"Knock, knock!"
When the knocking sound came for the second time, Jiang Lin opened the door.
As expected, Qi Liu and the other two were outside.
Jiang Lin shifted aside, "Come in."
The bedroom was quite spacious.
Besides the large bed, there was a wardrobe, a bookshelf, and a desk set.
After Qi Liu and the other two entered, it didn't feel crowded.
After communicating with Aunt Hui, they came to the streamer immediately.
One was to tell the streamer the information they had just learned.
Second, everyone gathered to see if they could analyze more information.
Qi Liu spoke first, "Streamer, we just communicated with Aunt Hui! It turns out she is deaf and mute! No wonder she ignored us before."
Jiang Lin nodded and said calmly, "Mm, and then?"
Qi Liu and Liu Yao looked at the woman in the red dress. They couldn't understand the sign language they were using earlier.
The woman in the red dress said, "Aunt Hui said she has lived in this room for many years."
"Because of her good cooking, she was assigned here by the village to prepare meals."
"Normally, she is the only one here. Other villagers only deliver ingredients and do not come."
"But strangely..."
The woman in the red dress frowned, "When I mentioned things like mountain spirits and treasures, she gave no response at all."
Qi Liu: "Could it be that she didn't know from the beginning?"
Although he had never had a disability, he knew that the daily life of deaf-mute people would not be too convenient.
Especially when communicating with people, or when encountering emergencies...
Whether the other party understood sign language was one thing, and whether they had the patience to watch you gesture was another.
As a deaf-mute person, it was normal to be behind on information.
Seeing that everyone was silent.
Liu Yao, who was a bit socially anxious, opened her mouth, "Um... I was watching Aunt Hui just now. During your communication, she opened her mouth once.
I don't know much about deaf-mute people, but if they were born deaf and mute, would they have the habit of opening their mouths when speaking?"
As soon as these words were spoken,
Qi Liu and the woman in the red dress looked over sharply.
They also didn't know much about the habits of deaf-mute people.
But,
If Aunt Hui's opening her mouth was a subconscious action left from years of speaking,
Did that mean she was not mute before?
Then how did she become mute?
...
"Could it be that Aunt Hui was forced to become mute because she knew some secret?!"
"The more you think about it, the more terrifying it becomes!"
The bullet comments in the live stream exploded.
When the woman in the red dress was communicating with Aunt Hui,
Most of the viewers' attention was focused on their hands.
Some even went to check sign language.
Even if someone saw Aunt Hui open her mouth, they didn't think much of it.
As non-deaf-mute people,
For them, isn't opening their mouths normal?
They open their mouths to speak, open their mouths to breathe, and open their mouths to sigh.
Hearing Liu Yao mention it now,
The viewers recalled and felt something was a bit strange.
As the only two human NPCs appearing in the village,
And specifically taking on the job of a cook, yet being deaf and mute...
"Aunt Hui is likely a key character in the plot! But she cannot communicate directly with players for some reason. She can only hint?"
"Have you ever thought that the mountain spirit appeared, but the mountain demon that has been mentioned has not appeared yet?"
It was already night, and it was likely the time for the mountain demon to appear.
In the story, the cunning mountain demon transformed into a human form and stole the mountain treasure one night.
Therefore, the time for the mountain demon to travel should be at night.
And in this house, there was only Aunt Hui as an NPC!
Thinking of this,
The word "luring the tiger into the net" involuntarily appeared in some viewers' minds.
Pah, pah.
It's not clear who is hunting whom yet.
...
In the live stream,
After exchanging information, the three went to their respective rooms.
Because Aunt Hui had said that the lights would be turned off soon.
In a world of the uncanny,
Lights off and darkness meant the beginning of the uncanny.
They didn't dare to delay.
It was best to find a room early and sleep early, as the streamer had said.
No matter what they heard or felt in the middle,
They should not open their eyes or respond.
Otherwise, it would easily trigger some harmful conditions.
These were all experiences gained by Jiang Lin after becoming a ghost messenger.
After the three left,
Jiang Lin recalled the information he had obtained today.
So far, Uncle Feng and the village representative, Uncle Zhou, had basically consistent accounts of the story's background.
Next,
Let's see if they could get any other clues tonight.
For example, the mountain demon that had not yet appeared.
And also, the problem of why the survival rate of the saplings was so low.
After organizing the clues,
Jiang Lin, like other players, lay down on the bed early, closed his eyes, and rested.
Not long after everyone had settled down,
The lights in the entire house went out.
In the darkness, there was silence.
Any sound would be amplified infinitely.
After an unknown amount of time,
Swish—
Swish—
The sound of sharpening a knife came from the first floor.
A kerosene lamp was left in the kitchen, and the faint flame swayed unstably.
Aunt Hui's face flickered in the dim light.
She focused on the knife in her hand.
Swish—
Swish—
Aunt Hui rinsed the blade with water and brought it closer to examine it.
The blade reflected a sharp, cold light.
...
Roar—
A beast-like roar suddenly sounded from the nearby Daqing Mountain.
This seemed to be a signal,
The next moment,
Jiang Lin felt something moving rustlingly.
Through the cracks in the doors, windows, and other places,
They crawled into each bedroom.
And set their sights on the human-shaped players sleeping on the beds.
The black shadow curved its mouth into a human-like arc.
...
Very close.
Really very close.
This was Jiang Lin's first thought.
After the thing that entered circled the large bed, it suddenly leaned in.
In its breath, a sinister cold air sprayed onto his face.
Extremely close.
Two gazes fell upon him, filled with malice.
Jiang Lin hadn't made any move yet, but the viewers in the live stream were startled.
They instinctively recoiled.
Physically uncomfortable, they rubbed their faces vigorously.
Damn it! A Mandarin phrase was sent.
...
The black shadow crawled around on the large bed, examining the human-shaped player from top to bottom.
Finally, it reached out its hand.
Playfully, it grabbed the player's... icy cold neck?
Feeling the neck, which was even colder than its own, the black shadow doubted for a moment if it had found the wrong target.
It couldn't help but widen its eyes and sniffed again, leaning closer.
The next second,
The hand that was gripping the player's neck was held by another, even colder hand.
It looked up and met a pair of calm eyes.
They were eyes darker than the night.
Radiating the aura of death, chilling and terrifying.
...