（263...... 084...... 458...... Book friend skirt, if you want to come, join the group. P.S. Friends who have passed by ask for collections and recommendations, and your support is my biggest motivation. In addition, it is good for everyone to give more opinions, thank you. PS2: The title of the book has been changed, please see the work related)

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Pannis gently patted the back of the little banshee and comforted softly: "It's okay, don't be afraid, we are all here, we will protect you, good, don't be afraid." ”

Anne trembled in Pennys's arms for a long time, and then she tentatively raised her head, looked at the people around her, and finally put her heart at ease, wiped the tears from her face, and whispered, "There are so many dead people in it, and they are everywhere." ”

Dora hid behind Catherine, poked her head out of her shoulder, and asked in a fluttering voice, "Can you tell us a little bit more clearly? How many dead people there are, how many living people are there?

"How many dead? Well, ten, fifteen, twenty, oops, too many to count. Anne danced for a while, and finally could only make a gesture of holding everything in her arms: "All are dead, and not a single living person." ”

Dora didn't show a look of surprise, but sighed deeply, sat down on the stump of the dead tree beside her, covered half of her face and groaned, "Sure enough, it's too late." ”

Catherine turned around and squeezed Dora's shoulder as if to comfort her, and asked the little banshee, "Anne, are you sure there is not a living person in there?"

"I'm sure. Anne nodded vigorously: "I'm sensitive to the breath of the living, if there is a living person, I will definitely be able to find out." I can assure you that there are absolutely no living people in it. ”

Sure enough, he was killed. Catherine shook her head helplessly, her fists clenched tightly, and she clenched and gurgled: "It seems that they know something, so the legendary level we encountered a few days ago was indeed summoned to extinguish the mouth." Hehe, no matter how useful it is, is it really better to die? The bastards behind the thieves are really vicious. Alas, the clue is broken again. ”

"Forget it, don't think about it. Pannis walked up to Catherine with Anne in his arms: "Let's go in and have a look, maybe we'll find some clues left." ”

"I hope so. Catherine shook her hair vigorously, forced herself to her feet, stood up abruptly, and walked forward with heavy steps, and said loudly as she went, "Go, let's go in, and see the methods of our opponents." ”

"How are you. Pannis patted the banshee's head, pointed at Catherine and said, "Do you want to go back to the room?"

"Don't. The little banshee decisively refused: "With my brothers and sisters here, I won't be afraid." My brother let me go and I'll go by myself, it's okay. ”

"Anne is amazing. Pannis smiled as he put Anne back on the ground, took the banshee's cold little hand, and followed Catherine towards the hidden valley where the thieves were stationed.

Approaching the towering cliff, as described by the night owl, an inconspicuous crack was hidden among the vines that crawled the bottom of the cliff. The crack is not narrow enough to allow a person to pass through normally, but because of its hidden location, it is easy to be undetected.

Pannis took Anne by the hand, and suddenly took two quick steps to the position in front of Catherine, and took the lead in pushing aside the vines and into the crack. Catherine was stunned, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and the anger in her heart suddenly dissipated a lot inexplicably.

Walking into the crack, all Pannisworth could see was pitch black. It was night, and the best light source of the glitter vine had been lost after leaving the dense forest, and the crack did not run through the entire cliff, so it was completely impossible to see the sky, so it was pitch black inside, only the little banshee around her emitted a faint and cold white light, so that people could barely see the rock walls on both sides. Pannis quickly lit the torch that had been prepared, and looked at everything around him by the light of the fire. The crevices in the cliffs were not damp, there were no snakes or insects, and the ground was not even dry with moss. Standing at the entrance of the crack, you can feel a gentle breeze blowing from inside the crack, and there is no smell of dirt in the breeze.

"Let's go. Seeing that everyone had walked into the crevasse, and that two more torches had been lit, Pannis stepped forward and walked deeper along the zigzag crevasse. The cracks are not easy to walk, the biggest obstacle is overhead, and there are constantly protruding rocks blocking the heights, so that people can only bend down to avoid it, and if they are not careful, they will hit their heads. Fortunately, the distance of the crack was relatively short, and in less than two minutes, Pannis walked into the valley and saw the stars of the night sky again.

"Huh?" As soon as he entered the valley, Pannis let out an exclamation, "How can this ...... These thieves are really planning to stay here. ”

The valley was not as empty as everyone originally thought, and nearly 30 simple wooden houses were built in a space of nearly 40,000 square meters. The wooden houses are rough and not very well built, but because the valley is surrounded by mountains, there is almost no wind and there is not much rain, so even such a rough and simple wooden house can be inhabited normally. The wooden houses are arranged in a circle, and in the middle is a large open space, which is piled up with various miscellaneous items and weapons, and it is disorganized.

