Archives: The Nanyang Mystery Episode 5 Recap
> Archives: The Nanyang Mystery Recaps
Determined to uncover the truth and save Zhang Haixia as quickly as possible, Zhang Hailou began his investigation on the Nan'an. To gather clues, he played cards with three crew members, deliberately losing money to get them to talk. Once Steven grew tired of watching him lose and stepped outside after lending him some money, Zhang Hailou distributed the cash among the crew.
His tactic worked, and a sailor revealed that a crew member named Song Cai had mysteriously vanished a week prior when the ship docked at Balai port. He added that Song Cai had been acting strangely, sneaking out at night to catch flies, and the crew had later found several bottles filled with live flies under his bed. Zhang Hailou and Steven had a crew member lead them to Song Cai's dormitory.
Although the flies had already been discarded, Zhang Hailou examined Song Cai's bunk and discovered the letters "ND" (representing the pitcher plant) carved into the bedboard. Unable to fathom the connection between the flies and the pitcher plant, Zhang Hailou asked Steven to help him have the crew catch live flies from different sections of the ship and keep them in separate, labeled bottles based on where they were caught.
Later, Zhang Hailou discovered trace amounts of blood in the bottle from the infirmary. Sensing a lead, he investigated the room and followed a trail of blood down to the bottom hold. He noticed that the hold was covered in mud and showed signs of a violent struggle. Pushing further, he was astonished to discover a familiar structure: the ancestral shrine of the Balai Evil God.
Steven soon caught up with him, theorizing that the shrine was just a clever setup used by Easterners to smuggle valuable antiques. Zhang Hailou, familiar with the layout, noticed a slot in the shrine. He took a small Balai deity statue and placed it into the empty slot, which caused a secret stone door to open. Despite Steven's fear, Zhang Hailou dragged him along to investigate the passage. Inside, they encountered a small, living version of the Evil God.
Drawing on his experience, Zhang Hailou successfully neutralized the flying creature by covering its eyes. Moving further into the cavern, they discovered the remains of Zhang Siye from the Xiacheng headquarters of the Southern Archives, realizing that others had escaped through this very route in the past. Zhang Hailou handed the small statue to Steven for safekeeping and persuaded him to descend into a deep hole to continue their search.
As they walked through the oppressive cavern, Steven chewed on tobacco leaves to calm his nerves. Suddenly, they entered a hallucination and encountered their own doppelgängers, whose eyes were bleeding. The figures mirrored their exact movements, which terrified Steven and frightened him away. Zhang Hailou stayed calm and figured out a solution: he used a flame to burn the eyes of the small deity statue, causing the hallucination to gradually fade away.
Zhang Hailou then heard Steven's cries for help and found him trapped in a crevice. Steven explained that he had blacked out and fallen in after accidentally making eye contact with the creature behind them. Using a nearby rope, Zhang Hailou pulled Steven back to safety. As they continued forward, they noticed a strong stench of decay and signs of a massive struggle. Peering down into a deep pit, Zhang Hailou finally located the giant, living Evil God resting in the darkness below.
