"I have also investigated the specific situation over there."
Professor Tenasi stood up as he spoke. He opened the black drawer and took out a thick piece of information.
Card Xiu took it and glanced at it quickly. The information contained information about the history of the two cities, as well as specific information about the Alfama Mountains. The content was quite detailed, and he nodded.
"Professor Tenacy is attentive."
Tenasi smiled as he sat in his seat. He was not a half-empty person. He had real qualifications to become a professor at Wen Mingda University. As long as the money was in place, it wouldn't be a problem.
Picking up the tea, Tenasi took a sip.
Before he had time to swallow, he saw a bulging yellow envelope on the table. A big hand pushed the envelope over until it rested in front of the white porcelain cup tray.
"Professor Tenacy, be careful."
Gulu.
Professor Tenasi quickly swallowed the tea, a smile appeared on his face, and he stuffed the envelope into his pocket naturally. Just by the feel of the hand, he knew that the banknotes were enough.
Fifteen minutes later, at the door of the office.
Professor Tenasi enthusiastically shouted to Cardiff's leaving figure: "Mr. Dusk, you can come to me next time if you have anything to do..."
When Cassius disappeared at the top of the stairs, Tenasi was still standing in the corridor. He patted the bulging pockets of his clothes with his hands, a smile appeared on his face again, and he closed the door with a bang.
There was a faint cheerful whistle in the office.
************************
It was June 18, 107 calendar year of the Hongli Federation, and the weather was fine.
Shire County is a large county located in the northern part of the Hongli Federation, with a population of more than 10 million and close to 20 million. Shire County has a flat shape geographically, similar to an egg placed horizontally on the table. The west side
Against the Alfama Mountains and connected to the ocean on the east side, there are several medium-sized coastal cities.
Its economic development also naturally shows a decline from the coast to the inland. Among them, the two cities with the worst development are Jinghu City and Mingshan City, which are close to the Alfama Mountains.
Of course, the poor development here is compared with other cities in Shire County. In fact, Jinghu City and Mingshan City can be regarded as above-average cities nationwide. They mainly provide log materials.
, and develop tourism. In summer, these two cities are very popular for summer vacation.
Every time it is hot, there will be a large number of tourists coming.
Therefore, the safety of tourists is a big issue.
However, Mingshan City, Jinghu City, has always done a relatively good job, with a large number of police officers and remarkable operational efficiency.
Due to comprehensive factors, there are more and more tourists here. Various industries that rely on tourism are booming.
Jinghu City, Police Station.
Sheriff Burton was sitting in an office, reading this morning's Jinghu City Morning News, and took a sip of hot coffee.
"Is it another prank by some bored tourist?"
He shook his head speechlessly. In the corner of the newspaper was a report with a lot of words and black and white pictures.
“Mysterious patterns suddenly appear at Kerston Farm in the south of Mirror Lake!”
The picture is of a remote open space on a farm. There is an incomprehensible black pattern on the ground. There are messy lines inside the circular pattern, which look like teeth or claws, and some unknown text symbols like tadpoles.
.
Later in the report, there was expert analysis, saying that black charcoal was used to draw the pattern, and some plant ash and the like were added.
Burton smiled. With the rapid development of tourism in Jinghu City, there are always some eye-catching tourists who take the wrong approach.
Just half a year ago, the Purple Mirror Lake incident occurred in Jinghu City. It was said that a large number of tourists saw that part of the surface of Jinghu Lake would turn into a magnificent and beautiful purple color in the early morning. There were different opinions at the time. Some people said that it was
Miracles, which some say are mysterious scientific phenomena, have caused great fluctuations.
As a result, it was later discovered that they were a few college students traveling from other places. For fun, they dropped purple dye on the edge of Jinghu Lake every early morning. In the end, these people were also arrested and detained in the police station on the grounds of damaging the environment of Jinghu Lake.
a few days.
The nonsense mysterious pattern incident in Jinghu City Morning News today is probably a similar situation. If it is really some kind of sect priest, why don't you use blood to draw the pattern? Just use some charcoal and plant ash to fool people, most of them are idle
A guy with nothing to do. Burton shook his head and put down the newspaper.
"Tuk tuk tuk..."
A series of rapid knocks sounded at the door.
