195 Pulp
◎Untangled lines◎
Qi Qiuxue and Li Yiqing quickly integrated the information they received.
——About the fire: The fire mercilessly took away the lives of most, or even all, of the villagers. Everything was not as optimistic as the newspaper reports that everyone survived. The villagers who seemed to be safe had their inner cores replaced long ago, and now paper dolls were controlling their bodies.
Regarding the two distinct forms of ordinary and special villagers: Perhaps this is related to the method by which the paper figures steal the villagers' bodies, or perhaps it's related to timing and opportunity. If the fusion is complete, they appear as ordinary villagers, while if not, they become special villagers. To uncover the truth behind this, we need to find the man who returned from the dead and conduct further investigation.
——Regarding the suit that was not burned ten years ago: why there were no signs of burns is unknown; why it appeared on a mysterious man is unknown.
——Regarding the origin of the paper figurines and whether they are related to the unspeakable objects worshipped by the villagers: unknown.
"I think before us, there were always returnees who were summoned back every year." Qi Qiuxue recalled what some villagers had said a few days ago. "Ah Qing, remember? When faced with some of the handsome returnees, the villagers expressed a mixture of envy and resentment. They wondered why they hadn't returned sooner."
"I guess there's a hierarchy among the paper figures. Those with higher ranks can take over the bodies of the returnees first, while those with lower ranks have to wait until the next batch of returnees appear."
Li Yiqing: "Why didn't they summon back all the villagers wandering outside at the same time?"
Qi Qiuxue: "Maybe my power is limited."
Li Yiqing: "Since there is a hierarchy, and the higher-level paper figures already have bodies for their own use, why would they still help and cooperate with the lower-level paper figures in their attempts to steal bodies?"
This question also concerned Qi Qiuxue. After hearing this, she paused for a moment and then expressed her speculation: "Perhaps they are not targeting the other paper figures, but me."
"Just like your nominal relatives, they possess normal conditions and appearances, with blood flowing through their bodies like ordinary people. They may even have inherited their owners' memories, but ultimately, they still can't be considered normal humans. The most obvious thing is that they must rely on 'eating incense' three times a day to stay alive."
"Perhaps at a suitable time, when all the returnees have been successfully possessed and everyone in Chigu Village has been possessed, whether ordinary villagers or special villagers, they can completely transform into humans."
"A real person who no longer possesses any of the characteristics of a paper man. Therefore, they have been united for so many years, working towards this common goal."
After he finished speaking, Li Yiqing fell silent.
Qi Qiuxue also fell silent. The two looked at each other in silence. After a long while, Qi Qiuxue finally said, "Actually, there are two things that I still care about very much."
"What?"
"First, there's the missing girl," Qi Qiuxue said. "I originally thought we could dig deeper into her disappearance, but now she's returned to the village, and the paper doll has successfully taken over her body."
"So far, I haven't gotten any useful information from her. The clues seem to have been interrupted here, and I can't dig any further."
"You said that the Lord God wouldn't set up useless settings, and that all her arrangements have ulterior motives. If that's the case, what else does this girl have that we haven't discovered yet?"
"The second is the time limit. The system once said that this instance didn't have a time limit, but based on the information we have so far, all the clues point to that specific date: x month x day, which was ten years ago, the day the village was burned down."
"I suspect the villagers will take action that day. They'll either kill us all together, allowing the remaining paper figurines to successfully seize our bodies, or they'll sacrifice us to their faith in that unspeakable entity, thereby granting us the ability to fully transform into humans. Either way, it means we're running out of time. We must complete our mission quickly within the few days remaining and escape the dungeon."
"But if that's the case, everything goes against the rule of 'no time limit'." Qi Qiuxue frowned in annoyance. Now the clues they had seemed to have become a tangled ball of threads that could not be sorted out no matter how hard they tried.
"What's the reason behind all this?"
“…”
-
The next day.
Qi Qiuxue and Li Yiqing got up early, said goodbye politely to the so-called "mom and dad", and went to meet up with Liu Ge and others.
The two sides talked about what happened yesterday and exchanged the clues they had obtained. Similar to Qi Qiuxue's situation, Liu Ge's situation was not peaceful last night.
"In the early hours of the morning, a returning villager caused a big commotion in the village. Coincidentally, he was our neighbor. Since we lived very close, we were able to participate in the entire incident and heard and saw things with our own eyes."
"He seemed to have something very important to do and had to leave the village. In the middle of the night, people's emotions are easily affected by certain things. Even though the wind was very strong last night, we still heard crying coming from next door."
"We also heard him push the door open and leave. Su Wen and I hit it off and decided to secretly follow him to see what he was going to do. We saw him first knock on Wang Shan's door, express his desire to leave the village, and ask for help. After being rejected, he went to the village party secretary and several other villagers he thought he had good relationships with, but all of them responded in the negative."
