The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 239 - 240: Does Closing Your Eyes Mean You’re Lying?

The hotel we stayed at was the best and, of course, the only one in town; the others were just small inns.

Because there’s no tourism resource, not many outsiders usually come to town. The hotel owner was very hospitable, asked us what we were doing here, and Chen Qinghan said we were doing earthquake research and needed to take a look at the epicenter.

Upon hearing this, the owner sighed, saying that in the last two or three years, there have been frequent earthquakes here, but they weren’t serious, just minor tremors every time. And since the epicenter was in the mountains, the town wasn’t too affected.

However, people were still a bit worried, wondering if a big one might suddenly hit one day after the frequent small tremors.

Hearing that we were there to research earthquakes, the owner became even more enthusiastic, asking a bunch of questions. Of course, he mainly asked Chen Qinghan, probably because he seemed friendly, while the other three of us, myself included, all had stern faces, with a look of "stay away" on our expressions.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to answer his questions, so I intentionally put on an unapproachable attitude. As for the other two, Gan Quan always had a poker face, and Xiao Changfeng was only friendly to those he knew. I noticed this when we rested on the road, that he never showed a hint of a smile to strangers.

Chen Qinghan perfectly demonstrated what it means to have a kind face but a cunning mind, engaging warmly and friendly with the owner for quite a while. Yet, I can guarantee the owner didn’t understand anything; all his questions seemed to be answered, but there was no substantial content imparted.

Once we each returned to our rooms, Chen Qinghan sent a message, asking us to come to his room for a meeting at eight in the evening.

Considering the time spent only on eating and restroom breaks, we had been traveling almost nonstop. His arrangement seemed to be giving Gan Quan and Xiao Changfeng some rest time.

Even though there was a chip in Xiao Changfeng’s brain, his body was still flesh and blood, like a normal human, requiring food, drink, and rest.

After dinner, I wandered nearby the hotel. There wasn’t much entertainment here, and by evening, the streets were almost deserted, with even the restaurants closed.

It seemed like our only entertainment left was the meeting. When I returned to the hotel, Gan Quan and Xiao Changfeng had already gone to Chen Qinghan’s room, and since everyone was present, the meeting started early.

Chen Qinghan first played an audio recording for us, which included voices of three people: two were officers, and one claimed to be a forest ranger.

The recording was of the forest ranger recounting a strange incident he experienced, just the day before the earthquake happened.

The ranger didn’t need to patrol the mountains every day, typically doing so once every fortnight. So when he saw some empty tents in the woods, he assumed they were left by tourists who had come for camping.

Although River Bay Town wasn’t a tourist destination, sometimes adventurers liked to take an unconventional path, entering non-tourist areas to experience the raw beauty of nature.

But it was only when the ranger got closer did he see that the tents had been slashed open in several places, with splattered blood staining the fabric around the tears.

At the time, there were two of them patrolling. The person in the recording seemed to be quite senior, referring to the other as Zhao, a young man who had just graduated from college. Zhao was quite shaken when he saw the patches of blood on the tents.

Because every tent bore cuts and bloodstains, it was likely that whatever attacked the campsite was not alone.

The old ranger believed that criminals or poachers might be hiding in the mountains, or perhaps fugitives, who, upon encountering campers in the woods, turned sinister and harmed them.

The young ranger, however, worried it was wild animals like a pack of wolves or bears, wanting to descend the mountain immediately, not daring to stay any longer.

The blood was already old, but the old ranger still wanted to search and see if anyone was still alive.

Eventually, he did find someone about two hundred meters from the tents — an elderly man with hardly any hair left, and skin wrinkled like old tree bark.

The man was dressed in outdoor gear, clutching tightly to a flashlight which the young ranger carried as he descended the mountain, unwilling to let go of the flashlight the whole way.

The strange event the ranger recounted was this survivor. He searched through the man’s pockets, intending to find a phone to contact the man’s family, but only found his ID and driver’s license. Based on the photos and birthdate on the IDs, the old man was actually a 23-year-old young man.

The old ranger considered the possibility that the IDs weren’t his, but the photo on the IDs showed a young man with a birthmark around his left eye, resembling a bruise given by a punch, and the old man also had the same birthmark around his left eye.

They took the man down the mountain and reported to the police. The old man was sent to the town’s hospital, but unfortunately, he passed away that night. There were no external injuries, and the doctor said he died of old age, essentially natural causes.

With the recording finished, Chen Qinghan began supplementing the missing details from the recording. Later, upon investigation, the police learned that the tent owners were not campers but a gang of poachers. However, no weapons were found at the campsite or nearby areas.

Moreover, no poached animals were found, leading the police to suspect that they might have hidden their weapons and animal hides before being attacked.

Animal tracks were found around the tents, suspected to be of cloven-hoofed animals, but they were standing on two legs, which was peculiar.

"We need to find the missing people and the thing that can cause a person to lose decades of life overnight."

"A bipedal creature... I know! Minos~"

Gan Quan turned to look at me, correcting, "It only has a bull’s head; the body is still human."

Her tone was so certain, it sounded as if she’d actually seen it.

"Yes, I’ve personally examined its remains — they’re human foot bones," Xiao Changfeng said with a smile.

"Uh, it really exists?" I was just indulging in a wild idea. For a recluse with a head full of TV drama plots, crime solving through imagination is typical. I didn’t expect to get it right, although Minos has nothing to do with this case...

"No, it doesn’t exist," Gan Quan said, closing her eyes as she spoke.

"It’s just the ceremonial installation of bull heads on headless male corpses. It’s an ancient form of worship, yes, that’s what it must be."

Xiao Changfeng nodded self-affirmingly as he spoke. These two were indeed partners; I winked at Chen Qinghan, wanting to ask whether this was their usual method for dispelling superstitions.

"Alright, preliminary judgment is that the creature attacking the campsite can walk upright with sharpened claws or similar weapons. The elder had no wounds on his body, so the reason for his rapid aging remains unclear, requiring special attention."

"And the earthquake? Is it related to this?" I casually asked.

The hotel owner said there had been several earthquakes in town over the past two years, while the poachers had come quite recently, even getting attacked before the earthquake. It seemed impossible for them to have caused the earthquake, but perhaps, indirectly related?

"It needs investigation," Chen Qinghan said, pulling out a map.