Chapter 1828: Escape Game 25
Despite her reluctance, after assessing the situation, Ye Fuyu felt that while not getting news might be troublesome, it would be much more serious if Chen Fei got angry and ignored her, leading to the game’s failure.
So she moved a chair and quietly sat at the door to help everyone guard it.
Lin Yu and Zhao Chu were the first to share the news they had gathered: “We separately asked a few villagers about the news. Everyone in this village said their ancestors had never left Lao Mountain Village. However, the truth of this remains to be verified. But after wandering the village several times and chatting with villagers, we discovered something very strange. That is, all the children in this village are boys; every household has sons, but none have daughters. Moreover, after we searched the entire village, we truly didn’t see a single girl.”
Chen Fei tapped his fingers on the table and said, “If that’s the case, is it possible that the people in this village have a custom of killing or abandoning newborn baby girls? Many places that favor sons over daughters do such things, such as throwing girls into mountain crevasses or drowning them in rivers, among other heinous practices. The more extreme cases involve burying newborn baby girls in the roadway, forcing everyone to walk over them, trampling them so they won’t reincarnate into their families.”
Zhao Chu shook his head, no longer the previous jovial joker, but appearing very reliable as he said, “Initially, Lin Yu and I thought the same, so I specifically searched for information. I found that the people in this village don’t reject baby girls. In fact, many men say that having a baby girl is a rare good fortune. Once, two baby girls were born in the village, and villagers treated them as treasures. But those baby girls died young before growing up. Their parents were heartbroken and built separate tombs for them. Lin Yu and I went to see them; the baby girls’ tombs indeed exist, and they are old, well-kept graves. Although these are infant graves without headstones, the grave mounds are large, clearly indicating that the villagers indeed don’t favor sons over daughters. They even eagerly anticipate the birth of baby girls, but for some unknown reason, there are simply no baby girls in this village.”
The group discussed for a while but reached no conclusion. Miao Shuangshuang recalled the tattoo on Jinhua’s back and suddenly spoke up: “If the village people, generation after generation, only have sons and no daughters, how do they solve the problem of continuing their lineage? Their only solution should be finding wives from outside. In other words, the women of Lao Mountain Village probably aren’t natives but outsiders. Xiao Zhongjing and I discovered a tattoo on Jinhua today. But that tattoo is exquisite, and Xiao Zhongjing said that only tattoo artists from large city shops have such skilled craftsmanship. If Jinhua can get tattoos from prominent stores in big cities and isn’t afraid to tattoo herself, she must be quite open-minded. How could such a woman willingly become a lifelong farmer’s wife? Could it be that Jinhua is an outsider bride, perhaps a purchased wife?”
Lin Yu rubbed his chin and said, “If that’s the case, could the village women really be purchased brides? But normally, purchased brides are first imprisoned and conditioned. Only when they give birth to children and behave are they allowed outside, and it’s common for husbands who buy wives to beat them. But I’ve walked around here and haven’t seen any household that looks like it’s imprisoning a purchased bride, nor have I seen any wife who seems domestically abused.”
Chen Fei added, “There might be concealed places like cellars for imprisonment, which you haven’t discovered yet. Moreover, not everyone can see domestic abuse. Perhaps they’re hiding their abuse, so we can’t see it.”
Zhao Chu decisively concluded, “Just sitting here and pondering won’t help us. Tomorrow, Lin Yu and I will go out and see if these women are abused. Don’t worry; if they really have been abused, I’ll definitely find out.”
Chen Fei said, “That’s good. Tomorrow, I’ll focus on searching for concealed places that can be used to imprison people in each household.”
After saying that, Chen Fei continued, “Today, I’ve checked all the houses in the village and found no suspicious places. If there’s anything truly suspicious, it should be the village chief’s house, where there’s a locked small shrine. The building is little but intricately built and cleanly swept. But the village chief’s house is always occupied, so I haven’t had the chance to pick the lock and take a look inside. I’m planning to find an opportunity to enter that shrine. In horror games, any shrine that appears definitely isn’t useless. I have a hunch that there might be important information for us inside.”
Miao Shuangshuang nodded and shared the information she and Xiao Zhongjing discovered, concluding: “When I experienced the illusion before the Ghost Groom’s death, I could confirm the Ghost Groom wasn’t from the village. The Ghost Groom was wearing meticulous casual clothes—branded clothes that seemed quite expensive. I even checked all the Ghost Grooms’ hands and found that, apart from being bled, their hands were smooth and lacked any calluses or larger joints. Their hands clearly don’t belong to people who did farm work. Considering the illusion of the Ghost Groom I saw, I believe these Ghost Grooms are outsiders.”
It was the first time Zhao Chu heard of such a scene, and just listening made him feel goosebumps all over. He couldn’t help but rub his arms back and forth: “The people in this village are really creepy.”
Xiao Zhongjing also didn’t expect such a terrifying scene right across the wall from where Miao Shuangshuang was.
Previously, Miao Shuangshuang had only briefly mentioned the dark room in the temple filled with Ghost Grooms, which didn’t make a significant impression on Xiao Zhongjing.
But now that Miao Shuangshuang described her experience in detail, Xiao Zhongjing felt a bit terrified.
He deeply admired Miao Shuangshuang’s bravery for experiencing such horrifying scenes and still having the calmness to continue investigating inside, even checking the Ghost Grooms’ hands.
On the contrary, Lin Yu, although female, was completely unmoved by the analysis, being an experienced player having gone through five games already: “If that’s the case, then the wishes we must fulfill should be those of the Ghost Grooms. All we need to do now is find out what wishes these Ghost Grooms have, and then fulfill them.”