Shao Qingge and Ye Qi were strolling along the street. Qingfeng Town was bustling with people during the day. Ye Qi noticed that many children were carrying red rattle drums, which they swayed as they walked, producing a clear and melodious sound.
Ye Qi saw several children playing together. He walked up to a little boy, leaned down, and asked, "Your rattle drum looks really fun. Where did you buy it?"
The child pointed to the street ahead and said in a childish voice, "My mother bought this from Grandpa Zhang. Big brother, do you want to play with this?"
Ye Qi smiled and slipped a piece of candy into the child's hand, saying, "Thank you, I'll go buy one too."
Following the child's directions, the two arrived at the end of the street and found a shop specializing in children's toys. There were colorful dough figurines, various beautiful marbles, and a large number of rattle drums hanging on the walls.
The old man selling toys was probably around fifty years old, with completely white hair, a long beard, and wearing a faded blue cloth shirt. He had a smiling face and looked very kind. Shao Qingge stepped forward with Ye Qi, took out a silver ingot from his pocket, handed it to him, and whispered, "Uncle, buy me a rattle drum."
The old man put away the silver, gave Shao Qingge a large handful of loose silver, and said, " There are many patterns painted on the rattle drum, young master, you can choose one yourself."
Upon closer inspection, Shao Qingge noticed that the rattle drum was indeed decorated with many patterns, the most classic being the twelve zodiac animals.
Ye Qi's eyes lit up, and she asked curiously, "If a child in the family is born in the Year of the Tiger, do parents usually buy rattle drums with tiger patterns on them?"
The old man smiled and stroked his beard: "Yes, what's your child's zodiac sign? We can buy one that matches."
Shao Qingge looked at Ye Qi and asked, "What's your zodiac sign?"
Ye Qi coughed lightly: "Born in the Year of the Monkey."
Shao Qingge picked out a rattle drum with a little monkey painted on it, smiled and handed it to Ye Qi, then said to the old man, "This big kid in our family still has a childlike heart, this rattle drum is for him."
The old man looked puzzled, as if he was thinking, "Is it appropriate for an adult like you to play with something like this?"
Ye Qi chuckled as he took the rattle drum, played with it in his hands for a while, and asked curiously, "By the way, old man, are there many shops selling rattle drums in this town?"
The old man shook his head: "It's just my family, and I made all of these myself."
Shao Qingge followed up with, "Your rattle drum is indeed exquisitely made. Do all the children in town have one?"
The old man said proudly, "Of course, my craftsmanship is not something that ordinary people can learn. You could say that most people in this town have bought my little trinkets."
Shao Qingge and Ye Qi exchanged a glance; it seemed this person was a key NPC in the storyline.
Ye Qi asked softly, "Uncle, you've lived in this town for so many years, do you know what happened during the famine twenty years ago? I heard that one of my cousins, surnamed Zhang, lived in Qingfeng Town and starved to death twenty years ago."
Upon hearing the word "famine," the old man's face changed drastically. He sighed and said, "That year was truly terrible! Not only our town, but also Qingzhou and Yue Prefecture nearby were all experiencing famine. If it weren't for some food stored at home, I would have almost starved to death. Alas... many people ate tree bark and leaves, and some even ate the flesh of the dead to survive after someone in their family died!"
Ye Qi was terrified. He had survived the Nightmare Secret Room in Spade 3 by eating tree leaves. Guardian had put him in the Nightmare Secret Room for 15 days, and he barely made it. Imagine what a person would become if they were starved for months on end. Driven by extreme hunger, cannibalism and drinking human blood would probably be commonplace.
Shao Qingge handed the old man the loose change back to him and said, "Old man, during that famine, did you hear of anyone deliberately killing people or eating human flesh?"
The old man accepted the silver, nodded solemnly, and whispered mysteriously in Shao Qingge's ear, "Back then, all the pigs, sheep, and cattle in the town had been looted. When they couldn't find any food, some people formed a gang that specifically targeted those who were powerless to resist. They would capture them, pen them up, and raise them like livestock. When they were hungry, they would cut flesh from their bodies to eat..."
Ye Qi felt a chill run down his spine. Hunger was indeed unbearable, but to eat human flesh? He'd rather starve to death. What's more, to raise one's own kind like livestock, cutting off pieces of flesh to eat when they were hungry? That was even more cruel than murder.
Shao Qingge asked in a deep voice, "What happened to those people afterward?"
The old man shook his head with a wry smile: "They probably knew that what they were doing was against the natural order. When they came out to arrest people, they were all dressed in black and wearing masks. No one has ever seen their true faces. At that time, everyone was struggling to survive, and no one dared to meddle. After the famine was over, most of the people in the town died, and not many people knew about this anymore."
He glanced around and cautiously lowered his voice: "Why are you asking about things from twenty years ago? I advise you two not to be too curious. Judging from your ages, your uncle must have been very young back then, and he must have starved to death."
Shao Qingge said, "My father asked us to inquire about my uncle's whereabouts on the way. If he has really passed away, we can go to his grave to pay our respects and burn some paper money for him."
The old man quickly shook his head: "Don't go. The bodies of people who starved to death back then were all dumped in Mass Grave. I heard it's haunted there, with vengeful ghosts haunting it at night. Nobody in our town ever goes to Mass Grave!"
Shao and Ye exchanged a glance, and Ye Qi smiled and said, "Understood, thank you, sir!"
