Any accomplished martial artist knows all the sensitive points of the human body and knows how to inflict maximum pain. And Fa Xiao is not an iron-willed character like the Ant Lord's cronies, and after I have caused him enough pain and made him understand that I could really kill, he shook everything out.

From his statement, we can see that he was not brainwashed, or, to be exact: he was brainwashed at first, but a month ago, his brainwashing was unraveled.

And it was none other than Ceres' intention to unravel his brainwashing.

As for why Ceres' brainwashing is unraveling, this question will be put aside for the time being, and we will talk about it later. Here, let's first talk about what Fa Xiao knows, about the ins and outs of "how the village became what it is now". I have to say that I and Plaid Shirt have found the right person, and the information excavated from Fa Xiaokou actually helped us solve more than ninety percent of the puzzles.

*

Let's start with four years ago, the year of the death of Plaid Shirt's parents. Although Fa Xiao's memory of this period is deeply impressed, it was four years ago after all, and it is inevitable that there will be unreliable places. Therefore, some details are his own speculation, as well as the polish of my own reasoning and imagination.

One day that year, two uninvited guests came to Harvest Village. One of them was the old man, who is now the god of ceres; The other was not a swordsman, but a black-haired boy wearing a cross crystal earring.

Fa Xiao saw these two people at the entrance of the village at that time, so he immediately went up to interrogate. Unexpectedly, the black-haired boy just glanced at him, and the hair-haired man turned into a puppet who couldn't think, only standing in place stupidly. It wasn't just him, there seemed to be an invisible mental fluctuation that directly covered the entire village, and the entire village suddenly became quiet, as if all the villagers had turned into frozen puppets. After that, Fa Xiao originally had no memory, but now that the brainwashing has been unraveled, the memories of the time when he turned into a puppet can also be recalled.

The person who spoke first was a black-haired young man, and he said to the old man, "In order to get rid of the pursuers, not only your face, but also your body have changed like this. But when it comes to this, the Demon Suppression Bureau will definitely not be found. ”

The old man nodded, and then said, "It was really nine deaths before. But here, too, I can continue my own experiments. ”

The boy was curious, "I actually can't understand what is the connection between your transformation of the pig's body into a human body and your study of the secrets of the prophet?" ”

Hearing this, the old man did not mind saying his opinion, "The reason why prophets are prophets is because their thinking is very different from normal people. With their very different minds, they have gained higher consciousness in order to get a glimpse into the deeper universe. But, have you ever thought about it? He continued, "Is the perception of a prophet really a higher consciousness?" Is the universe that the prophets have spied on really a deeper universe? Could it be that it is just a 'difference', the so-called high and low, deep and shallow, just our own human opinion? If I were to transfer animal souls, which are very different from human beings in terms of thinking and perception, to the human brain, wouldn't it be possible to give birth to prophets? ”

The boy continued: "However, the soul of an animal is incompatible with the human body, let alone the human brain. ”

"That's why I'm going to transform the animal's body into a human body, and see if I can make a prophet just like that." The old man said, "But it still didn't go well." The human brain is too complex, although I have the psionic ability of biological modification and related technology, and the one created is a human no matter how you look at it, and I also have the complete perceptual ability of a human being, and my mind is out of the realm of a pig...... However, there are many shortcomings. ”

"It's no surprise that those people can't tolerate you."

The old man was displeased, "That's just because I failed." If I succeed, they will immediately treat me as a guest. Aren't you withered believers accepting me and making me one of them because you believe that my experiments have a chance of success? ”

The young man changed his words, "Are you going to do the same experiment here?" ”

"No, I'm going to think differently this time. It just so happens that the villagers here are very suitable to be my new experimental materials. They're stupid enough, and with you, they can get even more stupid. As the saying goes, 'only the wise and the foolish do not move,' and such a soul is more likely to give birth to a prophet. While it is difficult to make a wise man, it is much easier to make a fool. The old man replied, "You can help me fulfill the 'request' I made to you before." ”

The boy smiled: "During the time you talked to me, my brainwashing work was over. ”

"So fast?" The old man said unexpectedly.

