Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Yinhuai Village 5
After hearing what Zhang Wei said, the man in the plaid shirt shook his head.
"I have no idea."
The other players also fell silent at this moment. The tombstone under the locust tree... If every villager in Yinhuai Village is dead, then the auntie who served the food at noon, and the villagers he came into contact with this afternoon, are all dead NPCs?
Or, there is an even more terrifying possibility.
Are they all weird?
"Now, everyone, tell us what clues you found this afternoon and what information you got from the NPCs?" Liu Yanran took the initiative to ask.
"The attractions I checked in this afternoon were the village teahouse and the stage. In fact, these two places are right next to each other."
"The stage looks very old, with some mottled marks. I'm not sure how long it's been around."
"I sat in the teahouse downstairs and watched a play called 'The Moon and the Locust Tree Appear to be a Saint,' performed by villagers from this village."
As soon as they heard what Liu Yanran said, all the players became alert and listened attentively. This was definitely the core plot!
"The opera's lyrics, half classical and half vernacular, combined with the performance, tell the story of a century ago when the weather was unfavorable. First, heavy rains irrigated the crops, but then a severe drought struck, leaving almost no crops to harvest. It was a year of great disaster."
"There were strong men from the village who left the mountains to seek relief and food, but the situation was the same everywhere in the world. War broke out again, and those who left the mountains often never returned, leaving no trace."
"The only villager who returned brought back news of the world in chaos, refugees everywhere, people selling their children, killing, burning, and looting. The price of food had reached an exorbitant price. Even if the entire village pooled all their silver, they couldn't buy much, let alone bring much back. People outside were already living on dirt."
"Most of the villagers in Yinhuai Village are relatives of the same surname. After hearing this, they dared not send anyone out. Instead, they organized villagers to patrol the mountains and look for wild food. However, the food reserves of each household in the village were constantly decreasing, and they could not survive for more than a day."
"So the elderly over 40 years old stood up and decided to go into the mountains and commit suicide, so that their families could save some food rations."
"The village chief was one of them. He handed over the responsibility of managing and organizing the village to the next generation. He led the other elders into the mountains without looking back, leaving only one sentence behind."
"Starving to death is a small matter, but eating human traffickers is not."
"There are no wild animals on the mountain behind the village anymore. All edible grass seeds have been picked up. There are a few caves on the mountain, which were where the villagers used to go hunting and rest."
"These villagers took the initiative to enter the cave. Two days later, the village chief felt that it was not appropriate. Dozens of people died in the cave for a long time, which could easily lead to an epidemic. If future generations enter the cave again, it will also cause trouble."
Liu Yanran spoke slowly and eloquently, "On the mountain at this moment, apart from the weeds, only locust trees remain."
"The locust tree forest on the mountain wasn't very large at the time. There was only one large locust tree and a dozen smaller ones. Coincidentally, there were exactly as many locust trees as there were villagers. So one man sat under a locust tree, ready to starve to death."
"The village chief sat under the largest locust tree and muttered something. He said he wondered if the locust tree had a spirit. If it did, when they died here, their remains would be given to you as fertilizer to nourish the trees and the forest. It would be a small reward for the villagers' harvesting in the mountains."
"The moonlight that night was exceptionally bright. The villagers on the mountain watched the stars streak across the night sky. The locust trees on the mountain were shrouded in moonlight. They were awakened by the fragrance of flowers."
"It was already their third day in the mountains. They hadn't eaten a single grain of rice or drunk a single drop of water. When they woke up, the villagers thought they were dead. Otherwise, how could they smell the fragrance of flowers?"
"The locust flowers covered the body and the ground. Overnight, the small locust tree forest suddenly bloomed with flowers on its branches."
"The flowers of the locust tree are edible, but the villagers on the mountain didn't think about eating them. Instead, they quickly filled their clothes with the flowers and carried them down to the village below to give them to the children. As they were coming down the mountain, the spring that had been dry for who knows how long began to gurgle again."
"Sophora japonica flowers can be eaten raw, steamed, fried, or mixed with eggs. There are many ways to eat them, but at that time, villagers only ate them by steaming or boiling them."
"We picked a batch of locust tree flowers on the mountain, and after a night, the branches were full of locust flowers again. This lasted for a whole month. The villagers of Yinhuai Village survived on the locust flowers."
Liu Yanran finished the story in one breath and took out a bottle of mineral water from her backpack and started sipping it.
"This legend would be perfectly appropriate in reality. It's a classic fairy-saving legend," Tian Tian said at this moment.
"Sister Liu, is there any follow-up? Will the villagers worship the locust tree later? Treat it as a guardian deity or something like that?" Xiang Tianyi asked.
