Although the rat bounty notices were posted everywhere, Qi found that these notices were all broken and old without exception, and some of them had even fallen off most of the walls.

It seems that no one has cared about these rat traps for a long time......

Qi Yan also noticed that although the market in this town was full of filth, he had not seen any rats passing by so far.

It stands to reason that the bazaar is the place where rats are most rampant......

Rather than guessing without a clue of his own, Qi Yan prefers to ask the locals.

He tore off one of the rat-catching bounty notices and walked to a very kind-looking old woman in the bakery nearby: "Hello, is there still a recruitment of rat hunters in the city?" ”

Qi Xue Svenwen placed the notice in front of the grandmother who sold the bread.

The old woman pushed her reading glasses and looked at the notice, shook her head and said, "I don't know very well, this notice was posted a long time ago, and no one has come to deal with it, in fact, the rat infestation in our city has been solved." ”

"Rats solved? Can you tell us when it happened? Qi asked hurriedly.

The old woman thought for a moment, "It was a few months ago, and I bet there is no city in the world as clean as ours, and you will never be able to find a mouse in the city." ”

When the old woman said "clean", Qin Rang and Lu Zhi couldn't help but roll their eyes.

How can this excrement-strewn city have anything to do with the word "clean"?

Qi Jiu: "Did something happen some time ago?" I'm curious to know how the city is dealing with rat infestations. ”

"Hahaha, many guests from afar want to know the secret of the rat infestation, but what exactly happened..."The old woman thought about it carefully, then shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "We don't know very well, this is the truth, the rat infestation was miraculously solved overnight, no one knows what happened." ”

The three of them quickly exchanged glances, and it was clear that the town's sanitation had not improved, and the rat infestation had suddenly disappeared without the city's residents knowing.

"It's probably a miracle." The old woman laughed.

Qi Yan asked again: "Then do you know that there is a soothsayer in the city?" ”

Old woman: "I know of a soothsayer, although I have never visited him, but I have heard that he is a very hygienic fellow, you know, such people always hate us who work in the bazaar, and he even requires people to take a shower before they can go to divination, you say, ridiculous?" ”

"I don't believe in these things anyway," muttered the old woman, who seemed to be a little dissatisfied with the soothsayer's habit of cleanliness.

"By the way, are you going to the soothsayer? But I seem to have heard... He disappeared a few months ago. The old woman reminded, "You'd better ask before you go, for it won't be interesting if you don't get there." ”

Qi Yan nodded politely: "Thank you for telling us this." ”

Before leaving the bakery, he also bought a large bag of bread for ten coins.

"It's... What's going on? Qi Zhen, do you think that the solution of the rat infestation has anything to do with the disappearance of the soothsayer? After walking out of the bread workshop, Qin Rang hurriedly asked.

Qi Zhen nodded: "There is definitely a relationship, but what the specific relationship is, it is still uncertain." ”

Qin Rang: "The disappearance of the rat infestation means that the rat disappears, do you say that the soothsayer is one of the rats..."

Qi Ji was silent for a moment, and then said, "Do you remember the guy who sold taiyaki?" His image reminds me of a character. ”

Chapter 152: Highway Circus (46)

"The Magic Flute." Qi Zhen said his guess.

Lu Zhi and Qin Rang were stunned for a moment, glanced at each other, and suddenly said: "In fairy tales, it was the flower-clothed man who played the magic flute who solved the rat infestation in the city!" ”

The two of them recalled the soothsayer at the taiyaki stall dressed in colorful flowers and wearing a long trumpet at his waist.

Qin Rang clapped his hands: "In this way, it makes sense, the soothsayer is a flower-clothed man who plays the magic flute in fairy tales, and he can solve the problem of rat infestation for the town, once the rat infestation is solved, the soothsayer will disappear with it, because he is no longer needed here." ”

Lu Zhi thought for a while, frowned, and said: "But at the end of this fairy tale, the Magic Flute Flower Cloth Man took away all the children in the town, I have seen the analysis of this fairy tale before, this Magic Pied Man who is nominally a rat hunter is actually the head of recruitment for the Children's Cross Legion..."

Qin Rang: "I even saw a saying that the piper is a pedophile." ”

"Brother Qi, what do you think?" Lu Zhi turned to Qi Zheng.

"It's impossible to make an accurate judgment yet, so let's investigate whether there are any cases of missing children in the town, and see how much the background of the soothsayer's performance overlaps with the fairy tale." Qi asked.

