Returning from the abyss

Chapter 135 Forest Settlement
The peaceful mountain village welcomes visitors at noon.

The temperament is very similar to that of a young lady from the upper class of society; her expression is serious, and she should be the woman who serves this lady personally. Well-trained male bodyguard.

This is the visiting team composed of Shu Xingruo, Cheng Wuling, Chu Jianting and Zhu Hongye.

The second group is led by Ning Yeyi, Su Zhilan, Yin Mai, Ye Tisi, and Deng Wei to search the hunter's cabin in the mountains. I don't know if the "five" information of Mo Xiren is true or not, anyway. Check it out too.

The third group consisted of Lu Ning, Mo Lianren, Tu Men and Zhao Chenshuang who went to investigate areas where pig-faced people were infested. They also have to use force to greet them first - they can be killed if necessary, anyway, there is no shortage of people who dig information from corpses.

There is one thing that Lu Ning is very clear about—that is, this day is almost the best opportunity since the time was reset. The personnel are basically complete, and the price has not yet appeared. The secrets of the power, that is, the external channels in the village, the traces of the hunters, and the identity of the pig-faced man.

She quickly led the three of them to the forest where the pig-faced man attacked.

"But the time has been reset, and the traces they left behind have disappeared, otherwise I can still trace their whereabouts."

This is also Lu Ning's current limit.

Her ability to analyze and find traces benefits from her own observation ability, and the resulting tracking and investigation ability is also extremely powerful, but this is limited to "things that have happened".

Pig-faced people who haven't passed here will not leave footprints or bloodstains.

"That's why we came here."

Zhao Chenshuang walked on the slightly hard soil road, took a deep breath, and began to look around.

"The so-called tracking technique does not only include the information just left. Any living thing survives, and the actions taken in life will leave fixed traces due to habit. These traces have been integrated with nature for many years, but they will not and disappear."

She quickly locked on to a direction.

"For the convenience of walking, the bushes are deliberately cut down, and the downwind is used to hunt smoothly, which makes the vegetation difficult to grow. The prey is often transported, which makes it look a bit rotten, and the light and shadow between the branches and leaves of the trees are made for visibility. the way..."

Such Zhao Chenshuang gave Lu Ning the illusion of being like a hunting dog.

It's not derogatory, but Zhao Chenshuang didn't read some research bibliographies on behavior and habits just out of need like Lu Ning, but enjoyed the feeling of tracking down people's whereabouts from this aspect.

From here on, Zhao Chenshuang became the leader of the team, and she gradually found more and more clues.

"Water source... If you want to survive in the mountains, there must be water nearby, right here!"

"The soil here exudes a stench, a blood-soaked smell. This is where some people are used to handling prey."

"There are a lot of stumps in this woods, all over ten years old - I think we're almost there!"

"The broken branches, the traces of the humus being turned over, and..."

Zhao Chenshuang squatted down under a big tree that was as thick as two people hugging each other, and pushed away the rotten soil that had been piled up with fallen leaves for an unknown number of years on the ground, and pulled out some white lumps from below.

"Artificially carved ornaments, made of beast teeth, probably used for burial... If that's the case..."

As soon as her eyes lit up, she climbed up the tree with two or two steps, stepped on a branch five or six meters high, and set up an arbor with her hands to look into the distance.

A valley slit was already in view.

After receiving Zhao Chenshuang's gesture, the three people below got ready.Lu Ning re-checked the loading of the hand crossbow, Mo Lianren held the dagger given by the hunter, and Tumen gripped the logging ax that came out of the village.

"Repeat, they have incredible power, at least to the extent that the bow and arrow can hit the target. In addition, they also raise wolves as hunting aids, so pay attention to cover the smell. Finally, we don't have to fight, In particular, it is not advisable to sneak attack a settlement, and secret investigation should be given priority." Lu Ning reiterated the purpose of this time to several people.

"I'll leave it to you." Mo Lianren smiled at her.

"Ok?"

Before Lu Ning could react, she rushed out and quickly passed through the forest area to the entrance of the valley. Instead of choosing to enter through the slit, she started climbing up from the nearby rock wall.

"It's better to leave this kind of work to professional soldiers."

Zhao Chenshuang had already climbed down, and landed in front of Lu Ning from a height of more than two meters. She didn't use weapons very much, but kept a few stones in her pocket, patted Lu Ning on the shoulder and said, "Non-combat long-range units Or wait for the signal outside, Tumen?"

"Ready."

"Come on, let's make some noise for them."

The two of them walked around the mouth of the slit valley in a tacit understanding, one left and one right.

