Jiang means river, Ying means camp.
Who is Jiang Ying?
When this question arose, some images also emerged in Xia Jing's mind.
He saw a boy wearing a tattered school uniform. His hair was so long that it covered his eyes, which was against school rules. His eyes were hidden behind his hair, timid, but seemed to be longing for something, and they were flashing with light.
He always hunched his back, as if trying to hide his head in his shoulders. Just a casual glance from others would make him feel so inferior that he wanted to burrow into the ground.
He often looked at Xia Jing with admiration and gratitude. Of course, that was only in the early stage.
Later, the look he gave me became one of fear and dread.
Later, it turned into a turbid and thorny look.
As those images flashed through his mind one by one, Xia Jing's expression gradually changed from thoughtful to interested.
Song Yang asked hesitantly, "Who is Jiang Ying?"
Xia Jing finished his recollection and said slowly, "A person who has been dead for a long time."
Song Yang was stunned.
"One," Xia Jing said word by word, "the one who started it all."
Song Yang realized something and asked in a low voice, "How much do you remember now?"
At this moment, a few people in front who noticed that they had not caught up stopped and looked at them with confusion.
Song Yang paused.
Xia Jing said softly, "Let's talk about it after we leave this copy."
Song Yang nodded, but couldn't help but glance at the two shovels in Xia Jing's hands and asked, "Are these two things...yours and Jiang Ying's?"
"yes."
Song Yang opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but suddenly he didn't know how to start.
Although Xia Jing did not explain it in detail, Song Yang's intuition told him that "Jiang Ying" should be the passenger on the left side of the tail seat of the second helicopter in the previous copy, the man who looked a little strange.
Four years ago, this man actually went through two copies with Xia Jing - or at least two copies?
This made Song Yang feel a little weird.
Xia Jing suddenly threw the two shovels back to their original places.
Song Yang was stunned: "Aren't you going to take them away?"
Xia Jing said in a light tone: "Why? It's not something important." He turned his head and noticed Song Yang's expression, and raised his eyebrows instantly.
He understood what Song Yang was thinking at that moment.
Xia Jing smiled and said, "There's no need to worry too much about Yu Jiangying. I'm familiar with him, but not in the way you imagine. Compared to him, you know me better."
Song Yang felt seen through and couldn't help but cough lightly. He felt a little uncomfortable and his ears turned red.
Xia Jing tilted his head and continued, "That doesn't seem accurate enough. In fact, many people, including Jiang Ying, are just one of many interesting people to me."
"But you are you, Dr. Song. You are different. Please have some confidence in yourself."
Xia Jing's tone sounded casual, as if he was just talking about a fact normally.
But when Song Yang heard these words, the corners of his lips couldn't help but curl up.
Song Yang had to admit that he was curious about Xia Jing's unknown past. When he discovered that there was a man who had frequently appeared in Xia Jing's past, he felt a sense of crisis.
But what can I say?
As expected of Xia Jing?
With just a few words, his troubled mood was dispelled.
At this moment, Song Yang's mood was as good as the bright morning light.
Xia Jing walked over.
Song Yang held his hand, interlocking their fingers.
He thought for a moment, then lowered his head and asked, "'The instigator' means... the 'instigator' of Smiley Face City?"
Xia Jing nodded slightly.
Song Yang held his hand tightly, his eyes darkening.
*
No matter what, the most urgent task is to solve this copy.
The group crossed the river, walked through the overgrown farmland, and returned to the town.
The prophet's house is at the end of the main road.
The ghost has white hair and a long, furry white beard, and looks very kind.
He opened the door and sat at the entrance, facing the deserted street to solicit business, but the words he said were all obviously misleading.
The six men ignored him and barged into his house.
Braving the stagnant air, they divided the work and worked together to quickly search the entire house.
Soon, they found a long wooden box in the corner of the inner room.
After opening the lid of the wooden box and clearing away the flying dust, a female corpse was found curled up inside.
Unlike all the skeletons they had found so far, this female corpse was naked.
In this copy, even if the clothes on the corpse had long since rotted away, there would at least be some fragments left. However, there was not even a single piece of wool on this corpse, which was enough to prove that she was stuffed into the box naked.
