I Will Teach You How to Hunt Gods

The essence of a biological individual is memory. If there is a significant distortion in memory, and it is irreversible, then this person is essentially no longer who they used to be.

Yun You speculated that Mayor Kong might not be lying, but his memory might have been altered by some unknown force.

This would also explain why he frequently appeared to be in a daze, because it wasn't dementia; he simply didn't have memories of those matters.

"It seems that trying to gather information from the villagers is somewhat unrealistic."

Yun You shook his head.

However, when Mayor Kong mentioned the forest earlier, he once again brought up that word—'It.'

This name was identical to the 'It' that parasitizes the pink mist in the tunnel, and it was similarly described as a "twisted evil" enemy that terrified the mayor.

Could it be that these two 'It' are the same thing?

Yun You felt that he couldn't jump to conclusions yet and needed to ponder further.

"In that case, let me ask one last question."

After a brief thought, the young girl spoke again, using a nonchalant tone, she asked...

"Before we came here, we had received information about a girl named Aurora Miles, who arrived here ten days ago. If I'm not mistaken, she should have been the only outsider to reach Yangshan Town in the first half of the month."

"I'd like to know where Miss Aurora is now. Mayor, you should know that, shouldn't you?"

"Is she still in Yangshan Town? If she is, could you kindly have someone bring her over? I'd like to meet her..."

Strictly speaking, this wasn't a question but a request.

Yun You indeed wanted to meet Aurora to see how this extremely intelligent girl was doing.

The residents of Yangshan Town seemed very hospitable, especially Mayor Kong Xian, who was centered around hospitality.

Such a small request should theoretically not be refused... right?

However, the reality was completely contrary to Yun You's imagination.

Upon hearing the name "Aurora," Mayor Kong's expression changed instantly, as if faced with a formidable enemy, he instinctively took two steps back.

He scrutinized Yun You and the other two with a frightened gaze, as if assessing three monsters...

After a long while, he trembled and spoke, "You... you all..."

"What exactly is your relationship with the girl named Aurora?"

Upon hearing this, Yun You immediately frowned.

Judging by the mayor's tone, Aurora might have caused some trouble, perhaps even violating some taboo.

To prevent the mayor and villagers from suspecting them, Yun You remained silent for a while, then adopted an honest attitude and responded, "We're just strangers, please don't be nervous, Mayor."

"We're not relatives, nor can we be considered... friends. We're merely curious about what she left behind, curious about this person who arrived at the town before us."

This was quite a candid statement since Yun You and the others indeed had never seen Aurora or even spoken to her; all they knew was from the note she left two weeks ago.

To call them friends might be a long stretch, let alone "allies."

"Phew..."

Listening to Yun You's honest answer, the mayor let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good... that's good..."

"As long as you're not accomplices."

Mayor Kong waved his hand and explained, "That girl, Aurora Miles, did indeed arrive here ten days ago and settled in smoothly, becoming one of us."

"You probably don't know this, but though she appeared fair and neat, quite docile and pretty on the surface, she seemed like a quiet girl..."

"But in reality, she was an out-and-out troublemaker, causing chaos behind the scenes!"

"Didn't I just tell you about the 'food, accommodation, and transportation' rules? In just a few days, that girl violated them all!"

"Good heavens..."

The elder sighed heavily, filled with helplessness.

"You have to know that these three rules, the town's most important three laws, were ancestral teachings repeatedly emphasized! Usually, we townsfolk wouldn't violate a single one for over ten years, yet she breached all three at once, and purposefully so!"

"She first went to the ancestral hall, where Mrs. Dong was distributing meals and begged her to add a big bowl of rice, acting coquettishly until the old lady put a little of each dish for her, claiming she hadn't had a decent meal in ten days or half a month and just wanted to feast..."

"Yet the first time I checked, she had disappeared, and later on, when we looked for her, we discovered that the girl hadn't eaten a bite. She was just tinkering with the food using some glass jar and mirror, talking about 'research' or something..."

"I really wonder, what can be researched from that stuff?"

"We didn't punish her then, just warned her once... But instead of listening, she started tearing up the floor inside the house, biting into vases and cups, even the lock!"

"Look at what she's done... Not even a dog can wreck a house like this!"

At this point, Mayor Kong was almost gritting his teeth.

And the trio of Yun You was also exchanging awkward glances, momentarily at a loss for words.

This was indeed quite outrageous... Utterly reckless...

Though Yun You believed Aurora had reasons for her actions, she was certainly investigating something...

But to continuously break the rules in front of the townspeople was akin to dancing on a minefield, testing their limits...

However, it was clear that this wasn't the end, as Mayor Kong continued to list the girl's "offenses."

"Three days, just three days! The room where she stayed was almost completely torn apart; inside, not a single item was intact..."

"We really couldn't tolerate it anymore, so we held a trial meeting in the square, listing one by one the girl's mistakes."

"In fact, we didn't intend to harm her, just wanted to give her a small lesson. After all, she had just arrived here, and making mistakes was inevitable, so my ultimate intention was merely to educate and criticize."

"But that girl thought we were going to execute her using that... equipment you three referred to as the 'Guillotine,' and ended up slipping away immediately."

Mayor Kong shook his head helplessly again, a flicker of fatigue and powerlessness passing through his eyes, clearly quite dissatisfied with the outcome but having no remedy.

"We were also afraid that she'd run far, especially since enemies might appear outside the town at night, which would be disastrous if she got hurt. So we searched everywhere, hoping to find her quickly."

"Yet that girl, who knows what she was thinking, seeing us chasing her, she bolted into the forest without looking back, and... has not appeared since. To this day, she hasn't shown up..."

"But I advise you not to hold too much hope."

The old man lowered his tone and said solemnly, "Because the ancestral teachings say that anyone who enters the forest is no longer their former self."

"That girl will be our enemy, and you... if you are her companions, will also become enemies of us all."