From the end of the world

Chapter 285: Winter Car Unpredictable 3
At this moment, Dong Che was in a state where he could neither remain silent nor lie.

Once he chooses silence or lies, his heart will explode. Considering that he may not be human, even if his heart, a biological weakness of humans, is damaged, he may not die; some demon hunters seem to have similar immortality, and it is difficult to judge whether the real Dongche is of this type. However, no matter whether he is dead or alive next, as long as his heart shows signs of explosion, I can use this to judge whether he is the real Dongche.

Originally, I should have asked him to lead the way to Guyue Village first, and then clear his suspicion, but I thought it was more important to confirm this matter first.

Dong Che seemed to be aware of his situation, and perhaps also felt my killing intent. He did not resist Ma Zao's grasp, and answered with a tone of undoubted belief: "I am Dong Che, a human being.

"I have not been replaced by anyone, anything weird, and I have never replaced anything. I am myself."

After getting this answer, I first looked at Ma Zao.

She seemed to carefully feel the heart she was holding, then nodded at me and said, "He didn't lie."

This answer was as if to say that my doubts all along were just my own illusions and misunderstandings.

Could it be that this Dong Che in front of me somehow managed to overcome the lie judgment of the Black Rope Locking Heart Ring? The possibility is extremely low. It's not that Dong Che definitely has no way to deal with the Black Rope Locking Heart Ring, but to complete this task under the eyes of Ma Zao and me, so that neither of us can detect the slightest abnormality, is a nearly impossible task.

If it was Yin Yue herself who said that she could do this, it would be quite convincing. However, the suspicion that Dong Che was Yin Yue in disguise is becoming increasingly impossible in my opinion.

I don't doubt my intuition. The inhuman smell I felt from Dong Che is genuine. At the same time, I also tentatively believe that Dong Che's testimony is also true. Then the problem is likely to arise in certain premises. Some seemingly logical conclusions that serve as the basis for reasoning may be wrong.

Reasoning... Just thinking of this word makes me feel a little humorous. Many reasoning stories strictly prohibit the appearance of magic and superpowers, because that would destroy the fairness of the reasoning game. And now the strange incident I am facing involves Silver Moon, who can modify time, space, and established facts at will.

In the face of such an extraordinary monster, to what extent can human wisdom be used?
We ended the interrogation for the time being. Ma Zao stood behind Dong Che and pulled out her hand. The black rope lock heart ring on the middle finger of her left hand returned to its appearance with burn marks all over it.

Ma Zao was unable to completely repair the Black Rope Lock Heart Ring.

She explained this to me in her spare time. Although she was able to completely repair the fake Moon in the Water, she had a small setback with the Black Rope Locking Heart Ring. I think it might be because my power had not yet truly awakened when I destroyed the fake Moon in the Water, but it was not the case when the Black Rope Locking Heart Ring was destroyed.

Now I have actually taken a half step from the Great Perfection Stage, so Ma Zao, who was at most the Great Perfection Stage in her heyday, cannot completely reverse the fact that "the Black Rope Locking Heart Ring was destroyed by me" with the power of return. Even if it is barely reversed, the Black Rope Locking Heart Ring will return to the burned state after her mana ebbs.

Fortunately, as an "active skill item", the Black Rope Lock Heart Ring can be restored to its original shape when needed, so it is not a big deal. It just looks a little unsightly. Ma Zao seems to attach great importance to this ring and has been wearing it on the middle finger of his left hand and refuses to take it off.

Dong Che touched his heart area and asked me, "Senior Zhuang Cheng... I may be dead, right?
"The reason why you suspect that I am a strange creature may not be because I am not really human, but because I am a walking corpse who doesn't know that I have been dead for a long time... At least, I may not be a 'living person', so you directly judge that I am not a human... Is that right?"

He analyzed his situation as if he were analyzing other people's problems. I was surprised and said, "You are very calm. Aren't you afraid that you are really dead?"

