Becoming a God Starts with Acting
Chapter 130: [The Corpse Collector] (6)

Chapter 130: [The Corpse Collector] (6)

Urged silently by everyone, Bryan quickly led them to the village chief’s house.

The chief’s home stood at the center of the village. Though still humble, its structure was sturdier than the others—at the very least, there wasn’t mud leaking from its walls after the heavy rain.

The village chief was an older man, his face deeply wrinkled. He looked just as gaunt as the rest of the villagers—clearly, suffering spared no one in this place.

When he saw Bryan and the group approaching, he gave a slight smile. But even that smile didn’t make him look any friendlier. On the contrary, the deep creases on his face only made him look more ominous.

"Bryan, what brings you here?"

He spoke to Bryan in a tone that suggested familiarity. The others didn’t think too much of it—after all, Bryan had come yesterday to ask for a place to stay, so it was natural for them to be on friendly terms.

Bryan spoke slowly:

"We’re about to start our mission, but we couldn’t help being curious. What’s going on in the village? Everyone looks exhausted... Has something happened here?"

It was the perfect opening scene for a horror movie—when the protagonists receive a strange mission and arrive at an equally bizarre, backward village.

They grow curious about its mysteries, and eventually, curiosity kills the cat. The humans get picked off one by one until only one or a small handful survive. Or perhaps... no one at all.

Maybe things would be better if they just kept their heads down and did their job instead of getting curious...

Aboli pouted off to the side, her expression full of disdain as she swept her eyes across the house and the older man.

"What’s even going on here? If life is so hard, why don’t you leave and go live in the outside world? There are more jobs out there. Hiding away in the mountains like this—this is the result of your own choices."

Bryan frowned slightly, and Julie subtly tugged on the sleeve of Aboli’s coat.

But contrary to their worry, the chief didn’t seem offended by Aboli’s words. Instead, he smiled at her and took a step forward, speaking gently:

"Oh, child, if I’m not mistaken, I was the one who gave you your name when you were little..."

As he stepped closer, an odd, pungent odor came with him. Maybe it was from not bathing in a long time—or something else entirely—but it was strong enough to make Aboli recoil.

She wrinkled her nose, took a step back, and snapped:

"I don’t remember any of that!"

At that moment, she even felt lucky her parents had left this village when she was still young. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she’d stayed and become like these people—ugly and repulsive.

The village chief kept smiling and shook his head wistfully.

"Time really flies. You’ve all grown up."

Then he sighed and began answering Bryan’s question:

"Things haven’t been going well here lately. It started about a year ago—the amount of fish we could catch began to drop drastically. Even after holding our ceremonies for the gods, nothing changed. The land itself has become so barren that we can’t grow anything anymore. Worst of all, lately more and more boats have been capsizing... many villagers have drowned. All of this has pushed our village into decline... I hope you can understand."

"Then why the hell are you all still staying here..."

Aboli muttered under her breath, only to fall silent when Bryan shot her a warning look.

The village chief acted as though he hadn’t heard her. He continued speaking in a calm, slow voice:

"We’ve thought about leaving... but it’s not that easy. Our families, our ancestors—they’re all buried here. Out there, we wouldn’t even know how to survive. We’ve been cut off from the world for too long. That’s why we’re still here. We believe the gods will not abandon us."

Silvanus could easily sense something off in every word the village chief spoke. He talked as though the villagers couldn’t leave the village—but the reasons he gave weren’t convincing. After all, Bryan’s family had managed to leave. There had to be some other reason why no one else could get out.

The village chief was clearly hiding a secret—one he couldn’t afford to let outsiders know.

"Someone drowned?" Julie murmured, her voice laced with unease, as if she might give up the mission at any moment.

"Yes," the chief replied, his tone heavy with sorrow. "But everyone in this village knows how to swim."

Noticing the increasingly unsettled looks on his teammates’ faces, Bryan quickly interjected:

"Accidents can happen to anyone! Thank you, sir, but we should head out for our mission now."

The village chief nodded with a faint smile. But just as Bryan’s group was about to step outside, his voice rang out behind them—low and ominous:

"Be careful of the corpse retrievers in this village... Those people often carry a curse."

Bryan smiled and nodded, trying to stay calm. Under normal circumstances, they might have dismissed it as mere superstition. But after hearing the chief’s story, none of them could help feeling a little unsettled.

As they walked away, Bryan said:

"Alright, we’re professional divers. This time, we’ve brought equipment—we’re not just messing around like before. You all know that we’re not like the villagers. Even if they know how to swim, they’re just ordinary people. We’re much better trained. Don’t worry!"

His words of encouragement clearly had an effect.

Ciel nodded firmly. "That’s right! We’re not like them."

Aboli smacked the back of Julie’s head. "It’s going to be fine! Don’t tremble like it’s your first time diving—so embarrassing!"

Julie pressed her lips together, saying nothing.

Ryan had remained silent from beginning to end. Lucian, too, was so quiet it was as if the usual ticking time bomb wasn’t him at all.

Silvanus didn’t comment either, but he didn’t believe that a seasoned fisherman would be any less skilled than a group of professional divers. Years of working on the water surely brought hard-earned experience.

The chief had said the drownings only started recently—along with the fish disappearing from the lake. Something must have happened to the lake. And judging by the chief’s attitude, Silvanus suspected he and the villagers knew something... but either didn’t want to say it—or couldn’t.

And then there was the matter of the "corpse retriever" the chief warned them about. Silvanus had a hunch—they might find a clue in whoever that was.

He lifted his eyes, glancing at Bryan, who was still doing his best to reassure the team.

At the same time, a flood of on-screen comments reappeared in front of him:

[Hahaha, at least he’s acting better than Silvanus right now.]

[The village chief thought he brought home a feast, but doesn’t know it’s their last supper, lol.]

[Honestly, I don’t think the villagers are all that innocent!]

[Don’t act so self-righteous—some may be guilty, but the children are innocent!]

[It’s just a movie, why are you all arguing so much?]

[People will literally fight over a fictional character—get used to it!]

[I still think there’s something off about Ryan and Lucian.]

[Yeah, the fact that Lucian hasn’t said a word is already a huge red flag.]

Indeed, from the comments alone, it seemed that Bryan—their reliable team leader—might actually be the villain in this "movie."

No one knew the reason yet, but it looked like Bryan intended to kill all of them... perhaps even wipe out the entire village.

Just what exactly had happened in this village years ago?

Who could answer that question?

Silvanus glanced around at the blank, hungry faces surrounding them. He didn’t think he could get any helpful information from these people.

Let’s start by finding the corpse retriever, he decided.

"Corpse retriever... sounds like someone doing the same job as us."

Silvanus gave a faint smile, almost as if joking.

Bryan nodded and slowly explained,

"That’s right. In areas near big lakes or places where people work in the water, there are often corpse retrievers. They’re hired to recover drowned bodies when someone pays them."

After a pause, Bryan continued,

"From what I’ve heard, this job is only ever passed down to one person at a time—father to child. And not every child is capable of doing it. Because they deal with the dead so much, they tend to turn out a little... strange. Bottom line is, they’re not like us. Best not to get involved with people like that."

Ciel murmured,

"I heard corpse retrievers aren’t even fully human. Half their soul is gone from the moment they’re born. So the chief warning us makes sense. Silvanus, you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Bryan jabbed him in the stomach hard enough to make him cough.

Eyes wide, Ciel turned to Bryan, ready to snap—but then caught a specific look in Bryan’s eyes.

Following Bryan’s gaze, he saw a man standing by the riverbank.

Tall, imposing... with stark white hair that stood out against the bleak sky.

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