The morning in the penal colony still smells of the familiar cold cold.

Bu Yangying returned to the release office and was about to find the leader Yan Beixing to reply to the task, just walked into the tower, Yan Beixing's face was grim, and he was about to go out.

Before he could reply, Yan Beixing opened his mouth first. "Come with me. ”

There was an air of mystery and seriousness in the penal colony, and no one knew what was going on.

There were more than 20 people in the square who were ready to go, and Nalan Invincible didn't bother to greet him, and followed behind Uncle Hai, who also had a stern face.

The small-eyed Musheng, the black beard is fierce, and Ding Busan and Ding Busi are all in the team, wearing chain mail and holding knives, guns and shields.

Bu Yangying had never encountered such a scene in exile.

As the affairs officer of Yan Beixing, he can only follow closely.

In the white flash mixed team, he was accompanied by more than a dozen hunting dogs.

"Black Tower, lead the way. "Yan's order to go north is like a cold north wind.

The Black Tower turned his horse's head and ran towards the high wall of the penal colony.

The heavy wooden doors of the penal colony slowly opened, and the thousand-year-old jet-black iron suspension bridge was lowered heavily, lapping against the cold earth.

Led by the Black Tower, the horse team shot like arrows and stepped into the wilderness beyond the Seven Kingdoms.

The Black Tower led the group and stopped at a boulder on the edge of the forest.

Everyone was amazed to see two corpses under Chen Hengshi.

"This is Ma Tie," Lin Mang, the head of the recruit sect, declared sadly, "It's a pity, he is a good fighter." He walked over to the other corpse and turned it around with his foot, "This is Haiyue, you can't be wrong." ”

The faces of the two corpses were pale, and the blue-orange-orange eyes were wide open, staring at the overcast sky.

"They are all cavalry commanders Su Dingfang's subordinates, what about General Su?" Lin Mang asked puzzled.

There was a faint uneasiness in everyone's hearts.

Bu Yangying asked Mu Sheng in the team, and only then did he roughly know the whole story.

It turned out that the penal colony received a letterhead from the east, questioning Shangguan Qi's whereabouts, and declaring that he would see people alive and corpses when he died.

And only Qin Xueying accompanied Shangguan Qi to patrol outside the high wall that day, and Qin Xueying escaped from the exile and was cut off by Bu Yangchen.

Shangguan Qi never returned, and no one knew Shangguan Qi's whereabouts again.

The exile had no choice but to send a cavalry commander to make Su Dingfang lead people to look for it.

Now, Su Dingfang's whereabouts are unknown, and two of the people he brought were found in the field when the Black Tower patrolled.

Bu Yangying's original greatest wish was to enter the cavalry team of the penal colony, and he was once worried about not being able to become a cavalryman. Now looking at Ma Tie's cold corpse, his mood is mixed.

Maybe it should be me who lies there, he thought sadly.

"Hey—" Yan Beixing muttered. He rolled over and jumped off his horse, handing the reins to Bu Yangying.

It was an unusually warm morning, and beads of sweat were on the broad forehead of the supreme leader of the place, like dew on the surface of the bayberry.

His mount looked cramped, as if frightened by the corpse, rolling his eyes and tugging at the reins, trying to pull away from the dead man. Bu Yangying led it away a few steps, trying not to let it break free and run.

The horses didn't like the feeling of being here, and then again, neither did Bu Yangying himself.

The hounds hated it even more.

The whole pack of dogs was like crazy, barking and barking, desperately trying to escape. Even after such a good moment, they still roared and wailed, pulling the leash hard, and cursing for it.

It's just a forest, it's just two dead people, Bu Yangying told himself.

Nalan was invincible and curled up under a tree, half-hiding behind a herd of horses.

His chubby face was the color of a dried persimmon sprinkled with a hundred sides. Although he did not flee into the forest to vomit and diarrhea, he did not dare to look at the dead body. "I don't dare to look at it. He whispered pitifully.

"You can't help but look. Bu Yangying said to him, lowering her voice to keep others from hearing. "You are now part of the Exile Think Tank and cannot turn a blind eye to anything. If your eyes are closed, what's the use?"