"He collapsed and desperately ran towards the village entrance, intending to leave on his own. When he was stopped, he flew into a rage and punched the villagers around him."
"Then what?" Li Yiqing asked.
"Of course not." Su Wen, who was standing by, added, "His behavior angered the villagers who came to stop him. They forcibly tied his hands and feet, covered his mouth, and carried him back."
"After that, the villagers threatened, persuaded, and comforted him. Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps truly moved by their words, the man finally gave up the idea of going out, and the villagers finally left and went home."
"Liu Ge and I changed our target and continued to follow the villagers. Soon, I heard their complaints."
"They said that in the past, such disobedient people would be dealt with on the spot. Unfortunately, these returnees are the last batch and are to be sacrificed to the 'gods'. They can't be dealt with casually."
"It will be soon." Su Wen imitated the villagers' tone, vividly recreating the scene of last night, "In five days, we will be reborn."
really.
This further verified Qi Qiuxue's guess that the villagers were waiting for the opportunity, and the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, five days later, the day when the village was burned down by fire ten years ago, happened to be the most suitable time.
“…”
Yu Guangzhong saw a familiar figure passing by.
Qi Qiuxue raised her eyes and looked in his direction, immediately caught up with him, and stopped him before he turned.
It was the man who came back from the dead. Suddenly, someone blocked his way. The man was puzzled: "What's wrong? What do you want from me?"
Qi Qiuxue got straight to the point: "We met before, at the train platform. Do you remember?"
"I saw you jump off the platform and accidentally collide with a train." She looked directly into the man's eyes and spoke slowly, "Seeing you covered in blood, I was truly horrified and saddened. I thought you were seriously injured, but I didn't expect to see you again a few days later."
"Are you feeling alright?" Qi Qiuxue smiled kindly. Her eyes curved in a way that made her seem kind and innocent, as if she was genuinely concerned about the other person's health. Her words were devoid of any ulterior motives. "As a fellow villager, I'm truly worried about you."
After he finished speaking, the man paused.
Qi Qiuxue stood there quietly and looked at him, her smile still warm.
"I'm fine." After a while, the man opened his mouth to answer Qi Qiuxue's question. His pale face and the two red spots on his cheeks made him look strange and funny. "I'm in good physical condition. The injury wasn't serious to begin with. Plus, I was bandaged quickly afterwards, and the medical staff took good care of me, so I'm not seriously injured at all."
"That's good." Qi Qiuxue nodded and continued, "Were you in a bad mood at the time? Why did you jump off the platform without hesitation?"
"I'm really in a bad mood." The man sighed and quickly answered her question. "Actually, I wanted to commit suicide. I've been doing really badly these past few years. Maybe you saw me that day. I was unkempt, ragged, hungry, and even my mental state was not optimistic..."
What he said was indeed the whole picture that Qi Qiuxue saw that day.
Qi Qiuxue nodded, motioning for him to continue. The man waved his hand and continued, "When I thought about the villagers mocking and ridiculing me if I returned home in this state, I didn't want to live anymore. That's why I jumped off the tracks."
"But maybe it was God's blessing that I didn't die and got a second life. So from then on, I decided to cheer up and live well."
"That's great." Qi Qiuxue nodded.
"Is there anything else?" the man said, "If not, I'll leave..."
Before he could finish his words, Qi Qiuxue slipped and suddenly fell towards him.
The man subconsciously held her arm and caught her. In the chaos, Qi Qiuxue's nails "accidentally" scratched the back of the man's hand, leaving a wound.
"I'm so sorry!" After she stood firm, Qi Qiuxue cast a concerned look at her, "I think I scratched you. Are you okay? Let me see your wound."
"No need." The man seemed a little agitated by the sudden unexpected incident. He abruptly withdrew his injured hand and pretended to be unconcerned. "It's just a minor injury, nothing to worry about."
"I have something else to do, so I'll leave first." After saying that, he ignored Qi Qiuxue's worries and concerns and left quickly.
"Did you find anything?" After he left, Li Yiqing and others came over.
Qi Qiuxue raised her hand and motioned for them to look at the liquid on her fingertips.
What flowed out of the man's wound was not blood, but something off-white with a few flocs in the middle.
Li Yiqing lowered his eyes and moved closer, sniffing the scent of her fingertips and twisting the flocs with his fingers.
"It's pulp," she said later.
It seems that it's not just appearance, blood and pulp that differentiate ordinary villagers from special villagers.
【Author’s words】
Here we come!
I didn't update yesterday, but there's a red envelope for this chapter. I'll post it before the next chapter. Hug everyone! Thank you for your overlord tickets and nutrient solution, and thank you for leaving comments and reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