Combined with the prophet's words "the soul and the body are united," it is easy to imagine what this girl experienced in her life.
Jia Qing couldn't help but curse: "That bastard, he actually gave Elizabeth..."
Presumably, during the process of "spiritual and physical communion", Elizabeth finally realized that she was doing something absurd.
She must have struggled, and the cunning prophet was perhaps afraid that this matter would be exposed and would ruin his reputation, so he simply killed Elizabeth in bed and hid her body in this wooden box.
At this moment, although they knew that this was just a copy plot, when they figured out the whole process of the incident, several people couldn't help but become angry.
Feng Shi said sharply, "There's a note in her stomach."
There was no black writing on Elizabeth's body, only a strange note lying among her bones.
Song Yang picked up the note.
Perhaps it was protected by a mysterious power. After so many years, the note was still intact and the handwriting on it was clearly visible.
"Liar is the real devil. Everything they do to others will come back to them."
The beautiful handwriting was filled with deep hatred.
Zheng Shu said hoarsely, "This must be Elizabeth's wish. If the prophet wasn't lying when he told her how to fulfill her wish, then Elizabeth's wish should have come true!"
Elizabeth was brutally killed by the prophet, but her wish filled with unwillingness and hatred came true.
As a result, the town was in turmoil and death enveloped everyone.
From that moment on, those who told lies after Mayor Is's death began to suffer retribution one after another.
Of course, from all indications, the townspeople back then were not like the players, who started breeding bats as soon as they told a lie.
Their "attacks" occurred at different times, and so the lying prophet and the evil-doing Lal brothers survived until the town's last day, dying before Mayor Is's grave. Bian Ya said, "Zheng Shu was right. Rather than saying it was a demon that descended upon this town, it's more accurate to say it was Elizabeth's curse that befell it."
He also thought of a question: "So, do demons really exist?"
"Elizabeth has defined the identity of a demon," Song Yang said, pointing to the words on the paper. "She defines liars as demons."
Everyone exchanged a look.
So, the main monster they have to face are all these ghosts?
Ghosts are both secondary monsters and main monsters?
Feng Shi frowned and said, "But the problem is, we can't hurt these ghosts at all."
Those ghosts can control their own materialization and non-existence. Under such conditions, how can players kill them?
Song Yang pondered, "If ghosts are both main monsters and secondary monsters, they have two identities, then I think they might also have two monster modes. In secondary monster mode, players can't kill them. But in main monster mode, we might be able to find their weaknesses."
But the question arises again, how can we activate the ghosts' main monster mode?
Xia Jing lowered his eyes and thought for a while, then suddenly raised his head and asked, "Have any of you lied so far today?"
Everyone was stunned.
Then they realized that it was already afternoon. If they couldn't find a way to kill the main monster for a while, the third night would soon be here!
At night, the ghosts will come out again and start looking for people who are possessed by "demons" because of lies.
Thinking of this, everyone's expressions tightened.
But soon, they relaxed.
Jia Qing scratched his head and said, "I didn't. There's no need for the remaining few of us to lie to each other, right?"
Zheng Shu shook his head repeatedly: "Me neither."
Xia Jing and Song Yang looked at each other.
There is no need for the two of them.
They looked at Feng Shi and Bian Ya who had not yet expressed their opinions.
At this moment, both of them looked a little uncomfortable.
One of them looked to the left and the other looked to the right, and the atmosphere between them was very subtle.
Song Yang's face suddenly darkened: "Did you two lie today?"
Jia Qing was stunned for a moment, then asked in shock: "Brother Feng, when did you lie today?"
Feng Shi's expression stiffened as he thought of the conversation that had taken place today on the river bank and with Bian Ya.
And the cliffs—
He coughed lightly, as if he didn't want anyone to ask him what lies he had told today.
In fact, no matter what lies these two people told at what time and place today, it no longer matters.
They have already told lies, so it is very likely that bat bodies have already been conceived in their bodies, and the ghost will find them tonight.
Zheng Shu panicked: "How could this happen? What should we do now?"
He doesn't want to lose any more companions!
