Soon after the fire broke out in the glazed forest, the earthquake gradually subsided. The captain of the guard took the guards and a group of villagers to the glass forest to check, for fear that the fire would spread and spread to Qingfeng Village. But strangely, the search party went all the way deep into the forest to find traces of the burning. It seems that the fire started from here, and the stout old trees and the dozens of glasswood trees around it have been charred. The fire seemed to end there, never to spread further.

Without digging deeper, the captain of the guard sent someone to report the situation to Crack Rock Fort.

When Elise heard the news, she immediately rushed to the glass forest. When she reached the witch's house, she found that the huge tree had been completely burned down, along with the hut in the hollow. She looked around in fear, lest she find the bodies of any of them. She burrowed into the ruins of a tree and rummaged through the wreckage of the hut.

Until it got dark, she still found nothing. I just breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, but there was a trace of fear. Were they arrested, did they escape safely, did they find nothing themselves, just because they were destroyed...... Uneasy thoughts began to expand in the girl's heart. Every day and night after that, Elise was surrounded by this anxiety, and Granny Sumu's words of comfort gradually lost their effectiveness over time.

To this day, a merchant suddenly delivered the letter to her door from out of the field and piggybacked on it. Seeing Ian's letter with her own eyes, she couldn't wait to read every word on it before finally breathing a sigh of relief. But the tears could not stop falling, wetting the letter and frightening the merchants who were waiting for the payment.

At this time, Ian was in the hotel room in the town of Lake.

Instead of fleeing to the Old Kingdom in the east, they turned to the west. After passing through Huxin Town, continue to walk west along the road, intending to cross the national border from Najian City on the southwest border and go to the Western Multinational Federation. The witch parted ways with them when she arrived in the town of Lake.

"I'm going to check on something," the witch's chubby face looked serious, "it's not convenient for you to follow." ”

On the way to Lakeheart, no matter how Ian and Sid talked, the witch didn't reveal half of her origins, not even the name Jinza. She turned herself into a mystery that remained in the hearts of Ian and Sid.

However, from the witch, Ian learns the identity of the pursuer and the story of the falcon, as well as the witch's suspicions:

"Behind this matter, it is likely that the royal family of the empire is involved. ”

Before parting, she looked unusually hesitant, and finally called Ian out alone and said a few words.

"The witch has some advice for you, listen well. Ian nodded in response before she continued, "First, I want to leave the Empire and go into seclusion where the falcons can't find you. Second, continue to exercise your psychic and swordsmanship, as well as the unfinished training that you have not yet completed - you must learn to let the spirits act in harmony with you. The third is," the witch paused, "forgetting what I told you before. Don't rush to find out the cause of your friend's death, it's not as simple as you think. You've seen the falcon's abilities, and he's just a falcon, so how strong is the falconer? Don't touch it until you're fully ready. ”

With that, she left alone.

"What a witch who talks to herself," Ian smiled wryly at Sid, "and let me not forget that she was the one who tracked down the truth, and she is the one who told me not to touch it now." ”

"Witch...... Have her thoughts. Sid didn't know what the witch had said to Ian before, and vaguely agreed.

Sid did not return to the inn for the whole day after the witch left. He told Ian not to move around, he went out to find out the situation himself, and stopped by the mercenary guild to check around, hoping to find some gossip here.

In the evening, Sid returned, and although his face was not solemn, it was not very good-looking.

Ian looked out the window, the streets were deserted, and the town looked depressed and deserted.

"It's really not peaceful anywhere," Sid said, turning the door behind him, "this town has been plagued by grave exhumations and corpse robberies lately, and rumors of ghouls are rife. The lord here has issued a bounty order to the guild, but no one has accepted the bounty, and the guild is worried. ”

"Mercenary Guild?" Ian Qi said, "How many mercenaries can patronize the guild now......?"

"You're wrong, I thought the same thing, but when I went to see it just now, hehe...... Probably the liveliest part of the town is the guild. Sid smiled wryly.

"What's the situation?"

"I've inquired over there," Sid said meaningfully, "as if Warcraft activity has suddenly become more frequent lately. The caravans that have entered and exited the town of Lake alone have reported three demonic beast attacks in the past month. The losses were not large, but they frightened these merchants, and they began to ask mercenaries to escort the trade routes, so the number of people gathered in the guild also increased. ”

Ian pondered for a moment and whispered to himself, "So the attack on Breeze Village is not a special case......

"Well, it's a little weird. "However, there are no more serious incidents in the bounty than in Breeze Village, most of them are petty fights, and there is no connection in sight." ”

"If there are mercenaries gathered in the guild, why doesn't anyone take on the corpse robbery case - are you sure it's a corpse robbery, not a tomb robbery?"

