The Search for the Beast

Su Ming made adjustments to the industrial control system and replaced some sensors that were unstable due to the low temperature. By then it was afternoon. During this time, the land radar remained on alert, and no one approached.

After the busy period came to a close, everyone sat down for afternoon tea, only to realize that the unicorn hadn't returned. Today's tea snacks were quite special: a flock of sparrows that had flown in from who-knows-where. Su Mo shot them all down in mid-air, and incidentally used dark magic to remove their feathers. Hansite washed them clean, coated them in batter, and fried them—they smelled delicious.

"You've prepared too much stuff." Su Ming looked at the large bowl of croissants on the table.

"Given Miss Sacred Beast's speed, she should have returned by now," Hansite said. "I'll go look for her."

"I'll go," Su Ming said, stopping him. He had basically finished his work, and besides, he could drive a snowmobile.

He asked Zijin to help him dress up to look weathered, put on a forbidden magic cloak, and dress him in warm outdoor clothing, putting various items into a snow camouflage backpack.

He then pushed the snowmobile out of the mechanical compartment and filled it with fuel. This was the closest thing to gasoline he had found among the petroleum products in this world, delivered during the last resupply of the Mist Veil. In actual testing, although it produced a lot of smoke, it was indeed usable.

You need to clean the spark plugs periodically.

"Can we stay in touch?" Zijin asked him. The interdimensional communication spells only covered a few kilometers, and the distance for Mind Synchronization was even shorter. Su Ming thought for a moment, then picked up the walkie-talkie and drone. "Perfect for testing these devices. Set up the antenna!"

Zijin gave an OK sign.

****

The weather was alright, visibility was good, and the snowmobile easily reached a speed of 60 kilometers per hour. Su Ming arrived near the village in ten minutes.

He first released the drone, just in time to test the device.

The high-polymer materials used for the drone's fuselage and propellers were unavailable in this other world, so he replaced them with bone. The purified high-purity bone was slightly superior in performance to lightweight materials on Earth. After being summoned, the drone's flight performance was even slightly improved.

The drone took off quickly. But after a short while, it was forcibly switched to "restricted mode," limiting its altitude and speed, and disabling many of its functions.

Su Ming was somewhat annoyed; it had malfunctioned on its very first use. He asked Miao Xin to contact the drone manufacturer's customer service to inquire about the cause. It had worked perfectly fine during the testing on Earth!

Su Ming manually raised the drone to 120 meters, but the system repeatedly warned that it was in restricted mode and could not be raised further.

He activated the communication relay device mounted on the drone, put on his headset, and pressed the call button. "Can you hear me?"

"I can hear it, very clearly," Zijin replied.

After Su Ming left, she erected a 20-meter-high antenna on the train carriage and set up a communication base station.

The drone transmits radio signals from high altitudes to overcome terrain obstacles. The antennas on both sides automatically align to enhance the signal.

In theory, this device can achieve wireless communication over a distance of more than 50 kilometers. However, its performance should be even better in the electromagnetically clean environment of this other world.

Miao Xin quickly relayed the manufacturer's customer service reply, which was a standard script: Please perform a self-test on the drone's positioning module and check for satellite signal obstruction in the surrounding area. If any of these conditions exist, the system will default to a no-fly zone and enter a restricted state.

Why even need to check? There's no satellite positioning signal in this other world!

Su Ming asked Miao Xin to inquire whether the flight restriction function could be turned off.

The customer service robot posted another article, the "Interim Regulations on the Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flights".

Su Ming never expected that even in this other world, he would still be subject to the strict aviation regulations of his hometown. He had never encountered anything like this before, so he asked Miao Xin to ask Miao Mu for help.

****

The drone malfunctioned, so Su Ming had to enter the village himself. He didn't find anything unusual along the way. The weather was very cold, and occasionally villagers would leave their houses but quickly go back inside.

All the bacon was emitting thin wisps of smoke as if it were warming itself.

"Is this Rick Village?" Su Ming recalled the map he had seen.

"Yes, this belongs to the Whitaker Family's territory," Hansite said. "It's not a large territory, and the lord's title is Viscount."

Communication with the Youth Civilization is stable. The terrain in the plains is flat, and the 120-meter altitude limit for drones does not hinder the operation of the communication system.

