Chapter 103
Liu Qiao took the four people to the three willow trees in the distance. This place was hidden and nearly a kilometre from the entrance to the east of the village. By hiding behind the trees, they wouldn’t be found by challengers suddenly escaping the village.
Liu Qiao was thin, her height was 1.65 metres and she looked less than 50 kg. She was wearing a wide tracksuit and it seemed like her entire body would be blown away by the wind. However, her expression was calm and her eyes showed no fear or tension. They were clear eyes that seemed to see through everything.
Xiao Lou appreciated the cleverness and cautiousness of this girl and asked, “You asked us to come over. Is it to tell us a clue?”
Liu Qiao sorted out her thoughts and explained, “I first entered the village yesterday at dusk. I used the flight card to directly enter the village.” She took a card out of her pack and spread it out on her palms. “This is the flight card that I drew.”
The S-grade tool card [Bird]. The additional skill: Light as a Swallow.
After using the skill, immediately enter the ‘Light as a Swallow’ state and be free from the influence of gravity. Their body will float in the air up to 50 metres and can move through the air. Each floating time lasted for three seconds and the skill would refresh immediately after landing. Please use it flexibly and don’t fall to your death. For every growth in level, the floating time will increase by 1 second, with 10 seconds being the maximum.
Xiao Lou looked at the card description and said, “Every float lasts three seconds. Does that mean that in the absence of trees or other leverage points, you can fly through the air and land after three seconds? So you have to find a leverage point that you can borrow, jump to another place in three seconds, refresh the skill cooldown and continue flying?”
Liu Qiao nodded. “Yes, this card can’t fly long distances. I must find a landing point after three seconds or I will fall directly. At full level, I can float for 10 seconds and this is better.”
Her body wasn’t very good. It was thanks to this card that she successfully pa.s.sed 2 of Spades’ Zombie Town and 3 of Spades’ Financial Crisis. In 4 of Spades, she could also fly with the help of trees to avoid the villagers.
Liu Qiao put away the card and said, “Yesterday evening, there were two challengers who rushed to act and disturbed Grandma Qin’s Tibetan mastiff. The attention of all the villages was on them so I took the opportunity to fly through the trees of the village. I wanted to look at the situation. Grandma Sun’s house was in that vicinity and I landed on a tree by her house. She suddenly turned and looked at me.”
Liu Qiao looked serious. “I suspect that the grandmother could see me.”
Xiao Lou wondered, “Are you sure she could see you? Maybe she has keen hearing and heard the sound of you falling into the tree, causing her to look in your direction?”
Liu Qiao shook her head. “It isn’t the same. Grandma Sun looked directly at me, which scared me. She could see so accurately, unlike the reaction of blind people. At that time, there was a pregnant woman who asked her for medicine and she didn’t care about me. I was worried about being found and immediately left with the help of other trees. In the middle of the night, I went back to her house. This time, I hid on the roof.”
Xie Qi couldn’t help saying, “You’re a girl. You were so brave to run back to the village in the middle of the night!”
Liu Qiao said, “I returned to the village after separating from you at the temple. Most of the villagers were asleep and the village wasn’t really dangerous. In addition, I have the flight card, invisibility cloak and map you gave me. In case of trouble, I could quickly run away. Thus, I had the courage to go back and check if Grandma Sun could really see.”
Xiao Lou questioned, “What did you find?”
Liu Qiao’s face slightly changed. “It was 3:30 in the morning and she was still in the kitchen making medicine. I clearly saw several medicine pots on the ground. Then I distinctly saw her throw some bones into the pot.”
Everyone, “………”
Liu Qiao’s suspicion that Grandma Sun could see was just speculation. Then she returned to the village at night and found Grandma Sun using human bones to make medicine. This was absolutely conclusive evidence.
Grandma Qin soaked bones in the rice wine jar in the kitchen. Grandma Sun actually used human bones to make medicine! The two old ladies behaved in a strange manner. In order to solve the case of the slaughtered villages, the investigation obviously had to start with them.
Yu Hanjiang frowned and asked. “Did you go inside Grandma Sun’s house?”
Liu Qiao nodded. “I used the invisibility cloak and there were 30 minutes of invisibility time. Once she finished making the medicine, I went into the kitchen to take a look. She had a large rice jar in the kitchen filled with the bones of the dead…”
Liu Qiao was white-faced when she recalled the scene she saw at that time. In the rice jar, the bones were densely stacked together and it was shocking. Liu Qiao felt a chill go down her spine. She hurriedly closed the lid of the rice jar and turned to leave, heading back to the west mountain.
She was only one person and didn’t dare continue checking. In any case, she got the clearance gem. The village was full of strange things and she just wanted to make sure that her gem wouldn’t be robbed. She would leave Liuxi Village after seven days and just had to mind her own business. She didn’t change her mind until she met Xiao Lou again.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other. “Group Leader Yu, this Grandma Sun and Grandma Qin are very suspicious.”
