…lie?!
Jia Qing and Zheng Shu were stunned.
The morning breeze blows in the forest.
The golden sunlight poured down, but the group could not feel any warmth, only the coldness that invaded silently.
Song Yang exhaled, frowned, and said, "That's right, if it's a 'lie', then everything makes sense."
"First of all, the two bodies are undoubtedly those of the Lal brothers. They claim they don't know where the child is, which is an obvious lie."
He pointed to the identifying words on the corpses and said, "The best way to determine if a living person is possessed by a demon is to see if there are any strange 'lumps' on their body."
The "lump" is the bat growing under the skin.
"But not everyone's bats are in easily observable locations," Song Yang paused and continued, "When Liu Mingyang, Fu Lan, and Huang Yu were interrogated, they had no idea if there were any demons among the rest of us. But to avoid punishment, they all chose to 'identify.'"
"So, their accusations also became lies."
And obviously, before the destruction of this town, the townspeople had frantically pointed fingers at each other out of fear and personal grudges.
The black words crawling all over these bones bear witness to that bloody period.
The lies told one after another back then formed a huge web that enveloped the entire town and imprisoned the souls of the townspeople.
As Song Yang and Xia Jing spoke, the others gradually thought of more.
Looking at the words on the corpses again, they now understood everything.
Feng Shi and Bian Ya walked among the corpses.
Feng Shi concentrated and said, "So, what those townspeople said about seeing Mayor Is's eyes turn red, which was once evidence that the mayor was possessed by a demon, was indeed all lies."
Elizabeth didn't believe that her father died because of the devil. Although there was not much evidence, she cleverly guessed the culprit.
Unfortunately, the ignorant townspeople did not believe her. They did not even support her in finding evidence and proving the murderer.
Elizabeth, overcome with rage, could not resist making sarcastic remarks, and the townspeople became enraged and embarrassed.
If they were a little uncertain before about whether Mayor Is was a devil, then at that moment, in their hearts, there was no doubt that Mayor Is was a devil.
They were not wrong. It was Elizabeth and Mayor Is himself who were wrong.
In order to make themselves feel justified, uncertain illusions and false fantasies are all turned into "facts".
The devil is the devil, and he deserves to die.
And all the lies they told to nail Elizabeth and Mayor Is finally backfired on them.
Xia Jing said calmly: "Liu Mingyang's 'no intention' is a lie——"
When asked if he planned to attack Song Yang, the man grinned and said "no".
That may have been just his pretense, his posturing, but at that time, this lie had already lured the devil to come upon him.
Xia Jing pondered, "As for Huang Yu, I think the behavior that led to his first possession was probably shaking his head."
Everyone was stunned.
Song Yang recalled and nodded, "That's right. You should remember yesterday morning when we went to the next room to check on Liu Mingyang's body, I asked him and Fu Lan if they knew what the three words 'not intending' on Liu Mingyang meant."
Jia Qing exclaimed, "Ah, yes, Huang Yu shook his head at that time!"
But at that time he had clearly thought of the origin of these three words, and the action of shaking his head meant that he was lying!
Feng Shi hesitated and said, "Then loudly..."
Thinking of that innocent male college student, Zheng Shu suddenly opened his eyes wide, the color draining from his face. He trembled and said, "I... I remember when Brother Gao said those three words!"
"Last night, before the ghost arrived, I was very scared, so I asked Brother Gao and Brother Jia if players who died in the dungeon would die again in reality, and if it would be a horrible death. Brother Gao said..."
At that time, I comforted him loudly and said, "No."
For a moment, Zheng Shu was shaking violently. He muttered, "Is Brother Gao lying here? But even if it's a lie, it's a white lie. He was trying to comfort me. I...I hurt him? Did I hurt him?!"
Hearing this, Jia Qingyi recalled the brief conversation yesterday and his expression changed slightly.
The others looked stunned.
Even Xia Jing was a little surprised.
Zheng Shu's eyes were red, and he seemed to have suffered a huge blow. He choked and sobbed: "I'm sorry, Brother Gao, why did I talk so much nonsense? I should have just kept my mouth shut. I——"
——He never expected that Gao Sheng would die because of this answer!
Zheng Shu was filled with remorse. He was crying and wanted to punch himself twice. Jia Qing quickly stopped him with a complicated expression.
He moved his lips, trying to comfort her.
But in the end, all that came out of his mouth was a sigh.
Looking at this scene, the others fell silent.
Before this, who could have imagined that a white lie could lead to fatal disaster?
The comforter dies, and the comforted suffers.
The copies of Smiley City are always so twisted and cruel.
After a moment, Song Yang adjusted his mood and asked Xia Jing for his opinion: "Should we dig up the mayor's body and confirm it?"
"Let's dig," Xia Jing said, taking out a shovel from his space bag, "or check if there are any other clues."
Several people worked together and quickly dug out the mayor's coffin.
The mayor's coffin was as solemn as his tombstone, forming a sharp contrast with the sloppily shaped graves around it.
The mayor was once cursed, and judging by the behavior of those townspeople, it wouldn't be surprising if they simply threw his body into the river.
But he was finally able to lie so peacefully in the solemn tomb, which must have been all thanks to Elizabeth.
The girl must have been under tremendous pressure to complete all these funeral arrangements alone.
The six people put their palms together, apologized silently, and worked together to open the coffin.
Dust was rising, and a corpse lay quietly in the coffin. It could be seen that the body was placed with its hands folded on its abdomen.