"It's the feudal system." This was somewhat unfamiliar to Su Ming, after all, these things had long since disappeared from Earth, and history and Daoist arts were his least favorite subjects. "What exactly is it?"

"Well, basically everything on the territory belongs to the lord. The lord is responsible to the kingdom, bears the obligation of taxation, and sends troops when conscripted," Zijin explained briefly. "The northern region of the Cold Mountain Kingdom is divided into more than a hundred lords of varying sizes, also known as the Lord's Autonomous Region. The administration of the southern kingdom is more streamlined; that area is under the jurisdiction of the monarchy."

Su Ming found hoofprints at the entrance of the village, which later turned into deep human footprints.

Considering the unicorn's weight, she would definitely sink into the snowdrift if she transformed into human form. Fortunately, she was already close to the village, and there wasn't much snow on the road because it had been cleared. Judging from the marks, she managed to walk into the village without incident.

Her small, deep footprints were so distinctive that the snow was almost trampled into hard ice. Su Ming quickly followed the footprints to the place she had visited, which was the most decent-looking house in the village.

Su Ming knocked on the door and went in. The village chief lived there. After exchanging a few words, he learned that a green-haired girl had indeed come to him that morning to buy food.

"And then?" Su Ming asked immediately.

Compared to the approachable and friendly young woman from before, this young man was clearly a warrior whom ordinary people couldn't afford to offend. The village chief dared not lie, "That young lady didn't like the things in my cellar, didn't buy anything, gave me a few copper coins as a tip, and left."

"Do you know where she went after that?" Su Ming asked.

The village chief hesitated for a moment, then Su Ming at him and immediately said nervously, "It's all my wife's fault. She mentioned that many young girls have been going missing recently, and told me to be careful. That young lady inquired about the details and then skipped away."

Su Ming frowned. According to the village chief, a group of human traffickers had been operating on the icy plains recently, abducting beautiful young girls. Many people had gone missing, causing widespread panic.

No one was arrested in this small village, but someone went missing from a neighboring village the day before yesterday.

So Qiluo most likely went to this neighboring village, Su Ming, opening the map. The snowfield was sparsely populated, and that village was said to be adjacent.

But it's also six kilometers away.

He left the village chief's house, contacted Zijin, and reported the information he had obtained from the village chief.

"How strong is Qiluo in combat?" Su Ming asked.

"She can easily defeat low-level enemies with her hooves," Zijin replied. "However, she's not a combat-oriented class, so she'll have trouble dealing with large groups or strong enemies."

"Then why did she go alone?" Su Ming complained. "She should have called us first." Although the Unicorn acted erratically, she was very shrewd when it came to important matters. He couldn't understand why she was acting so recklessly this time.

Hansite interjected, "Miss Holy Beast is a pure white follower of the Moon Goddess, and she can't stand things like human trafficking that trample on freedom and life. She'll definitely stand up for it if she encounters it."

Su Ming had a bit of a headache, "Then what methods will she use to find her?"

"Alignment Detection," Zijin replied. "Fly through the air and search for evil targets on the ground."

The snow-covered plains are vast and sparsely populated, making them ideal for this method.

"Alright, I'll go after them and take a look."

****

Su Ming retrieved the drone, plugged it into the vehicle charger, started the snowmobile, and continued heading towards the next village.

He arrived at the six-kilometer distance in less than ten minutes. This time he was familiar with the area and went straight to the largest house. He quickly learned that three hours earlier, a green-haired girl had indeed come to investigate the disappearance of a girl.

"She even ate lunch, finishing all the lunch ingredients that more than a dozen households had prepared," the village chief recounted.

Su Ming inquired about the direction the other party had gone before setting off again.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky was beginning to darken. Su Ming followed the direction pointed out by the villagers and arrived at the third village. Some people still saw Qiluo, but this time no one knew which way she had left.

With the trail broken, Su Ming had to stop and gather more information. The village chief knew a great deal: the disappearances had begun a week ago, and people had witnessed bandits operating brazenly in the area.

No girls went missing in this village, but three girls went missing this week from more than a dozen neighboring villages. All of them were very beautiful young girls, and one of them had just gotten married.

Su Ming opened the map and found that the criminals were being searched from east to west, averaging two to three villages per day.

"Isn't there a sheriff here to handle these matters?" He asked Zijin, voicing his doubts. This place was only about fifty kilometers away from Whitaker City, where the lord resided, not very far. The village chief said that it had been reported, but no one had come to take action for so long.

