Newborns have conditioned reflexes from birth, including grasping reflex and pupillary light reflex. When you touch a baby's palm, the baby will instinctively grasp it; when a light source shines on the pupil, the baby's pupil will immediately constrict.
This is a natural reaction indicating healthy neural development in the human brain. In hospitals, doctors also use this method to check the neural development of newborns. The presence of the pupillary reflex indicates that the newborn girl's optic nerve and oculomotor nerve are developing normally.
When Granny Sun handed the child to Lin Er, she deliberately brought a candle, clearly to check the child's eyesight.
Giving pregnant women medication that could cause visual abnormalities in the fetus was a common tactic used by Granny Sun. However, every pregnant woman's constitution is different; some are not sensitive to certain drugs, and there is a certain probability of birth defects. It's not 100% reliable. Clearly, Liu Hui was one of the rare cases where she wasn't sensitive to the medication, and the drugs Granny Sun gave her did not affect her unborn child.
Upon discovering that the baby's vision was normal, Granny Sun's expression was somewhat complicated. She took the child from Lin Er and asked, "Have you decided what name to give the baby?"
Lin Er scratched her head and smiled, "Grandma, please help us get it."
Granny Sun looked at the baby girl in her arms. After the little girl stopped crying, she became exceptionally well-behaved, stretching out her two white arms and flailing them around, babbling incoherently. Granny Sun remained silent for a long time before whispering, "Let's call her Lin Yue—Yue means joy. You and Huihui should be very happy to have this daughter, right?"
Lin Er nodded excitedly: "Great name! Thank you, Grandma. I'll go see Huihui."
He picked up his daughter and rushed into the delivery room to see his wife. Liu Hui had been giving birth for four hours and was already exhausted. Lin Er reached the bedside, held her hand tightly, and said, " Huihui, you've worked so hard."
Liu Hui looked haggard, shook her head and said, "It's not hard... Where's the child?"
He gently placed his daughter in Liu Hui's arms: "It's a girl."
Liu Hui held her daughter, gently touching the child's face with her fingers. The soft skin felt smooth, and a gentle smile appeared on Liu Hui's face. She gently held her daughter's hand and said softly, "I wonder what our daughter looks like."
Lin Er chuckled and said, "Our daughter will definitely be adorable!"
Xiao Qing stood to the side, watching this heartwarming scene with a blank expression.
Grandma Qin stood up and said, "I'm going back now. You two should get some rest too."
Liu Hui nodded: "Okay, thank you, Aunt Qin."
Grandma Qin turned around, leaning on her cane, and walked to the door. She noticed Xiao Qing standing there, and whispered, " Xiao Qing, aren't you leaving?"
Liu Qing said "Oh" and immediately followed.
Outside the door, Granny Sun said calmly, "Everyone should go back. Huihui is tired too, let the two of them get some rest."
The neighbors who had come to join the fun quickly dispersed, and Liu Qing turned around and went home.
Only Granny Sun and Old Mrs. Qin remained outside.
The two old women exchanged a glance, then hunched over and walked away side by side. After walking for a while, they both stopped at a fork in the road. Old Mrs. Qin said, "This child can see too, right?"
Granny Sun said, "I checked, and her pupils are indeed responding."
Old Mrs. Qin said coldly, "What do you plan to do with her?"
Granny Sun laughed and said, "Same as always, when she's a little older, we'll give her the medicine, and she'll go blind after taking it for a while."
Grandma Qin turned to look at her: "I remember Liu the Fourth was the same. When he was born, he could see, and you gave him medicine. In the end, he didn't go blind, did he?"
Granny Sun frowned unhappily: "The village chief is a special case. He's too good at pretending; he even fooled me."
Grandma Qin stared into her eyes and asked, "I think it's because Liu the Fourth was so well-behaved when he was little, always following you around. You couldn't bear to blind him, could you?"
Granny Sun's face darkened, and she said with a cold smile, "How could that be? His grandfather and several uncles were all involved in what happened back then. I won't let any member of the Liu family get away with this!"
The village was eerily quiet in the dead of night, but her sinister voice echoed through the empty streets.
A gust of wind blew by, ruffling the hair of the two old women and revealing a strange, sinister look in their expressions.
Granny Sun said, "Go back to sleep. It will all be over tomorrow at the Autumn Harvest Festival."
The two parted ways at the crossroads and went home to rest.
