A textbook murder

Suppressing his desire for a Lv9 ability, Yu Ziyu focused his gaze on the two girls nearby, who were slowly waking up.

"What a pity."

As his words fell, an inexplicable force enveloped them.

Immediately afterward, their entire bodies began trembling involuntarily, as though resisting something.

"It's no use."

With a smile, Yu Ziyu beckoned with a branch, and a Peregrine Falcon landed on it.

"Don't disappoint me, A-Da."

His supple branch gently stroked the Peregrine Falcon's head. Drawing on the mist's power to influence the mind, Yu Ziyu gave this largest of the Peregrine Falcons an order for the first time.

A-Da.

It was quite a good name.

As for the others, they were A-Er, A-San...

Simple and easy to understand.

At this thought, Yu Ziyu could not help thinking self-deprecatingly.

He wondered whether these Peregrine Falcons would blame him once they developed true intelligence.

After all, names this silly were hard to beat.

Not long afterward, at one of the canyon's exits.

Tap, tap, tap...

Accompanied by soft footsteps, two girls in tattered clothes slowly emerged from a bank of hazy mist.

"Sis, what happened?"

Her head aching as though it would split, with fragments flashing through her mind from time to time, the younger sister, He Ling'er, held her head and asked blankly.

"It seems we fell off a cliff, then somehow survived."

He Qing'er shook her head, recalling what had happened from the information flashing through her mind.

Yet He Qing'er vaguely felt that something was wrong.

In a haze, she seemed to have witnessed something unbelievable.

But this did not seem to be the time to consider those things.

Taking her younger sister's hand, He Qing'er said softly:

"Let's go back first. This feeling of having gaps in my memory is really unpleasant."

"Mm-hmm."

Pulling tighter the clothes that could no longer cover her exposed body, He Ling'er nodded and followed her older sister toward the village at the foot of the mountain.

What they failed to notice, however, was that high in the sky, deep within the clouds and mist, a Peregrine Falcon had spread its wings.

"Screee!"

With a piercing cry, the Peregrine Falcon fixed its fierce, sharp eyes on the two girls moving through the forest down below.

Time always passed in a flash.

Before long, it was late at night.

At that moment, in a remote village at the foot of a mountain not too far from Yu Ziyu, a weathered old man gazed into the depths of the mountains, his face full of worry.

"Sigh."

The village chief put down his smoking pipe and sighed helplessly.

"Those two girls. How many times have I told them not to go deep into the mountains? Not to go deep into the mountains! Why won't they listen?"

Hearing the village chief's words, Old Li slapped his thigh and said, angry and anxious, "I don't even know what to say. It's not as though those two little brats don't know what's been happening in the mountains lately. Two days ago, I saw a green snake as big as a millstone. It gave me such a fright that I still don't dare go deep into the mountains. But those two just keep pushing farther in."

"They still haven't come back... I'm afraid those two girls..."

A worried old man chimed in, then turned to the others. "Why don't we... call the police?"

"Call the police?"

Listening to their discussion, the village chief took a puff from his pipe, his expression grave and worried. Finally, as though resigning himself to fate, he sighed.

"We'd better..."

Before he could finish, however, a delighted voice suddenly rang out in the distance.

"Chief, those two girls are back! They're back!"

"They're back?"

The village chief shot up from his chair, somewhat excited, and hurriedly pushed past the others to run toward the village entrance.

Before long, at the village entrance.

Weeds grew thick along the muddy path.

Two slender figures supporting each other slowly emerged from the darkness.

Before they even arrived, a very excited voice could already be heard.

"Grandpa, we're back."

"It's good that you're back. It's good that you're back."

Setting down his pipe, the village chief waved at the two distant figures whose outlines he could just make out.

But just then-

"Screee..."

Deep in the night sky, a barely audible, piercing cry sounded. Immediately afterward, a dark shape flashed across the horizon.

A closer look revealed a Peregrine Falcon with a wingspan of a full one to two meters.

Yes, a Peregrine Falcon.

A very fierce bird of prey.

And at that moment, this bird of prey was actually carrying a green snake in its talons.

The green snake was small, but its entire body was as dark as ink.

The Mutant Green Snake, one of the creatures Yu Ziyu had captured.

Compared with other mutant animals, the most terrifying thing about this Mutant Green Snake was its deadly venom.

Its potent venom was enough to make even Yu Ziyu a little wary.

And now, this terrifying Mutant Green Snake was in the Peregrine Falcon's talons.

"Screee..."

With a soft cry, the Peregrine Falcon slowly loosened its talons. Immediately afterward, the Mutant Green Snake slowly fell into the night like a kite with a broken string.

Not long afterward.

"Ah!"

"No..."

Two screams rang out in succession. Before the horrified eyes of more than a dozen villagers, the two familiar figures slowly collapsed halfway down the path.

"Girls! Girls!"

Throwing down his pipe, the village chief and the dozen or so villagers rushed toward the muddy path.

"This should be foolproof, right?"

Looking at the night sky, Yu Ziyu sighed helplessly.

He had racked his brains to make these two potential threats disappear without arousing anyone else's suspicions.

Using his hallucinatory ability, he had temporarily altered their memories so that, for at least several days, they would be unable to recall anything about "him."

That way, even if they met the villagers, they would not mention anything about "him."

Then he had the Peregrine Falcon A-Da grab a Mutant Green Snake and circle above their heads.

Once they reached other people, it would release the green snake.

He would make this Mutant Green Snake the actual instrument of murder.

At that point, whether the Mutant Green Snake was beaten to death by the enraged villagers or escaped would no longer matter.

After all, everyone had seen that a green snake had bitten the two girls to death.

And he, a willow tree, would naturally be able to stay out of it.

After all, the most favorable witnesses were those villagers.

Moreover, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this would become another typical case of a "mutant beast attacking humans."

One thing worth mentioning here was that, to ensure the Mutant Green Snake targeted the two girls immediately, Yu Ziyu had sacrificed a little life essence and smeared it on their bodies.

With such a temptation, the Mutant Green Snake that landed near the two girls naturally regarded them as prey.

However, there was one other small detail: the life essence would gradually dissipate with the passage of time. After a night, it would disperse completely, and even the final trace of evidence would disappear.

"Tsk, tsk."

Chuckling inwardly, Yu Ziyu felt some admiration for his own caution.

Something like this should qualify as "murder," right? And a "textbook murder" at that.

(Event period: June 12 to June 14)

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