Chapter 13
Even the wind along Minnesota's country roads carried the smell of rust. When the Impala stopped at a gas station two miles outside the Bender Family Farm, Sam was frowning at his laptop. On the screen were four disappearances from the past three months. The victims ranged from backpackers to truck drivers, and their last known locations all pointed to this road leading to an abandoned logging site, yet not so much as a tire track or a trace of blood had been left behind.
"The police said it was like they 'vanished into thin air,'" Sam said, tapping at the keyboard and pulling up the local sheriff's contact information. "But I checked the old files from 1987. There were similar disappearances near this road back then, too, and none of them were ever resolved. Dad's journal mentioned the 'Benders Family.' He said they were more likely suspects than evil spirits."
Bai Haorui picked up the Five Emperor Coins and tested them. The copper coins remained still, without even the faintest glimmer. This was his first encounter with a "sinister case without yin energy." He took out his grandfather's "Expelling Evil" notes and began searching through them. "There's nothing in here about evil spirits killing without leaving any traces, either. Whenever evil spirits kill or hurt people, they leave clues. It couldn't be this clean. Could this really just be a human crime?"
Chewing gum, Dean pulled a shotgun and climbing rope from the trunk. "Just humans? Perfect. Saves you from throwing sticky rice all over my face again. Let's split up: I'll scout around the farm, Sam will contact the sheriff for the missing persons' files, and you... you can decide who you want to go with, young master."
Bai Haorui rolled his eyes at him. "What, do I have to tag along with you guys?"
Half an hour later, the local sheriff, Hank, arrived in his patrol car, his face lined with exhaustion. "You're from the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Thank God. This case is driving me crazy. Another boy went missing yesterday, seventeen years old. His mother said he only went to the logging site to gather some firewood, and he never came back." He handed them a photograph. The boy wore a red backpack and a bright smile. "We searched the logging site three times and didn't find a trace of him. All we found was this under an oak tree."
It was a small piece of metal engraved with a "B." Bai Haorui recognized it at once as a component from the Bender Family Farm's fence. "Sheriff, what about the Benders?" he pressed.
"Old Bender lives on the farm with his son and daughter. They usually keep to themselves." Hank scratched his head. "We went to ask them, but they said they hadn't seen any of the missing people and drove us away. Now that I think about it, there was something wrong with the way they looked at people. Too cold, like... like they were looking at prey."
Just then, static suddenly crackled from Sam's radio. "Dean? How's it going over there? Come in if you can hear me!" There was no response, only a faint clicking sound, like metal striking metal.
Bai Haorui's heart sank. "Dean might be in trouble. We need to get to the farm, now!" He grabbed his short blade and pistol. "Sheriff, cover us from behind. Don't get too close. These people know traps. They're dangerous."
The weeds around the farm were taller than a person. Bai Haorui slowly swept his short blade close to the ground and, sure enough, snagged a thin steel wire in a patch of grass. It was a tripwire trap, with sharpened wooden spears buried beneath it that would spring out of the ground once triggered. "That unlucky bastard Dean must have stepped into something like this." He cut the tripwire and told Sam and Hank, "Follow me. Don't step anywhere I haven't swept."
After going around three traps, they finally spotted Dean's leather boot at the entrance to the farm's underground storeroom. Half of it stuck out, with a pitch-black opening below. Bai Haorui shone his flashlight down and saw more than a dozen iron cages in the basement. Two living people were locked inside: the missing seventeen-year-old boy and the truck driver who had disappeared earlier. Dean was tied to a wooden post in the corner with a cloth stuffed in his mouth. The moment he saw them, his eyes widened and he began struggling.
"Keep quiet!" Bai Haorui whispered. He and Sam found an iron bar and pried open the lock on the storeroom door. The door had barely opened a crack when they heard a man laughing inside. "Another piece of prey. Judging by his ID, he's a federal agent, too. Let's try something new and see how he tastes compared to ordinary people."
It was Old Bender's son, Jessie. She held a hunting knife and was grinning viciously at the boy in the iron cage. Bai Haorui gave Sam a look, and Sam lunged at Jessie from behind, wrapping the climbing rope around her neck. Hank raised his gun at Old Bender and his daughter Missy as they came running at the noise. "Don't move! Drop your weapons!"
Old Bender showed no sign of panic. He suddenly pressed a button on the wall, and the basement floor began to sink, revealing a spike trap beneath it! "You thought you could beat us?" He grinned. "We've been hunting humans for thirty years. You soft city bastards are nothing but our dinner!"
Bai Haorui immediately pulled Dean back while flinging out a hemp rope he had picked up in the storeroom, its end tied into a noose, and catching Old Bender's wrist. This was the only useful thing he had learned from those island-country teachers. The hemp rope wound around Old Bender's arm three times, binding it tight. "Sam, shoot their legs with the shotgun! Don't kill them. Leave them for the police!" he shouted, picking up a wooden spear from the floor and blocking Missy's attack.
After breaking free of his restraints, Dean punched Jessie in the face. "You dared to tie me up? Don't you know who I am?" He snatched Jessie's hunting knife and held it against her throat. "Talk! Are there any other victims?"
Jessie spat out a mouthful of blood, her eyes vicious. "They're all in the pit out back. You'll never find them..."
In the end, with the boy's directions, they found the other missing people's bodies in a dry well behind the farm. Fortunately, the boy and the truck driver were still alive, with only minor injuries. While Hank called for backup, the boy tugged at the hem of Bai Haorui's clothes. "Big brother, thank you. Otherwise, we would all have been eaten."
Bai Haorui patted his head and handed her a Safety Talisman. "Don't go to isolated places alone again. This talisman will keep you safe."
The system notification sounded just then: [Mission "Rescue the captives and eliminate the cannibal family" completed. Rewards: passive skill "Trap Recognition" (allows rapid detection of mechanical/physical traps set by humans), free attribute point ×1.]
Dean leaned against the Impala, rubbing his wrists where the bindings had left them red. "We managed this one without your sticky rice or talisman paper. Still, let's not run into people like this again. I'd rather deal with ghosts."
"It's fine. At least you stepped right into the trap this time." Bai Haorui smiled and added the attribute point to agility. "The evil in human hearts is harder to guard against than evil spirits. We'll have to be more careful from now on."
Sam put away his laptop and watched the Bender Family being led away by the police in the distance. "I'd rather keep hunting demons than spend time around these people," he said quietly. "The kitchen in their house was just too disgusting."