Are you strangers from outside the town?
The sudden question interrupted Wu Ming's original train of thought. He turned his head suspiciously following the voice, and saw a middle-aged woman standing not far from them, with a headscarf on her head and comfortable clothes. She was wearing working clothes and a slightly oil-stained apron. She had a delicate and beautiful appearance. Although the years had left some traces on her face, it did not affect her beauty. On the contrary, it added a lot of maturity to this middle-aged woman. Charm.
Although Wu Ming was still immersed in the confusion of who the blond girl was, he still felt a little surprised that a town leader took the initiative to talk to her. He nodded and repeated the same old story about wanting to find a place to stay.
But completely different from the townspeople who spoke ill of Wu Ming, this middle-aged woman had a warm and hospitable smile on her face: She is indeed a foreigner! I've been paying attention to you since you entered the town. So were you just asking the townspeople for a place to stay? Oh, I’m not telling you. Something has happened in the town recently. Some townspeople have had some conflicts with outsiders. Some townspeople are very resistant to outsiders, and violent conflicts may even break out, so I think it may not be the case. Some people at the conference asked strangers to borrow their house
She talked a lot like a barrage of words, but over and over again these words had only one meaning. The townspeople would not let outsiders stay. But she didn't say anything. She always gave people the impression that there was still a chance of improvement, as if she was hinting something to Wu Ming and others.
Is there no place to live in the town? Wu Ming asked knowingly following her intention.
The middle-aged woman's eyes lit up. She had been preparing for this moment for a long time: "It's not that there is no place to stay. I am different from those feudal and conservative townspeople. If you can give me a suitable price, my hotel will be open at any time." Open to generous outsiders
Otto asked with a serious expression: Can I take a hot bath?
There was a sly look in the landlady's eyes and a money-loving smile. She gently rubbed her index finger and thumb together to make a money gesture: Of course you can, but you will have to pay extra for a hot bath.
Great! No problem adding money! Alex paid for it anyway! Otto, who had experienced many days of sleeping in the open air, suddenly jumped up happily. The old hunter didn't refute when he saw him like this. He and Wu Ming exchanged a glance. After seeing that the latter had no objection, he sighed and said, Boss lady, where is the hotel you mentioned?
It's in the corner of town, not far from here. I'll take you there!
The landlady took Wu Ming and others through the small roads in the town. The group soon arrived at the hotel the landlady mentioned. However, when Otto excitedly saw the hotel that he had dreamed of when sleeping in the wild, his face suddenly changed. collapsed.
The building standing in front of Wu Ming and his party is not so much a hotel as it is a large wooden house that looks weathered and crumbling.
A gust of breeze blew by, and the large wooden house that looked like a dilapidated house immediately made a creaking sound.
Is this a hotel? Otto looked at the rickety wooden house that felt like it might be blown down by the wind at any time. He swallowed hard. Why do I always feel that this is a dangerous house? This house wouldn't collapse in the middle of the night and bury me inside.
The landlady seemed completely unaware of the disappointment in his tone and expression, and even ignored the latter part of his question about safety. Her eyes were filled with money-crazy gleams: Yes, the first floor is where the townspeople come to drink when they are relaxing. There are several rooms on the second floor where you can stay. If you want to drink or eat, you can tell me in advance and I will prepare it for you. But since you are staying here, the price can be cheaper for you.
As she spoke, the proprietress enthusiastically led Wu Ming and Siegfried in first, leaving only Otto with his shattered dream and Alex who was like an old father.
Otto: I want to go home, I want to take a shower
Alex stretched out his hand and patted him gently, comforting him in a low voice: It's an emergency, just make do with it a little bit.
As the proprietress said, the first floor looks like the layout of a pub. When you enter the door, you can see a square-shaped bar. There are also many bottles and cans that look like wine on the cabinets behind the bar. A few pictures Round tables and chairs are placed randomly in the pub
, there is a staircase extending to the second floor next to the bar. The guest room the proprietress mentioned is from here, but it is said to be a guest room. In fact, almost no one has lived here. After all, the townspeople basically don’t need a hotel, and this closed The town has less contact with the outside world, and it is unlikely that outsiders will often come here to stay.
