Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 72 Analysis

Chapter 72: Chapter 72 Analysis

The events happening in Fog Gathering are naturally unknown to Li Mu and the others. In fact, they are somewhat confused by Bai Yanliang’s explanation.

"Wait... Mr. Bai, are you saying that the various abnormal situations we’ve encountered are all due to time distortion?"

Li Mu furrowed his brows and asked in confusion.

Bai Yanliang nodded and said, "Hmm... linking the situations everyone just mentioned, it should be like that."

"Fourth Li, who was seen the day before his death, was found severely decayed the next day. A window that should have existed a year ago was suddenly witnessed by Yu Sheng again."

At this point, Bai Yanliang glanced at Yu Sheng: "Your breakthrough of the certain death trap was quite interesting. Although your reasoning was flawed, the method was correct. That ghost doesn’t exist in the same space-time as ours; its need to climb over the window illustrates this point. It appeared when there was a window, yet the windows of Jixue Village were sealed off last year, so... we can understand it as it standing in the past a year ago looking at the present Yu Sheng. The act of climbing over the window, seemingly simple, is actually moving from a time point with windows to one without, and Yu Sheng’s response was equivalent to marking a new division point of time, so... it disappeared."

Bai Yanliang explained in great detail, and no one present was a fool. After a moment of contemplation, they understood his meaning.

But understanding was one thing; Bai Yanliang’s idea was too unfathomable, making it difficult for several people to accept.

"A ghost capable of manipulating time... this... is somewhat too unbelievable." Lin Yan furrowed her brows tightly and murmured softly.

This time, however, it was Li Mu who clarified her doubts.

He looked at Bai Yanliang admiringly and said: "You’ve misunderstood Mr. Bai’s point. The space-time distortion of Sacrificial Blood Village might not necessarily have been caused by ghosts. The things we need to look for and solve are not the reasons for this phenomenon. During the day, I asked the village chief, and based on his account, the people here came fleeing from ancient times, but once they arrived, they couldn’t leave again. Though, this claim is obviously a lie, at least... not entirely true."

"Hmm." Yu Sheng said softly: "Although impoverished and backward, this village shows signs of modern civilization, and its language is not ancient. Besides... Lu Bingyan’s mother is an outsider."

"Wait." Bai Yanliang suddenly looked at Yu Sheng and asked: "She takes her mother’s surname?"

Yu Sheng nodded: "Yes."

"What is her mother’s name?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and said: "It seems... she’s called Lu Rendong."

"Yes, it’s Lu Rendong."

A hint of doubt flashed in Bai Yanliang’s eyes, followed by a look of realization.

It really is her...

"What’s up?" Their conversation left Lin Yan and the others puzzled.

Bai Yanliang, rubbing his chin and looking at the flickering candle flame on the table, said: "Xiao Bin said that the woman sacrificed at last year’s Homecoming Festival was Lu Rendong, and he has a strange fondness for Lu Rendong."

"No way?" Lin Yan widened her eyes, "Xiao Bin is about the same age as Lu Bingyan; Lu Rendong could very well be his mother!"

"When love comes, age is no barrier." The one who said this, however, was Su Qian.

Her emotions were still low; evidently, Yu Hanzhou’s death was not something she could quickly overcome.

No one dwelled too much on this issue.

Li Mu took out a notebook, flipped through a few pages, with a deep frown.

"Women... the biggest problem of Sacrificial Blood Village still lies with the women. Have you found out why all the women in the village have gone mad?" Li Mu asked.

Everyone shook their heads, except for Su Qian, who suddenly seemed to have remembered something and said: "Not all of them... are mad."

"What do you mean?"

Everyone focused their gaze on Su Qian.

Su Qian, adjusting her emotions, met everyone’s eyes and said: "Today, during the day, Teacher Yu and I unveiled the black cloth covers on the cages one by one and inquired them. Although... most of them didn’t respond, one of them was quite strange..."

Su Qian tilted her head slightly, still feeling puzzled to this moment.

"At that time, she suddenly lunged at us, frantically hitting the iron cage, her emotion extremely agitated, appearing... not much different from those mad women, but Teacher Yu said she seemed different."

"Different how?" Li Mu asked seriously.

Recalling Yu Hanzhou’s words at the time, a pang of sourness filled Su Qian’s heart.

"Teacher Yu said, she was crying."

"Crying?" Lin Yan asked in confusion, "Aren’t the women in this village all howling like ghosts?"

Su Qian shook her head and said: "No... her crying was different from those women."

Li Mu’s fingers tapped lightly on the wooden table. After a moment of thought, he said: "She might be pretending to be mad; perhaps she knows something. Tomorrow morning, we will find her."

Everyone nodded, and Bai Yanliang suddenly said to Li Mu: "May I borrow paper and pencil?"

Li Mu was taken aback but immediately handed over the small notebook and pencil in his hand: "Of course."

Bai Yanliang received the paper and pencil, carefully writing something.

When everyone leaned in for a look, they discovered he was not writing, but drawing... a strange inverted triangle.

"This is a bird’s-eye view of Sacrificial Blood Village. We... are here." Bai Yanliang pointed to one of the corners and said: "The village chief’s house."

Everyone followed his finger’s direction.

"This corner is Xiao Bin’s house."

"This corner is Lu Rendong’s house."

Now, everyone saw the oddity. How could it be such a coincidence?

"In the whole village, only the front yards of these three households do not have iron cages. In other words, only these three families do not have mad women." Bai Yanliang looked at everyone and said.

"Wait a minute, something’s off." Li Mu pointed to one of the corners and asked: "Lu Rendong is Lu Bingyan’s mother, so she should be the daughter-in-law of the village chief. Lu Bingyan is now living next to the village chief’s house, in a row, not separate from the family, so... whose house is she currently living in?"

Li Mu’s question instantly stirred everyone’s curiosity and suspicion. Indeed...

Lu Bingyan is not yet married, meaning the most likely scenario is that where she currently lives is the house her father and mother Lu Rendong left behind.

But... in this case, how does Lu Rendong still have a home at one of the inverted triangle’s corners?

Separating from her husband?

As it turns out, Lu Bingyan’s father also has passed away; he died last year, after Lu Rendong.

With so many nested puzzles, everyone felt somewhat helpless. Tomorrow... would be the last day, and there are still so many unresolved mysteries.

The final day of the survival mission is also the most dangerous one; the ghost could break through certain restrictions and attack all living beings within sight.

"This ghost should be Lu Rendong. After last year’s Homecoming Festival, Sacrificial Blood Village had over ten deaths. It’s quite evident that this is her revenge; tomorrow, we had better not get close to those villagers. Though she’s an irrational, emotionless fierce ghost, her hatred should be more focused on the villagers who caused her death..."

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