Review

Just Xu Xi thought that this time it would be like before, with a flash of white light and they would immediately return to the Player Space, the three of them did not teleport for a long time.

A sense of doubt welled up in his mind.

There was an anomaly during this teleportation?

Just as a sense of surprise and doubt arose, the village before them resembled a faded oil painting, its once vibrant colors quietly fading away, leaving only a desolate scene of black and white.

The loud, shrill crowing of roosters could still be heard, and amidst the crowing, the villagers' noisy discussions could be faintly heard. The topic of their discussions was nothing more than the shocking Barefoot Doctor Poisoning and Arson Case gripped the entire village.

However, the three of them are like characters in a play where you can only hear their voices but not see them; standing here, they are the only remaining protagonists in this black and white world.

A newspaper drifted in from somewhere and floated leisurely to the three of them.

Xu Xi was closest and instinctively reached out to take it.

Holding the edge of the paper, I could feel its rough texture. The ink on the yellowed pages was a little blurry, but I could still make out those once sensational headlines.

The Young Woman in a Long Dress and the Tall, Thin Man also came to Xu Xi's side and began browsing the contents of the newspaper together.

One familiar news item immediately caught their attention.

[Ghost Village Legend? Sixty-three people died mysteriously within three years; a fire revealed the truth]

In X state, there is a beautiful village called XX Village (pseudonym), which was once considered a tourist destination. However, starting in XX year, villagers began to die mysteriously one after another. After this happened, it attracted the attention of the local authorities, who sent people to investigate, but found nothing unusual.

Since then, rumors have circulated in the village that it was the ghost of Li (pseudonym) causing the trouble. The origin of this rumor is related to a fire.

Due to aging electrical wiring, a fire broke out at A-X's (pseudonym) home. The fire was sudden and spread rapidly, engulfing several nearby houses. A-X's mother, Ms. Li, along with several elderly people with mobility issues, were unable to escape and perished in the flames. A-X was not home that day and escaped the fire.

A-X lost his father at birth, and his mother raised him alone. Gao (pseudonym), the Barefoot Doctor in the village, spread rumors that Li had an affair with an outsider. A-X was unhappy after his father's death, so he burned Li to death. The villagers' deaths were all due to Li's curse.

Amidst the villagers' panic, Shamaness Ma (pseudonym) claimed to have communicated with the Mountain God and could suppress the evil spirit Li, on the condition that the villagers make offerings to her every month.

Three years later, one night, another fire broke out in xx village. Except for Ah X, all 86 villagers perished. After an in-depth investigation by relevant departments, part of the truth was finally uncovered.

It turns out that in addition to treating villagers, Barefoot Doctor Gao also sold funeral supplies. In order to make money, Gao poured chlorine drugs into wells, and villagers who drank the well water would die quickly. When villagers came to him for treatment, he would also prescribe cyanide drugs, and those who took the drugs would also die inexplicably.

This shows that the story of the Mountain God is completely fictitious and was fabricated by Ma.

Gao set the fire alone late at night, his motives unknown. Sadly, only a ten-year-old child survived in the entire village, and much more information was buried with the fire.

Driven by momentary greed, they used superstition to make money by taking human lives, ultimately harming themselves and others, leading to a massive tragedy.

Before the three of them could even exchange words after browsing the news, everything went blurry.

When Xu Xi opened her eyes again, she was back in the golden Player Space.

Perhaps it was because he had experienced a lot in this Dungeon and it had taken a long time, but when he looked up at the endless steps, he felt a sense of long-lost joy.

The familiar and safe environment made Xu Xi relax, and he lazily lay down on the ground, not wanting to move at all.

The last newspaper article essentially summarized all the clues the players had gathered inside the Dungeon and revealed some of the truth about Dungeon, but many details were actually left out.

He didn't know whether the police hadn't fully investigated the matter, or if they had investigated but concealed some information.

For example, things like human sacrifices and Mountain Gods.

The newspaper made no mention of human sacrifice and claimed that the so-called Mountain God was fictitious, but he didn't think so.

Three years ago, a fire broke out at Awang's house due to aging electrical wiring. Gao Zhuang then fabricated rumors that Awang's mother was seeking revenge, using this as a pretext to poison Awang's house in order to make money as a side business.

The Shamaness must have discovered Gao Zhuang's actions, but instead of exposing him, she colluded with him, claiming to have communicated with a Gao Zhuang Mountain God who could protect the village and collecting offerings from the villagers.

The two of them put on a show, one singing and the other acting, and fooled the villagers for three years.

Until one day, a villager made a wish to the Mountain God, and as a result, he turned into a monster that was neither human nor ghost.

Gao Zhuang once again shifted the blame onto Awang's mother, but even if he did, the facts wouldn't change.

Xu Xi guessed that the Mountain God might really be Shamaness made up randomly, but neither she nor Gao Zhuang expected it to come true. In their panic, they thought of human sacrifice.

He wasn't sure if the purpose of the human sacrifice was to appease the Mountain God or something else, but in any case, the ritual failed.

Because Gao Zhuang set fire to the entire village the night before the sacrificial ceremony.

He had a vague idea as to why Gao Zhuang committed arson.

The Shamaness proposed a human sacrifice, but Village Chief Zhu disagreed. The matter of worshipping the Mountain God could not be delayed any longer. The best way to force Village Chief Zhu comply was to create another strange event to put pressure on him.

I just didn't expect Gao Zhuang to commit arson.

He guessed that Gao Zhuang was trying to imitate the fire at Awang's house three years ago, but things went wrong and the fire got out of control.

What surprised him even more was that the real ending of the Dungeon was that no one in the entire village survived except for Awang.

There was definitely some surprise.

Xu Xi suddenly thought of Awang's contradictory words.

I don't want to think about it anymore.

There's no point in delving deeper now that we've cleared the Dungeons; we've already figured it out pretty much.

He scratched his head, his thoughts drifting to his teammates.

He was angry at being tricked by the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap, but he was also prepared for the fact that future Dungeon might not be as harmonious as the second Dungeon.

From another perspective, he even thought the other person was indeed quite clever.

He heard from Village Chief Zhu that the villagers would use the blood of livestock to lure the two mummified corpses near the wheat field every night. He just listened to it without really understanding what it meant. However, the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap and the Man in a Suit thought of using this to scam others.

I learned something.

I wonder if the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap also cleared the game after they did.

I'm a little annoyed.