Chapter 488 Professor Yin's Investigation Record
Xinxili Town is a small town with a small floating population. It is far away from the transit route of land caravans and there are no decent minerals around it. The development of handicraft industry is not better than other towns in the northern part of Tachia Territory. Overall, it is a quiet place with a slow pace of life.
The more respectable families in the town could be counted on one hand. Apart from the family of the former lord, Viscount Carter, there were only the family of Sheriff Aubrey, the family of the Morgans who ran a furniture factory, and the family of Baron Eli who ran a bakery.
Let’s not talk about Carter’s house and Aubrey’s house… Factory owner Morgan and Baron Eli, who runs a bakery, have also been “visited” by the undead many times; because their houses are relatively large and do not look like ordinary townspeople’s residences, these “forced visits” have occurred quite frequently…
Baron Eli's mansion is located in the town center, adjacent to the town hall. Because he had been haunted by the dead several times, Baron Eli had moved to the countryside with his wife and children to escape the disaster, leaving only an old butler and a male servant at home to guard the house.
When Professor Yin Zhengliang and Qi Tian arrived... the housekeeper shouted and rushed out of the servant's room to open the gate of the courtyard. Then he ran to the main house of the master's house with sweat all over his forehead, shouting the name of the housekeeper, and hurriedly opened all the doors.
Professor Yin Zhengliang: “…”
Qi Tian: “…”
Walking into Eli's house under the angry gaze of the male servant and the old butler who were full of hatred but powerless, Professor Yin Zhengliang complained with mixed feelings: "Well, we have ended up in the same position as the devils in a good cross-dimensional communication."
Qi Tian kept his mouth tightly shut, not uttering a single word.
This Baron Eli... is a well-known figure in the city hall. A local noble who has survived the three rounds of hellish elimination mode, namely Yang Qiu's brutal purge, the plowing of all the players, and the city hall's re-opening of old cases and settlement, can be described as rare and naturally has a name in the national team.
Including Baron Eli, there are only three old noble families in the entire territory of Tachia who can still keep their family property and make a living, and have not had their property confiscated or their titles erased...
Of course, the biggest reason why these three small noble families were able to survive was that they had no fiefdoms, no real power, and their status in the old aristocratic group was almost transparent.
In other words... no money, no power, no private soldiers.
For example, Baron Eli was a person who had no chance of making a name for himself during the reign of Earl Geketian. His family had been suppressed by the family of Viscount Carter from the same hometown decades ago, and all their fiefdoms had been swallowed up. Only two small farms were left from their ancestors, and they were so poor that they couldn't even afford the money to hold the wedding of the current baron.
Baron Eli was well aware that the town of New Seely would not be able to accommodate their family's growth and prosperity, so he simply concentrated on running the bakery and stopped getting involved in the world of fame and fortune... This unexpectedly turned out to be a blessing in disguise for their family, as they avoided the devastating disaster that was facing all the nobles in the fiefdom.
The Eli family's house, which was passed down from their ancestors, looked quite splendid, but the interior was obviously not comparable to those of the powerful nobles. It could be described as simple... The curtains in the living room had even been patched.
Players have harassed Eli's house several times, and decided not to come because they thought this low-profile passerby noble (mainly because he didn't look wealthy and his house couldn't be confiscated) had nothing to do with the mission. The national team must not be so careless.
Professor Yin Zhengliang, who had seen the information of Baron Eli's family members at the City Hall, carefully examined Eli's house responsibly.
It’s a pity that… Eli’s family has been a small family for many years, and there are many empty rooms, so nothing can be found.
After investigating Eli's house, we arrived at Morgan's house, the owner of a furniture factory.
The Morgan family is not aristocratic, but they have a slight relationship with the Carter family. Mrs. Carter, who was killed by Yang Qiu himself, had a sister-in-law (her husband's sister) who married into the Morgan family.
Now, Mr. Morgan, the factory owner, should call Mrs. Carter his aunt according to relationship... although Mrs. Carter seems to be younger than Mr. Morgan.
Mr. Morgan was terrified when the news reached the town: the Carter family's fiefdom was taken back, the head of the family, Mrs. Carter (her husband had died many years ago), was killed, and the entire Carter family living in the Creek City mansion was arrested. Fortunately, his family had little contact with the Carter family (mainly because they were out of their league) and had only received a sum of funding. The new city hall did not intend to pursue this relationship, so Mr. Morgan was secretly relieved.
