Gala... Gala...
The wooden wheels turned rapidly. On the path to Antoine Village, Laiwen swung the reins wildly, causing the two horses in front to run wildly...
His driving skills were as different as those of the coachman, with no sense of beauty at all. He was simply pursuing the word 'fast'.
No anti-theft
Thanks to him...
Ma Wei in the car felt like he was on a roller coaster. The moment his butt touched the seat, it would bounce off. It was so fast, people...
Soon too.
"Hey!
! "
Suddenly, Lai Wen violently grabbed the reins and forced the galloping horse to stop. In the carriage, Ma Wei almost hit the glass with his head.
Fortunately, after entering the line of fire, in order to save space, he restored the catman to his original state, otherwise some cats would have been injured this time.
"Boss, come out and take a look!"
"What happened?"
Amidst Lai Wen's call, Ma Wei opened the car door, and Xiao Hei, A Hua, and Friday cats swarmed down and ran forward.
Lai Wen squatted in the middle of the road, with a corpse in front of him.
A thick stench wafted from the corpse and lingered.
Frowning, Mavey covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief and walked over. Yunia followed closely and took out her own small handkerchief in a similar manner.
The skin of the corpse was completely ulcerated, and the appearance could not be clearly seen. We could only tell that it was a man from the gray linen shirt and long trousers he was wearing.
"He should be a villager in Antoine Village." The reporter's gaze extended along the road, where a village gradually revealed the outline of Mo Lake.
They have arrived near the village of Antoine.
At this moment, the corpse's mouth suddenly opened, and a fat black-haired mouse came out and stood in front of the corpse, with a few strands of carrion on the corner of its mouth, looking at the message with its red eyes, and flicking its flesh-colored tail. A flick, not afraid of people at all.
"Meow!"
Xiao Hei rushed forward immediately, bit the mouse's throat, and twisted it hard...
Get stuck!
Before he could figure out why the rat was still alive, his neck was bitten off. His limbs twitched a few times and stopped moving.
"What the hell! These rats actually eat people!" the source exclaimed.
"There's something even stranger, haven't you noticed?"
Ma Wei looked at the village and said softly: "There is not a single crow here... Let's go, the village is right in front of you, just go and take a look and you will know."
"Um."
Nodding, Laiwen took out his withered silver cane, took a sip of wine, and headed towards the village under the protection of Maomao.
The further we go, the more corpses appear on the road, men and women, one after another, their skins are all ulcerated, but not even a single maggot can be seen.
Yes, just one rat after another.
When Mawei and others came to the village, they were even more shocked by the sight in front of them.
In the village, which was made up of rough huts, corpses lay everywhere, crows fell beside the corpses, and the livestock in the pens fell dead one after another. The whole village was shrouded in the breath of death, and the stench of decay shot straight into the sky.
Seeing this scene, Ma Wei opened his mouth, not even having the confidence to find survivors.
Lai Wen's face was livid, he was extremely nauseated, and he resisted vomiting.
He clutched his cane tightly, with veins pulsing on his forehead. He rushed to a corpse, slapped a mouse away, and then ran to the next corpse...
Ma Wei didn't say anything. After he was out of breath from exhaustion, he patted his shoulder and said, "Leave the rest to Xiao Hei and the others."
With just Xiao Hei, A Hua, and Friday, the cats were very slow to deal with the mice. Fortunately, Fat Orange and other cats arrived at this time and joined the melee.
"These rats are very good at fighting."
After killing several mice one after another, Fat Orange came to Ma Wei and glanced around: "The cats I brought here are all good at wandering on the streets. Not only are they highly vigilant and quick to react, they are also good at catching mice and stealing things." He is the best among cats, but even so..."
A-Hua and dozens of other cats were locked in a tough fight. The huge rats were not afraid of them at all and dared to counterattack. They were full of wildness. If it weren't for their racial superiority, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to do anything to this group of rats.
Fortunately, Xiao Hei, who has the gift of power, has a fighting ability that is not comparable to that of ordinary cats. When he rushes into a group of rats, it is as if he is entering a land without rats. He runs rampant and can easily kill a rat with a slap of his claws. It is called a rat. Zhao Zilong among cats.
Under its leadership, the rats began to collapse and flee.