Song Yang walked around the coffin, turned the body over, and after carefully examining the bones with his peach blossom eyes, he confirmed, "No words found."
A black stick-like object lay beside the corpse, with a palm and five fingers vaguely visible at the top of the stick.
Song Yang said: "It is basically certain that this is the child's arm."
They could even imagine that Elizabeth placed the charred baby's arm - the fuse that led to her father being slandered as a devil - in the coffin purely out of pity for the innocent child.
She hoped that this poor soul could find a resting place.
And the mayor was framed - this is a foregone conclusion.
After figuring out the whole story and understanding the criteria used by the demon to select humans, the problem they now face is how to kill the demon itself.
Song Yang pondered, "The first thing we need to solve is the same problem. The mayor's death was man-made, but the subsequent deaths of the townspeople were definitely not. What happened in the town that turned the originally fake demon into a real demon?"
Xia Jing seemed to suddenly think of something and turned back in the direction they came from.
The others hurried to follow.
On the way here, Xia Jing noticed a rather special corpse. Now, he found the corpse after just two steps.
The corpse lay in a pile of tall grass and was difficult to find without careful observation.
When the others saw the appearance of the skeleton clearly, they immediately felt goosebumps appear on their skin.
——This skeleton was covered with dense black text.
These tiny words are like some strange bacteria that corrode the bones of the deceased. It makes people feel as if they will be infected just by taking a step closer, which is frightening.
"This...how many lies did this person tell in his lifetime?" Jia Qing said in disbelief.
Song Yang glanced at the words on the bones and read them out one by one in a cold voice: "'God will come', 'I am God's most loyal believer', 'God will listen to the wishes of all believers'..."
Bianya said, "This is the body of the prophet."
This is also the corpse of a great liar, and lies are his skin.
Holy water can repel evil spirits.
I can be a medium of communication between you and God.
Of course God loves everyone.
The crystal ball can see everyone's past and present lives.
I only charge one gold coin for solving a problem.
I can summon spirits.
Your father is being burned in the fire of evil.
…
The more they looked, the more they felt something was wrong.
Feng Shi frowned and read: "'Your father was indeed possessed by a demon', 'but he was framed', 'I can help you'..."
Zheng Shu said hoarsely, "This is... Elizabeth has come to him?!"
These words were obviously spoken by the prophet to Elizabeth!
Jia Qing was shocked and said, "Isn't Elizabeth quite smart? Why would she seek help from such a person?"
Song Yang said in a deep voice: "People are most likely to make wrong choices when they are desperate." That year, on the forty-first day after Mayor Is's death, Elizabeth disappeared for no reason.
Then, the town began to experience outbreaks of demonic possession.
It is not difficult to imagine that in the forty-one days before this, Elizabeth must have never stopped pursuing the truth.
But obviously, what finally befell her was collapse and confusion.
Xia Jing looked at the words and pondered for a while. Suddenly, he turned to Jia Qing and asked, "What did the prophet's soul say when you saw him yesterday?"
Jia Qing was stunned, trying to recall, "Uh, he said... if you write your wish on a piece of paper and eat it, it will come true. He can use a crystal ball to see everyone's past and present lives, one gold coin at a time, honestly... Aren't these all already in his bones -"
"No," Xia Jing interrupted him, "'Write your wish on a piece of paper and eat it, and it will come true'—that sentence didn't appear on his body."
Everyone was shocked and looked at the corpse in front of them carefully again.
Soon, they confirmed it.
Xia Jing was right, this sentence did not appear on the prophet's body!
And they quickly reacted—
Only lies will surface on the bones of the dead.
If it doesn't appear, then it's not a lie!
Nine out of ten statements of the prophet are lies, but this one statement is probably the only one he did not lie about!
Immediately, a premonition arose in everyone's heart.
Xia Jing looked at Jia Qing and asked, "Is this what the prophet said, or is there something more detailed?"
Jia Qing's expression suddenly changed. He swallowed and said weakly, "I remember his original words were—"
"'Write down your thoughts on paper, eat it, and then commune with me, and your dreams will come true.'"
The connection between spirit and body?
Everyone immediately thought of something not so good.
Song Yang whispered, "I'm afraid Elizabeth died in the prophet's house. The birth of the 'devil' should also be related to her death. Let's go to the prophet's house and take a look."
The group immediately changed direction and planned to go back the way they came.
At this moment, Xia Jing suddenly stopped and looked deeper into the woods.
Noticing his abnormality, Song Yang also paused, and the two of them fell behind the team.
Song Yang asked, "What's wrong?"
Xia Jing whispered, "There are two shovels there." Song Yang was stunned.
Looking up, I saw a patch of grass a few meters away, which seemed dim because it was surrounded by trees.
I could vaguely see that there was indeed something lying between the grass leaves.
Xia Jing took a step forward and walked over.
He stepped over the haystack, bent down, and picked up two shovels from the grass that were obviously produced by Smiley City.
The specifications were almost identical to the shovel they had just used.
The difference is that there is some rust on the metal rods of both shovels, which is a sign of time.
They had been lying there for who knew how long, and it was obvious that they did not belong to any of them.
Song Yang realized almost the moment he saw the two shovels that this was probably another bug.
He frowned.
These two items, like the second helicopter in the previous copy, were most likely left behind in this copy by the players of Smiley City four years ago.
The moment Xia Jing picked up the two shovels, his body paused.
Then he slowly stood up.
A name just naturally appeared in his mind.
"Jiangying?"!