"Woof woof woof!"
"Woof woof woof!"
The barking of dogs echoed in the darkness, the cold wind blew through the leaves, rustling, and the dark clouds drifted, revealing the bright moonlight. Valery stood at the edge of the mine, looking at the dark trees in front of him. His body was stiff, his back was numb, and he did not dare to move. His heart was pounding as fast as if it was about to jump out of his throat.
He didn't know what was in the forest, but something that could cause two hounds to bark... was definitely not simple!
It could be a black bear out foraging...or it could be a venomous snake...could it be a wild boar?
All kinds of speculations flashed through Valery's mind, and cold sweat gradually flowed down. In the moonlit forest, except for the sound of barking dogs and the rustling of leaves, there was a dead silence, but it was precisely this dead atmosphere that was eerie and shuddering.
Wow!
"Woof woof woof!"
The leaves suddenly rustled, and the leading hound, Kafu, suddenly got through the fence and rushed into the bushes, as if he had discovered prey. Then, Kafu, who was holding a kerosene lamp, loosened the iron ring in his mouth and bit Valery. His trouser legs began to tug, as if trying to drag him away from the bushes.
"Fuka! Fuka!"
Valery didn't want to leave. He was worried about his hound. He held the shotgun in one hand and shouted loudly to recall Fuka who rushed into the woods. But suddenly there was a hound's death cry in the woods, and Valery's body was shaken. , my head went blank all of a sudden.
The pulling feeling under his feet disappeared. The last hound, Kraft, heard the whimpering of his companion before his death. He raised his head high and stared at the dark and gloomy trees. His body rushed out like a sharp arrow.
"Kafu! Come back!"
Valery yelled and moved his stiff legs to catch up, but this time...
The dying sobs came faster and closer!
Kraft, who had just rushed into the bushes, fell down, and the opponent was already close in front of him. Valery was holding the shotgun, his arms were shaking, his stomach was churning, and there were bursts of pungency in his throat, as if he was about to vomit, and his whole body was covered with blood. Fear takes over.
Wow!
The trees parted, and under the bright moonlight, a huge figure emerged from the darkness. Valery's eyes widened suddenly, his heart tightened, and he subconsciously held his breath, forgetting to even pull the trigger.
Or maybe....
It was he who believed that a shotgun could not kill the opponent at all.
Valery backed away. He couldn't even make a sound. His mind went blank and he couldn't think of anything. Suddenly, the soles of his feet were empty.
The body fell backwards, and the sound of wind rang in his ears. Instead of being afraid, Valery felt lucky to escape from the other party quickly. The next second...
Plop!
"what sound?"
The workers who had gathered to play cards and drink in the workhouse heard a muffled sound coming from behind the house, looked at each other, rushed out of the house, and saw the body lying in the open space behind the house.
"It's old Valery!"
"He accidentally fell down!"
The workers threw away the poker cards in their hands and rushed forward. Poor old Valery had already been beaten to pieces, but his eyes were as big as bells, as if he had seen something terrible.
No one noticed that on the edge of the cliff, a long sword with cold light lifted up the kerosene lamp on the ground. A huge figure stood on the edge of the cliff, looking at the bright moonlight above. It didn't take long...
The figure returned to the forest carrying the kerosene lamp.
The next day.
In the early morning, a carriage with the flag of the Church of Truth drove up and stopped outside the mining area. The door opened and a figure jumped out first. It was the worker whom Old Valery stopped after get off work yesterday.
Along with the workers, there was a priest holding the Book of Truth. Behind the priest, there were two young men in suits and ties with pale faces.
"Old Valery! Old Valery! Look who's here?"
The worker excitedly ran to the wooden house and knocked on the door, "Open the door quickly! The priest is here to see you in person!"
"
The worker felt a little weird. After he entered the city last night, he remembered old Valery's instructions when passing the church, so he told the priest about the recent strange things in the forest. He thought that the priest would not take it to heart, but he didn't expect... ..
The priest who was talking to the two young men heard something strange in the forest and immediately asked the worker's name and address where he worked, and said that he would return to the mining area with him the next day.
The workers did not dare to neglect and set out early in the morning with the priest and others.
Boom, boom, boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
After knocking on the door for a few minutes and finding no one in the room, the worker leaned against the window, spat into his palms, wiped away the thick layer of soot on the window, looked around for a long time, and then turned around and said, "Broca Father, old Valery is not here."
"Um."
The priest holding the "Book of Truth" nodded, glanced at the surrounding forest, and said in a deep voice: "Let's go to the mining area and have a look."
Under the leadership of the workers, Father Broca and others entered the mining area and found that the workers had gathered together, talking and sighing incessantly.
"What? Old Valery is dead?!"
After questioning, the worker learned of Old Valery's death and was shocked and speechless.
Yesterday...he was obviously fine yesterday, so why did he suddenly die?
"While on night patrol, I accidentally fell off the mountain... Sigh." Several workers said with complicated expressions: "Old Valery must have drank before the night patrol. He shouldn't have made such a mistake... ..”
Father Broca asked: "Where is the body?"
"Behind the workhouse, that guy Rutkin is organizing people to bury him..."
"Latkin" is the nickname of the mine owner Darrigav, which means a round fat pig. The workers call him this in private, and only call him "Boss" when they face each other.
Father Broca and others walked through the mine field and came to the workhouse. They happened to see a group of people carrying a body covered with white cloth and putting it into the newly dug pit. The owner of the mine, Darigav, stood aside and directed. , his cunning little eyes flashed here and there, pulling little Valery beside him, holding a few ruble coupons in his hand and stuffing them into little Valery's arms, chattering non-stop.
