Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

Failure was expected. Jiang Ran realized through mind reading that Bacon thought Jiang Ran was just making fun of them. As long as he knew the other party's resistance point, Jiang Ran could continue to "attack".

"Uncle Dade, Uncle Bacon, I know you've been living in pain these past three years, but if you don't speak up now, you'll never have another chance. Has anyone else, besides me, ever approached you with such sincerity in these three years? Don't the villagers think you two are crazy?"

With the help of his mind-reading ability, every word Jiang Ran said hit the pain points of Dade and Bacon.

Dade and Bacon have always wanted to make the truth public, but the villagers treat them as crazy and make fun of the fact that they are afraid of Wei Er. The villagers' indifference makes them completely give up hope, and now they want to see the villagers pay the "price" for their contempt.

But now, this young man named Banning seems to have provided another path.

"You all probably know that I defeated the Scarlet Cloud Mountain Bandits. Believe me, I can help you get over your pain."

Under Jiang Ran's continuous persuasion, Bacon's hostile expression finally softened. Dade also signaled with his eyes that he should tell the truth to see if this boy was different from the village chief and other villagers.

"Okay, then you can sit down."

——『Combat Class Skill "Trickster - Lv1" has been deactivated』

Bacon sighed deeply and then said.

"El didn't die. She became a ghost and is still alive in this village."

·

In order to let Banning understand the full picture of the matter, Dade and Bacon started from what happened three years ago.

Three years ago in the autumn, Ai'er, as usual, ignored Wei'er's advice and went to the Ella Forest to pick herbs. As it was past the autumnal equinox, it got dark quickly. When Ai'er finished picking herbs and was about to return to the village, it was already dark.

The forest at night is dangerous. Unfortunately, Elle was surrounded by wolves that had followed her, and soon she had no way to escape. Dade and Bacon happened to be in the forest that day. They saw Elle surrounded by wolves from afar, but instead of helping her, they fled in fear...

Later, when Dade and Bacon brought the village chief and everyone back to the forest, Elle's body had been eaten beyond recognition by wolves.

Wei'er witnessed this scene with her own eyes. The tragic scene caused her great mental damage. Later, under the careful care of the village chief and his wife, she gradually recovered to her normal state today.

Driven by guilt, Dade and Bacon tried to find ways to compensate Wei'er every day, but at the beginning, Wei'er didn't want to see them at all. When Wei'er gradually returned to normal... Dade and Bacon saw the dead Elle in the village.

Elle, who was supposed to be dead and buried in the forest, appeared in the village. Under the night sky, she was holding a huge pair of scissors in one hand, covered in blood, and in the other hand she was holding what looked like a human leg... This horrifying scene frightened Dade and Bacon, who thought they had seen a ghost or were hallucinating.

A few months later, the same thing did not happen again. Just when Dade and Bacon were almost sure that they were just hallucinating, they saw the scene of Al killing people in the village again at night. This time, they clearly saw Al cut off the head of a villager with a huge pair of scissors. If they had not run fast, they might have died that night.

Dade and Bacon, who successfully escaped, woke up the village chief at night and told him about this incident. Although the village chief didn't quite believe it, he still took people to investigate seriously.

But the result of the investigation was that there was indeed one person missing from the village, but that person was not killed. Instead, he left the village on his own and left a farewell letter, and the handwriting was indeed his own.

In order to convince Dade and Bacon, the village chief also searched Wei'er's house. There was no sign of other people living in Wei'er's house, no bloodstains, no corpses, etc., and it was very innocent.

"There is a locked room in Wei'er's house. Did you go in and look for it?" Jiang Ran interrupted and asked.

"What locked room? I don't think so. Anyway, we searched all the rooms and didn't miss anything."

Dade and Bacon answered very affirmatively, which confused Jiang Ran.

(Could it be that "that room" was locked after the search? But I remember what Weier said in her heart at that time was...)

━━━━━━━━━━

——Weir: (Oh, I've been so talkative. How could someone as polite as Benning force his way into a locked room...)

—Wei Er: (But…what’s in that locked room? If I find the key someday, I’ll go in and take a look.)

━━━━━━━━━━

Jiang Ran realized the problem. Regarding the locked room, the timelines of the two versions did not match. Did the village chief and his men fail to discover the locked room at the time, or did the "dead" Ai'er come back to life and lock the room?

Jiang Ran first made note of this matter, and then let Dade and Bacon continue.

Dade and Bacon said that the villagers didn't believe them, and they couldn't produce any evidence. Later, in order to save their lives, they stopped going out late at night, and they never saw Al killing people with big scissors again. But...

"El has learned to pretend to be Wei'er. She and Wei'er take turns going out so that no one knows she is a ghost."

As Bacon spoke, he looked around vigilantly, as if Elle would appear at any time.