"The play ends here, when all the villagers survive, and then jump to the timeline. The next year's harvest is used to offer sacrifices to the locust tree. The locust tree has not bloomed for thirty consecutive years. Well, this part is the ending of the dialogue." Liu Yanran added.
"So if we follow the plot of this play, does it mean that the big locust tree appeared and bloomed, but it consumed thirty years of its power or vitality, so it didn't bloom for the next thirty years?" The man in the plaid shirt said.
"I think there's a loophole in this play. The locust tree only bloomed for thirty days. How did the villagers survive after that? Didn't they say that there would be another drought and flood and nothing would be harvested?" Murphy said.
"Well, let me add something about the version I heard." Teacher He raised his hand at this moment.
"I heard this from Aunt Zhao, who works at the tofu shop in the village. Aunt Zhao said she was married into the village from outside. This is the version from their village, not the one heard in Yinhuai Village."
"The previous part about the famine and food shortage is basically the same. What happened next? Every village had people going out to look for food and gather information. The people who left Yinhuai Village joined the uprising army, performed some meritorious deeds, became small leaders, and returned with the reward of food to save the village."
"That's reasonable." Murphy pondered for a moment.
"But Aunt Zhao said that the version recognized by the village is the one performed on the stage, but it seems that the true story passed down from generation to generation by every clan member hundreds of years ago is not told to outsiders." Teacher He stretched out his hand at this moment.
"Classmates, what does this mean?"
"The real version has a secret, a big secret. Liu Yanran's version of the play is obviously beautified. It sounds like everyone in the village is a good person, and the locust tree is also a good locust tree. There is not a single bad one. Isn't it a little too unrealistic!"
Zhang Wei nodded immediately. "Teacher He, I just think this story is so beautiful. It's so beautiful that it feels out of place in this weird dungeon."
"Zhang Wei, what information did you get from the convenience store owner?" Tian Tian looked at him.
"Oh, by the way, it's my turn." Zhang Wei slapped his head.
"I went to the canteen and saw two women arguing and about to fight, but I didn't hear it clearly. Later, when I was working for the canteen owner, he briefly explained it to me."
"Tomorrow's ceremony is called worshipping Yuehuai. Every household in Yinhuai Village needs to prepare something. These two aunts are surnamed Li and Wang."
"They are neighbors. Aunt Li said Aunt Wang stole her locust flowers. She wasn't afraid of the retribution she would suffer if she wasn't sincere enough when she worshipped the moon locust tree."
"Auntie Wang said she was talking nonsense. She scolded Auntie Li for stealing the locust flower honey from Old Wang's house and being dishonest and dishonest when making offerings. She was unlucky."
Zhang Wei closed his mouth after he finished speaking. Xiang Tianyi looked at him and said, "That's all?"
"That's all. I'm going to check out some tourist spots later."
"The clue Zhang Wei heard is quite interesting." Mo Fei pinched his chin at this moment. "Auntie Li and Auntie Wang, one said the other was suffering retribution, and the other said the other was destined for bad luck. Does this mean that disrespecting the locust tree and the gods will be punished?"
Liu Yanran agreed, "But there's another problem. Of these two women, one might be stealing, and the other is being dishonest. They both knew they might get into trouble, but they still did it. This means that today's villagers aren't that religious. If they disrespect the gods, the probability of bad luck is 100%, so they definitely won't dare to cut corners."
"So, if this locust tree really has a spirit, and the villagers still dare to do this, does it mean that this belief has not really manifested itself for a long time?" Xiang Tianyi's eyes sparkled.
"Reasonable!" Teacher He gave a thumbs up.
"Do you have any additional information?"
Murphy coughed and said, "I'll do it."
"I met a young man in the village who had just returned from outside. He said he was attending middle school in the city and had come back for a ceremony. Villagers, no matter how far away, must return."
"This young man is very strict about his words. He won't reveal anything about the Moon-Pagoda Worship except its name. He only told me that there are benefits to participating in the ceremony."
"I asked him if he went to university and got a job, wouldn't he find the village too cumbersome and restrictive and want to escape? He said no. I could see from his expression that he was serious, not reluctant to answer."
After Murphy finished his speech, Tian Tian and Xiang Tianyi looked at each other.
"Well, in the end, it was just Yi Yi and I left. As everyone knows, we went to the village entrance first. After we came back and couldn't find a tour guide, we went to the village. Coincidentally, we met a group of children, all of whom were below elementary school age, about nine or ten years old?" Tian Tian said.
A strange light flashed in Liu Yanran's eyes. It was another different source of information.
"Yi Yi and I greeted the kids, but they ran away when they saw us." Tian Tian said helplessly.
