MMB Chapter 101 Li Yi!
Chapter 101 Li Yi!
Chapter 101 Li Yi! (4.8k)
From the moment the knocking sounded to when Tong Cheng opened the door, only two seconds elapsed.
He was already certain that the person knocking on the door couldn't possibly hide in such a short time, since there was a small courtyard outside the door, and the terrain was open.
If you really want to hide, you have to run to the corner of the house and hide behind it, but no one can do that in two seconds.
"You stay here and don't close the door."
After his initial surprise, Tong Cheng's expression returned to its icy coldness. He flashed away and headed towards the back of the rented house.
At this moment, Li Jiuhe seemed to see a red curtain flashing behind him, just like the curtain on a stage.
Luo Shuo also came out, standing sleepily behind Li Jiuhe.
"Was someone knocking on the door again just now?" he asked.
Li Jiuhe nodded.
Luo Shuo was also surprised. He approached the living room door and leaned over it, pressing his head against the door panel and stroking it repeatedly.
If someone didn't know about his sequence abilities, they would instinctively feel that this guy was doing something lewd.
After a moment, he shook his head: "No trace was left."
Tongcheng returned shortly afterward, seemingly having found nothing.
The three returned to the house. Tong Cheng told the two of them to continue sleeping and get some rest, while he stood guard outside the living room to see if the strange knocking sound would continue.
However, nothing unusual happened until dawn.
During this time, Tong Cheng himself fell asleep, after all, they still had to go into the mountains to work the next day, and it was destined that they would not be able to rest all day.
As soon as it was light, the three of them had finished getting ready, each carrying an oversized backpack, just like a group of people going into the mountains for hiking and camping.
Tong Cheng said, "I have already notified the Mingzhu City Investigation Bureau to send an experienced investigator to Nanfeng Town today to assist the police in investigating last night's events."
Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo both nodded in agreement.
Tong Cheng was always experienced, and last night's incident made him realize that things were not as simple as they seemed on the surface. If he only called the police, ordinary police officers might not be able to find out anything.
If the police had an investigator to assist them, they should be able to find clues very quickly.
The most important thing now is that this knocking incident only caused unease among the town's residents and disrupted their normal lives; in reality, no harm was done to the residents.
Therefore, we can only investigate for now and weigh the pros and cons once we find any clues.
After leaving the rented house, the three of them walked directly to the entrance of the Dragon Ridge Mountains, and officially entered the mountains after walking just over a kilometer.
The Dragon Ridge Mountains stretch for over a hundred kilometers, with varying terrain. Some areas are covered by dense forests, while others are overgrown with weeds, and the ground may contain hidden pits.
There are also streams and rivers running through the mountains, and there are all kinds of cold-resistant plants and small animals.
This is a mountainous area with extremely well-preserved ecology.
After walking a distance further in, you can still see traces of human activity, such as a burnt campfire, some broken metal kitchen utensils, and traces of tents being set up.
It's clear that groups of hikers often come to this place to explore.
However, the further you go in, the more deserted it becomes, and soon you can no longer see the road.
The three men took out their cleavers and began hacking away at the vines blocking their path as they ventured deeper into the valley.
Tong Cheng said, "The plants here are growing very fast. I took this path last time I came, and I even specially opened up a side path, but now I can't even see the side path anymore."
The map on his body was very detailed; it was hand-drawn and added by himself based on a map of Longjishan that he had purchased.
The three of them had carefully studied the map when they got together yesterday.
According to the Nanfeng Local Chronicles, we were preparing to go to the place mentioned in the record where wooden houses had been seen several times.
It is said that these people saw the wooden house around the same time of year.
With Luo Shuo in the group, and Tong Cheng having been here many times before, there was no worry about getting lost.
I estimate that I will arrive at my destination around 4 p.m.
In fact, Li Jiuhe's task definition has been running continuously since last night.
However, the goal is not "to survive," but rather to update the task definition in real time based on the current progress.
After all, with such a powerful top-level investigator as Tong Cheng around, there's nothing to worry about regarding his and Luo Shuo's safety.
The task of finding clues about his daughter in the Dragon Ridge Mountains seems to be fairly ordinary information.
In other words, the task information did not provide any predictive content.
Besides Tong Cheng and Li Jiuhe, Luo Shuo was the one who had the hardest journey, as his physical condition was completely unable to keep up with Tong and Li.
Adding to the fact that there was no road at all, Luo Shuo slipped and fell several times, and his thick clothes, which he had just changed into, were covered with a lot of mud.
Just before 4 p.m., the group finally arrived at the area marked on the map where they had seen the wooden house before.
There are few trees here, but a thick layer of soil, a mixture of decaying leaves and mud, has accumulated on the ground, so thick that your feet will sink in halfway when you step on it.
The air was filled with the smell of decaying plants and animals.
After resting for a while, Tong Cheng instructed, "We'll split up and search within a kilometer of this area. Don't go too far. We'll meet back here in an hour. I'll be in one group, and Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo, you two will be in another group."
They then tuned their walkie-talkies to the appropriate channels.
Of course, Tong Cheng could directly use his facial mask to sense the location of Li Jiuhe and the other person; using a walkie-talkie was simply to make communication between them easier.
