Until everyone dispersed, the patriarch of the Turner family did not say anything related to Lu Ning.
She did deliberately use a vague method to talk about this matter, but it would not be impossible if the Turner family desperately tried to accuse themselves based on those words. The other party did not adopt such a method, which meant that they had concerns.
As for what the mayor said about "witches can be killed" and "witches have limited use of magic power", just listen to it. The main threat to the town now comes from the devil. How can they know the weaknesses of the devil better than her?
Following the dispersed crowd, Lu Ning walked towards the hotel. However, this night was destined to not be peaceful, because the demons had begun to discover the benefits of attacking the people in the town first.
A terrified scream came from the blacksmith shop she had just passed, and then she saw the blacksmith's son rolling out of the blacksmith shop, which also alarmed the surrounding crowd.
"Help! Help...my dad, my dad! That woman! That witch! She is a witch!"
The boy's words were incoherent, but the townspeople, relying on the courage they had just heard from the lecture, rushed forward and opened the curtain of the blacksmith shop.
The forge was still burning, and small items such as nails and nuts were scattered on the ground. The long wooden table that the blacksmith originally used to place these items had been cleared, and a "corpse" was placed on it.
There was a person standing next to the long table. She raised her gloved hands and lifted the arms of the "corpse".
Lu Ning couldn't help but feel numb when she saw this scene.
What was placed on the table was actually a huge human-shaped piece of meat, with internal organs and even bones growing outside. The fragile capillaries ruptured during the collision, and the heart had stopped beating long ago, and the lungs no longer expanded. It was indeed a corpse... There was no need to even do an autopsy.
However, there is no normal way to turn a person into this.
"The man was turned inside out."
Fujii Yukine put down that hand and issued a cold judgment.
"The cause of death was suffocation. His mouth and nose were blocked by his own skin, making him unable to breathe normally. It's difficult to guess his identity and time of death, but generally he was killed while delivering a speech in the square. His identity...according to his muscles Judging from its strength, it is indeed the blacksmith himself."
The blacksmith's son burst into tears, and the people in the town crowded at the door, but no one dared to go in. After all, the smell of blood could be smelled outside the door. The curiosity of a person who has been turned inside out is more than It exceeds the upper limit of acceptance for most people.
Fujii Yukine swiped her foot and swept aside the scattered things at her feet.
"It is reasonable to doubt the first person who made the discovery. I am not going to hold you accountable for your emergency judgment, but who was not in the square when the crime occurred? Does anyone know?"
"How do you prove that you didn't kill someone?" someone shouted.
"This is not a killing method that humans can use. At the same time that you started to fight back against the witches, the witches also used this method to show their existence. Isn't it obvious? Do you think I am a witch? And you all said that in that paragraph Do you want to deal with me like forgotten history?"
Fujii Yukine's words directly touched the pain point of the townspeople. They all really want to get rid of that period of history, and if they kill the suspected targets indiscriminately, it is tantamount to actively returning to their original appearance, which is exactly what the witch wants to see.
"...Forget it, it seems that no one will pay attention to who is not present." Fujii Yukine shook his head, "It doesn't matter, I am a detective. When I find any suspects, I will come to them one by one for questioning. . Now you decide what to do with this body. I believe he will not be the last one."
She walked out the door and people moved out of the way.
At the end is Lu Ning.
"Is something wrong?" Fujii Yukiyin looked at Lu Ning and asked.
"When did you get here?"
"About ten minutes ago, shortly after the square dispersed, would you like me to recount to you what was said?"
"It's meaningless. Even if you leave early, you can tell a lot of information. I want to ask you why you came in here?"
"The smell of blood." Fujii Yukine tilted his head towards the door, "I am very sensitive to the smell of blood, and the blacksmith was obviously alive when he was turned over, and many blood vessels were broken while struggling."
"What did you find in the hotel register?"
"Why would I tell others casually?" Fujii Yukine shrugged, "The questioning should end here. We are suspicious of each other, and I have no obligation to tell you everything."
"...Okay." Lu Ning stepped aside and stepped aside.
When Fujii Yukine passed her, he slowed down a little and lowered his voice.
"If the devil can only change the state of the dead, then is the change in the living caused by the witch, or is the devil's ability improved?"
"What did you say?" Lu Ning tried hard to maintain her facial expression.
"Nothing, have a nice trip tomorrow."
Fujii Yukine nodded slightly and then left.
The death of the blacksmith left Sivis and others unable to rest. When Lu Ning returned to the RV, many patrols had appeared in the town. They held torches and farm tools in their hands, walking silently around every corner. The streets and alleys also made Lu Ning unable to sleep.
Slightly irritable, she got up from the bed, put on a coat and walked towards the tin-plated wine jug.
The tavern will be open until very late. During this period, people will go into the tavern in droves to get some late-night snacks to fill their stomachs.
Lu Ning walked to a familiar seat and sat down, and Sera immediately placed a glass of soda in front of her.
"Thank you, give me a glass of mead." Lu Ning breathed slightly into the palm of her hand, then took a sip of the soda water.
"If you feel it's dangerous here, just leave." Sera quickly brought a glass of mead and sighed slightly.
"You seem uneasy too."
"No one can feel at ease. After all, such a murder happened... The witch, even the mayor said, it is very likely that she will come back."
"Do you know the story about the witch?" Lu Ning suddenly remembered that she had not asked Sera about the specific legend.
"I heard it all from the elders, and there are several versions of the story. I don't know which one is correct." Sierra shook her head and said, "We were just warned not to move out without the permission of the mayor. . Now it seems that maybe the witch will prevent the people in the town from moving away, right?"
"Sela, don't you think some of the situations in the town are very suspicious?"