Over the next twenty minutes, the trio wandered around the market and paid attention to the nearby bulletin boards, where they were surprised to find that there were no missing children in the town.

"It seems that this soothsayer and piper are not interested in children, but a serious rat hunter." Qin Rang scratched his head and said.

Qi Jiu: "I don't know if it's serious or not, but what I'm more puzzled about now is what is the connection between the rat removal operation, the magic flute and the soothsayer, the rats in the city have disappeared, and the soothsayer has also disappeared, is there another possibility, such as the soothsayer is a mouse, or is it related to the mouse?" ”

Qin Rang was stunned: "Huh? Do you think the real soothsayer is not the colorful artist who sells taiyaki? ”

Qi Zhen nodded thoughtfully: "He doesn't seem to have admitted that he is a soothsayer, I remember that when I asked him if he was a soothsayer, his answer was: I hope I can bring good luck to your circus journey." This sentence can be understood in many ways, isn't it? ”

Qin Rang blinked stunnedly: "You say that... But where do we start investigating? ”

Qi Jiu: "First of all, whether the man in the flower clothes who plays the magic flute is a real soothsayer or not, there is no doubt that he is the key to the whole storyline, and we must find him by all means; Secondly, we need to gather more information about the soothsayer in the city to see if we can match the Piper. ”

"But how do you find the person who plays the magic flute?" Qin Rang subconsciously muttered.

Qi Zhen thought for a while: "The other party's task should be to eliminate the rat infestation, if you want him to appear again, you have to get some rats to come to the city as hooks." ”

Qin Rang: "......" This reminded him of the unpleasant memories of the clown's smiling face in the ruins of the ventilation duct, Qi Jiu manipulating the rats.

But according to the old woman in the bakery, there is no way to find a single mouse in the city.

Where are you going to get some rats to take the bait?

He remembered that the old woman had said that many guests from afar wanted to know the secret of the rodent infestation, which was a side indication that there were still rodent infestations in the background map......

【Warning! You can't leave your town until the quest map is activated.

After learning of Qi Jiu's plan, the system kindly issued a warning.

Qi Jiu: "... Then there is no way. ”

After a moment of contemplation, he walked again to the vendor in the market, observed for a moment and walked towards a stall owner selling groceries from all over the world.

"Is there anything you can help me with? I can buy groceries from all over the world. ”

The stall owner was a middle-aged man who looked very cheerful, with a warm smile on his face and a pair of mustaches raised high with his movements.

Just now, Qi Yan noticed the rat wine placed in the corner of the window by the shopkeeper at a glance.

It is a medicinal liquor that is very unappetizing to ordinary people, soaked in mouse cubs.

Qi Yan asked politely: "Hello, take the liberty of asking, can you provide customized services here?" Time is a bit tight, but the cost is definitely not a problem. ”

The middle-aged stall owner smiled: "Of course, I am very happy to serve you." ”

Qi Jiu: "I saw that you have rat wine for sale here, so I want to ask..."

He paused deliberately and made an embarrassed look, "Do you have any live rats for sale here?" ”

The middle-aged stall owner's smile instantly froze on his face, and he shook his head in a hurry: "As we all know, there are no rats in our city anymore, and I bought all this rat wine from a neighboring town..."

Qi Zhen pursed his lips thoughtfully, and then looked at the other party with great sincerity: "There is definitely no problem in terms of cost." ”

He emphasized it again in ambiguous words.

The middle-aged stall owner put away the smile on his face, and his eyes rolled shrewdly: "Of course, our store can try to meet your needs, although the sale of live rats is unheard of and not in accordance with the rules, but our store is willing to set a precedent for you, in terms of price, it cannot be lower than this number." ”

As he spoke, the stall owner made a "two" gesture under the cash register, "Two hundred coins." ”

Since players are forbidden to leave the town map, it would be nice to find a way to get the NPCs to bring them to them.

Although two hundred coins is not a lot of money for Qi Zhen, for the purchase of something like rats that does not require the cost of breeding, and compared with the prices in this town, the grocery store stall owner's asking price is not low.

"I'm okay with the price, it's just that we're a little rushed," Qi Ji glanced at the time, it was 11 o'clock in the morning, "We need to get the mouse before half past four in the afternoon, can we do it?" ”

The middle-aged stall owner raised his eyebrows: "It's no problem if time is tight, but well, you have to add money, two hundred and fifty yuan, is it acceptable?" ”

"Don't worry, we have a stable and mature delivery team, which can buy you any materials in the neighboring town in the shortest possible time, including materials that are not allowed to be sold in the market, I think you know what I mean, we have a way."

