Chapter 3164: The Detective Shall Die (26)

The Pale Knight's conjecture was indeed correct. Shiler touched a family photo in the pocket of the oldest man. Judging from the position, the family composition was indeed as the Pale Knight said.

And from this photo, one could also see an important detail, that there was a pasture behind this family's house, which was very likely to be engaged in animal husbandry.

Shiler turned the photo over and found a line of words on the back of the photo: "To my lovely little Jenny's 6th birthday—Dad, Huff."

It seemed that Huff was really the father of the 6-year-old little girl outside, and the people who died here should be his wife, son, father, daughter-in-law, etc.

The first thought of others after seeing the photo was, wouldn't this be the family that drank goat soup?

The owner of the diary mentioned in the diary that he felt very sorry for the 6-year-old little girl. Jenny's appearance and the words on the back of the photo all corresponded to this clue.

"But how could they die here?" Bruce frowned somewhat suspiciously, looking back at the little girl's corpse in the distance and said: "Although the diary didn't say how they died, it can be seen from the date of the diary that this should have happened several days ago. How could the corpse be preserved so perfectly?"

Shiler was also thinking about this problem. The temperature in the lighthouse wasn't low. Logically speaking, it didn't have fresh-keeping functions, but judging from the state of the corpses in the lighthouse, their death shouldn't exceed 24 hours.

This didn't match the time of the death of the family that signaled the appearance of the Prowler mentioned in the diary, but it didn't exclude that this family and that family were different, or there was a problem with the time flow in the lighthouse.

It was known that the lighthouse wasn't short of food, and there were many ways to replenish liquids, so it was unlikely that their family attacked each other because of fighting for survival resources. Then it was possible that they were controlled by monsters.

Shiler suddenly thought that although the diary said this family went crazy, it didn't say they all died. Perhaps they might have run out and hid in the lighthouse, hid for a few days, but the monster still didn't let them go, letting them kill each other until they were extinct.

After searching around on the sixth floor, there was nothing but corpses, so Shiler went to the sixth floor again. On the sixth floor, Shiler found a bedroom, and there were many letters in the bedside table.

The recipient column was written as "Andexi," but the signature had several different names, which proved that these were letters written to Andexi by several different people. Shiler felt that this Andexi should be the lighthouse guardian.

Seeing the several familiar names at the signature, Shiler knew that the highlight was coming, because the people who sent letters to this Andexi included Harold, the owner of the diary, Jeff, the last survivor in the lighthouse, and even Madeline.

Maybe someone would feel, why would there be so many handwritten letters in a modern background story? Normally, shouldn't they call or send emails directly?

That can only be said to be overestimating the quality of the American communication network. Some extremely remote villages in the United States don't even have electricity, let alone signals.

Many people have doubts when watching some American blockbusters: why don't they call for rescue after a car accident, or why don't they call the police? In fact, it's really not that the protagonist is stupid, but that there is no signal at all.

Even in the suburbs around big cities, telephone signals are terrible, and network signals are a mess. As long as you find that the traces of human civilization activities along the highway are gradually disappearing, don't hold any hope of calling for rescue, you can only pray for yourself.

With Shiler's understanding of this village, their most efficient communication means might be wired telephones. Of course, mobile phones should also be available, but young people should use them more.

The fastest way to pass messages within such a village is to bring messages. In the case of relatively cumbersome information, it is better to write it on paper.

Shiler began to read these letters in order.

Then he found a problem—long before the Prowler incident broke out, this group of outsiders had already arrived in the village.

In such a small village, basically the villagers know each other, and there will almost be no outsiders. Once a stranger is seen, it is a big event that shocks the whole village. They don't welcome strangers.

The first letter was sent by Jeff to Andexi, mentioning that the boat team boss with the most money in the village invited a doctor to see his wife. I heard that the other party was a college student who graduated from a famous university. He complained in the letter that the boss would rather spend money to invite a god-stick from nowhere than hire a good sailor like him.

So Shiler knew that this Jeff was actually a sailor, and Bruce said that he came here to investigate rare cases was true, but this rare case was the wife of the boat team boss in this village.

It's not hard to see that this village is a very primitive small fishing village. Men go to sea as sailors, and women raise some animals at home. Jeff's family should also be such a composition.

