Seeing that the female ghost could communicate normally, Zhao Xun began asking questions. "Were you one of the women who set fire to the village over twenty years ago, tried to escape in the chaos, and got caught?"
The female ghost nodded honestly. "Yes."
"Other than the ones who were caught, did everyone else die in the mountains?" Zhao Xun asked.
The female ghost hesitated, then answered cautiously, "I'm not sure."
"Not sure?" Zhao Xun looked skeptical.
"I was the first one they caught." Anger crept back into her voice as she spoke, but she quickly regained her composure. "How would I know whether anyone escaped afterward? I only heard people say that everyone they didn't bring back had died."
Zhao Xun wasn't discouraged by her answer. He asked another question. "Could someone have slipped through the net?"
The female ghost shook her head. "I don't know."
"Did you hear the villagers mention what happened to the other women who escaped?" Zhao Xun continued. "For example, did they recover all the bodies?"
The female ghost shook her head again. "I'm not sure."
Zhao Xun smiled. "If you don't know anything I ask, you're no use to me."
"Then ask something I do know!" The female ghost grew anxious. "If that doesn't work, I'll tell you everything I know. Stop asking one question at a time."
Before Zhao Xun could speak again, the female ghost poured out everything she could think of.
"I was the first one they caught. They tortured me for a whole day and night before I died."
"During that time, I heard those men say they'd caught others. They caught four of us in total. The rest died in the mountains."
"Apparently, a few women were eaten by wild animals in the mountains. The men kept saying