Chapter 137: Strangest Village in their journey toward Green Hollow City

The detective faction’s wooden caravan rolled steadily along the rustling mountain road, its wheels rattling rhythmically against the road.

At the front, driving the caravan, sat senior master Bai Qin Hanqiu, his hands resting casually on the leather reins. Beside him sat Lu Liefeng, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes darting over the passing treeline in silence.

Inside the carriage sat the three young talents selected for the mission — Gu Yichen, Mu Yue Hanfeng, and Qin Zhaoyang.

For a few hours, the journey through the mountain road had been peaceful.

Mu Yue Hanfeng sat opposite Gu Yichen, staring at him with a suspicious, serious expression.

Gu Yichen picked at a loose thread on his dark-green sleeve, instantly noticing the intense gaze. He slowly raised an eyebrow and looked up.

“Why the hell are you staring at me like that?”

“I wasn’t staring,” Hanfeng sneered, immediately turning his head toward the window.

“I am sure, you are staring at me, liar!” Gu Yichen pouted, clicking his tongue.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“You’ve been staring at my face for almost half an hour, Hanfeng.”

Hanfeng frowned, letting out a defensive glare. “Can you prove that?”

“Ask him…” Gu Yichen casually gestured toward Qin Zhaoyang, who was slumped against the corner wall with his arms folded.

Qin Zhaoyang, who had been half-asleep with his eyes closed, opened his eyes and grunted. “Don’t bring me into your stupid argument.”

“You’re my witness,” Gu Yichen muttered, staring at him.

“I’d rather die,” Qin Zhaoyang smirked, closing his eyes again and leaning back against the wooden wall.

“See? He doesn’t want to deal with your nonsense,” Hanfeng snorted, crossing his arms.

Gu Yichen let out a weary sigh, shaking his head dramatically. “You people are brutally cruel to a teammate.”

Qin Zhaoyang let out a tired groan without opening his eyes. “I haven’t even spoken to you properly yet today, and I’m already mentally exhausted.”

Gu Yichen let out a short smirk. But as the laughter died down, Hanfeng’s expression once again turned cold and serious. His eyes darted downward, locking onto the subtle, silver-embroidered Gu Clan emblem attached to the chest of Gu Yichen’s robes.

“Still…” Hanfeng began calmly.

Gu Yichen’s cheerful smile faded slightly. “You’re suspicious of me, aren’t you?”

“You’re from the Gu Clan,” Hanfeng immediately answered, nodding his head.

“And?” Gu Yichen asked with a frantic expression on his face.

“The demonic cultivator incident in the city involved a prominent member of the Gu Clan..”

Gu Yichen’s eyes twitched in anger. “You mean Gu Shiyan.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve already told the faction elders this. I didn’t know that bastard,” Gu Yichen leaned his head back against the wooden wall of the caravan, letting out a breath.

Hanfeng remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

“We’re related,” Gu Yichen explained, his voice cracking under pressure. “But distantly. We belonged to different branch families. I’ve probably seen his name written in the clan’s ledgers more times than I ever saw his face in person.”

“Whatever madness or demonic bullshit he got himself mixed up in isn’t my responsibility,” He folded his arms, his expression stern.

Hanfeng looked at his face carefully, searching for any twitch or hesitation. “You don’t seem concerned about your clan’s reputation.”

“Should I burst into tears because some corrupt lunatic I’ve barely met died like a dog?” Gu Yichen offered a weary sneer. “I’m on this mission because the detective faction ordered me here. Not because I’m trying to defend my clan’s honor.”

Before Hanfeng could respond, a cold voice boomed from the front seat outside.

“Enough!” Bai Qin Hanqiu didn’t even bother to turn his head back as he drove the caravan. “We are investigators.”

His voice carried a firm weight that cut through the conversation instantly. “We are not executioners, and we do not play judge in this caravan.”

The three young disciples instantly went quiet.

Bai Qin Hanqiu continued calmly, watching the road ahead. “We investigate any evidence. We do not throw around blind accusations against a comrade simply because of their surname, their clan, their appearance, or baseless rumors.”

His eyes briefly flicked toward the back. “If you find evidence against someone, bring it to me.”

A brief pause followed, filled only by the clattering of the caravan wheels.

“Until then,” Hanqiu continued, his voice was loud enough, “keep your personal suspicions to yourselves and focus on the mission.”

Hanfeng lowered his head respectfully. “Yes, senior master.”

Gu Yichen let out a small sigh of relief, a faint grin returning to his lips. “See? The old man understands logic.”

Outside, Bai Qin Hanqiu’s eyebrow twitched vehemently. “I heard that, brat.”

Gu Yichen instantly sat upright in his seat, his expression shifting. “I meant our highly respected, legendary senior master!”

Qin Zhaoyang quickly covered his mouth with his hand, his shoulders shaking as he fought back a sudden laugh. Hanfeng couldn’t hold it in either and let out a light chuckle. Even Lu Liefeng, who had remained calm beside them, quietly shook his head in amusement.

The tense atmosphere inside the caravan lightened significantly.

However, none of them noticed how rapidly the surrounding landscape was changing outside their windows.

****

A few hours later.

The high-speed caravan began to slow down, the wooden wheels creaking against the floor.

Lu Liefeng’s eyes snapped open, his hand dropping to the hilt of his weapon. “Stop!”