"Su Ming, this group's target is clearly high-quality young girls," Zijin replied. "That means they have the ability to conduct investigations and calmly choose their targets—which implies the perpetrator is a Intermediate Rank combatant."

"So?" Su Ming asked.

"So it's not worth it. Sending Intermediate Rank combatants to investigate would require at least four or five at a time. Hiring High Rank combatants would be very costly and might even be a waste of time," Zijin said matter-of-factly. "If it were a large-scale human abduction, the lord might mobilize a large force. But for just a few girls, it's not worth it."

"A good deal?" Su Ming gritted his teeth. This was the first time he'd heard such a claim. "Isn't the lord afraid of the people here—"

"The people are merely the lord's private property; how dare they complain?" Hansite said. "If they do, whip them, cut off their ears and noses. If they still disobey, chop off their hands and feet; if all else fails, cut off their heads."

Recalling the villager he had just seen who had no ears, Su Ming felt a nameless frustration. "With the lord treating his people so harshly, won't they flee?"

"From birth, the people are branded; there's no escaping it," Zijin replied.

"Actually, things weren't this bad at first. When the Cold Mountain Kingdom was initially divided up, a ' Lord Autonomous Region Convention ' was signed."

"Hansite said, "The Convention offered some protection to the human rights of its subjects, such as limiting corporal punishment and execution. But without oversight by law enforcement, the Convention quickly became ineffective, and the lords acted with impunity."

Su Ming sighed, thinking that similar backward stages had also appeared in Earth's history, which seemed to be an inevitable result of social development. However, he also thought that compared to the same era, the productivity of the other world was already very advanced, so he asked Zijin about his doubts.

After thinking for a moment, Zijin replied, "Economically developed and densely populated regions have already undergone transformations over the past few hundred years. The Tingbulike Icefield is arguably the most backward remnant on the continent."

"Is there a problem with the ice field?" Su Ming asked.

"There are many reasons, but I know very little about them and don't know the specifics," said Zijin.

Su Ming brought his thoughts back and continued the initial topic, "So, how should we find Qiluo?"

Zijin had an idea about this. "The next village ten kilometers north of your place should be the area where these bandits were active today. Little Unicorn will definitely go there to look for them."

Su Ming ended the call and started the snowmobile to head out.

"I don't think we'll be able to find Miss Sacred Beast even this way," Hansite suddenly said.

"Why?" Zijin asked, puzzled. "She can't defeat three Intermediate Rank combatants, but she can definitely escape."

"I'm afraid she didn't intend to escape," Hansite sighed.

****

Fifteen minutes later, Su Ming arrived near the fourth village. He searched from the air and, after several tens of minutes, discovered some green areas in a grove of trees not far from the village.

As Su Ming approached, he discovered that the snow had been knocked off several evergreen trees, revealing the leaves underneath.

He landed there but found no signs of a battle as he had expected. There were many footprints and signs of activity, but no fighting had taken place. Only the tracks of a sled pulled by an animal stretched into the distance.

Su Mo contacted Zijin and described what she saw at the scene.

"As expected, she's willing to get involved herself," Hansite said. "Miss Holy Beast's goal is to save people, so she'll definitely choose to infiltrate!"

Su Ming. Qiluo was a very beautiful young lady, and she would definitely catch the eye of those thugs. "So she deliberately let herself be captured?"

"That's absolutely true," Hansite nodded. "From here, we'll head to their hideout."

"The problem is her weight; the moment the apprentice tries to touch her, she'll give herself away!" Su Ming said.

"The Levitation can reduce weight for a short period of time," Zijin said.

"I understand. I'll just follow the tracks of the snow, right?" Su Ming said.

"Perhaps we should look for any messages," Hansite suggested. "It's strange that snow was knocked off the trees without any fighting."

Su Ming lifted the hood of his magic-sealing cloak, and the biting cold wind made him shiver. He quickly sensed a magical fluctuation, walked over, and dug it out of the snow, finding a small, faintly glowing crystal wrapped in a piece of paper.

Su Ming opened it and, as expected, found the message left by the unicorn, detailing the entire incident. She had now disguised herself as a vulnerable young girl and allowed herself to be taken away by the kidnappers in order to rescue the other kidnapped girls.