Just then, Xiao Lou's voice came through their earpieces, telling them to return to the inn as soon as possible. Shao Qingge also felt that this matter was unusual, so he immediately took Ye Qi back.
Xiao Lou pressed his earpiece and asked, "Has everyone arrived?"
Shao Qingge said, " Ye Qi and I are back."
Chu Huaying said, "I pressed several homeless beggars in an alley and got some clues."
Gui Yuanzhang said, "I went to the local academy to investigate. Don't worry, I was wearing an invisibility cloak, so I can protect myself."
Yu Hanjiang was very impressed with his teammates' efficiency. He said decisively, "Okay, everyone, let's summarize the clues you know first, so we can conduct a targeted investigation when we go to Ghost City tonight."
Ye Qi said enthusiastically, "Let me go first. We found the owner of the rattle drum in town and got two clues: First, the rattle drum has the twelve zodiac animals painted on it, which usually correspond to the zodiac animal of a child; second, during the famine twenty years ago, someone formed a mysterious organization that captured those who had no power to resist and kept them as livestock to eat."
Hearing this, Xiao Lou was slightly startled—famine. Modern people might find it hard to imagine what it's like to go months without a single meal. Xiao Lou had heard stories of the chaos during famines, and indeed, there were horrific things like cannibalism. Eating the dead was relatively mild, but eating the living… The establishment of organizations to raise people like livestock was simply too cruel!
Chu Huaying added: "I found out about this gang from a lame homeless man. They are called [Hounds]. They keep a very fierce wild dog that sniffs out people and finds its targets. They usually come out at night. They only capture the elderly, children and women who are weak and unable to resist and keep them in captivity. They call those kept in captivity ' human livestock '. When they are hungry, they cut off their flesh and when they are thirsty, they drink their blood."
Human livestock? In other words, treating "humans" as edible livestock?
Lu Jiuchuan couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, keeping their own kind in captivity and eating them, they're worse than animals!"
Yu Hanjiang frowned and asked, " What about Old Gui?"
Gui Yuanzhang said, "I found Zhao Zeping's classmate at the academy. It is now confirmed that Zhao Zeping got married eight years ago. He married a woman from Qingzhou surnamed Qin. Her family was in the silk business. She was said to be very beautiful. The two had a son a year after their marriage. His wife also disappeared three years ago. Her family even came to their door looking for her."
After synthesizing this information, Xiao Lou analyzed: "During the great famine 20 years ago, a mysterious gang kept the elderly, children, and women who were vulnerable to attack as ' human livestock,' eating their flesh and drinking their blood in an extremely cruel manner. Those who were kept in captivity suffered pains worse than being slowly sliced to death before they died. If someone happened to escape, or if some of their relatives learned about these things and returned to Qingfeng Town to seek revenge—this is currently the most plausible motive."
Yu Hanjiang added, "The killer is meticulous and possesses a kind of evil magic. He can control the living and the dead, making them act according to his commands. We don't know the specific methods of control yet. But what we do know is that the Zhao family and the Chen family were both manipulated by him to go to Mass Grave on that stormy night three years ago. Xiao Lou was in a hurry to call everyone back just now because he was afraid that the killer might control one of our teammates. After all, the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light, so we still have to be careful."
Xiao Lou continued, "After luring those people to Mass Grave, the killer imitated the famine of that year and starved everyone to death. During this time, he may have also manipulated zombies to scare those people, keeping them in a state of fear and hunger. Our autopsy found that the deceased had expressions of terror and no food residue in their stomachs and duodenums, which can prove the rationality of this hypothesis."
Yu Hanjiang said, "There were people burning incense in the Zhao family's mourning hall. Judging from the names on the memorial tablets, the most likely explanation is that Zhao Zeping's wife and children did not die in the Zhao family massacre. Perhaps she just happened to escape the clutches of the murderer, went back to set up the mourning hall, and secretly burned incense for her family. She must know something."
He paused, then said, "Furthermore, the simultaneous appearance of rattle drums in both of the missing families could be a coincidence, since all the children in town buy rattle drums. But if it's not a coincidence, then the rattle drum, as a key prop clue, is very likely related to the murderer."
Xiao Lou took out the rattle drum he had taken from the Zhao family and said, "The pattern on this drumhead is a little tiger. The Zhao family's child should be born in the Year of the Tiger, right? Liu Qiao, what about the one you found at the Chen family's house?"
Liu Qiao said, "It also depicts a little tiger."
Xiao Lou was taken aback: "How could that be? According to the information Senior Gui found out, Zhao Zeping got married eight years ago and had a child seven years ago; as for Chen Yu from the Chen family, we saw his wife giving birth at night in Ghost City, which happened to be a rainy night three years ago. The two children are four years apart, so it doesn't make sense that the zodiac patterns on the rattle drum are the same, right?"
Ye Qi looked at the rattle drum with a monkey design in his hand and said, "That's not right. The old man selling toys has rattle drums with all twelve zodiac animal designs, and they're all the same price. As parents, we'd buy the toy corresponding to our child's zodiac animal. Nobody would buy a tiger-themed toy for a child born in the year of the monkey, right? The rattle drum designs from both stores are identical, could it be..."
Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice, "It was left by the murderer."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a clear sound came from outside the window. The sound was crisp and melodious, like the "clanging" of a bullet striking a drumhead, seemingly able to penetrate any barrier and reach the heart.
As the sound rang out, the surroundings suddenly became completely silent.
That was the sound of a rattle drum.