Although they didn't feel relieved for long... when a large number of undead flocked to the town of New Seely, the Morgan family, which had some connection with the Carter family, was also harassed.
Mr. Morgan, who was smoking a pipe and taking a rest in the living room of the Morgan House built in the suburbs of New Seely Town, saw a ghost coming to his house through the window and was choked by a mouthful of thick smoke.
"Hurry, cough cough cough! Go and get someone to open the door! Quickly! Cough cough cough!!" Mr. Morgan, who is in his fifties but not young, slapped his chest hard and shouted at the factory gate with all his might.
The Morgan family's residence and factory were built together, sharing a wall and gate. The square where the factory piled up wood and semi-finished furniture to dry was the Morgan family's courtyard.
The worker squatting in the square painting furniture immediately ran towards the gate...
When Professor Yin Zhengliang entered the factory, the first thing he saw was... a site where three-no products were processed, just like an underground black workshop.
The so-called factory building is two long rows of earthen houses next to each other. The tool rack in front of the earthen wall is filled with woodworking tools. A group of shirtless workers (the climate in the Rhine Kingdom in April and May is already hot) are sweating profusely as they process various furniture components on simple workbenches.
There are no cut-proof work clothes, let alone labor protection gloves. The only protection for the workers is the dirty leather apron tied in front of the stomach.
The assembled furniture, such as chairs, stools, tables, cabinets, beds, sofas, and shelves, were moved from the "factory" to the uncompacted, bumpy square, where they began to use gauze to remove burrs, paint, and dry...
The workers in charge of grinding burrs and painting were not even adults - for example, the painter who came to open the door for them was less than 1.4 meters tall.
"Is it still popular to employ child labor?" Professor Yin Zhengliang looked at Qi Tian with sharp eyes.
"Uh... the enrollment of minors in Tachia has not started yet..." Qi Tian broke out in a cold sweat.
"Okay." Professor Yin Zhengliang said nothing and stepped into the small square filled with debris.
The Morgan family's house was not particularly outstanding compared to other houses in the town. Its only advantage was that it was large enough - it covered an area of about 300 square meters, with a single-story brick and wood structure. The front door faced the square, and the side door was in the direction of the "factory".
In front of the side door there was a rather simple shed, probably used to cook food for the workers. The inside of the shed was fairly clean, with bowls, plates, spoons and forks all placed in bamboo baskets. Two women wearing headscarves and aprons were sitting in front of the shed, one was washing potatoes and the other was peeling radishes with a knife.
The two ghosts entered the yard. The younger woman who was washing potatoes let out a low cry and nervously called out "Dad" to the elderly man who was standing at the window and staring at the two ghosts as if they were enemies... It seemed that she was Mr. Morgan's daughter.
As Professor Yin Zhengliang accepted the collective gaze of the indigenous people with an expressionless face, another young man who looked not too old, probably less than 30 years old, rushed out from the side door with an axe in his hand, and rushed towards the two undeads, cursing angrily.
The young man's curse was also in a heavy Tachia accent, and coupled with his agitated emotions, Professor Yin Zhengliang could only barely make out the relatively clear words like "get out" and "bastard"...
Of course he failed to rush over. As soon as he ran out of the side door, the woman who was washing vegetables and the workers next to him rushed over, hugged him tightly, and dragged him away without any explanation.
While this person was being dragged away, he kept shouting and cursing, saying things like "fight to the death" and "let me go".
Professor Yin Zhengliang looked at Qi Tian expressionlessly.
Qi Tian wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "... Uh... It seems that the son of this family was once a trainee mercenary. He once took the initiative to attack a player who came to investigate, but his weapon was snatched away by the player, and he was almost kidnapped by the player... When he was about to kidnap him, he flicked the reputation warning, so he failed."
The corner of Yin Zhengliang's mouth twitched.
Well... he could understand why those old acquaintances who worked "part-time" as online GMs with Lao Geng and Lao Liu all looked speechless when they mentioned players.
"This Lord Yang...Alas!" Yin Zhengliang shook his head and sighed.
The old professor's opinion of the players who treat this alien world as a game must be not as strong as his opinion of Lord Yang - if that reckless guy hadn't disguised this alien world as a game and allowed those young people to do whatever they wanted, there wouldn't have been so many problems!
The Morgan family's furniture factory has a bit of the flavor of a family business... Most of the workers are relatives of the Morgan family or familiar neighbors and friends, and Mr. Morgan himself is also a good furniture maker - the male owner who walked out of the living room and stared at the two dead souls personally, also had a leather apron covered with sawdust tied around his belly.
