The journey was boring, so let's skip it.
After spending several days, Shinji and Hidan finally arrived at the area where the sacrifices were suspected to have disappeared.
This was a dilapidated small town, which had been destroyed time and time again during the former ninja world war, and eventually became a deserted area under no jurisdiction.
However, many homeless people chose to settle here.
It was bordered by the Land of Fire to the east, the Land of Rivers to the south, the Land of Wind to the west, and the Land of Rain to the north.
Due to the special geographical location, even by relying on swindling and cheating, it supported a large group of people.
As for all kinds of shady black goods, exiled thieves, and rogue ninjas, there were even more.
So it was possible that the Jashin Sect's goods were lost near here. Maybe they were robbed by some ignorant force.
Shinji had known all this information from Cult Leader Takiki before coming.
At first, he also thought that it was either the people here who did it, or the people from the Land of Grass eating black.
But when he really set foot in this deserted town, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and maybe things weren't that simple.
"Do you smell it?"
"Ah, such a strong bloody smell is definitely not formed in a day or two, it's really intoxicating!" Hidan took a deep breath, and a above expression gradually appeared on his face.
"Something is a little wrong. We haven't seen a single living person from the time we came in until now."
"Could it be that someone killed all the people here before us?"
Shinji frowned, and things became a little tricky, "Look carefully again, there must be some survivors."
If they found a living person, they would naturally know what had happened here.
It was just that he didn't know whether this deserted and dilapidated town had really turned into a ghost domain, or if their methods were wrong. They walked for more than ten minutes and didn't see a single living person.
It was simply ghost!
"Where else can those homeless guys go besides here?"
Hidan's muttering entered Shinji's ears.
Yes, so many people had nowhere to go, they would probably die here even if they died.
So where were the people?
Shinji suddenly walked into a dilapidated house with bare walls next to him. There were many such houses along the way.
Because the doors, windows, and most of the walls had long disappeared, he could often see everything inside at a glance, and know whether there was anyone inside.
Shinji didn't think much about it at first, but Hidan's casual words gave him some inspiration.
At this time, after entering the house to check, he really found something!
"What's so good about this broken place." Hidan continued to mutter.
But at this moment, Shinji, who was squatting down and then getting up, opened his mouth and said: "I know where the people are hiding, follow me."
After going out, Shinji had to go in and take a look whenever he saw a house, no matter how dilapidated it was.
Finally, in the third house after that, Shinji used his foot to push lightly away the messy straw, revealing a wooden board inside, and then used force to hold the edge and lift it up.
Suddenly, a dark hole appeared in front of them.
"Underground?"
Hidan was a little surprised.
Shinji shook his head, "It's not clear yet, but many of the houses here should have cellars, and those people may be hiding inside."
"What's so difficult about this, we'll know after going down to take a look!"
Hidan was bold and skilled, lit a torch and jumped in without saying a word, not caring how deep it was inside or whether there were any ambushes.
Shinji shook his head at the sight.
Then not long after, he heard Hidan's voice coming from below, "You come down, there's an old man inside who's about to die."
Shinji first tore open a small blood bag he was carrying with him, poured out the blood inside, and then lit a torch and jumped down.
The cellar was no more than five meters deep. As soon as he landed, he saw Hidan standing not far in front.
"Where are the people?"
"Here."
Shinji walked over and saw an old man of about sixty years old leaning against the wall, his face haggard, his body weak, and his lips were very dry, he was only left with half a breath.
If they had come any later, they might have only seen a corpse.
"Hey, old man, wake up!" Hidan pushed the old man hard.
Seeing that Hidan's movements were a little too rough, Shinji quickly called a stop, fearing that Hidan would accidentally kill the old man.
"Give me the water." After taking the water from Hidan, Shinji carefully moistened the old man's dry lips, and then poured it in drop by drop.
Finally, a minute later, the old man woke up leisurely. "Am I already dead? Are you... soul snatchers? So soul snatchers don't have eyebrows ah"
Although the old man's voice was hoarse, the meaning conveyed was very clear.
It was strange, ever since that fire burned away all of Hidan's hair and eyebrows, the hair had gradually grown back, but the bald eyebrows had never moved.
So when his sore spot was mentioned, Hidan's anger rose immediately, and he wanted to send the old man to see the soul snatchers directly.
Fortunately, Shinji could still suppress him at this stage.
After holding down Hidan, Shinji explained that he was a passing traveler, and had heard before that there were good things to sell here, so he came specifically.
Then, without caring whether the old man believed it or not, he directly asked the question he cared about most: "Where did the other people here go? What exactly happened here?"
When he mentioned this, the old man actually shuddered subconsciously, as if he had recalled something very terrible.
"Monsters, there are monsters! Many people have been killed!"
Shinji and Hidan couldn't help but look at each other, there was indeed a problem.
"Don't worry, speak slowly. What kind of monsters are they, and why are you hiding here alone?"
The old man looked terrified, and his body began to tremble violently, "Monsters, man-eating monsters have all been eaten, and the people who are still alive only dare to hide in the cellar... I'm old, and I'm useless, so I was driven out, to save food, if the monsters are full, they won't come looking for them for the time being..."
The old man's words were not clear, and he also spoke incoherently due to extreme fear.
However, Shinji still understood the general idea.
The general idea was that one day before, a man-eating monster suddenly appeared, and the people here couldn't beat it, so they had to hide.
But resources were limited, so some worthless people were abandoned. The old man in front of him was thrown out as bait, to be given to the monster to eat.
It was just that he didn't expect that the old man's life shouldn't end, and he accidentally escaped into this cellar and survived.
But if it wasn't for the arrival of Shinji and Hidan, the old man could only hide here and wait for death even if he wasn't eaten by the monster.
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