Chapter 66 Wugu Village 9
"Oh, that's right." Tian Quan shook his head, not wanting to say anything more. "Doctor He is amazing."
Jing Yan's head was about to split open, and he glanced at Xia Bai.
As if Xia Bai didn't see that Tian Quan didn't want to talk, he asked, "Xue Ligu killed a very respected old man in your village. Was it also discovered by Doctor He?"
"Why are you asking this?" Tian Quan finally frowned, and for the first time, his face turned cold in front of them. "Do you just want to find out about Xue Ligu? I advise you not to. Xue Ligu is the pain of the villagers in Wugu Village. No one wants to mention her. If other villagers know about it, they will definitely drive you out."
Xia Bai nodded obediently, looking at Tian Quan with his beautiful and clean eyes, like an innocent but obedient child, "Okay, I was ignorant just now."
“…”
Tian Quan didn't know what expression to show on his face, but he couldn't hold it anymore and softened his lips. "You guys should leave now. Don't come to see me anymore, and don't ask Xue Ligu anymore."
"Then answer my last question." Xia Bai said.
He felt that Jing Yan's question just now was not good enough, so he asked directly: "Was Xue Ligu really a grass ghost woman who harmed many villagers in the past?"
Tian Quan and Jing Yan had the same headache, "It's true that we got our ancestors, let's go."
The two were kicked out again.
The others were waiting for them in the stilt house, and they surrounded them as soon as the two returned.
Lin Xiang asked: "How is it?"
Jing Yan said: "Li Gui and Liu Fu did not lie. Xue Ligu must be a grass ghost who harms people. Tian Quan also said so. I detected that he did not lie."
Jing Yan recounted the entire conversation they had with Tian Quan.
"Then we all guessed wrong." Lin Xiang said in a daze.
Tao Baobao said: "It's not entirely wrong. It may be as we speculated, it is a curse, and it is indeed a curse from Xue Ligu. It's just that the villagers are very secretive about Xue Ligu, not because they feel guilty about her, but because they are deeply afraid of her. And as Tian Quan said, she is the pain of their Wugu Village."
"Yes." Lin Xiang said, "That makes sense."
"Then, is Doctor He the protagonist? He is dead?" Lin Xiang began to use his imagination again. "Doctor He came to Wugu Village to treat the villagers. Just like what Tian Quan said, he is very similar to the volunteer teacher. There is no doubt that he is a good doctor in the hearts of the villagers. He exposed Xue Ligu and prevented Xue Ligu from using Wugu Village as her Gu worm test field, but was killed by Xue Ligu. The villagers did not know that their respected Doctor He was dead and thought he had left."
Xia Bai was even more stunned as he watched. It was so exciting and touching.
Tao Baobao nodded, "Your reasoning makes sense."
Jing Yan: "The logical chain is also very clear."
Xia Bai: "If Dr. He is the protagonist of the story, then the villagers' strange diseases are caused by Dr. He's curse? Isn't this a contradiction? I have played few games. Can the strange diseases throughout the game be caused by someone other than the protagonist?"
Fu Yuqing said, "You're right, this doesn't make sense. In most cases, the main storyline should belong to the protagonist."
Lin Xiang did not give up. "Could it be that Doctor He was controlled by Xue Ligu's insect? Yes, when I looked up information before entering the village, I found that there was a mother-child insect like this. Xue Ligu was stopped by him, but he was also controlled by Xue Ligu. He had to kill the villagers according to Xue Ligu's will. He was a good doctor who would go to the village to treat the villagers. How painful it was for him. He wanted to put an end to it all, so he researched this strange disease to attract people outside Wugu Village to deal with him."
"Shit!" Jing Yan said, "It's very possible! If the final truth of the game is like this, I will be convinced. Doctor He is such a desperate and amazing person."
Even Qiao Youlin agreed with his speculation, "This makes sense. It's very unconventional and in line with the difficulty of the game."
Xia Bai was once again shocked by Lin Xiang's imagination, but, "According to what you said, Doctor He is so good, why would he study such a vicious disease to torture the villagers? Don't forget, three villagers died."
