Chapter 1262: Chapter 1262

1262: Chapter 1248: The Gradually Revealed Truth 1262: Chapter 1248: The Gradually Revealed Truth “…If you can’t understand a demon, don’t try to fight it.”

Ample experience had led her to make the most appropriate choice.

If it were a creature with obvious intelligence, she might have tried to negotiate or communicate, but this visibly aberrant scene made her choose to remain invisible.

Even having lost her sense of direction, she still silently pushed forward.

With her abilities and the supplies she carried, even spending several days here would pose no problem.

“…There’s something wrong with the fog.”

Given her pace, even without running at full speed, after moving rapidly (invisible) for several hours, she should have reached the boundary of the city.

Thus, it was mostly the “fog” that not only interfered with her perception and sense of direction but also likely used illusions to disrupt her vision.

“As I thought, I’ve been here before…”

Seeing the same scenery she had cautiously recorded reappear, Hua Xueyi confirmed she probably had been tricked.

So, she used the “Pathfinding Stick (throw a stick and see the direction it falls),” leaving the direction to chance…

Her vision might deceive her, but the consistently pointing “direction indicator” would eventually find a way out.

This time, it vaguely seemed effective, as at least the scenery did not repeat anymore.

Finally, amidst the fog, she noticed some distinctly odd places.

“Cooking smoke and lights, are there actually people still alive here?”

She hesitated for a moment, reflecting on past experiences, “normal people” in a very abnormal place were the most dangerous…

but it seemed there was nowhere else to go.

She further lowered her presence and slowly approached her target.

Climbing the outer wall up to the rooftop, she carefully hung upside down, observing the life forms inside.

However, she quickly realized her caution might have been excessive, as the few people inside didn’t seem like the masterminds at all.

Three numb ordinary people sat around a bonfire cooking dry food.

Two members of the Long Hand Clan and one Fishman, apparently all local residents.

They seemed well in terms of necessities, though each had a very unpleasant expression, their faces numb and despairing, as if they were waiting for death.

Knowing time waited for no one, Hua Xueyi immediately sprang into action.

The sudden gust that blew open the window, the rock that knocked over the water glass on the table—when everyone’s attention was drawn, the inverted mercenary entered and dragged away the youngest of the Long Hand Clan.

The deliberately hoarse voice still ringing in his ears, the knife edge that drew blood from his neck was the best “tool for conversation.”

And this ordinary man, terrified yet subsequently showing a hint of joy.

Perhaps, he had been waiting for this moment for a long time…

“You, you are from outside, we have been waiting a long time…”

The other party told everything they knew, surprising even Hua Xueyi, it seemed the man really wasn’t the mastermind but a misfortunate yet lucky survivor.

“…Journal, I have a journal here, I thought I would die before anyone else came in, it’s all written in here, we are all victims…”

Hua Xueyi took the notebook, gave him a wary look, and then vanished into the shadows once again.

But in reality, she was observing the three survivors…

Watching them hug each other with joy on their faces after hearing the news, they seemed to be just victims, and then she slowly opened her notebook.

After a quick glance, she frowned.

Apparently, the person who wrote this wasn’t highly educated, using simple common characters mixed with Pinyin, and a bunch of descriptors that were hard to understand.

But he had indeed recorded the important matters clearly.

“…Another murder case occurred, and the townspeople were terrified.

The victim turned into a mummy, drained of blood, as if they had been dead for a long time…”

“The Guard Knights said it might be the Cultists, said they would check each household.

Oh, I hope they succeed…”

The first half of the diary was quite normal, basically what Hua Xueyi had heard, and the most common troubles of recent times.

A killer appeared in the city, suspected to be an Evil God believer, and the entire city began searching.

The usual progression in a detective fantasy novel would be that the guy is incredibly cunning, killing wildly, almost godlike, and in the end, he is easily defeated by the protagonist who just happens to pass by…

“…The whole city was repeatedly checked, following the Anti-Cult Manual, focusing on those whose circumstances were off, such as suddenly becoming younger, stronger, those who disappeared suddenly, those without jobs but with lots of money, those who suddenly made large purchases…”

The “police” in reality are often much more professional than the officials who clean up the mess in detective novels, a combination of actions yielded some results, but this time it was outrageous…

“We found him, we found him, he called himself ‘Immortal,’ but he was just a cobbler, the old Fish Head on Sixty-Two Street…”

This development left Hua Xueyi unsure how to comment.

But if there really were any Cultists committing crimes and if they were promptly searched, even those who were not professional could indeed be caught…

Next, did that guy escape?

“…The Immortal is dead, he was hanged at the city gate…”

Alright, it all went too smoothly, completely logical; since they found someone who threatened everyone, of course, they had to execute him immediately.

“…But, this was just the beginning of the nightmare.

Before this, he was just an ordinary cobbler, seriously ill, and during the interrogation, he said he had encountered…”

The more she read, the more chills ran down Hua Xueyi’s spine, unable to bear it anymore.

“You, is all of this real?

Is there really a ‘wish’ artifact?

Were you really foolish enough to make a wish?”

At this moment, watching the three people in front of her nodding hastily, Hua Xueyi rubbed her temples.

Now, there really was a huge mess.

“…The cobbler died, but the ‘treasure’ he confessed about became a topic of interest.

The newspapers reported it, saying it was a mutation of ‘Self Cognition,’ attributed to some strange artifact, a typical superstition…”

It was said to be a three-fingered Fishman’s Broken Hand; once touched, one would keep hearing a voice asking, “What do you want?”

That old cobbler, close to death, made a wish saying, “I want to live forever, to live healthily.”

Thus, his wish was granted; he obtained the power to kill others and take their “Life” force, leading to a series of bloody murders.

He was captured because of his obviously younger appearance…

but in fact, he was still just an ordinary person, just a bit stronger than before.

Many people’s guesses might be wrong; if that fragment truly existed, perhaps it wasn’t about “Life/Death” but something even more incomprehensible.

The diary ended here, only mentioning that the Broken Hand was taken as evidence, and a bunch of idlers made another wish.

Which of you did something?

What did you wish for?” Hua Xueyi squeezed out a smile to soothe their nerves, but was fully on guard.

“At that time, the atmosphere in the city was bad, many people were blaming each other, and some demanded the government compensate the victims.

There was constant arguing every day…

Someone, one of us wished…”

This is the place where the wish was made at the time, and also the reason the survivors were able to survive.

“…I hope, I hope everyone stops arguing, I hope everyone can understand each other, and can live together in peace forever…then, then it exploded!

Everyone exploded into a white mist…”