The Story of a Destitute Noblewoman Farming

Chapter 191 Warning

"This mountain, as I recall, leads to another county. The two places are connected, and there are many hunters there. They often roam in the mountains, and over time, they've become small villages. At the border between the two counties, many of them don't even have household registration, so it's become a no-man's land."

Lord Yi said ashamedly that if he had not noticed it before, this would not have happened.

"As long as it exists, there will definitely be traces. I think we need to continue searching that village to see if there are any clues. Please help us investigate the escape routes of those people and see where they are most likely to have fled to.

There are also quite a few of their shops in the county town. Have the managers of those shops left? It would be best to temporarily seal up the items and see if they have put any drugs in them. I'm worried that their motives for selling the goods are not simple."

He Yue told Lord Yi about the situations in these two places. Lord Yi did not hesitate at all and immediately ordered people to check those shops and the managers to see if they could catch the person.

"General, we found wheel tracks as expected. These tracks are too deep to be from pulling something ordinary." The person who was checking the tracks immediately found the problem.

"I'll go and take a look." He Yue walked to the tire tracks and found that this place was indeed different. There was a deepest tire track here, which looked like it was caused by pulling something heavy.

However, in their impression, there was no heavy object in that village that could leave such a deep mark, and it was a sunny day without mud.

"I remember now. We heard the people guarding the city gate say that they saw a strange carriage." A yamen runner suddenly patted his head and talked about this issue.

"What kind of strange carriage is this? Tell me about it quickly." Lord Yi quickly called him over for questioning.

"I heard them say that there were two men driving two horses, but the carriage at the back was closed and very small, and it looked like it couldn't accommodate anyone. They thought it was strange and asked the driver to open it and take a look. Those people didn't refuse.

After opening it, they saw a glass bottle and a small piece of stone. However, those people were very nervous. When they saw that it was a glass bottle, they laughed at those people for not knowing that glass was already being sold and that glass was not worth much, so there was no need to be so nervous.

"Is that stone completely black and the size of a palm?" He Yue remembered the stone he had seen before. When he saw the stone, he felt fear all over his body, but he didn't have time to think about it at the time. Now it seems very strange.

"I don't know about that. He just told it to us as a joke. We didn't pay much attention to it. We just thought they were from some remote place and regarded the glass as a treasure." The bailiff shook his head.

After they brought the city guard and the people on duty that day, everyone was very impressed by the piece of glass, but had no impression of the stone. Only those who went to check it out in person remembered that it was indeed a black stone the size of a palm.

"Do you still remember the width and material of the carriage?"

"I can't quite remember what material it was made of, but I think the wheels were all iron. Oh, and the distance between the wheels was about this wide. I also remember the two horses were extremely tired. I reminded them that they might have been tired because they hadn't had enough time to eat hay. I told them to buy some hay for the horses after we got to the city. They nodded without saying anything."

The width he gestured was exactly the same as the wheel marks on the ground, and according to He Yue's judgment, the carriage that produced these wheel marks should also be made of iron.

It seems that the stone is not as light as it looks on the surface. Maybe the heaviest part is that small piece of stone. What kind of stone is it and how heavy can it be?

But now is not the time for them to explore. Since they have the wheel prints, maybe they can use them to find the traces of those people.

So, the troops split into several groups and went to find the direction of those people.

Just when they wanted to explore, a heavy rainstorm broke out, hindering everyone's movement and washing away many traces. By the time the rain stopped, it was already the next morning.

The last wheel tracks were traced to a forest. Moreover, there were many hunters' bodies left in the forest. Those hunters were killed with a single knife. It seemed that the murderer must have wanted to silence them all.

This must have been a warning from that group of cruel people. The wheel marks disappeared into the mountains and forests, and the searchers lost their direction.

"It's a pity. We could have found out the direction they escaped this time, but the rain prevented us from doing so. What a pity." Lord Yi was busy all night, and no one knew where the managers had gone. The things in the shop had almost all been dealt with. They asked someone to verify and found that there was nothing wrong with the goods.

"We did find some things in this village. This room looks like a murder scene. There's a lot of blood. And look at this wall. What do the marks on it look like?"

He Yue also found something wrong. He looked at the room and couldn't imagine how many people had lost their lives here.

"This, is this the mark left by human skin? I have seen people peel fresh sheepskin and hang it up like this before, and such a mark will appear on the wall." Lord Yi saw the mark above, identified it carefully, and said what he thought was the boldest guess.

"Yes, Lord Yi is indeed knowledgeable. This is a way of skinning people, and it happens while they are still alive. It is very cruel. I remember the records about these black-robed men. They didn't kill people in this way before. Now, after hundreds of years, perhaps they have changed their methods.

"Master Yi, how many brothel girls have disappeared in Chenji County? Has anyone seen them where they appeared before they disappeared?"

"I've checked. There are a total of twenty-three people missing. Aside from the three you, General He, saved earlier, there are still twenty with no news. Perhaps their souls have returned here. Even if they were prostitutes, they fell into prostitution for various reasons. No one would voluntarily go to a place like that, and end up like this. It's such a pity."

Lord Yi couldn't help but sigh. These people were too cunning. They took advantage of the fact that the mothers in the brothel would not report the crime and brought these women to this place.

"Then let's go back and ask those three girls to see if they have anything in common." He Yue can only start with these three girls now, to find out how those people arrested people and how to avoid arresting the wrong people.

At the same time, he immediately wrote a letter to Chongshui, telling Lu Linlang about the situation there.