“We grew up in this environment.”
"So what about those stories? The original rumor was that a witch came to the town, people discovered her extraordinary power, and then executed her. But what was the reason for the execution frenzy in the town? According to me As far as I know, the number of outsiders coming to this town has never been large.”
Lu Ning took a sip of the mead and smacked her lips.
"So who exactly was being executed in town at that time? Or 'what'?"
Sera's expression was slightly shaken.
"This matter is not that simple, so I will not let go of every clue... Sera, can you tell me in detail what you know about the witch-related things, since you have this cup called 'The Return of the Witch' Wine, then there must be a story behind it, right?”
After a moment, Serra lowered her voice and began to speak.
The real meaning of this glass of wine is the unstoppable return of the witch several times, but it also records a personal experience of the inventor.
It is unclear who this person is. The only thing Sera knows is that this person is one of the very few people who has spent a long time with the witch. The two met and separated in winter, which is a story with a bit of magic.
In front of this man, the witch made an oak tree sprout buds in the middle of winter. This move did not scare him away, but made him obsessed with such skills, and pestered the witch to learn such skills.
And in the winter when the witch was hanged, he took a piece of wood from the dead oak tree and used it to age a barrel of their favorite wine. He had never brewed that kind of bitter taste. , and then never happened again. Even if he used the same materials and steps again, he couldn't get the same wine. In desperation, he tried every means to make an alternative mixed wine, which he named "The Return of the Witch."
As for the remaining brewed wine, it disappeared after the death of the bartender. Since no one except him has tasted the taste, no one knows how much the witch has restored after returning, and what is the original wine? So fascinating to him.
"That brewed wine...has a name?" Lu Ning asked.
"Most of them are rumors, and I can't be sure. Some people say that the bartender named it 'Witch's Oath' to commemorate their original vows and their fragile end."
"Where did you hear this story? If you can tell it in such detail, you must not have heard it through hearsay, right?"
"Yes, this story was told to me by my father when I was a child." Sera nodded, "And now, the witch is really coming back, and the bartender's wish is about to come true."
Lu Ning didn't care what his wish was. What she cared about was the oak tree in the story.
"Do you know where the oak tree is in the story?"
"After so many years, I'm afraid it's long gone. At least I haven't heard of any dead oak trees in the forest. Usually such trees will be cut down by woodcutter within a few days."
Lu Ning nodded, ordered another glass of wine, and rested her chin on the bar in deep thought, while Sera went to deal with other customers.
The sound of water hitting the roof could be heard overhead, and the drizzle had already begun. This weather change was a big blow to the patrollers. Soon, two more groups of people poured into the tavern, and the three sisters were too busy for a while. Make a deal.
It just so happened that Lu Ning could be quiet for a while.
"Heart, oath, key, eyes, what do the other two represent? Where is the location of the initiation ceremony? What kind of process should be performed? Or will the witch notify me when I actually get those items? If so, then It can be inferred that the personal secrets and clues that the tourists have can be roughly extended to one or two items, and the devil needs to fight for these things... The witch has not really returned, who attacked us before? "
She glanced at the busy Sera suspiciously. During today's gathering, she spent most of her time checking the people present, and indeed she did not have short light blond hair as obvious as Sera's.
"But the devil can disguise himself as someone else, and the witch should be able to do the same. But in this case, is she dead or alive? Where is her true body?"
Lu Ning rubbed her temples. At this moment, a person blocked the light.
Adams Turner, this man still had a straight face, staring at Lu Ning with sharp eagle eyes, holding a glass of wine in his hand, standing with his backlight, looking a bit eerie.
"Dr. Lu, I already know the warning you gave us."
However, as soon as he opened his mouth, Lu Ning found that Adams' mood was obviously not as calm as his expression.
"Please... tell me, how did you know that the plan was useless? Or... did you already feel the resonance?"
"Resonance?" Lu Ning came across another new word.
"The witch whispers in your ear. She is always there. When our spirits are fragile... she tells you something whether you want to know it or not." Adams sat down next to Lu Ning, "This kind of thing is It’s not uncommon in the town, but this is the first time that outsiders are in such a situation.”
"What's the meaning?"
"The development of this town today is inseparable from the witch." Adams squeezed the wine glass and his voice was squeezed into a line. "Whether we want to admit it or not, the witch's whisper in our ears has brought great benefits to the development of the town. She imparts her knowledge to everyone who resonates with it to great benefit, sometimes even making people think it is her own inspiration.”
"Don't tell me that even those executions..."
"At the time, everyone thought it was something we had developed ourselves, but looking back now, the first few torture instruments became popular in the entire town overnight, which was so abnormal. And after that, people went crazy. The same feeling of certainty when trying to catch someone who looks like a witch is like getting the result first and then deducing the identity of the other person." Adams' speech gradually became faster, "But after the town gave up on that past, This resonance has gradually become less and less, and I didn't expect it to appear again. Tell me, Doctor Lu, did 'she' tell you?"
"Before that, please answer me a question." Lu Ning swung his wine glass. "You responded to the witch so quickly and in an organized manner. Did something similar happen in the past few decades?"
"In my life, I have experienced a total of three incidents where the witch was suspected of returning." Adams nodded, "And these incidents all started from similar situations, including deaths under strange circumstances, the influx of a large number of foreign tourists, and the start of a group of people. It resonated...but each time we managed to resolve the crisis.”
"Resolved the crisis? How did you do it?"
"When the tourists all left, the town was strictly patrolled, and there were some backup measures... In short, after people no longer resonated, everything returned to calm."
Tourists leaving? Lu Ning didn't believe this.
I'm afraid those tourists are either dead or have lost their memories.