The Challengers who had been hiding nearby then revealed themselves, and led by Yu Hanjiang, the group quickly left the village and arrived at a tree near the farmland.
Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice, " Old Qi, how's the situation on your end?"
Old Qi said, "Things went relatively smoothly; we stole all of Granny Sun's medicine."
Yu Hanjiang said, "We also switched Old Madam Qin's rice wine. If they really want to poison us tomorrow, the poison they fed to the Villagers will be ineffective. But just in case, someone should keep an eye on Sun and Qin tomorrow to prevent them from poisoning them again before the ceremony begins."
Liu Qiao raised her hand and said, "I'll keep an eye on Old Madam Qin."
The man who could change color also raised his hand: "I can help keep an eye on Granny Sun. I can stick to the outside wall of her house so she can't see me."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "You two continue the investigation. Everyone rest first, we'll talk again at dawn. We'll find out what those two old ladies are up to soon."
It was already 4:30 a.m., and everyone took turns dozing off under the tree.
Daylight broke quickly, and the village gradually became lively, for today was the annual Autumn Harvest Festival.
Yu Hanjiang called the village chief over and asked, "Village Chief Liu, what is the program for your Autumn Harvest Festival in previous years?"
The village chief said earnestly, "In the morning, everyone will harvest the crops together, bundling up all the ripe wheat and placing it in the fields. In the evening, each household will bring out one dish and set up a feast in the fields. Granny Sun will chant some words we can't understand, and everyone will kowtow and kneel in the direction of the Western Hills, praying to our ancestors for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest in the coming year…"
To the west, there is the head of the human-shaped gem array, and also a burial pit containing the bones of the ancestors of Liuxi Village. Rather than kneeling to worship ancestors, it is more accurate to say that they are kneeling to worship the two innocent girls who died tragically in the village.
***
The weather was great today, and Yu Hanjiang told everyone to hide behind the trees so the Villagers wouldn't find them.
Liu Qiao and " Chameleon " remained in the village to monitor the Villagers ' movements.
Around nine o'clock in the morning, a large number of villagers came to the outskirts of the village and picked up sickles to harvest wheat. Although they were blind, after so many years of training, they were not clumsy at all. On the contrary, they were very nimble when harvesting wheat.
In the fields outside the village, the golden ears of wheat fluttering in the wind were gradually cut down. Over the course of the day, the Villagers harvested all the wheat, tied it up in bundles, and moved it to the fields, arranging it in a large circle.
The Autumn Harvest Festival ceremony did not officially begin until it was almost dark.
When Grandma Qin and Granny Sun arrived, the women brought out a sumptuous spread of home-cooked dishes, and several young men brought out several jars of rice wine. Grandma Qin, holding a torch in one hand and leading Tibetan Mastiff with the other, stood at the very front, looking majestic and imposing.
The two people in charge of the reconnaissance also returned. Liu Qiao flew behind the big tree and reported to Yu Hanjiang with a serious expression: "Grandma Qin did not use the jar of rice wine for soaking bones, but asked the Villagers for a few jars of normal rice wine."
Xiao Lou was slightly taken aback: "Where's that jar of wine she used to soak bones?"
Liu Qiao said, "It's still in her kitchen; she hasn't touched it."
The man whose face changed color slowly rolled over from the ground like a lump of dirt, and said, " Granny Sun didn't bring any medicine either. She just changed her clothes and came over. We stole all her medicine last night, but she doesn't seem to have noticed. She hasn't been to the kitchen all day. By the way, before Granny Sun left, she went to see Huihui and her newborn baby, and asked Huihui's husband and niece Xiao Qing to stay and take care of them."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance. Xiao Lou frowned in confusion: "Could we be wrong? Did they not intend to poison us at all, or did they never even plan to kill all the Villagers to accompany their daughter in death?"
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Last night, a group of people went to great lengths to steal medicine and switch rice wine... but in the end, Grandma Qin and Granny Sun didn't need the medicine or rice wine at all today, so everyone's efforts were in vain.
Yu Hanjiang raised his hand: "Everyone, hide and observe the situation."
The tree is nearly a kilometer away from the farmland. Since 99% of the villagers are blind, they can hide behind the tree without attracting attention.
Granny Sun walked to the middle of the farmland and said loudly, "On this day of harvest, everyone should thank our ancestors for finding such a beautiful and fertile land for us. The Autumn Harvest Festival ceremony officially begins. Everyone—kneel!"
