Chapter 199 Key Clues
The Korf family, who own this forest, developed the Misty Forest only when they were in financial difficulty and had no other choice. They could not afford to invest too much in a logging camp.
There are no large or medium-sized equipment with an industrial feel in the entire logging site. Judging from the axes, hand saws and machetes that were thrown messily next to the pile of logs and not taken away by the workers when they left in a hurry, the manual operation mode adopted here is still quite old.
"This place is worse than our Undead sawmill." Yang Ying, who had been teleported to the Desolate Stronghold sawmill many times to make money, complained.
Players who have gone there to farm for gold nodded their heads... At least you can still see diesel generators and chainsaws in the undead lumberyard run by a zombie NPC outside the Desolate Stronghold.
"The Baron Korf family that owns this land has indeed fallen into decline." En Buzeng stared at the logging tools left behind by the workers for a while, then walked towards one of the wooden houses.
The wooden house, which is very Eastern European in style and built with original logs, has been vacant for more than half a year. A lot of moss has sprouted on the walls in the shade, and wild grass has stubbornly popped up in the cracks between the stone steps.
Qin Guan, dressed in luxurious clothes, took the initiative to walk in front of En Bu Zeng and pushed and pulled the door. The wooden door swayed and opened with a harsh "creaky" sound.
This wooden house seemed to be the workers' residence. There were some ceramic and wooden bowls and plates on the table near the door. There were two wooden bunk beds on the left and right sides. The beds were piled with some hay that smelled faintly of mold. The sheets and other things had been taken away.
The sheets and clothes were their own property, while the axes and saws were the property of the owner. When the workers hurriedly evacuated, they knew what was important and what was not.
The door of the second cabin was locked. Looking through the window, one could see some tools such as axes and saw blades piled up in the house. One could also see several baskets of potatoes and wheat. Of course, they had all sprouted and moldy.
The third cabin was also locked from the outside with an open lock. Looking inside through the window, it could be confirmed that it seemed to be the foreman's residence - there was only a bed inside.
"Huh?!" En Buzeng, who was leaning on the window, discovered something and turned to call out to the others, "A soldier, open the door."
"I'll do it, I'll do it." Tang Jia was already bored to death. She pushed Qin Guan, who was about to draw his weapon, away and rushed forward anxiously.
Tang Jia chopped off the lock in a few moves, and En Bu Zeng rushed in without saying a word.
Of course Qin Guan couldn't tolerate not being able to find anything, so he ran in as well.
This wooden house was much tidier and cleaner than the other two. There were still sheets, quilts and pillows on the bed. A men's coat was hung on the coat rack beside the bed, and two pairs of boots were placed against the wall on one side of the coat rack. On the dusty table stood a glass teacup of relatively high purity, and next to the teacup were an iron cigarette case and a pipe neatly placed.
En Buzeng looked at the wooden house in astonishment, picked up the black-skinned book tucked under his arm, and quickly turned to page six.
This page records the testimony of foreman Arnold Hayden.
The testimony of foreman Hayden was of little value. This was what En Bu Zeng had judged when he first read it quickly. This man did not participate in logging and was only in charge of four workers. He hated staying in the mountains and every time he delivered wood down the mountain, he would always find an excuse to stay at the foot of the mountain for a day or two longer.
After scanning the testimony, En Bu Zeng still felt that this person's words were meaningless. They were all complaints about life in the mountains and complaints about the stupid workers.
Entropy does not increase. He turns to the last few pages and rereads the information about the suspected persons of interest listed by investigator "Mountain Rat".
Under the name of foreman Arnold Hayden, investigator "Mountain Rat" recorded that this person was the only remaining servant in Baron Korf's family, and his father had driven for the previous baron.
The difference in working environment between being a leisurely coachman in a big city and being thrown into the mountains to manage a shabby logging camp is naturally huge. It is probably from this perspective that "Mountain Rat" understood the resentment expressed by foreman Hayden, and the joy vaguely revealed after the logging camp was forced stop work.
Entropy does not increase and falls into silence.
Qin Guan carefully studied the principle of entropy and looked at the cabin for a long time. He even opened the cigarette box to look at the moldy tobacco inside... but unfortunately, he didn't find any clues.
Qin Guan had no choice but to temporarily put aside his competitive spirit, adjust his mood, and humbly ask En Bu Zeng: "Qingyue, is there any important clue here?"
"Yes." En Bu Zeng was not a person who liked to be mysterious. He turned to page 6 again and clicked on the question and answer record. "The person who answered the question about 'Mountain Rat' is probably not the original 'Arnold Hayden'."
"Uh..." Qin Guan glanced at the boring conversation on the page, thought for a moment, and then said "Fuck" in horror.
"A strange fog suddenly rose in the mountains. It was impossible to tell people and animals apart 20 meters away. Everyone panicked and packed up their things and evacuated hurry. This was the common response of all the people in the logging camp when answering the question of 'Mountain Rat'." En Bu Zeng was also a little scared and said, "The workers even had time to roll up their own bedding. Is it possible that Hayden, the foreman who doesn't have to work and is usually a big idler, didn't even wear his coat and even forgot his cigarette box and pipe?"
"That's impossible." Qin Guan said decisively.
Smokers are less likely to leave their cigarettes behind wherever they go!
