in2ebook Chapter 264: Black Jade, Stop Being a Carpenter, Sauron's Summary Thoughts
Chapter 264: Black Jade, Stop Being a Carpenter, Sauron's Summary Thoughts
The final victim's request was that of a Night Hag.
The Night Hag's methods are somewhat different from those of other Hags.
They were once considered fey like other hags, living in the Feywild.
But their evil deeds led to their exile to Hades, where they fell into depravity and became demons.
Afterwards, the subsidence of the North made it a part of the Nine Hells and the territory of evil demons. From then on, the Night Hag began to reach various planes through such a transit station.
They enjoy corrupting the dreams of good people and extending this corruption beyond the dreams, ultimately causing their victims to commit evil acts.
Then, when the victim dies or falls into an eternal slumber, the night hag can capture his soul and take it to a place without joy, without hope, and without passion: Hades of the Three Depressions.
Some people may say that the probability of the soul ascending to the seven heavens after death is very small, so what's so scary about going to Hades?
You know, unlike the stable material plane, in a plane like Hades that needs to be represented by imaginary numbers, an ordinary soul without extraordinary powers will turn into a Lava worm after experiencing six times of exhaustion.
This is a low-end demon, roughly the same size as a human. It retains the facial features of its previous form, but has a fat worm body.
A fat worm the size of a human with a human face.
Night hags harvest Laava worms to perform their own evil rituals; or other evil spirits in Hades will also use Laava worms as food.
However, unlike the demon hag who uses her claws to attack, the sea hag uses the environment to cause drowning.
If the Night Hag wants to cause harm to her victims, she needs certain tools.
Just like many of the Winter Hag's spells require the use of an extremely rare magic item called the Gray Staff.
A night hag seeks to haunt her victims with nightmares and ultimately reap their souls.
Two things are also needed.
Heart Stone and Soul Bag.
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Carterburg.
Soran played with the "black jade", his eyes flashing with calmness and deep thought.
After Carterburg was blocked, even though he was a hunter, he stopped going out.
People who don’t know him would just think that he is a poor hunter and that not being able to go out doesn’t affect his ability to hunt prey.
But a few people, those who knew that Sauron brought back six pairs of ogre ears, thought differently.
Of course, Sauron didn't care about this.
You choose to hunt difficult monsters, strange beasts, magical beasts, and you don't do it for others.
The reason he pursues power is because he wants to protect himself and the rest of his family, and wants to save himself and the rest of his family from harm from General Paddy and similar situations.
Rather than doing it to make yourself look good.
However, now, whether it is the "evidence" of his investigation into the so-called truth, or the companion named Bai Renchou brought back from outside by Lord Qian Zhongzhan, or the current trouble of insect vomiting in Carter Castle, they all point to Aunt Vanna without exception.
This made Soran give up his plan to go out alone.
It wasn't that he was afraid, but he knew that if he went out alone, he could easily be sacrificed.
Just like the arrangements made by the two brothers who were servants for General Paddy.
Death doesn't matter, death is worthless.
For Soran, that was the wrong kind of death.
For two consecutive days, Lord Qian Zhongzhan had been actively carrying out epidemic prevention and control work, which was something that he, a hunter, could not interfere with.
Therefore, he took the initiative to take on the task of looking after Bai Renchou - although he had no physical injuries, a soldier with amnesia would more or less need some care.
Who says mental damage isn't a form of injury?
And under such an opportunity, there are some things that allow Sauron to see clearly and understand.
He tapped his nails lightly on the black jade, recalling some of the conversations he had had with Bai Renchou over the past few days.
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"Although you have lost your memory, you still have some basis for judgment. Otherwise, how can you judge that you bear the hatred of hundreds of people?"
Bai Renchou was not offended by Soran's question.
"When I opened my eyes, I saw corpses everywhere. If it were someone else, they might have collapsed, but my misfortune saved me..."
Bai Renchou described it slowly.
The fact that he had no memory of the past actually allowed him to observe things objectively.
