The mountains are covered with snow, and there is a vast expanse between heaven and earth.

Occasionally, a bird or two flew by in the sky, facing the wind and snow, and fluttering.

Qiao Qiao, who was holding on to his trekking poles, exhaled a white breath.

"Is it cold?"

He looked back at Ariko.

"It's not cold."

Ariko shook her head, and the red and white coat on her body seemed to be protected by the shrine and could maintain her temperature to a certain extent.

Qiao Qiao is nothing special, the blood clan itself is much more tolerant to the environment than humans.

He even carried a backpack of ammo and wilderness survival props, which he didn't feel heavy.

The two of them made their way up the mountain road, preparing to go to the village where the disappearances had occurred.

If the seal of the Old Gods is loosened, then the power of the Old Gods will gradually penetrate into the nearby flora and fauna along with the soil, moisture, and air, and finally affect humans.

Under this influence, the human spirit becomes abnormal, becomes insane, hallucinates, and eventually even derives some special rituals or customs.

Even if there are no humans, animals will mutate to varying degrees if they are affected for a long time, and even accelerate the process of accumulating spiritual power and becoming monsters.

The monsters formed in this way are far more violent than ordinary monsters, and even their body forms will change.

In this case, Qiao Qiao's suggestion was to get the villagers to move as soon as possible.

It's afternoon, the snow has stopped in the morning, and the sun is shining on the snow, giving off an intoxicating light.

The road was uncleaned, and Qiao Qiao relied on the blood clan's ability to recognize scents to find the right direction.

"Well, weird."

Despite this, Qiao Qiao also felt that this mountain forest was too weird.

I couldn't hear any other movement, and in the silence of the forest, there was only the footsteps of two people.

The sun was setting very fast in the west, and the country itself was also a high-latitude area, and before five o'clock, it was already completely dark.

And Qiao Qiao and Ya Lizi are still walking on the mountain.

"Teacher, are we lost?"

Yariko couldn't help but ask.

She has always maintained a serious practice, her physical fitness is very good, and she does not carry heavy objects, but after an afternoon of walking in the snow, it will still have an impact on her spirit.

There is no physical fatigue, but the mind is already tired.

"Indeed."

Qiao Qiao nodded.

“？”

Yariko was stunned, stopped, and hurriedly followed.

"From about an hour ago, the road was completely gone."

Qiao Qiao glanced behind him and explained, while extending his hand to Ya Lizi.

Holding Qiao Qiao's hand, Ya Lizi felt a burst of warmth, and she came to Qiao Qiao's side.

"I speculate that the Old Gods have affected the environment here, similar to memetic changes, and combined with the influence of snow, it's easy to get lost."

Qiao Qiao looked at the silent mountain forest and said.

"But it doesn't matter, getting lost, vehicle breakdowns, all kinds of problems cause outsiders to stay here, it is estimated that it is the influence of the old gods, and then, if I am the old gods, I guess I will send some clans and the like to lure us to his territory...... Well, here it is. ”

Qiao Qiao raised his trekking pole and pointed not far away.

A light lit up in the woods.

It was a woman with a flashlight.

She wears a simple kimono with a retro look and a bit of charm between her eyebrows.

"May I ask if it's the Soul Destroyer?"

There was also a man behind the woman, dressed in a kimono and holding a shotgun in his hand.

"We are from Pingye Village, and we were contacted by the police before, saying that two soul slayers came to the village, but we didn't wait for the two, and the village chief sent two of us to look for them, but I didn't expect to meet you here."

The woman explained.

"It's all up to date now?"

Ariko muttered quietly.

Judging from the spiritual vision, this woman and the man are ordinary people, not weird.

However, being bewitched by the old gods can't be seen with spiritual vision, and Yariko still maintains her vigilance.

"It's so good that we just can't find our way."

Qiao Qiao showed a kind smile and spread his hands.

"Come with us, both of you."

The two led the way in front, with Qiao Qiao and Yariko following behind.

The woods seemed to be alive again, and the chirping of unknown birds could be heard, and some sparse sounds were heard from all directions.

It's as if the original world was just muted.

It took less than twenty minutes to walk.

Qiao Qiao saw the lights ahead.

The mountains and forests came to an end, and the eyes suddenly opened up.

Under the night sky, among the rolling white mountains, sits a small village with smoke curling from cooking.

There are less than thirty houses, and there is only one road leading out of the mountain, like a secret place.

Walking along the road into the village, Qiao Qiao can see that most of the buildings here are wooden structures, with a certain flavor of the Showa era, although the houses are lit up and there are people swaying, but no one is curious about the arrival of Qiao Qiao and Yariko and opens the window to peep.

The whole village presents the conservative and closed sense that this style of village and town should have, so at a glance, the two people who led the way in front of Qiao Qiao are already very generous.

Qiao Qiao's spiritual vision swept over the village, and found nothing special, it was like a very ordinary village, at most it was a little old.

"The village chief instructed me to take them to her house."

The woman spoke, and came to the largest house with a yard in the village.

It says "Shangjo", which should be the surname of the village chief.

Pushing open the courtyard door, the woman led the two into the house, while the man with the shotgun stood outside and looked at it before leaving.

The room was brightly lit and very warm.

An old woman with gray hair sat at a table, seemingly having been waiting for a long time.

She is not as skinny as Yariko imagined, but exudes a sense of vitality and a very kind smile.

"Grandma."

The woman greeted, and it turned out that she was the granddaughter of the village chief.

"I'm the head of this village, Tomoko Kamijo, and this is my granddaughter."

The village chief said, pointing to the table again.

"I heard that the two of you are coming, so we specially prepared food and wanted to entertain the two soul slayers."

"We don't need food, we are used to eating it ourselves."

Yariko directly refused.

She didn't want to eat something from an unknown source.

"It's okay, it's late today, I'll let Yu prepare a room for you later, so let's have a good rest today."

The village chief was not persistent, but saluted the two.

Qiao Qiao didn't say anything, just followed the woman named Shangjo Yu to the guest room.

It is a classic Japanese-style room, empty, with a garden outside the balcony and a view of the snow in the mountains.

Qiao Qiao and Yariko checked the situation of the house a little, and then walked around the village under the leadership of Kamijo Yu, and did not find anything abnormal.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Qiao Qiao and Ya Lizi confirmed the network status of their mobile phones and lay down.

The two slept in a room, next to each other, with coats and coats hanging on one side.

I don't know why, but even though it's a wooden house, it's very warm and doesn't make people feel cold.

Pear seemed to be affected by the exertion of the day, and soon felt sleepy, and was about to close her eyes and fall asleep, only to find that the door was gently pushed open.

A woman in a kimono walked into the room with light steps and knelt in front of the cover of Qiaoqiao.

Gently unbuckling the belt, the woman got into Qiao Qiao's bed.

“？”

Ariko suddenly sobered up.