Lin Xiang immediately said, "Wait, I'm overthinking it. The strange disease was not discovered by Doctor He. He is controlled by the Gu in his body and has no choice but to harm the villagers. He is in great pain. If we find the cause and solve all this, it will be the relief he has been waiting for."
“…”
Lin Xiang asked Xia Bai: "Do you have any questions now?"
Xia Bai couldn't explain it, but it seemed to make sense. It closed their current clues and solved the core issue of the conflict.
He looked at Ling Changye, who looked at Lin Xiang. He didn't say whether it was right or not, but just smiled and said, "Your reasoning method of using limited clues to develop imagination and constantly revising imagination to find the truth is very interesting."
"Oh!" Lin Xiang touched the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed by the compliment, but also very happy, "I was just daydreaming."
"If that's the case, then it's not a curse. Doctor He wouldn't curse the villagers." Ling Changye said, "If it's not a curse, then what is it?"
Fu Yuqing: "It doesn't matter. Whether it's a curse or something else, it doesn't affect the truth. Lin Xiang's reasoning closes all the clues. We can try to verify it in the direction of this speculation."
Lin Xiang still answered Ling Changye's question seriously, "Is it a Gu? But Doctor He is dead, so it can only be considered a ghost Gu? It doesn't actually exist. If so, it can also explain why I can only purify part of the strange disease."
"Do you remember the anomaly that occurred on the first night?" Xia Bai suddenly said, "Lin Xiang said it sounded like a cat's cry, and Erwa also said it had four legs, but we didn't see any. Could it be a cat ghost Gu?"
Lin Xiang suddenly realized: "Yes! I almost forgot! Now everything will match up."
"Cat ghost Gu! Oh yes! Before entering the game, I looked up information about witchcraft. There is such a Gu, a type of animal Gu, and it is also known as one of the cruelest Gu techniques." Tao Baobao also said.
The population of Datai City, where Wugu Village is located, is complex and there are many legends about evil magic. After accepting this bounty mission, each of them carefully checked the relevant information, including witchcraft, sorcery, and black magic.
Cat ghost Gu is indeed one of the most cruel Gu techniques. Legend has it that there are two ways to make cat ghost Gu. One is to raise a cat in a specific way, and then beat it to death when it is old, so as to make a real cat ghost. The other method is more like witchcraft, where a ghost possesses a cat, which is a cat ghost in another sense. ①
"The cat ghost can transfer money for its owner, steal lifespan, and kill people. So, Wang Er and Qi Yan are fighting over money!" Jing Yan said excitedly, "On the night the cat ghost appeared, Wang Er fell from the building at dawn. We learned from his wife that he was a gambler. We also saw traces of the money place being turned over in his room, as well as torn money."
The most important thing is that what he saw Wang Er's inner thoughts was that he was always shouting: "Mine! It's mine!"
Jing Yan said: "We all blamed him wrongly. He didn't use his son's tuition money for gambling. He fell from the building because he saw the cat ghost transferring his money that night and tried to snatch it from the cat ghost!"
Xia Bai nodded, this speculation was very reasonable.
Ling Changye thought for a moment and said, "So, if we catch up with the cat ghost, we might be able to catch up with the owner behind it, and then we'll know whether it's Xue Ligu or He Chunhui."
Xia Bai said: "That night, I opened the window and saw that there seemed to be some movement in the woods to the left of the village chief's house."
Ling Changye: "Next to the woods to the left of the village chief's house is the dark building in Wugu Village."
They were all slightly stunned. They didn't expect that they would be led to the secret building in Wugu Village, which sounded worth exploring.
Fu Yuqing: "It seems that I really have to go explore the dark building."
Tao Baobao raised his hand weakly, "It's getting dark. Tonight, another player might get the same strange disease as the villagers. There is one thing we need to confirm, that is, whether telling someone about someone else's slander can really break the curse."
Fu Yuqing frowned, "I've already said it's not a curse, Su Mao is dead, why are you still asking if this method is correct?"