Feng Shi composed his expression and said calmly, "Don't worry about the two of us for now. What we need to think about now is how to transform the ghost into the main monster mode. Everyone, please focus on thinking about this problem."
Song Yang rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit of a headache as he didn't expect things to develop in this direction.
He thought for a moment and said, "You said before that metaphysical things can only be dealt with metaphysical methods. I think there should be some kind of spell in this dungeon that can make the ghosts appear."
But where would that imaginary spell exist?
Jia Qing asked anxiously, "Since this prophet still has some ability, could it be that this spell is also hidden somewhere in his house?"
Song Yang frowned and said, "Let's search this place again first. If that doesn't work, we can search all the townspeople's homes again from beginning to end."
Since I have no idea at the moment, I can only use the stupid method.
Time was tight, so the group acted quickly.
They turned the Prophet's house upside down and were sweating profusely.
They did find a thick notebook, but unfortunately it was filled with "spells" to deceive children.
Even among this pile of kiddie talk, they didn't find anything that looked like it had anything to do with the devil.
So they walked out of the prophet's house and began to check the rest of the houses one by one.
In the tense atmosphere, time passed by minute by minute.
They searched the house two at a time at the beginning, and ended up searching the house one at a time to save time. Their speed became faster and faster, but they still couldn't keep up with the darkening sky.
When the ghosts rushed out of the street, gathered together to form a tornado, and rolled straight into the sky, Bian Ya and Feng Shi merged together. Jia Qing and Zheng Shu were in the house next to them, their faces pale.
Song Yang and Xia Jing were separated from Bianya and Fengshi by a main road.
The ghosts came to the streets of the main road and began their patrol tonight like a school of fish.
Song Yang's face looked very ugly.
He turned around and continued to search the room with a sullen face, trying to seize the last bit of time to find any clues.
Not long after, he heard Jia Qing's screams coming from afar.
——The ghosts broke into the house where the seal and the cliff were located!
Across a main road and a small window, they could see that in the house across the street, the Ghost Brothers placed the two men on the "throne" and took out the whip.
Song Yang knocked over a piece of pottery and cursed softly.
Xia Jing grabbed his wrist, pulled him over, and reminded him, "Calm down."
At times like this, you need to stay calm and think about the problem.
Feng Shi and Bian Ya were cursed by Elizabeth because of their lies. If they cannot be stopped by the ghosts tonight, then the two of them will surely die.
Therefore, if they want to save Fengshi and Bianya, they must end this copy before then.
Judging from the experience of the past two nights, if Bian Ya and Feng Shi do not identify others, the whole process will not exceed thirty minutes.
Where is the solution to the main monster hidden?
Xia Jing narrowed his eyes and thought for a while, then suddenly said, "Let's go to the mayor's house and take a look."
The first search of the Mayor's House was done by Jia Qing and Zheng Shu, and the second search was done by Bian Ya, but neither of them found any new clues.
But Xia Jing always felt that if there was any key information in this copy, it must be in the mayor's house.
Just as he said before, although the mayor died at the hands of the Lar brothers, not the devil, the starting point of this series of events was indeed the mayor himself.
Have a beginning and an end.
The solution to ending this series of events should lie with the mayor.
Song Yang calmed himself down and nodded.
The two opened the door of the house, and suddenly, they felt suffocated and couldn't breathe at all.
Across the street, Jia Qing and Zheng Shu had already rushed into the house on Fengshi Bianya, holding their breath.
They were anxiously urging Feng Shi and Bian Ya to identify them - as long as Feng Shi and Bian Ya identified them, the Ghost Brothers would have to interrogate Jia Qing and Zheng Shu, thus successfully delaying the process. But Feng Shi clearly didn't want to do that yet.
When Song Yang and Xia Jing opened the door and came to the street, the eyes of the six people met in the air.
Feng Shi and Bian Ya nodded at them imperceptibly.
They trust each other.
Song Yang closed his eyes, calmed down, and turned around with Xia Jing and ran towards the mayor's house.
The mayor's house is at the end of the main road.
This is a long journey.
If it were anyone else, holding their breath and rushing forward, they would need to rest and breathe twice at least to complete this section of the journey.
