Chapter 537: Water Well

Drowned infant girls, an ancient and ugly custom.

Lin An closed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and did not choose to release the person.

He did not believe the village chief's words, even though in his mental perception, Huang Daiwei seemed not to be lying.

But...

If what the village chief before him says is true, then on what basis did he receive the mission?

What was the thing he encountered when he entered the Secret Realm?

The answer is nothing more than three kinds.

First, what the village chief says is true, but the suppressing pagoda has failed, and the fierce ghost that Yuan Ying transformed into has escaped.

Second, what the village chief says is false, he is concealing part of the truth.

Actually, the matter has not been resolved at all.

Yuan Ying is not necessarily a vengeful ghost; it could also be a Meme.

The mission description is very vague, merely giving the two characters for 'incident' in a general sense.

However, no deaths have appeared yet, causing the villagers to mistakenly believe that the village chief is telling the truth.

Sometimes a lie does not need to be spoken; concealing part of the inside information can achieve the same effect.

Third, what the village chief says is also true, but the deserted village incident in the mission is not the same thing as what the village chief said.

Since all three are possible, the best course is to go to the pagoda to investigate.

Without Hesitation.

Under the bewildered gaze of the old village chief, Lin An directly forced the villagers to go to the pagoda.

Unable to resist, the crowd had no choice but to follow along.

Under the night sky, groups of villagers in cloth clothing, viewed from above, looked like ant colonies heading to a sacrifice.

The distance is not far.

In less than a few minutes, Lin An led all the villagers straight to the well where Yuan Ying jumped down.

The wind sounded mournful.

On the open ground behind the village, only a recently built short pagoda could be seen covering the well.

In the distance, the lake surface could be faintly seen.

It is open and cold.

The short pagoda looks somewhat eerie and strange.

No energy fluctuations were sensed.

The pagoda before them has nothing special about it.

"Sir... we really haven't deceived you..."

The old man looked at Lin An with a helpless expression, then repeatedly urged him to stop:

"You see, this pagoda was built this year."

"The thing suppressed below is Yuan Ying; you must absolutely not open the pagoda, otherwise we will all suffer."

"That Daoist said, once released, Yuan Ying would then have no way to be sealed again..."

Lin An gave no reply, and under the puzzled gazes of the crowd, he slowly approached the pagoda.

His mental power seeped out like mercury spilled on the ground, slowly extending.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

Although the pagoda appeared normal on the outside, it blocked the detection of his mental power.

He had originally intended to use his mental power to sense the situation below the well, to verify his suspicion.

But obviously, this matter is not that simple.

The pagoda before them, or rather the well, clearly lay before their eyes, yet in mental perception it seemed to have disappeared.

The only useful clue is that this place seems more like a Meme.

Just as when he faced the Meme doll earlier, he likewise could not detect anything.

Ghosts and monsters tend to be spiritual, whereas the existence of a Meme leans more toward intangible thought.

This Secret Realm world everywhere reveals a sense of eeriness.

"Lin Dui, should we forcibly break it open?"

In the team's communication, Zhang Tie saw his hesitation, and simply walked behind him, clenching his fist:

"This broken thing, I can blast it open with one punch."

He hehed with a laugh; he most dislikes this kind of pretending to be mystical nonsense.

"Although I don't know what Lin Dui is hesitating about, in his view, as long as we smash open the pagoda to check the well's situation, wouldn't that make things clear?"

"If there are corpses inside the well, then it proves these villagers are lying! Or that damn Daoist is deceiving people."

"This old man said it clearly: what's in the well is a vengeful ghost, but there aren't any egg corpses!"

"If there aren't any..."

"Um..."

"Anyway, with Lin Dui here, we should be able to beat whatever monster comes out, right?"

"After a moment of thought, Lin An did not choose to let Xiong Hanzi act."

He suddenly turned his head to look at the old man, his expression icy:

"Huang Daiwei, where is the Daoist you spoke of?"

"How far is the county seat from here?"

Upon hearing this, Old Mr. Huang was startled, and stammered in reply:

It's quite far from here.

But those Dao... have long been dead.

While speaking, he suddenly realized that he had previously told Lin An that if he didn't believe it, he should go ask the Daoist priest.

Although he still hasn't figured out exactly who Lin An is, he simply treats Lin An as a big shot who came down for an inspection.

Afraid that Lin An wouldn't believe him.

Having thought this, he hurriedly added:

It's true! That Daoist priest, in order to suppress the Nascent Soul fierce ghost, fell ill on his way back and died!

We even sent people from our village to mourn him!

The villagers behind him all nodded in unison; the death of the Daoist priest is a major event in this village and town.

Lin An's expression didn't change after hearing that; he merely extended his mental power inch by inch over everyone.

He wasn't lying, and there was no fluctuation in his emotions.

The Daoist priest really did die, at least as far as they know.

Mental power perception.

Although it can't be as accurate as a perfect lie detector, since it mainly monitors physiological traits and emotional fluctuations, Lin An then infers from that.

However, it can make mistakes when facing someone who is deliberately concealing something.

But when so many people show the same state, it indicates that the Daoist priest really died.

Lin Dui? Why ask that Daoist?

Is there something wrong with that Daoist?

Xiong Hanzi couldn't help but ask in a low voice over the team channel; he always felt uneasy staying in this place, a suppressed panic in his chest.

Besides, it's really cold.

After a brief silence, Lin An shook his head:

Not really sure.

I'm just guessing, based on reverse engineering the task, what Huang Youwei might be concealing.

But there's no evidence, or perhaps even he himself doesn't know what happened.

Zhang Tie rubbed his head, then suddenly turned to look at the old man leaning on a cane:

Lin Dui, why don't we just torture him for a confession!

Pinch him! Make them spill everything in detail!

I don't believe this guy can withstand it!

He couldn't care less about whether these people live or die.

For Zhang Tie, his thinking is very simple.

What is the Secret Realm? It's just a place where a bunch of NPCs hang out.

Moreover, these people might have killed a 'person'.

Never mind all that, say hello first!

Staying in this godforsaken place makes him feel awful all over, especially near the pagoda, where his heart feels creepy.

It's inexplicable.

I'm not some black bear spirit, so what am I afraid of?