I got all the tasks at once. Except for the bandits, the remaining five were all related to statues.
"Thank you for telling me what I need to find," Lu Mingze happily waved to the black shadow. "But the clues are still not enough. Do you know where the items other than the holy sword and golden armor are?"
The shadows: "..."
"Despicable human!" a black shadow with a gruff voice roared, "Don't be fooled by him. All humans come here to kill us monsters. Don't you remember the lessons of the past? Kill them!"
Hearing this, Cao Qian clenched her fists, and Guan Ling put his palm against the big octopus prop on the bracelet, ready to fight at any time.
Lu Mingze stood in front of the two men and asked before the first black shadow attacked him, "You mean despicable humans? Aren't you humans? Are you the same as the armored men in the City Lord's Mansion?"
He was really curious. Everyone had previously guessed that the shadows were most likely living residents, but now they suddenly said things like "despicable humans". Could it be that they had guessed wrong before?
The first shadow froze upon seeing Lu Mingze's face, and instinctively answered his question: "We were once human, too."
Immediately afterwards, the black shadows that attacked one after another were stunned one after another. They were indiscriminately affected by the "Alluring Beauty" and were all stunned and unable to attack.
Lu Mingze kept hearing the reminder that his points had decreased by -100, but he didn't care. After all, it was difficult to deduct all 15 million points.
He asked, "You were once human, yet you say that humans are despicable. Do you think you are despicable? What have you done to create such a thought?"
A shadowy figure who particularly liked Lu Mingze's face triggered the "Beacon Fire Trick" trick. She answered without reservation, "Yes, we are like this now because we did something wrong and were punished."
It was a girl's voice. She walked out of the shadows and let Lu Mingze see her face.
This was a sweet-looking girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, but half of her face was rotten.
She was wearing a black robe, revealing her arms covered with black scales to Lu Mingze's sight.
Lu Mingze wasn't afraid. He carefully observed the girl's face and arms, then asked in confusion, "I heard from the statue that bandits transform into half-demons at night. Is that true for you?"
The girl shook her head. "We're not half-demons. We're just... ordinary people cursed. We can't walk in the sun, can't enter a church to pray, and can't approach the faith we once held. This is our sin."
During the chat, the "Turning Beauty" effect expired, the shadows regained consciousness, and a cooldown of aesthetic fatigue began to appear. A shadow ran over and grabbed the girl, saying, "Why are you saying this to him?"
The girl's "Beacon Fire to Trick the Princes" trick hadn't expired yet. Her scaly arms seemed to possess infinite strength. She broke free from the man and said, "He's so handsome. I believe he's a good man!"
Lu Mingze accepted the compliment of "good-looking" calmly and nodded, saying, "I am indeed here to help you. I need your help to rebuild the town, but first you have to tell me what happened here, what you did wrong, and how I can help you."
The shadow said distrustfully, "If you are truly a good person, you will not be able to forgive our mistakes and will only want to kill us like the lords before you. If you do not represent justice, then in this city, sooner or later you will become like us and eventually be devoured by the monsters."
"Wait a minute," Lu Mingze said, raising his hand. "I don't think your idea is right. Mistakes are divided into different levels, and the punishment is determined according to their severity. For example, the bandits outside the city, their mistakes are enough to be sentenced to death. But some minor, correctable mistakes don't need to be killed. Labor reform will be enough. Urban construction is imminent, and it requires the cooperation of many people. Why don't you think in this direction? Instead of just thinking about being killed?"
The shadows were stunned by Lu Mingze's words. The girl took the opportunity to ask, "Prince, can you really forgive me?"
She raised her head and looked at the prince's handsome face affectionately.
Lu Mingze said, "It depends on what mistake you made. What's your name? Tell me what happened."
The girl said, "My name is Luluting, you can call me Lulu. My mistake was... my friends and I took the statue's ocean-blue eye."
Seeing that Lulu had already told part of the truth, the shadows no longer tried to stop her. They hid in the darkness and observed Lu Mingze's reaction.
Lulu's voice was very quiet, and she said slowly: "That is the statue of the Son of God, the symbol of our town, made of the most precious gold and gems, standing in the center of the square. Every time there is a harvest festival, we will gather in the square, offer our tributes, and pray to the Son of God for good weather in the next year.
"We didn't know if the Son of God could truly bless us, but we were always happy. We had plenty of food and thick clothes, so we didn't go hungry in the spring and could wear warm clothes in the winter. Especially during the autumn harvest festival, we would hold a bonfire party in the square, and everyone would sing and dance together. Those days were really happy.
