Ou Li could already imagine that speaking it aloud would be another offense to the Ghost Immortal.
Combined with her recent offense, one plus one made more than two; this table was very likely to become her burial ground today.
As it turned out, between the extremes of life and death, human potential could always be infinitely stimulated.
“Why did I just slap the table? It was because... because I suddenly thought of a suspicious point.”
Ou Li spoke dryly, slowing her speech as much as possible to give her brain more time to process.
In this tense situation, her mind didn't go blank like an ordinary person's; instead, countless thoughts raced through her head.
She frantically searched for an excuse, trying to smooth over this momentary oversight that felt like a sudden calamity.
“Everyone, think carefully about the clue Mr. Zheng just mentioned.”
“The phenomenon of generational gaps in the Zhao family genealogy frequently appeared before the Republican Era, with large sections missing every few generations. But after the Republican Era, these gaps completely vanished, replaced by a death curse where no one lived past thirty-five.”
“For now, let’s tentatively consider this strange occurrence in the Zhao family as a curse.”
The irrelevant opening had been used; now, she would continue to buy time with a recap.
Got it, this is it!
In a flash of lightning, under immense pressure, she actually found a way out, naturally steering the conversation back to the current event.
She feigned composure, cleared her throat, and adopted an air of thoughtful confidence.
“These two events, one after the other, are seamlessly connected. It absolutely cannot be a coincidence.”
“So, is it possible that they are actually the same event?”
“It's the same thing, which, under different conditions, catalyzed two seemingly completely different manifestations.”
“Now, let's deduce from another angle.”
“Could it be that during the Republican Era, a major event occurred in the Zhao family, one significant enough to overturn the family's foundation?”
“This event directly ended the chaos of frequent generational gaps in the genealogy, but it also came at an extremely painful cost, such as the fate of early deaths in every generation.”
The more Ou Li spoke, the smoother her words became, and the more she felt her reasoning was sound. The panic in her heart gradually subsided, replaced by growing confidence.
“In other words, the generational gaps in the genealogy before the Republican Era might not have been natural disasters or man-made calamities; instead, they could have been a century-long ritual.”
As soon as she said this, the expressions of the people present shifted in unison, instantly captivated by this new line of thought.
Seeing this, Ou Li gained more confidence, fully getting into her stride, and continued to delve deeper.
“Regarding the generational gaps, where records of family members vanished into thin air every few generations, could it be a sacrificial ritual used by the Zhao ancestors to counteract malevolent entities or avert some great disaster that threatened to wipe out the clan?”
“Every few generations, only one lineage would survive, sacrificing other family members to ensure the overall continuation of the clan.”
“And that upheaval during the Republican Era, likely an unavoidable war that swept up everyone, completely disrupted this centuries-long ritual.”
“The old balancing method failed, the generational gap ritual could no longer be performed, but what was originally suppressed did not dissipate. Instead, it completely broke free, transforming into the shadow of the thirty-five-year death curse that now enveloped the entire Zhao family.”
After finishing this meticulous deduction, Ou Li secretly praised herself.
She truly was something!
Remaining calm in a crisis, and thinking quickly, she had managed to find such a perfectly logical line of thought in such a short time. It was a genius-level on-the-spot reaction, worthy of being written into textbooks.
Inside the living room, the atmosphere grew quiet as everyone silently processed this hypothesis.
Bai Ci, hovering in mid-air, secretly nodded.
This deduction was exactly what she had initially thought.
However, her identity was special; she represented the Ghost Immortal, Lady Ming Yi, so she couldn't speak casually.
Don't bow your head, or your crown will fall.
This was the first time Bai Ci had such a deep understanding of such a meme-like saying. For her, it meant: don't speak, or her Ghost Immortal identity would be exposed.
Players could make bold assumptions, and even if their deductions were wrong, leading to a deviation in their thinking, they could always correct themselves as soon as they noticed the error, with no harm done.
This stemmed from the players' clear understanding that they did not possess a god's-eye view.
She couldn't bring things up so casually because, in the players' eyes, she was an existence with an even higher perspective.
If her ideas deviated even slightly, it would directly mislead all the players' investigation directions, sending them all down the wrong path.
Fortunately, the instance players she encountered this time seemed quite good at first glance, and all possessed excellent logical thinking skills. What she thought of, they also thought of, so she didn't need to give too many pointers.
After a moment of silence, Mi Ke, the spirit medium who had been silently fiddling with her tools, slowly spoke.
Her fingertips held a clear amethyst pendulum. The crystal was pure and translucent, emitting a faint, shimmering glow under the dim indoor light.
Mi Ke's expression was serene, and her tone carried a hint of professionalism and rigor.
“Sister Ou’s hypothesis is very plausible, but it's ultimately just a deduction, lacking concrete evidence.”
“Genealogy books, old records, these 'dead' materials might not contain the hidden truth of those years. Relying on document tracing to verify the authenticity of an event is too slow, and might not even uncover the truth.”
“To verify it fastest, we can only use other methods.”
“For example, my method.”
As her voice fell, she released her fingers, and the slender string held the amethyst pendulum suspended in the air.
“Pendulum, oh pendulum, is there a causal relationship between these two events: generational gaps and the curse?”
The very next second after her words, the previously still pendulum began to swing on its own, drawing large, regular oval circles.
A few seconds later, the pendulum's swaying gradually slowed, finally coming to a stop.
Mi Ke gazed at the pendulum's path, and as she interpreted it, her previously calm expression gradually grew solemn.
Upon completing her interpretation, she spoke with a serious tone.
“I’ve deciphered it.”
“Things are a bit complicated. The divination result is that there is indeed a connection between the generational gaps and the curse, but it's not a direct causal relationship. It's much heavier than that.”
As soon as she said this, everyone's expressions grew heavy.
Bai Ci was truly surprised this time. The ability to pinpoint clues out of thin air was almost like cheating.
Without needing to consult documents, conduct on-site investigations, or deduce clues, a single pendulum could directly identify the core connections of an event, almost revealing hidden clues from nothing.
Using Mi Ke's crucial divination conclusion, the disparate clues gradually connected in Bai Ci's mind.
The two events were deeply linked but lacked a direct causal relationship, meaning there must be an entity connecting them.
A third party?
Or, more accurately, a second party; besides the Zhao family, there was another existence.
Bai Ci, using a suggestive tone, projected an air of feigned understanding.
“Was this consequence brought upon by the Zhao family, or was it summoned by someone else?”
Rate on N.U.