And the boat team boss's wife didn't know what kind of strange disease she had, so she had to seek medical treatment in a big city, finally attracting Bruce's attention, and followed the last boat of the year to this unknown small village.

Then there was a letter written by the diary owner Harold to the lighthouse guardian Andexi, mentioning that the sheriff who sacrificed in that incident in the village had been buried, and the neighboring town would soon send a new sheriff, but hopefully nothing would happen this time.

Shiler realized that this might be Owlman's origin story. He was transferred here because of the death of the sheriff in the village.

And Madeline's letter made Shiler feel a bit surprised. This letter was very long and finally revealed her motivation for coming here and part of the truth.

"I am very sad, Andexi. It has been almost 20 years since we parted at Yale University. I once thought your move to return to your hometown was wasting so many years of your efforts, but now I understand, perhaps you are right."

"After my family died, I received help from relatives. This was a very difficult time, but fortunately I came out. I worked hard to go to college, met good teachers, and met many friends. I thought they would help me."

"But just when I was running around for the death of my family, they all avoided me. Only you were willing to say a few words to me. I am very grateful to you, Andexi."

"I am writing this letter to tell you that about two months ago, my lawsuit against the Siltek Medical Insurance Company failed again, and this time no court is willing to accept my lawsuit again. I think it's time to give up."

"I am very happy about your intention to invite me to relax, and I have decided to go to your beautiful hometown to see, but I still have one thing to complete. If you can understand me, I am very grateful."

From this letter, Shiler obtained two most important pieces of information. The first is that Madeline came to this village at the invitation of her college classmate Andexi.

The second is that the death of Madeline's whole family did not receive normal insurance compensation, and might not even have received normal accidental death compensation, forcing her to live under others' roofs.

Shiler instinctively felt that the insurance company's refusal to pay might be closely related to Madeline's suicide and the current situation in the village.

From the words Madeline revealed, Shiler could infer that her family conditions were not bad before, or even very good. Such a family would not be stingy about buying insurance, and once the whole family died, the insurance company might have to pay huge compensation.

Shiler continued to look down and found that the next letter was also written by Madeline.

"... Thank you for caring about my family, Andexi. They should be living very well in heaven now. As for the lawsuit... I don't want to explain too much, because it's meaningless."

"But I am indeed worried that you will misunderstand that I am making trouble or cheating on insurance. I must tell you that my appeal is legitimate, and it is that damn cheating insurance company that is shirking their responsibilities again and again."

"They are a bunch of liars! A bunch of devils who shirk responsibility! My family and I have always been on good terms. Our family is very harmonious. They were controlled by those monsters to commit suicide and homicide. You must believe me, right?"

After reading this letter, Shiler basically understood. The insurance company's refusal to pay was because the cause of death of Madeline's family was that they killed each other, such as the father holding a gun to kill the mother, and then the father was killed by the son.

Generally speaking, accidental death compensation will not be paid in this case, especially when both parties who kill and are killed are insurance beneficiaries. This has a serious suspicion of insurance fraud, and it is no wonder that Madeline has lost repeatedly.

Shiler didn't know if there was insurance for strange events in this world, but he thought, Madeline chose to study strangeness later, it might also be to prove that her family was indeed killed by strangeness, belonging to accidental death, so as to recover her insurance money.

This made Shiler think of the family that died in the lighthouse again. From the scene, it was obvious that they also died by killing each other, which meant that the monster they encountered might be the same as the one Madeline encountered, which was that mysterious Prowler.

But these letters proved that Madeline also came here before the Prowler incident broke out, which means it wasn't Madeline who came here chasing the Prowler. On the contrary, it is possible that Madeline brought the Prowler here.

What does she want to do?

Sorting out Madeline's logic in his heart, Shiler felt that if it was impossible to recover the compensation and get justice for her family, then the only thing she wanted to do was to make that insurance company that refused to pay pay the price. ===== CHAPTER 3165 =====

After straightening out Madeline's logic in his mind, Schiller felt that if it was already impossible to recover the compensation and get justice for her family, then the only thing she wanted to do was to make that insurance company that refused the claim pay the price.