TSFLIP Chapter 562

She furrowed her brows, clearly conflicted. Part of her was afraid that hearing more would only make her even more frightened—but her curiosity wouldn’t let her flat-out refuse. In the end, she nodded. “I want to hear it.”

Only then did Sijia speak. “This morning, when I stepped out of the room, I ran into the innkeeper. He told me that Madam Chen’s troupe left the inn and exited the town earlier this morning.”

“That’s a lie,” she said with absolute certainty.

“Of course it is,” he replied. “I went to recheck Madam Chen’s room. The child’s skeleton from last night was gone—but in its place, I found fifteen other skeletons.”

She stared at him, stunned. “What?”

“Fifteen skeletons—six of them female, nine male. Based on their condition, they’re about the same age as the child’s remains—roughly ten years old.”

“Fifteen people… six women, nine men…” Her eyes widened in realization. “That’s exactly—”

“That’s right. It matches the number of people in Madam Chen’s troupe. Including her, there were fifteen.”

“You mean… you’re saying they were murdered?” Fengguang blurted out the thought before she could stop herself, then quickly shook her head. Killing fifteen people? That wasn’t something a single person could pull off. Unless… maybe a martial arts master—but this small town didn’t seem like the kind of place where such people would show up.

Sijia had gone much further in his thinking. His cool, indifferent eyes narrowed slightly as he said in his usual calm tone, “If I had to guess, something major happened in this town ten years ago.”

“Something major?”

“Back then, perhaps Madam Chen and her troupe came to this town. For some reason, she killed a child. When the townsfolk found out, they took justice into their own hands—and killed all of them.”

It was hard to argue with. His theory made sense. But Fengguang still didn’t understand. “If they killed a child, couldn’t the townsfolk have gone to the authorities? Why go so far as to commit mass murder?”

“On the way here, did Your Highness see anything like a government office or magistrate’s hall in this town?”

With that one sentence, she suddenly realized—no, she hadn’t seen anything of the sort.

“This town is poor and remote,” Sijia continued. “There’s no official presence. They rely entirely on self-governance. The death of a single child, to them, could’ve been a huge event—and they may have chosen a more extreme form of revenge. It’s not surprising.”

“If what you’re saying is true… then ten years ago, You’er was the child killed by Madam Chen and her troupe. And in retaliation, the townsfolk killed them all. But what about those townspeople?” Fengguang slid off the bed and, without bothering to tie up her hair, plopped down beside him. She looked adorably serious, like a diligent student waiting for her teacher’s explanation.

Sijia’s gaze lingered on her for a second longer than it should have before he awkwardly turned away. “It was a flood.”

“A flood? From the river?”

“Yes. When I went to the riverbank the other day, I noticed the river curves sharply and the current is sluggish. If there were a long period of heavy rain, the water would inevitably rise and overflow. And since the town is set in a low-lying area with no higher ground to escape to, once the flood came, there would’ve been nowhere to run.” In fact, on the way back from the river, he’d seen several snail shells embedded in the dirt—quite far from the water’s edge—further proof of his theory. “Most likely, the townsfolk dumped the troupe’s bodies into the river.”