These factors are superimposed, plus the clues that Qi Yan obtained from the taiyaki boss before... He suddenly had a guess.

Chapter 153: Highway Circus (47)

According to the clues that have been grasped so far, what puzzles Qi Zhen the most is that he is a soothsayer who loves cleanliness so much, but he has to stay in this dirty and crowded city, and there seems to be some unknown reason in it.

But now that there is a lack of a rope that can connect the fragments of information, the appearance of the Pied Piper is even more important.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, a horse-drawn cart transporting hundreds of pounds of potatoes stopped in front of the grocery store.

Grocery store workers are busy unloading potatoes from the cart, and middle-aged stall owners are holding their arms in front of the wagon, orderly dispatching the unloaders.

During this time in the afternoon, the other players were not idle, they got two carriages, and at this time, Qi Yan, Qin Rang, and Lu Zhi were sitting in one of the carriages.

To Qi Jiu's surprise, Lu Zhi was able to drive the carriage skillfully, and seeing that the time was almost up, they were walking towards the grocery store at this moment.

When the carriage stopped at the door of the grocery store, the middle-aged stall owner immediately greeted him warmly: "Good afternoon, everyone, I like punctual guests very much. ”

The stall owner's eyes rolled slightly, and finally his gaze rested on the money bag on Qi Yan's waist.

Qi Yan, who got off the carriage, bowed politely to the stall owner: "I believe you will also like the guests who keep their promises." ”

As he spoke, he handed over the remaining one hundred and fifty coins to the other party.

The smile on the face of the middle-aged stall owner became more enthusiastic: "Of course, every cheerful guest is our God." ”

"We've got the supplies you want, here, please."

The middle-aged stall owner led the three to the cart transporting potatoes, and he muttered a few words in the ear of the transport foreman, who immediately understood, and motioned to the unloader to pull out a black snakeskin bag from the bottom of the carriage, and the mouth of the snakeskin bag was tightly sealed with hemp rope, for fear that the "materials" inside would leak out.

The stall owner's eyes glanced at the carriage behind Qi Yan: "I forgot to tell you to hire the carriage before, it seems that your decision is very wise." ”

With that, the stall owner smiled at the three of them secretly.

Qin Rang's eyes moved to the black snakeskin bag in the worker's hand, and he soon found that the things contained in the snakeskin bag were constantly wriggling, and the black snakeskin bag was also bulging one after another, and the bag also made a "squeaking" screeching sound from time to time...

The crowd knew very well what was in the snakeskin bag.

"This, this, this, this actually gave a sack of rats alive..."Although he had already guessed in his heart, it was still difficult for Qin Rang to accept this reality, they actually spent two hundred and fifty yuan to buy a sack of rats!

It's really two hundred and five.

Qi Yan looked at a sack of wriggling rats and raised his eyebrows: "I didn't expect so much." ”

The middle-aged stall owner smiled: "Of course, you also paid a lot of coins, we are businessmen, and we never let our customers feel at a loss." ”

Qin Rang: "......"

"I hope you are satisfied, goodbye, my dear guests."

After a sack of rats was tightly hidden in the carriage, everyone sat back in the carriage, and the middle-aged stall owner stood outside the shop to watch them leave.

The carriage sped away on excrement and garbage, lying in a snakeskin bag covered with a thick blanket in the corner of the carriage, with the constant sound of "squeaking" and the squirming of the scalp.

"It's a really bad experience..."The movement in the carriage made Qin Rang's scalp tingle, but as soon as he poked his head out, the air outside the carriage suffocated Qin Rang, "It's too terrible to live in this ghost place." ”

Qin Rang rubbed his temples in pain and complained.

Thankfully, the pain didn't last long, and with the help of the other players, their wagons arrived at a non-identification inn with private carriage parking, and they only had to take turns keeping the two players at the side of the wagon and waiting for night to fall.

"Are you planning to go out at night? We have a curfew here, and we are not allowed to go out between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next morning. The hotel attendant glanced at their carriage and prompted him in a friendly manner.