"Please come in." Burton raised his head slightly.
Immediately, a young police officer walked in with a somewhat anxious expression on his face: "Chief, there was another disappearance this morning..."
"What?"
Burton frowned and suddenly felt a headache.
The last half month can be said to be the end of the police department, as disappearances have occurred one after another in Jinghu City. Many foreign tourists were fine one day but disappeared unknowingly the next day.
Today, it seems that another disappearance case occurred.
Next, as expected, Burton was called to the office by his boss. Five minutes later, he walked out of the office quickly and came to the area where many police officers from the criminal unit were.
"Come with me from the Criminal Division, there's another case coming."
More than half an hour later.
South of Jinghu City, a small town between the Alfama Mountains and Jinghu Lake. There are many police officers in dark blue uniforms questioning people in the town, and some of them lower their heads and take notes.
"Nothing happened last night. As usual, we walked around the town with Sara and ate some special delicacies in Jinghu City. Sara was still there when we woke up this morning. She said
She wanted to go downstairs for a walk, but unexpectedly she disappeared. Later we went to look for it and only found a necklace given to her by Sarah's mother next to the Mirror Lake..."
"You said it was the blond female college student? I saw her when I was walking in the town in the morning. I saw her walking towards Jinghu Lake. It was about six o'clock in the morning. Later, her partner came
Asking and looking for her everywhere in the town..."
…
At the edge of the town, Burton turned to ask a police officer.
"Any useful clues?"
"No, but our colleagues from other teams are looking for traces around Jinghu Lake. The number of police officers mobilized by the police station this time is far beyond the normal, and we should be able to get some important clues."
More than an hour later, the dense forest on the east side of Jinghu Lake.
White clouds floated in the blue sky, and the sun shone on the trees, making the green leaves shine. The wind and waves blew through the trees, causing waves to ripple, and the leaves rustled overhead, as if it were raining. It continued from far to near.
Near and far.
Sometimes it's in the east, sometimes it's in the west.
In a clearing of sparse trees, the sun casts long mottled shadows from the gaps between the leaves, which is both warm and cool.
The surrounding landscape looks very peaceful and comfortable.
If we exclude the body lying on the ground.
Burton was wearing a blue police uniform, and from time to time he raised his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead. He was slightly fat and had a big face. Next to Burton stood a tall, thin man with a hooked nose and a mouth.
There was also a black pipe in his mouth.
Special Mobile Division, Sergeant Randy.
Randy took a puff of his cigarette and said to Burton next to him: "It's strange, isn't it? It looks like it was taken away by a wild beast, but there are no bite marks on the body, only the holes on the neck..."
The two people's eyes converged. The female corpse lying on the ground was very neatly dressed, and there was no sign of struggle. Her expression seemed a little confused before death, and her face was pale. The wound was on her slender neck, with three pairs of holes like snake bites.
.
A few minutes later, colleagues from the identification department determined the preliminary results.
The woman died of severe blood loss, and the blood was not drained from the wound, but was sucked dry by some kind of creature. The three pairs of holes on the neck of the female corpse are the traces left by that kind of creature sucking blood.
"Wolf? Brown bear? Tiger? Or bat or something?"
When Burton saw the report, his thoughts were racing. However, he really could not imagine that any creature could suck all the blood of an adult, and the places where the blood was sucked were just a few small pinholes.
"Go back and submit the report to the director..."
Three days later, it was June 21, 107 C.E.
"Another disappearance case!? It's the fifteenth day of this month!"
Burton patted his head with a headache, put the newspaper in his hand on the table, then stood up and hurried to the director's office.
Two minutes passed.
"There's nothing we can do about this..."
Director Kenneth sighed: "We can only try our best to do our job well, after all, it involves another..." He paused: "I reported it to my superiors three days ago, and they said they would send someone here.
Deal with this matter..."
"Calculate the time, it should be here soon..."
Kenneth and Burton chatted for a while, and about ten minutes later, there was another subtle knock on the door.
"Please come in." Kenneth looked up.
A police officer walked in quickly.
"Director, there is a strangely dressed man outside who wants to see you. We have temporarily placed him in the hall."
