The essence of a biological individual is memory. If there is a significant distortion in memory, and it is irreversible, then this person is essentially no longer who they used to be.
Yun You speculated that Mayor Kong might not be lying, but his memory might have been altered by some unknown force.
This would also explain why he frequently appeared to be in a daze, because it wasn't dementia; he simply didn't have memories of those matters.
"It seems that trying to gather information from the villagers is somewhat unrealistic."
Yun You shook his head.
However, when Mayor Kong mentioned the forest earlier, he once again brought up that word—'It.'
This name was identical to the 'It' that parasitizes the pink mist in the tunnel, and it was similarly described as a "twisted evil" enemy that terrified the mayor.
Could it be that these two 'It' are the same thing?
Yun You felt that he couldn't jump to conclusions yet and needed to ponder further.
