"Purple Smoke, I have a new proposal. ”

Ziyan nodded her head while eating, indicating that she heard it. Leng Huo continued: "The road is muddy and difficult to navigate, I think I should go directly to Mengxi Village, it is much faster to have four horses to walk than two. After we have completed the commission, we will return to the Prancing Horse Tavern and return the Wind Horse to the other party. ”

Ziyan thought about it and slowly nodded in approval.

Leng Huo filled the fire with two dry sticks, and continued: "Ziyan, you come to keep watch for the first half of the night, and I will keep watch for the second half of the night." We set out as soon as dawn to try to get there as soon as possible. ”

Ziyan nodded lightly and didn't make a sound, but she knew in her heart that it was Cold Fire taking care of her. However, it is also a common practice. If there is a woman in the mercenary group, the woman usually keeps vigil in the first half of the night, because the vigil in the second half of the night is too hard.

Cold Fire didn't say anything more.

He closed his eyes slightly, and the starlight and the campfire disappeared in front of him. The crackling of the burning wood was like a lullaby, causing the cold fire to fall asleep quickly.

"Flame, run, run!" A childish and crisp voice urged the cold fire, and the eagerness and worry contained in the voice made people immediately cry when they heard it.

Cold Fire takes a girl's hand and runs through the jungle. However, the footsteps of the pursuers are getting closer and closer, and they can be seen almost hundreds of meters away, and the figures are longing.

Suddenly, a vine poked out like a poisonous snake and tied the girl tightly. However, the cold fire was unstable and turned into a rolling gourd.

"Yunluo ......" Leng Huo yelled and wanted to turn around and return, but suddenly his body trembled and he woke up from his dream. Leng Huo wiped his forehead and found that he was covered in cold sweat, as if he had just fought a tough enemy.

The stars are all over the sky, and the waning moon has long since disappeared into the sky. The previously exuberant campfires had also become much smaller, and the charred dry wood was smoking and occasionally making a crunching sound.

"What, did you have a nightmare?" Ziyan asked with a concerned expression.

Leng Huo calmed down and replied lightly: "I think of some of the past." Immediately, he diverted the subject and asked, "Is there any special situation?"

"Nope!"

"Then hurry up and rest, we have to hurry tomorrow!"

Purple Smoke nodded, lay on the dry branches that had been prepared long ago, and wrapped the blanket tightly to ward off the cold wind of the night. After a while, the sound of even breathing was heard.

Lenghuo sat alone until dawn.

There was a faint bright white in the east, and the purple smoke had already woken up. The two of them had a light breakfast and then continued south. After staying overnight, they finally arrived at Mengxi Village.

Mengxi Village is located on the edge of a hilly terrain, and from here, the land becomes undulating. Here, the land is barren and uneven, making it more difficult to grow crops, but there is another benefit. It was far away from the Bright Dynasty, and officials would not come here to collect taxes, which made it worth the risk of some people coming to settle the land.

Although Mengxi Village has the word 'Xi' in its name, in fact, there are no streams and lakes here at all. The vicinity of the village is lined with a mess of trees, creating sparse forests.

There are not enough people here, so only small villages can be formed. In the village, the houses are relatively low, most of them are a mixture of bamboo and wood, and the roofs are made of thatched roofs.

Not long after the two of them entered the village, one of them hurried over. The person who came was about thirty years old, which was the time when a person was at his most prime. It's just that his face is already quite weathered, and his brows are furrowed very tightly, looking worried.

"I'm militia captain Anmu, are the two mercenaries who are here to solve the problem?"

"Not bad!"

"Great! You're finally here, we're six missing. We have lived here for eighty or ninety years, and this has never been the case. Now people are panicking, and I'm dying. ”

Leng Huo nodded and asked calmly: "We have been entrusted to investigate the truth, so we have some questions to ask you, and I hope you will answer honestly, which is related to the progress of our investigation." ”

An Mu looked at the cold fire covered in the black robe, and felt a little unhappy in his heart. He felt that the cold fire was hiding his head and tail, but he was afraid that he was not a good person. However, with Ziyan on the side, An Mu is not afraid of what kind of bad guy Leng Huo is.

Therefore, he reluctantly agreed to Leng Huo's request. "Well, you ask!"

......

A quarter of an hour later, Leng Huo's brow furrowed. Anmu is such a waste material, I don't know anything about it. When the villagers disappeared, there were no fights, no screams, and nothing unusual. More than a dozen militia members in their village searched the area within a 10-mile radius, but found nothing.

Ziyan is also at a loss for this situation.

Now, they can only use the most stupid method to search the traces around the village. Because the only clue is that the villagers are missing outside the village. Therefore, they initially determined that this was caused by foreign monsters. As for what kind of monster it is, it depends on the specific traces.

Finding traces in the field is not an easy job. They had to observe the dead grass lying down, the most complicated footprints, even the smelly smell, and so on.

Purple Smoke is a shooter and is not proficient in tracking. In this respect, she is not much better than those militias. However, fortunately, Leng Huo was a lone mercenary before, and he knew a little about various methods.

It took half a day's work to find a strange line of marks. It looked like footprints, but there were footprints of any kind of monster that the two of them knew well, and of course, not people.

The two followed the footprints until they reached a cave, where they disappeared completely.

The cave is on the side of a mound, and there are several vines hanging from above the entrance to the cave. The entrance to the cave is small, it is an irregular circle, about two meters in diameter. The entrance to the cave is surrounded by dry weeds, and in the distance is a grove of oak and tsubaki trees.

Looking at the entrance of the cave, Ziyan turned left and right twice, looking a little eager to try.

"The first rule of mercenary rules, do not enter unfamiliar crypts. The second rule of mercenary rules, remember to enter unfamiliar crypts. The third rule of the mercenary code is to remember to enter an unfamiliar crypt. Leng Huo looked at the crypt that was dark and there was no trace of light, as if he was reciting a code.

Ziyan listened to Leng Huo's own invented mercenary code, and burst out laughing, "Leng Huo, you're a little poor." Before, you must have liked women, right?"

Leng Huo was stunned for a moment, remembering Yunluo's flower-like smile in the past, he couldn't make a sound for a while.

Ziyan saw that the cold fire was silent, and immediately understood. 'Before', is it before the disfigurement? When she says this, isn't she sarcastically satirizing that the cold fire has been ruined?

But Ziyan didn't mean to do this, and immediately got up embarrassed, "Sorry, cold fire! You know, I didn't mean that." ”

Leng Huo waved his hand, indicating that he didn't mind, "I need a torch." ”