Inside the instance.
While Xu Xi was observing his teammates this time, the other five were also sizing each other up.
The six individuals with distinct styles each occupied a position, maintaining a certain distance from one another.
Before anyone could speak, a slow, raspy voice came from not far away.
"I presume you gentlemen are the experts who accepted my commission to exorcise evil spirits for our village?"
Hearing this, the six of them all turned to look and saw a slightly hunched, elderly man slowly walking towards them.
When the old man reached the group, the elite-looking man in a suit appropriately responded, "Indeed, it is us."
Whether they knew how to exorcise evil spirits or not, since the instance arranged for them to be experts, they had to be.
Clearly, this old man before them was here to provide the initial information for the instance.
Naturally, the others weren't foolish enough to undermine the suited man.
"Excellent." The old man's excitement was palpable. "I heard you are particularly famous. Our village is saved now."
The suited man gave a slight smile. "We still need to understand the situation in more detail."
"No problem, of course, no problem. Please, come with me into the village. Standing here is too conspicuous. We can talk as we walk." The old man pointed ahead. "Our village is just up ahead."
"Alright, please lead the way."
After the old man turned around, the suited man nodded to the other five and took the lead in following behind the old man.
Everyone's expressions varied, but they all quickly followed suit.
Xu Xi habitually walked at the very back.
This suited man gave him a sense of familiarity; he strongly resembled the Refined Man from the last instance—both were masters of the art of language.
However, their temperaments differed. The Refined Man was gentler, while this suited man appeared more shrewd.
The seven of them walked slowly along the relatively flat dirt road. Their soles occasionally crushed small, loose stones. On both sides of the road were endless wheat fields. A gentle breeze swept through, stirring up layer upon layer of green waves.
The faintly bitter scent of wheat stalks and the earthy smell of soil washed over them. Xu Xi sniffed lightly, feeling inexplicably more relaxed.
If they weren't in an instance, such natural scenery of blue skies and green grass would likely be very popular.
It was a shame he didn't have his phone; otherwise, he'd really want to take a few scenic photos to post on his social feed.
It wasn't just Xu Xi. Judging by the unconsciously dazed expressions of the other players, everyone's thoughts were roughly similar.
But soon, the low, raspy voice of the old man at the front pulled everyone's wandering thoughts back.
"Our village is called Ninghe Village. I am the village chief, surnamed Zhu."
"As for why we invited you experts here... ah, it's a long story..."
Village Chief Zhu walked and slowly explained the situation to the players.
"As you can see, our village is nestled against mountains and beside water, with a beautiful environment. In the past, quite a few people came here for tourism."
"But three years ago, a major incident occurred in the village."
"Before talking about this matter, I must first mention the family of Ah Wang in the village."
"Ah Wang is a child with a hard fate. The year he was born, his father fell to his death on a construction site. The boss dragged his feet on the compensation and eventually even ran off with the money. From then on, Ah Wang was raised single-handedly by his mother. With the family's breadwinner gone and no compensation money, life for the two of them was truly difficult."
"From that time on, some gossip started circulating in the village. However, Ah Wang's mother had a fiery temper. Whoever dared to gossip about her family, she would grab a kitchen knife and charge to their door. Gradually, no one dared to say anything negative to their faces anymore."
Hearing this, the six players clearly sensed that Village Chief Zhu's tone not only lowered slightly but also carried a faint tremor. Their hearts couldn't help but sink along with it.
"Three years ago, Ah Wang was only seven. This boy wasn't outgoing like his parents. He was quiet since childhood, proactively helping with chores every day without his mother having to call him. If my own mischievous brat could be half as sensible as Ah Wang, I'd wake up laughing from my dreams."
"But who could have known that such an ordinary day would suddenly turn disastrous?"
"That day, Ah Wang went out to help his mother pick wild vegetables, so he wasn't home. Thankfully, he wasn't. That very day, a great fire broke out at Ah Wang's house. The fire spread, burning several houses. Ah Wang's mother and some elderly villagers with poor mobility who couldn't escape in time were all burned to death inside their homes."
"From then on, people in the village started dying."
"First, it was some elderly folks. Some would suddenly pass away right after returning home from visiting neighbors, others would collapse at the table right after finishing a meal at home, with no time to even be sent to the hospital."
"At first, we didn't pay much attention. After all, at that age, some accidents are normal. But then things became increasingly... strange."
"From the elderly in their sixties and seventies down to children of seven or eight, even young people who had always been healthy began passing away one after another."
"Our village's total population is less than two hundred people. But in just three short years, over sixty people in our village have died!"
Everyone secretly gasped upon hearing this.
A small village, averaging over twenty deaths per year?
The cheerful-looking man wearing a baseball cap interjected, "Didn't you report it to the police?"
"Of course we did." The village chief's tone was full of bitterness. "When children and able-bodied young adults started having incidents later on, I reported it."
"But after the police came and investigated the entire village, they found nothing unusual."
"After that, rumors began circulating that there was something unclean in the village."
"But what does this have to do with Ah Wang's family?" Although the fashionable woman with curly hair phrased it as a question, she already had a suspicion in her mind.
The successive deaths in the village might be related to that great fire at Ah Wang's house.
Sure enough, everyone heard Village Chief Zhu lower his voice, explaining softly as if avoiding something: "A story came from somewhere, saying the reason Ah Wang's house caught fire was because Ah Wang's mother... was having an affair. Ah Wang's father in the underworld couldn't bear to watch anymore and, in his anger, started that fire to burn the adulterous couple to death."
This...?
The six of them exchanged glances upon hearing this.
The gentle girl in a long dress couldn't help but frown. "You believed that?"
Village Chief Zhu sighed. "At the beginning, of course we didn't believe it, but..."
"You don't know, the first ones to die were all those who had previously gossiped about Ah Wang's family, saying Ah Wang brought misfortune upon his father and mother, that he was definitely a jinx, that such a harsh fate would surely bring misfortune to everyone around him in the future."
"The villagers all believed Ah Wang's mother, unwilling to accept her fate, had turned into a vengeful ghost and returned to take revenge on the village."
The girl in the long dress asked again, "So, Village Chief, do you think so too?"
Village Chief Zhu didn't answer, only sighing repeatedly.
Xu Xi thought to himself, this village chief must believe it; otherwise, he wouldn't have invited them here to "exorcise evil spirits."