Zhou Xuan returned to the time rift from an hour ago. The guesthouse remained in the same state.
The floorboards and walls were riddled with holes caused by decay, a pervasive sour and rotten stench lingered in the air, and the guesthouse was entirely devoid of people.
"This isn’t the time the crime happened."
Zhou Xuan shattered the temporal rift and adjusted the rewind to two hours earlier.
Two hours ago, the guesthouse was still in its decayed state; Hunger had already acted.
He rewound the time even further to three hours earlier.
The guesthouse was shockingly still in its rotten and dilapidated condition.
"This suggests Hunger acted three hours ago, precisely coinciding with Old Li’s departure?"
It was now only 1 AM, so three hours ago would have been 10 PM. At minimum, Hunger acted before 10 PM.
Li Chengfeng had passed the lantern around 9 PM, notifying Gu Ling of the news that "Hunger had been slain."
Did Hunger strike immediately after Old Li left?
Zhou Xuan continued to rewind time using the Wash Away Injustice Talisman, tracing it back to 9 PM...
Just moments ago, Zhou Xuan had assumed Hunger was merely crafty, but now he witnessed the impossibility firsthand.
At 9 PM in the Kangfeng Inn, the foul stench lingered, the floorboards remained ruined.
This meant Hunger’s actions had preceded 9 PM.
Yet, during that time, Li Chengfeng, Qing Feng, and the night watchman hadn’t even left the inn.
Hunger acted right under the noses of Li Chengfeng, Qing Feng, and the night watchman.
And none of them noticed Hunger killing people?
How could that be—turning an entire inn into a rotten wasteland, slaughtering all inside, such massive commotion would undoubtedly have reached those dispersed across the private rooms—the likes of Old Li and the night watchman—and yet, they had neither seen nor heard anything?
Zhou Xuan couldn’t fathom it. Instead of breaking the temporal rift, he chose to "walk" around the guesthouse at 9 PM.
He stepped through the doors of the private rooms to check on whatever Old Li and the others were doing at the time.
The result... Zhou Xuan ventured through every single private room yet found no trace of Li Chengfeng, Qing Feng, or the night watchman.
"What is going on? At 9 PM, Old Li and the others should still be at the inn. Where have they gone?"
Zhou Xuan shattered the temporal rift once more. Using the Wash Away Injustice Talisman, he rewound time further to 8 PM.
At 8 PM, the guesthouse had yet to take on its dismal visage, displaying an air of order and cleanliness.
At this time, Hunger had not yet acted, but Zhou Xuan began walking through the rift of this hour, investigating each private room of the inn. Still, he did not see Li Chengfeng, Qing Feng, or the night watchman.
"They must have been at the inn at 8 PM. So where did they disappear to?"
Zhou Xuan’s mind churned with suspicions.
Not finding Li Chengfeng and the others while journeying through rewound time was highly abnormal. He set this peculiarity aside for now and headed to the guesthouse’s first floor, determined to witness Hunger’s actions firsthand.
The mystery of Li Chengfeng and Qing Feng’s absence in the guesthouse would be tackled later.
Zhou Xuan walked through the temporal rift down to the first floor of the guesthouse, patiently awaiting Hunger’s arrival.
Time ticked away slowly.
Zhou Xuan observed the bustling business of the Kangfeng Inn. On the first floor, twelve Eight Immortal tables were arranged, and seven of them were occupied by guests.
The guests clinked glasses, some venting frustrations over life, others discussing modest hopes for the future.
The proprietress busily greeted her patrons, occasionally bringing two plates of salted peanuts to familiar guests as a snack with their drinks.
The innkeeper leaned against the counter with a grin, chatting freely with diners about the day’s dishes and whether the Old Jiu suited their palate.
The guesthouse was imbued with the comforting warmth of the human world.
This atmosphere of bliss came to an abrupt halt when a long-robed elderly guest stepped inside.
The elderly man, appearing over sixty years old, with deep-set wrinkles and a robe stained with mud, staggered in through the entrance. From afar, he loudly called out to the innkeeper: "Two jugs of Liu Yan Bai."
Liu Yan Bai, a brand of white liquor from Yue Family Mansion Liu Yan Winery, was noted for its high alcohol content. Typically, budget-conscious drinkers would only purchase half a cup at a time, sipping it slowly while pairing it with a small dish of peanuts—just enough to satisfy their craving without spending too much.
Yet the elderly man demanded two whole jugs of Liu Yan Bai—a startling request.
The innkeeper forced a smile and asked the old guest, "Sir, is the liquor for drinking here, or are you buying it for later?"
"Liu Yan Bai doesn’t age pleasantly. You might want to consider two jugs of grain alcohol instead. Grain alcohol grows more fragrant with time, and the cost is only about ten percent higher than Liu Yan Bai..."
"I’ll drink it right here."
The elderly guest responded bluntly.
"Drinking it here—two jugs?" The innkeeper was visibly astonished.
Liu Yan Bai came in small clay jugs, but even then, a single jug contained four pounds of liquor—two jugs added up to a whopping eight pounds. Drinking such an amount would undoubtedly be fatal.
"Enough talk. Two jugs."
The elderly guest reached into his pocket and slapped fifty Jing Country bills fiercely onto the table.
The money had been paid, and for better or worse, the innkeeper could not refuse business. Since the man insisted on two jugs, two jugs it would be.
The innkeeper waved to a server.
The server brought over two sealed jugs of Liu Yan Bai.
The elderly guest untied the ropes sealing the jug, tore off the packaging, picked up the jug, and began chugging its contents.
This scene left not only the innkeeper dumbfounded but also the proprietress, the diners, the servers, and even the kitchen staff – all of them crowded around, gaping in amazement at the old man’s drinking spree.
After all, this was two full jugs of Liu Yan Bai. For a healthy young man, drinking just two bowls would be enough to get so drunk that they couldn’t stand.