Tao Baobao wanted to say that there was actually no contradiction between Gu and curse, but seeing Fu Yuqing looking so impatient, he pursed his lips and said nothing more.
Xia Bai said: "I'll go see how Qi Yan is doing."
Ling Changye seemed to have some feeling and said, "Okay, go and see if he can survive, and we will discuss the plan to go to the dark building tonight."
Qi Yan was in the room next to them, and there was no sound at all. Xia Bai walked over to check his breathing, but could only detect a very faint one.
He was going to die, very soon.
Xia Bai pressed his solar plexus hard and asked him: "Qi Yan, can you hear me? Can you give me your body? I can take your body out of the game intact, but your body must be used by me."
After Xia Bai heard about Qi Yan, he certainly didn't like him. He didn't treat him like the corpse bound to Huaning TV. He wanted to sign him just to use his corpse and perhaps his skills.
Qi Yan didn’t know if he heard it or not. His eyelids trembled, his lips moved, but he couldn’t utter anything.
"How is he?" Tao Baobao still wanted to know if the curse could be broken, so he thought about it and followed.
Xia Bai said: "It should be over soon."
In fact, when Tao Baobao came over to test his breathing, he was already dying.
She sighed and said what she was thinking, "We are sure that there is a cat ghost Gu, but this is not inconsistent with the curse. Wang Er and Qi Yan may have fallen from the building because of the cat ghost, but Qi Yan may have died because of the curse. Su Mao said that he would be cursed, which is very consistent with him. If it is a curse, there must be a way to break it, right?"
Xia Bai looked at her, her empty eyes without self-consciousness just happened to reflect people's hearts.
Tao Baobao said embarrassedly: "I am afraid of death. I am afraid that person tonight will be me."
"If you are afraid of death, why do you still enter the game?" Xia Bai asked.
Tao Baobao said honestly: "I'm short of money. Ah, points are also fine. Points can be exchanged for more money."
Xia Bai: "If you are upright, you have nothing to fear. If you have not done anything worthy of being cursed, you don't have to worry even if there is a curse."
Tao Baobao smiled and said, "Who knows? I'm not sure that I haven't been cursed. I'm just an ordinary person, not a saint. Besides, to be honest with you, I don't even have any skills, so I'm very scared."
Xia Bai looked at her again, nodded and said, "Then I'll verify it."
The verification method Xia Bai mentioned was to confirm whether Qi Yan's kidney was still there.
He might have fallen from the building just like Wang Er, chasing after a cat ghost for money, treasures or something like that, but as Tao Baobao said, this does not deny the existence of the curse.
To confirm whether he was really cursed because of what Su Mao said, we just need to make sure his kidneys are still intact.
If he fell from the building and the sickle happened to cut off both of his kidneys, then there was indeed a curse.
Qi Yan is already dead, and verifying it now is the real professional match for Xia Bai.
As a freshman in forensic medicine, he started performing autopsies before he even graduated.
This matter was not scary at all for him, and even the timid Tao baby could watch it quietly.
"Your inference is correct." Xia Bai stared at Qi Yan's stomach and said, "It's not a question of whether he's injured or not. Both of his kidneys are gone, just like the boy Su Mao mentioned who was beaten up by Qi Yan at school."
Just as he finished speaking, Xia Bai heard some noise and quickly opened the window to look outside.
It was getting dark, and the fiery red sunset in the distance was about to be swallowed up by the darkness, leaving only a tail as long as a meteor.
Led by the village chief, the villagers gathered around with iron shovels, wooden sticks, and torches.
"Where are the people?"
"Get out of Wugu Village!"
"Go away, we don't need you in Wugu Village!"
Xia Bai saw Ling Changye next to him also opened the window.
Lin Xiang shouted loudly, "Liu Fu's wife must have told the village chief about our inquiry into Xue Ligu. The angry villagers are going to drive us out of Wugu Village!"
"Ha!" Fu Yuqing sneered, "The village chief wanted us to leave early, and now he finally has the chance."
"What should we do?" Jing Yan said, "There are so many people. We can't defeat them, and we can't beat them, right?"
