When the crowd dispersed, the freak show naturally ended. The silly Rosen stopped his antics, lifted up the hem of his dress and poked his head around, looking around for the audience. "Where have all the people gone? Did I fail in my performance again?"
The dwarf and several child workers also stopped performing. They all looked at the leader and waited for the next instructions.
The leader of the group, Claudius, put away his whip and pressed the brim of his hat with one hand, looking around. It seemed that he also noticed something was wrong. The small square that was bustling just now became so desolate before it was completely dark.
The breeze blew the towel on his face, and after a brief silence, he laughed a few times in relief.
"Since no one is watching, let's call it a day. The oil and water from this damn place is almost squeezed." Before the leader finished speaking, the roar of the bell tower suddenly came from the other end of the town. The sound was low and powerful, like a sleeping bird. The breath of the giant thing.
The bell echoed over the entire town, and the heavy fog in the sky fluctuated with it, sometimes clearly and sometimes blurry, as if hinting that something was about to come. Everyone looked at the direction where the bell was coming from. Everyone could not help but feel nervous, but no one expressed their uneasiness.
After a while, the bells disappeared, and there were no signs of living people in the town except for the vaguely visible houses and the heavy fog. Everything around them was frighteningly silent, but nothing happened.
"It seems that the fog will not clear today." Captain Claudius muttered, picked up his beloved Polonius and walked towards his exclusive carriage.
"Everyone pack up and get in the car and take the carriage to the edge of the town. We will leave immediately when the fog clears."
As soon as the leader spoke, all the members started to move. Cesare and Anya looked at each other and felt more or less comforted when they saw Anya's usual smile. They followed the others and got into the carriage and headed to the edge of the town.
On the way, children's songs seemed to still be echoing in the thick fog.
"Mary, Mary,
So willful,
Ask you if you have climbed all over the garden,
The silver bells move with the wind, and the shells ring softly,
The lovely family members lined up..."
As the convoy moved away from the center of the town, the singing also gradually faded away and was finally lost in the mist.
When night falls and stars fill the sky, the convoy has already chosen a location to temporarily station. The fog has dispersed much more than during the day. At least the moonlight can shine on the ground. It seems that we can continue to set off early tomorrow morning.
The streets of Fog Village were damp and cold, no warmer than those in the forest. A few unburned oil lamps on the foggy roadside gave off dim light, and the flames flickered and died.
Their location was at the boundary between the town and the forest. Whether it was the trees in front of them or the houses behind them, they were all hidden in the mist, quietly observing them like ghosts.
The long night is cold and merciless, and no one wants to spend a difficult night awake. The members of the motorcade lay down in their respective tents, wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep early.
According to the distance, we can see the count tomorrow. I never thought that this journey home would be easy, but it is still worthwhile to be happy that it is finally coming to an end. The matter of herbal medicine is about to usher in new progress.
But what if...the herbs have no effect on Crocia...realizing that he was starting to feel useless anxiety again, Cesare patted his forehead, tried hard to clear his mind, and fell asleep quickly. Tomorrow was the most important day. Not at all relaxed.
What Cesare didn't know was that Anya, who had been lying next to him after he fell asleep, still didn't fall asleep. Anya sat up quietly, her light body making no sound. She picked up her sword and gently stroked the engraved patterns on it.
According to the agreement, this sword will no longer belong to her tomorrow. It's like an old friend who has been with you for a long time has finally come to the moment when she has to say goodbye. How can she let go of it? However, Anya's expression does not show regret, only pure sadness. .
"I want to say goodbye to my old friend." Anya smiled and whispered to herself, a tear falling from her cheek like a crystal pearl and falling on the scabbard. Then he slowly raised the sword and put it against his face.
"I love you daddy..."
Crystal clear tears shone in her sapphire eyes, but the sadness only stayed on Anya's face for a moment, and the girl soon showed a strong smile. The pain of loss is certainly heartbreaking, but it is this sadness that is proof of the good things we once had.
Anya remembered the day her father gave this sword to her as a biological gift, and the adventures she had experienced with this sword again and again. She pressed against the scabbard tightly, like two friends pressing against each other. forehead.
Tears hung on her cheeks, but Anya couldn't help laughing.
Before the final farewell was over, Anya suddenly moved her ears keenly and caught the faint sound of the flute in the drifting fog. The sound was weak and melodious, as unreal as an illusion.
She raised her hand to wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes and put the sword back on her waist. Anya stood up and was about to get out of the tent to take a look. She turned back and glanced at the sleeping Cesare, tilted her head and hesitated. In the end, he couldn't bear to wake his companions and walked out alone.