"That's impossible. Even if they are sisters, they can see the difference, right?" Jiang Ran asked back.

Bacon's current rhetoric made Jiang Ran begin to think that he was mentally ill. Perhaps the two brothers had hallucinations because they were too deeply guilty.

At this time, Bacon remembered that there was something Banning might not know.

"Didn't anyone tell you, Banning?"

"Told me what?"

"El and Wei'er are twin sisters. They look exactly the same."

2.25 - Suspicion

Jiang Ran miscalculated. He had a preconceived notion that since they were an older sister and a younger sister, there must be an age difference between them. However, he did not expect that Ai'er and Wei'er were actually twin sisters.

However, this degree of miscalculation was within Jiang Ran's tolerance range. After a little thought, he realized that this would not be a big problem.

(According to the results of the Super-Dimensional Divine Eye, I have never encountered "El" so far...if she is still "alive" at all.)

"Since they look exactly the same, how do you tell them apart? And if they're ghosts, then Ai'er's appearance should still be that of a 13-year-old, which would be quite different from the 16-year-old Wei'er now, right?"

Jiang Ran found loopholes in Dade and Bacon's narratives and asked questions. Although the brothers did not lie, what they said was full of doubts.

To Jiang Ran's surprise, Dade and Bacon easily justified their explanation.

"Ai'er and Wei'er have very different personalities. Ai'er is impatient and outgoing, while Wei'er is gentle and shy. Also, Ai'er's hair is longer and usually tied in a ponytail, while Wei'er wears it draped over her shoulders. When they first arrived in the village, everyone used that method to tell them apart."

"As for appearance, don't you know that ghosts also grow?"

Seeing Dade and Bacon's seemingly matter-of-fact expressions, Jiang Ran suddenly realized that the "ghosts" they were talking about might not be the same as the "ghosts" he knew on Earth. On Earth, ghosts were primarily meant to scare people, visible but intangible, and unlikely to commit such tangible acts as killing people with giant scissors.

However, the "ghosts" that Dade and Bacon mentioned are more like concepts that really exist in the same spatial dimension and can be touched. Moreover, if it is the "ghosts" in the concept of the earth world, there will be no concept of "living". However, Dade and Bacon asked the village chief to search Wei'er's house.

·

This "ghost" is not that "ghost".

·

"Wait a minute, when you say 'ghost', are you referring to a kind of monster?" Jiang Ran asked.

"Yeah, what else could it be? Oh, and in some places, 'ghosts' are called living dead. You should know that, right?"

"Oh, so it's the 'living dead'... I understand then."

In order to avoid exposing his identity, Jiang Ran did not continue to ask questions.

The so-called "ghost" is actually a common monster in the world of Prison Star.

"I understand the situation. I will investigate whether there are any 'living dead' roaming around at night."

The communication ended with Jiang Ran's promise. Dade and Bacon were ecstatic and celebrated like crazy in the workshop holding big stones. They didn't even notice that Jiang Ran had quietly left.

·

The "Rain Song Festival" is approaching, and everyone in Ella Village is busy and happy. Jiang Ran walks in it and feels that this is not a village haunted by "ghosts" at all.

(Benny: Why don’t you ask Dade and Bacon a little more?)

(Jiang Ran: Don’t you see that these two brothers are a little crazy?)

(Benny: Eh?)

Thanks to the brothers Dade and Bacon, Jiang Ran noticed a weakness in his telepathic ability: if the person he was reading was a lunatic, then the telepathic ability would become meaningless.

Jiang Ran believed that the information provided by Dade and Bacon was mixed with some of their imaginations. The two of them might have been suffering from long-term guilt and living in fear, which ultimately led to them being unable to judge the difference between hallucinations and reality. This would greatly reduce the credibility of their words - the inner thoughts of a madman are also crazy.

Imagine that in a village with a population of only about 50 people, a zombie has been hiding there for nearly three years and occasionally comes out at night to kill people. As a result, not only has the murder been kept secret, but he has only been seen a few times by the brothers Dead and Bacon, and the other villagers have not discovered it at all. How low is the probability of this happening?

Jiang Ran's rational thinking made it impossible for him to completely believe what Dade and Bacon said.

However, what Dade and the Bacon brothers said was not all crazy. It was an objective fact that the village chief led people to search Wei'er's house, and this led to an inexplicable contradiction: Wei'er did not know what was in the locked room, and she did not lie, but Wei'er did open the locked room with the village chief.

In order to confirm this, Jiang Ran found the village chief Woodall. After recalling the situation, Woodall told Jiang Ran that during the investigation, there were no locked rooms in Wei'er's house, they were all ordinary rooms. As for which rooms Wei'er locked and which ones she didn't, he didn't know.

(No, I missed a possibility.)

━━━━━━━━━━

—Wei Er: (But…what’s in that locked room? If I find the key someday, I’ll go in and take a look.)

