After the Fairy Disappeared

  Chapter 315 Strange things in the mining town

"The postmaster saw her ragged clothes, big belly, and flickering eyes, and dared not look at people. He remembered the announcement in the city that he was going to hand her over to the official. The woman cried and said, 'I'm just too hungry', 'I don't want to harm You', just run outside. I rushed to intercept, but a three-foot-high monster jumped out of the cotton basket behind the woman, and even killed the messenger and the groom under the postmaster's belt. There happened to be two patrols The brothers rested in the station and heard the sound and came out to rescue, but they couldn’t beat the monster, one died and the other was seriously injured. But they threw the monster outside the station, and at least a dozen passengers on the road saw it.”

"and then?"

   "The passengers who witnessed it were scared away on the spot. When the guards went to the scene, the woman and the monster were of course gone."

   "Is it a monster pregnant woman who escaped from Panlong City?" He Lingchuan pondered, "A few days ago, Panlong City strictly investigated pregnant women. She knew that there was no room for her in the city, so she escaped first."

  But the environment in the suburbs is freezing cold, and the single pregnant woman has almost nowhere to go, and probably can only borrow some dilapidated houses for shelter.

  Wicker frowned: "It's quite a distance from Xikou Village to the mine we're going to now. Can a pregnant woman survive?"

   "Maybe she can." The door panel said roughly, "The thing in her stomach is not human, maybe she can do something."

  Wicker snorted.

  Chifeng is thirty miles northwest of Panlong City, not far away. This is one of the most important mines in the northwest. The iron and copper produced are of good and stable quality. After years of development, a small town has formed at the foot of the mountain, called Chifeng Town, with a population of more than 1,000.

  Relying on the mountain to eat the mountain, the main body of the townspeople are miners, blacksmiths, officials and their families. The ore dug out is smelted and cast on site, saving labor and time, and then it is inspected and purchased by the official and transported to the city.

  During the long-term war in Panlong City, he attached great importance to ironware, and when he learned that the mine had collapsed, he immediately sent people there.

  The further you go to the northwest, the fewer trees there are and the more rocks there are. The ups and downs of the hilly areas are unmistakable, and some steep peaks can't even hold the snow, revealing a dark background.

   But there are a lot of animals here. There is a large herd of wild deer eating lichens in the snow. They don’t panic when they see people rushing by, and they still stand in place and chew.

  He Lingchuan and others rushed to Chifeng Town, and saw that the road leading to the mine was indeed blocked, and it was blocked near the entrance. Because of the need for ore transportation, the mountain road here has been specially widened and repaired to facilitate the transportation of horses and horses, but now the snow on the high mountain has fallen, and along with large pieces of weathered rock, it has been smashed on the road, which is tightly blocked. .

  But now the work of unblocking is in full swing. He Lingchuan saw two huge ice and rock puppets digging rocks and snow. They were more than two feet tall and taller than his golden armored bronze man. Their bodies were made of solid ice and rocks, and their palms were taller than a door Big enough to be used as a digging shovel, without lower limbs, replaced by four or five large ice wheels, so that it saves effort to carry heavy objects.

  The cultivator who summoned these two goods must be nearby, the longer they are maintained, the more spiritual power they will consume.

The reason why manpower was not used for excavation is that the giant ice rock puppets are stronger and more efficient; secondly, rocks will fall every now and then on the mountain, the big one is wider than the round table, and the small one is bigger than the coconut. If Lifu was hit, his head could be split open.

   As for the person responsible for carrying the rock and ice, in addition to ordinary mules and horses, He Lingchuan actually saw more than a dozen huge long-haired bison with a pair of curved horns on their heads, and the hair almost covered their eyes.

  These big guys are extremely muscular, and they don’t look like they have a good temper, but they obediently put on vehicles, haul engineering waste for humans, and spray white steam from their noses with great effort.

   A buffalo can pull a cart full of waste rock. With their help, the unblocking work is much faster.

  Everyone was amazed, Liu Tiao raised his hand and pointed at the top of the mountain: "Look, Shanze!"

   All living beings are busy, but a solid rock protrudes above the mountain road, and a huge sand-yellow leopard is lying on top of it.

  It is larger than ordinary lions, lying down in a lazy posture, and is cleaning its front paw pads with its head down.

  The palm and claw are comparable to cattail fans.

  He Lingchuan Daqi: "This is the local mountain in Chifeng?" It looks familiar, isn't it also a sand leopard that caused him to fall off the cliff, and it also opened his fate with the divine bone necklace by the way.

   Hey wait a minute, isn’t Zhong Shengguang’s soul pet a sand leopard?

"That's Master Zhong's partner." There was respect in Willow's voice, "It is said that it is the leader of the sand leopard that Master Zhong conquered in the third year after he came to Panlong Wasteland. Ze."

  If one person attains the Tao, even chickens and dogs can ascend to heaven, let alone a leopard demon who already has real materials?

  Shanze sits in the town himself, no wonder the long-haired bison underneath is submissive, and the human beings have to wear nose rings for themselves.

  He Lingchuan sighed, the ancestor of the little leopard demon was still Shanze, who had the position of imperial gift, how did he become a whole nest of bandits later?