"Dressed strangely?" Burton couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, he was wearing all black on a hot day. A wide-brimmed sun hat, a large windbreaker, sunglasses, a mask and gloves." The police officer had a strange look on his face, obviously he had never encountered such a strange person before.
On the other side, Jinghu City Railway Station.
A steam train roared to a halt on the platform.
"Passengers, please get off the bus, we have arrived in Jinghu City." The conductor came down from the top and shouted loudly while directing the crowd.
Passengers quickly left the platform carrying their suitcases.
"Is there anyone who hasn't gotten off the car yet? Jinghu City has arrived!"
The conductor shouted into the carriage.
A few seconds later, a tall and handsome figure walked out of the carriage. His long golden hair was as flamboyant as a lion's mane, shining in the sunlight. Passengers around him looked over, but no one came close. It seemed that he was
He was frightened away by the other person's statue-like perfect figure and handsome face.
The conductor next to him suddenly got stuck. He seemed to be shocked by the passenger's outstanding appearance and indescribable temperament.
The blond man didn't care about the gazes around him. He raised his head and glanced at the blue sky, where a row of white birds flew past.
The clouds were soft, covering less than half of the sun.
"The weather is so nice... No wonder my uncle is retiring here..."
The man murmured to himself. Then under the gaze of the conductor, he squeezed through the crowd and walked away with his suitcase.
The same platform, but in the afternoon.
The sky is dim and the clouds are changing. Like a painter's palette, yellow and red are mixed together. The clouds are like a golden field or the sparkling sea.
Another steam train came to the platform puffing out steam.
A large number of vacationing tourists came down amidst the shouts of the conductor, and left in groups with clear goals.
Snap.
Black shoes stepped on the platform.
A tall man walked down. He was about 1.9 meters tall. He was wearing a gray T-shirt on his upper body and a pair of black trousers on the bottom. He was carrying a large suitcase in his hand, which was at least larger than that of ordinary tourists.
About double.
But it didn't look too out of place. Perhaps because of the man's tall stature, the box seemed small in his hands.
The man stood on the platform and looked down at his watch. Then he took steps and quickly blended into the crowd of tourists around him.
Early the next morning, Lillian Senior Apartment.
Ka Xiu opened his eyes on the bed, and a ray of sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, splitting the white sheets into two halves. He got up and washed briefly, then walked into the spacious living room in a few steps.
There was a knock on the door outside.
"Mr. Dusk, your breakfast has arrived."
There was a clear and sweet female voice outside the door.
"OK."
Ka Xiu walked over and opened the door.
Outside is a female student with a good face and graceful figure. She looks young and is wearing a uniform.
She held the dinner plate in her fair hands and waited quietly.
"come in."
Cardiff immediately returned to the room, and the waitress came in and put breakfast on the table, then left respectfully.
Lillian Residences has some similarities with hotel services.
Card Xiu sat down at the table and began to eat his first breakfast in Jinghu City. It tasted pretty good. While eating, he recalled the information that he had almost memorized in his mind. He wanted to use these clues to find Yaqaba.
Relics are not easy. After all, we only locked an area. We can only say that we have made some progress.
Whether it will be found in more than a month is still unknown, and Ka Xiu is ready to run away at any time.
After finishing breakfast, I picked up the Jinghu City Morning News that came with the dinner plate. A bold title was prominently displayed.
"A series of disappearances suddenly appeared in Jinghu City!"
Then there is the general situation of the case. It is said that there were 20 disappearances in Jinghu City in one month, including locals and tourists. The police found three corpses. The cause of death was all due to blood loss. It was suspected that they were killed by something.
Drained the blood!
"Vampire?" Ka Xiu shook his head indifferently.
There are many such reports everywhere, some are true and some are false. There is nothing unusual about them being published in newspapers.
He looked down at the report again.
The report mentioned that almost all the missing persons were on the side of Mirror Lake close to the Alfama Mountains. And according to some traces, the victims seemed to have been taken into the mountains.
"etc!"
"Mirror Lake, mountains, dense forests, vampires, ruins..."
Multiple elements are spliced together and gradually combined.
Card Xiu couldn't help but murmur to himself. There was a vague picture in his mind, which was the memory of dusk.
"The secret potion of suspended animation?"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I'm not in the right state today, so I'm trying my best to adjust.
There will be more updates tomorrow, so go to bed early.