"None of the corpses were stolen, and none of the burial goods were moved. Sid emphasized in an accentuated tone, "The mercenaries prefer to compete head-on with Warcraft or robbers, but this corpse thief doesn't know if it's a human or a Warcraft, which makes people feel too uncomfortable." It's fine to say if it's a ghoul, but ghouls usually start eating corpses on the spot...... Every time, I only took the corpse away, and I really couldn't think of what it would have done. ”

"Could it be...... The kind of mushroom thief in Breeze Village?" Ian shuddered as he thought of those bloodthirsty umbrella spirits, frantically devouring the Hunter's Ba.

"At the request of the lord, the guild did some on-site investigations. The tombs had been excavated and pried open, and the lids of the coffins were broken, presumably some kind of powerful creature, but they didn't make much noise, otherwise they would have been discovered by the night watchmen. Sid glanced at Ian, "Personally, I don't think the average Umbrella Mushroom Spirit should have that kind of strength other than the lead mushroom thief—so powerful that it doesn't need to make a sound to break the oak lid and slate." ”

"And the leader should be dead......"

"That's right. ”

"Could it be a sheep's head?"

"They only eat guts," Sid shook his head, "I've thought about all the possible monsters on the way back, and none of them match. Probably, that's why no mercenary has been coming to take the commission for a long time, and I don't want to investigate this kind of trouble if I change it. ”

Ian nodded, suddenly remembered something, and asked, "That said it was a corpse theft, did you find out where it was stolen?"

"No," Sid smiled wryly, "there's no trace." It's as if someone had gone to great lengths to pull out the corpse and swallow it all in one gulp. ”

Ian and Sid both sat down on the edge of their respective beds. Ian thought: It's not a big town, there's a lake in the center, and it's empty all around. The bodies were stolen one after another, and there was no sign of transport around...... Could it be that the corpse is hidden in the spot? The corpse thieves may be in this town...... If you weren't a local, you'd probably stay in a hotel like him......

Thinking of this, he looked uneasily at the door.

"Don't think about it," Sid said seeing Ian's bad face, "We didn't take these bounties anyway, we just went to the guild to find out what was going on." I was surprised to find that there are more mercenaries, and it seems that we should be careful on the road. As for the corpse robbery, whatever! We'll leave tomorrow and tonight. ”

Ian nodded in response, leaning back on the bed and closing his eyes. He vaguely saw a huge monster figure, thrust its thick arms into the dirt, and tore over the lid of the coffin along with the dirt on it. Then he took out the corpse inside, like pinching a puppet with a broken thread, shook it slightly, and sent it into his huge mouth.

In order to avoid people's eyes, they went out day and night all the way. Walking on the night road, Sid always likes to tell some legends and anecdotes of ghosts, gods and demons, trying to scare Ian. But at this time, it seems that none of them are as terrifying as the corpse thieves in Ian's own head.

After eating something at the inn that night to satisfy their hunger, Sid and Ian went back to their rooms early to lie down and rest. They had to set off after dark, trying to get themselves to sleep as quickly as possible, despite the occasional noise coming from the lobby on the first floor of the inn.

In the haze, Ian felt the noise slowly get louder. It was as if someone was shouting something, and he couldn't really hear it. The surrounding footsteps were chaotic, as if many people were running around the lobby and corridors of the hotel, and the doors of the surrounding rooms could be heard from time to time. The street outside the window was not quiet, and the light of the fire was reflected from downstairs.

"Ian, Ian!" Sid shouted.

Shaken awake by Sid, he realizes that the noise is not his nightmare.

"Look," Sid leaned warily against the window, "something seems to have happened." ”

Ian looked through the cracks in the curtains and saw a number of people running out of town with torches and buckets of water. Sid pushed the door open, went downstairs to the street outside the inn gate, and looked in the direction the people were running. There were black holes all around, but there was a fire flickering on the hillside in the distance, which seemed to be gradually getting smaller.

"It looks like there's a fire somewhere outside the town, but it's almost extinguished. Sid went back to his room and told Ian, "To the north, probably the house in the suburbs. ”

"Do you still want to sleep?" asked Ian. Sid yawned, closed his eyes and opened them again, shaking his head.

"Then pack up, and we'll get ready to go. ”

"It's fine. ”

After the two of them washed up, packed their bags, and went to the first floor of the hotel to settle the bill. The shopkeeper was obviously driven by the atmosphere around him, and seemed very alert and excited.

"Guest, are you going to leave now, don't you wait for dawn?"

"Well, in a hurry. Sid was confused, then pretended not to know what was going on, and asked, "What's going on outside, it's so lively, it's your festival here?"

"The Twelve are above!" cried the innkeeper, "forgive this ignorant young man! I heard," he lowered his voice, his face clouded by the light of the fire, "the bodies have been found, several!"