"Because it just modifies their memories of the dead. Specifically, I made them think that all the deceased in the past were sacrificed to the 'god of grains' - that is, you. Everything else is left untouched. The boy said, "The memory of the deceased is the most convenient to modify, because the deceased does not run out on his own and question the memory that has been modified." Then you just need to destroy the crops with your psionic energy from time to time in the shadows and force them to sacrifice the living to you. The first few living sacrifices should be the least popular people in the village. ”

"Is it really that simple?" The old man questioned.

"You'll see the results." It's always been like this, it's a very huge, but transparent force. In fact, not only these villagers, but even you and me, who are staying out of the matter and judging them at the moment, are bound by all kinds of chains of 'never been like this' unconsciously. The young man said, "Although you are already a super-level psionic, if you can't understand your own mind and realize that there are no chains at all, then you are just a mortal who manipulates psionic energy, and you are not worthy of claiming to be psionic, and you will never be able to go further and liberate 'true psionic energy'." ”

The old man frowned at first, and then said, "This level of control cannot last long. With such oppression, the villagers will wake up sooner or later. ”

"You're not going to stay here for the rest of your life, are you?" The boy said, "Don't worry so much, nothing will happen in a few years." My teacher said that the pursuit of happiness requires courage, not only must you face the fear of possible failure, but even if you get it, you must also face the fear of possible loss; But as long as you give up from the beginning and succumb to strength, then you can immediately gain peace of mind. Peace of mind is the absence of fear. ”

"Okay." The old man then said, "So, can you use your psionic energy to add a little bit of 'insurance' to their brains?" lest there be an accident and they rebel against me. ”

"You're so cautious. But with my current ability, there aren't many fine things I can do. Those were already the limits. The boy shook his head, "Besides, aren't you a super-grade psyker?" You're not good at fighting, but even if they resist, you'll be able to handle it yourself. ”

The two talked a little more, and then parted. The black-haired boy is gone, while Ceres remains in the village.

After that, after four years, a number of people were sacrificed in the village, and of course there were also parents who were the first to be sacrificed in the plaid shirt. There was also a stone temple in the center of the village, in which the god of Grains lived, and all the living offerings were sent to it, and the villagers were afraid to approach it, let alone enter it.

But just over a month ago in the morning, Fa Xiao entered inside. He didn't know why he got in, and now that he thought about it, he must have been manipulated.

He saw three people inside, the old man and the swordsman, and the black-haired boy, who had grown up after four years and should be called the young man instead.

It was undoubtedly this young man who manipulated the little ones who came in. He didn't cut his hair at first, but said to the god of grains first: "I am stronger now than I was four years ago, do you need me to help you add insurance measures so that they don't rebel against you?" ”

"No, I don't." The old man, or Ceres, relaxed his posture at the moment, "I am also a super-grade psionic person, and they are nothing more than weak people who dare not fight back even if they are sad and angry, and will only turn around and run away." ”

Hearing this, the young man looked at him. Two seconds later, he nodded, "It's fine." ”

Ceres, too, was staring at him, as if to come to some kind of conclusion, "You're not using your own body right now." ”

"I just projected my mind onto it. If you have a need, I can also have the main body come over and project your mind onto the other bodies, so that you can move in two places at the same time. ”

"No, I have no interest in letting other people play with their souls. Let's get down to business. Ceres first refused, then said, "My experiments have not been smooth for the past four years, and I wonder if it was because your psychic interference has always been in their minds, or if I shouldn't have chosen the people of this village in the first place...... But as you said before, this is not your body, so you can't completely remove the brainwashing set up four years ago, and at most tamper with the spirits of two or three people, so at least help me solve the brainwashing of this villager. ”

"Of course." The young man snapped his fingers.

It wasn't until this moment that Fa Xiao was finally freed from brainwashing.

Then, remembering everything, he quickly realized...... He's going to be Ceres' guinea pig for his unsuspecting experiments.

Driven by the desire to survive, he immediately said that he had a friend outside the village, who had not been brainwashed and was not considered a member of the village, so could he replace him.

Ceres became interested, "Oh? ”

"Wait, the person he said can be handed over to me." The swordsman suddenly spoke, "He may be the one who was prompted by the 'inner demon' in the divination that he did for me. ”

When he said "demons of the heart," he seemed to be referring to the young man.

"I refuse." Ceres didn't sell the swordsman's face at all, not only that, but he looked at the swordsman with blatant disdain in his eyes, "You're just a peripheral member, and you don't know a lot of information about the organization, right?" Even psionic energy was obtained in that way, and it gave me less than an inch. ”

Hearing this, the swordsman pressed the hilt of his sword, and his eyes were very dangerous.

