The group of six returned to the inn one after another and locked their respective rooms.
With no one outside, Yu Hanjiang pressed the microphone button to call a meeting. He said in a low voice, "We've found a lot of clues about the vengeful ghosts that are taking lives today. Everyone, share your thoughts and let's brainstorm."
This scene reminded him of the Criminal Police Department's meetings to discuss the killer. Although his teammates weren't professional detectives, they had all improved a lot after navigating so many locked-room mysteries together. Especially Xiao Lou; he wanted to hear Xiao Lou's opinion.
Meeting Yu Hanjiang's gaze, Xiao Lou said, "The murderer's method was to use a strange, evil magic to lure people to Mass Grave in the dead of night. This evil magic is likely related to the sound of the rattle drum. After luring people to Mass Grave, he wouldn't kill them directly, but rather torture them, letting them starve to death in fear and hunger."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The murderer's mind was twisted. He did not commit the crime impulsively, but rather planned and carefully killed people. He even prepared an escape route for himself, pretending to be a white-clad female ghost to make the residents of the town believe in the legend of vengeful ghosts taking lives."
Xiao Lou continued, "We discovered an unnamed, solitary grave in Mass Grave. The grave was in an excellent location, and people were constantly burning incense there, suggesting that someone very close to the murderer was buried there. Combined with the clues we obtained during the famine, the most reasonable hypothesis is that during the famine 20 years ago, a mysterious organization used the method of 'raising human livestock ' to eat human flesh and drink human blood. The murderer's relatives, or he himself, were raised and tortured by this organization. The murderer escaped and returned years later to take revenge, wiping out all those involved in the incident and even exterminating their descendants."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou worked in unison, tacitly summarizing the current logic of the case.
These are the most reasonable motives that the two people deduced and analyzed based on the clues they found in the investigation. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain the killer's behavior simply by calling him an "antisocial psychopathic killer".
Liu Qiao asked doubtfully, " The rattle drum should be a key factor in this case. The rattle drums we found in the Zhao and Chen families both have tiger patterns, but the investigation proves that the children in the Zhao and Chen families are not born in the Year of the Tiger. Assuming the rattle drum was left by the murderer, the murderer's current age could be a young adult, around 29 or 41 years old?"
Long Sen said, "Mayor Qin Feng, judging from his age, should be around 29 years old. He has never married or had children and lives alone in a dark alley, which is not right. Today we pulled a body out of the lake, and he didn't continue the investigation. Although he is not the murderer, there is something strange about this guy."
Xiao Lou calmly said, " Qin Feng may have witnessed something during the famine 20 years ago and deduced the killer's logic. Many people on his list are still alive, which means he has already found the killer's trajectory and motive. The names of those he recorded that were not marked with a red cross are likely the names of people the killer is about to kill. As for the Sunken Lake case today, his unusual behavior of not letting us investigate may also be related to the second case."
Long Sen scratched his head: "I guess I'm not good at using my brain. I couldn't figure out the names of the people who didn't die until Professor Xiao mentioned it!"
Qu Wanyue joked, "You just need to run errands and listen."
Long Sen: "..."
Liu Qiao actively participated in the discussion. She said, "The letter left by Senior Gui is crucial. Of the five people who said they saw the white-clad female ghost on the day of the incident, the one who lied is definitely connected to the murderer in the 'vengeful ghost case'." She paused, "But who exactly is lying?"
Xiao Lou said, "Of the five people, four said they heard thunder, and one said they didn't hear it... The one who didn't hear it must be telling the truth. Because, at that time in Ghost City, the thunder lasted for a very short time after the rainstorm, and the five people lived far apart. It was impossible for the ghost to appear in five different places at the same time when the thunder was heard."
Yu Hanjiang quickly drew the coordinates of the five people's residences on a blank sheet of paper.
Old Man Liu and Second Sister-in-law Xue live close by, in the southeast direction.
