The outside world's "Flash Play" program team once again faced a torrential storm of live stream comments.
Inside the instance.
After Xu Xi and the other man offered a bunch of dandelions as a simple gesture of their feelings, they prepared to leave.
Just as they turned and were about to walk away, they heard the boy behind them urgently call out to stop them.
"Wait, I know who you are. You're the experts Village Chief Grandpa invited."
Hearing this, Xu Xi couldn't help but stop in his tracks.
The tall, skinny guy frankly acknowledged with an "Mhm."
Ah Wang's fingers kept twisting the hem of his clothes, his gaze falling on the grave beside them, conflicted as he said, "I'm sorry... I shut you out before."
His mother had taught him since he was little to be polite, but he didn't want to be polite to bad people.
He had thought these experts were all bad people.
"My mom didn't become a vengeful ghost, and she hasn't harmed anyone. Please, please don't hurt her."
Xu Xi was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.
He was a bit confused.
If Ah Wang's mother hadn't become a vengeful ghost, why would Ah Wang still be afraid they would hurt his mother?
They didn't even have an "evil exorcism" target.
The tall, skinny guy paused, his tone unconsciously softening a bit. "We know."
As if feeling that single sentence didn't fully express their stance, he added another.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt your mom."
Ah Wang visibly relaxed his body after hearing this.
Perhaps because of these two older brothers' gentle actions just now, he inexplicably trusted their promise.
Xu Xi didn't know if this boy knew he was the sacrificial offering for the postnatal ritual, but he didn't plan to ask.
Their goal, after all, was partly to stop this human sacrifice.
Looking at the boy before him who still seemed somewhat guilty about shutting them out earlier, a thought flashed in Xu Xi's eyes.
He suddenly remembered something he hadn't yet figured out. He carefully considered his wording and cautiously asked, "Three years ago, the fire at your house... do you know how it started?"
Xu Xi noticed that after he asked, the tall, skinny man beside him turned his head to look at him. The emotion in his eyes left Xu Xi somewhat baffled.
Was there something wrong with his question...?
He felt this point was crucial.
Ah Wang didn't notice the eye contact between the two older brothers. He sniffled, but didn't hide anything, nor was he as resistant as during their first meeting.
"The police uncle said it was caused by aging electrical wires, but they didn't believe it. They all said Dad burned Mom to death."
The "they" here, without needing to ask, clearly referred to those villagers.
Xu Xi was somewhat surprised.
So, when the big fire broke out three years ago, the village had also reported it to the police, but Village Chief Zhu had never mentioned this to them.
Learning this important piece of information once again highlighted the innocence of Ah Wang's mother.
Ah Wang knew the cause of his family's fire, but didn't know much about the village's death incidents. He also held a hostile attitude towards the so-called Spirit Medium and Mountain God.
Having obtained a hidden piece of information from Ah Wang, the two didn't linger any longer. After bidding farewell to the boy, they headed towards Gao Zhuang's house.
On the way, the silent atmosphere was as usual.
But Xu Xi didn't feel awkward anymore, because he was recalling the conversation he just had with Ah Wang.
The reason they were shut out by Ah Wang during their first visit was because Ah Wang learned of their "expert" identity, thought they were there to hurt his mother, and thus resisted them.
However, when they entered the village, the Village Chief had asked them to pretend to be Wu Cuifen's relatives.
Logically, Ah Wang shouldn't have known their true identity.
But Xu Xi quickly thought of Village Chief Zhu's grandson, Zhu Yu. From Zhu Yu's words, it was clear the two boys had a very good relationship. If Zhu Yu told Ah Wang, that would make sense.
There was also a rather contradictory point in Ah Wang's words.
He claimed his mother wasn't a vengeful ghost but also pleaded with them not to hurt his mother. Could he then assume... that Ah Wang's mother's ghost actually did exist?
Xu Xi subconsciously rubbed the goosebumps on his arm.
He had a truly inexplicable fear of these things you couldn't see or touch.
Finally, why did Village Chief Zhu hide the true circumstances of the fire from them?
They had already dismissed their suspicions of Village Chief Zhu, but now he felt doubts about the man rising again.
At this time, most villagers were probably taking their afternoon nap. There were almost no people along the way. After walking for about half an hour, the two arrived in front of a two-story building.
Unsurprisingly, the door was tightly locked. Xu Xi hadn't learned lockpicking. He was just about to go see if there were any windows or the like when he saw the tall, skinny man take a syringe from his coat pocket.
The other man observed the old-fashioned lock on the door, used the needle to fiddle with the keyhole a few times, and after a while, the lock opened.
Xu Xi glanced at that syringe. It still contained some kind of liquid.