Bai Qin Hanqiu immediately pulled back on the leather reins. The caravan ground to a halt in the middle of the wide highway.

Inside, the three disciples sensed the sudden stop and immediately stepped out of the rear caravan doors, landing on the rocky road.

The five investigators looked around. The main trade route leading toward the central region was empty.

This was one of the primary commercial paths of the province. At this time of day, the road should have been rattling with traveling merchants, supply caravans, regional guards, and hunters returning from the surrounding mountain forests.

Instead, there was only silence.

Bai Qin Hanqiu stepped down from the bench, his legs thudding against the earth. The others fell into the flank behind him.

Mu Yue Hanfeng looked down the empty road, his hand resting on his blade. “Where the hell did everyone go?”

They advanced a few paces down the highway.

Suddenly, Qin Zhaoyang halted, his eyes locking onto a dark ditch beside the treeline. “Senior…”

Everyone turned toward where he was pointing. A merchant caravan lay abandoned beside the road. The wooden supply carts had been overturned, their axles snapped. The silk bags, medicine jars, and food rations were scattered across the ground.

But, there was not a single human body anywhere in sight.

Hanfeng slowly approached the wreckage, his legs crunching on broken glass. Then, his face turned pale.

“The horses…”

Beside the ruined carts lay the remains of draft horses. Their massive bodies had been brutally torn apart. Their torsos were ripped open, and their internal organs had been yanked out and scattered across the red dirt like trash.

The pools of crimson blood had dried into dark stains under the corpses.

But, despite the carnage, there was not a single human corpse, bone fragment, or drop of human blood nearby.

“Where the fuck did all the people go?” Hanfeng’s voice shook slightly as he stared at the gruesome scene.

He pointed a shaking finger at the mutilated animals. “And what kind of monster slaughters horses like that?”

Qin Zhaoyang crouched down beside one of the horse corpses, his eyes analysing the tear marks on the flesh without touching the tainted blood. “Whatever did this wasn’t hunting for food.”

Lu Liefeng nodded his head in approval. “Correct.”

He roamed around the ruined carts, examining the surrounding area. “There are no footprints of a pack of wild beasts. No tracks left behind by humans either.”

Bai Qin Hanqiu’s expression turned grim. “Someone or something wanted these travelers eliminated without leaving a body behind.”

Gu Yichen slowly turned his gaze toward the horizon.

Beyond the rolling, misty hills in the distance, the towering stone walls of Green Hollow City were faintly visible in the afternoon sky.

“And that is what we were sent here to find out,” He mumbled under the misty breeze.

“Something is wrong here!” He stared back at the dead horses, clenching his fists.

They moved forward on foot, leading the caravan slowly behind them.

Another hour passed in silence as the sun began its steady descent toward the western mountain peaks, casting eerie shadows across the land.

They slowly reached the outskirts of a small, rural farming village at the base of the ridge.

At first, the village appeared ordinary and silent.

Bai Qin Hanqiu raised a hand, gesturing to halt. “Stop.”

The team froze instantly, taking up combat positions.

Lu Liefeng slowly turned his head, his eyes locking onto the wooden door of the first house at the village entrance.

There was a sigil carved onto the door, faintly humming with energy. The grooves were blackened, twisted, and emanated a chill.

Gu Yichen’s face changed the moment he laid eyes on it. “Senior…”

Bai Qin Hanqiu stepped closer to the door, stopping just a few feet away. His eyes widened as he recognized the mark instantly from the classified autopsy reports back at the faction headquarters.

“It was the demonic sigil,” Hanqiu confirmed, staring at it.

“Ehh?” Hanfeng’s expression remained frantic.

Hanqiu nodded silently. The five of them looked further down the main village street.

Every single house, barn, and wooden doorway down the street have the same dark, twisted sigil.

“Why the hell would someone mark a small village like this?” Qin Zhaoyang gulped, his voice quivering under confusion. “We haven’t even reached Green Hollow City yet but we already found a weird anomaly!”

HUMM UMMMMMMMM…

A faint, unnatural sound reverberated out from the nearest house.

Everyone froze in place, their weapons half-drawn.

It was a low, scary sound almost like dozens of muffled voices chanting at once from somewhere underground.

Then, a house across the street responded.

HUMMM UMMMMMM…

Then another.

HUMMMM UMMMMM…

Within seconds, the village began to rumble with the eerie, humming sound. The horrifying sound crawled through the ground, vibrating through the legs and rattling their teeth.

Mu Yue Hanfeng’s hand gripped the hilt of his sword so hard his knuckles turned white. “Senior Master…”

Bai Qin Hanqiu’s expression turned cold. “Everyone…”

His powerful beast essence burst outward, coating his body in a blue aura. “Stay close. Do not separate.”

The low resonance continued to echo through the empty streets.

HUMMM UMMM UMMM…

It pulsed from every marked doorway in the village.

Gu Yichen stared through a small crack in the shuttered window of the house beside him.

For a fraction of a second, he saw something move in the pitch-black darkness inside.

“Someone’s inside,” He said frantically, pointing toward the house.

The humming stopped after he said that. The silence swallowed the village whole.

Then, a knock sounded against the inside of the wooden door in front of them.

Everyone froze, their blood running fast, and then a second knock followed.

Hanfeng gulped, his eyes locking onto the dark wood.