When Cheng Miao and Qi Jiajia came back with gloomy expressions, they saw a limp Lin Zhu. At this time, no one else had come back yet, only Lin Zhu.
When Lin Zhu saw Cheng Miao, his eyes lit up and he ran over. Regardless of Qi Jiajia's cold eyes, he took the two of them to look at them from top to bottom, and then he felt relieved after making sure everything was fine.
"There is something wrong with our thinking. The lanterns made here can no longer protect us." Lin Zhu touched the tip of his nose and lowered his head, like a child who had done something wrong.
Although Cheng Miao and Qi Jiajia also made discoveries, they didn't expect Lin Zhu to say such words even though he had been staying in the yard.
Cheng Miao looked at the empty yard and probably had an idea.
Lin Zhu didn't waste any more time. He sent Zhang Lele and Zhang Lele to the toilet but they didn't return. He went to find someone and saw the body. Something almost happened on the way back. Then he told Yan Qi that he had taken away Ye Zi and the two of them were going to join forces to go to another place. All conjectures about how to clear the level were discussed with Cheng Miao.
Cheng Miao looked at Lin Zhu with some surprise. This big boy was very afraid of corpses at first. In the copy of [Changfu Xinmi], he was so scared that he couldn't leave after being frightened by the corpse of a housekeeper. Now he actually dares to go alone. Looking for clues, I also found a problem next to such a terrifying corpse.
It has to be said that her teammates are growing at an unexpected speed.
"You did a very good job." Cheng Miao patted Lin Zhu's shoulder encouragingly, "Whether you were making lanterns before or looking for clues today, you did a very good job."
Lin Zhu blushed slightly and was too embarrassed to continue talking about his own affairs. He looked at Qi Jiajia, who looked calm, "What about you, have you discovered anything?"
Cheng Miao sighed and told the information he got from the woman.
Zhangjiacun is a very old village. They make lanterns to support their families, and this has been going on for a hundred years.
But in recent years, the nearby villages have received electricity, and fewer people come to buy lanterns.
The village chief at that time was the grandfather of the current village chief. The old village chief came across a recipe out of nowhere, saying that lanterns made from the skin and bones of virgins could ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune, and were immune to all poisons.
The village has always made a fortune by making lanterns, but there are not many crops and livestock. If the lanterns cannot be sold, there will be no money, and if there is no money, people will die.
In such a closed village, the village chief's word is everything, even if the villagers don't want to, they have to do it.
What's more, the lanterns made by the two girls they selected by lottery in the first year sold for a sky-high price. Some secretive businesses do need evil-proof objects.
From then on, no one in the village was unwilling. In mountain villages, girls are not as valuable as boys. If a family does not have two or three girls, they will consider themselves unlucky if they win the lottery.
The woman's name is Zhang Qiao, and her best friend's name is Zhang Yan. She was previously engaged to be engaged to the village chief's second son.
Zhang Yan's parents died early, and Zhang Yan was chosen by lot.
Zhang Qiao disagrees, and neither does Zhang Guo, the second eldest son of the village chief's family.
But this has been a custom for decades and no one can resist it. Zhang Guo and Zhang Yan plan to elope, leaving the village and going anywhere.
Zhang Qiao had gone to school for several years and knew that there was a civilized society outside the mountain village. She thought that as long as she went out and told people outside about all the evil in the village, everything would be over.
As a result, the three people were caught while fleeing, and the person who informed them was Zhang Qiao's father.
Zhang Yan was still made into a lantern. As punishment and as an incentive to pervert, the village chief asked his second son to watch his sweetheart being skinned and dismembered and turned into a lantern.
Zhang Qiao, who came up with the idea, was skinned as a warning.
Ironically, in order to reward Zhang Qiao's father for his report, the village chief rewarded her father with a lantern whose skin belonged to his own daughter.
Later, every household became rich from the lanterns made by young girls, and more and more people became unwilling to continue making lanterns.
Once they have capital, they can do other things to make a living, and some plan to move out of the village and live in the city.
But I don’t know since when, people in Zhangjiacun began to die one after another. No one in the village or moved into the city could escape.
They all died with cruel skin-related punishments, which finally made the village chief realize that the ghosts of the women they had tortured over the years had returned to take revenge.
The village chief found many ways, and the final solution was to regard the day of making the first lantern as a day to worship ancestors.
Lanterns contain the resentment of the dead souls, but they are also something that the dead souls fear. Therefore, during these three days, every household must light lanterns at any time, both as a memorial and as a threat.
It has been like this for the past two years. Although there are occasional deaths, it is much better than before.
"However, Zhang Qiao's words cannot explain some things. For example, why Song Yu died after lighting a lantern last night, and why the ordinary lanterns we made could ward off evil spirits yesterday, but today the effect is much reduced." Lin Zhu pointed out There are many problems that are illogical.
Cheng Miao nodded, "Zhang Qiao has been in the room since then and has never left the room. She doesn't know many things. We need to explore by ourselves."
Cheng Miao looked at the sun for a while, then took Qi Jiajia and Lin Zhu to sit down a little away from the old man. "I have some thoughts on both of your questions. Let's discuss them together."
"First, I think lanterns can indeed drive away evil spirits, but this is only during the day." Cheng Miao put his hands on his knees to support his chin, and narrowed his eyes slightly, "I have been thinking about the reminder of this dungeon: good fortune and misfortune depend on each other. The only way to Correspondingly, that is the purpose of the lantern.”
"During the day, you ward off evil spirits and at night, you attract ghosts. Therefore, lighting a lantern at night has no protective effect at all. Instead, it attracts evil spirits."
Lin Zhu and Qi Jiajia nodded. This would explain why the villagers came to light lamps for them. This would greatly increase the player's mortality rate and ensure that the villagers' mortality rate was reduced.
"The second thing..." Cheng Miao smoothed the broken hair on his temples, "Do you remember what I said, in some places the ancestor worship will become more realistic day by day, such as using animals to worship ancestors, maybe at the beginning It’s an animal on paper, a model made of dough on the second day, and a real cow or sheep on the third day. This is still common in some poor places.”
Qi Jiajia already knew what Cheng Miao meant, so she took over the words, "So on the first day, the villagers used ordinary lanterns like us. Today they may have specially processed ones, and tomorrow they will use real human skin and human bone lanterns. And we Carrying an ordinary lantern foolishly all the time will not be able to deter ghosts at all."
Lin Zhu's face dropped, "But we can't get that kind of lantern either."
Cheng Miao turned her back to the old man, rubbed her fingertips, and an exquisite lantern appeared in her hand.
The skin of the lantern was very delicate, the lamp stand and pole were white, and a cold chill instantly swept over the three of them.