Zhang Chengyu and Lin Yueran are relatively close, located in the northwest direction.
The proprietress, Qin Ruolan, lives in the central area of the town.
The five people form a perfect "ring".
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou, pointed to Old Man Liu at the far east end, and analyzed, " Old Man Liu was awakened by the thunder and saw a female ghost fly past the door. This witness died three years ago, so his words should be credible, right?"
Recalling the information she had just gathered, Qu Wanyue continued, "We asked the neighbors, and Second Sister-in-law Xue was also awakened by the thunder. She remarried and moved away two years ago. She lived very close to Old Man Liu. If Old Man Liu is telling the truth, then Second Sister-in-law Xue's testimony is also true. The thunder lasted for a few seconds. Could the female ghost have taken a shortcut from the east district to the southeast district, allowing both Old Man Liu and Second Sister-in-law Xue to see it one after the other?"
Liu Qiao said, "If Old Man Liu, Second Sister-in-law Xue, and the landlady all told the truth, the remaining two shouldn't have heard the thunder."
The town is quite large; if a vengeful ghost appears in the East District, it's impossible for it to appear in the West District at the same time. It takes at least half an hour to walk from the East District to the West District.
Are they both lying?
Xiao Lou glanced at the coordinate map on the table again and said, "It's unlikely that both of them are lying at the same time. Besides, Lin Yueran's son also came forward to testify, saying that he saw a female ghost when it thundered that night. The female ghost appeared at the same time as the thunder. The child doesn't seem like he would lie."
Liu Qiao was stunned:
So, our reasoning is wrong?
Yu Hanjiang said, "There should be only one murderer in a case. Among the five people, more than one may have lied, but there can only be one murderer."
The teammates were completely confused.
The five people were scattered in different places, and the thunder lasted only 3 to 5 seconds.
If the female ghost appears in the East District when it thunders, it means the two people in the West District are lying; if she appears in the West District, it means the two people in the East District are lying.
If the killer can split into two and appear simultaneously in the East and West districts, why not have another split appear in the Central district? Therefore, the landlady's testimony is actually the most credible. If she were the killer, she would definitely go along with the crowd and say that she also heard thunder.
Who is lying?
As everyone racked their brains, Yu Hanjiang suddenly said, "I know who it is."
Xiao Lou looked at him and pointed to a name on the paper he had drawn: "This one?"
Yu Hanjiang smiled slightly: "Just as I thought."
Long Sen was still confused: "Who is it?"
Liu Qiao also realized what was happening and calmly analyzed, "Right, our reasoning just now set a prerequisite: Second Sister-in-law Xue's words are only true if 'the deceased Old Man Liu did not lie.' But what if Old Man Liu lied? Compared to the old man, I'm more willing to believe the child didn't lie."
Xiao Lou exclaimed, "How could a dead man lie? That's what most people would think. We've prejudicially used Old Man Liu's testimony as the basis for our reasoning. But from the murderer's perspective—if a dead man lies, wouldn't there be no way to verify it?"
Old Man Liu was quite old and somewhat confused. Moreover, elderly people tend to embellish their ghost stories. In addition, this old man died three years ago, and the cause of death remains a mystery.
Xiao Lou paused, then continued, " Second Sister-in-law Xue remarried and moved to another place shortly after the incident, seemingly unrelated to the matter. But isn't this also a kind of ' Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell ' tactic? She was one of the witnesses who saw the female ghost on the night of the incident, and later remarried and moved to another place. Who would suspect her?"
Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice, "Have you found out which family Second Sister-in-law Xue remarried to?"
Qu Wanyue said, "The neighbors don't know anything. They just say she packed her bags and remarried in another place. She's a widow; her husband died early, and she doesn't usually like to socialize."
It seems that her claim of remarrying was just that—a claim she made herself—and there's no proof.
Yu Hanjiang pondered, " What is Second Sister-in-law Xue's real name? Everyone calls her Second Sister-in-law Xue, probably because she married a local man surnamed Xue. But what is her true background?"