At Granny Sun's command, all the villagers in Liuxi Village knelt down facing west.
The ceremony of three bows and nine kowtows was extremely solemn. The villagers knelt in neat rows, a sight that made Xiao Lou's heart tremble.
They had no idea what they were worshipping; they simply thought they were paying homage to their ancestors…
The village chief, hiding behind a tree, clenched his fists and said with trembling lips, "As far back as I can remember, we have kowtowed nine times towards the western mountains every year on this day, and no one has ever questioned what is wrong with this ritual."
Xiao Lou sighed softly and placed a hand on the village chief's shoulder: "Don't worry, Aunt Qin and Granny Sun will soon show their true colors."
After the worship ceremony, Aunt Qin smiled and said, "According to the rules, everyone should have a reunion dinner together tonight. After eating your fill and drinking a bowl of wine, we will surely have a bumper harvest next year. Lin Wu, Sun Xiaoliu, distribute the food and wine, and everyone can start eating to their heart's content!"
Everyone cheered and jumped for joy, then spontaneously formed a circle, sat down, picked up a bowl, and began to eat the continuous feast.
Two young men took the initiative to distribute wine and food to the Villagers. The wine jars were definitely not the ones that Old Mrs. Qin used to preserve human bones in her kitchen. They were much larger and did not have any "rice wine" labels on them.
Yu Hanjiang turned around and asked, " Liu Qiao, are you sure these wine jars were all moved from the Villagers ' homes?"
Liu Qiao nodded: "I'm sure. I was watching from the tree near Grandma Qin's house the whole time. In the afternoon, several villagers, following Grandma Qin's instructions, moved the wine jars from their houses to her house. These jars never left my sight."
Xiao Lou felt uneasy: "Could it be that there was no poison in the jar?"
Just then, Old Mrs. Qin suddenly laughed and said, "Before we drink, let me tell you a story."
The villagers sat in the wheat field, their ears perked up with curiosity, listening to her tell her story.
Grandma Qin said calmly, "Thirty-five years ago, a rich young lady came to the village with a group of inspectors. Because the village had precious jade rough, she negotiated a price with the village chief at the time, who was also Liu the Fourth's grandfather, and wanted to mine the jade on the western mountain of our village to process it into a very beautiful piece of jewelry."
"There was a girl in the village who had been blind since childhood and suffered constant bullying from her peers. She was introverted but very intelligent. One day, she went out to pick vegetables and met a rich girl..."
The girl and I quickly became friends.
"One night..." Old Mrs. Qin suddenly stopped, her vicious gaze sweeping over everyone present. She said, word by word, "A blind girl went to West Mountain to find her best friend, but the two were murdered by several young men—raped and then killed! The village chief and the other villagers all knew who the murderers were, yet they kept covering it up..."
"That blind girl is my daughter. That rich young lady is Granny Sun's daughter!"
The villagers all sensed something was amiss when they heard this.
Suddenly, Old Mrs. Qin kicked over several wine jars and threw them onto the wheat in the distance. Her voice was as cold as ice: " Autumn Harvest Festival! What you are kneeling and worshipping is not an ancestor, but the memorial tablet of our daughter in the Western Hills! Today is the anniversary of my daughter's death. We two old women won't live much longer either. Why don't we all go down and be buried with them!"
Upon hearing the last sentence, the villagers ' expressions changed drastically. Some, alert, stood up, ready to run away, while others asked blankly, " What is Aunt Qin saying?" " Has Aunt Qin gone mad?"
Grandma Qin suddenly threw the torch in her hand away—
The fields were full of crops that had just been harvested that day, piled up in bundles.
The fire started by Old Mrs. Qin spread rapidly with the help of the rice wine and the wind. In the blink of an eye, the raging fire surrounded all the Villagers. The blind people could not see and fled in panic, trampling each other. Some people had their clothes burned by the fire and screamed in pain.
The Autumn Harvest Festival, which was supposed to bring joy to Villagers, was instantly turned into a fire.
Xiao Lou's expression changed: "This is bad!"
They discovered the wine jar made from the bones of Old Mrs. Qin and the medicine pot made from the bones of Granny Sun, and instinctively assumed that the two old women were going to poison Villager's wine or medicine that day.
Unexpectedly, Old Mrs. Qin's methods were even more swift and decisive—she simply set fire to the farmland, burning it to the ground and killing Villager!