Soon Tongcheng headed towards a slope not far away. The slope was extremely steep, but there seemed to be a flat area on top of it.
After discussing it with Luo Shuo, Li Jiuhe headed towards a low-lying area to search.
While searching, Li Jiuhe reminded Luo Shuo to use his tracking ability to see if he could sense the existence of the wooden house in advance.
The two walked and stopped frequently, and soon found that the ground, a mixture of mud and decaying leaves, was becoming increasingly soft.
With each step, the rising soft mud would submerge their insteps, and soon their shoes were covered in mud.
Luo Shuo was better because he was smaller and lighter, so he didn't sink as deeply.
But Li Jiuhe found that his feet were soon submerged up to his ankles, so he dared not go any further and stopped.
"I suspect there's an unseen swamp ahead, we can't go any further," he reminded Luo Shuo.
Luo Shuo didn't answer, as if he hadn't heard. Instead, he took several more steps forward, then turned to look at Li Jiuhe with a look of horror.
Li Jiuhe noticed something was wrong and immediately looked in front of Luo Shuo.
There were more trees in this area than in the previous one, and the branches were thick and large, spreading out overhead, making the sky very dark and visibility poor.
There was a person leaning against the base of a large tree in front of them, curled up and motionless.
This person was very thin and small, and seemed to be a child.
Li Jiuhe's eyes widened as he quickly approached. With each step, the wet mud on the ground grew deeper and deeper, reaching up to his knees. He had to pull his feet out with each step, as if he were walking through thick snow.
But he ignored it all, because he found that the huddled figure had a strange sense of familiarity to him.
He quickly approached the person and looked closely. Li Jiuhe was shocked and blurted out, "Li Yi?!"
The person curled up motionless under the tree was Li Yi.
Li Yi was disheveled, her face covered in filthy black mud, and her clothes were ill-fitting, seemingly those of a teenager. She was only wearing one dirty sneaker, with her other bare foot exposed, and ants crawling on her toes.
Li Yi kept her eyes tightly closed and remained motionless, showing no response to Li Jiuhe's calls.
Li Jiuhe became alert, looked around, and then quickly picked up Li Yi. He found that her body was already very cold, and he didn't know if she still had any vital signs.
However, this place was obviously quite dangerous, so Li Jiuhe planned to move Li Yi to a place where the sinkhole was less severe before conducting an examination.
At the same time, he was also looking around for any abandoned wooden houses, but he didn't see anything.
Holding Li Yi's body in his arms, he stepped lightly and heavily into the black mud and decaying leaves that had sunk to his ankles, and quickly passed Luo Shuo without asking for his help.
Luo Shuo was also surprised. He didn't expect Li Yi to appear right in front of him like this, and he didn't see any wooden houses nearby.
Just as Luo Shuo was about to tell Tong Cheng through the walkie-talkie, his pupils narrowed slightly as he glanced at the spot where Li Yi had been curled up under the tree.
The soft soil there only slightly sank, giving Luo Shuo the feeling that Li Yi's body was too light, too light to sink into the black mud.
"Brother Li, watch out, something's not right!" Luo Shuo immediately turned around to warn him.
"What's wrong?"
Li Jiuhe had carried Li Yi to a relatively firmer surface, where the soil only submerged half of his foot when he stepped on it.
Luo Shuo looked at Li Yi in his arms with suspicion and quickly moved closer.
"Brother Li, give Li Yi to me."
Li Jiuhe knew he might have discovered something. She glanced at Li Yi, whose body was slightly cold in her arms, and carefully handed her to Luo Shuo to hold.
Luo Shuo felt a slight weight in his hands and clearly felt that Li Yi's weight was normal; this was the weight a child of this age should have.
But why didn't her body sink very deep in that mud that was so easy to sink into?
Luo Shuo was puzzled.
"What did you discover?" Li Jiuhe asked.
"Her weight just now seemed off," Luo Shuo said.
Li Jiuhe reached out and pressed Li Yi's pulse, but found that he couldn't feel it. However, when he was holding Li Yi earlier, he could feel that Li Yi's body was twitching slightly, which meant that she was still alive.
I checked his breathing again, but I still couldn't feel him breathing.
Just then, Li Yi moved her body slightly, slowly opened her eyes, and looked at Li Jiuhe.
"dad?"
Li Jiuhe didn't answer, but instead reminded Luo Shuo, "Put her down."
Luo Shuo knew that Li Jiuhe had discovered something unusual, so he immediately put Li Yi down and the two of them stepped back at the same time.
The little girl stood steadily on the ground, facing Li Jiuhe, repeatedly calling out, "Daddy, you—you finally—found me—!"
As she spoke, she opened her arms to Li Jiuhe, as if she wanted him to hug her.
Li Jiuhe took several steps back, took out the new generation rune pistol, mostly made of silver, issued by the General Administration, pointed the muzzle at Li Yi, and his tone turned cold.
"If you come any closer, I'll shoot immediately!"
"Daddy, don't you want me anymore?" Li Yi pouted, as if she was about to cry.
She stood there with her arms outstretched, refusing to move another step.