"Father!"
"Father Broca is here!"
Among the crowd, someone noticed the arrival of Father Broca. Hearing this name, the owner of the mine, Daligav, trembled. A trace of panic flashed on his face. He grabbed little Valery and gave him a few vicious words. , hurriedly greeted him.
"Father...Father Broca! Good morning! The weather is really nice today! Why are you here?" Daligav's small eyes glanced at the two pale young men who came with Father Broca. He asked: "Who are these two friends? Are they new monks newly recruited by the church?"
As he spoke, Darigav took out a few ruble coupons from his arms and stuffed them into the hands of the two young people. It seemed that it had become a habit, "This is my donation to the church... No one is more loyal to the truth than me." She’s a goddess! I swear! If I lie, let me ***!”
The two young men looked at him coldly. Instead of accepting the ruble coupons, they took out a cowhide book with the classical cane badge from their arms and opened it: "Aurora Society, Central Operations Department, Joseph."
"Aurora Society, Central Operations Department, Roland."
The smile suddenly froze on his face. Daligafu retracted his arm like lightning, hid the ruble coupon behind his back, and closed his mouth with a smile.
He had heard of the Aurora Society, a special organization established by Pope Mawei, led by Archbishop Levine, independent of the central Holy See, directly under the orders of the Pope and the Goddess, and not subject to the jurisdiction of the College of Cardinals.... It is said that the members inside are... They have eight arms and six heads, possess unique skills, and can use weird magic. Being targeted by them can declare the end of your life...
Now it seems that eight arms and six heads are purely rumors, and the rumors on the street cannot be believed...
But how could the aurora appear here?
Daligafu looked at Father Broca in confusion. Father Broca walked to the ground.
In front of the pit, he pressed his chest and recited a prayer, then asked the workers to carry out the body. He said in a serious tone: "In recent times, there have been several missing cases around the city of Pechora. Most of the missing people are There were hunters from nearby villages, including two police officers investigating the case. In order to thoroughly investigate the matter, the Central Holy See sent the Aurora Society..."
Hearing this, Daligafu immediately breathed a sigh of relief, knowing whether Aurora was coming for him. A smile appeared on his face again, and he stepped forward and said, "Father Broca, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Please summon the workers at the time of the incident. I want to inquire about the situation."
Originally, the investigation of the case should be left to the local police, but unfortunately, because the case is likely to involve supernatural powers, the church must come forward. After "Changing Times", the local police system is at a standstill and has not yet been completely completed. Recovery, so Father Broca had no choice but to bite the bullet himself.
Fortunately, he had read an article written by Diloch Holmes in a newspaper and had a relatively good understanding of the process of solving crimes.
Lifting the white cloth covering the body, Father Broca began to examine the body. "There are no unnecessary external injuries...no signs of fighting...a left arm is missing...all the internal organs..."
Father Broca, who didn't notice anything strange, picked up the shotgun on the ground and opened the barrel. He found that both bullets were inside and there was no gunpowder residue in the rifling. It was very clean and should have been cleaned regularly.
The gun had not been fired, and there were no signs of struggle on the body other than injuries from the fall. Could it have been an accidental fall?
"Where did old Valery fall from?"
"It's right here!" A worker pointed to the place where the pit was. "We were playing cards last night when we suddenly heard something falling behind the house. I rushed out and saw that it was old Valery. He does it every night. They all patrol the mines, and nothing happens!"
Father Broca raised his head, looked at the cliff above the pit, thought for a moment and said, "Go up and have a look."
Everyone came to the cliff. This was the edge of the mine. There was no cliff originally. The ground was dug out for mining, and the cliff was artificially created. It was almost twenty meters high.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, Father Broca looked down and judged the place where Valery fell based on the location of the pit. While he was deep in thought, Roland suddenly said: "There is the smell of blood."
Roland and Joseph, who were wearing crisp suits, followed the smell of blood and walked into the forest together. They found two pools of dried blood remaining in the open space inside the trees.
Squatting down, Roland picked off a leaf stained with blood, put it to the tip of his nose and smelled it, frowning and said, "It's not human blood..."
"That's right!" Little Valery, who followed everyone to the mountain, shouted, "My father also raised two dogs! They are gone!"
"It seems that old Mr. Valery must have encountered something and did not fall off the cliff by accident."
Father Broca stared into the depths of the gloomy woods and asked softly: "Joseph, Roland, what do you think we should do next?"
"What else can I do..."
Roland threw away the blood-stained leaves, stood up and said with a smile: "We are here to investigate the weird disappearance cases. This is the task assigned to us by the master. No matter what happens deep in the forest, Joseph and I will investigate Clearly, as for you, Father Broca...my suggestion is that you stay in the city and wait for news about us. If we don't come back tomorrow, inform the Central Holy See and ask them to send reinforcements."
Father Broca frowned: "I think we should notify the Central Holy See immediately and let the Pope and others come in person. If not, we should send Bishop Edward."
"If everything requires the Pope and Master to take action, what is the meaning of the existence of the Aurora Society?"
Roland and Joseph took out several gold rings and slowly put them on their slender white fingers. A pair of black wings spread out behind them:
"Remember, if we don't come back tomorrow, we will notify the Central Holy See immediately!"
As the words fell, the black wings vibrated, setting off a gust of wind. Roland and Joseph soared high into the dull eyes of the workers, flying straight into the depths of the forest.
