Gasp.
The Long Dress Girl looked unquestionably like the gentle and graceful type, speaking softly and with a gentle temperament.
But her decisive personality made Xu Xi realize you can't judge a book by its cover.
The three of them exchanged the clues they had each gathered once more.
The point that the barefoot doctor, Gao Zhuang, from the village was the mastermind behind the deaths of over sixty people in Ninghe Village within three years was basically confirmed.
His motive was another matter for now.
Regarding the Spirit Medium, the Long Dress Girl only offered a faint summary: "She's probably a fraud with no real skills."
It was just unknown where the so-called Mountain God had come from.
At this point, everyone was clear that Gao Zhuang and the Spirit Medium definitely had some kind of connection.
One deliberately poisoned the villagers to death and then claimed they were cursed by Ah Wang's mother, while the other summoned some nonsense Mountain God to suppress the "evil-doing" Ah Wang's mother.
The two were clearly working together.
Although there were still a few lingering questions, they had roughly figured out most of the truth about this instance. Now they needed to think about how to clear it.
The story of Ah Wang's mother committing evil and seeking revenge was artificially fabricated. Naturally, they would try to stop the sacrificial ceremony the day after tomorrow.
But how to stop it? There were only a few of them; they couldn't possibly oppose the entire village.
Unless they revealed that Gao Zhuang was the real culprit.
"We need to consider a few points. The Spirit Medium holds a very special position in the village. The villagers clearly trust her a lot. Even Village Chief Zhu had to have us 'experts' disguise our identities when he hired us."
The Long Dress Girl wasn't optimistic about this approach.
"Although proving Gao Zhuang is the poisoner could shatter the Spirit Medium's mysterious facade, we shouldn't underestimate the ignorance of these villagers."
"And we didn't catch Gao Zhuang in the act of poisoning. Everything right now is just our speculation."
Xu Xi understood her concerns.
After all, they were outsiders who had just arrived two days ago. Apart from Village Chief Zhu, the villagers didn't trust them much.
If handled poorly, they might even be falsely accused.
You say the well water is poisoned? I could just as easily say you're the ones who poisoned it to frame me.
The above scenario could very well happen.
Even with Village Chief Zhu's guarantee, they might not necessarily...
Wait a minute.
Why did they have to confront Gao Zhuang and the others themselves?
Xu Xi suddenly saw the blind spot.
In the last instance, he and the High-Ponytailed Woman ultimately resolved the anomaly by calling a special hotline. For this instance, they could just call the police directly!
If it really was Ah Wang's mother's doing, calling the police would be useless. But Gao Zhuang was human, committing physical murder. If the police couldn't handle supernatural events, could they really not handle a barefoot doctor and a fraudulent spirit medium?
Anyway, he could reload. Trying wouldn't cost him anything.
"We can call the police." Xu Xi stated his idea without the slightest hesitation.
The other two were stunned for a moment but quickly caught on.
Right.
Since the village had called the police before, that meant this instance had police.
They could totally try calling the police, providing evidence to have the police arrest them.
However, a new problem emerged: this instance hadn't provided them with electronic devices like phones.
"Let's find Village Chief Zhu tomorrow morning," the tall, skinny guy suddenly suggested.
Village Chief Zhu was the only one who knew the well water was poisoned. Persuading him to call the police could work too.
Xu Xi and the Long Dress Girl had no objections to this.
Even if that didn't work, they could use force to "borrow" his phone to call the police.
After agreeing, the three of them prepared to return to their respective lodgings.
The baseball cap young man had fled and his whereabouts were unknown. Xu Xi didn't know if he would try to cause more trouble for them.
They'd cross that bridge when they came to it. If they couldn't handle it, he'd just reload.
On their way back, a figure lunged agilely at Xu Xi from the shadows.
Holy crap!!
Xu Xi's first thought was that the baseball cap young man he'd just been thinking about was ambushing him. But upon closer look, a familiar withered body came into view.
He couldn't help but have a question mark pop up in his mind.
Shouldn't this thing be currently lunging at the clinic door right now?
Perhaps because he'd been pounced on once before, Xu Xi reflexively dodged the dried corpse's attack this time.
Before the dried corpse could continue its assault, the Long Dress Girl pulled out a brick from who-knows-where and smashed it hard against the dried corpse's head.
Seizing the moment the dried corpse staggered from the blow, the tall, skinny guy seized the opportunity, stepped forward, and forcefully jabbed the syringe in his hand into its arm.
In less than three seconds, the corpse crumpled to the ground.
Before the three could even catch their breath, a burst of flames suddenly appeared not far away, glaringly conspicuous against the pitch-black night.
Faint, anxious voices could be heard.
"Stop sleeping! There's a fire—"
"Everyone, come help put out the fire!"
This sudden turn of events caught the three of them off guard.
Xu Xi's heart raced, and he stared dumbfounded at the growing blaze.
How could a fire suddenly break out in the village in the middle of the night?
...Could it be the baseball cap young man who started the fire?
The fire was huge, even spreading in their direction. It seemed out of control, and the various chaotic noises became clearer.
The three were just about to go check it out. Xu Xi had only run a few steps when a tremendous force suddenly slammed him to the ground from behind.
The familiar, intense pain erupted at his neck.
Struggling, Xu Xi couldn't help but feel frustrated.
Forget why these two dried corpses abandoned the well to chase them, he just wanted to know why they both went for him first??
In the last second before losing consciousness, a thought suddenly flashed through Xu Xi's mind.
He almost forgot, he still had that debuff on him.
That damn Mountain God's Favor!!!
Dammit.
—
Bitten to death again.
Xu Xi rubbed his neck, somewhat helpless.
He hadn't returned to the moment just before the second dried corpse's ambush, but to the time right after they had just finished making plans and were about to return to their lodgings.
This proved the reload judged that even if he could dodge the second dried corpse's ambush, he still couldn't survive.
Before the ambush, they were heading towards the fire. After dealing with the second dried corpse, they would definitely still go over there, so he most likely would die there again.
...Probably burned to death, he guessed randomly.
Anyway, first go find out the cause of the fire, see if it was arson.
There should still be time now.
The other two were originally about to leave when they saw the hoodie-wearing young man pause, then suddenly turn and run in a certain direction.
Stunned, they heard his cold, sharp voice ring out—
"Follow me first."
The remaining two looked at each other.
The tall, skinny guy was somewhat used to it by now and followed without much hesitation.
In his eyes, the hoodie-wearing young man always made certain judgments without any warning.
In fact, his judgments had never been wrong.
The Long Dress Girl hesitated for a moment, then followed behind.
Her thoughts were similar to the tall, skinny guy's.