Ling Changye: "Since we've been exposed, let's use this as an opportunity. It's rare that so many people are here."
With this familiar smell, Jing Yan immediately knew what he was going to do.
Lin Xiang also knew about this, so he first diverted the villagers' attention and created an unguarded environment for asking questions.
He jumped down from the window, raised his hands and said to them: "Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, listen to me, we are looking for Xue Ligu because we think the strange disease is her terrible curse, and we want to find a way to break the curse."
"You want to know, too, don't you? I know you've all been tortured by this strange disease."
Liu Fu's wife in the front row burst into tears. There were two other villagers who were in the same situation. One of them wiped the tears off his face with his sleeve and cried aggrievedly: "What kind of sin have we committed? It's endless."
Lin Xiang followed their words and said, "I know you feel wronged and in pain. Some of our companions are cursed as well. We feel the same way. One of our companions...he is dead."
"How can Xue Ligu be so cruel? How many people does she want to kill before she stops?"
"What sins did we commit in our previous life? We did nothing wrong, why do we have to endure all this?"
Standing on the second floor, they could clearly see this group of villagers who were tortured and exhausted. Their misery, grievance and anger were written in the dark circles under their eyes day and night, and in the blood stains on their clothes that they were in no mood to wash.
Xia Bai looked at Lin Xiang again. He had made a lot of progress compared to when he was in the Heping Medical College copy.
"I know, I know!" Lin Xiang's face showed grief, "And that respected old man was killed by her."
"It's Uncle Liu."
"It's the village chief..."
"Stop talking!" The village chief's eyes turned red for the first time. He said, "These people are not here to break the curse for us. How can they break the curse and let us accuse us of slandering Xue Ligu? They just have bad intentions. Let's drive them out!"
"Wait!" Lin Xiang shouted to attract the villagers' attention, "We really found a way to break the curse. Listen to me, the way to break the curse is..."
Ling Changye answered him in a high voice: "Before the strange disease appeared, did Xue Ligu really use Gu to hurt you?"
Almost at the same second that he finished speaking, Xia Bai shouted, "Which stilt house does Xue Ligu live in?"
Jing Yan was stunned for a second, and immediately looked at the villagers one by one to find out what was in their hearts.
"Need I say more?"
"I've been lying in bed for so long!"
"He still doesn't believe it!"
"My child was killed by her. I hate her!"
“The stilt house at the east end of the village.”
"There are bugs crawling in the thorns."
"Number 97."
"Why should she? Our village has never done anything wrong to her."
…
The villagers' inner thoughts came out one after another, carrying their questions, resentment and unwillingness, and rushed to Jingyan in the dark night.
"They really have bad intentions!" The village chief was the first to react, "Drive them away quickly!"
Xia Bai asked: "Where does Xue Ligu live?"
Jing Yan: "No. 97 Stilt House at the east end of the village!"
Ling Changye picked up Erwa and said, "Let's go there!"
The players jumped down from the second floor and ran straight to the east end of the village.
After visiting every household in the past two days, they had become very familiar with this small Wugu Village. Because they set out one step faster than the villagers, they rushed into the dilapidated stilt house just before being caught by the villagers.
"Aren't you going to the dark building? Why are you here?" Fu Yuqing asked.
Xia Bai: "If we go to the dark building, they might rush in even more angrily and chase us away. If we come here, they may not dare to come in. We can still find more clues."
Since the villagers are so secretive about the name of the grass ghost Xue Ligu, they must be very reluctant to come in to where Xue Ligu lives.
Sure enough, after the villagers chased here, they subconsciously retreated, staring at the ground as they retreated, fearing that some insects would crawl onto them.
Several players breathed a sigh of relief, and some leaned on the ground or sat on the ground to breathe heavily.
Jing Yan patted his chest and said, "Li Gui, Liu Fu, and many other villagers did not lie. Xue Ligu is indeed a grass witch who harms people. Many of them were harmed by Xue Ligu. Xue Ligu planted worms on children, used human flesh thorns to raise poisonous insects, and also stole people's money. A lot..."
