The atmosphere in the coffin shop turned from cheerful to dull.
For a moment, no one spoke.
I forced a smile from my face and broke the silence.
"Everyone, there is no need to be so depressed. Maybe Lao Cao really just went to deal with some simple personal matters and will be back after a while."
Yuan Fei also nodded repeatedly.
"That's right, Coffinmaker Cao is always cautious in doing things. He must be just doing some small things and will be back soon."
Li Miao has a relatively calm personality and thinks about problems more thoughtfully, he suggested.
"How about some of us set out to find Cao Coffinmaker now, and the other part of us wait for him to come back in the coffin shop."
I immediately agreed.
"That's right! If you do this, your heart will be at peace."
So, I suggested that I, Xiao Yuan, Li Miao and Heizi, one bird and one dog, set out to find Lao Cao. Yuan Fei, Wang Hu and Daniu stayed in the coffin shop waiting for Lao Cao.
I pinched my chin and frowned.
"But the question before us is... Lao Cao never told anyone, which village outside the town did he go to?"
This range is too large.
Woof woof, woof woof woof!
Heizi called out a few times, raised his front legs and jumped. He looked like he was volunteering.
Li Miao said.
"Brother Wu, Heizi has made great progress over the years. His abilities in all aspects have been greatly improved. Especially his nose, which has become extremely sensitive. It is not difficult to follow the scent of Cao Coffinmaker."
That would be great!
I was overjoyed.
To be on the safe side, Wang Hu took out some clothes from the closet that Lao Cao had just worn recently and let Heizi smell them carefully.
I patted Kuroko on the head.
"Little Heizi, it's up to you this time. Once you successfully find Lao Cao, I'll buy you ten pounds of good ribs to eat."
Woof woof woof!
Heizi screamed a few times, as if to say: "Put it on me."
It confirmed Lao Cao's smell again, turned around and ran out of the coffin shop's door.
"Let's go! Brother Wu, follow."
Li Miao followed closely, and Xiao Yuan and I also went out.
Yuan Fei, Daniu and others were left waiting uneasily in the coffin shop.
…
Heizi left the coffin shop, turned right, and ran directly to the east of the town.
The fat little Madoka spread her wings and flew in the sky above our heads. He also looked down at the ground beneath his feet with his sharp eagle eyes, looking for any traces of Lao Cao's possible appearance.
Heizi led us out of the east side of the town. Instead of taking the national highway leading to Fubei County, we turned north and entered the mountains. Follow the country road, which is only about three feet wide, and go deep into the forest.
Passing several small villages along the way, Heizi showed no intention of stopping and continued moving forward without hesitation.
This shows that it is very sure of Lao Cao’s smell and whereabouts, at least it won’t wander around like a headless fly. When I saw this, I felt a little less panicked.
After climbing over two mountains, the sky began to get dark.
The sun sets slowly and has already reached the top of the mountains in the west.
I am a martial arts master who has stepped into [Hua Jin], and my physical fitness has reached an extremely strong level. Even without using any spells or charms, I can still easily run with Heizi.
But Li Miao is not so good.
Even with the blessing of the "divine movement charm" I gave him, he was now starting to pant and sweat beaded on his forehead.
Huchi, wheeze...
Li Miao said.
"Brother Wu, you have already run more than forty miles into the mountains. Cao Coffinmaker is really good at running, and he actually went to such a far place. No, I have to rest for a while. Otherwise, if there is any need to fight later, Yeah, it’s a little weaker at first.”
I thought it made sense and stopped immediately.
The black man in front also turned back, wagging his tail and circling around Li Miao and me.
As for Madoka, he is an eagle anyway, so he doesn't need to rest while flying in the sky. On the contrary, it can help us detect the terrain along the way and surrounding areas from a high altitude.
"Brother Li, take this. There will be no side effects. You can recover and maintain peak physical strength for two hours."
I took out a pill and handed it over.
Although elixirs are precious and this [Vitality Pill] is not cheap if auctioned in the ghost market, I will not begrudge you anything in order to find Lao Cao as soon as possible.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Wu."
Li Miao also knew that this was not the time to refuse, so he took the elixir I handed over and quickly regained his strength.
At this moment, Madoka's voice came from his mind.
"Hey, come and have a look! Come to the front, there seems to be a weird village in the mountain col ahead. I flew over and took a look from a distance, and I thought it was a bit weird. Maybe it has something to do with Mr. Cao."
Um? !
I was slightly startled.
Although Madoka is usually very mean and unreliable, she rarely makes fun of important information when she is doing serious business.
If it says so, the credibility is quite high.
So, Li Miao, Heizi, and I hurried towards the direction it said - because Xiao Yuan and I could sense the direction with our thoughts at any time, it was very smooth to find it.
After running for less than two miles, we arrived at a clearing on a mountain cliff.
This place should be far away from surrounding towns, so the terrain is complicated and steep. Standing here, we can overlook the mountain col surrounded by several peaks in front of us, and the flat valley bottom between the mountains.
But the mountains around Fubei County are not particularly high, so even if you look down from the cliff, you can probably see the situation of the mountain clearly.
Just looking at it like this surprised both Li Miao and me!
At this moment, the sun was already halfway below the horizon. The color also changed to orange, turning the entire sky into a vague hazy yellow.
Under such dusk light, I saw a large village in the mountain valley ahead. At first glance, it seems that there are hundreds of families living together.
The village is full of traffic, people come and go, chickens and dogs hear each other, and it is surrounded by rice fields... It feels like a paradise.
It is not surprising that there are villages in the mountains.
In the Sichuan-Chongqing region in the southwest, in addition to the developed economies of large cities such as Chongqing and Rongcheng, due to the complex and fragmented terrain, there are many villages scattered in the mountainous countryside.
But it would be very strange for such a large and prosperous village to be in such a remote and wild mountain valley!
Especially in the deep mountains, it is so lively.
Totally inconsistent with common sense.
Li Miao's brows furrowed, and his tone was a little uncertain.
"Although I am a corpse collector, I mainly travel up and down the Sichuan River. But I am not young at all. I have settled in Lianghe Town for a long time, and I am quite familiar with Lianghe Town and even the surrounding areas of Fubei County. I have never heard of I said that there is such a large village in the mountains in this direction. It is almost as big as a small town."
My expression was even more serious and my tone was solemn.
"Brother Li, maybe it's far away here and you can't see clearly yet. But I can see that the people coming and going in this village...are all wearing ancient clothes! They are not the clothes of modern people like us at all. "
What? !
When Li Miao heard this, his expression changed drastically.
Xiao Yuan: "Wu Xiaozi is right. People in this village are all wearing ancient clothes. So when I saw this situation, I felt weird and evil. I don't know if it has anything to do with Cao Xiaozi's disappearance. .After all, this big stupid dog has been leading us in this direction for a long time."
Woof woof, woof woof woof!
Heizi yelled at Xiao Yuan several times in dissatisfaction, then glanced at me and Li Miao, raised his right front leg and pointed at a path down the mountain next to him - it was the winding path leading to the weird village in the valley. He nodded vigorously.
It was obvious that Lao Cao's scent... indeed pointed to the location of this strange village!
