The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 241 - 242: Fortunately, the Rumor Was Debunked in Time
That night, Galaxy sent photos and messages alternately, appearing very casual.
The photos were of her ’cute’ toys, but the text recounted major events that happened in the clan after my burial.
Just because people know each other’s secrets doesn’t mean they’re close friends, especially since we were all friendless before, so I didn’t think my relationship with her was close enough for her to share this information out of kindness.
Sure enough, before dawn, she sent another message asking if I wanted to collaborate.
I knew all along that the words she wasted time and effort writing weren’t for nothing; she wanted me to understand the situation before proposing a collaboration.
If it really came to a confrontation, collaborating with her would indeed be beneficial to me. The problem is that I’ve decided to keep a low profile and stay out of clan disputes, so I decisively refused her proposal.
You’re allowed to change your mind. (smiley face) — The Boss of the Galaxy
I didn’t respond to that last message and put my phone away, leaving the room. The sky outside was just beginning to brighten, and the only people on the street were vendors setting up breakfast stalls.
We still sat in two separate cars, and the cars drove out of the town towards the direction of the old forest site.
The forests in the north, though lushly vegetated, are quite different from the southern landscapes; perhaps this is because there are more coniferous forests here, with tall and ’slender’ trees that are less entangled with each other.
The poachers entered the mountains from the main gate of the old forest site, and it’s a road where a car can drive in. Since the forest site has been closed for many years, the main gate is usually locked and unattended. They cut the iron chain on the gate, probably thinking they could return before the rangers came to patrol, but plans couldn’t keep up with changes.
The old recording of the forest ranger was because he discovered the iron chain on the forest site’s gate had been cut, which is why he notified the police. He initially thought someone was secretly logging, so he and a young ranger went up the mountain first.
This makes it easier for us; there’s no need to search aimlessly around the mountain, just follow their route.
The local authorities were very cooperative in our investigation and gave Chen Qinghan the keys to the main gate, so we drove into the forest site openly.
The main gate of the forest site actually consisted of just two grey pillars; the paint on the rusty gate had long since peeled off. If not driving, this kind of gate is virtually meaningless as you could just walk in around the drainage ditch by the roadside.
The mountain road behind the gate had been unrepaired for years, and many cracks had appeared on the road surface, far from the flatness of its past.
But having a road is better than none, so our cars went up the mountain road, one after the other. According to the map markings, we drove for over an hour to the spot where the poachers parked their cars.
Here they got off and walked, venturing into the endless forest, a three-hour hike to reach the camp site.
No wonder Chen Qinghan wanted to leave early; the time lost on the road took up an entire morning. After lunch, it would be afternoon before they could start looking for clues. Northern days are short, and within a few hours of searching, nightfall would come.
The police had already gone up the mountain to search for the missing persons and examined the scene; the tents had been taken down afterward.
Chen Qinghan, using location information from the recording of the old forest ranger, found the area where the poachers camped.
The footprints on the ground were covered by fallen leaves. Chen Qinghan and Xiao Changfeng both squatted down, brushing away the grass and leaves on the ground, searching for hoof prints shown in the photos.
Looking at photos is not the same as looking at the real thing, and the advantage of the real thing is you can smell it. Indeed, Xiao Changfeng found a footprint, then pinched a bit of soil from the print with his fingers and sniffed it under his nose.
Several days had passed since the attack, and the footprints were in an open area. Even if there was a scent, it should have mostly dissipated, so I was very curious what he could smell.
"The police records show the footprints disappeared by the riverside." Chen Qinghan looked around and then pointed north.
In our position, you could indeed hear the sound of rushing water, perhaps the poachers considering the water source issue, camped not far from the river.
There were no footprints on the opposite bank of the river; the prints only appeared near this bank. Back and forth but not veering elsewhere, in normal thinking, those creatures must have come along the river and then escaped from the river.
Because if they took the water route, the sniffer dogs couldn’t track them, but if they traveled via water, Xiao Changfeng shouldn’t be able to smell any clues.
Yet, seeing his expression, it seemed as though he detected a particular scent, so I asked, "What does that soil smell like?"
"Cadaver oil." Xiao Changfeng smiled and spat out two words.
Upon hearing those two words, a news headline immediately floated in my mind— Unscrupulous Merchants Making Cadaver Oil Spicy Strips!
I remember pondering over the news when I saw it in the tomb, wondering whether to collect the newly deceased bodies in the tomb, extract oil, and store it, to sell to the next batch of tomb robbers who might lack food.
Since cadaver oil could make spicy strips, then cadaver oil sandwich cookies, cadaver oil beef jerky, cadaver oil instant noodles should all be possible.
But the news was quickly debunked, and I gave up the idea of earning money with it in the tomb.
Hearing those two words again now, a bold idea occurred to me: "Did they capture the poachers to make into spicy strips?"
Xiao Changfeng looked at me with a bewildered expression, then turned to look at Chen Qinghan, asking, "Human flesh spicy strips?"
Chen Qinghan stood up and said to Xiao Changfeng, "Her thoughts jump around, tell us what you think."
"There might be a place nearby where bodies are hidden. If a Wizard practiced Evil Magic to refine cadaver oil, it wouldn’t be left for them to step on carelessly. All these footprints carry the scent of cadaver oil."
Xiao Changfeng means that a Wizard refining cadaver oil is more professional and formal; it’s unlikely they would allow it to be scattered about for anything to step on carelessly.
If every hoof was tainted with cadaver oil, it either means there are many corpses or the bodies are placed carelessly.
As the hooves moved back and forth, they became tainted underfoot. But if they traveled via water, the things stuck on their hooves shouldn’t be brought to the shore.
Chen Qinghan called us to the riverside to examine how wide the river is and if it could support water transport tools.
But after seeing the river, I was very disappointed. It’s a small river, incapable of supporting boats, not even a bamboo raft.
No wonder this case finally landed in our hands; it clearly went beyond the ’normal’ range.
How could four-hoofed animals walk upright on two legs? Where did the poachers get taken by them?
The police have already searched within a hundred-mile radius, and no further footprints of such animals were found, nor clues about the missing persons.
That group has been missing for several days, and their families have been notified by the police, but no one inquired about the search results; some couldn’t even be reached by their families.
Yesterday, before we entered the town, the search work stopped; everyone was withdrawn from the forest. Chen Qinghan spoke to the local police by phone and contacted the search and rescue team. He said there was something worth our attention. On the first day, when the police searched the mountain for poachers, the search dogs barked wildly toward the upstream, as if scared by something.