Granny Sun drove the village chief away beforehand, prevented Xiao Qing from participating, and also forbade Hui Hui, who had just given birth, from leaving the house. Perhaps she wasn't targeting these people, but rather wanted to spare their lives—because the village chief, Xiao Qing, and Hui Hui's newborn daughter were all within sight, and sparing their lives was Granny Sun's last shred of conscience.
As for the others, since they're already living in darkness anyway, they might as well go down to an even darker place and stay with their daughters.
The old lady's so-called "final farewell" was actually setting a fire on the day of the Autumn Harvest Festival, taking the blind Villagers down with her!
Seeing the fire raging, Yu Hanjiang immediately said in a deep voice, "Quickly, save people!"
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Lou suddenly said, "Wait, I can't see anymore."
Shao Qingge quickly added, "I can't see either..."
Liu Qiao's voice came from the side: "Me too."
Yu Hanjiang's gaze swept quickly around. Among the twelve Challengers, seven had gone blind—one member from each duo was blind, Liu Qiao, who was acting alone, was blind, while Masked Man could still see. Their fighting strength had instantly decreased by two-thirds.
Only five people are left with good eyesight.
The five men looked at each other in bewilderment. Old Qi said with a grim face, "Of the hundreds of Villagers, we can only see five left. How can we save them?"
The escape room will inflict a blindness buff, affecting each person for three hours every day. However, the blindness in the first few days mostly occurs at less important times—for example, if you are blind at noon, you can simply take a nap; if you are blind early in the morning, you don't need to participate in the activities; and if you are blind at night, it's best, as you won't notice it while you're asleep.
Unexpectedly, at this most critical moment, more than half of the Challenger members were suddenly affected by blindness.
Everyone felt a little panicked. Even though they couldn't see, they could feel the raging fire burning and the surrounding air temperature rising continuously. The heat and smoke that rushed towards them made it almost impossible for them to breathe.
At that moment, a notification appeared in everyone's floating pop-up window—
Save Villager, quantity 0/119.
Even the usually composed Old Qi couldn't help but blurt out a curse: "Damn! Do you think we're gods? Five people can save over a hundred people!"
Ignore Villager, turn around and run for your life, just wanting to pass the game normally?
Should we take the risk and rush into the fire to rescue people?
Seeing the Villager panicking amidst the flames, and hearing the cries of children around him— Yu Hanjiang couldn't ignore it.
These are all living, breathing human lives. None of these people were involved in the case back then. They were plunged into a dark world from birth, struggling and living a difficult life for so many years. Only today do they finally realize that the meaning of their lives is to be buried with the daughters of Qin and Sun!
How innocent they are!
Yu Hanjiang shouted sternly, "Don't retreat! You can't see, but you can still move, what are you afraid of? Did you draw all those cards for nothing?!"
The Challenger team, which had been in a state of panic, suddenly calmed down after his angry shout.
—They just can't see it. These Villagers can't see it either, but they've still lived for over thirty years, haven't they?
If they back down when things get tough because they can't see, what will they do when faced with even more difficult locked-room challenges in the future?
If you retreat whenever you encounter danger, until there's nowhere left to retreat, will you be eliminated?
Yu Hanjiang's words were a wake-up call; at that moment, everyone realized how foolish their previous idea of running away had been.
Seeing that everyone's expressions had calmed down, Yu Hanjiang continued, "Since this is a collaboration, I hope everyone can unite and not back down when things come to a head! Think of yourselves, not just Villager. Don't forget, a perfect clear will allow you to draw cards and there will be even more rewards."
Xiao Lou was the first to come out.
Despite the darkness before him, he still accurately pinpointed Yu Hanjiang's presence and location. Standing beside Captain Yu, he smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, everyone. There are no dangerous buildings here, and no beams or anything like that will burn and injure us. The burning material is just crops in the fields. As long as we locate the fire circle, we can open an opening to rescue people."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and said approvingly, "That's right."
His gaze swept over everyone, and he calmly said, "Now, those who are blind, please pass any useful cards to the five people who can see. . If you don't feel comfortable giving them to others, please give them to your teammates, or just give them to me!"
Yu Hanjiang's deep, calm voice was the best tool to stabilize morale at this moment.
Everyone immediately obeyed his instructions and handed over their useful cards.
The author has something to say: Captain Yu and Professor Xiao were there to help me lie down in this escape room, and everyone else was very comfortable.