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墨書 Inktalez
Su Jin'er and Linyuan returned to their temporary home. For some reason, the village chief not only stopped locking them up but also invited them to his house for dinner every day, treating them like family.
"It's really strange! Why isn't the village chief keeping us locked up anymore?" Linyuan said, fiddling with her phone at the table.
"I find it strange too. Could it be that he has developed a fondness for us?" Su Jin'er sat down as well, her earlier discovery making her lose her sleepiness.
"Ugh! It's so boring! Even though my phone is back, there's no signal." She placed her phone on the table and spun it around with her finger.
"Even if there was a signal, you shouldn't play around. Don't forget, there's no electricity here." After realizing there was no signal when her phone returned, she turned it off to save battery.
"Then tell me what you discovered just now?"
"Didn't you notice that the mage was acting strangely?"
"He was indeed strange, staring at you the whole time." Linyuan pouted, "Am I that ugly? Why isn't he looking at me?"
She touched her face, and her vain expression almost made Su Jin'er laugh.
"Seriously, didn't you really notice anything?"
Linyuan shook her head.
At that moment, Chu Feifan and the others walked in. Linyuan saw him and said, "Why aren't you with your wife? You can't keep coming here all the time!"
Chu Feifan paused for a moment and replied, "It's fine; she won't mind."
Linyuan chuckled to herself.
Su Jin'er looked at Gaya Ze and said, "Brother Ge, have you noticed anything strange about that mage?"
Gaya Ze frowned and looked at her in disbelief, saying, "You noticed it too?"
"Yes! The only thing that seems off is right there," she replied.
"Right! I noticed that too, and his gaze seems familiar to me," Chu Feifan added.
"Stop playing dumb and just say it!" Linyuan urged impatiently.
"Eyes. How old do you think the mage looks?" Gaya Ze asked Linyuan.
Linyuan thought for a moment and said, "He looks like he should be over sixty or even older."
"Exactly, but don't you find it strange? Why are his eyes so clear? Usually, when a person reaches a certain age, their eyes become cloudy," Gaya Ze said. "It's not just dead people's eyes that become cloudy."
"Oh! That's right! I completely forgot. I was just thinking about how he looks at Jin'er with such lust!" Linyuan pouted.
Chu Feifan suddenly slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "How could I be so stupid! When Arian told me, why didn't I think of that?"
"What did Arian tell you?"
"Arian said that it's a rule for mages that every girl must give her first night to the mage the night before she gets married."
"What? They actually follow such a perverted rule?" Linyuan gasped.
Chu Feifan nodded.
"Isn't Arian also..." Su Jin'er found it hard to believe.
"I also think it's unbelievable, so I didn't think much of it. Now that I think about it, it's strange. At his age, he shouldn't be so lecherous. Even if he has those thoughts, he doesn't have the stamina for it anymore," Chu Feifan said with a smile. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked at Su Jin'er and Linyuan, who were both blushing.
"Ahem!" Zuo Yi deliberately cleared his throat. "Now that we have evidence of the mage's deception, what should we do next?"
"Currently, in this village, aside from Arian, A-Jian, the village chief, the mage, and the deceased Alang whom we have interacted with, we are not familiar with anyone else. I have another question that I can't figure out," Su Jin'er frowned. "What is Li Yiqian's relationship with this village?"
Chu Feifan tilted his head and said, "Do you remember what Li Yiqian referred to as 'he' or 'she'? Although we don't know whether that person is male or female, Li Yiqian's attempt to stop us from coming here indicates that that person is in this village; we just don't know who it is."
"The most suspicious right now is the mage," Linyuan said.
"No, it can't be the mage; the mage draws too much attention," Su Jin'er shook her head.
"Don't you think someone has been acting strangely lately?" Gaya Ze leaned against the door. "Linyuan, if your future husband stayed out all night, how would you feel?"
"Of course I would be very angry! I might even consider divorce!"