"My misfortune allowed me to observe everything after my awakening like an outsider."
"I have this weird, leathery, sewn-on pocket over my head."
"After tearing it off, I will crawl out of the pile of dead bodies, find clothes to cover my body, find food and water, and of course, maybe weapons."
"I found the nearest house, saw signs of life inside, and found the two weapons - along with the sword oil for maintenance and the Nightmare Ashes for replenishing the scabbards."
"I found the music box, I found the bacon hanging, I found the broken coal piled in the corner, and the desk and the letters."
"Through the few words above, we were able to determine the relationship between the room owner and some villagers."
“It was only at this time that I began to get scared and began to realize something—maybe I am the owner of this house, and I am the [white-haired, wolf-eyed uncle] who should receive the music box.”
"Of course, I still don't know my name."
"And those friendly neighbors who should have had social interactions with me were obviously... those corpses."
"The hatred begins here, the memory begins here, so I am called the Hundred People of Hatred."
Afterwards, it took Bai Renchou several days to bury all the dead bodies that had covered him at the beginning.
"The speed at which blood and flesh decay... is far beyond people's imagination." Recalling the past, Bai Renchou didn't know whether he was talking to himself or to Soran.
First, the originally bright red flesh will gradually darken, and above the paleness after the blood has receded, some purple, blue, and gray feelings will emerge.
Later on, the summer temperature and humidity will fully accelerate the decay.
The body begins to become soft because the fat layer and muscles begin to decompose, and some tissue fluid and cell fluid seep out of the body surface, forming a layer of greasy liquid that emits a disgusting stench.
The air was filled with an unbearable smell of corruption.
As the microorganisms continued to decompose, gas began to be produced inside the corpse, causing it to swell, and bubbles appeared on the surface of the skin, as if it might burst at any time.
"What's wrong?" Soran's voice suddenly sounded.
Bai Renchou couldn't help but shudder and quickly pulled himself away from these disgusting memories.
It’s better not to tell others about these scenes.
"Nothing. Anyway, I continued. At that time, I was standing in a desolate land, surrounded by newly dug graves, and the air was filled with the smell of dirt and corruption."
"I'm not some tireless puppet. Just digging the soil took a lot of my time. Well, it was probably the second most difficult thing during that time."
“The first hardest thing was making two wooden shovels.”
It turned out that except for Bai Renchou's room which was still relatively intact, all other residences in the village had been completely destroyed.
Some houses still had signs of burns.
In this situation, he couldn't even find a shovel.
Although the two weapons in his hands were sharp and hard, it was obvious that they were not suitable tools for digging.
"At first, I just had a wild idea, thinking about finding iron ore and smelting it to make a shovel head, but I soon found that this was totally beyond my ability."
"Later, I changed my goal to a wooden shovel - because at that time I had already made up my mind to leave instead of continuing to live here, so I only needed a wooden shovel to dig the grave, without having to worry about whether it was durable or how long it could be used."
"A group of trees with hard texture and moderate diameter became my target. However, although my two weapons were sharp, they were not axes after all. Every time I chopped them, it was awkward. It took a lot of my energy to make the wood into a triangular head."
Bai Renchou made some gestures, and the picture made people feel that he wanted to use a long sword to cut the charcoal pencil.
"However, the first wooden shovel I made was not in the right shape at all. It was very difficult and inconvenient to use, so I made a second one later."
"I put a lot of thought into the second one, such as polishing the shovel handle to make it smooth and easy to hold. I also chose a wider wooden board and shaved it into a flat shape. I carefully shaved out an arc so that it can dig the soil better."
"Combining the two is also a challenge. The grooves and tenons match well and are hammered hard to make them fit tightly together. To increase the firmness, I also wrap rattan tightly around the outside... Sorry, am I getting a little off topic?"
Seeing Sauron giving him a strange expression, Bai Renchou immediately stopped describing the woodworking process in detail.
"It was a really strange feeling. I almost got obsessed with these things for a long time. If I hadn't been so skilled in wielding two weapons, I would have thought I was a carpenter."
