Chosen One, how did I end up as the villain?

"My lord, my lord!"

A shout came from afar through the smoke.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

Not long after.

Wang Shi ran over with two guards, who seemed frightened, their faces showing urgency and panic.

"Oh no! There's Shiming Village ahead!" he said hurriedly.

Before Qin Huaiyu could speak, Pu Liugang angrily interjected:

"What kind of behavior is this, so impulsive and disorderly? Isn't Shiming Village right here? What's wrong with you?"

"no!"

Wang Shi, using both hands and feet and looking anxious, said:

"It's the Shiming Village we went to before. It's just ahead, through the ancestral land."

"What...?"

Upon hearing this, the guards froze on the spot.

"Brother Wang, are you sure?" someone asked incredulously.

This time, not only Wang Shi, but also the two guards who went with him nodded vigorously.

Upon hearing this, even the slowest of the guards realized what was happening.

"How could this be? Have we been scammed?"

"What a convincing charade! They really know how to do it!"

"They're making a fool of us."

Pu Liugang's face darkened instantly, his eyes becoming unfathomable, as if emotions were churning within him.

"Huaiyu, did you already know that place was fake?" Chu Yanxi stepped forward and asked Qin Huaiyu.

Her voice did not weaken at all, and everyone present heard it and turned their attention to her.

Qin Huaiyu didn't answer directly. He paused slightly and said:

"At first, I was just skeptical. After all, how could a village disappear so completely, without even a foundation or tire tracks on the main road?"

"These are nothing, maybe they were deliberately destroyed," someone said.

"That's certainly possible."

Qin Huaiyu nodded and said:

"Of course, this wasn't conclusive evidence until I went to the fortune teller, and she gave me a message."

A fortune teller?

Chu Yanxi smacked her lips and said:

"What information?"

Upon hearing this, the gazes of the crowd shifted instantly, some filled with doubt, some with hope, but most with a sense of bewilderment.

That seemed to imply, what does it have to do with the sorceress...?

Qin Huaiyu stretched his stiff body slightly and said:

"She told me that Shiming Village is a large village with several hundred people."

"Uh, so what? It's just that there are more people. What does it have to do with the village?" someone asked, puzzled.

"Of course it's related, and it's absolute evidence. Have you measured how big that area is?" Qin Huaiyu pointed ahead.

"this………"

Everyone was stunned, and some people who were about to retort swallowed back their words.

"Have you tested it?" Pu Liugang asked with a stern face.

"Well... the smoke was too thick back then, and visibility was obstructed, so nobody paid any attention to whether we could see or not."

Hmph, is it that they didn't care, or that they never even thought of it?

Qin Huaiyu thought to himself, "But the smoke does play a part. First, there's no clear visual image, and second, it's too distracting. The whole atmosphere is gloomy. Even I don't want to stay there any longer, let alone them."

"I do recall it somewhat."

Yun Suyan stepped forward into everyone's view and said:

"At that time, Huaiyu measured the area on foot, and I followed behind. The area was about a hundred feet long and less than a hundred feet wide."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately understood without needing to be reminded.

This is like a small horse pulling a large cart; even if you try your hardest, it won't be able to move it!

That region doesn't match the number of people!

It's so obviously fake, there's no need for any evidence.

"This was premeditated, designed to make us believe it."

"This is outrageous! Who is it?!" someone angrily questioned.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at Qin Huaiyu again.

"Sir, now that you know the truth, you must also know who it is," Wang Shi asked.

Qin Huaiyu narrowed his eyes slightly and said:

"It's simple, who took you there?"

Everyone immediately realized what was happening.

"It was the village chief; the village chief led us there."

"...How could that be? He seemed very helpful and didn't look like a bad person!"

"enthusiastic!"

Qin Huaiyu's voice was laced with sarcasm as he continued:

"Langmu Village and Shiming Village are the closest to each other. Although they rarely interact, they must frequently encounter each other when going up and down the mountain."

Do you think the village chief of Langmu Village wouldn't know the area occupied by Shiming Village and the layout of all its roads?

"There's also the so-called enthusiasm. Ordinary people would avoid a guard like the plague, so why would he dare to approach him?"

The two questions in a row immediately made the faces of the guards and officers look awkward.

Everything was traceable, yet they chose to ignore it.

The chief clerk's face was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.

"Good, good, old man, you're really something."

"Could it really be him? No, we have to find out the truth."

As the guard spoke, he turned his head and called out:

"Village Chief Tian, ​​you..."

He stopped mid-sentence, glanced around, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise:

Where are they?

Upon hearing this, the other guards immediately looked around.

After a moment, once they had carefully checked, the guards realized that one person was missing—it was none other than Village Chief Tian, ​​whom they had been searching for.

"What happened? Where did they go? They were here when we were in the maze."

"Did it get lost? Could something have happened to it?"

After he finished speaking, all the guards changed color.

"Could it be something in the smoke!"

"..."

"Shut up, all of you!"

Pu Liugang exuded a low-pressure aura and said:

"A person who dares to conceal the facts of the case and even misled the investigation deserves to die. Why bother with him?"