Many ancient villages and towns have continued traditions, such as sacrifices and prayers.
For a while, Sur was quite interested in this. Coincidentally, a documentary was being broadcast on the TV channel at that time. The overall impression he got from watching it was: a bit weird, but very pious and mysterious.
At present, these villagers gathered at the west entrance of the village, kneeling by the well and muttering something, but their speech was too fast to be heard clearly.
The village chief knelt on the ground, placed his hands in front of him and kowtowed deeply. Finally, he spoke clearly: "Please forgive our sins, God."
Su Er frowned. This kind of prayer was completely different from what was shown in the documentary. It was obvious that it was evil.
"They are bowing in the same direction." Ji Heng said in a low voice.
Sur looked in the direction he pointed and saw that all the villagers looked to the right of the well when they knelt.
The village chief was helped to his feet and gave a veiled warning: "The sacrificial ceremony will be held the day after tomorrow. Be careful in your daily life and don't say the wrong thing."
Upon hearing about the sacrificial ceremony, many villagers' eyes lit up with excitement, their shoulders trembling slightly, as if they couldn't wait to see that day come.
The village chief pushed away the person who was supporting him and said calmly, "Let's go."
The villagers stood up one by one, and Sur pointed behind them, asking with his eyes whether they wanted to leave or stay.
Ji Heng: "I'll go to the well and take a look later."
Su Tangyi had another worry: "What if these villagers find out we're not in the house? It will be hard to explain."
Ji Heng remained calm and composed: "The messenger of God does not need to explain."
Soul nodded in agreement: "Yes, we sleepwalk and pray every night."
Su Tangyi asked awkwardly, "Really?"
When it comes to important matters, Yizhu's speaking and acting styles are completely different, both of them very serious: "There's still a layer of window paper left to break, so there's no need to do too much work on the surface."
The villagers have ulterior motives and they came here with a purpose, but now is not the time to fall out.
Suer carefully hid behind the wall and saw that most of the villagers went directly into their own houses, with no intention of visiting at night. He immediately gave up the idea of returning to the house and waited until everyone had dispersed. Then he sneaked out and prepared to study the well.
He was not brave enough to stick his head in to look, because who knew if something strange would come out of the well.
Ji Heng's focus didn't seem to be on the well. He broke off a thick branch and began to loosen the soil. Seeing this, several people worked together to loosen the soil and then dug it out with their hands.
Sur touched something and his hand froze slightly, and the others stopped moving as well.
"What's wrong?" Ji Heng asked.
Suer glanced at the hand buried in the soil. "It looks like a bone. What do you think the probability is that it is from an animal?"
As he spoke, he pulled hard and several stones flew into the air. The thing in Suer's hand appeared in front of everyone: a piece of burnt black hand bone.
He had seen even more disgusting scenes before, so he suppressed the urge to feel nauseous and instead increased his digging speed.
As bones gradually emerged, Suer's eyes darkened. He hadn't even dug deep enough, and he'd already found four hand bones. Who knew how many more bodies lay buried beneath the ground?
Su Tangyi: "Are these skeletons from villagers or outsiders?"
No one answered, but everyone knew the latter was more likely.
Suer made a common inference: "The sacrificial ritual probably means burning the messenger of God."
"…"
There is some truth to what you said.
After hastily reburying the skeleton, Soul turned to survey the well and politely knocked on the wall. "Excuse me, is there anyone inside?"
He took a quick look and came back at lightning speed.
His movements were too big, and Ji Heng was helpless: "Aren't you afraid of spraining your waist?"
Suer shrugged, still having some confidence.
Yizhu's mouth twitched: "Just check it directly, why bother asking such unnecessary questions?"
Soul: "If there is a ghost, it will definitely be stunned by my polite question, so we must seize these few seconds."
Yizhu asked without any hope: "What did you see?"
It took less than three seconds in total, and at most I could see the pitch-black bottom of the well.
Su Er's smile faded, and his eyes seemed to penetrate the barrier and look at the well. Finally, he slowly uttered a word: "Painting."
"painting?"
