Perhaps in the field of magic, Pierre was just an ordinary human who knew a little, and even the weakest vampire would not take him seriously. But in the investigation of intelligence and historical secrets, Pierre was an absolute expert, perhaps even better than Nangong Sanba. Humans were a curious race, and their weakness would prompt the spirit detectives to pay special attention to the collection of intelligence. Pierre had investigated a lot of things before he came to the village, and during the two months he was trapped, he had been constantly studying the broken ancient books he had brought with him. During this period, he had found out much more than Hao Ren had imagined.
The noise in the village square was still going on. No one knew when this long celebration would end. The strange villagers did not seem to worry that someone would escape from this place, or they had other ways to monitor the village boundary. Until now, no one had come to the longhouse to check on the situation. Hao Ren was a little surprised. "I thought they would be watching very closely."
"Watching who? You? Or me? " Pierre shook his head. "There is a pattern to their actions. Although there are no loopholes that can help us escape, we can find some loopholes by following the pattern. They are relatively lenient to newcomers, which is probably to avoid arousing suspicion. After all, newcomers still retain a considerable degree of self-consciousness. If the villagers behave too strangely, it will cause a series of problems. As you stay in this village longer and longer, you will subtly accept and identify with this place, and become reluctant to leave. You will even forget where you are and where you came from. At that time, the villagers will use the village rules to restrain you, and you will gladly accept it. In the end, you will become a complete zombie. In the end, you will become a walking corpse. You will think that you belong here, or even that you were born here. You will have a false memory. The content of this memory is that you were born and raised in this village, and you are destined to live the rest of your life. At that time, all external traces on your body will be corroded away. You will wear their clothes and stand in their ranks. Yes, you will also become a 'villager', just like what you saw during the day. "
Vivian was shocked. "Are you saying that the villagers are also people who were trapped here?!"
"If my investigation and speculation are correct, that should be the case." Pierre nodded gently. "When I first came here, I found traces of transformation on several villagers. They had Elvis Presley tattoos on their bodies, but after a month, these traces completely disappeared, and they became completely 'villagers.' I'm afraid that's how Mayor Winston came to be. "
Vivian rubbed her chin. "It reminds me of the story of helping a villain."
"There's only a fence outside the village." Hao Ren looked out the window. Due to the angle, he could see the village's border from here. The low, broken fence was clearly visible from here. "You've never tried to walk out of it? In theory, the villagers trapped here have no way to leave this land. The chances of you breaking out by force should be quite high. "
Pierre knew that Hao Ren would mention this. He smiled bitterly and shook his head. "It's impossible. No one can cross that fence. The village is still on the other side of the fence. I have tried many times. There is magic working here. Of course, you may be able to give it a try. "
Hesperides frowned. "When I came here three hundred years ago, everything was normal. What happened here?"
Pierre immediately looked around cautiously, as if what he was about to say would attract some evil spirits in the night. He lowered his voice and said in a mysterious tone, "According to my investigation, I'm afraid it has something to do with the evil witchcraft ritual of an ancient family."
"Family? Witchcraft ritual? " Hesperides was stunned. She thought that what happened here should be caused by Hercules and the ancient artifact, but she did not expect it to involve other aspects. "What have you found?"
"The earliest records are of more than two hundred years ago," said Pierre, putting down the shutters of the window, and lighting another oil lamp in the room, as if to dispel the gloom around them. "At that time it was only a small, poor, and ordinary village, hidden in the depths of the forest, but there were no bad rumours about it, and the towns outside the forest occasionally interacted with it. Later, a declining aristocratic family moved here. They were exiles from the French Revolution. After losing their power and status, all they had left was their wealth. They settled in a small town outside the forest, but the family was soon ostracized and viewed with hostility by the townspeople. The situation was so serious that the lives of the family members began to be threatened … "
"Why?" Vivian interrupted.
"Because of the study of witchcraft, even people who returned from other places brought the bad reputation of the family. At that time, there were many aristocrats like this. Because of the violent social upheaval and precarious life, they began to seek some spiritual sustenance and power that were not so legitimate. There are no records of this in the official history, but I found evidence from many secret documents. The nobleman who had migrated here was one of those who was obsessed with witchcraft, and his family was even more obsessed than the others. They had been obsessed with witchcraft for generations, and unlike those who could only hold fake magic books and shout around the bonfire, they had some real knowledge of magic.
"Because of this, the aristocratic family that had lost their power and status were ostracized by the townspeople, and they were even in danger of being sent to the guillotine. So they had to move away from the town and later built a house somewhere between the town and the small village in the forest."
"In the forest? How open-minded … "Vivian raised an eyebrow." What happened after that? "
"There are many versions of what happened after that. Some said that the family summoned a demon from another world in their basement, and the demon destroyed the town outside the forest and cursed the village in the forest. Some said that the patriarch of the family went crazy from the study of witchcraft and became a demon himself. However, my investigation is more inclined to the third version: the small village in the forest was originally hiding a powerful magical item, and the aristocrat who moved here came for this magical item. He and his family deceived a hermit in the village, stole the artifact from the hermit, and tried to obtain the magical power of the artifact. When the hermit realized that he had been deceived, he came alone to demand an explanation. However, the aristocrat lied to him again. He pretended to return the artifact, but poisoned the wine. In the end, the hermit and the aristocrat fought a war of witchcraft. The aristocrat was defeated, and when he was dying, he lit a fire, burning his house and all his family members, wanting to die with the hermit. However, the hermit escaped with the power of the artifact … "
Pierre paused for a moment, and then he got to the point. "The hermit who escaped from the fire returned to the village with the magic artifact, but he died of poison at the entrance of the village. Before he died, his anger contaminated the magic artifact, so the magic power of the ancient times immediately spread out and cursed the whole village. I guess the hermit's obsession was' no one can take anything away from this land ', so this obsession was twisted by the curse and became' no one can leave this land '. This is my investigation and speculation. "
After Pierre finished, Hesperides nodded with her arms crossed. "I'm afraid your guess is indeed the closest one to the truth, but there's one thing that's unlikely — that 'hermit' is not someone ordinary humans can deal with."
Pierre suddenly realized that these people in front of him might also know part of the truth. His eyes widened. "Do you know who the 'hermit' in the story is?"
"We are here to find him," Hao Ren said. "His name was Hercules."
Pierre thought for a few seconds, and then he let out a strange cry. "The Hercules of the Twelve Trials in ancient Greek mythology?!"
Hesperides muttered, "To be honest, I feel that the 12 trials were not very good. It was too f * cking torturous. Unfortunately, Hera was behind it. I went to Zeus to complain a few times, but it was useless …"
Pierre had a strange look on his face. It seemed that it was the first time he heard someone talking about ancient myths in the first person, and he was not used to it. Although Hesperides was not exaggerating.
"Anyway, Hercules' whereabouts are unknown now," Vivian said, scratching her chin. "It seems that the key to the problem is related to that family. I am afraid they have touched something that they should not have touched, causing the power of the artifact to go out of control. Pierre, do you know where the family's former residence is? "
"Outside the village," Pierre said, pointing in a certain direction. "In fact, it is not far from here. The ruins of the old house have been swallowed up by the forest, but I guess the main body of the house should still be there. After all, it was built by the nobles. According to the records, it was built with a lot of stone and ancient concrete. I know the key to lifting the curse should be there, but unfortunately, I can't get out. "
"Let's go," Hao Ren said, getting to his feet. "The distortion of space and time here should not be able to stop us."
"You'd better wait until dawn," Pierre said. "By then, there will be some changes in the village."
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