There is a small river to the northwest of Kush town, and it is common for residents who live nearby to wash their clothes. The banks of the river were bare roads to the north and south, and the south to Oasis Town was the direction Ian had come. The rest of the place, apart from some forests and shrubs near the distant border to the east, is a moor covered with red soil. As far as the eye can see, only the earthen cliffs in the shape of stone pillars can obscure the view, and may be suitable for those who are not suitable for walking in the daytime and in the city.

Ian and Sid went to each marked location on the map in chronological order. Inevitably, they had to take a detour or some way back, so they borrowed horses from the Mercenary Guild to save time and energy.

"Hell, I don't see anything suspicious. Sid looked at the blackened circles on the map and cursed, "If you go on like this, you won't find anything!"

"It's so easy, and it won't be sent out, the town's guards can solve it, why do you need to find mercenaries?" Ian wasn't so impatient, "Don't worry, we're only halfway there." ”

They had set out from Kush early in the morning, and now the sun had begun to set in the west. The two had no intention of spending the night in the wilderness, so they turned around and returned to Kush's hotel. The next day, I went to the remaining locations to check, but still found nothing.

Sid, though he looked more agitated than he had on the first day, had no intention of giving up. It was midday, and he and Ian dismounted at a disappearance spot on the east side of the town to rest, stopping for lunch.

There wasn't even a hint of wind in the wilderness today, and it was clear that the water dew moon had just passed, and the sky immediately became hot.

"Do you have any ideas?" asked Sid, munching on his hard and dry rations. For a long time, he didn't hear Ian answer.

He turned his head to see Ian staring at the dirt where the accident had happened.

"Hey, I ask you. ”

"Where is this coming from?" Ian asked suddenly, for no apparent reason.

"Where is this? What are you stupid? The missing spot about six stars east of town, the place where the shepherd disappeared. ”

"Ah, no, no, no, no, how many are these and when did they happen?"

"I'll see......," Sid pulled out his bag and flipped through the records.

"Shepherd...... Shepherd......" he muttered, pointing his finger to the paper, searching for records of shepherds, "ah, there is, here is the twenty-first, which happened — five days ago. ”

"Twenty-two in total, right? Where are the last ones?"

"It's right in town, on the trail in the northeast corner of town. ”

Ian had already turned over and got on his horse: "Let's go, let's go over there first." ”

Sid hurriedly stuffed his stuff into his bag, jumped on his horse and followed.

Coming to the path, Ian's eyes suddenly lit up, and he shouted "Yes" and turned over and dismounted, and ran forward.

Sid didn't understand what Ian meant, so he silently followed.

Ian was on one knee, leaning over to inspect something on the ground. But Sid leaned over to look, but saw nothing but clay.

There are no footprints and nothing strange about it. Except for the red soil, which is mixed with gravel, he has really had enough of this red soil these days.

"Do you remember the spots of light I saw in the middle of the lake?" Ian asked Sid.

"That burned-down aristocratic mansion? Remember, you said it was the kind of light that resembles the psychic power, but I didn't see anything anyway. ”

"There's that too. ”

Sid was stunned: "You saw it?"

"Yes, a lot of ......"

Ian looked up at the next point of light that had gathered, and there were a few more not far away, and there were some in the corner, and there were ...... Although these psionic powers were scattered throughout the surrounding area, more of them were clearly clustered together, small piles of dust, drifting gently and aimlessly, as if there was an invisible range restricting them.

Ian followed the bright and intermittent points of light in his eyes and walked up the path.

"It's like a footprint......," he muttered, bowing his head.

Not long after walking, he was suddenly stopped by Sid.

Ian looked up and saw that they had returned to the inn door.

Sid realized that he was holding Ian's hand a little too hard. The moment he returned to the inn, Sid did feel a tingling in his scalp. If the point of light that Ian saw was the trace left by the use of psionic power, then this trace extended all the way to the inn...... What do you mean? The murderer is a psychic guy who lives in an inn?

Wait a minute...... If Ian's guess was correct, then he kept his psychic powers in use and walked into the inn?Sid remembered Ian's Zach. But they hadn't seen anything like a psychic user, let alone a spirit like Zach. If Ian were to meet someone who used the same psionic powers as he did, he would definitely be excited to talk to him.

And he thought, "And now, when they were asleep last night, was the murderer living in the room next to them?"

These thoughts flashed through his mind, and Sid forced himself to stop these chaotic speculations, dragging Ian back to the inn room first.

There are only six guest rooms on the second floor, and door-to-door are lined up on both sides of the hallway. Ian: They stayed in the first room after going upstairs.

Sid closed the door and immediately asked Ian, "Do you see where those points of light are going?"

Ian nodded, but didn't speak, just stretched out his index finger and pointed lightly down.

It's downstairs!

"Wait, you're not sure those spots of light were left by the murderer, are you?" Sid cautiously lowered his voice as low as he could.