Anything that could be brought into the instance could only be a prop.
But he wasn't interested in inquiring about other people's private items, so he just pretended he didn't see it.
The two successfully entered the house.
Xu Xi had only taken a few steps inside before stopping.
It wasn't because he encountered any danger, but because the things arranged on the first floor surprised him greatly.
Funeral wreaths, incense and candles, paper effigies... Seeing those familiar funeral items, Xu Xi even thought he had returned to the funeral shop from the second instance.
Wasn't Gao Zhuang a doctor?
Why were there these funeral items in his house?
Judging by the quantity, there were even quite a lot.
The tall, skinny man was clearly also taken aback.
The two went to check the second floor. The second floor was a normal living space, with nothing unusual.
After carefully searching the entire house, aside from the strange funeral items on the first floor, everywhere else was quite ordinary.
It wasn't far from Gao Zhuang's time to get off work. The two didn't find anything more and could only leave for now.
Exiting the house, the tall, skinny man deftly relocked the door.
To avoid bumping into Gao Zhuang, they deliberately took a detour.
The sky was gradually darkening. Usually, by this time, the players would have long returned to their temporary lodgings.
But tonight, they had no choice but to act during the night.
The villagers probably didn't go out at night for fear of Old Man Liu knocking.
They hadn't yet figured out Old Man Liu's attack method, but because his behavior pattern was singular and fixed, he seemed easy to deal with.
But Xu Xi wasn't clear what would happen if they weren't in their rooms at night and came face-to-face with Old Man Liu.
However, since the Spirit Medium had invited them to go to the Mountain God Temple at night, didn't that indicate Old Man Liu's threat level wasn't that high?
Surely the Spirit Medium's real purpose wasn't just to trick them into going out.
If that really was the case... then they'd just have to die once.
Gao Zhuang's house was about a twenty-minute walk from the clinic. Before the sky turned completely dark, the two reached the clinic.
Gao Zhuang had already gotten off work long ago. The clinic inside was dim and dark, without a single glimmer of light.
Xu Xi didn't hesitate. He took out the spare key Village Chief Zhu had given him and opened the clinic's main door.
The layout inside was the same as during the day, unchanged, only now it seemed exceptionally quiet.
The tall, skinny man headed straight for the consultation desk.
Xu Xi, meanwhile, started flipping through the various medicine boxes on the cabinets.
After checking all the cabinets one by one, Xu Xi fell into deep thought.
He discovered many medicines were already expired, yet they were still placed on the cabinets, and most of them were chloride-based medications.
At this time, the tall, skinny man had also finished examining the materials on the consultation desk.
After reorganizing those materials, he came to Xu Xi's side.
"I looked at the treatment records. This Gao Zhuang prescribed medications for patients that almost all contained cyanide-based drugs."
Xu Xi also told him about his own discovery.
At this point, things were quite clear.
The toxin in the well most likely originated from those chloride-based medications on the cabinets, and Gao Zhuang was also prescribing cyanide-based drugs to the villagers.
No wonder those villagers died one after another. If they didn't die, who would?
Being able to reach this conclusion so quickly was also because they already knew the villagers died from poisoning.
Gao Zhuang, having access to medications, clearly possessed the means for such poisoning.
The only thing that puzzled them was: why would he poison the villagers and deliberately prescribe harmful drugs to them?
What benefit did killing those villagers bring Gao Zhuang?
The tall, skinny man said in a low voice, "Let's go. We'll go meet up with the others."
The mastermind behind the scenes had been found. What roles the Spirit Medium and the Mountain God played in this instance would depend on the other team's progress.
Xu Xi acknowledged with a sound.
These brain-taxing problems, for now, he still needed to discuss with his clever teammates.
...Though, to be accurate, he was more of a listener.
Pulling open the clinic's main door, before Xu Xi could even step out, suddenly a heavy, unidentified object slammed into him. Accompanied by the sound of something shattering, a strong, heavy smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.
Xu Xi instinctively reached out to touch his clothes. A sticky liquid instantly soaked his palm.
"Roar—"
While Xu Xi was stunned by the impact, an extremely withered, dried-up corpse pounced on him from around the corner, knocking him to the ground. It opened its mouth and went straight for his carotid artery.
In just a few short seconds, the situation changed drastically.
Xu Xi only felt a sharp pain in his neck. The strength of the dried corpse pressing down on him was absurdly great, firmly restraining him.
Before his consciousness blurred, he saw the tall, skinny man holding a syringe, stabbing it straight into the dried corpse's body.
——
Ugh...
Xu Xi stood behind the door, still holding the door-opening pose.
He raised his hand and touched his neck.
It was the first time he had been killed by having his blood sucked.