Half Immortal

ang might not know.

However, he continued.
“The second deceased was a person not mentioned in Hu Ayu’s words.
There was some information on the gravestone, generally saying that this person worked in the mountain temple before their death.
They helped the matron with chores and so on.
I’ve seen the times of death of all the people who died, except Li Yishu, who died the earliest, which shouldn’t be right.”

“It can be seen that Li Yishu was the first to die, and Hu Ayun turned into a skinless ghost after her death — and there’s no telling which ghosts we’ve met.
Because of her anger, the first person she killed was the man who didn’t take her away.
Also, I saw the groom we met back in the retrospective illusion.
I heard the groom’s name at that time, and there was a tombstone with the same name.
Although the retrospective illusion we entered was not the Hu family but another girl, it showed the sequence of the killings.”

“It suggests that the people dear are actually related to the degree of resentment of the ghosts.
They resent their loved ones, their parents, their friends… Only later, when time got closer to the present, did the deceased begin to show great irrelevance, presumably because the people related to them were nearly dead.
It was beneficial for the matron to place umbrellas later on because the skinless female ghosts no longer had any prominent targets of resentment.
In that case, why did an ordinary townsman who worked in the mountain temple die earlier than Hu Ayun’s parents?”

Yan Mingguang extinguished the cigarette butt and said calmly, “She hated the man more.”

“Why hate him more? In this story, Hu Ayun resented her parents and fiance because they were supposed to love her the most.
They failed to save her and even pushed her into a burning pit.
Only her twin sister, Hu Ayu, was there to help her.
What kind of situation could make her hate an outsider not related to her? Don’t forget, in the story Hu Ayu told us, to contact Hu Ayun, who was imprisoned in the temple, she bribed a person who worked in the temple, so this person should have helped.”

“The clues announced also mentioned this,” Yan Mingguang said, “The tower can’t lie.”

“Yes, whether it’s the matron, Hu Ayu, or the townspeople, they’re all from Ankang Town, and they can all lie.
Only the tower can’t lie to us.
My debuff ‘The young girl’s favorite’ isn’t wrong, and Hu Ayu’s story has also been recorded and broadcast to all players.
Therefore, it’s absolutely infallible that Hu Ayu bought people who worked in the temple to contact her twin sister.”

Yan Wei took out the swallow coin in his pocket.
He didn’t weigh it in his own hands but threw it ahead.

The man raised his hand and grasped the tossed coin.

Yan Wei asked, “Heads or tails?”

Yan Mingguang didn’t look.
He threw it back and replied, “I believe the side you inferred.”

Yan Wei chuckled lightly.

“Then I speculate… There’s no problem with the story.
It was raining on Hu Ayun’s wedding day, and she was selected, but the lover who had promised to take her away never showed up.
The Hu family cook we met before did buy off the people in the temple that year to contact her twin sister.
There is no problem with all this, and the tower had also broadcasted this story.
The problem isn’t the truth of every sentence but… the story told to us was a combination of two people’s perspectives.”

Yan Wei concluded, “The twin sisters switched ten years ago.”

He held up the coin, pointed the front side toward Yan Mingguang, and pressed his finger on the front face of the coin.
“The first half of the story was about Hu Ayu.
Her sister was chosen as a sacrifice to the mountain god after heavy rain fell on her wedding day.
Hu Ayun’s kind-hearted twin sister, unwilling to let her older sister die tragically, has been helping Hu Ayun connect with her lover.
But before the sacrificial ceremony, her sister’s lover did not appear, and Hu Ayu, a girl, was even less able to save her sister…”

He paused and rotated the coin to the reverse side.
“The second half of the story was from Hu Ayun’s perspective.
She was desperate.
Her lover betrayed her, her parents wanted her to accompany the mountain god, and her sister, who was the only one to side with her, didn’t have the ability to take her away.
So she tried to bribe the people who worked in the mountain god temple, deceived Hu Ayu to the place where she was imprisoned, and with the person who worked in the mountain temple… replaced herself with her sister.”