Tao Baobao asked: "Does your skill allow you to see people's hearts?"
Obviously, his skill could no longer be concealed, so Jing Yan said directly, "My skill is to see people's inner thoughts. The inner thoughts are the true reactions of the target's mind when I look at them. These are what I saw when Captain Ling asked them just now."
"Sure enough, the truth of this game is far from a routine that can be guessed at once." Fu Yuqing said: "Xue Ligu is not a poor victim who was killed by the villagers and then cursed them."
Jing Yan: "Then Lin Xiang's speculation is more likely to be correct. Let's quickly find clues to verify it. It will be terrible if the villagers set fire to the building later."
Xia Bai: "No, they won't burn down the building, or do anything else that would destroy it."
Jing Yan: "Why?"
Xia Bai: "They are afraid that Xue Ligu will curse even more harshly."
“…”
Lin Xiang sighed: "Xia Bai, you really found a good place."
Jing Yan followed suit, "As expected of Xia Bai."
Xia Bai: "... Let's find clues quickly. We don't have much time left. It may be shortened again. We may not even have two days left."
Lin Xiang: "Okay, I'll go find it right away."
When they first entered the game, they saw that there were about a hundred households in Wugu Village at the foot of the mountain. This was inferred based on the number of stilt houses. In fact, through their visits over the past two days, they found that Wugu Village did not have so many people, and many of the stilt houses here were vacant.
According to the village chief, "Ten years ago, young people began to move to big cities. They said that high-rise buildings outside were more comfortable and they didn't want to live in stilt houses anymore."
The unpopulated stilt house soon became dilapidated and crumbling.
This is the case with Xue Ligu's stilt house. Not only her stilt house, but all the stilt houses around it are like this. It is unlikely to be such a coincidence that all of them are young people who have left. It can be seen that the villagers are usually wary of and resistant to her.
However, the stilt house, which looks dilapidated from the outside, is very tidy inside. Apart from the fallen dust and dead leaves, it can be seen that it must have been very clean before.
The wooden cabinet in the main room is handmade, with a row of books neatly placed on it, and several storage baskets of uniform size. The storage baskets are woven from bamboo with a layer of soft and clean floral cloth sewn inside, and various items are classified and stored one by one.
There is a gray porcelain vase on the table. The flowers inside have withered, but the color has not completely faded. You can see that they are wild flowers from the countryside, and you can imagine how beautiful they were when they were first put in.
"I didn't see anything used to raise Gu. I looked at the jars, which were full of pickled vegetables. There was also a bottle, which contained brewed wine," said Lin Xiang.
"There's also wine?" Jing Yan asked in surprise.
Xia Bai looked at the bottle of withered wild flowers and the books on the bookshelf again and said, "She is a person who loves life very much."
Even in villages where conditions are not so good, life is beautiful.
"But he does have a cat." Lin Xiang found two bowls, "These are placed on the ground. One of them has water in it. It should be for the cat."
Jing Yan: "It's that cat ghost!"
Xia Bai took a look and went to the bedroom in the wing to check.
There is a bed in the bedroom. The wooden walls around the bed are covered with a layer of light green cloth. The sheets and quilt covers are yellow, which looks fresh and warm. On the right side of the bed is a row of boxwood wardrobes. Opposite is a desk facing the bougainvillea outside the window. On the desk there is still a bottle of withered flowers and a few books.
Fu Yuqing was standing in front of the desk, looking through the books on the table and the desk drawers.
Xia Bai looked around the bedroom, and his eyes finally fell on the wallpaper-like cloth pasted on the wall around the bed.
He felt around and stopped when he reached the back wall near the pillow.
Lifting the wall cloth, there was a small, very cute double door inside, with even smaller flowers and vines carved on it, like something out of a fairy tale.
Will opening it lead to a fairy tale?
Thinking this, Xia Bai opened the door ceremoniously with both hands.
He didn't see any fairy tales inside, but he did find a stack of love letters.
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① From Baidu and up-loader popular science.
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