I don't know what kind of madness the proprietress had to open a hotel in this remote town with no outsiders coming and going.
Then, while the landlady was counting the money with a smile on her face, Wu Ming and his party were finally guaranteed a place to stay in the town. There were only four rooms on the second floor, so don't expect such a shabby hotel in a small town to have good hardware and infrastructure. There is only a hard bed, a table and a chair inside. The guest room on the second floor does not even have a proper lock. Judging from the cost of travel, this kind of room is not worth the price. But apart from Austria Almost no one except Tuo cares about this.
For Alex, if they want to investigate the witch in this town, they must have at least one stronghold. Even if it is just a temporary stronghold, it is crucial to live in the town, whether it is investigating or looking for other extraordinary organizations. It will be much more convenient for the companions who come to investigate.
For Wu Ming, it doesn't matter even more. All his activity expenses and wages are paid by the office. In addition, there is a teleportation module. Even if he is not used to living there, he can teleport home and move his bed directly to sleep here. The following is only to make it easier to investigate and control changes in the situation.
After confirming the residence, Alex took Otto out. He also wanted to meet up with his companions from other extraordinary organizations to try to work together to investigate the traces of the witch. After all, both the agency and the church responded to the organization's request for information. If they If someone had been sent to this town in advance, then the foreigners the landlady mentioned before would probably be companions of other extraordinary organizations.
Siegfried, however, remained as quiet and reliable as ever. He carried Queen Crimson and Wu Ming back to the first floor, where he saw the landlady who was happily calculating accounts.
Boss lady, you just said that something happened in the town, so the townspeople are very hostile to us outsiders. When the boss lady was sitting on the first floor happily counting today's income, Wu Ming brought a chair and sat down, and Sieg Fei Ye silently found a chair and sat down. The movement of the two of them interrupted her counting money. In her doubtful eyes, Wu Ming asked: "We foreigners quite like the scenery here." , so I want to stay here for a few more days. You have seen what happened today. In order to avoid conflicts with the townspeople in the next few days, I want to ask you in advance what happened before. By the way, I also want to know what is not allowed in this town. We should do something that is taboo to the townspeople to avoid doing something unintentionally during our stay for a few days and causing any misunderstandings that would cause trouble to you, the landlady.
Although Wu Ming's convoluted words made the landlady a little confused at first, she gradually came to her senses. She smiled and nodded: You are quite thoughtful, knowing that the townspeople don't want to see you. You guys, that’s why you came to me to get information.
Well, it’s not a big deal to tell you these things. In my opinion, they are all feudal superstitions. However, the landlady did not pursue Wu Ming’s little thoughts. She waved her hand and said indifferently, there seemed to be an appearance in the town some time ago. A murderer who plays the flute, or some kind of kidnapper. Anyway, as long as you hear the melody of the flute at night, someone will definitely die or disappear the next day. However, many older people in the town say that this is a witch. The curse has returned and we need to quickly prepare for the witch trial ritual.
Wu Ming did not expect to find suspected useful information as soon as he arrived in the town, so his eyes lit up when he heard the word witch. However, seeing the disapproving look on the landlady's face, he also had a different attitude toward the landlady. Judging, he temporarily suppressed the excitement in his heart, and showed great incomprehension like a normal person who has received scientific education and does not believe in magic and witchcraft: Witch trial? How old is this? Why is there still such persecution of witchcraft?
Do you think so too? Seeing Wu Ming's reaction, the landlady started chattering as if she had met a close friend: The mayor and the town's pastor also thought so. They all said that witches were nonsense, and there must be a serial killer in the town, so He wanted to stop young people from coming to protect the peace of the town, but the old diehards in the town didn't listen at all and still stubbornly wanted to do something.
The Witch Trial was about ending the witch's rampage and curse again, so the people in the town split into two factions, and the relationship is still tense until now.
When Wu Ming heard what she said, he felt a little confused: But what does this have to do with rejecting foreigners? Because the killer is an outsider?
No, if the previous incident had not happened, the older generation would not have been so repulsive towards foreigners. The proprietress shook her head, but later, a stranger came. She stopped the witch trial ceremony of the older generation, saved a little girl who was wrongly accused of being a witch, and injured many people, so she was hated On.
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