"That's the way it is, but ...... Big Brother Shadow, I'm such a coward. ”

Bu Yangying put his hand on Nalan Invincible's shoulder. "There are a dozen horsemen here, and a herd of hounds, and my White Flash. Nalan is invincible, no one hurt you, go take a look, the first glance is always the hardest. ”

Nalan nodded tremblingly, it was obvious that he was mustering up his courage, and then began to slowly turn his head. His eyes widened suddenly, but Bu Yangying grabbed his hand and wouldn't let him turn away.

"Lin Mang," Yan Beixing asked angrily, "Commander Su went out to investigate and brought six people, where did the others go?"

Lin Mang shook his head. "If only I knew. ”

Yan Beixing was obviously very dissatisfied with this answer. "Two horsemen were slaughtered almost as far as the eye could see on the high wall, but we heard nothing, saw nothing, are the Guardians so lazy?

"Of course there is, my lord, but ......"

"Have we sent any men on horseback to patrol?"

"Yes, but ......"

"This Ma Tie has a wolf bone whistle on his body," Uncle Hai pointed to Ma Tie's corpse, which was still hanging from the corpse's neck, and said, "I can't believe that someone can kill the well-trained cavalry in the penal colony without even giving him a chance to call the police?" Or is the sentry on the high wall blind and deaf?"

The infantry commander made Han Jian's hair stand on end, and the sentries on the high wall were guarded by him. "My lord, no one blows the trumpet, or my people will hear it. Now that I don't have enough manpower, I can't fully deploy the post as I intended, and we've narrowed the outpost to get closer to the wall than before. ”

Yan Beixing muttered, "Alas, too." Then forget it. He waved his hand impatiently. "Tell me how they died?"

Lin Mang squatted down beside Haiyue, grabbing his hair and grabbing his head. Strands of hair fell from his fingers, crunchy as straw. "Damn. Lin Mang cursed and turned the corpse's face over with his fingers.

There was a deep wound on the neck on the other side of the corpse, like a large mouth, which was filled with dried blood clots. Only a few tendons remain between the head and neck. "He was hacked to death with an axe. ”

"That's right," muttered Gan Tiesheng, the head of the armory, "My lords, if you want me to say that he is the axe that Ma Tie usually uses. ”

"It's just nonsense," Yan Beixing was unusually dissatisfied, "they are all cavalry, so why did Ma Tie kill Haiyue? Yan Beixing shook his head, "If Ma Tie hacked Haiyue to death, how did Ma Tie die?"

"Lord Yan Beixing, I know weapons well, and the wounds cut by different axes are different. Gan Tiesheng said lightly.

Yan Beixing stubbornly turned his head and ignored him.

Bu Yangying only felt a churn in his stomach, but he forced himself to purse his lips and force himself to look at the second corpse. Ma Tie was a tall and ugly person before his death, and his body was also big and ugly after his death.

But there was no sign of the axe in the four strokes.

Bu Yangying and Nalan Invincible didn't like Ma Tie, but now he was lying in the cold snow, and all grievances were written off.

The days when he bullied Nalan for invincibility came to an end. "If you can stand up, I'd rather be beaten by you. Nalan Invincible said softly.

Ma Tie's hands were as completely black as Haiyue's, and the wounds were all over his body like a rash, from his legs to his chest to his throat, and they were like decorated with dried blood flowers.

His eyes were still open, sapphire beads staring into the air.

"Savages also have axes. Lin Mang said, "Maybe it was done by the wild people of the Snow Mountain." ”

Uncle Hai said to him in a provocative tone, "Then in your opinion, the wild people dare to come to the foot of the high wall and kill people so close to us?"

"My lord, who else else?"

The real answer was almost blurted out by everyone present.

But no one wanted to say.

The monster outside the high wall is just a story made up by an old mother who scares and cries at night.

If it existed, it would have been 5,000 years ago.

It's like a nightmare that has been going on for thousands of years, and no one wants to talk about it lightly.

It's a stupid idea to even think about it.

But the leader of Yan Beixing snorted: "If General Su Dingfang is attacked by savages so close to the place of exile, according to his character, he will definitely come back and send more troops and horses, and chase down those attackers until the Netherworld will give up." ”

"Unless even he himself is killed. Lin Mang said.

Hearing this silenced and heartache for all those present.

