After the Fairy Disappeared

  Chapter 316 The Hidden Prey

  It is far away from the urban area, and it is freezing in the sky. I don’t know how dangerous it is to give birth.

   "Where is she from?"

   "They said they were asking about Zexiang, but I don't think so."

   At this time, Liu Tiao came back and said to everyone: "Come and have a look, I found something."

  He Lingchuan followed her to Lao Ding's house in big strides. This guy is a miner, and he has been single for nearly thirty years and still lives in a mud house. The things inside are messy, there are wine vessels everywhere, all the pots and jars are empty, and the most smelly thing is a chicken feather quilt. Luckily the door was open, blowing away some of the pickle smell.

  But the wicker jumped onto the roof of Lao Ding’s house and began to pull thatch: “Look.”

  The wind and snow in the northwest has always been stronger than that of Panlong City, so the roofs here are sharper, covered with thick bamboo tiles and thatch. It was piled up layer by layer, and now it is full of thick snow, like a person wearing a tall hat.

   Just looking at the snow on these roofs, it seems that the house can be collapsed.

  Bai Xue and the thatch had already been torn open by the wicker, and now she tore off more thatch, revealing what was inside, and everyone gasped in surprise.

   There is actually someone hiding here.

  Frozen hard dead.

  The skinny man lifted Hu Lichang up to the roof, pointed to the dead face protruding from the straw, and said, "Is this someone named Ding?"

  The dead man’s eyes were still staring wide open, Hu Lichang met his eyes, and said, “It’s really old Ding, he…vomit!”

  He glanced at Lao Ding's upper body accidentally, and couldn't help bowing his head and retching.

  The deceased was disemboweled, and the heart, liver, spleen, stomach and kidneys were gone, leaving only a few pieces of intestines, probably the murderer thought it tasted bad.

  Then the facts are already very clear. Lao Ding was lifted to the roof by the murderer when he stepped out of the house that night. No wonder there was only one set of footprints on the snow.

  Wicker suddenly said again: "The one surnamed Ding is dead. Looking at his throat, he should have been eaten alive."

  Lao Ding's neck was black and blue, the corners of his mouth were bleeding, and the pain before death was condensed on his face. The monster pinned his neck to keep him from screaming as he ate.

   That is to say, he was watching the monster swallow him alive.

   Hou Lichang straightened up, and vomited again after hearing this sentence.

  It was too cold, Lao Ding's body quickly froze, and was hidden in the thatch without attracting attention, so he "disappeared".

  He Lingchuan asked Liu Tiao: "How did you find out?"

   "Smells." Wicker sniffled, "I have a good nose."

   "..."

   "You can bury this thing after eating it." Xu Chun asked Chief Hu, "Did you find any other strange footprints in the snow near your town that morning?"

   "Uh... I didn't see it, and no one else came to report it." Hu Lichang hesitated, "We often have some grouse and deer passing by here."

   "After the pregnant woman from outside left, Lao Ding died?"

"Oh, in reverse. Lao Ding died, and the pregnant woman turned pale with fright, rolled up her bag and left." Hu Lichang smiled wryly, "She was pregnant and clumsy, how could we expect her to be related to the murder? "

   "Where do pregnant women live?"

  Holiday leader led the crowd to the last hut at the end of the street: "She lived here for several days, and I even asked someone to bring her charcoal and food."

  There is no one in the house, the charcoal basin has long since frosted, and the quilt on the kang is as thin as iron. He Lingchuan entered the room and looked around, as if he didn't see anything unusual. After all, the furnishings here were as simple as his wooden house, but when he lifted the quilt on the kang, he found a bloodstain on the mattress.

   "Looks like paw prints." Liu Tiao gestured with her palm, "It's only half the size of my palm."

  The paw print was only half the size of a woman's palm, and everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. Broken-mouthed woman sneaked in to see, and couldn't help but said, "Could it be a brat?"

   "That's right." Another team member nodded, "This is a ghost."

   As soon as the last two words came out, the mother-in-law's whole body turned cold: "Could it be, could it be that the man-eating monster crawled out of her stomach?"

  All the guards nodded together. Panlong City has offered rewards for Jindu ghost cubs for quite some time.

  The mother-in-law was afraid, and murmured: "I just said that she is weird, and I feel awkward when I get close to her."

  Churri Chief was about to speak again, but Liu Tiao made a silent gesture to him, telling the old lady to continue: "Does she have a grudge with Lao Ding?"

"Old Ding is a drunkard, and he likes to go crazy when he drinks too much." The old woman said, "On the third night when the woman came to town, Lao Ding slammed on the door of the house and said that he would work for the child in her belly." Father, the woman didn't dare to open the door, so he vomited all over the floor at the door, woke up the next day and didn't make a sound, and was said a few words by the head of the village."

"Oh, let me tell you, let me tell you—" The mother-in-law remembered something again, "A few days ago, the hen that laid eggs in Ah Zhen's house was lost, and the six-year-old child next door pointed out that this woman stole it. Let's see She has a big belly and thinks it's impossible to bend over. Now that I think about it, why is it impossible? She's pregnant with a ghost!"

  Another guard touched the corner of the table, and suddenly said: "There are a few pinches of ashes on it... probably incense ash."