"Uh— that's a bit too hasty," Gaya Ze said while rubbing her forehead.
"Yeah! This morning when she came to call us, she didn't seem angry at all!" Zuo Yi was also surprised.
"Maybe he just doesn't care," Chu Feifan's voice was very soft. Every time he mentioned his marriage with Arian, he felt uncomfortable all over.
Su Jin'er frowned, "Also, I remember her saying that she had no idea where we put our phones, so how could she return them to us?"
Several people immediately headed towards the village chief's house. Arian was likely no longer the original Arian; she hadn't appeared at all during their meal.
When they arrived at the village chief's house, he and the others were absent. The food was still on the table, as if they had just left, but they should have been gone for at least half an hour.
"Village Chief—" Zuo Yi shouted loudly.
After calling several times with no response, they looked at each other in confusion.
"Oh no, something's wrong!"
A strong smell of blood wafted from a room on the right.
They rushed into the room and were immediately stunned by the sight before them.
Arian's body lay in a pool of blood, the ground soaked in bright red.
Linyuan felt a violent churn in his stomach and covered his mouth as he rushed outside.
"This—how is this possible?" Chu Feifan trembled as he approached. The girl who had just been laughing and linking arms with him was now a cold corpse.
"The carotid artery was cut; the killer struck without hesitation, and the knife was very sharp." Gaya Ze squatted beside the body to examine it. Not wearing gloves, he refrained from touching the corpse.
On Arian's once smooth skin were numerous wounds, almost covering her entire body. While those wounds were not fatal, they still left a shocking impression on them.
"Can you help me find if there are any gloves here?" Gaya Ze said, his eyes never leaving the corpse. This was already the second life lost; even without tools, he needed to gather as many clues as possible.
Su Jin'er brought over a pair of transparent gloves. "This is all we have; make do with it!"
They exited the room, leaving Gaya Ze alone to conduct the autopsy.
"Let's look around! Maybe we can find the village chief," Chu Feifan suggested, his voice trembling. Although he had no romantic feelings for Arian, their interactions over the past few days had fostered some affection. Her sudden murder caught him off guard.
The house had two rooms on each side, with a living room and dining room in the middle. They searched every room but found no sign of the village chief or any trace of the mage.
"It seems the village chief is in grave danger as well," Zuo Yi frowned.
Su Jin'er looked at Arian's room. Though the door was closed, she felt she could still see Arian's body, with wounds on her neck and body; the metallic scent of blood in the air made it hard for her to breathe.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "From Arian's appearance, it seems she has been imprisoned for several days. So who exactly is the Arian who has been with us, delivering phones and inviting us to meals? Could she be the Killer?"
"Hey! You've been together all this time; didn't you notice any changes in her?" Zuo Yi crossed his arms and nudged Chu Feifan's back with his elbow.
"How long have we been here?" Chu Feifan asked.
"About five days," Linyuan counted on his fingers.
"If we include the night we were captured, that makes five days," Su Jin'er corrected.
"Did I marry her on the second day?"
"Yes!"
"On the night we got married, I asked her something, but she wouldn't say anything. However, after Alang's death, I easily asked her about it. At that time, I thought she was just scared, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem to be that way."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. I just remember she had this look as if she would never tell me anything. She also said she would let you all go the next day. She was scared, but I didn't know what she was afraid of."
He remembered that night when Arian said she would not only let his friends go but also him. Yet the next day, she completely avoided mentioning anything about releasing them and was evasive when he inquired.
Su Jin'er sat down: "So at that time, Arian was no longer really Arian."
"We caused her harm!" Chu Feifan lowered his head in pain.
At that moment, Gaya Ze came out: "I checked her body. The wounds on her should be about two days old. There are marks on her wrists from ropes, and there are signs of male presence on her lower body. This means she had sexual intercourse before her death. As for who it was with, we have no instruments here to test."
Su Jin'er closed her eyes; her head began to throb as if it were about to explode.
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