"Is this actually a supernatural story?" Qin Guan said in a daze. After thinking for a while, he felt something was wrong. "Hey, wait, didn't you say you were looking for a rope? Was it the foreman who took the rope?"
"It's hard to say. The clues haven't been connected yet." En Buzeng shook his head, closed the black leather book and walked out. "This is the situation in the lumberyard. Now let's divide the people and search the surrounding area."
The sawmill is not big. Including the open space where the logs are piled, it is only about the size of one and a half basketball courts. It is not difficult for players to search within a radius of 200 meters around the sawmill - the double perspective obstruction DEBUFF of darkness and fog is meaningless to players, and the players are very proficient in using the identification skill of finding objects.
In less than half an hour, a player's identification spell swept across the hemp rope thrown in the bushes.
En Buzeng and Qin Guan, who had led their teams to search separately, hurried to the place where the discovery was made and reunited. The player who found the hemp rope happily showed them the items he had dragged out of the bushes.
Entropy looked at the rolled-up rope and asked the player who discovered it, " Is this the way the rope was rolled up when you found it?"
"Yeah." The player who discovered it said, "It was just rolled up like this and thrown into the bushes over there."
This time, without the hint of entropy, Qin Guan also found the bright spot: "This rope was hidden by someone on purpose, right?"
Enbuseng took the hemp rope solemnly, thought for a while, raised his head and looked upwards.
Then she lowered her head again and looked around at the ground.
After discovering a stone hidden in the grass, En Buzeng walked over quickly and squatted down to observe.
Qin Guan really tried hard to follow En Bu Zeng's rhythm, but even if he squatted down and looked at the stone with En Bu Zeng, he really couldn't see anything... He had to ask humbly again: "What's going on, Master Qing Yue, please explain it to me."
En Bu Zeng raised his bone claw, tapped the stone, and tried to push it.
It can also be pushed forward by the power of the undead.
The highest part of this irregularly shaped stone is about thirty to forty centimeters high and more than twenty centimeters wide. It is difficult to lift it, but it can be pushed and kicked.
"...I see." En Bu Zeng said quietly.
"What does that mean?!" Qin Guan was almost going crazy.
"Vanilla, do you remember what 'Mountain Rat' asked the villagers?" Entropy said, "'Drunkard Mike' claimed that there was a man-eating monster in the forest. This monster was as strong as a bear, had a tail like a leopard, and had teeth longer than a child's arm..."
"Isn't that just bullshit from the villagers? The villagers themselves said that the drunkard was just bragging." Qin Guan had a question mark on his forehead.
"Yes, it is bragging." En Buzeng nodded. "Some people at the bottom do have the habit of ignoring objective facts and exaggerating to attract attention. However, these people themselves have little knowledge and imagination. Their exaggerated remarks must be based on certain reality."
"For example, the description of this man-eating monster as strong as a bear is because the villagers believe that the most terrifying and intimidating beast is the bear. Coupled with the monster-like, exaggerated fangs, just saying it will make people feel scared."
After a pause, En Bu Zeng said quietly, "But why add the description 'a leopard-like tail'? Why is there anything scary about a leopard's tail?"
Qin Guan was stunned.
There is definitely nothing wrong with his intelligence, it's just that he is just one of those ordinary people with a more flexible brain, and there is a certain gap between him and a genius.
The fact that entropy is not increasing has been suggested to this extent. If Qin Guan fails to react, then the millions of fans who follow him will have wasted their time.
Qin Guan stiffly shifted his gaze to the hemp rope that En Bu Zeng was holding. Even though he knew that he was just playing a game and completing a task in the game, and that it was broad daylight in reality even though it was night in the game, he still felt himself breaking out in a cold sweat: "So... it was a person? What the boastful drunkard saw was actually a person, a person connected to the rope?"
"Yeah." Enbuteng once again used his finger bones to tap the stone that could be moved by the power of the undead , raised his head, and looked up again.
Diagonally above this stone, there is a branch extending from a nearby big tree, about three meters above the ground.
There is only one possibility that the scene of people and ropes together could scare an adult male villager.
That is... a hanged corpse.
"Wait, wait, so Drunk Mike also included a hunter in the rumor he made up. Does that mean the hunter in that village is also involved in this matter?"
"The drunkard claimed that the hunter saw the monster and took it off, but the hunter firmly denied it." Entropy said expressionlessly, "Combined with the fact that this rope was intentionally hidden in the bushes, we can speculate that the drunkard accidentally saw the hunter untie the body hanging on the tree and carry it away."
"Why did the hunter secretly carry away the body and hide the rope? He must have wanted to hide the fact that someone had hanged himself. From whom? From the villagers and the people in the logging camp."
En Buzeng raised his hand and pointed to the nearby logging site: "If a person hangs himself, it must be because he has some kind of anger or resentment that he has nowhere to vent. He deliberately ran to a place not far from the logging site, as if he wanted to die in front of someone in the logging site."
Qin Guan felt a flash of inspiration in his mind, and hurriedly stopped En Bu Zeng and said, "Wait, let me do it. There are only five people in the lumberyard. Four workers evacuated successfully, but the foreman was replaced. That guy must have died for the foreman Hayden to see. This guy is definitely full of SHI, right?"
"Yes." En Buzeng nodded, "Foreman Hayden and the body secretly transported away by the hunters are the key clues to this mission."
"Then let's go find that hunter now!" Qin Guan slapped his thigh happily.