Qi Yan glanced at the other party and could see that the grocery store stall owner wanted to make this money, so he shrugged his shoulders and said, "No problem, I'll pay you a deposit of one hundred yuan first." ”

"I like cheerful guests like you," the middle-aged stall owner whistled happily, "and that's it, we'll see you at four o'clock in the afternoon." ”

"Thank you." Qi Zhen handed over a deposit of 100 coins to the grocery store stall owner.

For the current Qi Yan, everything that can be solved with a few hundred coins is considered troublesome.

For a little money, you can hand over tasks that are difficult for players to complete to NPCs, and you and your teammates can use the remaining time to search for more clues, which will greatly improve the efficiency of passing.

After handing over the task of catching rats to the NPC vendor, the trio set out to focus on searching for clues about the soothsayer.

Human beings are indeed creatures that are very easily changed by the environment, and after this hour of adaptation, Qin Rang even felt that the excrement and garbage all over the ground were not as unacceptable as when he first arrived.

Similarly, the inhabitants of the bazaar, who had become accustomed to not bathing, cast surprised and curious glances at the three white.

In the work of exploring information and collecting information with NPCs, Qi Ji has an innate advantage, Qin Rang and Lu Zhi believe that such an advantage comes from Qi Yan's good-looking appearance and polite manners, while Qi Ji thinks that NPCs have a natural good impression of themselves because of the bonus of 079 this guy's data.

"The soothsayer has indeed disappeared from the city for a long time, yes, he is very clean, and clean customers like you should be very popular with him!" The proprietress who sold the fish wiped her hands repeatedly on her apron and enthusiastically introduced, "I heard that the soothsayer is also very sensitive to time, and the customers who make appointments must not be late, otherwise they will never see him, and ah, his working hours are also very strange, he does not allow customers to make appointments during the day, and divination can only be carried out at night." ”

"Nocturnal and nocturnal? The more you listen to it, the more you look like a mouse. Qin Rang muttered on the side.

The little girl from the stall next to her also came over to talk and said, "By the way, there is a rumor that the soothsayer hates water very much, and I don't know if it's true or not." ”

"Water?" Qi Zhen frowned.

The little girl nodded: "There is no well where the soothsayer lives, and guests are not allowed to bring any drinks into his divination house, so the residents of the city speculate that the soothsayer hates such things as water, probably because of his divination taboo." ”

Qin Rang was puzzled: "But this is very contradictory, since the soothsayer loves cleanliness so much, unlike these residents in the city who live in filth, then why is he afraid of water?" Sounds unreasonable..."

Qi Yan continued to ask, "Has anyone ever seen the appearance of a soothsayer?" ”

The little girl thought about it carefully and shook her head: "The soothsayer has always worn a black mask and wrapped tightly around his body, and no one has ever seen his true appearance. ”

Hearing this, Qin Rang and Lu Zhi glanced at each other suspiciously.

After all, the description of wearing a black mask and wrapping his whole body tightly is far from the image of the Magic Piper in a flower robe.

"I don't know much more about anything else, if you are interested in the soothsayer, you can ask more, although he has disappeared, he was once a legend in the city." The little girl suggested.

Qin Rang: "Actually, I've always had a question, if that soothsayer really loves cleanliness as described by the residents, why did he choose this filthy city? ”

Lu Zhi: "Maybe all the towns in the background of this story are like this. ”

Qin Rang thought for a moment and shook his head: "So if I were him, I would choose to settle away from the crowd, after all, no matter how dirty the conditions are, it won't be as terrible as a densely populated city with no sewer system." ”

Lu Zhi choked directly, and Qin Rang's casual words were logically self-consistent......

"That's right, maybe the soothsayer who loves cleanliness has long wanted to leave this dirty and crowded city..."Qi Yan muttered thoughtfully, Qin Rang's words suddenly gave him an idea, "What if he has some reason why he can't leave?" Only if the rat infestation is solved can he escape from the filthy town..."

However, this is just Qi Yan's speculation, and there are not enough clues to confirm it yet, but the subsequent investigation can find a breakthrough in this idea.

Qi Zhen sorted out the information of the soothsayers from the mouths of the residents: 1. The soothsayer loves to be clean, 2. The soothsayer is afraid of water, 3. The soothsayer is nocturnal and nocturnal, and 4. The soothsayer never appears in front of customers with his true face.