Qin Rang was stunned for a moment, and Qi Yan smiled regretfully very naturally: "So that's the case?" We didn't know the rules in the city before, and we said that the weather was rare today, so we planned to bring a beer and enjoy the night view on the tower bridge. ”

When inquiring about the news, Qi Yan also noticed the information about the city.

Although there is a lot of excrement and household garbage, the tower bridge in the city is actually a famous tourist attraction, and nearby residents will bring beer to the city to enjoy the scenery in the summer, but because of the poor security in the city in recent years, the local government decided to implement a curfew system after 10 o'clock.

The waiter glanced at them and said with a smile: "Of course, the rules are rules, as long as you don't get caught by the curfew inspectors, there are a lot of drunks wandering around there at night." ”

"Thank you for the reminder." Qi Yan thanked the service staff.

Once the players are settled in their rooms, they begin to exchange information with each other.

"I've heard that about a few months ago, someone heard music coming from near the streets of Chengnan at night, and according to the other party's description, it was a sound similar to orchestral music."

"Did the other party mention what time it is at night?" Qi Yan hurriedly asked.

"After ten o'clock, the other party made it clear that it was the time period of curfew."

"I see, thank you."

This news is also very important, determining the time and approximate scope of their actions.

Although the curfew system is not good for their actions, according to the waiters, the curfew system in the city is not strict, as long as they find a way to avoid the eyes of the patrols.

After a brief dinner, some of the players who had settled in their rooms took turns resting.

It was half past nine in the evening, and the players quietly left the hotel to get moving.

According to the previous plan, players were divided into two teams, one of which was responsible for distracting the patrol officers, and the other team went to the south of the city to release the rats in the sack, waiting for the flower-clothed man to appear playing the magic flute.

Among them, the players responsible for releasing the rats parked the carriage in a hidden position, and then lightly dragged the black snakeskin bag out of the carriage.

Just a little closer to the snakeskin pouch, you can smell a hot stench, and the chirping screams become more and more intense and lively.

Qin Rang pinched his nose in disgust: "Grass, I've endured this bag of rats alive for a long time, and I can finally 'release' them all." ”

"Don't be happy so early, you'll need to follow them to find the Pied Piper." The road is poured with cold water.

Qin Rang flattened his mouth: "But the behavior of sneaking in the middle of the night to release rats is somewhat immoral." ”

"Shhh," Qi Yan pressed his index finger to his lips, and by this time he had already put on his gloves.

The wriggling rats are heavy, and it takes a lot of effort to drag them successfully into the narrow alley.

At this moment, the pendulum of the city square struck ten times.

Qi Yan made a gesture, and then used the dagger to cut open the mouth of the snakeskin pouch sealed with hemp rope.

In an instant, hundreds of fat gray rats surged out of the snakeskin pouch, and in an instant, they fled in all directions and disappeared into the depths of the excrement-drenched alley.

Because the night of the curfew was so quiet, you could still hear the squeaking of rats after a long time.

Wearing gloves, Qi Ji picked up the snakeskin bag and folded it, and finally threw it into a nearby garbage pool with the gloves attached.

"Brother Qi, did you say that the Pied Piper would appear tonight?" After waiting for five minutes, seeing that there was no movement around, Lu Zhi was a little worried.

Qi Zhen: "The Magic Piper will appear, because for some reason that is not certain for the time being, no rat infestation is allowed in the city, otherwise the soothsayer will be in trouble." ”

"Huh? Why do you say that..."

Before Qin Rang's words fell, a faint sound of wind music suddenly came from the depths of the alley, and in an instant, all the players stopped their movements and pricked up their ears to find the direction of the music.

The rats that were originally scattered around the streets and alleys were much sharper than the players.

In an instant, the rats hiding in the darkness seemed to have received some supreme command, and the chirping became more and more restless, and they poured out of their nests and returned to the streets like an undercurrent flowing in the night of the city, ignoring the patrols and drunks who occasionally appeared in the streets, and rushed away in the direction of the music.

