Upon entering the room, the imagined scenarios of a "sudden door closure" and "monster appearance" that Yun You envisioned did not happen.

Everything was just so normal.

No traps, no monsters, no scares.

There was only the sound of three people's breathing, and the cold gaze of the surrounding people.

The floor of the storeroom was covered with hay, with several large wooden boxes buried in some piles of straw, unlocked, but the items stored inside were not of any value; most were miner gear, like pickaxes and helmets, and a few were water and dried food, but they were moldy, seemingly not replaced for a long time.

"Perhaps this is their dwelling place."

Yun You watched a burly townsman, while the latter also tilted his head, returning a stiff gaze.

"But why have they become like this? Why do they not live with the ordinary townspeople?"

Yun You silently pondered.

Just now, as she passed by other wooden houses, she deliberately took a look inside.

The ordinary townspeople indeed lived in regular houses and had long gone to bed, just like normal people.

But the townspeople here were entirely different, not only living poorly, eating poorly, but also unable to express any emotions, apart from fake smiles, there was nothing.

"They are all townspeople, with full rights as explained by Mayor Kong, yet they ended up like this."

"There must be differences among them."

Yun You felt that the focus of the investigation might still need to be on the "people" themselves.

Therefore, she activated the Information Reconnaissance Chip and sent a reconnaissance command to the townspeople in front of her.

However... the chip responded with a series of somewhat repetitive information.

[Intelligence Analysis Complete]

[Target Type 1: Human]

[Target Age: Around 40-45 years]

[Target Identity: Based on body behavior analysis, both the finger pads and palms of this individual have extremely thick calluses, the wrist bones are slightly deformed, the forearm muscles are developed, inferred to often engage in "digging" and "chiseling" actions]

[Financial Inference, this person's identity is most likely a "miner"]

[...]

[Target Type 2: Human]

[Target Age: 55 years]

[Target Identity Inference: Miner]

[...]

[Target Type 3: Human]

[Age: Around 63 years]

[Target Identity: Miner]

...

Everyone present, without exception, was a miner, and they were veteran workers who had been working underground for at least 20 years.

They had no issues, nor were they monsters.

At least not as far as the chip could see.

"That's strange..."

Yun You frowned slightly.

If these people were not considered monsters, then why was their current behavior so bizarre?

"Could it also be influenced by 'it'?"

Yun You lowered her head and sat in silent contemplation.

"Hey! Chica!"

Suddenly, Jack's voice appeared from the corner, interrupting the little girl's thoughts.

Yun You turned around to see that the mercenary and the hacker were chasing and blocking a tall miner.

This miner was a muscular woman, nearly two meters tall, with shoulders as wide as a double-door refrigerator, capable of picking up a basketball with one hand, looking extremely intimidating.

But at this moment, in the face of Jack and Frost Moon, who were much shorter than her, the female miner kept retreating, dodging agilely.

Even with a giant-like physique, her agility was frightening, sometimes jumping against the wall, sometimes stepping back, like street dancing, always staying over 5 meters away from the two of them.

This left Yun You a little stunned.

"Such... Such nimble movements!"

She couldn't help but widen her eyes, marveling in her heart.

Just a minute ago, she was complaining about these people's stiff behavior, like unwaxed wooden toys.

But now, the miner showed agility far superior to the average person, which was truly astonishing.

"Chica, look at what's behind her!"

Jack's words pulled Yun You back to reality again.

Following the mercenary's voice, the little girl looked at the female miner, but the latter reacted and directly turned her body to shield Yun You's vision with her chest.

She obviously did not want anyone to see her back.

But this did not hinder Yun You.

The girl grew impatient to circle around her, so she stomped the ground and jumped high, seeing clearly what Jack had mentioned.

It was a brown ceramic pot, round mouth with a square base, with a curved cylindrical middle, looking somewhat like the "wine jars" in old films.

The top of the jar was firmly sealed with yellow rice paper, filled with the same [Pardon Order] as the "Protective Stone".

Of course, besides these two words, the grain-scented paper had some very scribbled writings, though unrecognizable, they seemed quite dignified, possibly blessings or formal language.

"This is...!"

Yun You immediately recognized the nature of the jar.

This thing was precisely one of those described in Aurora's intelligence... the "Curse Pottery Jar" containing a young king's innards, wasn't it?

Although the little girl had never seen a jar in person, from its shape, it was undoubtedly a curse pottery jar!

"Yangshan Town likes to use wooden boxes and wooden jars to store things, not ceramic jars."

"This means that in the entire village, besides the curse pottery jars containing viscera, there wouldn't be a second type of jar!"

Thinking of this, the little girl didn't hesitate for a moment and joined the scramble for the witchcraft jar.

In an instant, Yun You and the others stood at different positions, planning to cut off the female miner's escape.

Yet, after a few quick steps, she climbed up the wall of the room onto the roof, holding the large beam, looking down at the three from above.

Her mobility once again exceeded Yun You's expectations.

Though her speed might not match the Apprentice Death God, with almost perfect maneuverability, she could definitely continue to maneuver in the storeroom against the three of them.

Even if Yun You caught up, she could still keep on fleeing.

"This can't go on."

The little girl frowned tightly, whispering: "If we let her run off into the town, it would be very hard to track her down."

"Hmm... there's only one way."

Jack nodded, casually responding.

He was referring to taking action directly.

The female miner was fast, but definitely not faster than a bullet, nor Yun You's blade.

Killing her would naturally put the jar in the hands of the three of them.

The reason for not killing her earlier was due to concerns about possible complications from rashly killing someone, as well as the fact that neither Yun You, Jack, nor Frost Moon had the habit of killing casually.

The townspeople were odd, but ultimately human lives, killing them so casually wasn't really good.

But now, at such a critical moment, Jack naturally couldn't care about things like life and death.

Killing directly was the simplest and most straightforward approach.

Thus, Yun You extended her right hand, intending to use Red Scale's sharp blade to end the miner woman's life.

But Jack pressed down her arm, shaking his head.

"Let me do it."

Saying so, he quickly pulled out his gun, took a deep breath, and fired at the ceiling.

BANG—!

The bullet precisely hit the miner woman's heart.

"..."

"Ugh..."

She lightly fell, blood slowly oozing from her mouth and nose, a sight too tragic to behold directly.

But in that moment before dying...

Her gaze suddenly broke free from its chill, slowly gaining a trace of expression.

"I..."

The miner woman struggled to lift her head, slowly speaking to Jack...

"Tha...nk... you..."

With these words, her life came to an end.

But before death, she revealed a smile once again.

However, this time, her smile was no longer an icy, stereotyped expression, but one of warmth... and heartfelt gratitude.

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