"I thought she was scared by me, so I asked Tian Tian to go up to her and give her candy and chocolate," said Xiang Tianyi.
"Well, then this group of kids were bribed, but not completely. They said that adults didn't allow them to talk to foreign tourists. As soon as the kid said this, he was called by other kids and ran away." Tian Tian shook her head.
"So, from the clues Mo Fei just gave, this young man is willing to return to the village, saying that there are benefits. In other words, the [Worship Moon Sophora] ceremony itself will not harm the villagers, and may even be beneficial. But it may not be certain for outsiders." Teacher He concluded.
"Considering what the children said, the adults in the village didn't allow anyone to talk to outsiders. Why? Afraid of abduction? But the village is sealed off, so that's unlikely. I think it's more likely that they're worried the children, ignorant, might spread whatever they heard at home."
"It's impossible to find a half-grown child eavesdropping on adults' conversations in corners, and who knows how many secrets he might know." Liu Yanran said.
"What's more serious is that maybe in their eyes, we are dying people and unlucky." Xiang Tianyi said in a cold tone.
When all the clues and information are put together, players are able to gradually outline the story of this village.
"The story on the stage has been beautified. Combining everyone's clues, we try to restore it, assuming that the locust tree is not so selfless and the villagers are not so righteous."
"Legend has it that the villagers were able to survive because they made some kind of deal with the locust tree. They could prevent it from blooming for thirty years. Assuming it has become a spirit, its power has been greatly reduced. It's very weak and needs to replenish its energy."
"Students, what would you like to add to this?" Teacher He looked at everyone.
"Back to the beginning of the play, the village chief tells the locust tree that he wants the bodies of the dead villagers to nourish the tree and the mountain land. So are they the dead bodies of the villagers? Or living people? Living things?"
"Add to that the student youth Murphy mentioned, and the villagers will benefit from the ceremony. A transaction is a two-way street, not one that can be reached by one party alone. Let's assume that after the locust tree fully recovers its so-called power or vitality, the Moon-worshipping Sophora japonica ceremony will continue. It's no longer an offering from one party, but a transaction between two parties."
"So, we are the sacrifices of this Moon-Worshipping Sophora japonica ceremony." He concluded forcefully.
"Then how do you explain the tombstone he saw?" Liu Yanran asked. She always felt that something was wrong.
"It's simple, I understand. Didn't we just infer that the villagers were dead? If they were all dead, how could they be resurrected year after year through this ritual of worshipping the Moon Sophora japonica? The state of the living dead makes sense, my friends!" Zhang Wei's eyes lit up.
"Eh? There is indeed such a possibility. For example, in the legend, the villagers were actually dead, but they could not be resurrected after eating the locust flowers. Instead, they entered this special state and then gained more energy through sacrifices to be resurrected. In this way, it makes more sense that the locust tree did not bloom for 30 years, because resurrection drained its strength." Murphy seemed to be thinking about something.
At this moment, the man in the plaid shirt on the bed waved his hands and said, "Can I say a few words? I remembered that there is something I haven't said yet."
"What's the matter?" Everyone looked at him.
"I think our tour guide might be from this village." The man in the plaid shirt said weakly.
"The tour guide went to the clinic to pick me up, and I heard him call the male villager who was carrying me "husband."
Liu Yanran:!
All players:!!!
Zhang Wei felt a chill run down his spine. "No wonder our tour guide was so worried when we asked her for help when you disappeared."
"We players are all preparing for tomorrow's ceremony, and we can't afford to make any mistakes before the ceremony."
"This explains why there is a group in this copy. Our whereabouts and contacts are all in the eyes of the tour guide!" Tian Tian's pupils shook.
"Sister Liu, is the tour guide's phone really broken? Or did she break it on purpose because she doesn't want to answer our questions or reply to our messages?"
Liu Yanran was still in a daze at this time. "I think it's broken, but the tour guide got some water on it when he was pouring tea, and then it couldn't be turned on. But I think..."
"That's right!" Teacher He said confidently.
"The tour guide broke the phone on purpose."
"I don't think that's right. The tour guide shouldn't be..." Liu Yanran wanted to refute.
If the NPC Luo Qing is full of malice towards the players, then why would the two copies [404 Convenience Store] and [Liang Xin Performing Arts Training] help the players?
"Sister Liu, although the tour guide is very beautiful, we can't trust malicious NPCs so much!" Tian Tian said.
"No, what I wanted to say is, I asked the tour guide about tomorrow's project, and then I unexpectedly found out that the tour guide also works part-time as a real estate agent. I asked around, and she said she could take me to see a house when the group is over." Liu Yanran spoke after choosing her words, but the more she spoke, the more she felt that she would not be able to gain the trust of other players.
