The Pale Knight's conjecture was indeed correct; Shiller found a family photo in the pocket of the eldest man, and from its arrangement, the family structure was just as the Pale Knight had described.
Furthermore, from this photo, an important detail was evident: behind the family's house, there was a meadow, which likely indicated that they relied on livestock breeding for a living.
Shiller flipped the photo over and found a line of text on the back, "To my beloved little Jenny on her 6th birthday — Dad Hoff."
It seemed that Hoff was indeed the father of the six-year-old girl outside, and the people who had died here probably included his wife, son, father, daughter-in-law, and others.
Initially, upon seeing the photo, everyone's first thought was, "Could this be the family that drank the mutton soup?"
The owner of the diary had mentioned in his entries that he felt pity for the six-year-old girl, and both Jenny's appearance and the words on the back of the photo corresponded to this clue.
"But how did they die here?" Bruce asked, frowning in confusion, turning to look at the body of the little girl, "Although the diary doesn't mention how exactly they died, the date in the diary makes it clear it happened several days ago. How could the bodies be so well-preserved?"
Shiller was also pondering this issue. The temperature inside the lighthouse was not low, and logically, it shouldn't have preserved the bodies, but considering the state of the corpses, their death must not have exceeded 24 hours.
This did not match the timeline of the deaths of the wandering familymentioned in the diary, but it also did not rule out the possibility that this family was different or that there was some anomaly with time flow inside the lighthouse.
It was known that there was not a shortage of food in the lighthouse, and there were many ways to replenish liquids; thus, it was improbable that the family murdered each other over survival resources. It was more likely they were controlled by some monster.
Shiller suddenly realized that although the diary said that the family had gone mad, it did not mention that they all had died; perhaps they could have escaped and hidden inside the lighthouse. After hiding for several days, the monster still didn't spare them, forcing them to kill each other until they perished.
After searching the sixth floor and finding nothing but bodies, Shiller went up to the seventh floor, where he found a bedroom with many letters in the nightstand.
The recipient was listed as "Andesi" in these letters, and the senders' names varied, indicating they were from different people, which led Shiller to believe that this Andesi was likely the Lighthouse Guardian.
Noticing a few familiar names among the signatures, Shiller knew the climax was approaching. The letters were sent by Harold, owner of the diary, Jeff, the last survivor of the lighthouse, and even Madeline.
One might wonder why a modern-day story would involve so many handwritten letters; wouldn't it be more common to make a call or send an email?
This is an overestimation of the quality of America's communications networks. Some extremely remote villages in America lack even electricity, let alone a signal.
Often in American movies, viewers wonder why victims don't phone for help after a car accident or why they don't call the police. The reality is not that the protagonist is foolish; there simply is no signal.
Even in the suburban areas around large cities, the phone signals are abysmally bad, and internet connectivity is even worse. Once you notice the signs of human civilization disappearing alongside the road, don't hold out hope for making a call for help. You're on your own.
Based on Shiller's understanding of the village, the most efficient means of communication they had was likely a landline phone, though mobile phones were probably more commonly used by the younger population.
In such a village, the fastest way to spread news was by word of mouth. In cases where the information was complex, it was better to write it down.
Shiller began reading the letters in order.
He discovered something troubling—long before the Wandering event occurred, these outsiders had already arrived in the village.
In such small villages, everyone knew each other, and outsiders were almost unheard of. Spotting a new face was a major event, and newcomers were not welcomed.
The first letter was from Jeff to Andesi. Jeff mentioned that the richest boat fleet owner in the village had hired a doctor to treat his wife, hearing that the doctor was a graduate of a prestigious university. In the letter, Jeff complained that the owner would rather spend money on a charlatan from who knows where, instead of hiring him, a skilled sailor.
Thus, Shiller knew that Jeff was actually a sailor and that Bruce's claim of coming to investigate a rare case was true, except this rare case was the illness of the wife of the village's boat fleet owner.
It was clear that this village was a very primitive fishing village, where men would go out to sea as sailors, and women would stay at home to raise animals. Jeff's family was likely structured in this way.