If the two carriages of the convoy were regarded as landmarks, the tents of the convoy members were pitched on the left side of the front of the carriage, and the strange flute sound came from the right side.
An Qing's steps were like a cat walking on tiptoes, and her figure was as soft as a cat, avoiding the fallen leaves and branches on the ground. Every step was silent, and she soon hid behind the carriage and leaned out playfully. He looked towards the direction where the flute sound came from.
An oil lamp burned with light to dispel the surrounding darkness and fog. Next to the oil lamp stood a familiar man - Claudius. This circus hides too many secrets, and these are closely related to their leader. Anya is not surprised by Claudius's sneaky behavior, and even begins to wonder what other secrets he hides.
The leader of the group, Claudius, faced the direction of the town, holding a flute and playing strange tunes. The light of the oil lamp shone on him, reflecting the shadow of the devil in the fog.
The sound of the flute is melodious, and the sound is as low as a slumber tune but with sharp notes hidden inside, as if there is something evil hidden in the sound of the flute.
Anya didn't understand what he was doing for a moment. Was he just playing the flute to pass the time?
The strange flute sound drifted from the fog to the depths of the town, seeming to be summoning something to come.
As if responding to the sound of a flute.
Countless footsteps echoed in the fog. The sound was very soft, like the voices of a group of children. The direction of the town was already shrouded in darkness and it was difficult to see anything. Only a few short figures were faintly printed in the dense fog nearby. Dark shadow.
Suddenly, a group of children walked out of the fog from the direction of the street. Boys in ragged clothes, girls in simple pajamas, and children from various families walked slowly towards this direction. Some of them Anya had met during the day. .
But at this time, they seemed to be hypnotized, with expressionless faces and empty eyes, as if they had lost their souls.
Anya opened her mouth slightly in surprise, her eyes swept over the children one by one and then looked at the leader.
Claudius was still playing the flute. He squinted his golden eyes and looked at the children who were walking towards him without any surprise. His body rose and fell with the music, seeming to be intoxicated by it.
The sound of the flute pulled the children's bodies, making them move forward stiffly like sleepwalking. The children held hands and walked in line along the street, as if they were singing quietly to the sound of the flute.
Their faces were as strange as the sound of flutes, as lifeless as a group of puppets. They walked quietly to the side of the leader Claudius.
They held each other's hands and formed a large circle. Each child swayed left and right in the music, as if waiting for the next instruction.
What Anya saw made the fog tonight become extremely eerie.
Those children were undoubtedly hypnotized by the sound of the flute, but why did the leader Claudius do this?
Anya tapped the side of her face with her fingers, thinking of the child workers in the motorcade who had their tongues cut off, could it be said...
Those child laborers were not bought by Claudius, but abducted from various towns in this way? That's why they need to cut off their tongues to prevent them from screaming when they wake up...
"Mr. Claudius, what are you doing?"
Anya didn't want to watch her guess come true. If she guessed wrong, then she was eager to know the truth now.
The red-haired girl walked out from behind the carriage without fear and looked directly at Captain Claudius. She stood in the light of the oil lamp and smiled politely, like a normal evening greeting.
But his slender hands had unconsciously grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist, ready to unsheath it at any time.
The sound of the flute stopped. Captain Claudius waved his hand and the flute in his hand deformed. A pair of black eyes and a split mouth suddenly appeared at the end of the flute, spitting out snakes and saying "hiss——" "the sound of.
The flute turned into a poisonous snake that twisted and crawled around Claudius's arm, and finally snaked its way to the captain's waist and turned back into the portable whip.
"It seems like something sneaked in that shouldn't be there..." Captain Claudius lowered his eyelids and whispered.
The disappearance of the flute also made the children around them regain their senses instantly. They looked at each other and didn't know why they were here. The crying and screaming were disturbing. Some were so frightened that they sat down on the spot, and some were already there. Start trying to escape from here.
In the midst of the noise and chaos, only Anya and the group leader stood firm and motionless. The golden eyes showed a fierce light, and the leader's pupils stood up like snakes. The pressure on his face made Anya turn her wrist, and the sword blade shone coldly the moment it was unsheathed.
Even though the atmosphere at this time was tense enough to be suffocating, Anya still asked playfully. "What's wrong, sir? Didn't I come at the right time?"
Captain Claudius sneered.
"You? Huh... don't be stupid, my dear, the threat you bring is not enough to make me nervous." Claudius shook his head. What he was looking at was not Anya, but the darkness behind Anya. It seemed that besides the girl, there were also There are other uninvited guests coming here soon.
"As a gentleman, I would like to kindly remind you that there seems to be something unclean in the fog that has been attracted to me, and this... is not part of my plan..."