Liu Qiao was startled and looked back at Xiao Lou. “Your last name is Xiao and his is Yu. Are you Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang who set the world records in 3 of Hearts and 4 of Hearts?”
Xiao Lou smiled. “Yes, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Xiao Lou. If I remember correctly, your sister mentioned that you are a student of the medical university? I am a professor in the forensics department of the medical university.”
Liu Qiao’s heart was excited but she was always introverted so she didn’t appear too excited. She nodded seriously. “h.e.l.lo Professor Xiao, I am a freshman majoring in traditional Chinese medicine. I didn’t get the chance to attend your cla.s.s but I often listened to my seniors talk about you.”
Xiao Lou nodded at her. “This is Yu Hanjiang. Group Leader Yu is the leader of a criminal police team in Jiangzhou. Xie Qi is a student at the conservatory of music. Chief Shao is the boss of a fund company he created. We have decided to upgrade the contract book and form a team after going to the main city.”
Liu Qiao, “……”
She seemed to have mistakenly b.u.mped into a group of great G.o.ds?
Shao Qingge smiled. “Cooperate with us and you won’t suffer.”
Liu Qiao immediately nodded. “Thank you for taking me.”
Her nervous mood eased instantly. During this time, she had been acting alone and had a hard time walking in this strange world. Now she met these powerful people, including Professor Xiao, who had the best rating at the school. She immediately felt like she had a backer.
Liu Qiao pulled out her card pack and said, “My transformation card has a strong effect and might be useful. Professor Xiao, have a look.”
Xiao Lou took the card and had a closer look.
The S-grade special effect card [Twin]. The skill was called ‘Copy’. Immediately after use, can copy a person you have seen within 30 minutes, forming his/her twin. The duration is 8 minutes and the cooldown time is 8 hours. You can copy the other person’s appearance and voice but not their abilities and cards. During the copy period, if the other party is dead then the copy effect will be automatically cancelled.
Xiao Lou’s eyes lit up. “You can copy anyone you see in 30 minutes. Can you turn into one of us now?”
Liu Qiao nodded and used the card’s skill. Then there were two Xie Qi in front of them. Xie Qi stared. He saw someone who looked exactly like himself and exclaimed, “It is like looking in the mirror!”
The other ‘Xie Qi’ learned to speak like him. “It is just like looking in the mirror! It’s too similar!”
“Hahaha, don’t learn to speak like me!”
The other Xie Qi said, “Hahaha, don’t learn to speak like me!”
The other three helpless people looking at the two Xie Qi, “……”
Xiao Lou smiled. “Liu Qiao, change back and don’t play around.”
Liu Qiao obediently changed back and said, “The card effect is like this. I can change into any person I saw within 30 minutes, whether they are challengers or free people. I can also become Grandma Sun, Grandma Qin or the three villagers.”
The special effect card ‘Twin’ was too amazing. There might be only one skill and the duration was eight minutes. Transforming in a key moment could not only avoid a crisis but also turn into a designated NPC to investigate.
Xiao Lou asked curiously, “What about the Little Red Riding Hood you changed into last night?”
Liu Qiao summoned the little red hat and said, “This is a fairy tale summoning card. I can summon Little Red Riding Hood and be immune to any attack in range. I was afraid that you would attack me at that time so I summoning Little Red Riding Hood and became the image of a child to eliminate your vigilance.”
The cards she drew were also very strange but they were useful.
The Twin card could become anyone, including challengers, free people and summoned characters. In other words, she could even transform into Bai Juyi or Liu Yong summoned by Xiao Lou. This was regarded as a very powerful means of confusion.
Yu Hanjiang said, “Liu Qiao’s transformation card means our next strategy will be more flexible. In addition to continuing to eavesdrop, we can become people familiar to Grandma Sun or Grandma Qin to talk to them.”
Xiao Lou looked back at him. “Group Leader Yu, Grandma Sun is the only doctor in the village. We have speculated that the murderer is likely to start with pregnant women and babies. The medicine will lead to blindness in babies. Her age and occupation are very consistent with these conditions.”
Yu Hanjiang nodded in agreement. “The village ma.s.sacre case occurred decades ago. If all the village adults were killed and the children poisoned by Grandma Sun, these children would grow up to marry and have children. Their descendants would once again become blind and she can deceive everyone that it is a ‘curse.’”
The group felt a chill down their spine at Group Leader Yu’s reasoning.
Grandma Sun was the only village doctor and gave birth to pregnant women. She was responsible for looking after children. It would be too easy for her to blind an entire village. The other people were blind and didn’t understand medicine. They didn’t know the medicine she prescribed and was grateful for her help…
What was this perverted psychology that made her retaliate against the entire village using such extreme means? Even newborn babies weren’t let go?