━━━━━━━━━━

Recalling Wei'er's psychological activities, Jiang Ran found that there was actually a reasonable explanation:

1. Ai'er is indeed dead, and Wei'er admits it;

2. Wei Er knows that Ai Er has become a ghost, and she also regards the ghost Ai Er as her sister;

3. Wei'er protects Ghost Ai'er and continues to live in Ella Village;

4. Ghost Al has never killed anyone. The murder scene was an illusion caused by Dade and Bacon's excessive fear.

5. Ghost Ai'er did lock the room, and Ghost Ai'er didn't let Wei'er know what was in the room, nor did he let Wei'er know the whereabouts of the key;

6. Ghost Ai'er had been missing for a while, so Wei'er's inner thought at the time was "If I find the key one day, I will go in and take a look", instead of "I will ask my sister where the key is."

To verify his hypothesis, Jiang Ran's most direct approach was to go to Wei'er to confirm it in person. However, Jiang Ran didn't want to abandon his pursuit of Wei'er halfway. Asking Wei'er about "Ai'er's affairs" would likely destroy the relationship Jiang Ran and Wei'er had built up so far...

So Jiang Ran settled for the next best thing and found Grandma Kana.

·

Grandma Kana was very easy to talk to. Jiang Ran learned about the "ghosts and the living dead" from her, and also found out information about the "Song of the Rain Festival" and the "Ella Forest Cemetery".

The so-called "ghosts/living dead" (hereafter referred to as ghosts) refer to certain individuals within human corpses that are particularly susceptible to attracting magical energy. When this energy reaches a certain level, they undergo a transformation. After this transformation, the corpse "resurrects" as a ghost. Ghosts not only possess the deceased's memories and wisdom, but can also continue to grow. However, ghosts possess an uncontrollable urge to kill, posing a significant threat to humans. Therefore, areas with high magical concentrations practice cremation, as do magicians, priests, and other professions with a strong affinity for magic. Only in remote areas with low magical concentrations, such as the Kingdom of West, does the custom of burial still exist.

After obtaining the information, Jiang Ran thanked Grandma Kana, then left Ella Village at great speed and headed straight for Ella Forest.

The silly lolita guessed Jiang Ran's intention to some extent, and asked Jiang Ran tremblingly.

(Benni: Jiang Jiang Jiang Jiang Yan… where are you going?)

(Jiang Ran: Go to the cemetery.)

(Benni: Ah! What are you doing in the cemetery?)

The stupid loli was so scared that she couldn't even pronounce the words clearly.

(Jiang Ran: Go see if Ai'er's body is still there.)

2.26 - The Coffin Doesn't Lie

(Benni: You're going to dig up someone else's grave in broad daylight?)

(Jiang Ran: Yes, how about going at night?)

(Benny: Eh? Ah, no, no, let’s…let’s go now.)

After spending a few days together, Silly Loli already knew that Jiang Ran was a ruthless person, but she never expected that he could be so cruel.

Jiang Ran's logic for digging up the grave was simple. If Ai'er's remains were still in the cemetery, it would mean that Ai'er had not become a ghost. And if Ai'er's remains were gone, then...

While the silly loli was shivering, Jiang Ran had already arrived at the cemetery in Ella Forest, which was a garden opened up by the villagers of Ella Village on the edge of the forest.

Jiang Ran walked in and quickly found the tombstone with Ai'er's name engraved on it.

"Er—Buried Here"

Jiang Ran touched the tombstone. It was barely dusty, and the ground beneath it was covered in grass, much like the surrounding tombstones. Even with his identification abilities, Jiang Ran couldn't find anything. So, he bowed respectfully, whispered something, and then donned the coarse cloth gloves he'd borrowed from the villagers. He gripped the shovel with both hands and began digging.

(Benni: No, no way! Are you serious, Jiang Ran?)

(Jiang Ran: Otherwise.)

Even if ordinary people wanted to confirm the condition of the corpse, they would not come to dig up the grave so decisively. Jiang Ran not only thought of it, but also did it without any hesitation.

An hour later, a corner of the coffin emerged from layers of soil.

Two hours later, all four corners of the coffin were exposed.

Three hours later, the lid of the coffin was exposed to the light of day again, but Jiang Ran no longer had the strength left to do any heavy physical work.

Seeing that there were only 2 points of stamina left in his sight, Jiang Ran dragged his exhausted body to sit on the coffin. This extremely bold action made the stupid loli scream and then fell silent. She must have fainted.

Jiang Ran ignored the silly loli's reaction. He ran his fingers along the joint of the coffin lid and found no signs of looseness. But if Ai'er had turned into a corpse shortly after her death three years ago, then there would be no signs of looseness even if the coffin lid was closed again and buried for another three years.

If you want to know the truth, you have to open the coffin lid.

·