Lu Li looked away calmly and looked at the newsboy under the gas lamppost: "Do you still have today's newspaper?"
"Of course." The newsboy diligently picked up several newspapers on the newsstand: "The Ellen Principality Gazette, the Watson Post, and the Daily News. What do you want?"
"Isn't there any local one?"
Lu Li glanced at those newspapers. These can also be bought in Belfast.
"Are you a foreigner? The local newspaper office in Shadow Town has been closed for several years." The young newsboy shook his head and said.
"Do you have any old newspapers?"
Seeing that there was still business to be done, the young newsboy smiled: "Of course, when do you want it?"
"all."
"All?" the young newsboy was stunned.
"I have a hobby of collecting newspapers, and I love collecting newspapers from different newspapers in different periods." Lu Li explained simply.
"That's it...but there may not be that many, please wait a moment."
The newsboy picked up the pile of old newspapers and put them back to the newsstand: "This is the only one. There may be a few days missing in between. Can you think of it?"
"Okay, how much is it?"
"I'll count one, two, three... Thirty-four copies in total. Hmm... Just give me 10 shillings."
Handing over 10 shillings, Lu Li took a palm-thick stack of old newspapers from the young newsboy and left the newsstand.
"Shall we stop shopping? There may be other clues."
Anna noticed that Lu Li was walking back.
"The clue has been found."
Lu Li said something that Anna didn't understand. She didn't see the corner of the newspaper.
He followed Lu Li back to the Big Wave Tavern without knowing why, and returned to the room upstairs when the old woman casually said hello, "You're back so soon?"
Putting a stack of newspapers in front of the dining table, Lu Li briefly looked out the window. The lights the three of them connected were like a strip of light dotted in the night. There were scattered lights in the distance, and the outermost part of the town was enveloped in thick darkness.
Wow——
After closing the gray curtains, Lu Li sat behind the dining table and pulled out a newspaper from a pile.
"Real News from the Allen Peninsula"
【The scam in Shadow Town! You have all been fooled!】
"Oh~ Is this the clue you were talking about?"
Anna suddenly realized that she didn't get an answer. Lu Li raised his hand and moved the oil lamp. The light and shadow shook, and the writing on the yellowed paper became clearer.
"Shadow people? Six-legged monsters? Most people who know Shadow Swamp know Shadow Town, and most people who know Shadow Town know Shadow people and six-legged monsters. The local residents have made money for decades because of this rumor, but if I
What would happen if they were said to be fictional?”
"There have never been any shadow monsters and six-legged monsters. Of course, maybe in some unknown place hundreds of thousands of miles away, such things really exist, but at least in Shadow Town, shadow monsters and six-legged monsters
The monster is just played by the residents wearing poor and crude leather suits!"
"Yes, Shadow Town has tricked you all. Whether you are adventurers, nobles, businessmen, ghost enthusiasts, or anyone else, you have all been deceived!"
"They first tell you, 'There are ghosts in Shadow Swamp, and they will come to Shadow Town,' but in order to prevent you from being afraid, they will then say, 'Fortunately, they are afraid of light, and you will be safe as long as you stay in the light.'
And then you hear that and think 'Wow, it's safe to see those weirdos or savages!' and excitedly buy your tickets and head to Shadow Town to see them like circus animals."
"When you get to the place, the local residents will remind you. They will tell you, 'Don't close the curtains. After dark, you will see people walking on the dark streets outside.' And then you happily do it.
, and saw those things they were talking about passing out of the window, and then you and the residents were satisfied. You saw the stuff, and the residents got their shillings."
"But those are all fake! Even faker than comics!"
"You may want to ask, since it is false, why have no tourists come forward to expose all this for decades?"
"The fact is that every year, many tourists come forward to expose the ugly behavior of the residents of Shadow Town. But unfortunately, most newspapers are unwilling to report these truths. It is difficult for me to say whether Shadow Town gave them money or what. I
It's a metaphor."
"And the actions of Shadow Town are far more despicable than you think. Why do they dare to deceive everyone with confidence? Because they have someone to rely on!"
"There is a hallucinogenic fruit growing in the Shadow Swamp. It is a fruit that deepens people's subconscious. It's a bit like a dream, but not as disordered as a dream. In layman's terms, it makes your subconscious become real -
—Of course it’s an illusion.”
"They will add this fruit to your food so that you can eat it accidentally. But don't worry, the hallucinogenic effects of the fruit can only last for a dozen hours, and there will be no side effects."
"So when ignorant outsiders eat this hallucinogenic fruit, their subconscious thoughts will expand. What will the tourists who come to Shadow Town think about?"
"Of course it's Shadow Man and Hexapod!"
"Think about how many shillings they made from this trick? How can a small town with a marginal location, a population of three to four thousand, and less than a hundred years of existence accumulate so much wealth?"
"Because this is how they develop the town!"
"Everyone here has lived in the town for generations. Conscience? No, no, no, that kind of thing is not as important as the development of the town and making money for yourself."
"But since the Night Disaster came out, they have restrained themselves a lot. Although they still do this kind of thing to ignorant outsiders, it's not so frequent anymore. I mean, no one will want to go there again after the Night Disaster, right?
Right? Horrible things are all around us, why do we have to go so far to see other people’s terrible things?”
"In fact, I completed this article many years ago and tried to publish it in the Shadow Town Newspaper. The president was an upright and conscientious gentleman, but unfortunately, we underestimated Shadow Town
The residents were so frightened that they worked together to shut down the newspaper, and the last issue of the newspaper that contained the truth was not published."
"In the following years, I have been trying to let more people see the truth, but my ability alone is really weak. Until I found "The True News of Allen Peninsula", the absolute truth it advertised attracted me, and they were indeed
This is what they did. After I said that I wanted to reveal the truth about Shadow Town, they tried to verify my article rigorously and seriously, and fully confirmed the content of my article so that it could be published smoothly in this issue of the newspaper."
"Although it is late, it is not too late. Residents of Shadow Town, you must apologize for your ugly behavior!"
"I am Thomas Dio, a scholar dedicated to uncovering the truth for people."