Suer nodded. "There are inscriptions on the inner wall. When put together, they look like a painting."
Yiju's expression was a little subtle.
If she was right, this was a very important clue, but going down the well was quite dangerous. Unwilling to take the risk, yet unwilling to take advantage of others, she looked at Su Er and said, "If you want to go down, I'll give you a healing item."
This type of prop is worth two or three ordinary props.
"…"
Su Er was embarrassed. She was still greedy for her body during the day, but threw it away at night?
An unkind chuckle came from the side. Suer turned his head. Although Ji Heng pursed his lips, he was sure that the voice was his.
Ji Heng symbolically comforted her: "Learning will never abandon you at any time."
"…"
This was just a small episode. As soon as Ji Heng finished speaking, he walked to the well. He was not as cautious as Suer. He rolled up his sleeves and reached out to feel the inner wall.
After a moment he said, "Bring me a lamp and a thick rope, I want to go down to the well."
Suer's lips moved, but he didn't stop in the end. The other party had made a decision. Not to say 100%, but at least 70% to 80% sure.
Yizhu and Su Tangyi went to look for something, and Suer suggested: "It's better to be armed with props."
Ji Heng's spiritual power was not low. Based on his current feelings, even if there was a ghost at the bottom of the well, it wouldn't be too strong. However, seeing his serious expression, he still took out a Bagua mirror and hung it in front of him.
The Bagua mirror looks a bit funny when paired with modern clothes, but fortunately it looks good.
After getting the rope, Ji Heng tied it around his waist skillfully.
To be on the safe side, Su Er helped tie him up again. When he was about to add a third, Su Tangyi quickly stopped him: "It's not like tying up a pig."
The words were rough but the truth was there. Suer looked at Ji Heng, who had two thick ropes tied around his waist and was giving him a rather helpless smile.
Suer coughed lightly and waved his hand, indicating that they should go down the well.
The well was very humid. Ji Heng squinted his eyes as he scanned the mural. Because he still had to identify it, he moved down very slowly, thanks to his good arm strength.
We had to turn around in the well from time to time, and by the time we reached the bottom, it had taken nearly a quarter of an hour.
Suer was lying by the well. The painting was upside down for him, so he couldn't see the content. However, he noticed that Ji Heng's brows were gradually furrowing.
"A traveler fainted in the desert and made a deal with the gods. Later, when he arrived at an oasis, he changed his mind, got married, and had children..."
The sound came from the bottom of the well, and the empty space had an echo, not to mention how eerie it was.
As Ji Heng was looking at the picture and telling the story, a pale hand rose from the water. He shook it off with an expressionless face, as if he had already noticed the existence of the water ghost. He ignored it and continued to look at the painting: "The gods are angry, and the oasis has been suffering from drought for years. It is about to become a desert."
Soul frowned: "That's not logical."
Since he was a god, he could just take the life of a mortal in anger. Why would he vent his anger on an entire oasis?
"That's all I've drawn," Ji Heng said. "There are two other wells, and maybe we can find other clues there."
When he was about to go up, he suddenly changed his mind and grabbed the water ghost's hair and dragged him up.
The rope was swaying in the air, but fortunately the ghost itself was not heavy, so both the man and the ghost came up safely.
The water ghost was thrown to the ground and instinctively reached out to grab a living person and pull him down. Ji Heng looked at Su Tangyi and Yizhu and said, "Please go find Wanyi and the others and check the content on the mural."
They were all smart people and knew that this was a deliberate attempt to get people away, but Wan Yi and Li Zicang had already started checking the well, so it was necessary to go.
After they left, Ji Heng brought the water ghost to Sul.
Su Er took out the electric shock device and stared at the water ghost before absorbing the Yin Qi, wondering: "The others were burned to death, but this one became a water ghost?"
"It's a player." Ji Heng said, "The badge fell off on the way up."
Sur tried to communicate with the water ghost several times, but failed each time. Finally, he determined that the water ghost had completely lost his mind.
Ji Heng: "The possibility of a player becoming a ghost and retaining consciousness is extremely small."