"But soon, the old city lord died, and his son inherited his territory. The new city lord disliked our singing and dancing in front of his mansion and canceled the bonfire party. He preferred to travel to other cities to attend high-society gatherings. To maintain his respectability, he increased taxes. He hated God and forbade us to pray to the statue.
"At first, we could still survive, after all, our harvest was good. But the next year, there was a drought, the harvest was so small, but the taxes didn't decrease. We didn't have enough wheat, and the new city owner would rob our family of our property.
"We were very hungry, but we endured. One day, a child brought back a piece of gold, the same gold armor that had been on the statue. He said it was a gift from the Son of God. The family relied on the gold to eat their fill. Then, in the hungry spring of the following year, someone else brought back gold, also claiming it was a gift from the Son of God.
"The gold on the statues was getting less and less, and at first people would pick out the inconspicuous places to take it, but then the gold disappeared, but we were able to survive again.
"The statues became bare without the gold, and the new lord of the city was very angry. He asked us to hand over the people who stole the gold, but after every household took it, no one admitted to it, so he sent soldiers to search every house and took away all our property and wheat.
"I was so hungry that I fainted under the statue. When I woke up, the statue's ocean-blue eye fell beside me. I secretly picked it up and sold it to a nobleman for a low price. My family and I survived that winter, but I stole it, and this is my sin."
In fact, when Lulu was halfway through her story, the time limit for her "playing tricks on the princes by lighting beacons" had expired, but she did not stop and continued to tell the story until she had finished telling her sins, and then she looked at Lu Mingze.
Lu Mingze listened carefully and asked, "You took the golden armor, the eyes, and the boots to sell for money. What about the holy sword and the diamond heart?"
Lulu said, "The holy sword disappeared on its own. We don't know when it disappeared. We only know that one day, the statue's chest became empty, and the diamond heart disappeared. A voice came from the sky, saying that the foolish people in this town had attempted to violate the dignity of God, and that God would bring down divine punishment. Thus, the day of disaster arrived."
"How long has it been since the day of disaster? How many sheriffs came before me? Also, what was the final fate of the new city lord?" Lu Mingze asked.
"It's been twenty years since the disaster day. I haven't grown up since that day. Time in the town has stopped. I don't know much about the sheriff and the new mayor." Lulu said as she looked back, as if asking someone.
A middle-aged man emerged from the shadows and said, "I'm the leader of the survivors in town. You can call me Cook. For the past twenty years, every year a sheriff has arrived with soldiers to take over the city, but they've either died or fled. As for the new mayor, no one knows where he went. He vanished on the day of the disaster. Some say he escaped, while others say he's still in the city."
After hearing these words, Lu Mingze sat cross-legged on the ground and pondered for a moment before saying, "Stealing is punishable, but it's not a capital crime. Labor reform and urban construction will suffice. And the question is, are you really thieves?"
"What do you mean?" said Cook gravely. "We did not share the Diamond Heart."
"I know, I believe you," Lu Mingze nodded repeatedly. "I mean, the valuables might really be given to you by the statue."
He asked Lulu: "How did you get the Ocean Blue Eyes?"
Lulu said: "I knelt at the foot of the statue, pressed my forehead against its base, and begged it in a low voice to continue to bless us, to protect us from starvation, freezing and disease. Then I fainted from hunger."
Lu Mingze remembered that he was also sitting on the base of the statue. When he was thinking about how nice it would be to look in the mirror, a bronze mirror fell down.
He said, "I think the Son of God statue heard your prayers, but he couldn't change the city lord's decision, so he had to sacrifice his precious eyes so that you can live."
Lulu and the shadows were stunned.
Lu Mingze continued, "What did the first child who retrieved the golden armor fragment say? Did he pick it off himself?"
Cook shook his head and said, "No, he insisted that it was given to him by the Son of God."
"That's right. Maybe it fell from the statue," Lu Mingze said. "He heard your prayers and used his limited wealth to help you. He did it voluntarily. You're not stealing."
"Really?" Cook asked in surprise.
"But sharing the diamond heart is a bit too much." Lu Mingze thought of the empty heart of the statue and felt a little sad. "So who took the holy sword and shared the diamond heart?"
Cook and the shadows shook their heads. "It really wasn't us. How would we have known there was a diamond hidden under the stone statue? And even if there was a diamond, we wouldn't share it. We'd sell it to buy food."
"That makes sense," Lu Mingze nodded. "Sharing the diamond heart sounds very evil. Perhaps someone had some evil thoughts and harmed the statue of the Son of God, causing you to be punished by God as well."
"So...you mean, we are innocent?" Cook said excitedly.
"If what you said is true, then you are not guilty," Lu Mingze said, "but if you have concealed my crimes, that may not be the case."