The Elusive Truth (23)

Before coming to Zijing Village, many people had assumed this was simply a Wolf Thieves attack and that the higher-ups had overcomplicated the matter.

But after truly arriving at Zijing Village, not only Ma Xiunuo, but even Xiao Kuang, who had not taken this mission seriously before, could not help but grow grim.

Because the situation in Zijing Village was indeed highly abnormal!

According to what Xiao Kuang knew,

if the vicious Wolf Thieves had truly attacked Zijing Village, they would certainly have burned, killed, looted, and pillaged throughout it.

Under such circumstances, the houses in Zijing Village could not possibly have remained so intact. Moreover, there should have been many horribly mangled corpses left behind, perhaps even bodies no longer whole.

That would have been normal.

But what was going on with the Zijing Village before them?

Not only had all the houses remained intact, not even a single corpse had been left behind.

As they walked through Zijing Village, after everyone conducted a careful search, they discovered that even the interiors of the houses had not been damaged.

Although quite a few relatively valuable items, such as iron pots, had disappeared from the houses,

no matter how they looked at it, it did not seem as though Wolf Thieves had looted the items from the houses. Instead, it seemed more like the villagers had taken them away themselves.

But the question was, why would the villagers of Zijing Village flee with these things?

And why had so many wolf footprints resembling those of Wolf Thieves been left behind in Zijing Village?

After searching through Zijing Village,

whether it was Ma Xiunuo, Xiao Kuang, or Su Yuntao, everyone with even a bit of intelligence and experience was filled with confusion.

No one could figure out what exactly had happened in Zijing Village.

"How about we go take another look at Zijing Viscount's castle?"

Seeing that no one could make sense of what had happened in Zijing Village, Ma Xiunuo suddenly proposed in a deep voice that they go inspect Zijing Viscount's ruined castle.

The slaughter of Zijing Viscount's entire family and the collective mysterious disappearance of all Zijing Village's villagers had been discovered during the same period. Nine times out of ten, they were not two unrelated incidents.

Since they could not determine what had happened in Zijing Village, they might as well visit Zijing Viscount's castle again. Perhaps it would offer some inspiration.

"Master Ma Xiunuo's suggestion is a good one. Zijing Viscount is the lord of Zijing Village. The mysterious disappearance of all of Zijing Village's villagers and the slaughter of Zijing Viscount's entire family may be connected."

"Since we cannot figure out what happened in Zijing Village, we might as well take another look at Zijing Viscount's castle. Perhaps we can find a breakthrough there."

Hearing Ma Xiunuo's words, the Master of Red Leaf City's Martial Soul Branch Hall voiced his strong agreement.

Afterward, led by the Master of Mountain Ridge City's Martial Soul Branch Hall, everyone headed once more to the castle where Zijing Viscount had lived.

When they arrived at Zijing Viscount's castle, they found it already sealed off by a large contingent of soldiers.

As a viscount of the Heaven Dou Empire, the slaughter of a viscount's entire family was no small matter.

After learning of the situation, nearby Mountain Ridge City had naturally dispatched soldiers at once to seal off the castle and prevent anyone from destroying the scene.

Before the truth behind the slaughter of Zijing Viscount's family had been uncovered, the blockade around the castle could not possibly be lifted in order to preserve the scene.

After the Lord of Mountain Ridge City negotiated with them and the soldiers learned that the group of Soul Masters before them had come to investigate the truth, the captain in charge of sealing off the castle naturally allowed them through.

Afterward, everyone entered the castle together.

The moment they entered the castle, a thick stench assailed them.

Inside the somewhat dim castle, dried bloodstains were everywhere. Corpses in all manner of gruesome states lay sprawled across the corridors, the hall, and every corner of the castle.

To preserve the evidence, Mountain Ridge City had specifically sent a Soul Master with the Ice Seal Soul Skill to freeze all the bodies with his Soul Skill.

Thus, upon closer inspection, the corpses could be seen to remain largely intact, not much different from when they had first been discovered after death.

"These corpses bear claw marks. They seem to be marks from wolf claws, and there are also dried bloodstains in the shape of wolf footprints in the castle. The ones who killed Zijing Viscount's entire family should also have been Wolf Thieves. They may even have been the same group that left the wolf footprints in Zijing Village."

After examining many of the corpses, Su Yuntao compared the claw marks on them and voiced his opinion.

As a Soul Master whose Martial Soul was a wolf, Su Yuntao had ample authority when it came to the marks on the corpses and the bloodstains of wolf footprints.

"I also think they may have been the same group of Wolf Thieves."

At the side, a Soul Master from Mountain Ridge City's Martial Soul Branch Hall echoed him and gave his own opinion.

The other Soul Masters nodded in agreement as well.

Based on the evidence discovered so far, reaching such a conclusion was not difficult.

However, finding these clues did not help much in uncovering the truth, because they still could not understand why Wolf Thieves had suddenly appeared in their region.

Moreover, these Wolf Thieves had not only slaughtered Zijing Viscount's entire family, but had also caused the villagers of Zijing Village to mysteriously disappear.

From what they knew of Wolf Thieves, if it had been a sizable pack, killing Zijing Viscount's entire family would have been easy.

But why had these vicious Wolf Thieves not destroyed Zijing Village? That was utterly baffling.

And how had they made the villagers allow themselves to be abducted without resisting? That was what puzzled everyone.

Logically speaking, faced with an attack by vicious Wolf Thieves, the villagers of Zijing Village could never have surrendered without a fight. Nor would the Wolf Thieves have politely persuaded the villagers to leave. They would certainly have used violence and slaughter to forcibly seize and carry them away.

That would inevitably have brought resistance and destruction!

Yet the situation in Zijing Village looked as though the villagers had peacefully left with the Wolf Thieves. It simply made no sense!!

"Sigh! Knowing this seems useless anyway! Even if we know that the Wolf Thieves who attacked Zijing Village and caused all its villagers to mysteriously disappear were the same group that slaughtered Zijing Viscount's entire family, what does that change?"

"Wolf Thieves are bloodthirsty and vicious. It is perfectly normal for them to attack Zijing Viscount's castle and slaughter his entire family. It only means Zijing Viscount's family was unlucky."

"But the key question now is why Zijing Village was not damaged, yet its villagers mysteriously disappeared. Don't tell me the Wolf Thieves developed intelligence, persuaded the villagers of Zijing Village, and made them leave with them?"

Although everyone unanimously concluded after inspecting the crime scene at Zijing Castle that Wolf Thieves had also killed Zijing Viscount's entire family, someone still rubbed his forehead and sighed in frustration, his words carrying a hint of self-mockery.

Hearing this, the other Soul Masters sighed as well.

"That's impossible. How could Wolf Thieves possess intelligence!"

"However... as far as I know, the villagers of Zijing Village seemed to have lived poorly under Zijing Viscount's rule. Could it be that the villagers of Zijing Village lured the Wolf Thieves here and had them kill Zijing Viscount's entire family?"

Suddenly, a Soul Master from a Martial Soul Branch Hall in a city called Barto City spoke up.