"But obviously, I'm not. If I were a carpenter, then my room wouldn't have a desk, but a carpentry table, and there would be all kinds of tools and wooden furniture, home furnishings and gadgets in the room."
He paused and continued describing, and Bai Renchou quickly jumped to the key point.
"I didn't bring anything more than two swords and the tools to maintain the swords. I picked up some bacon and set off. Of course, I also carried with me the letters and notes that proved my little social connections." Bai Renchou pointed to his waist, where there was a leather pocket made of some unknown leather.
"After embarking on the road of revenge, I was lucky enough to find some people before the bag of bacon was finished, and I earned money by doing some things that required the use of a sword."
"Further back, I passed through several villages and towns. When I was near here, I heard that there was a female sage in the Baijing Tea House on the road to Carterburg who helped solve the troubles of the [Brulan Family], so I came here."
"Later, I think you all know that Aunt Vanna said some words... words that prove that she knows my past experiences and the hatred of those hundreds of people. So I think she is a true prophet."
"And she told me that if I wanted to know the truth, I had to help her fight off the bullies who were harassing her."
"She said that after that, she would need to use my letters and notes that proved my interpersonal connection to perform a ritual to help me recover my past memories... I was tempted by this reward, so I gave up thinking and started fighting with Qian Zhong Zhan."
After a pause, the white-haired man who had finished explaining everything rolled his eyes again, and after making sure that there were no omissions, he nodded heavily.
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After recalling the details of the entire conversation, Soran summarized some information.
First of all, although now, whether it is the trouble of the insect-vomiting plague or the disappearance of Carterburg, Aunt Vanna is blocking the inferred path and we cannot move forward any further.
As for the missing persons, he was at a loss and didn't know how to proceed. It was because the cheap healing potion was actually the source of the worm-vomiting plague. As a result, the contents of the diary and parchment in his hand, which were also purchased from Aunt Vanna and corresponded to the missing persons, became less credible.
But you have to know that before purchasing this "secret book", Soran himself had already found some evidence, some of which existed before Aunt Vanna appeared in Carterburg.
"That's the hair, teeth, and [black jade] I found."
Since the authenticity of the diary and the "secret book" on the parchment is questionable, it is possible that it is a trap. Then it should be okay to study the hand hair, teeth and black jade that I found.
Secondly, in the morning, Lord Qian Zhongzhan came to find me and told me some new information.
"I never thought there would be such a tricky ability."
Is it possible that if you directly look for its information or its true self, you will not get the answer due to various interferences?
"But fortunately, if it's an indirect approach, there's no problem."
"Perhaps taking a longer route is the right way."
And finally, this is the information that can be provided in Bai Renchou’s words.
There are many loopholes in his words. It’s not that he is hiding something, but there are enough things wrong with his own experience.
Under normal circumstances, Sauron would not even consider these loopholes.
After all, he was just an Avenger who came from afar. The only contact and communication with Aunt Wanna was when he came to ask for information, and he only told her this matter when she asked him to get rid of Qian Zhongzhan.
Why should we study things that have nothing to do with Aunt Wanna so carefully? Aren't they just some loopholes in the words? Who doesn't have secrets to hide?
But now, the situation is different.
"Master Qian Zhongzhan is right. The right way is to take a long detour..."
If taking a detour is the right way, then the grudge of a hundred people, who seems to have the least connection, is their breakthrough point.
Think...think...think about all those loopholes.
Why was Bai Renchou the only one alive among the dead bodies, with his head covered by a bag of flesh?
Why was Bai Renqiu so interested in carpentry work that it even outweighed his fear of death and the dangers around him?
Why, according to Bai Renchou's description, in the entire village only the room closest to "his" room was still intact, while the rest had been destroyed or burned?
And why would Aunt Wanna say something that Bai Renchou could believe?
Yes, that’s right, focus on these topics.
Don't think about Aunt Vanna's true identity, just think about what happened to Bai Renchou.
Maybe in this way, Soran can find the answer to everything.