Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"They're not building a stage anymore... they're turning it into a sheepfold?"

Chu Jing asked incredulously, "Are you sure you didn't hear wrong?"

Chen Ji nodded.

“Then something must have happened during the hour that Ah Jian disappeared… and it must be related to Master Zhou.” Du Tingfeng guessed, after all, it was Master Zhou who “changed his story”.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Ji slowly came up with an idea.

He looked out the window; Li Fengxiu had already returned to the main room, and the courtyard was dark and silent.

"Why do you think these three stores are closing down so hastily?" Chen Ji suddenly changed the subject.

"Who was it that came last night? And is it very likely they'll come again tonight?"

Chu Jing was taken aback.

Chen Ji's second question was something they had discussed not long ago.

The answer is... a black goat.

"You mean, the Zhou, Zheng, and Li families are hiding from the Black Goat?" Chu Jing asked hesitantly.

But this contradicts everyone's long-held reasoning!

Didn't they say that Black Goat, Madman, and the Three Families were in cahoots?

Otherwise, why did this group of people remain completely silent when the goat appeared in the early morning?

The moment the idea popped into Chu Jing's mind, she froze.

Yes.

Why don't you say anything?

Who was Li Fengxiu watching for by the window of the main room?

Du Tingfeng, who was standing nearby, suddenly realized: "The three families are afraid of black goats!"

"They knew the Black Goat would come in the middle of the night, which is why they had to hide so urgently... That's why they weren't silent in the early morning, but rather they were too afraid to come out!"

“I think so,” Chen Ji said. “The sheepfold is probably a means for them to control the black goats.”

A sheepfold, as the name suggests, is an enclosure for keeping sheep.

"Jiang Zhong said something that might be true: the black goats only come at night, since they don't actually appear during the day."

“When we were eating noodles, it was already night. I think what happened in that hour was related to the black goat.”

The details of this matter are currently unknown, but what is certain is that Mr. Zhou felt threatened, which is why he changed his mind at the last minute.

No sooner had Chen Ji finished speaking than Du Tingfeng pointed out a crucial point:

"But Hua Yilan was indeed taken away by the Black Goat, so isn't its goal the same as the Ghost's?"

"Moreover, the fact that the three families instructed us to cut down trees to release the ghosts proves that they are in cahoots with the ghosts."

"Could it be that the black goat and the ghost are competitors?"

Chu Jing nodded hurriedly; this was also her biggest question.

She took out her phone and started writing and drawing in the notes app to organize her thoughts.

The previous guess was:

The black goat, the ghost, and the three families are in cahoots.

The objective is the same: kill/replace the intruder.

However, the positions of all parties are now unclear.

Several different opposing forces suddenly emerged, and they coexisted:

1. The Invader vs. the Black Goat

2. The Entrant vs. the Three Families (excluding Ah Jian and Xiao Yan; and the groom who has not yet appeared); Ghost

3. Three Families & Ghost VS Black Goat

As she thought about it, Chu Jing added one more point:

4. What is the identity of the gray goat here?

She wanted to continue writing, but Chen Ji stopped her.

"Take it slow." Chen Ji wiped his sweat. "Too many problems will make things chaotic."

"Let's first discuss the issues Du Tingfeng had before."

"Actually, who said that the goals of these three are the same?" Chen Ji shook his head: "Before the ghost came to the Zhou residence in the afternoon, Li Fengxiu had been trying to turn us into gray goats."

And the gray goats were her food.

Given Li Fengxiu's cautious nature, and the fact that she even made lotus root slices stuffed with meat, Chen Ji strongly suspected that she actually had a way to detect whether they had eaten mutton.

"After the ghost appeared at the Zhou residence in the afternoon, no one provided us with dinner that evening. There's definitely a connection," Chen Ji speculated.

"We know that the ghost's goal is to replace people, and they were selecting people this morning. It's very likely that the three families have confirmed that the ghost has indeed appeared, and in order to prioritize meeting the ghost's needs, they gave up the idea of ​​turning us into sheep."

Du Tingfeng said, "This is easy to verify; just look at the meal that follows."

He continued Chen Ji's words and began to deduce the original goals of the three families: "Leaving aside how they later started to assist the ghost, let's talk about their desire to turn us into sheep."

"The woodworking was just a pretext; their real intention was to lure people from the outside into the village to kill them."

The three families seemed unwilling to easily alert outsiders, so the first two victims who became the gray sheep were their own servants: Ah Chui and Ah Bu.

In this era, a servant's death was simply a matter of life and death; there were many ways to cover it up.

Du Tingfeng continued, "Li Fengxiu doesn't want us to touch her flesh, which perhaps indicates that the grey goat is beneficial to someone like Li Fengxiu."

Chen Ji had made similar speculations before.

Chu Jing pondered his words: "Someone like Li Fengxiu..."

"Speaking of which, who is inside her right now?"

Chen Ji and Du Tingfeng exchanged a glance.

The two said in unison:

"ghost."

Following that, Chen Ji added:

"That invisible ghost that targets us."

Chu Jing immediately pressed on, "Why not the black goat? There's more than one black goat, isn't there? Is it possible that Li Fengxiu is avoiding the black goat to prevent it from fighting with its own kind?"

"I think there might really only be one black goat."

After a few seconds of silence, Chen Ji spoke slowly.

“We didn’t see any other black goats the whole time, did we?”

"Moreover, the reason we feel there are multiple sheep is because we believe the black goats will replace the people."

"But is there really any substantial evidence... proving that Hua Yilan was indeed replaced?"

Chen Ji's argument is as follows:

1. When the madman appeared in the early morning, he did indeed only bring one dog.

Moreover, since there was no one watching over them when they were on the back mountain, why not let more graze at once?

2. Looking back now, it's rather strange that the guidance came from the opposing side. However, this is Chen Ji's personal opinion, and he didn't mention it.

3. The black goat's behavior by the lake clearly demonstrates intelligence, but it does not align with the survival instincts of those who enter the realm, or even humans.

"If the black goat wasn't there to replace her, what was it trying to do by contacting us every night?" Chu Jing asked. "And why did it kidnap Hua Yilan?"

Chen Ji was also unaware of this.

He only deduced that the soul inside the black goat was not Hua Yilan, but Hua Yilan's whereabouts, whether she was alive or dead, remained unknown.

However, he and Du Tingfeng both agreed that they might be able to find a way to survive by taking advantage of the Black Goat's hostility towards the three families.

The sheepfold may not be perfectly repaired tomorrow.

"so."

Chen Ji said, "The black sheep will come again tonight. We'll observe it after it appears."

The three of them discussed it briefly again.

Chen Ji made revisions to Chu Jing's memo.

【1. The Invader VS. the Black Goat】(?)

And add a line to the fourth question.

4. What is the gray goat's role here?

(Food. (What are the benefits?) —> Three families)

After thinking for a moment, he hesitated before adding one last question:

(What kind of meat do people actually eat?)

(That's when it turns into a gray goat...?)