Ye Tiancheng and the others listened for a long time, and heard such a long story.
When the innkeeper said he was tired and stopped to drink tea and rest, Ye Tiancheng rubbed his brows helplessly and said to the innkeeper, "Your story is really too long... and there's no need to tell us everything in a chronological manner, is there?"
"Is all this information truly useful?"
When Ye Tiancheng said this, the innkeeper replied to Ye Tiancheng, "I've tried my best to reveal everything I know to you, but we people don't have much ability, and we can't figure out which information is truly useful, so we can only tell you what we know."
"As for what's useful and what's not, of course, you can only judge for yourselves. Ordinary people like us can't do any more than that."
"If we could do it ourselves, why would we be waiting for you to come? After encountering this situation, I would tell you about it. We would have already solved it ourselves, wouldn't we?"
"After all, such things happening frequently is also a considerable trouble for us."
Ye Tiancheng could only compromise and say, "Alright."
Next, what the innkeeper continued to talk about gradually got to the main point.
Lin Yanqin's mother was originally the daughter of a noble family. Therefore, even though her family's property was later taken by her husband, and she also lost her husband's affection, it was impossible for her to reclaim what originally belonged to her. She could only place her hopes on her children to reclaim those things after her husband's death.
However, she had been favored for many years, and coupled with her family background, Lin Yanqin's mother still had some good things in her possession.
But, when Lin Yanqin's mother died, all her estate was packed into her coffin by her children. When her eldest son truly took power and managed the Lin family, taking over the Lin family's overseas business, he sent her back overseas.
These inheritances, along with Lin Yanqin's mother's body and coffin, returned overseas.
In the end, the only thing she left behind was one item, her only surviving relic, which was the ruby pendant in Lin Yanqin's hand.
The first time the innkeeper saw Lin Yanqin, he didn't know what it meant for Lin Yanqin to appear in his inn.
After this guest checked into his inn, she found him the next day, saying that the heirloom left by her mother was lost, and hoped the innkeeper could help find the ruby pendant left by her mother.
The innkeeper's first reaction was even to think that she might be trying to extort him.
However, it was later confirmed that Lin Yanqin was indeed looking for the ruby pendant. Although the innkeeper was very greedy, he could also see that Lin Yanqin was not an ordinary human, but some kind of creature that originally existed in Xiaojing City.
Therefore, even after hearing that Lin Yanqin had lost the ruby pendant, the innkeeper didn't have any intention of being greedy.
However, he was also calculating whether to agree to this matter and was not very willing to agree.
Who knew if this was a good thing or a bad thing?
Unfortunately, later on, the innkeeper found that ever since Lin Yanqin lost the ruby pendant left by her mother, his small inn could no longer be entered or exited. He had to help Lin Yanqin find the ruby pendant. However, the more he searched, the more it proved that Lin Yanqin losing the ruby pendant was not an ordinary event.
Otherwise, he had turned the inn upside down. Even if it had fallen in the most hidden place, it should have been found long ago.
Moreover, in this ghost place, there were not many instances of theft or robbery of others' property. Such things generally only happened in a few situations, one of which was the scheming among ordinary people.
Although it was shameful, after being schemed against by ordinary people, the one who was schemed against died, which was considered his bad luck. Regardless, even if the scheme was not intended to harm another person's life, but it led to their death, these people would basically not think much of it.
After all, in this ghost place, it was already very difficult for them to survive. Sometimes, in order to ensure their own lives, they did not value the lives of others. Although it was not a good behavior, it was also a common occurrence.
Sometimes, it was not out of subjective intent to harm another person's life, which was already a very difficult thing for them.
It was all due to the hardships of life.
Just like the innkeeper himself believed that although he ran a shady inn, he was only greedy for money. Besides greed, he did not actively harm people's lives. As for what happened to those whose money he had taken, that was their own business and had nothing to do with the innkeeper.
In any case, he believed that he did not intend to harm people's lives, and subjectively he did not want to kill anyone, so these matters had nothing to do with him.
Ye Tiancheng and the others did not comment on the innkeeper's view.
It was indeed very difficult for these people to survive in this place. They might lose some of the morality that normal people living in the outside world needed to abide by, and due to survival, they had no choice.
Ye Tiancheng and the others could not say that they were speaking from a position of privilege and criticizing them.
However, if Ye Tiancheng and the others were to cooperate and say that they were doing the right thing and doing well, then Ye Tiancheng and the others could not do it. If they were to criticize them, they also could not criticize them, so they simply pretended not to have heard anything.