Fat Orange was not idle either. It followed an escaped mouse and hung far behind. It took Ahua, Scarface and Big Spot with it and chased it into the woods.
"Everyone who is hurt, come and drink the holy water!"
Mawei took out a kettle that had been prepared in advance from his arms, poured it into the bottle cap, and asked the cats who were bitten and scratched by mice to come and lick it.
"Come on, go and count the bodies, check... if there are any survivors."
"....good."
"Dad, let me do it."
Yunia took the water bottle from Ma Wei's hand and squatted on the ground, feeding the injured cats water and stroking their heads.
Even though there were countless corpses next to her, there was no trace of fear in her eyes.
"Aren't you scared?" Ma Wei asked curiously.
Yunia shook her head: "They are very quiet, Yunia likes silence."
.............................
At 11 o'clock at noon, the village returned to peace.
Except for the patrolling cats and cats, the mice were almost killed, and the few remaining ones fled in a hurry and left Antoine Village.
Mawei sat by the well in the center of the village, with a map spread out on his knees.
Sir Antoine's manor is on the hillside to the north of the village, less than one kilometer away from the village. It is also the place that the fourth prince Arthur asked them to investigate.
After clearing the village, they will go to the manor to investigate the cause of Sir Antoine's death.
To be honest, Ma Wei felt that there was nothing to investigate. Sir Antoine most likely died from the curse of the rat. The entire village was in trouble, and even the city of New Ross, which was 5 kilometers away from the village, suffered. Sir Antoine The manor...
It must be the hardest hit area.
However, having said that, necessary investigation is still indispensable. Just in case, who is sure that Sir Antoine must have died from the curse?
Rigorousness is the key to not making mistakes!
"Dad, are you hungry?"
Junia ate the sandwich prepared by Mrs. Cecil, paying no attention to the corpses around her.
"I'm not hungry, you can eat."
Although Mavi was accustomed to death, it was still a bit embarrassing for him to eat among the piles of rotting corpses.
A few minutes later, Wenwen, who went to search the village, came back with Xiaohei.
"I counted, including the corpses we saw on the road, there were 178 in total," he said.
"178..."
Hearing this number, Mawei sighed: "Antoine Village has a total of 192 permanent residents, 13 of whom work in Sir Antois's manor, plus one survivor... The number is correct. "
Regarding the information about Antoine Village, Mr. Sean has already explained everything, hoping that Ma Wei can find even one survivor and understand what happened in the village.
pity...
"Rest for 30 minutes, and then we will go to Sir Antoine's manor."
"knew."
Lai Wen sat by the well, drinking wine and having no appetite for lunch.
In silence, he suddenly asked: "Boss, do you think that if the curse is man-made, should the murderer die?"
"From my personal subjective point of view, of course the murderer deserves to die."
"What if the murderer has a high status and is someone we can't afford to offend at the moment?"
"Then it depends on who is untouchable..." Ma Wei said expressionlessly: "If the murderer is a member of a large church, or comes from an organization we don't know about, and is powerful, there is nothing we can do. He, or once he is killed, will have an unpredictable impact on the Church of Truth, so we cannot move it for the time being and wait until the future to liquidate it."
"Justice delayed...is it still justice?"
“Order is in the hands of the strong, but truth is not.”
Noticing the strangeness in the letter, Ma Wei thought for a moment and said: "A country needs laws, just like fish need water and birds need the sky. A country without laws is a chaotic and barbaric land, barbaric and disorderly. of."
"We pursue the truth and attract more people who believe in the truth. If we unite, we will form a force that cannot be underestimated."
"The so-called delayed justice, in my opinion now, is because we are not strong enough to judge each other with the truth. This is not unacceptable."
"Today's weakness does not mean tomorrow's compromise, and today's strength does not mean tomorrow's power."
"I only hope that one day, when we have the strength to judge each other, we will not be blinded by power and will not betray the truth because of our status. This kind of justice is called fairness and justice... Do you know why I want to develop The Church of Truth?”
The source shook his head.
"Because human nature needs strength to restrain, but those in power cannot be reduced to puppets of the desire for power, so we need the truth, the people need the truth, and the truth is the truth. It is not a certain system or an idea, it is something that is beyond human nature and beyond human nature. Something of individual thought, something that exists in substance.”