"Yes, but this psychic user must have something to do with this disappearance. Ian also whispered, "The last two are relatively close in time, so it's easy to find the traces, and the most recent one is more obvious." ”

"Hmm......" Sid muttered for a moment, unable to make a decision right away.

"I've seen Zach's mark," Ian added, "and it's completely different from what I saw today, so I shouldn't be mistaken." ”

The two of them were silent for a long time, and then he said, "I'll go down and have a look first, and try to touch it." ”

Sid thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Ian gently pushed the door open and descended the stairs to the room below them. The layout of the upstairs and downstairs rooms is exactly the same, six upstairs and six downstairs. Sid stayed in the room, placing his two-handed sword by the door, and pricked up his ears to listen carefully to the movement outside. After a moment, he lay down again, put his ear to the floor, and tried to listen for the sounds in the guest room downstairs.

"Tuk tuk. "There was a knock on the door downstairs, it was supposed to be Ian.

Sid heard a slight footstep as he passed through the house.

Then, with a short "squeak", the door opened.

The wooden door in front of Ian only opened a palm-wide slit, and the face of a child about ten years old was revealed in the gap!

Ian was shocked, he didn't expect it to be a child who opened the door.

"Who are you looking for?" the boy asked in a childish voice, warily.

His dark eyes stared at Ian, as if he could see Ian's heart.

Ian couldn't take his eyes off that line of sight, but he noticed the dark space behind the child. His heart trembled slightly, but he still forced his composure: "Are you here? You seem to be in the wrong room." ”

"Staying in the wrong room?" the child frowned slightly, "No way, we've been living here for days." Ask your boss yourself. ”

With that, he closed the door.

Ian didn't stand in the way. He let out a slow sigh of relief, and then slowly walked back to the room on the second floor. As he walked, he released his palms and wiped the sweat oozing from his palms on the side of his trouser legs.

"How's it going?" Sid let Ian into the room and immediately closed the door.

Ian shook his head: "A ten-year-old kid opened the door and didn't see the adults. But there were obvious marks in his house, and I ...... I'm not sure if it's him. ”

"A ten-year-old...... It's incredible. Sid touched his head, looking confused and embarrassed.

"He just said that 'we' have been living here for several days, maybe there are other people, maybe it's nonsense, we don't know how many days it is. ”

"I'd better go to the boss and ask. Sid suggested.

The two revisited the plan, determined all the details, and went to the lobby on the first floor of the inn. There are seven or eight sets of tables and chairs for residents and travelers to dine here. Ian sat down at a table near the door and ordered something to eat. Sid walked straight to the bar and asked the boss for a drink. It's just past lunchtime, and there are only a few sporadic diners in the lobby except for Ian and them.

Sid didn't see the kid Ian described in the hall, but he didn't dare to show it out just to be on the safe side.

Sid lowered his voice but tried not to be pretentious, and asked as the boss handed over the wine, "Boss, do you have any spare rooms here?"

"No, soon after you came, another guest came, and the last one was rented out. ”

"Oh, what a headache," Sid muttered, scratching his forehead and looking embarrassed, "and thinking that I could stay in a hotel with his old man so that I could take care of it." ”

"Oh, do you have a friend coming?" the boss was not so busy at this time, and began to chat with Sid as he wiped down the freshly washed wine glasses and dishes.

"Yes, an elder is about to go from Babel to the Empire. Passing by here, knowing that I had just arrived here, I wanted to catch up with me, and it would be best if I could stay in an inn. ”

"From the north, huh?" replied the proprietor, "but it's a pity that I've got a full house here, and Kush has only one inn." You're really unlucky, you don't usually have any customers. So, if you don't mind, I'll add a bunk to your room?"

"It's been a few days before he arrives at Kush, and he doesn't have to check out by then?" Sid asked, taking a sip of the wine from his glass.

"It's hard to say, many guests are staying for a long time," the boss put down the glass cup that was wiped clean, "For example, the child in the first room on the first floor has lived here for almost a month! ”

Sid's eyes lit up: "Ah, I've seen that kid too, it turns out that he is traveling alone?" I thought it was because the adults in the family were too busy to go out early and return late to take him with ......him."

"Where!" the boss looked at Sid's empty glass and shook the bottle in his hand. Sid hurriedly put the cup up playfully.

"I came alone, at such a young age, I was very polite, and I was very well educated at first sight...... So what do you say, this world is not easy!"

"Goo...... Sid took a big sip of wine, "maybe something happened to the family and became an orphan?

"Hey, I don't know, let's not guess. The boss laughed, "It stands to reason that I shouldn't have nagged you about other guests." ”

Sid laughed heartily: "Just don't talk to other guests about my affairs anymore!"

After chatting with the boss for a while, the conversation never turned back to the guests of the first room on the first floor. After two glasses of rye, Sid returned to Ian's table. He swept the table clean the food that Ian had left for him, and whispered the information he had gotten from his boss to Ian.