However, if such people were to go out in the future, and Ye Tiancheng had to take them out as well, then Ye Tiancheng and the others would definitely have to find a way to control them first, and then correct their thinking before they could return to living in normal society.
Otherwise, it would be better not to let them out and endanger other normal people.
Returning to the main topic, after encountering the Lin Yanqin incident, the innkeeper was initially anxious, worrying that if Lin Yanqin could not find the ruby pendant left by her mother, he might be trapped here forever and unable to escape.
However, later, the innkeeper was basically certain.
This matter was cyclical. If it could not be resolved actively, after a full seven days from the beginning to the end of the event, Lin Yanqin would disappear from the inn.
Gradually, as he came into contact with more ordinary humans who survived here, the innkeeper learned more and more, and through his own exploration, he figured out many other things.
In summary, all of this became information that the innkeeper held in his own hands.
The innkeeper learned so much about Lin Yanqin's family affairs through multiple encounters with Lin Yanqin and long periods of questioning.
Moreover, every time Lin Yanqin appeared at the inn to check in at the front desk, and the inn could not refuse, because even if they disagreed, she would proceed with the process on her own and stay in a fixed room, even if the room was occupied in advance, it was useless.
Occupying a room was the only dangerous thing the innkeeper knew of that could happen in Lin Yanqin's special event.
It was after someone proposed to try it, and after trying it, the person disappeared and never reappeared, that people knew. Later, some people did not believe it and tried it, and their fate was the same as the former.
Since then, no one dared to court death in this matter.
Lin Yanqin checked into the inn on the first day of each month, and the special event would start punctually on the second day. Lin Yanqin would come to him, saying that her ruby pendant was missing and asking for everyone's help to find it.
Moreover, Lin Yanqin was very good-tempered, and no one had ever seen her actively harm anyone.
Even if Lin Yanqin's request was rejected, in fact, there was basically no need to worry about anything happening. At most, they would have to accompany her in the inn for seven days. It was fine not to look for the item, and then they would have to wait for the inn to be unsealed.
After seven days, on the ninth day of each month, Lin Yanqin would quietly disappear from the inn, never to be seen again, until she checked in again the following month.
And every time Lin Yanqin checked into the hotel, it was the same as the first time she came. She would not remember what had happened before, and would continue to enter the death loop.
However, despite this, every time Lin Yanqin checked into the hotel, her behavior and demeanor would have subtle changes, which were generally directly related to the differences in the people and things she encountered.
In other words, although Lin Yanqin's experiences within seven days were wiped clean every time, she herself still had a considerable degree of autonomy.
And she was not like a rigid program that only did completely fixed things.
After listening to the innkeeper's narration, the little fox seemed to be in deep thought, as if he had thought of something.
Ye Tiancheng understood him very well, so he immediately asked the little fox, "What? Little fox, could it be that you've thought of something?"
The little fox subconsciously nodded, then suddenly shook his head.
Ye Tiancheng was a bit confused by his nodding and shaking head, "So, have you thought of it or not?"
The little fox reacted for a moment before hesitantly saying, "How to say it... I'm not sure?"
Ye Tiancheng said, "It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, it can at least give everyone a direction for speculation. Why don't you tell us first, and we'll infer the rest."
Ye Tiancheng also believed that if it was something that was likely related to supernatural events, the results inferred by the little fox would always be more accurate than theirs, so it would be better to analyze the situation based on the little fox's inferred results, and the accuracy of the conclusions would be much higher.
The little fox listened to Ye Tiancheng's words, scratched the back of his head, and finally spoke.
He said, "I just feel that Lin Yanqin's behavior and situation, as well as her appearance patterns and her state, sound like a type of earthbound spirit with deep obsessions."
"This monthly event, either it was an unfulfilled wish that was deeply imprinted in her memory before her death, the most profound memory, or it was directly her experience in the last few days before her death, or these two overlap, and she is repeating this process."
"And when the cyclic repetition begins, she inevitably becomes fully immersed in it, completely forgetting everything, and her memory and state remain only in the present, which leads to such a result."
The little fox paused.
"This is the closest situation I can think of."
The others listened and were slightly stunned, all falling into thought. Just listening to the little fox's words, they naturally couldn't help but match their own thoughts and realized that the little fox's statement was indeed a result that was quite close to Lin Yanqin's current state.
The little fox added, "Or, there is only one other possibility."
Ye Tiancheng asked him, "What other possibility is there?"
The little fox replied, "The last possibility is that she is just a lingering obsession that has not dissipated."