Yu Hanjiang's statement was merely a test.
Judging from the timeline, the dark alley had trapped them for more than two and a half hours. Xiao Lou's max-level Tao Yuanming and Peach Blossom Spring had only existed for three hours. They were both domain cards, with different functions, but their duration should be about the same.
Moreover, they deliberately feigned weakness at the time. When he chatted with Xiao Lou, he revealed that he didn't have many cards left and that the situation was not optimistic. This was the perfect opportunity for Hunter to make his move.
What Yu Hanjiang hadn't expected was that while this Hunter was quite adept at using underhanded tricks, employing various illusions to deceive them, his ability to control his facial expressions was terrible, and his actual offensive capabilities were rather ordinary. Having interrogated so many criminal suspects, he could easily discern whether someone was lying from subtle changes in their facial expressions; yet, with just a tentative question, the other party immediately gave himself away…
This was an unexpected surprise.
Xiao Lou stared at Zuiyue Lake in front of her, paused for a moment, and then said, " Hunter is a girl?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "She probably used a card with a splitting function in the end. All the girls holding umbrellas look exactly like her and will scatter to attack us according to her will. Her real weapon is that red oil-paper umbrella."
Long Sen scratched his head and said, "This girl looks to be only seventeen or eighteen years old. If Captain Yu hadn't probed her and quickly found out who she really was, we might have really been in her hands."
Old Mo sighed: "She's about the same age as my daughter, how could she become Hunter?"
Liu Qiao said seriously, "This girl has a lot of strange cards. Just now, Captain Yu only cut her hand. If she had healing cards, she would recover quickly. We might run into her again, so everyone must be careful."
Xiao Lou was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's continue investigating."
At first, everyone thought the maze route had changed, but it was later confirmed that the alley was actually a closed card space. They were not locked in the maze, but were locked in an independent area by Hunter.
Looking at the lake in front of him, Lao Mo took a few steps according to the path in his memory and said with delight, "The maze hasn't changed. It's still the same honeycomb maze path as last night. There are a total of six roads around Zuiyue Lake, extending out into many bends, which is basically the same as the one I drew on the map."
Liu Qiao shrugged and said, "Okay. It seems I misunderstood The Diamond-Suit Guardian. The little diamonds aren't as monstrous as I thought; they won't change the maze every day to make things difficult for us."
Xiao Lou laughed and said, "If we change it every day, Old Mo's head will explode, right? Since it's still the same maze from last night, let's go look for the Zhao family and the Chen family first."
Following Lao Mo's map, the group quickly found the Zhao family's house.
Last night they saw the bride get married here, but when they arrived at the Zhao family's gate tonight, they found the gate wide open, the courtyard lit with bright red lanterns, and the whole courtyard decorated in a festive manner.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance and walked in side by side.
The courtyard was brightly lit, and a middle-aged couple dressed in red stood in the center of the courtyard, their eyes fixed on the gate, as if they were seeing someone off into the distance.
After a moment, the woman wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, choking back sobs as she said, "Our Ze'an has been pampered since childhood. What if he doesn't get used to marrying someone from such a faraway place as Yue Prefecture..."
The man gently patted her shoulder, comforting her, "Madam, there's no need to worry. Men should marry when they come of age, and women should marry when they come of age. In my opinion, Xiao Ming is a very gentlemanly person, and he is also very loyal to our Ze'an. He will definitely not treat her badly."
The woman nodded reluctantly and said, "I hope so."
Just then, a girl in a pink dress sneaked past them from behind. The man heard her footsteps and said calmly, "Sui Sui, where are you going in the middle of the night?"
The girl stuck out her tongue and laughed, "Father, I'm reluctant to see my sister get married. I want to go outside the city to see her off."
The man frowned and said, "It's so late, it's not safe for a young lady like you to go out alone."
Zhao Zesui walked up to her father and said, "I have something very important to give to my sister. I was in such a hurry that I forgot! Don't worry, Father, I'll be right back!" After saying that, she ignored her father's attempts to stop her and ran out the door quickly.
As the girl walked past Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang reached out to grab her with lightning speed, but missed.
Her body was like a wisp of air; Yu Hanjiang's hand passed right through her shoulder. The girl, along with her parents, seemed oblivious to Xiao Lou and his group, as if they didn't exist at all.
Xiao Lou asked in confusion, "Another illusion?"
