From the end of the world

Chapter 275 Weird Conversation
The refugees who fled to the mountains and were saved by the goddess Gu Yue established Gu Yue Village, where they believed in the gods. However, in later generations, they collectively moved out due to some kind of fear...

I tried to summarize the information I had previously obtained.

As for the content of their fear, the shopkeeper and regular customers could not explain it clearly. Even the villagers of Guyue Village, or Hujia Village in the past, could not give a conclusion as to whether they stayed away from Yueyin Mountain out of fear.

Seeing this, I had no choice but to ask in a different direction: "Do you know more about the deeds of the Ancient Moon Goddess?"

"Well... I heard that the Ancient Moon God not only transformed food and water, but also transformed the clothes and shelters necessary for the refugees to survive the winter. I don't remember much else." The shopkeeper said, "The people who witnessed it have all passed away. I only remember that in the stories that have been passed down, it is said that the Ancient Moon God can make any wish come true. As long as it is something that the believers can imagine, the Ancient Moon God can transform it into something."

A familiar customer added: "Not only are there essential supplies to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, but even abstract things like 'health' and 'courage', the Ancient Moon God seems to be able to provide believers - at least that's what the legend of Yueyin Mountain City describes."

As long as it is imaginable, it can be transformed——

This so-called "ancient moon goddess" who can fulfill all wishes gives me the feeling of a silver moon that has the power to "turn fantasy into reality."

In Luoshan, only the Great Impermanence is regarded as a god, and the Great Perfection level is at most regarded as a demigod. Even if Silver Moon is outstanding among the Great Perfection level, the mainstream opinion of demon hunters will not regard him as a god.

However, it was different for ordinary people, especially for the general public who had a generally low level of education a hundred years ago.

Whether it was creating an inexhaustible supply of food, creating an inexhaustible source of water, or changing the climate of the mountains... In their opinion, these were undoubtedly things that only gods could do. With the power of Silver Moon, all human desires could basically be satisfied. And once she got angry, she could even destroy an army or a city with one strike.

Some gods in Eastern and Western mythology may not even be as powerful as her.

And if you think about it carefully, the name Gu Yue Shen is also very interesting. "Gu Yue" means "Hu", so Gu Yue Village is Hujia Village, and Gu Yue Shen is Hu Shen. "Hu" and "Hu" are homophones, so "Hu Shen" is "Fox God". This also implicitly matches Yin Yue's identity as a fox demon.

In this way, the naming of "Guyue Village" and "Guyue God" is likely intentional. It may be that Yinyue did not hide her fox nature in front of the refugees, or it may be that the villagers of Guyue touched upon Yinyue's true identity by chance and hid part of the truth in the inherited local culture.

At the same time, from this practice of hiding the truth in the legend culture, we can also vaguely see that the Guyue villagers who fled the mountains in the past avoided the Guyue God. They wanted to preserve and pass on history, but they were also afraid that once the truth was made public, it would bring some ominous disasters.

While analyzing in this way, I slowly caught some of the feelings that seemed to be associated with investigating folklore and legends in the past, and a feeling of nostalgia rose in my heart.

"You mentioned before that some tourists mistakenly entered Hujia Village on Yueyin Mountain... Since you specifically brought it up as a topic of conversation, it should mean that it was not an ordinary incident, right?" I asked.

By the way, the "firefly" I sent to Yueyin Mountain for reconnaissance in advance did not find any trace of Hujia Village. There only seemed to be dense and intricate forests there.

"There are only a few families left in Hujia Village now, and it is located in an unopened area of ​​Yueyin Mountain. Generally speaking, tourists cannot find Hujia Village. Most of them probably carelessly walked off the mountain path and got lost in the forest." said a familiar customer.

The shopkeeper sneered and said, "Careless? I think it's arrogance. Occasionally, some young people who are so confident that they don't listen to the guide's advice will sneak into the mountains and forests to explore or camp, and then never come back. It's all because of those fools who don't know their own limitations that the number of tourists coming to our place has decreased.

"Wasn't there a boy who was found dead in the woods a week ago? His hair was dyed white, and he was wearing a white ancient costume. I wonder if he thought he was a young knight from the Howling Mountains. But no one has claimed his body yet."

A boy with white hair and white ancient costume? I immediately asked for details about the man, and the shopkeeper took out a newspaper from under the counter and handed it to me.