Mrs. Morgan and her daughter were preparing lunch for the workers. Mr. Morgan's youngest son was squatting in the square, grinding and painting the furniture with other half-grown children...
In other words - this was a rather simple family who seemed unlikely to have any close ties with the Carter family.
Yin Zhengliang walked around the messy factory before stepping into Morgan's house.
The furnishings in the Morgans' house were quite ordinary... It looked similar to those of a middle-class family in the city, and there were no overly expensive furnishings. Their family did not seem to be one that pursued a refined lifestyle, and sawdust could even be seen on the carpet in the bedroom.
Professor Yin Zhengliang walked around the rooms in Morgan's house, suddenly thought of something, and strode straight to the semi-open kitchen outside the side door.
Under the fearful and disgusted gazes of Mrs. Morgan and her daughter, Professor Yin Zhengliang stretched out his dirty bone claws and turned over the plates stacked in the wooden frame...
Qi Tian watched from the side and was hesitant to speak.
Well...if I remind the old professor that he is now using a skeleton body and that touching the indigenous people's tableware will make the indigenous people even more unhappy, I don't know if it will make them angry?
Professor Yin Zhengliang probably really forgot that he was not using his own body. He turned other people's washed plates, bowls and spoons into a mess, then hurried back into the house and ran to the indoor kitchen connected to the living room.
For many years, the Morgan family has been using the open-air kitchen just like their own workers. This indoor kitchen has not been used for a long time and is only used as a storage room for food.
In the kitchen cabinet, there are some spare tableware, including plates, saucers, soup bowls, forks, soup spoons, etc.
From the corner of the cabinet, Professor Yin Zhengliang took out... two small wooden bowls that were only as big as an adult's fist, and a soup spoon for children.
Yin Zhengliang pondered for a moment, raised his head and looked out the window at the Morgan's youngest son, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, in the square. Without jumping to conclusions, he stood up and ran to the Morgan's youngest son's room.
Because the Morgan House covers a large area, the rooms of the children are quite spacious. The youngest son's bedroom is almost as big as the master bedroom of the Aubrey family that was previously investigated.
Professor Yin Zhengliang asked Qi Tian to help move the bed away, and Qi Tian did it without saying a word.
The Morgan family did not live a very meticulous life, and there were a few mildew spots on the wooden floor under the greasy and dusty carpet that had not been changed for who knows how long.
Professor Yin Zhengliang naturally didn't care whether other people were hygienic or not. After rolling up the carpet... his eyes suddenly became sharp.
If furniture is placed on wooden floors for more than a year, obvious marks will be left on them.
Although this kind of trace can be eliminated or covered up by technical means...but the Morgan family is obviously not a family that pays attention to such details.
Sure enough, in the younger son's room, under the carpet, there was still a deep imprint of a double bed that was much larger than the small bed that was moved to the wall.
"Sure enough... Lao Zhang's worries are right."
Professor Yin Zhengliang sighed and put down the carpet. He did not feel relieved at all because of finding the evidence. Instead, he felt even heavier.
Qi Tian, who had been following him all the way, was still confused at this point: "Professor, this is... what is this?"
"Someone has been evaporated." Professor Yin Zhengliang said succinctly, "It's hard to say about Baron Eli's family, as they have few people to begin with. The Aubrey family, the hereditary sheriffs, and the Morgan family, who run the furniture factory, have all lost family members."
Qi Tian: “???”
"The Aubrey family's garage is a residential layout," said Professor Yin Zhengliang. "The inner compartment should be the bedroom, the outer compartment is the living room and kitchen, the attic is the utility room, and the toilet and bathroom are shared with the Aubrey family. The cabin between the two houses... The carriage should be parked in the yard, with the swing and the open space between the house."
Qi Tian was shocked.
"Judging from the peeling state of the garage's outer wall, the building should have been completed more than ten years ago. Westford Aubrey went to the night watchman twice to report the case eleven years ago. It must have been at that time that he vaguely felt that his relatives were gone." Professor Yin Zhengliang sighed again, "But some ghost thing interfered with his thoughts, making him unable to speak out his suffering. He could only instinctively seek help from the night watchman."
"As for this family..."
Professor Yin Zhengliang turned his head and looked at the owner of the house, Mr. Morgan, who was staring at them in the corridor with an annoyed look on his face.
"They may... not have noticed that someone is missing from their family." Yin Zhengliang said sadly.
