Don't Look at the Mask!

Chen Mo put the reporter up in his house and told her the two rules: do not look at the Nuo mask, and do not open the door after dark. He seemed friendly enough about it. She had come to the Nuo mask village to report on the old masks and the ritual, arriving in time for the yearly rite. A mute old woman warned her off. The villagers watched her. A mask fell and she met its eyes, and after that the frightening things started. The villagers, some of them with ruined faces, keep the village safe by giving up a woman in a purification rite, making her the new Nuo god. She learned she was the one they had picked. When the ceremony began she was dragged up onto the altar platform, with Chen Mo and the villagers coming after her.