After a long silence, someone slowly broke the stillness in the comments section.
"Ahem... After careful consideration, I still think my roommate is pretty good, so I'll vote for my roommate."
"What was said earlier makes perfect sense. I don't know why, but I suddenly had an epiphany and decided to vote for my roommate too."
"Um, roommate, roommate..."
The comments section was harmonious, with everyone speaking with one voice.
In the instance, Yin Xiu was deep in thought with his eyes down, and did not give a direct answer.
After all, the other party clearly had an ulterior motive; it certainly wasn't just a simple matter of giving him information. It was most likely a trap aimed at him.
"It's just a little time for you to come with me, it's not a loss for you, is it?" Seeing that Yin Xiu was unmoved, the mayor began to tempt him in a low voice. As he spoke, his gaze was fixed on Yin Xiu's eyelashes, which were slightly lowered under the cool light, and he stared at the slight tremor when Yin Xiu blinked. His tone became excited.
"To clear this dungeon with high stars, you need to understand the entire background of the town. If you explore it alone, it will be very slow, and you might not even find out the truth after completing the process, right?"
He silently closed the distance between himself and Yin Xiu, his gaze flamboyant, but his behavior remained restrained, since Yin Xiu's hand had never left the hilt of his sword since he appeared.
"What if I don't go?" Yin Xiu looked up at him and asked in a low voice.
The mayor's lips curled slightly as he gazed at his reflection in Yin Xiu's dark pupils. A cold glint flashed across his deep-set face under the lamplight. "In this small town, no one can refuse the mayor's invitation."
Yin Xiu fell silent, and the atmosphere between the two began to freeze and become awkward.
"What if I absolutely have to refuse?"
"No one can refuse."
"What will be the result of refusal?"
You wouldn't want to know.
"Is this a threat?"
The mayor's expression relaxed slightly, revealing a gentle warmth. "How could that be? As long as you cooperate, you won't be a threat."
Yin Xiu's face instantly turned cold, startling the viewers in the live chat.
"Isn't it a bit too dangerous to start a war with the mayor on the very day we enter the town?"
"This doesn't feel like a good thing, but Yin Xiu has been threatened, so it seems like he has no choice but to break ties with him."
"I knew this mayor wasn't a good person; he doesn't pretend at all."
"Who was it that wanted to vote for him before? It's not too late to switch to your roommate now."
"I'll be ruled out first."
"Never mind all that, the best thing to do now is for someone to come and break this deadlock!"
Everyone's gaze was fixed on the live stream.
With the situation between Yin Xiu and the town mayor completely deadlocked and there was no room for negotiation, Yin Xiu tightened his grip on the knife hilt, while the town mayor took a step back.
Tensions were high, and a conflict could erupt at any moment.
However, the next second, a picture frame fell from the sky and landed directly between the two of them with a loud thud, leaving the two people in a tense atmosphere stunned.
"Holy crap, who threw things from a high place? Who's so rude?!" A barrage of curses erupted in the chat, and then Li Mo was spotted on the stairs.
"Uh...good riddance!"
"It appeared just in time! No wonder it's a stock I've been eyeing!"
"Charge! Even though you're a monster too, I support you stepping over the mayor to take the position!"
"Am I still watching a horror dungeon livestream? What are people talking about in the chat...?"
Li Mo's sudden appearance instantly made the atmosphere on the first floor even more eerie. He looked down at the town mayor at the bottom of the stairs, while the mayor stared back at him without flinching.
Two gazes collided and tore at each other in the air, causing the paintings on the surrounding walls to tremble.
Yin Xiu's gaze swept between the two of them. He calmly bent down and picked up the picture frame that had been thrown on the ground. It was empty, just a blank picture frame. Considering the portraits on the surrounding walls, this empty picture frame seemed to have been prepared in advance for someone.
It was clear that Li Mo was reminding him of the mayor's purpose towards him.
"This...it's just a picture frame that hasn't been used in the house yet," the mayor quickly explained when he saw Yin Xiu examining the picture frame, which only made him seem suspicious.
"Hmm," Yin Xiu replied lazily, placing the picture frame aside.
He glanced at Li Mo upstairs out of the corner of his eye, and after a brief silence, looked at the town mayor and asked, "When will the sacrificial ceremony begin?"
The mayor was taken aback. "You want to come with me?"
Yin Xiu nodded.