  One generation is not as good as one generation.

  The Shanze leopard demon didn't know that he was planning himself in his heart, stretched himself on the huge rock, and then roared at a lazy bison.

   Startled by the saw-like roar, the buffalo got down to work.

  He Lingchuan only took a few breaths, and there was a burst of cheers on the mountain road: the first blockage point has been opened.

  Someone in the town beckoned to him, and He Lingchuan and his party drove over.

  This person is the chief of Chifeng Town, he is dark and thin, with high cheekbones and a naturally sad face.

  He said to He Lingchuan: "There are three teams in total, right?"

  He Lingchuan looked around the town, and sure enough, he saw other guards. Since defeating Meng Shan, He Lingchuan's fame has spread among warriors, and most of the guards recognize him and are now nodding to him.

  The door panel answered: "Yes."

   "Then everyone is here." The chief called other guards to come over and enter the temple in the town. This temple is dedicated to Empress Mitian. The back hall is very large, and it is not too crowded for more than twenty people to enter. "My surname is Hu, and I am in charge of the affairs of Chifeng Town. I have received an order to introduce the situation here to you."

"Our mine is not hidden deep, it is close to the main road, and it can be mined in winter. Go deeper, although there are several rich mines there, but in winter, the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, so we can't get in." One of the reasons why Longcheng attaches great importance to it is, "It has snowed heavily in the past three days, but the road to the mine has been fine until yesterday when there was an avalanche suddenly, and the avalanche was huge, blocking the mountain road for at least two or three miles, making it very difficult to clear. "

  Chang Lichang continued: "The problem is that the mine has never stopped, and there are always people inside. We heard from the workers who escaped that monsters seem to have entered the mine and can eat people."

   "Cannibalism?" Several captains exchanged glances, "What does it look like?"

   "I don't know, the inside of the mine is pitch black, and the thing moves so fast that they can't see clearly. Sometimes they hear the screams of their companions, and they are gone when they rush over."

  He Lingchuan asked: "Is it the work of a monster or a beast?"

   "With the leopard Shanze, the local monsters dare not attack humans, and even the wild beasts avoid people three points." Hu Lichang said, "Shanze also went to ask his subordinates, and they all said they didn't eat people."

"By the way, some townspeople heard strange noises before the avalanche, like babies crying. At that time, everyone thought it was the wild cat in the mountains, but the more they heard it, the weirder it became." Hu Lichang swallowed, "Actually, half of the town Yue also lost two people. Well, there were originally three people, and one of them picked up firewood and went far away, and was blocked by wind and snow for two days before returning..."

  Another captain, Xu Chun, interrupted him: "Are those two lost or died?"

  “One went shopping eleven days ago and didn’t come back; another man named Ding lived in our town. When everyone got up the next day, they found his door was open and he was gone.”

   "Is there any blood?"

   "There is no trace of blood, and there are no traces of struggle or fighting." Hu Lichang said, "The footprints of his house go out, and they disappear after four or five feet to the west. The snow is very thick, and the footprints are very clear."

   That is to say, after walking four or five feet away from the house, Lao Ding disappeared?

  He Lingchuan thought that this town was built in a valley, and there was not enough space, so the houses were all next to each other, and the sound insulation was probably only a little bit better than his wooden house in Panlong City. If a missing person is attacked, neighbors should at least hear the screams.

   Could it be that he was attacked while he was asleep and had no power to resist?

  Wicker stood up: "The man who disappeared in the town, which house does he live in?"

   Hu Li pointed to her.

  Wicker said to everyone: "I'll go back as soon as I go."

When she went to investigate, Hu Lichang smiled wryly and said: "After Lao Ding disappeared, the people in the town were all anxious and did not dare to sleep peacefully at night. In addition to the matter of the mine... Please be sure to get rid of the monsters, otherwise the city will send a The cast iron task that came down is really difficult to complete."

   There are quantitative indicators for how many iron pieces the Chifeng Mine has to hand over every month.

  Xu Chun was about to speak, when the woman who brought in the hot water suddenly interrupted: "Minister, why didn't you tell the inspectors about that woman? She also came half a month ago, and the time was right!"

   Hu Lichang glared at her: "What nonsense, don't make trouble here!"

  Where will the guards let go of clues? "What woman?"

"Don't listen to this woman's nonsense, Mr. Inspector. Seventeen or eight days ago, a woman came to the town and said she was going to join her relatives. But her relatives have died long ago. We feel sorry for her with a big belly. We allocated an empty house for her to live in."

  Have a big belly? Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, alert in their hearts. Wasn't Panlong City investigating pregnant women a while ago? The timeline does match up.

  He Lingchuan suddenly asked: "Does it look like you are in your fifties, thin and short?"

   "It's a bit short and thin, but it's not fifty, right?" Hu Lichang was taken aback by what he said, "It's only about thirty."

  Mother Duan Shui suddenly said: "He was born quite fair."

  He Lingchuan had an accident.

  He thought it would be the old woman he met.

  Xu Chun then asked: "Where is she?"

   "She left a few days ago." Hou Lichang shook his head, "She said she was five or six months pregnant, and we think it's at least September. It's scary, how can she stay here for a long time?"

  (end of this chapter)