   "She has lighted incense here. If she also stole chicken, it might be rewarding God." Duan Xinyu laughed, "It's getting late, hurry up the mountain, we can go home for dinner if we hurry up."

   Immediately, everyone took the mine map in the hands of the chief, left the town, and headed for the mine.

  The sand leopard Shanze was still lying on the rock and said to the guards: "The evils in the mine are also attacking monsters. Now no monsters are willing to approach. I still have to supervise the work, so I won't accompany you in."

   At this time, the mountain road has been cleared for half a mile, and there are gravels falling from the mountain from time to time. The carriages and horses could not pass, so everyone had to go on foot.

  The obstacles formed by the snow stones can't stop these agile patrols at all, let alone Shanze.

  So everyone quickly turned over the blocked road and headed for the mine.

  Fu Sanli, the mine is here.

  The entrance is very narrow, only as wide as two gates, hidden under the mountain wall, covered by several old pine trees.

  A row of low houses beside the mine. Miners don't sleep in caves, these houses are where they usually rest.

   But now the bungalows are empty, and there are still some bloodstains on the ground.

  He Lingchuan noticed that a **** paw print was left on a low wall, an inch into the wall—the monster seemed to have only three toes.

   "This thing has sharp claws." Duan Xinyu also saw it. The bungalows are all made of local materials and built with stones. This piece of blue rock is quite hard. He drew his knife and made a slash, bursting out sparks. "Cut it off and see if it can be made into a magic weapon, preferably a hook."

   Seeing his relaxed expression, He Lingchuan reminded: "Don't take it lightly, the later the Jindu ghost cubs are born, the stronger they will be."

  Panlong City has already arrested six ghost cubs, and only three are still at large. According to Dong Rui, these heads are even more powerful.

  Duan Xinyu looked at him and smiled and said, "You are very stable. It's okay, I'll take the lead for you." He turned and greeted his teammates, "Let's go, go into the cave."

  What's the matter with this man? He Lingchuan felt hostility.

   Duan Xinyu's deputy captain, Wang Xu, stayed a few steps back and said to He Lingchuan in a low voice: "Sorry, please don't worry about it. Our captain is in a bad mood recently, and everyone is angry."

  His tone was very friendly, and He Lingchuan smiled back: "It's okay."

  Wang Xu smiled, nodded, and trotted away.

  Xu Chun also smiled and waved at He Lingchuan, ordering his team to enter the cave.

  The door rubbed his chin and said, "You've been in the limelight recently, no wonder that guy doesn't like you."

  He Lingchuan has not taken off the No. 7 champion signboard, so there is a high chance of being turned back on the road, especially the little girl who always likes to rub against him.

  Some people admire it, so naturally some people are jealous and some people hate it.

  He Lingchuan asked the team members to make some preparations before following them.

  Three teams entered the hole, all holding up the bundles of fluorescent grass. This kind of light is more stable than torches, and the brightness is not bad, and patrols are often prepared to perform tasks.

  The construction of mines is very manpower-intensive, usually narrow and short, tall people like He Lingchuan can only bend down to move forward, and in some places even have to bend their knees.

   What He Lingchuan planned was how to use it in such a short and narrow place in case of encountering an enemy?

  I saw two mine carts on the road, but no one was there, and one of them was stained with blood on the handlebar.

   They walked all the way in and saw two pools of blood stains, which were also identified as human blood, but they didn't see a single corpse.

  Everyone raised their vigilance instead, and even Duan Xinyu, who was hanging around before, buckled two poison darts in his hand—in the Panlong Wasteland, careless soldiers can't live long.

   Fortunately, after a short walk, the road opened up, as if entering a natural cave tunnel, and water began to seep from the surrounding rock walls.

  There is a lot of water seepage in the tunnel, and sometimes you may even meet an underground lake. Everyone doesn't care much, and they continue to move forward after confirming that the water drops are non-toxic.

   Not long after, Liu Tiao covered her nose and said, "This hole smells a little bit."

  Xu Chun also said: "The intersection ahead is not marked on the map at all."

  A three-way intersection appeared in front of it. The size and width looked the same, and the depth was a dark mass.

   "Should we advance and retreat together, or each choose a path?"

  The thin man immediately said: "The other party most wants us to separate and attack each other. I don't think we can let them have their way."

  He Lingchuan shook his head secretly, isn't this guy usually very good at watching his face, why doesn't it work at critical moments?

   Sure enough, Duan Xinyu pointed to the leftmost path: "I'll choose the west path, you can do whatever you want."

  Xu Chun frowned: "Do you really want to split the operation?"

   "It's not good if the opponent takes the blame." Duan Xinyu said seriously, "You see the passage is so narrow, more than 20 of us all walk in the same way, how do we use it when we meet the enemy?"

   This made sense, He Lingchuan raised his chin to his teammates, and walked into the central passage first without talking to the others.

  Xu Chun watched the fluorescence of their team disappear at the end of the passage, shook his head and said, "Has he offended you?"

  Duan Xinyu let out a heck and led the team to the left.

  …

  He Lingchuan and others walked deeper and deeper, and soon there was no movement behind.

  The thin man whispered: "How could Chief Hou give a wrong map?"

  The Chifeng Mine has been developed for some time, and many roads have been opened in it. If you are not a veteran, it is easy to get lost, so the map was drawn.

  (end of this chapter)