"Chirping, chirping..."The rat's cries became more and more intense, and the footsteps became more and more rapid.

Lu Zhi whistled loudly, and before the inspectors could find out, the players used the lock props and followed the pace of the rats and galloped away.

【Ding——】

[The main character of the current performance "The Flower Cloth Man Who Played the Magic Flute" has been unlocked, and the performance map has been updated]

[Mission Update: Follow the Rat's Footsteps to the Newly Unlocked Map]

With the appearance of the Pied Piper character, the rule that players can't leave the city has been broken!

With the blessing of the props, the group crossed the city walls with an army of sacks of rats, and the filthy swamps on the outskirts of the city were all over the swamps, and the damp water vapor condensed into a mist color, lingering on the swamps covered with strange plants.

The music hovering in the night sky became clearer and louder.

As if endowed with special abilities, these rats who follow the music over the city walls step on strange plants and cross the swamp, and are guided by the sound of music to the wilderness.

The dry evening breeze blows through the blackened trees like ghostly hands, and after about an hour of running wild in the night, the music leads the rat army and the crowd to a secluded manor.

The dense and oppressive woods were gone, and the manor was surrounded by a lush patch of wheat grass.

Wheat grass sways in the wind and has a unique and charming aroma on dry nights.

Qi Yan noticed that this place was very different from the city, there were no noisy human voices and no cross-stream filth, the wheat grass was dancing like waves in the moonlight, and the windmill not far away was slowly spinning and chopping the moonlight.

In the wheat straw field, there are countless tall dolls made of hemp rope, and on the dolls hang small swings made of tree branches, which even children cannot play with, and it seems that they are intended for some kind of animal.

The appearance of hemp rope dolls and branch swings made Qi Yan more sure of the guess in his heart.

But the silent picture of the night was soon shattered, and the chirping rats galloped towards the spinning windmill like moths to the fire, at the behest of the music.

"Squeak ——!"

This was followed by a scalp-numbing scream, and as the rats galloped in, the slow-moving windmill spun abruptly, its rotating blades glowing white in the moonlight.

Qi Yan noticed that this was not an ordinary windmill at all, but an open-air meat grinder controlled by music, the rotating blades of the windmill were transformed into sharp blades, and in an instant, the rats that were rushing to the ground were mashed, and the blood, water, and meat paste mixed with the juice of internal organs were sprinkled on the green wheat grass land, and the smell of wheat grass mixed with the smell of blood was even stronger.

The rat's blood moistened the air, and the wheat grass rattled rhythmically in the wind, as if the desire to eat was satisfied, and it was quiet and noisy.

The original pale moonlight was also stained red by the blood splattered on the windmill, and the white façade of the manor now took on a unique fishy pink color.

The scene of the grotesque cult in front of him made the players stop outside the manor.

They feared that the consequences of trespassing on the manor would be as miserable as the rats.

No one wants to be pureed alive.

At this moment, the gate of the manor opened, and the piper in a colorful robe walked towards everyone with a long trumpet and an exaggerated smile on his face: "Good evening, everyone, welcome to my manor, may I ask you for any reason to visit late at night?" ”

The piper pinned his trumpet behind him and looked at the crowd with bony eyes.

It has not been forgotten that the system promised that the first player to identify the correct one will receive a special reward.

But when the situation is not completely clear, most players do not dare to rashly identify, everyone, you look at me, I look at you, the middle-aged man who has been silent in the team suddenly stepped forward, he pointed at the pied piper impolitely and hurriedly said: "I found it!" You're the soothsayer who disappeared into the city! ”

Everyone looked at the middle-aged man with complicated expressions, and while feeling disdain for his merit-grabbing behavior, they also sweated for his recklessness.

The piper didn't answer the question immediately, he glanced at the middle-aged man meaningfully, and after two seconds, the piper had a regretful look on his face: "It's a pity that you've found the wrong person, and I'm not the soothsayer you're looking for." ”

"What ——!" The middle-aged man's eyes widened in disbelief, the muscles on his face trembled, and he took a step back in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, I have to ask you to leave this stage."