"Get up, Ben-"

"Okay Mom, I'll get up now."

Benjamin shouted downstairs in a somewhat hoarse, rough voice.

He only felt that his throat was unusually dry, as if there was sand rolling in it, and he could feel a faint pain in his throat just by speaking.

He felt his throat become unusually painful. I couldn't use my strength with my hands, and I could feel a faint tingling pain in my skin when I brushed my arms lightly.

Benjamin was just about to sit up on the bed when he felt a sharp tingling sensation in his forehead, and his brain shook as if it had become a nectarine in a can. The nausea and nausea that poured up his stomach almost made him vomit.

He hurriedly closed his mouth, took a big breath of fresh air, and stroked his hands downward in front of his chest, finally suppressing the feeling of nausea.

"I'm ...... Got a cold? ”

He couldn't help but frown.

That's right, because of the Great Barrier of Karal, the winter in Karal can be said to be extremely warm compared to other places. As long as they stay at home, they basically don't catch a cold.

As for the reason why Benjamin would catch a cold, it's simple. For he did go out last night - for his great cause. To be realistic, it can also be said to be to make money.

No one knows Benjamin's other identity. Benjamin, who had just passed his sixteenth birthday, was an advisor to the River Crocodiles - a matter that no one knew Benjamin knew, and Benjamin did not tell anyone about his identity. It's his secret.

Unlike those stupid children who like to brag to death, Benjamin discovered that his little head was unusually smart from a very young age. But also for this reason, Benjamin never had friends. He also never bothered to have a friend.

Just talking in stammering dialect with those slugs about who ate what yesterday and who was beaten the day before yesterday and things like that, Benjamin felt like his head was going to be stupid. "Benjamin who was always silent" - that's what his "friends" called him.

No one knows. This inconspicuous, never-talking-boy would be the biggest underground gang in Grey Pines. Consultants of the pie; No one knew that this unusually honest and effeminate child had seen double-digit dead people, and had touched and beaten their corpses.

Benjamin and his unusually calm mind compared to ordinary people only worked slightly. From the posture and look of the travelers, you can see how heavy the things these travelers are carrying, how old they are, how much money they have, what their personalities are, and whether they have human lives and wants. Because the River Crocodile Gang always picks those cowardly and death-fearing fat sheep to attack, and the first to strike is strong and never leaves a living mouth, they have never failed once so far.

The people of Grey Pine always talk about how the people of the River Crocodiles have lives or something...... But they don't know that these men, who give the impression of hyenas, not only have a human life on their hands, but also have more than one human life. There were nine of them, but in three years they had killed a total of fourteen travelers. On average, each person has killed someone.

Benjamin is proud of his anomaly.

His experience was very different from that of his peers, and he could clearly feel that he was different. This anomaly with others gave Benjamin a very strong sense of superiority.

The peculiar dashing of this villain, which Benjamin called freedom, made them deeply intoxicated.

They never ask for forgiveness, nor do they talk about the future. Because they knew that they were already guilty of an unforgivable sin. These nine young people have no future for a long time.

Because of this, their behavior has become more and more unscrupulous.

The gray-haired kid he killed yesterday is already the fifth person killed this winter.

Because they noticed that the druids didn't care about the missing aliens, they became more and more careless about how they handled the scene. By yesterday, they had not even shredded the corpse and threw it down the drain, leaving it on the street.

For three years now, no druids have investigated the disappearance. They decided that it was okay to leave the body in the street. After all, they don't want to do such disgusting things if they can.

-- But. It will definitely be discovered.

Unlike his hopeful companions, Benjamin knew from the beginning that this would inevitably lead to the Druid's pursuit. But driven by a youthful pride, he did not speak up about it with his partner. Instead, they remained silent.

Because he was waiting for the druids to join. Looking forward to more powerful forces joining this game.

Just as Benjamin was tired of playing tricks with his peers at first, Benjamin was completely tired of this kind of life hunting game. He doesn't feel the risk, he doesn't feel the enemy. It's like playing chess with himself, and he doesn't feel the joy of the game at all.

There is no opponent of the sad. Because in anticipation of the powerful druids joining the game. Benjamin deliberately did not alert his accomplices to the disposal of the body, but quietly waited for the body to be found.

In order to set the first puzzle for the druid. At the end of the distribution of the spoils, when everyone changed their clothes and went back to their homes, Benjamin went around again, trying to mislead the investigators by throwing someone he knew at the scene with his belongings.

But then, something terrifying happened to Benjamin.

- The body is gone.

It's not just corpses. When Benjamin crouched down and touched the ground with his hands, he noticed that the blood on the wet ground was gone.

There must have been someone following them and tidying up the scene for them. That is, someone has already identified their identity. What follows is likely to be a series of blackmails.

Benjamin reasoned soberly.

As for the nonsense that the corpse got up and ran away on its own, Benjamin said that he had not believed it since he was seven years old.

He crept around the neighborhood and found no trace of the corpse. He even wondered if he was dreaming, or if he had been hallucinating from the beginning—the silver coins he could get were actually lying in his pocket.

By the time he climbed through the window back to his room, it was almost dawn.

Maybe it's because of too little sleep, plus a cold caused by a cold last night...... Don't worry. Tonight's meeting is still going to take place. They must be informed that the body is missing......

Benjamin propped himself up and crawled out of bed, and as soon as his legs touched the ground, he felt a tingling sensation swish from the soles of his feet and all the way to the back of his head.

The intense feeling of dizziness made his eyes darken, and the numbness and swishing sensation spread from his teeth all the way to his nasal cavity. Benjamin seemed to feel the stiff pulses of his dry eyelids and the blood vessels in his neck. He lost consciousness for a short time, and it took three or four seconds for him to come to his senses.

"No, I need some hot soup......"

Benjamin muttered and rubbed his eyes with both hands, but the more he rubbed his eyes, the more itchy and sour they became, and after a while tears welled up in his eyes.

At this time, he finally realized that his illness was more serious.

But he can't call a healer now. Otherwise, they would have known at a glance that Benjamin had blown the night wind for a long time last night, and it would have been difficult to explain it at that time.

"It has to be delayed until tomorrow...... I'll drink some hot soup and get some sleep......"

Benjamin rubbed his face vigorously, unaware that there was a slender, fresh mark of blood on his cheek that had been scratched by a cat. (To be continued.) )