In the corner of one of the pages of the newspaper, there was an obituary with a photo of the deceased. Ma Zao poked his head out from the side and looked over, and I took a closer look. The person in the photo was a beautiful boy with a young and lovely face, and it was clearly someone that Ma Zao and I knew.

"Winter car?" Ma Zao said in disbelief.

Dong Che is dead? And he died in Yueyin Mountain a week ago, before he met Ma Zao and me?
Then what about the Dongche that was with us before? Is it really a strange creature that killed Dongche and is now active in the outside world in his skin?
When it comes to the strange things lurking in Yueyin Mountain, I can only think of Yinyue. Thinking of this, I thought of an absurd possibility - could it be that Ma Zao and I have always been with Yinyue, who was disguised as a beautiful boy?
But what motive did Yin Yue have to take the risk to get close to me? If she approached me with some purpose, why didn't she do anything to us?

Or has she done something in secret, but we didn't notice it? Countless assumptions kept interweaving in my mind, and then I asked the shopkeeper and the regular customer: "Since you know that the other tourist who got lost in the forest mistakenly entered Hujia Village, does that mean he finally returned to the foot of the mountain safely? Was he sent back by the villagers of Hujia Village?"

"No, he was rescued by a boy with white hair and wearing white ancient costume. I think it happened this morning." said a regular customer.

The shopkeeper nodded: "Yes, I heard about it too. Fortunately, the person was rescued, otherwise if the news of the death spread again, our popularity here would be hit again."

"Wait..." I immediately realized something was wrong. "Didn't you just say that the white-haired boy was found dead in the forest? How come the tourists were rescued this morning? Isn't the boy who died a week ago the same person who appeared this morning?"

Most likely, the one who died a week ago was the real Dong Che, and the one who appeared this morning was the fake Dong Che. I clearly told that Dong Che not to get close to Yueyin Mountain in the past two days, but he still came close. It is indeed a strange creature with a treacherous mind. I can't expect him to obey my arrangements.

That's what I originally thought, but the reactions of the two people opposite me caught me off guard.

The regular customer looked puzzled, and the shopkeeper asked in confusion: "What do you mean he was found dead a week ago... When did I ever say that? The boy is not dead."

"Didn't you just show me the obituary?"

As I said that, I picked up the newspaper at hand and glanced over. Then I found that the obituary that was originally posted in the corner of the newspaper had disappeared for some reason.

The first thing I realized was that I was experiencing a strange phenomenon.

Dong Che, who was just said to be dead by the shopkeeper, was now said to be alive, and the obituary also disappeared... It was as if things that happened in the past had been tampered with unconsciously, and only I still retained the original memory.

No, it's not just me. Ma Zao also showed a surprised expression, and at the same time her whole body tensed up and looked around. She obviously also found the contradiction between what she just heard and what she heard now.

I also held my breath and used my perception to scan the surroundings, but I didn't find any abnormal traces. The shopkeeper and the regular customers continued to look at me with incomprehensible eyes.

"So... where is that tourist?" I asked again, "Wasn't that tourist rescued by the white-haired boy this morning? Do you know where he is now?"

"What do you mean by rescued?" the shopkeeper asked doubtfully, "Didn't I tell you at the beginning that the tourist was found dead in the forest?"

His words contradicted what he had just said. I looked down at the newspaper again and saw an obituary in the corner of the newspaper, this time with the head of a strange young man.

Ma Zao then used the fake Moon in the Water to further influence the spirits of the shopkeeper and regular customers. Previously, he only made them willing to answer all our questions, but now Ma Zao directly manipulated them. They suddenly became lifeless, like puppets on strings.

Fortunately, there were no other customers in the restaurant, which made it easier for us to do our work. We continued to interrogate the two people and check the surroundings. It was basically certain that the source of the strange phenomenon was not them or the restaurant. They were just the victims of the strange phenomenon.

If it's impossible to pinpoint the source of the strange phenomenon, then conversely, it could be anywhere in the town.

Even from the scale of the previous topic, the entire town, including Yueyin Mountain, may be affected. Maybe we are not just collecting information in this restaurant to encounter this phenomenon. No matter where we collect information in Yueyin Mountain City, we may encounter situations where we are talking nonsense when communicating with locals.

The investigation was unsuccessful, so Ma Zao and I had to leave the hotel.

At this time, the night sky was unknowingly covered with dark clouds, and the sound of muffled thunder could be vaguely heard, as if a downpour would come soon.

(End of this chapter)