“The cook we saw was not Hu Ayu, but Hu Ayun, the twin sister who swapped herself with her sister ten years ago.
In fact, the twin exchange was not difficult to guess, but the tower confirmed the story told by the cook, which made us all feel that it was impossible, that the story was true, and that what the cook said must be true.
But in fact, there is a contradiction hidden in it.”

“Ah, I’m so blind and such a gentleman.
I wasted my invitations to exchange hand warmers for her, and I got a debuff.
There’s something wrong with the cook, so it is normal for her to stay at the age of eighteen.
The girl mentioned in the debuff is really her.”

That said, Yan Wei actually knew in his heart that this debuff was not necessarily a bad thing.
Just the hints and clues brought by the words “The young girl’s favorite” were worth the risk of hanging onto this debuff.

“The story is accurate, but the first half, or the heads, is in the younger sister’s perspective while the second half, or the tails, is in the older twin’s perspective.”

Yan Wei hooked the corner of his mouth and stuffed the coin back into his pocket.

Yan Mingguang glanced at him.
As if because of their improving relationship, this man talked a little more than when they first met.
“There is a loophole that you need to explain.
You can infer these according to the extent of hatred based on the murder of the skinless women, but if the reasoning is true, the first one to die should be the elder twin who used her sister as a scapegoat.”

“This is indeed a contradiction, and there must be other reasons for it–“

Yan Wei’s voice paused.

In the minds of all the players, the tower’s prompt sound suddenly rang.

【The progress of the instance has been updated.
Some players have successfully responded to the clues related to the Hu sisters: The name and origin of the matron.
The method of making skin and bone umbrellas in Ankang Ancient Town originated from the Hu family.
The matron who often lived in the mountain temple and presided over all sacrifices and worship in the ancient town was the daughter of the Hu family.
The previous generation would train young Hu daughters as the next generation.
When the previous generation died, the new matron would carry on the work and criticism of the previous generation.
The matrons of Ankang Town could also get married and have children, but the girls who are sacrificed to the mountain god must remain pure.】

【The corresponding players who successfully answered first will obtain 1 point.
The race to answer first continues.
May all players do their best to answer first and survive.】

“Ah, is it Lin Zhen, Yu Feizhou, or Ning Yi?” Yan Wei blinked.
“But it helped me connect all the guesses.
Look.
Here’s the reason for this contradiction — Hu Ayun was the next generation matron cultivated by the old matron. 

But just before she had inherited it, she was chosen by accident, and the matron’s successor became her sister.
She changed from the respected successor of the matron to being placed on an altar as a result of a downpour.”

“Later, the things in the story happened.
Hu Ayun ran out and became Hu Ayu.
Because of her knowledge of evil techniques, she successfully manipulated the dead girls’ bodies and skin and bone umbrellas.
She killed the lover who betrayed her first.
The townsman who knew that she had swapped with her sister was second.
They thought it was the impure tribute that made the mountain god angry, and they despised Hu Ayun more and more — In their eyes, she was Hu Ayu.”

As soon as his voice fell, the prompt sound reappeared in Yan Wei’s mind.

【Congratulations to the player on breaking the secret of the Hu family.
As the first player to discover the clue, you will receive rewards: Perception 6, Physical Strength 6, Points 8.】

【You gained an extra 3 points for answering first.】

【At present, you have a total of 3 first answer points, temporarily ranking first among the players in this instance.
Please make persistent efforts to survive.】

Yan Mingguang also got the three points.
It could be regarded as the joint efforts of Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang.
Both of them have gained extra points.
At the moment, they were both at 7 points and tied for first place.

—The clue was worth three points and a high amount of stat rewards!

Yan Wei shifted and said with a smile, “With such a high reward, it appears that we are close to the last clue.
Now that we have reached this step, where is the staircase? What should we do to end this instance?”

“I need to get this over with quickly.
I always feel that I’ll be attacked at any time because of this rotten peach blossom 4 debuff.”

Footnotes

An idiom that translates to “It’s only natural.”

A one-piece Chinese dress that has been worn since the 17th century when the Manchu ruled China; means long dress in Cantonese

Figurative for beautiful flowers Peach blossom can be fig.
for a love affair