Yu Hanjiang looked at the girl's retreating figure and said seriously, "It should be a reenactment of the scene from back then. Last night, we saw Zhao Zean get married, and tonight is the scene that happened at the Zhao family after her marriage. All of these are scenes from the night of July 14th, three years ago."
Xiao Lou winked at Long Sen and Qu Wanyue: "Follow her, and be careful."
Longqu and the other person immediately used the Chameleon Card to blend into the floor and quickly followed Miss Zhao Zesui, who had run out the door.
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "Old Mo, Little Liu, put on the Invisibility Cloak and go to the Chen family. Maybe there will be more to the story."
Lao Mo and Liu Qiao nodded, then turned and left.
The six split into three groups to continue the tracking. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang followed the Zhao couple into the courtyard.
By this time, Second Miss's wedding procession had already left the Zhao family home, and the guests had all departed. The Zhao couple went back to their room to sleep.
Just then, a rhythmic "thump-thump" sound suddenly came from the backyard. The sound was like a rattle drum, but it wasn't as crisp as the rattle drums we had heard before.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang followed the sound and soon arrived at the most secluded courtyard—the place where the elders of the Zhao family had lived, as confirmed during their investigation during the day. Xiao Lou remembered that there were many copied scriptures in the house.
A thumping sound was coming from inside the house.
Yu Hanjiang took a few steps to the door, poked a hole in the paper window with his finger, and squinted to look inside.
An elderly woman with gray hair was kneeling in front of the Buddha statue, her right hand fiddling with a long string of prayer beads, and her left hand rhythmically striking a wooden fish. She was dressed in a dark blue robe like a nun, her eyes closed, and her face blank.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other in bewilderment.
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "Is she chanting scriptures here to pray for her granddaughter's happiness, or is she using this method to repent and try to absolve the sins of the Zhao family's descendants?"
Xiao Lou said, "If the murderer's motive for wiping out the Zhao family was revenge, then the Zhao family's ancestors must have done some bad things back then, such as raising human livestock during the famine and surviving by eating human flesh? If this speculation is true, then the old lady of the Zhao family copying scriptures and eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist prayers can also be reasonably explained."
Yu Hanjiang nodded in agreement: "Yes, she felt deeply guilty, so she has been a vegetarian and chanting scriptures for the years since the famine ended. That's why we found many handwritten scriptures in her room."
Just as I was saying this, suddenly the lights in the room went out, and the sound of the wooden fish stopped abruptly.
Immediately afterwards, all the red lanterns in the Zhao family courtyard went out. Xiao Lou thought the murderer had arrived and immediately turned around to look at the door. But the next moment, a pair of old, thin hands suddenly reached out from the house behind him, poked a big hole in the paper window, and accurately and fiercely grabbed Xiao Lou's neck!
Xiao Lou couldn't catch his breath, his face instantly turning red. The intense tightness in his chest made him dizzy. The icy touch of those hands traveled through his skin to his brain, and Xiao Lou felt as if he were being coiled by a venomous snake. The pressure on his neck grew stronger and stronger, making it impossible for him to breathe!
Seeing this scene, Yu Hanjiang was furious. With lightning speed, he grabbed the old woman's wrist and twisted it in the opposite direction. A crisp sound of bones breaking rang in his ears. Then, the old woman's hand suddenly disappeared, leaving clear finger marks on Xiao Lou's fair neck.
The pressure in his chest vanished instantly, and Xiao Lou caught his breath, coughing desperately to regulate his breathing. Yu Hanjiang gently patted his back and asked in a low voice, "Are you alright? Why did that old lady suddenly attack you?"
Xiao Lou shook his head: "It's alright. The old lady isn't an illusion; she might be Hunter in disguise. Let's get out of here quickly."
Just as the two were about to move forward, a large area of dense traps suddenly appeared under their feet. The traps, which looked like bear traps, were about to trap their feet. Yu Hanjiang reacted quickly, put his right arm around Xiao Lou's waist, activated his Lightness Skill Card and flew up, landing gracefully on the roof like a bird!
However, as he landed on the roof with Xiao Lou, a dense barrage of arrows rained down on them!
At the same time, a huge net fell from above their heads.
—It was another trap. Hunter had long anticipated that they would come to the Zhao family to investigate, and had laid a trap in advance.
Xiao Lou was on edge. The moment he saw the rain of arrows and the giant net, he instinctively summoned Li Qingzhao. The " Skill " slowed down all the arrows, creating a devastating rain of arrows that resembled a slow-motion scene in a movie.
