Just as Xu Xi thought this time would be like before, with a flash of white light immediately returning them to the player space, the three of them were not transported for a long time.
A wave of confusion couldn't help but surge in his heart.
Was there an anomaly with the teleportation this time?
Just as this feeling of surprise and doubt rose, the village before their eyes seemed to fade like a discolored oil painting. The originally vibrant colors quietly faded away, leaving only a desolate scene woven from black and white.
Even though the sharp, high-pitched crowing of a rooster was still ringing in his ears, and within that crowing, he could vaguely hear the villagers' noisy discussions—the content was nothing more than about the shocking case of the barefoot doctor's poisoning and arson that had rocked the entire village.
Yet, the three of them were like protagonists in a play where only voices were heard but no people were seen. Standing here, they were the only main characters left in this black-and-white world.
A newspaper drifted over from somewhere unknown, swaying and fluttering until it landed right in front of the three of them.
Xu Xi was the closest and subconsciously reached out to take it.
Holding the edge of the paper, a rough texture transmitted to his fingertips. On the yellowed page, the ink printing was somewhat blurred, but the once sensational headlines were still recognizable.
The Long Dress Girl and the tall, skinny guy also came to Xu Xi's side, and together they browsed the contents of this newspaper.
One familiar news report instantly caught their attention.
[Ghost Village Legend? Sixty-three people died mysteriously within three years; a great fire uncovered the truth]
[In X Prefecture, there is a beautiful environment, once regarded as a tourist destination, XX Village (pseudonym). However, starting from year XX, villagers in this village have mysteriously died one after another. After this incident occurred, it attracted the attention of the local relevant departments. Specialized personnel were sent to investigate, but no abnormalities were found.
Since then, rumors spread in the village that it was the ghost of Li (pseudonym) causing trouble. As for the origin of this rumor, it involved a great fire.
Due to aging electrical wires, a great fire broke out at A X's (pseudonym) home. The suddenness of the incident combined with the rapid spread of the flames caused the fire to spread to several nearby houses. A X's mother, Li, along with some elderly with limited mobility, failed to escape successfully and perished in the fire. A X was not home that day and escaped unscathed.
A X lost his father at birth and was raised alone by his mother. The village's barefoot doctor, Gao (pseudonym), then spread rumors that Li had an affair with an outsider. Unhappy after A X's father's death, she burned Li to death. The villagers' deaths were all due to Li's curse.
In a panic, the Spirit Medium Ma (pseudonym) claimed to have communicated with the Mountain God, who could suppress the troublesome Li, on the condition that the villagers offer monthly tributes to her.
Until one night three years later, another great fire broke out in XX Village. Except for A X, none of the 86 villagers survived. After in-depth investigation by the relevant departments, part of the truth was finally uncovered.
It turned out that besides treating villagers, the barefoot doctor Gao also sold some funeral supplies. To make money, Gao poured chloride-based medications into the well. Villagers who drank the well water would soon die. When villagers came to him for treatment, he would also prescribe some cyanide-based drugs. People who took the medicine would also die mysteriously.
From this, it can be seen that the Mountain God matter was also fabricated out of thin air, created by Ma.
Gao set the fire alone late at night for unknown purposes. Unfortunately, only a ten-year-old child remained in the entire village. More information was buried along with this great fire.
For a moment of greed, using the supernatural to make money with human lives, ultimately harming others and oneself, triggering a huge tragedy.]
Just as the three finished browsing this news report, before they could even exchange words, their vision blurred.
Opening their eyes again, Xu Xi had already returned to the golden-hued player space.
Perhaps because he had experienced a bit too much in this instance, taking a bit longer, he now looked up at the endless flight of stairs and actually felt a sense of long absence.
The familiar safe environment made Xu Xi's spirit relax involuntarily. He lazily flopped down onto the ground, not wanting to move at all.
The content of that final newspaper could be said to have briefly summarized all the clues the players gathered within the instance, also revealing part of the truth of the instance. But in reality, many details were not reported.
He didn't know if the police hadn't fully uncovered them, or if they had but concealed certain information.
Like the matters of live sacrifice and the Mountain God.
The newspaper never mentioned live human sacrifice at all, and also called the so-called Mountain God fabricated. However, he didn't think so.
Three years ago, Ah Wang's home had a great fire due to aging electrical wires. Then, Gao Zhuang fabricated rumors about Ah Wang's mother seeking revenge, poisoning people just to make money from his side business.
The Spirit Medium probably discovered what Gao Zhuang was doing. Not only did she not expose him, but she also colluded with Gao Zhuang, claiming to have communicated with a Mountain God who could protect the village, collecting tributes from the villagers.
The two acted in concert, putting on a show, fooling the villagers for three whole years.
Until one day, a villager made a wish to the Mountain God and turned into a monster that was neither human nor ghost.
Gao Zhuang once again shifted the blame onto Ah Wang's mother's head. But even if the blame was shifted, the facts wouldn't change.
Xu Xi guessed the Mountain God might have truly been randomly fabricated by the Spirit Medium at first. It's just neither she nor Gao Zhuang expected it to become real. In a panic, they thought of live sacrifice.
He wasn't clear if the purpose of the live sacrifice was to appease the Mountain God or something else. In any case, this ritual was not successful.
Because the night before the sacrifice, Gao Zhuang set fire to the entire village.
As for why Gao Zhuang set the fire, he actually had a vague guess about that point too.
The Spirit Medium proposed live sacrifice, but Village Chief Zhu disagreed. The matter of sacrificing to the Mountain God couldn't be delayed repeatedly. To pressure Village Chief Zhu, the best method was to create another supernatural incident to pressure him.
They just didn't expect Gao Zhuang to set the fire.
He guessed Gao Zhuang probably intended to mimic the great fire at Ah Wang's home three years ago. However, something went wrong, and the fire got out of control.
And what surprised him was that the true ending of the instance was actually that the entire village had no survivors except Ah Wang.
If you asked if he was shocked, of course he was.
Xu Xi suddenly, inexplicably, thought of Ah Wang's contradictory words.
... Never mind.
The instance was already cleared. Delving deeper had no meaning anyway. He had pretty much pieced it together, about eighty or ninety percent correct.
Scratching his head, his thoughts turned to this instance's teammates.
He was tricked by the baseball cap young man. Angry or not, he had long been prepared that future instances might not necessarily be as harmonious as the second one.
Looking at it from another angle, he even felt the other guy's brain was indeed sharp.
Hearing from Village Chief Zhu's mouth that villagers used livestock blood every night to attract the two dried corpses near the Wheat Fields, he just listened and that was it. However, the baseball cap young man and the Suited Man could think of using that point to screw others over.
Lesson learned.
He also didn't know if the baseball cap young man also cleared the instance after they did.
Kind of annoying.