Her true origins may be that of a murderer seeking revenge.
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Xiao Lou was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked worriedly, "By the way, the letter left by Senior Gui only mentioned that he went to the world three years ago with Ninth Brother, Mr. Tang, and Hua Ying. What about CEO Shao and Xiao Ye? Why can't we contact them yet?"
Yu Hanjiang patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "Don't worry, CEO Shao has the two Tao Yuanming teleportation cards you gave him, and they each have a bug king card that allows them to transform. Their names are still on your contract book, so they're definitely safe for now. Perhaps they've also been teleported to another dimension?"
Xiao Lou paused, then asked, "The timeline related to the case... could it be the famine world of twenty years ago?"
****
At the same time, Ye Qi and Shao Qingge took the mother and child to a secluded grove of trees nearby and carefully inquired about the famine situation in Qingfeng Town.
Shao Qingge asked in a low voice, "How long has the famine lasted? Why didn't you flee elsewhere?"
The woman's face was deathly pale, and her voice was weak and feeble: "It's the same everywhere else! This year, there was a severe drought for three months, and the harvest is less than one-tenth of last year's. Those wealthy families with stored grain are doing alright. But we ordinary folks only have enough stored grain for one or two months. Even if we drink only thin porridge every day, there isn't a single grain of rice left in the rice jar..."
At this point, the woman choked up, "Escape? Where can we escape to? There's no food, and we can't even walk. My poor newborn child can't even get a drop of milk..."
The baby in her arms cried for a moment, but now seemed to have no strength left to cry.
The famine had clearly been going on for some time. Ordinary families had run out of food. The woman was pale and thin, her body emaciated. The child in her arms looked to weigh less than five pounds, a tiny, pitiful little thing.
Ye Qi felt a pang of sadness, but he didn't dare offer bread or milk—foods that didn't belong to this era—to help the other person. He could only say softly, "I'm sorry, we didn't bring any food either."
A hint of disappointment flashed in the woman's eyes as she continued searching for tree bark in the woods, still holding her child.
Shao Qingge led Ye Qi a short distance forward, then stopped at the entrance of the town. He turned back to look at the boy beside him and asked with some heartache, "Back in the Nightmare Secret Room, did you also survive by eating tree leaves?"
Ye Qi said with a bitter face, "Yes, that's why I can really understand how these people feel. Extreme hunger can drive people crazy. Eating leaves and grass can fill their stomachs, and they don't care about the taste at all. However, I could never do something like eating human flesh... Oh, right!" He suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Shao Qingge and said, "Being teleported to twenty years ago, could it be so that we can investigate clues related to the famine?"
Shao Qingge nodded: "It should be. We can't contact anyone else, so it seems that only the two of us were transported to twenty years ago. Luckily, we have a supply card and some money on us, so at least we won't starve to death."
He frowned as he glanced at the mess that littered Qingfeng Town.
The town's streets were deserted; not a single pedestrian was in sight, and every house was tightly shut. Scratches and quilts were scattered everywhere.
Seeing the signs of looting, Shao Qingge lowered his voice and said, "Now that we're here, we need to find a way to infiltrate as soon as possible and investigate the captive breeding of human livestock. We need to disguise ourselves first; wearing such brand-new clothes to a small town will attract too much attention."
The two hid near the town, smeared mud on their clothes and put some weeds around their mouths, pretending to be covered in dirt and starving for days. Ye Qi found a broken bowl from somewhere, seemingly preparing to go to the town to beg for food.
Shao Qingge said, "Let's go."
He glanced at Ye Qi's youthful appearance, and looking at this disheveled "little beggar," a smile appeared in his eyes: "This time, we'll play brothers. The age gap isn't big enough for father and son."
Ye Qi nodded and followed behind him, complaining, "Okay, calling you brother is much better than calling you dad."
Shao Qingge: "..."