Yu Hanjiang and his team worked in perfect harmony. With a sudden swing of his right hand, he cleaved all the arrows that were about to hit Xiao Lou's nose in two. His sharp blade cut through the thorns and brambles, its edge as sharp as mud, and forcefully cleaved a gash in the slowly descending giant net.
While Li Qingzhao was reading the poem " Skill ", the two escaped the rain of arrows without serious injury.
Yu Hanjiang, carrying Xiao Lou, leaped and bounded across the rooftops of the town.
After an unknown amount of time, the two arrived at the lakeside. Hunter seemed to have failed to catch them. Xiao Lou, still shaken, let out a soft breath and immediately pressed his earpiece, saying, "Everyone be careful! Ghost City is teeming with Hunters at night. They know where we're investigating and have laid an ambush beforehand!"
Qu Wanyue's voice quickly came through: " Professor Xiao, are you alright?"
Xiao Lou said, "It's alright. Be careful, and come meet us at Zuiyue Lake."
Qu Wanyue said, " Long Sen and I followed Zhao Zesui to the entrance of town, but as soon as we left town, she disappeared. Is it because at night, only the town area is Ghost City, and we can't see her once we leave town?"
The wedding procession disappeared as soon as it left the town last night, confirming Qu Wanyue's theory. At night, only the town area is Ghost City, where some scenes can be recreated; once they leave the town, they can no longer see the events of three years ago.
Yu Hanjiang said, "You guys come back first. What about Xiao Liu?"
Liu Qiao said, "After giving birth, Madam Chen was too tired and fell asleep. The baby was fed by the wet nurse and then fell asleep as well. The midwife had already left, and the maids and servants, who had been busy for most of the night, had all gone to sleep. But Chen Yu suddenly left home in a hurry and sneaked out of the town. We followed him all the way, and just as Sister Qu said, he disappeared after leaving the town."
Xiao Lou nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. You guys come back and meet up first, I'll use a marker to bring you here."
After he and Yu Hanjiang arrived at the edge of Zuiyue Lake, they placed Li Qingzhao's marker. Five minutes passed quickly, just in time to bring their teammates directly to their side.
Six people
After verifying the clues they found, Xiao Lou finally concluded: "Night Town is Ghost City, where a large number of Hunters exist. Many of the scenes we saw were illusions, possibly fragments of memories left behind by the obsessions of the deceased. Playing back these fragments can provide us with some ideas for solving the mystery. However, the limitation is that we have no way of knowing what happened after they left the town. As soon as they leave the town, the illusions will disappear."
Old Mo said, "Moreover, I discovered that we can't get out of the town at all. It's like there's a transparent barrier at the entrance, sealing us off here."
Yu Hanjiang glanced at the time and said, "We've been in Ghost City for over four hours. Judging by the time, it's almost dawn. CEO Shao hasn't activated the teleportation feature yet. Could something have happened?"
Xiao Lou frowned worriedly: "We still can't get in touch with Ninth Brother..."
Old Mo said, "If they don't use the Peach Blossom Spring to teleport us out, we won't be able to find the exit from Ghost City at night. There's a barrier outside the town that prevents us from getting out. And we tried last night; it never gets light here."
Remember last night when Lu Jiuchuan and the others were outside the town, it was already daylight, but inside the town it was still dark. Old Mo's worries were not unfounded—without Peach Blossom Spring's forced teleportation, they might not have been able to get out of Ghost City at night.
But now, with Shao Qingge and Lu Jiuchuan both out of contact, Xiao Lou has no way of assessing the situation outside, let alone getting Shao Qingge to teleport.
Xiao Lou asked, "Are we going to be stuck here forever?"
Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "It's not necessarily true that there's no exit. Although Diamonds is a weirdo, all the mazes we've encountered before have an exit. A maze without an exit loses its challenge."
Xiao Lou nodded: "That's true. Lao Mo, let's look again."
He took a few steps forward, then suddenly remembered something and looked back—
The waters of Zuiyue Lake shimmer under the moonlight, and the constantly flickering fragments of moonlight on the lake's surface resemble a distorted path, the end of which points directly to the Drunken Moon Pavilion in the middle of the lake.
Xiao Lou's eyes lit up: "That pavilion. The pavilion in the middle of the lake. We didn't go up there last night. Perhaps, that's the very starting point of the maze!"