Soon, Mo Lianren had climbed over the cliff and sneaked into the valley. Zhao Chenshuang and Tumen also arrived at the entrance of the valley. The two of them looked inside, and then quickly rushed in.

However, there are always accidents. Just when Lu Ning thought that a battle was about to break out inside, Zhao Chenshuang suddenly came out of Taniguchi again, and then waved vigorously to Lu Ning to let her pass.

With doubts, she walked over.After approaching, Zhao Chenshuang didn't wait for her to ask, and said directly: "There is no one inside."

"No one?"

"Two gatekeepers, a wolf, and three or four old ones inside, all gone."

"Impossible! There are not only a few who will appear on the mountain at night!"

"Anyway...come in first."

Zhao Chenshuang dragged Lu Ning closer to the valley.

The corpse of a wolf lay dead at the end of the entrance. Its throat was opened by some sharp object, and its internal organs flowed out.And then go inside, you can see the true appearance of this settlement.

This is a rather primitive place from the architectural point of view. The house is just a simple house with a frame made of wood and covered with animal skins and plants. It doesn't even have a door, and it can only shelter the rain.There are also several small caves in the valley, which are blocked by tree stumps wrapped around tree vines outside.In addition, there are totems and some stone-polished tools, and some wooden racks are used to dry the meat and skins of wild animals-of course, human parts are also seen there.

In the very center of this small settlement was a large open space, where five tall people were tightly tied up and thrown there.Mo Lian was holding a dagger to the side of the cheek of a man with a pig mask and slowly peeling off that layer of pig skin. Among the other four, three old people did not have a pig face mask on their faces.

Lu Ning walked around, ignored the angry and wild eyes of several people, and looked at their faces.

These people have bronzed skin, paint on their faces, and their hair hasn't grown long. A circle of scars can still be seen on their already wrinkled faces, which are exactly the same as the fitting parts of the pig's face mask.Their muscles are still developed, their joints are thick, and there are even some shiny things on the surface of their skin.

"How are they fighting?"

"No matter what kind of creature is, it is inevitable to grow old." Morian carefully peeled off the mask, and blood flowed from the cut part, and behind the mask was a bronze-colored young face.

"The strength is very strong, and even this alone can make up for their rough fighting skills. We didn't give them the opportunity to use special strength, otherwise we don't know the outcome." Tumen added.

Lu Ning took out another curved dagger from her backpack, and cut open the sleeves and trouser legs of an elderly man. She also saw the soles of these people's feet while doing this work.

It was not a human foot—it had the shape of a human foot, but there were a few thick pads on the sole of the foot, and the nails were deep inside the toes, which looked very similar to the soles of felines.

And the shiny things on their skin turned out to be tiny scales.

"Is that so..."

Lu Ning turned around and cut the clothes of another young pig-faced man, took out all the things he was carrying, and put them in a row on the ground.

A water sac made of unknown biological organs, a piece of smoked meat, a stone carved with a round symbol in a crude way, a bag of crystal powder wrapped in leaves, two wooden boards filled with unknown characters, A heart-shaped hoop.

"Did you find that thing?"

"I don't know which one it is. And according to what I saw that day, it seems that it needs to be activated by praying and chanting a spell."

Lu Ning picked up two wooden boards and looked at the words on them helplessly. This is not what she is good at...

"Do we need an interpreter?" Tu Men asked.

"To be precise, we need Yetis." Lu Ning threw everything into her bag and walked around the village. However, she didn't know much about this primitive way of life. What came out.

"This pig mask..."

Mo Lianren suddenly made a surprised sound, which attracted the attention of three people.

"What happened to the mask?"

"It...it seems to be alive."

"Hiss." Zhao Chenshuang scratched her arm. She wasn't afraid, but it sounded disgusting.

"Live? What's alive?" Lu Ning hurried over, and Mo Lian raised her hand. She didn't grab the mask, but one side of the mask was already stuck to her hand.

"I was just scratching the edge to look inside the mask and it's grown into my hand - just like it was on these people's faces before. Now I can feel it as part of me, even There is a strong vitality in it..."

"Get it off first! I don't know if this thing is good or bad!"

Lu Ning yelled softly, and Mo Lianren immediately cut off the part where it was attached to her hand with a knife, blood flowed out from the wound, and she was even more surprised: "I feel pain, did it really grow?"

"Get off that person's face as well, find something to put it in, we have to go back to Getis to identify the meaning of the words and totems here." Lu Ning reached out to take the mask, she was not afraid of wearing gloves Touch, but the fingers holding the mask can feel the tension as if the heart is beating.

"How many weird things are there in this place?" She also hated this thing very much.

(End of this chapter)