But Song Yang and Xia Jing rushed there in one breath.
They rushed into the mayor's house, breathing rapidly, letting the oxygen wake their brains.
Song Yang turned on the flashlight and the two of them quickly scanned the entire room.
At this moment, the mayor and Elizabeth were not in the house. They went to the main road like the other ghosts, and the whole house was empty.
There was an empty, worn-out vase by the window.
In the corner was a desk with a heavy book spread out on it.
Xia Jing recalled: "Jia Qing and Bian Ya said that during the day, the mayor and Elizabeth were at the desk."
Song Yang walked quickly to the desk and shone the flashlight on the book.
A few lines of elegant calligraphy were written in black ink in the margins of the book.
"Always believe in your own thoughts and feelings, trust your intuition, and be an independent thinker."
"Your mind won't deceive you, so you should never be fooled by what other people say."
"Humans can achieve anything if they work hard enough."
Xia Jing came over and took a look, and quickly recognized it: "These are all the words the mayor once said to Elizabeth."
Elizabeth was clearly a child who obeyed her father very much.
She followed the mayor's teachings and grew up in the way the mayor expected, becoming a person who firmly believed in herself and would not give up easily.
This is how she was able to see the truth behind the mayor's death and ultimately make the entire town suffer the consequences.
Below these lines of words written by the mayor is the main text of the book.
Song Yang and Xia Jing quickly scanned the two pages of paper that were spread out. Their intuition told them that the clue must be in this book, but where in the book could it be hidden?
Suddenly, they noticed that on the page on the right, there were several small indentations under two lines of text, as if someone had placed a pen there and thought intently for a long time.
This faint trace is very easy to be overlooked, but fortunately Xia Jing and Song Yang discovered it.
This book seems to be a work of speculative literature.
They concentrated on the two lines of text.
"The solution to a problem is always to face the problem itself and see the whole picture."
The author has a suggestion for owners:
"Now, please try to think about whether you can summarize the enemy you face in the simplest and clearest words."
Song Yang and Xia Jing raised their heads and looked at each other.
This is probably the hint given by the copy.
Xia Jing said: "The problem we are facing now, our enemy, is the devil."
"If I were to use the simplest and clearest words to describe the devil," Xia Jing paused, "it would probably be the devil's identity, his name."
In other words, as long as they call out the devil's name, perhaps they can summon the devil's true form!
Thinking of this, Song Yang lowered his voice and said, "The devil's name is——"
"Liar!"
As soon as the words fell, the two of them quickly turned around and came to the street.
In the distant streets, ghosts gathered outside a house, cheering for a torture taking place inside.
They were shouting frantically: "Kill the demons! Kill them!"
"Kill all the demons!"
——These ghosts didn't react at all!
This method didn't work. Is it the wrong method or the wrong name?
The two returned to the house, thought quickly, and made a judgment.
Song Yang's brows furrowed deeply. "It should be 'Liar', no, that's not the name of the devil."
He suddenly thought of something and said, "Could it be that the demon's name is 'Grames'?"
What's the name of this town?
They looked out the window again, but the ghosts in the distance were still motionless.
No, the name "Grames" is still wrong.
What is the devil's name?
You don't have to call out the names of all the townspeople, do you?
But the copy did not provide them with any clues about the names of all the townspeople.
Song Yang finally realized something, and his expression changed slightly: "...Could it be that we are wrong, and the demons are not these townspeople at all?"
Elizabeth's curse took revenge on the townspeople, but the definition of the devil in her curse did not seem to come true.
What does this represent?
Song Yang quickly thought of a terrible possibility.
——This may mean that there really is a real demon in this copy.
His identity is certain and unique, and cannot be defined by others.
Who could He be, and where is He?
Xia Jing pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Song Yang, a question suddenly occurred to me. Judging from various indications, Mayor Yis is a very kind and benevolent person. Why would he build something like a torture chamber?"
Song Yang was stunned.
Xia Jing said calmly, "I remember it clearly. The town's event record book mentioned that the torture chamber was proposed by Mayor Yis himself a month before his accident."
"Why would a kind and gentle mayor want to build a place that exists to torture others?"!