The contradiction between the two is on the verge of breaking out.

*

This concludes my small statement, and I digest the information he provided without saying a word.

Just as I had imagined before I came here, the culprit behind the transformation of this village into what it was was none other than the withered believers. The withered cultist who calls himself "Ceres" wants to carry out experiments related to the "creation of prophets" here, but he is not the one who brainwashes the villagers, but another young psyker. The reason for the brainwashing is both to facilitate management and to advance the experiment, although I don't really understand the rationale.

As for the swordsman, he must have managed to convince Ceres in the end. Maybe it's violence, maybe it's some other reason. According to Fa Xiao's information, Ceres, a super-level psionic who is not good at fighting, really wants to fight, but he is afraid that the swordsman can kill him with a single sword.

Plaid Shirt asked concernedly, "What happened next?" ”

"I don't know." Fa Xiao shook his head, "When I came back to my senses, I was already outside the temple." ”

The plaid shirt was silent for a moment, and then said, "You sold me like this?" To save your life? ”

"No, he didn't promise to let me go." Fa Xiao said scaredly, "He said that as a reward, he would deal with me later......"

"That's how you admit it?" Plaid Shirt said angrily, "Besides, you obviously have a satellite phone, why don't you call the police?" Well, even if you don't even know the number you called the police, you somehow found my number from the records, right? And I'm in the outside world, as long as you explain everything to me from the beginning, I'll save you! ”

I can imagine Fa Xiao's psychological motivation for not wanting to explain everything to the plaid shirt, but it's useless to talk about it now. Fa Xiao just cowered and curled up on the ground, not daring to face the pressure of the plaid shirt.

"I thought about resisting at first, and I thought this kind of thing was unreasonable, but I couldn't muster up the courage...... "Fa Xiao hugged his head and muttered chaotically, "Everyone says the same thing, and I know it's wrong, but everyone is saying that...... As time went on, I became more and more strange......"

He knelt down and kowtowed to the plaid shirt, "It was my mistake, forgive me, please, forgive me......"

Seeing this, the plaid shirt maintained the movement of pointing at him, and for a moment he was at a loss, and subconsciously looked at me.

Fa Xiao's confession seems to be genuine, and I believe that he really thinks he was wrong now, and he really wants to repent. However, from a psychological point of view, people are animals that live in situations. Now that he is facing the "avenger" of the plaid shirt and the inevitable threat of death from me, of course he will change his ways, and even he will not doubt whether his confession is adulterated.

But what if he went back to the environment he had been in before, which was full of all kinds of "never been the same"? If the plaid shirt really died, would he be secretly happy in his heart, thinking that he was lucky to lure the plaid shirt back to his hometown, otherwise he would be the one who was sacrificed?

I would not be easily touched by such a cheap confession, and went on to ask for other details—for example, whether the young man was still here. Hearing this, he shook his head and said that the young man had already left.

Then, I asked about the structure of the temple's interior. However, Fa Xiao himself didn't go around inside, and he didn't know much about it, only that there was only one entrance and exit to the temple, and it was blocked by a rather thick iron gate on weekdays. At the time of its construction, the iron door was designed to be something that could only be opened with a key to enter and exit. Even if the villagers had the courage to approach, they could not set foot inside.

After asking, I stunned the hair and moved towards the temple.

After reaching the distance where I could see the temple, I turned my head and said to the plaid shirt, "I'm going to go alone, the enemy is a special psyker, and you will only get in the way if you follow me, so stay." ”

I knew that he wanted to come along, so I had no intention of speaking politely to him, and the more I could dissuade him, the better.

He hesitated, then agreed.

I turned and sneaked towards the temple. As you walk, you observe. The temple is only one floor, and it covers an area equivalent to the indoor gymnasium of a high school, but I don't know if it's because of the night, it looks like a monster crawling on the ground.

I had only walked a few distances when I heard movement behind me.

When I looked back, it was a plaid shirt, and he actually followed him again. I was about to ask him why he didn't keep his promise, only to notice that his eyes were very wrong. He didn't look at me at all, but stared at the monster-like temple, as if it had been robbed of his mind by some mysterious force.