Even if she reveals that she is an official staff member at this moment, whether "Luo Qing" is an NPC or a weird one, whether she is neutral, friendly or malicious, these are all things that need to be explored and answered.
"Sister Liu, you haven't really been bewitched by the NPC, have you? Can we trust everything the NPC says? I think this is just a delaying tactic, a way to paralyze us." Tian Tian said.
"And our tour guide seems to be very familiar with the villagers. I was in the clinic and the other villagers were very enthusiastic when they recognized her, as if they hadn't seen her for a long time." The man in the plaid shirt spoke again.
Liu Yanran was completely silent. She still disagreed with the other players' judgments because their cognition and known information were different.
But the plaid shirt reminded her that the tour guide Luo Qing... was indeed very familiar with the villagers. When Liu Yanran met her at the teahouse stage, she saw Luo Qing chatting enthusiastically with the old men and women, and it was obvious that they were very familiar with each other.
"Well, the tour guide hasn't informed us what time breakfast will be tomorrow and what the arrangements are. Let's go knock on the door and ask, or we can try to see if the villager who came back with the plaid shirt is there." Xiang Tianyi suggested at this moment.
No one objected to her suggestion, and a minute later, there was a knock on Luo Qing's door.
Xiang Tianyi only saw the tour guide shouting "I'm coming, I'm coming" from inside the door, but it took about ten seconds before he opened the door a little.
"It's you." Luo Qing said.
"What's wrong? Um, is he hurt and feeling bad?"
"Wait a moment."
She closed the door, and thirty seconds later, the door opened. Xiang Tianyi, Tian Tian, and Liu Yanran tried desperately to peek inside.
"Uh, no. He's fine. I want to ask, tour guide, has your phone been repaired? What time do we have breakfast tomorrow?" Xiang Tianyi acted like a slightly embarrassed traveler.
"Oh, I'm really confused. Dinner will start at 6:30 tomorrow morning, and you can eat before 8:00. We will set off to go up the mountain at 8:30, so please notify me. My phone has not been repaired yet, but don't worry, I will replace it right away, and we can have a normal group chat tomorrow." Luo Qing said.
"Guide, are you from this village?" Tian Tian asked suddenly.
Luo Qing was stunned. Why did it suddenly jump here?
"I'm not." She shook her head.
"I'm just about to take a shower." Luo Qing was also a little embarrassed.
"Okay, tour guide, we'll be leaving first." The three players returned to Teacher He's room.
After closing the door, the other four male players looked over and saw Tian Tian nodding: "There is a backpack and a jacket in the guide's room. They belong to that male villager. I saw them."
"Her husband was definitely inside, otherwise he wouldn't have opened the door a second time. Also, when I asked her if she was from the village, she paused for a moment before answering. Shouldn't she have reacted immediately?"
"And shoes, hiking shoes are the same, two pairs. If you only stay in the village, you don't need hiking shoes. You only need them when going up the mountain." Xiang Tianyi said.
"So, the tour guide is a villager from Yinhuai Village!" Except for Liu Yanran, the six players said in unison.
This dungeon is so malicious! The NPC I thought was the guide was also a big pit!
Liu Yanran: I don’t agree, but I can’t refute it.
In Luo Qing's room, Yan Fufeng peeked out from the bathroom.
"Honey, can I come out now?"
"The team members have left. Everything is fine. The alarm has been lifted." Luo Qing breathed a sigh of relief.
"Am I so shameful?" Someone snorted twice in pretended anger.
"Oh, I'm here to be a tour guide. What would it look like if the group members saw my husband suddenly coming over? It's not professional at all! No normal tour guide would bring his family with him when he comes to work." Luo Qing emphasized.
"Aren't you going back to your colleagues' group tonight?"
Yan Fufeng looked incredulous: "No way, honey, we finally met on a business trip together, and you're kicking me out? Sleeping in the same room with a colleague?"
"I'm just afraid of what my colleagues will say." Luo Qing took his hand to comfort him.
"Okay, okay."
Yan Fufeng looked into her eyes at this moment: "Wife, you just sent me to the bathroom, I feel a little..."
Luo Qing tilted his head to look at him, "Huh? What?"
The light breathing lingered in her ears, and Luo Qing could only hear her lover's low laughter: "The way you hide from me is like you are having an affair."
Her face flushed instantly and she was about to shout someone's name on the spot, but when she thought that he was not at home, she could only pinch the man's waist hard and bite his shoulder hard.
"Yan! Fu! Feng! You're having an affair with your wife, right?"
"Wife, wife, wife, I was wrong, I was wrong!!!"
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