"How did it come to this? As soon as the guide Elad entered, he also let out a low cry of surprise.

No one answered, and everyone's eyes were silently focused on a house dozens of meters away from the mouth of the crack, where several corpses were lying there, in different postures and in messy directions, apparently suddenly and without warning.

"Bastards, brutes. Dora suddenly swung her whip and slammed it to the ground. She could see the corpses clearly, several of them were in a similar condition, there were no wounds on their bodies, no signs of being hit by foreign objects, and even their clothes were neat. But their bodies were extremely abnormal, their muscles were atrophied, their skin was wrinkled, their hair and beard were gray, the mouth of a corpse had been broken, and even their teeth had fallen out. There was no sign of struggle around the corpse, eyes tightly closed, but the expression was very painful, and the fingers dug deep into the loose dirt.

"They, these people, they, they're really old and dead. The Shadow Wolf, who was in charge of examining the corpse, swallowed heavily and said in an astringent voice, "The cause of their death is the failure of their bodies due to old age, which is a typical condition of old age. ”

"It seems that our previous guess was completely correct. Catherine clasped her hands to her chest, sneered and said in a cold voice: "It's really this group of guys who plundered other people's lives." ”

"How did they do it?" Dora asked in disbelief, "I've never heard of anyone doing such a thing." ”

"Yes. Vivien was pacing back and forth around several corpses when she heard Dora's question answer, "Aging is one of them." ”

"Aging is not a permanent effect, and it is impossible to make people die of old age. Dora exclaimed, "And, even if there is, there is no point in simply using aging techniques to make people die of old age. ”

"Maybe not entirely meaningless. Lina half-knelt beside the corpse and whispered a prayer, then suddenly looked up and said, "Remember the first time we saw the behavior of those two mages through projection? ”

"You mean, black crystals?" Catherine's eyes lit up, "yes, they were careful to keep them." ”

So I guess that's the point of their behavior. Lina stood up slowly, gently dusted off the dirt, and meticulously arranged her clothes, and on closer inspection, she could even see that every crease on her priest's robe was exactly the same as before.

"Is it a way to steal someone else's life force?" Vivien was a little irritated and circled back and forth in place, muttering to herself: "No, it's not life force, they didn't die of life force exhaustion, they were stolen...... Is it lifespan? No, no, it's not lifespan, what the hell are they stealing? Why the hell did they die like this? God, it's amazing, you have to figure it out, it's a great discovery. ”

"Vivien?" Catherine exclaimed, "You say this thing is great?"

"Sister, you don't understand. Vivien said with excitement on her face, dancing with her hands, "This is an unprecedented discovery in the magic world, and any kind of breakthrough discovery is great, even if it is so evil. ”

"Maybe you're right. Catherine was more solemn than ever: "But no matter what, I won't allow you to delve into these things, Vivien, don't be blinded by your **." ”

"It's not **. Vivien explained urgently: "It's the quest for knowledge. ”

"Intellectual curiosity is also a kind of **. Catherine raised her voice again, almost shouting, "It's dangerous to be controlled by any **, and intellectual curiosity is no exception, Vivien, I don't want to see you in evil knowledge**." Look at the corpses in front of you, what you think is a great discovery in your heart has been made by stealing other people's lives, and you don't think this kind of knowledge is evil? Wake me up, if you study this, what is the difference between you and our enemies?"

Vivian was stunned by Catherine's roar, stood there for a long time, the frenzy in her eyes slowly subsided, and she hung her head weakly: "I'm sorry big sister, you're right, thank you, I almost got lost, thank you for pulling me back, it's really dangerous." ”

Catherine also breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, it's okay, my sister, I'm really afraid that you will go in like this." ”

"Don't worry, eldest sister, after this time, I will be mentally prepared in the future, and I will not be so easily lost. Vivien walked up to Catherine, hugged her waist, leaned weakly on Catherine's arms and said, "However, we still have to find a way to understand the reasons and methods of the other party's methods, only by understanding them can we defeat them." ”

"I agree. Catherine nodded, "As long as you're not in the same fanatical state as you were just now, I'm not opposed to you learning about these things." ”

The others were very sensible, and consciously left room for the two girls to quarrel alone, and each probed the valley for a while before returning to his original position. There was silence in the valley, and in the middle of the circular complex of improvised buildings, a large number of corpses lay densely on the ground, roughly counting, there were four or five hundred. The corpses were in exactly the same state of death, the same as the corpses that everyone had found before, old, weak, painful, and then dead.

"Follow me. As soon as Pannis, who had returned at last, saw everyone, he beckoned, led them to the outside of a building, pointed to the door of the house, and whispered, "Look carefully at the crack in the door, there is light inside." ”