The male supporting character was actually myself.

Then came another chaotic commotion of things being smashed and knocked over. The old man, his eyes bloodshot with rage, clenched his fists and stormed out of the carpenter's hut, spitting fiercely into the yard. "Pah! Lackey! One day you'll be a prisoner!"

The carpenter seemed truly enraged, chasing after him and smashing a piece of wood at him, roaring, "Get out of the village! Otherwise, I guarantee you, you devil, will die a horrible death!"

The old man didn't go into any other houses, but instead walked deeper into the woods.

"What happened?" Duan Chengze happened to turn the corner from the street and saw the scene. He asked in a low voice, "Who is that person? I don't think I've seen him in the village before."

Jiang Chen shook his head and said, "I've never seen him before either. Let's follow him and see what he's up to."

On the way, Duan Chengze briefly described the conversation he had overheard to his teammates. Duan Chengze looked surprised and asked, "Grandma Martha is a witch?"

Judging from his words, this guy probably has some kind of fanatical love for black oil? And since he seems to know about Granny Martha's witch identity, there's a lot to ponder about him.

I asked Grandma Martha some questions before, but she didn't give me any direct answers.

Oh, and she gave me a bottle of dark green potion, saying it would be good for me.

I didn't dare drink it!

"You refused?" Jiang Chen asked, puzzled and shocked.

"Otherwise what?" Duan Chengze said matter-of-factly, "I don't know her. Besides, after the murderer chopped up the meat, who would dare to touch anything in this dungeon?"

I am now incredibly grateful for my wise decision.

That's a witch's potion! Who would dare drink it? Would you drink it if I gave it to you?

He thought about it and realized it made sense; one shouldn't eat things one doesn't know about.

Furthermore, if it's medicine from a game, it should be able to save lives. What is the purpose of the potion that Granny Martha gave to the protagonist?

As he was pondering this, he saw the old man in front of him stop, so he quickly stopped as well.

Duan Chengze reacted just as quickly, and the two of them hid behind a large tree.

The old man cautiously looked back, and finding nothing amiss, he turned his intense gaze to the mine where black oil was being extracted.

It was already noon, and the women from each family had brought lunch to their loved ones. A group of temporary workers who had been busy all morning gathered together to eat and chat.

Kane's meals were delivered by a peasant woman, and he was sitting on an empty wooden barrel, eating and drinking heartily.

"Is he stealing something?" Duan Chengze asked in a low voice, looking around.

The dense trees and bushes obscured their view, making it difficult to see what the other person was doing. But it seemed the old man was trying to steal some cooking oil while they were eating!

Chapter Thirty-Two: Close Your Eyes When It Gets Dark 9

The old man had the desire to steal but not the courage. He huddled behind a large wooden barrel filled with black oil and used a small wooden bucket that the collectors had placed on the grass to steal half a barrel of black oil from the unsealed barrel. He then carefully carried it deeper into the forest.

"Is he heading towards the cave?" Duan Chengze excitedly tugged at his teammate. "I feel like we might find the killer!"

Jiang Chen shook his head pessimistically, "Let's chase after them and see what's going on."

The old man didn't enter the cave, but stopped in a hollow in a dense forest a few meters away from the mysterious cave.

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he put down the wooden bucket, his eyes filled with fervor as he clasped his hands together and chanted something. Then, he carefully dipped his palms into the thick black oil and smeared it on his face, arms, and exposed chest. He then knelt on the ground, facing the sunlight, and spread his arms wide, devoutly chanting incantations.

Watching this scene from afar, both of them felt something was amiss.

“He probably considers black oil something sacred,” Jiang Chen guessed. “He looks like some kind of fanatical cult member.”

The old man's strange ritual didn't last long. Soon he hid the wooden bucket in the bushes, went to the river for a good bath, and then leisurely returned to the village, disappearing into the basement of a farmhouse.

“This is just an ordinary farmer’s family,” Duan Chengze explained in a low voice. “Nothing special about it. When I was walking around the village before, their door was always closed.”

As the two were discussing whether to continue their stakeout, they suddenly heard the butcher's shouts and curses coming from not far away.

"If I find out who did this, I'll chop him up!"

"It's just a dog, what did it do to deserve this?"

"It's just a bit bigger, that's because I feed it well!"

"My dog ​​may be fierce, but it has never hurt anyone and has always been kept in its kennel. Why should I take its life?"

……

Following the shouts and curses, Jiang Chen and Duan Chengze walked to the doghouse behind the butcher's house.

A number of villagers had gathered there, all staring silently at the large dog that hadn't been dead for long.

Liang Rumeng, Song Gang, Lin Yuan, and Zhimeng were all standing in the crowd.

Lin Yuan still looked like he deserved a beating, glancing at Song Gang with a gloating look.

Song Gang scratched his head awkwardly, his eyes darting around, not daring to look at the butcher who was waving a knife in his left hand and shouting curses.

Liang Rumeng covered her nose with a handkerchief;

Seeing them approaching, Zhimeng hurriedly ran over and explained in a very low voice, "I don't know who killed the butcher's dog!"

"Who else could it be?" Duan Chengze glanced at Song Gang.

She immediately understood, covering her mouth and muttering, "I really thought he wouldn't dare. Looks like he guessed wrong, it has nothing to do with dogs..."

There was a fairly large tree in the doghouse. The butcher's big dog was strangled to death by being tied up by the neck and hung from a branch of the tree.

Judging from the traces left at the scene, Song Gang acted very cautiously, first using a rope to lasso the tree branch and then using the branch as a pulley to drag it up and strangle its neck.