General Su Dingfang has been taking people out for a month, and expecting him to be alive under such circumstances is tantamount to self-deception, but no one wants to face such a thing.

"My lord, it's been a month since General Su Dingfang lost news," Lin Mang said. "The forests are vast, the snow valleys are dark, and they can be attacked by wild people at any time. I'm willing to bet these two were the last survivors of his team, and they were going to come back to us...... It's a pity that he was caught up by the enemy when he was about to arrive. You see, these corpses are still fresh, and they won't die for more than a day......"

"Not true. Nalan Invincible suddenly screamed.

Bu Yangying was taken aback, he said that he didn't expect to hear Nalan Invincible's nervous and high-pitched voice.

The fat boy has never dared to speak in front of everyone, and he contradicts Lin Mang, the head of the recruit coach he is most afraid of.

"General Pighead, I didn't ask for your opinion. Lin Mang said coldly.

"Let him continue. Uncle Hai glanced at the fat boy, and apparently he also found the clue.

Yan Beixing's gaze drifted from Nalan Invincible to Bu Yangying, and then turned to Nalan Invincible: "If someone from the think tank has something to say, then let him say it." Boy, you come forward and reply, hide behind the horse and we won't see you. ”

Nalan Invincible had never walked so ceremoniously towards the center of the big men, he squeezed past Bu Yangying and the horses, and sweat was pouring down on his fat face. "My lord, no...... It can't just be one day, you look at the blood. ”

"Huh?" Yan Beixing frowned, "What happened to the blood?"

"Father, he sometimes forced me to watch him handle prey in order to train my guts......" Nalan Invincible began to speak, his jaw moving, which made him look at the corpse, as if his father's training of him had only worked at this point. "Freshly dead prey, the blood will still flow, and then it will clot into lumps, but this person, you see, his wrist is very ...... It's crispy...... It's dry and crispy...... It's like ......"

Bu Yangying immediately understood what Nalan was invincible. He could see the broken blood vessels in the dead man's wrist, like iron worms in his pale muscles, blood frozen to black powder.

But Lin Mang disagreed, "If they really died for a day, they would have stinked a long time ago, but they didn't have any taste at all." ”

General Affairs Officer Dai Yafu always boasted of his keen sense of smell, and often said that he could smell the difference between two snowflakes. He crept over to the corpse and sniffed it. "Well, it doesn't smell very good, but what Lord Lin said is right, there is indeed no corpse smell. ”

"They...... They didn't rot either," Nalan Invincible pointed to show everyone, his fat fingers trembling. "Look, they don't have ...... on them There are no raw maggots and no other bugs...... They have been lying in the forest for so long and have not been bitten or eaten by animals......"

"But there are no injuries except for the wounds," Bu Yangying said softly, "except for Bai Shan, neither the dogs nor the horses are willing to go near their corpses. ”

The Rangers exchanged glances with each other, and everyone knew it was true. Yan Beixing frowned, and moved his gaze from the corpse to the group of dogs, "Ding Busan, bring the hounds over." ”

Ding Busan hurriedly complied, cursing while pulling the dog chain, and stretched out his leg to kick the leading dog twice.

But the hounds were mostly whimpering, and they were determined not to move. He tried to force a big dog, but it resisted desperately, roaring and twisting, trying to break free from the collar, and finally he was so anxious that he pounced on Ding Busan.

Ding Busan loosened the rope and staggered back, and the big dog jumped over him and fled into the forest.

"This ...... That's not right," Nalan Invincible said eagerly, "Look at this blood...... There was blood on their clothes, and their skin was so dry and hard that it could be ...... But there was no blood on the ground, and there was not a single trace in the vicinity, so they supposedly ...... They ......" Nalan Invincible foamed at the mouth and took a deep breath. "Supposedly the wound is so deep and so horrible that blood should be splattered everywhere, right?"

Lin Mang used his wisdom and glanced at Nalan Invincible. "It's not simple, it just means that they didn't die here, they didn't get their bodies to be brought in and abandoned, as a warning to us. ”

"Look, adults," Nalan Invincible said, pointing not far away, "only two lines of footprints, and no footprints of the corpse mover. Moreover, and Ma Tie's eyes are blue, he used to beat me a lot, I have seen his eyes, and they are not blue. ”

Lin Mang woke up suddenly. "Haiyue is not either. He blurted out, turning his head to look at the two dead men.