When the indigenous people die, they can turn into evil spirits with independent consciousness, but players cannot do so, otherwise it will easily disrupt the balance.
Su Er also thought of this, and by the way, he wondered how likely it was that Zhu Yun was still alive. She seemed to have a trace of sanity left.
The water ghost's only animal nature remained, struggling fiercely, trying to pounce on its prey. Su Er suddenly understood why Ji Heng frowned in the well. It wasn't because of the mural, but because he discovered that the water ghost was once a player.
Ji Heng: "Hurry up."
Su Er raised his head, sighed softly, and finally decided to take action. He watched helplessly as the ferocious water ghost was about to die. At the last moment, the water ghost's eyes seemed to regain clarity, full of relief.
"Thank you..." Just as he squeezed out a word from his throat, the water ghost suddenly became irritable again, and his only clarity disappeared.
After the body twitched violently for a few times, the struggle was in vain and the water ghost completely disappeared.
Sur shook his head. Compared to becoming a ghost after death, being able to completely disappear in the copy was a kind of luck.
Before he could sigh for too long, Ji Heng said, "The image in the portrait in the well is of a woman."
Su Er was stunned, having totally not expected this turn of events.
Recalling the story on the hotel card at that time, the young traveler appeared in the desert, and the word "he" was used on the card, so my first reaction was to think it was a man.
In fact, the word "he" was widely used a long time ago, and the reason for judging the traveler as a man was nothing more than habitual thinking.
"Yizhu was the first to reveal the truth..."
As he was speaking, Wan Yi and others came out from the darkness, and now all the players were gathered together.
Yizhu had already discussed this with them on the way, and now she was playing with her hair and said, "Who would talk about responsibility in a life-or-death situation?"
This wasn't the time to argue about values. Wan Yi summarized the scenes at the other two wells: "Man proposes, God disposes. The gods had intended to take the woman's life after she gave birth, but they didn't expect her to be so frightened that she died in childbirth."
Su Er lowered his eyes and said, "No wonder he can only vent his anger on the village." He slowly asked, "Where is the child?"
Wan Yi shook his head. "No, but there's a line of words engraved on it: Every July 15th, the gods will come to the sinful village to take away the messengers he has chosen."
July 15th is the day after tomorrow, which is the time when God will take their lives.
Wanyi's expression was solemn. "Time is limited, and clues are few. We must decide on a direction for investigation... The child not mentioned in the story, the village itself, or the young traveler. Which one do you think we should start with?"
No one answered for a long time after the words were spoken.
Before speaking, Ji Heng glanced at Suer, meaning to hear his opinion.
Soul said truthfully, "I'm not particularly good at finding information."
Ji Heng: "Just tell me what you can think of right now, even if it's not a clue."
Su Er: "First, the village was destroyed. That line of text mentioned that God would come to the sinful village to take it away. Now that the village is gone, this statement may not be true."
After a pause, he held up another finger and said, "Second, 'suicide'. God is destined to return empty-handed."
"…"
The most ruthless person in the world!
Li Zicang, who had been silent the whole time, had a trembling look in his eyes: "You are cruel to others, and even crueler to yourself."
Sur: "'Destroy' doesn't mean killing. We can find a way to temporarily disable the villagers and move them to different places in batches. Without people living there, the village will at most be a gathering place of houses. Besides, if we disappear now, wouldn't the gods have worked in vain?"
Su Tangyi pointed out the blind spot: "But a water ghost was just found in the well. If you are dragged in by someone, you will really die."
Su Er smiled and said, "That's because there are other options."
One player died, and there were five other players.
Su Tangyi was about to speak when she saw Suer's smile and shuddered inexplicably.
"Any player who can enter the Nonghuo is not weak. Their defeat in the village proves that these villagers are not easy to deal with." Su Er smiled and said, "So we must seize the initiative."
"You want to..."
Ji Heng said calmly, "He wants to start his investigation in the village tomorrow and do it in a group. If the villagers try to stop us, we'll pretend to commit suicide."
When the messenger of God dies, what can be used to offer sacrifices to heaven?