Covering his chest with his palms, Ma Wei whispered: "It's in our hearts."
"You mean... delayed justice means that we clearly have the ability to conduct a trial, but we ignore the crime because of the other party's power, wealth, and status, and finally conduct a trial due to external pressure?"
"Yes, this is called delayed justice, so we need to have the power to judge those who should be punished."
"Is this the truth?"
"Justice is also within the scope of truth."
Lai Wen's eyes gradually brightened up, and his depressed mood disappeared. He suddenly discovered that the truth Ma Wei was pursuing...
There seems to be a lot in common with his ideas.
"What are you waiting for?"
He stood up at once, pointed to the woods to the north and said: "Let's go to Sir Antoine's manor quickly to resolve this commission, and then...then..."
The sound stopped suddenly.
Looking at the end of the village, Lai Wen suddenly forgot what he wanted to say.
The patrolling cats ran back quickly, their hair exploding, as if they were greatly frightened.
Xiao Hei, who was resting on the goddess's knees, raised his head and looked more serious than ever before. He raised his paws high and shouted: "Everyone gather, meow!"
! "
The cats quickly gathered around the well, surrounding Ma Wei, Yunia and Lai Wen. They looked at the entrance of the village warily, their bodies hunched over, and they let out threatening growls.
There....
Pairs of blood-red eyes appeared, densely packed and as numerous as grains of rice in a vat.
The rats are back.
They regrouped and gathered an unknown number of companions. There were more than a dozen of them, even as big as a cat.
village,
surrounded.
Compared with the swarms of mice, the number of cats gathered around Ma Wei seemed a bit underwhelming.
"Zhizhizhi! Zhizhizhi!"
! "
After the assembly was completed, the rats gave out a sharp scream, and then, like a black ocean of rats, they surged in and launched a frontal attack.
"Charge me, meow!
! "
Xiao Hei showed no fear and took the lead. Leading dozens of cats, he bravely faced them.
A scuffle broke out in the village instantly.
It didn't take long for the cats to start retreating. They couldn't resist the crazy attacks of the mice. Some cats even had their fur bitten by the mice and were dragged into the group of mice. They were eaten in the blink of an eye. Flesh Mold Lake.
The numerical gap between the two sides is too great and cannot be compensated by racial superiority.
It was simply overwhelming and devouring everything!
"Boss, what should I do?"
Knocking away a fat mouse with a cane, Laiwen took out the Emerald Heart of the Jungle, took a few steps back and said, "Before coming, I left a mark outside the village so that I can teleport there."
"Can you take away these many cats?" Ma Wei glanced around and said with a gloomy face: "Put them away and use the Siren's Tears."
"Tears of the Siren?"
The messenger was stunned for a moment: "What can the disguise magic do? Turn us into mice?"
"Is this all your imagination?" Ma Wei said expressionlessly: "Give me the gems."
"good."
After getting the Tears of the Siren, Ma Wei stretched out his hand to his daughter:
"Unia!"
"Yes, Dad."
Yunia held his palm, and a warm current instantly poured into Ma Wei's body. At the same time, the magnificent magic circle in the gem lit up, and a faint blue light flowed through it.
This is the pinnacle of alchemy, the crystallization of human wisdom, and the experience summed up by countless talents...
Siren's Tears...
How could it be just ordinary disguise magic? !
Ma Wei closed his eyes, held the gem tightly, and formed a picture in his mind.
Immediately, he opened his eyes, tapped the ground with his feet, and murmured in a low voice: "Alchemy magic, the land of thorns."
With the blessing of Yunia's divine power, a steady stream of power poured into the Siren's Tears, and the light became more intense.
Suddenly, the ground began to surge. Lai Wen hurriedly grabbed the wooden frame on the well to steady his almost toppled body. The next second, he saw the ground begin to deform, and countless thin barbs emerged from the ground like sharp arrows. Stretched out and inserted into the bodies of each mouse.
Before he could exclaim, the barbs began to twist and tangle together, turning into large thorn bushes. They began to squirm like living creatures, quickly strangling the rats...
Only a small vanguard of the huge group of rats rushed over, and the rest were blocked by the thorn bushes.
"Come on!
! "
Seeing the right opportunity, Xiao Hei reorganized his front, led the cats, and launched another attack!