Xiao Lou gently clenched his fists. “What about Grandma Qin? She must also know the truth, right?”
“It is possible the two of them are working together. At this moment, we don’t have enough clues.” Yu Hanjiang looked up at the sky in the west. The sun was about to set. The sunset was dying the sky blood red. The timing bar above his head pointed to 19:00 p.m. in the evening. There was a rush of footsteps in the distance. Yu Hanjiang lowered his voice, “Everyone, hide first and wait until it is dark.”
The five people immediately hid behind a tree.
Moments later, two people came running toward the farmland. One young man was crawling on the ground like a gecko. Strangely, his body colour changed according to the surrounding environment and he quickly integrated with the environment. Once he crawled through the farmland, he became the colour of wheat. If he hadn’t been moving then it would be hard to distinguish with the naked eye.
The other person, a woman who looked in her mid-30s with delicate makeup. As she moved, she held her hands up high and jumped like a zombie. It was just that every time she jumped, she could jump more than five metres without stopping.
They stopped near the edge of the wheat field and the man whispered, “If we go further, we’ll have to leave the boundary of Liuxi Village. There are beasts everywhere outside. It will be very dangerous.”
The woman smiled and said, “What are you afraid of? You can camouflage at any time with your chameleon card and become one with the environment. My arms and legs can stretch 10 metres to help climb trees, finding the tallest tree to hide in.” She paused and looked at her companion. “It is safer for us to hide outside the village than inside. Don’t forget that all challengers in this secret room are very strong. Our abilities are in hiding and we can’t necessarily beat them in frontal combat.”
The man thought about it. “Yes, there are six days left. We can clear the instance even if we hide in the wild, so as to not be plotted against by other challengers in the next few days. Compared to unpredictable challengers, the beasts are easier to deal with.”
The woman said, “Let’s go. The villagers with the mad dogs are looking everywhere for challengers. We must withdraw before they find us.”
The two of them didn’t notice the three willow trees in the distance. They thought the challengers were all on the west mountain and no one was in the field. Thus, they didn’t lower their volume when talking. Xiao Lou and the others could clearly hear their conversation.
The two of them moved as fast as lightning and quickly disappeared outside the village. Apparently, they chose a more adventurous approach. They would go directly into the wild for six days to clear the instance.
Xiao Lou actually agreed with the woman’s words. Rather than beasts, the challengers with unknown strength were more terrible. In the next few days, challengers who hadn’t found any gems would definitely try to steal them and the outcome was really unpredictable.
What if someone drew a gun like Yu Hanjiang and directly shot to kill?
In contrast, the beasts might be dangerous but these two people’s escape ability was really strong. Perhaps they really could clear the instance.
Once the two left, Liu Qiao said, “In fact, I first came to the farmland because I also intended to hide in the wild.” If she hadn’t met Xiao Lou and changed her mind, she would’ve left the village with her gem.
Xiao Lou opened his mouth. “The woman just reminded me that we now have three gems in our hands. Perhaps we will be the target of challengers who haven’t found gems. They might unite to steal the gems. Next, we have to keep a low profile and can’t reveal to anyone that we have the gem.”
Yu Hanjiang agreed. “Pretend not to find it.”
The five people hid behind the tree until it was dark. Not long after, Yu Hanjiang also got the blindness effect. It was just fortunate that they didn’t need to act at this time. He sat under a tree with eyes closed and Xiao Lou kindly gave him some water to drink.
Next, there were challengers forced out of the village by the villagers. Some were like the previous team and took shelter outside the village. Others ran into the farmland and used straw to pretend to be scarecrows. Some people climbed up trees like monkeys.
There were many challengers. The villagers had the dogs search and the entire village was full of the sound of barking. Today’s villagers didn’t go to bed until late at night and the village gradually quieted down.
At 24:00 a.m., there were several lines that appeared on everyone’s floating boxes.
[Liuxi Village, the next day. 24:00 a.m.
Number of challengers remaining in the village: 18.
Number of stones remaining in the village: 1.]
Xiao Lou’s group of five had changed expressions. They didn’t expect that six out of seven gems had been found in just one day! Moreover, there were 18 challengers remaining, indicating hat several unfortunate ones had been eliminated.
There was only one gem remaining and the number of challengers was much greater than the number of gems. Those who failed to find one would be more nervous and the infighting between challengers was the most unpredictable risk in the future.
It would be hard for them to pretend they hadn’t found gems and they had to go into the village to investigate.
Yu Hanjiang looked at the dark village and whispered to Liu Qiao. “Give me your transformation card.”
Liu Qiao took out her transformation card and handed it to him, asking, “Who are you going to become?”
Yu Hanjiang replied lightly, “I will become the village chief and go to talk to Grandma Sun.”
Once again, thank Chuna for her fanart of Xiao Lou hiding behind Yu Hanjiang while blind.