Lord Tang, Madam Xi, Master Ma, Zhu Ren, Shopkeeper Wang, and a black donkey that seemed to have been transformed from a Tester.
After hiding inside the house, Gao Ming committed the names he knew to memory. This town was terrifying. There probably wasn't a single decent person in it.
The black donkey was still cheerfully turning the mill. Gao Ming found a cloth sack, stuffed the sheepskin inside, and slung it over his back. He also "picked up" a copper coin from the wooden chest under the bed.
When he reached the front room, the wooden door was tightly shut. Gao Ming spotted the words "Butcher shop."
But the sign had been smashed, its broken pieces tossed behind the counter. The place had long since been looted. Gao Ming rummaged through everything, but in the end, all he found was a rust-covered pig-slaughtering knife beneath an overturned table.
The pointed blade stank, and the character "Zhu" had been crookedly carved into its handle.
"The butcher shop belongs to Shopkeeper Wang. The information that Tester left behind said the town's butcher seemed to be called Zhu Ren. Did Butcher Zhu leave this knife here?" Gao Ming surveyed the front room. "The shop's been smashed up, and the black donkey is grinding up an old man who might be Shopkeeper Wang. Is this a Tester's revenge? Or did Butcher Zhu get into a fight with Shopkeeper Wang?"
"If this was a Tester's revenge, that means the Testers in town aren't weak. They have a faction of their own. But judging by how obediently the black donkey keeps turning the mill, too scared to escape or even look for a way out, I'm leaning toward some other villager having smashed up the shop."
The grand residences in town left their doors unlocked