It's unclear whether she stopped approaching after Li Jiuhe's warning, or because she was heartbroken and helpless.
"Who are you? How do you know what my daughter looks like? How do you know I'm looking for her?" Li Jiuhe asked coldly.
Li Yi did not answer. She looked like she was crying, but no tears fell. She just turned around and walked towards the soft, sunken black mud area as she cried.
"No, Daddy doesn't want me anymore—"
And so they drifted further and further apart.
Li Jiuhe really wanted to shoot and kill this strange thing, but the little guy's every move was exactly the same as Li Yi's, and he didn't know how he did it.
This caused his index finger to remain pressed on the trigger of the pistol, but he hesitated to pull it.
Luo Shuo kept an eye on the strange little girl while also checking the surroundings for any hidden dangers.
He quickly whispered to Li Jiuhe, "Brother Li, look, the child's feet won't sink into the mud."
Li Jiuhe also saw this scene. He saw that when Li Yi stepped on the mud that would have sunk into the back of her knees, she only sank slightly, and even her soles could be seen.
He had just picked up the little girl and knew that her weight was the same as that of a normal child, but the fact was that her feet did not sink into the mud.
"This strange child may be related to this swamp. Let's retreat for now," Li Jiuhe said softly.
Luo Shuo nodded.
He had just come into contact with the child, but his ability to search for the child had not yielded any results.
Just then, the two saw "Li Yi," who was crying and walking back, stretch out her hands and suddenly lunge forward, as if she had plunged into the water.
She plunged into the black swamp, quickly submerged by the black mud and decaying leaves, disappearing without a trace.
"Disappeared?" Luo Shuo was surprised.
Together with Li Jiuhe, they immediately moved away from the swamp, while secretly wondering what that thing had been.
This thing clearly knows Li Jiuhe's purpose and can impersonate his daughter almost perfectly.
At the same time.
On that small hillside, more than 800 meters away from this swamp.
The mudflats here have also increased, and Tong Cheng climbed up the hillside, his steps uneven.
He had originally planned to use this high vantage point to use binoculars to survey the nearby low-lying areas and see if he could spot the abandoned wooden house.
According to Tong Cheng's speculation, the abandoned wooden house should be able to move on its own, which is why it is not so easy for people to find it.
Upon arriving here, he was slightly taken aback and saw a person sitting on a rock with their back to him.
The man was dressed in what appeared to be the clothing of a resident of Nanfeng Town, very simple, but his back view and his short, gray hair gave Tong Cheng a strong sense of familiarity.
"teacher?"
A gentle breeze brushed against the ends of her graying hair, and her seated figure gave off a sense of tranquility and peace.
This gave Tong Cheng the illusion of returning to the days when he studied and solved cases with his teachers.
The figure moved slightly, but did not turn around. Instead, it slowly spoke: "You've finally arrived."
"I've been looking for you for a year, and I've never given up," Tong Cheng said as he approached.
They stopped when they were still ten meters away from that figure.
He realized that his feet were already stuck in the mud up to his knees, and that if he went any further, the area ahead could be very dangerous.
"Thank you for remembering me." The person sitting on the rock remained motionless.
"Teacher, are you still in that abandoned wooden cabin?" Tong Cheng asked. "Is this cabin invisible, constantly changing location with the seasons?"
This was his guess based on his many trips in and out of the Dragon Ridge Mountains.
"I don't remember any cabin," the man replied. "Now that you've found me, what else do you want?"
Tong Cheng paused for a moment, then slowly said, "I want to find what you've lost—the most important thing."
"What is it?" the man continued to ask.
"Don't you know what's most important to you?" Tong Cheng stared at the retreating figure.
The man's body twitched almost imperceptibly twice, and he retorted, "Are you doubting me?"
"Yes," Tong Cheng nodded, "but you can turn around and dispel my doubts about you."
The figure nodded: "Okay."
As soon as he finished speaking, he kept his lower body still, but turned his upper body around very quickly, twisting it completely in one go to reveal his face to Tong Cheng.
This face was not a normal human face, but rather a hard wooden mask, with a blue face, fangs, and fierce eyes, staring intently at Tong Cheng.
The person was wearing a Nuo mask!
Tong Cheng wasn't surprised. He scoffed, "That's the most powerful image of my teacher from the depths of my memory. But who in their right mind would wear a mask in public for no reason?"
With a wave of his hand, a phantom red curtain swiftly enveloped the person sitting on the rock.
The man shrank back and plunged into the mud below, disappearing without a trace.
"Trying to run away? Come here, listen to me sing an opera!"
As Tong Cheng uttered a line from a Peking Opera tune, the swamp immediately began to churn.
He didn't approach the rocks because the place might be strange, and he didn't know how deep the swamp was, where a person could disappear completely.
Tong Cheng simply made a delicate gesture with his fingers and flipped the back of his hand in mid-air.
The illusory red curtain plunged straight into the mud, then tumbled up, splashing up a cloud of black soil.
At the same time, a body that had already been torn to pieces quickly emerged from it, shattering right under Tong Cheng's nose, rapidly disintegrating and merging into the swamp.