"Similar strange events are not uncommon in Luoshan's archives," he said. "The victims who died in the strange events reappeared by accident and forgot the fact that they were dead. They seemed to be living people communicating with people at the place where the event occurred, but in fact, they unknowingly became the accomplices of the source of the event..."

"Although I don't remember encountering any specific enemies or dangers in the fog, and I don't feel like I've died... but, Senior Zhuang Cheng, I won't underestimate your judgment. Since you insist that I'm not human, there must be a corresponding basis. And the only explanation for the current situation is the speculation that I'm dead."

I felt somewhat flattered that he believed in a layman like me to such an extent.

From his perspective, he was sentenced to death in advance without any psychological preparation - even this description was too lenient. It was like being sentenced to death long ago, and he had no chance of escaping. How unpredictable life and death was.

However, if it is true as he said, such absurd things are not uncommon in the weird world, then perhaps "always being prepared to accept absurdity" is the quality that a qualified demon hunter must possess.

For the first time, I deeply realized that Dong Che was indeed a Luoshan "Impermanence". "If that's the case, what are you going to do in the future?" I was curious.

"Let's take it one step at a time." Dong Che said, "Anyway, at least I can still think now. In other words, whether I live or die, at least my soul still remains on this land.

"Of course, from your perspective, it's possible that even my self-proclaimed thoughts are fake, and that someone behind the scenes is manipulating my mouth to make such conversations... But I hope you can trust me first."

"Okay, I'll trust you first."

I was moved by his indifferent attitude towards life and death, and I was completely impressed by this childish boy.

"Well, let me first answer your question about whether you might be dead," I said. "I can't tell whether you are dead or not. Although I saw your obituary, it disappeared immediately. Maybe you are in an 'undetermined' state.

"At the very least, the impression I get from you is that you are more like a monster like Silver Moon than a 'walking dead'."

I consciously said it in a positive direction. When I talked with him at night at Fufeng Base, I did see a look of death on his face, but that look of death was mitigated by my negative words. If my words really have mysterious power, then maybe if I say something auspicious to him now, things will change for the better again.

"Really... maybe the situation hasn't developed to the worst?" Dong Che also showed some optimism.

"Then, please continue to lead the way for us," I said.

"I understand." He nodded.

We continued to go deeper into the fog. With his guidance and the blessing of Ma Zao's returning power, the white fog around us seemed to become thicker. This might be evidence that we were indeed going deeper into the fog.

After about a quarter of an hour, a shadowy figure appeared in front of us, which looked like a low building.

We got closer to observe. The shadows turned out to be buildings, or more precisely, low houses made of mud bricks, wood, thatch and other materials. Judging from the number of houses in sight and the vague shadows in the distance, there were about dozens or even hundreds of such thatched houses, densely and irregularly built in the open space of the forest.

Could this place be Guyue Village? However, the shopkeeper and regular customers of Yueyin Mountain City mentioned that there should be only a few families in Guyue Village now... But on second thought, it makes sense. Guyue Village became a place with only a few families after the villagers moved away collectively. There should be a large number of houses left in the mountains from a long time ago when there were more villagers.

Turning his head to look at Dong Che, he nodded and said affirmatively: "This is Hujia Village."

As he was speaking, an old woman came out of a thatched hut nearby. She saw us, took another close look at the winter cart, then turned back and shouted at the top of her voice towards the village: "You're back, you're back!"

After the voice rang out, more figures came out from the surrounding thatched houses. There were about ten villagers, all of them were older, and even the youngest villager looked middle-aged. Just when I thought so, another person who was much younger than the middle-aged villager soon appeared.

The man didn't look like a villager, but more like a mountaineer. He looked to be a young man in his twenties, wearing a black and green jacket, and his face looked like he was suffering from anxiety and fear. When he saw the winter car, he immediately shouted excitedly and ran towards us, but then he noticed me and Ma Zao and stopped hesitantly.

Dongche also saw him and tried to approach him. I reflexively stretched out my arm and stopped Dongche first.

My first impression of these villagers, including the young man, was very similar to Dongche.

They are not human at all.

(End of this chapter)