plot behind this, and this plot was likely related to their so-called memories.

The ability to modify memories made him involuntarily think of Lin Wan'er. He conducted a new round of self-examination. Perhaps it was precisely because Lin Wan'er had modified his memory too many times that he was able to be vigilant when facing the false memories created by Lu Qin and Shao Tong, and he was the first to notice that there was something wrong with the prepared items.

But now was not the time to think about these things. How to get Fatty through this night safely was the top priority. It was obviously too late to buy a pair of burial shoes now.

"Mr. Zhang, are there any remedial measures now?"

Hearing this, Mr. Zhang pursed his lips, and his eyes could not help but dim, "The role of burial shoes is the same as paper clothes, to cover up the yang energy on the living. Without burial shoes, how can the living safely step over the paper bridge, let alone send Gao Yanqing's wronged soul to the underworld on the other side of the paper bridge?"

Hearing this, the atmosphere in the room fell into stagnation for a time. Fatty looked at the almost desperate eyes of the doctor Yao Shunyu and wanted to say a few words of comfort, but he didn't know what to say.

"I have a way, maybe we can try it." After a long silence, Tang Qisheng suddenly opened his mouth hesitantly, "But I can't guarantee it will be successful, and brother Fugui will have to suffer a bit."

"Please speak!"

"The purpose of wearing burial shoes is to cover up the yang energy on the soles of the living, and the middle toe of the living's foot is yang-connecting, and the yang energy is the heaviest, so..." Tang Qisheng paused, looking at Jiang Cheng with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

"So as long as you break the middle toes of both his feet, you can temporarily cover up the yang energy, so that those things mistakenly think he is a dead person, is that right?" Jiang Cheng asked.