Chapter 1625 - 1472: Yin Yang Inn 28
Chapter 1625: Chapter 1472: Yin Yang Inn 28
The court road was very well built, with the ground solid and smooth, surrounded by a few seemingly affluent villages.
On both sides of the road, there were occasional tea stalls for travelers to rest, where simple meals were also sold.
The men from the county across were the ones who had previously kept accounts, so the thing that killed them must be nearby.
Shuangshuang first found a relatively clean tea stall, sat down, ordered two pots of tea, a few eggs, and buns.
The items sold at the tea stall were simple, with eggs and buns being the best food available. Shuangshuang was generous with her money and ordered more, making the shopkeeper very enthusiastic.
It was not mealtime and there was no one else around, plus Shuangshuang appeared very eager and talkative, so the shopkeeper couldn’t help sitting down to chat with her.
Shuangshuang’s apparent enthusiasm in chatting with the shopkeeper was not due to boredom but to gather some information from him.
These tea stall owners guard the road every day with many travelers passing by, making them the most well-informed people who know all the strange tales and happenings.
In the distance, Li Yu and Feng Lin stopped bickering and went to another tea stall, ordering some eggs, buns, and tea like Shuangshuang.
Li Yu had accompanied Shuangshuang on many occasions like this, so he knew what she intended just by observing her.
Seeing Shuangshuang chatting with the shopkeeper for information, Li Yu also found a tea stall, sat down, and chatted with the owner for information.
By gathering information from multiple sources and summarizing the findings, more clues could always be uncovered through analysis.
After gathering information from the tea stall owner, Shuangshuang took Feng Lin and Li Yu into the county to continue gathering information.
Crowded places are always the best for information; brothels, inns, and restaurants are where information circulates the most and are easiest to inquire about.
Still gathering information separately, but this time Shuangshuang took Feng Lin with her, while Li Yu acted alone. Being a fox, Li Yu was naturally skilled at deceiving and was much more adept at gathering information than Shuangshuang.
Once all the information was gathered, Shuangshuang found a quiet, secluded place, sat together with Li Yu and Feng Lin, and they shared the information they had gathered.
Shuangshuang had a stack of white paper and a brush that never needed to be dipped in ink and never dried out, swiftly recording all the information she and Li Yu had gathered.
Then, comparing both sides, analyzing and discarding the obviously false or unlikely information, leaving what seemed most true for further analysis.
After a long time, Shuangshuang took the paper filled with writing, which contained the most likely true information after analysis.
Pointing her slender finger at the messages on the paper, Shuangshuang analyzed them to Li Yu and Feng Lin: "According to the information we have gathered, there are not many clues.
The first is that the common people near the county say that in the past six months, there’s been trouble from a Fox Demon around here, targeting men to absorb their essence, and those whose essence is drained die.
Whether there’s a Fox Demon is yet to be determined, but that there’s a demon or Evil Path cultivator causing trouble is likely true.
This place doesn’t have any plague, and the court just eliminated bandits two months ago, so there’s no banditry. The people live in peace, so for someone to suddenly die with the same age, gender, and close timing is not normal.
The second point is that the dead are all able-bodied men, and mainly poor common people. If such people die, even if their families suspect foul play, there’s nothing they can do if the government doesn’t act.
From this, it can be analyzed that maybe it’s an evil Taoist like Master Dongxu causing the trouble, possibly colluding with a wealthy family in town to harm people.
The reason they specifically target such poor common people is likely because they fear too much trouble if things escalate."
"Moreover, this is very plausible, because we demons don’t target weaklings; we always take what we can get.
Also, Shopkeeper, I must remind you, our Fox Clan female demons wouldn’t absorb the essence of ugly men; we at least choose someone pleasing to the eye."
Li Yu chimed in, taking the opportunity to clarify for the Fox demons. All their Fox Clan demons were handsome men and beautiful women, and absorbing essence was an Evil Path practice; proper Fox Demons wouldn’t stoop to such ways.
However, fox demons who took the evil path weren’t indiscriminate. The Fox Clan members were not only beautiful themselves but also naturally loved beauty, and absorbing essence, which required great intimacy, was not done with anyone other than handsome men and beautiful women.
Shuangshuang folded the paper full of information, crumpled it into a ball, and with a spark igniting in her palm, she burned it to ashes instantly.
Patting her hands, Shuangshuang stood up: "Alright, we just arrived and haven’t gathered enough information. Next, we should look at the bodies of the deceased to determine the cause of death."
"Shopkeeper, aren’t their bodies already buried? How do we examine them?"
Feng Lin, shaking the tail that had unknowingly appeared behind him, looked with innocent confusion in his eyes.
Without waiting for Shuangshuang to answer, Li Yu quickly replied: "That’s why you’re stupid, just dig them up to see."
"Dig, dig them up! Would their families permit that!?"
Feng Lin widened his cat-like eyes, utterly shocked.
Although he was a little demon, he knew humans took burial of the deceased very seriously and would never allow grave-digging. Having one’s grave dug up was a great personal enmity.
"That’s why you’re dumb, if they don’t allow it, just dig them up secretly," Li Yu said with much experience. He and Shuangshuang had done this many times before; they were quite adept at it.
Finding the graves of the deceased was not difficult; some were buried in the mountains, and others in their own fields, making the locations relatively easy to find.
Naturally, grave-digging couldn’t be done during the day. Shuangshuang waited until midnight before heading to the graveyard with Li Yu and Feng Lin.
The graveyard at night was very eerie, with phosphorescent lights floating and the surrounding trees swaying as if they were clawed monsters, making it increasingly ominous.
Saying they were grave-digging didn’t mean they actually dug. Once on site, Shuangshuang gently waved her hand, and the earth covering the grave split open, revealing the coffin containing the body inside.
With a gentle wave, Shuangshuang opened the coffin, revealing the corpse dressed in burial clothes.