Silence shrouded the forest. For a while, everyone only heard the sound of Nalan invincible heavy breathing and the sound of the wind quietly gliding.

Bu Yangying crouched down in front of Bai Shan.

"It's really a living ghost, could it be that two dead people ran here by themselves?" Yan Beixing yelled to break the peace. "Take them back to the penal colony, and then make a decision. ”

Some orders are easy to give but difficult to execute.

The cavalry wrapped the corpse in a cloak, but when Ma Tie and Mu Sheng tried to tie one of them to the horse, the horse went berserk, it stood on its hind feet with a neigh, stretched out its legs and kicked wildly, and Ding Busi, who ran to help, was bitten.

The cavalry then changed horses, equally disobedient, and even the most docile horses desperately refused to make any contact with the corpse.

In the end, the people had no choice but to cut down the branches of the trees, make rudimentary towing robes, and set off to return, it was already afternoon.

"Send someone to search the bottom of this forest," before setting off, the leader of Yan Beixing ordered Han Jianshi to command the envoy, "Every tree, every stone, every dwarf tree and every inch of soil within a radius of ten miles must be rummaged through and send out all the people under your command." Joining General Su and his people is among them, and you must find it whether you live or die. If there are "other people" in the forest, you have to report them, and you have to be responsible for tracking them down and arresting them, preferably alive, you know?"

"Your subordinates understand, my lordship. Commander Han Jianshi said, "My subordinates will definitely do it." ”

After that, Yan Beixing, who was on the return trip, fell into deep thought. Bu Yangying followed, as Yan Beixing's personal affairs officer, this was his position.

The sky was gray, filled with moisture, and the haze did not open, and it was the kind of weather that made people look forward to rain.

There was no wind in the forest, the air was humid and heavy, and the clothes of the shadows were sticking to the skin.

It was warm, too warm. When he walked through the high wall just now, he noticed that the ice wall was bubbling with water, as if it was shrinking.

The old people call this kind of weather "Ghost Summer", which is said to mean that the whole summer will return to the light, after which the cold will come.

The "summer" here has frozen to death, and Bu Yangying can hardly imagine the cold of winter here.

White Flash ran after them for a while, then disappeared into the woods. With the snow wolf missing, Bu Yangying felt so lonely. With a cautious gaze, he uneasily scanned every shadow.

He couldn't help but think of the story that the old mother in the North Underworld had told them when he was a little boy. In the darkness, the Icefield Ghost King arrived on horseback. This is her perennial best opening. Then she kept lowering her voice, and the one who came was cold, exuding the smell of death, hating fire, sunshine, and all living beings that flowed with warm blood. They will ride white dead horses and lead the army of the undead who have died in the war all the way south, sweeping all the living creatures they see, and trodding every inch of the Seven Kingdoms......

When Bu Yangying finally saw the high wall of the penal colony from between the branches of a crooked ice cedar tree, he couldn't help but feel relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.

This is Yan Beixing suddenly grabbed the reins of the horse and turned his head on the horse's back. "Nalan is invincible," he shouted, "come here, little fat man." ”

Nalan clumsily climbed off his horse and almost fell when he landed. Bu Yangying saw the look of fear on his face, presumably thinking that he was in trouble again.

"Fat boy, you're not fat, you're smart. Yan Beixing said in a rough voice, "You did a good job just now." Step up and shadow, and so do you. ”

Nalan Invincible's face was flushed, and he hurriedly wanted to thank him, but he couldn't think of suitable words, so he could only giggle for a while.

Bu Yangying couldn't help but smile and thanked Yan Beixing for him.

After Yan Beixing finished speaking, he drove his sturdy horse to gallop forward.

White Flash came out of the woods to meet them, licking its jaw, its mouth and nose stained with the blood of its prey, and it must have gone to the jungle to feast on it.

In the distance, the condescending guards of the high wall spotted the approaching procession, and then the low, thick horn sounded through the field.

It was a loud roar like a long sigh, trembling through the vast jungle rivers that echoed over the ice fields at the end of the world.