This completely stunned everyone. He was actually going to go into this obvious trap.
"He has ulterior motives towards you..." The one who reacted most directly was Li Mo at the top of the stairs on the second floor. For a moment, the smile that he had maintained for many years almost disappeared, and his eyes revealed a dark look.
"I know," Yin Xiu replied directly. "Some information can only be obtained from him."
Anyone with eyes could see that Li Mo, whose origins were unknown, and the town mayor, who had ill intentions, both approached Yin Xiu with ulterior motives; it was simply a situation of two hunters vying for the same prey.
The town mayor is roughly equivalent to the town's information officer.
Li Mo is essentially a partner, a mobile bomb that hasn't yet made a move, but occasionally he can provide assistance.
But what's useful to Yin Xiu right now is information about the town.
After Yin Xiu indicated that he would go with the mayor, the mayor immediately became radiant, while Li Mo remained gloomy.
He looked down at Yin Xiu, his eyes filled with uncertain emotions. Yin Xiu stared straight at Li Mo, saying nothing.
After staring at each other for a moment, Li Mo left the stairwell without saying a word, leaving Yin Xiu and the mayor alone.
"This development means... my roommate gave in on their own?"
"Although I know Yin Xiu is in a dilemma, I feel that my roommate is a little more reliable than the mayor."
"Yes, and my roommate is reminding Yin Xiu that he also helped get the little girl back earlier."
"They're about the same. If he didn't have any problems, he wouldn't keep sneaking into Yin Xiu's room. Besides, he's hiding his identity."
"You're from the town mayor's section, aren't you?! Stop slandering your roommate! He's just mysterious! He hasn't done anything to Yin Xiu yet!"
"Stop arguing, none of them are good people in my opinion, so when Yin Xiu entered here and was assigned a room for the second time, he directly chose the little girl."
"I think so too. How could anyone choose a good person from among bad people?"
"Yin Xiu must have his reasons for doing this, for example... can he handle the town mayor?"
"He'd better be able to handle it, otherwise it'll be troublesome."
As soon as Li Mo left, the mayor's gaze became even more unrestrained. He excitedly reached out his hand to Yin Xiu and said enthusiastically, "The sacrificial ceremony is about to begin. Let me take you there."
Yin Xiu stared silently at the hand in front of him. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was going to a banquet. Why bother with all this fancy invitation for a ritual in the underworld?
He walked past the town mayor with a blank expression.
The mayor was in a good mood and ignored his indifference, turning around and following him.
After it got completely dark, the town became much livelier than during the day. Lights were on in every household, and townspeople were out and about, laughing and chatting, just like an ordinary and peaceful town.
They decorated the altar in the square, wrapping it with a new red thread and attaching talismans. They circled the statue of the woman, chanting incantations as they went, but it was hard to hear clearly.
"What are they doing?" Yin Xiu didn't approach, but stood in front of the door and watched from a distance.
A dense crowd circled the eerie statue, muttering words of unknown origin, which certainly seemed a bit strange for the night.
"In preparation for the sacrificial ceremony, the woman's power is weakest at night," the mayor replied calmly, without any intention of hiding anything. "It's the woman who attacked you during the day. She's sealed beneath the statue, and the townspeople need to reinforce the seal every night."
Yin Xiu seemed to be deep in thought. "Who sealed it?"
The mayor smiled slightly, "Me."
Yin Xiu glanced at him sideways, "Then she must really want to kill you."
"Of course." The mayor squinted at the sacrificial ceremony being prepared in the distance. "But she can't kill me. By offering a sacrifice every night, her seal becomes stronger. She can't kill me."
Yin Xiu nodded and remained silent, but the town mayor couldn't wait to start a conversation, "Do you know why she was sealed there?"
"Why?" Yin Xiu leaned against the wall and lazily took over the question, appearing nonchalant.
"Because she was the first monster to appear in the town, her appearance made the town very dangerous during the day. She also cursed everyone in the town to turn into monsters. As the mayor, I have to protect this town, but I can't drive her away, so I can only seal her away. The townspeople have to continue maintaining the seal themselves."
Yin Xiu reorganized the information in his mind, carefully considering the first condition for passing the level: place the monster's corpse on the altar.
The rules didn't explicitly state who the monster was. This was a monster town, and monsters were everywhere, so at first he thought this monster was the most special little girl.
Now it seems... this is the origin of the monster?