"You're dead now, and you've cursed enough. What are you going to do?" The carpenter's grandmother said impatiently, holding a ball of yarn in her left hand and a stool in her right. "The inspectors are watching. It's so embarrassing to make such a racket."

Whether out of anger or shame, the butcher's face turned red and he muttered, "Your Excellencies, please judge this! Is this how you treat a dog? Being a little ugly and fierce isn't a crime."

He looked back at the rope on the tree, swung his knife and cut it off, calling out, "Grandma, have your grandson come over to my place for dog meat tonight. I'll stew one pot and roast another; the meat will definitely be delicious!"

Jiang Chen: ...

The expressions of the other onlookers were also somewhat subtle.

The butcher, knife in hand, began to dispose of the dead dog, declaring matter-of-factly, "It's already dead, what a waste not to eat it! Besides, I've raised it all these years for nothing! The best compliment to an animal is to properly prepare and enjoy its delicious meat!"

Seeing him begin to sharpen his knife and prepare to attack the big dog, Jiang Chen stopped watching and went back to check the clues.

“Host, I’ve found some strange things in several houses in the village.” The little white cat hopped back, jumped onto his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, “The old priest in the church has the most.”

The books that super old man read every day were also filled with strange symbols, but none of them were like the ones drawn in the cave;

Walk to the end of this street and turn right. There's a house with a red roof covered in ivy, and there are many ivy-covered houses in the basement. An old man in his sixties is muttering something that you can't understand.

In the carpenter's house, there were strange symbols drawn under his bed;

The carpenter grandma's house also has some strange symbols, but they look very old.

Grandma Martha's house had many strange potions and liquids from toads, things that made my scalp crawl.

As it spoke, it even lifted its feet, showing its host that its fur was standing on end.

"Go keep an eye on that old man in the basement. I think there are too many suspicious things about him." Jiang Chen's expression was solemn. If only there were solid evidence.

In the hall of the stone house, several people sat at a table, each eating the food they had brought themselves. No one dared to touch the meat soup and bread that the peasant woman had brought.

"Actually, breaking the deadlock is quite simple." Lin Yuan took a sip of water and looked at Song Gang with a playful smile. "If the dog dies but the dungeon isn't over, then kill the people who meet the conditions."

There are only a few people in the village who match the killer's description, so why not just kill them all?

Song Gang's face paled slightly as he glared at him and rebuked him in a stern voice, "You think about killing people all the time? Do you have an antisocial personality?"

"Humans?" Lin Yuan shrugged, his voice laced with amusement. "Strictly speaking, are they even human? They're just dungeons in a death game, nothing more than a bunch of NPCs."

Isn't it the same to just wait for the NPC to be killed by the murderer at night?

In my opinion, there's no difference between the murderer killing an NPC and us killing a matching NPC to complete the quest and escape the instance.

The only difference is that the quantities will be unequal.

The murderer only kills one person a day, while we need to kill five or six.

But I think if you encounter other players who have been struggling in the death game for a long time, the best way is to just wipe out the village and leave the instance, right?

Does the man who tried to trap the dog not even have this much guts?

Or are the instances you've entered all virtuous and benevolent, and you've never encountered ruthless players?

Liang Rumeng opened her mouth but couldn't refute it, after all, what he said was true.

If you encounter a ruthless player, they might just massacre the entire village during the day, leaving no time to look for clues.

"Not killing innocent people indiscriminately is my bottom line," Jiang Chen said coldly.

Duan Chengze echoed in agreement, saying, "Once you accept the game's premise and start killing people indiscriminately without considering them as human beings, then you're no different from a fallen demon."

Today you can kill villagers in the dungeon;

"They might kill other residents in the apartment tomorrow."

Zhimeng didn't speak, but subconsciously moved closer to Jiang Chen, her eyes filled with wariness as she looked at Lin Yuan.

He toyed with a match in his hand, laughing so hard his whole body trembled. "Don't be nervous, I was just kidding. Look how scared you all are. Someone killed someone's dog, and you weren't this afraid then!"

Chapter Thirty-Three: When It Gets Dark, Please Close Your Eyes (10)

Song Gang's anger intensified. "Can dogs be compared to people? There are plenty of people who kill dogs, but how many people kill people?"

"Alright, enough talk!" Liang Rumeng said coldly and sharply, "Instead of arguing, we should check the clues. Maybe we can find something and catch the culprit!"

Dreamweaver whispered, "I've noticed that the carpenter's grandmother is acting a bit strange, like she's doing something shameful. But I haven't found any evidence, I just feel like she's odd."

"We found the village witch," Duan Chengze briefly recounted his morning's findings.

"So there are hidden rules!" Song Gang exclaimed in sudden realization. "According to the witch, after finding the murderer, we have to use a wooden stick to puncture his heart."

This seems to be part of the vampire archetype?

Jiang Chen took out a few wooden sticks from his backpack and distributed them to them. "To be precise, they are wooden sticks that have been soaked in holy water. Just in case, we will do our best."

The game of death could very well have hidden traps.

If players don't look for clues and instead massacre the entire village without warning, they'll be playing right into the killer's hands, easily getting killed in a counterattack.

There aren't many other scattered clues, and the suspects are currently narrowed down to the old man living in the basement, the carpenter grandmother, and the butcher.

Their height characteristics barely match, and they are both left-handed.

The afternoon passed quickly, and when it was time for dinner, Kane asked the farm woman who was in charge of cooking to stay behind. "I've informed the church leaders that Avia's disappearance is a very troublesome matter."