The wife of the owner of a ship fleet, however, was afflicted by some strange illness that necessitated seeking medical help in a big city, eventually drawing Bruce's attention. He followed on the last ship of the year to this obscure village.
Then there was a letter written by Harold to the Lighthouse Guardian Andesi, mentioning that the village sheriff, who had fallen victim in that incident, had been laid to rest. A new sheriff would soon be dispatched from the neighboring town, hoping that nothing problematic would occur this time.
Shiller realized that this might be the origin story of the Night Owl, as he was summoned here because of the village sheriff's death.
Madeline's letter, on the other hand, surprised Shiller; it was lengthy and finally revealed her motive for coming here and part of the truth.
"I am deeply saddened, Andesi, nearly 20 years have passed since we parted at Yale University. I once thought your decision to return to your hometown was a waste of your years of effort, but now I understand that perhaps you were right."
"After the death of my family, I was supported by relatives, which was a very tough period, but luckily I managed to emerge from it. I worked hard, attended university, met good teachers, and made many friends, who I thought would help me."
"But when I was dealing with the death of my family, they all avoided me, except you who still took the time to talk to me. I am very grateful for that, Andesi."
"I'm writing this letter to tell you that about two months ago, I lost another lawsuit against Silterk Medical Insurance Company, and no court is willing to accept my lawsuit anymore. I think it's time to give up."
"I am happy about your invitation to take a break, and I've decided to visit your beautiful hometown, but there is one more thing I'd like to accomplish. If you can understand, I would be very grateful."
From this letter, Shiller gleaned two important pieces of information: first, that Madeline was invited by her college classmate Andesi to come to this village.
The second was that Madeline's family's death received no proper insurance compensation, not even the normal death indemnities, forcing her to rely on others.
Shiller instinctively felt that the insurance company's refusal to pay may be closely related to Madeline's suicide and the current situation in the village.
From the bits and pieces revealed by Madeline, Shiller could guess that her family was not poor—quite the opposite. A family like hers would not skimp on buying insurance, and if the whole family died, the insurance company would probably have to pay a significant sum.
Shiller continued reading and found that the next letter was also written by Madeline.
"Thank you for caring about my family, Andesi. They must be doing well in Heaven now. As for the lawsuit… I don't want to explain too much, because it doesn't make any sense."
"But I am indeed worried that you might think I am being irrational or committing insurance fraud. I must tell you that my claims are legitimate; it's that damn fraudulent insurance company that keeps shirking their responsibilities."
"I don't want to bring up my sad stories, but I must say that they denied the settlement for accidental death, claiming my family died from attacking each other, even countersuing me for insurance fraud, saying our family was never harmonious and that such premeditated murder isn't covered by their policy."
"They are a bunch of liars! A group of devils shirking responsibility! My family always got along very well, our household was very harmonious, and it was those monsters who controlled them, causing them to commit such acts of violence. You must believe me, right?"
Having read this letter, Shiller understood that the insurance refusal was indeed due to Madeline's family's cause of death: they killed each other, like a father who shot his mother, then got killed by his son.
Usually, accidental death compensations wouldn't cover such cases, especially when both the killer and the killed are the beneficiaries, implying strong suspicion of insurance fraud, which explained Madeline's repeated legal failures.
Shiller wasn't sure if there was insurance covering bizarre incidents in this world, but he thought that Madeline's latter focus on the bizarre might be an attempt to prove that her family was really killed by something supernatural, qualifying as an accidental death, to reclaim her insurance money.
This led Shiller to think of the family who died in the lighthouse, clearly another case of mutual destruction, suggesting that the monster they encountered might be the same mysterious Wandering was involved with Madeline's family.
But these letters confirmed that Madeline arrived here before the Wandering incident erupted, implying not that Madeline was following the Wandering, but rather, it was possible that Madeline might have brought the Wandering here.
What was she trying to do?
After sorting through Madeline's logic in his mind, Shiller felt that if recovering the compensation and seeking justice for her family was no longer possible, then the only thing she might want is to make the insurance company that refused to pay suffer.