The forest area in this area was larger than expected, and when everyone vaguely saw the crystal lake, it was almost dusk, and they walked in the forest for almost a whole day.
The lake area seen by everyone is actually just a very small part of the entire Crystal Lake. It penetrates into the forest like tentacles, forming a small bay here. Although it is only a small harbor, the lake is still hundreds of meters wide, and the lake is clear and green, sparkling in the setting sun.
The bay surrounds a crescent of lakeside clearing, and in the middle of this clearing is a cottage. There is a small trestle near the shore of the lake in front of the hut. When the Crystal Lake camping area was first opened, some rented speedboats and sampans were parked here.
As for now, they can only rot in the mud near the shore of the lake near the trestle.
The group cautiously approached the cabin, a typical ranger's lodge. There is a wooden corridor in front of the door, and wind chimes are hung under the eaves. The hut has two floors, with a pointed attic and a masonry chimney on the roof.
"Don't be nervous, there will be no monsters in this hut, we just searched here a few days ago!" Michelle couldn't help laughing as everyone looked on the verge of a formidable enemy.
"Will Sergeant Maloof allow you to go so deep into the Crystal Lake camping area?" Hill asked with some doubts.
"If the team is all composed of centaur police, we can usually walk back and forth during the day. However, Sergeant Maloof will lead us away before night comes!" Michelle looked a little sad, "I have been here many times in the daytime privately before, and I have never found anything unusual here. But it is too dangerous at night, even for my mother, I can't stay willfully."
"You did the right thing!" Hill smiled and comforted the centaur girl.
Hansen put away the shotgun in his hand and pushed open the front door of the cabin. A thick layer of dust had accumulated on the furniture of the hut, but there were quite a few messy footprints on the ground, probably left by the police a few days ago.
"There's no gas in the kitchen, I'm afraid we can only fill our stomachs with bread!" Cora said helplessly to everyone.
"The fireplace can still be used. When I came in, I saw some logs behind the wooden house. I'm going to chop some firewood!" Hansen took down the ax on the wall and walked towards the back door.
"Michelle, does the wooden house have a basement?" Qin Lun asked after walking around the wooden house.
"Hehe, you didn't find it!" Michelle covered her mouth and smiled, "The former forest ranger hid the entrance under the stairs, but there are only some sundries inside, nothing of value!"
As Michelle spoke, she opened a hidden door at the bottom of the wooden stairs, "The power has been out for a long time. If you want to go into the basement, you'd better go to the kitchen to look for candles."
"No, I can see!" Qin Lun smiled and pointed to his eyes.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot that you elves are night owls!" Michelle said with a smile.
The sky was getting dark quickly, and even though it was summer, the night in the forest still seemed a bit cold, and the cool wind blowing over the lake was full of icy humidity.
After it was completely dark, Hansen lit a bonfire in front of the hut, and Qin Lun and he stood watch at night in front of the door. The place where John and his wife were killed is very close to here. Everyone knows that this night may be the key, and no one can rest in peace.
"Do you want beer?" Hansen raised his hand at Qin Lun, which he had prepared long ago.
"No need, I'll take a look around!" Qin Lun stood up and walked towards the dark forest.
Walking into the forest, Qin Lun didn't go around the wooden house. For him who has the fairy tales, it's not necessary at all. He stopped, leaning against a big tree and lost himself in thought.
Qin Lun felt a little uneasy in his heart. As time went by, he became a little irritable. He likes to find answers to mysteries, but this needs to be within the scope of common sense, such as the previous villa case. But this time the "Mystery of Crystal Lake" obviously involves mysterious phenomena, and conventional reasoning is useless.
From the time he entered the Crystal Lake camping area, he still has no clue. The feedback given to him by the forest was very simple, there was no abnormal phenomenon around, not even half of ferocious beasts like wild wolves and black bears.
Looking at the wooden house in the dark night, Qin Lun's eyes were a little erratic. He instinctively felt that there was something wrong with the wooden house, but he couldn't find the reason.
The log cabin was formerly inhabited by rangers and scenic stewards who patrolled the forest and Crystal Lake Harbor. Provide tourists with all kinds of convenient tools, cooking utensils, fishing tackle, tents, almost everything. There are many rooms in the hut, and the basement he inspected before is still a simple infirmary.
The wooden house occupies a large area, and through the branches swaying in the wind, it looks like a monster crawling in the dark night.
Qin Lun closed his eyes, and the sound of branches and leaves swaying in the wind came to his ears, and his heart slowly calmed down.
Suddenly, his perception began to expand in the wind, the slight shaking of the branches and leaves of the trees, the wriggling of earthworms in the soil, and the hissing of insects, he seemed to have turned into a small fish, swimming freely in the forest.
Except for the wooden house and the crystal lake in front of him, this area has never been so clearly reflected in his perception, and he seems to be able to capture subtle movements several miles away.
A realization dawned in Qin Lun's heart. The greatest ability brought to him by the blood of the Moon Night Elf was not the affinity of the magical elements of the wind and wood elements, nor the inherent skills of the Moon Night Recruitment and Fairy Story blood. geographical advantage.
In the forest, if he can maintain this kind of discerning perception at all times, even if he faces an opponent whose combat power is twice as strong as his, it is not without hope of winning. No wonder the elves are called the kings of the forest. Compared with the forest races, such as centaurs and trolls, they do have an unshakable advantage.
"Ah!" Suddenly, a sudden exclamation broke Qin Lun's seemingly omnipotent state of perception.
"It's Michelle!" Qin Lun's eyes flashed, and he flew towards the cabin.
"What's going on?" When he entered the wooden house, he found that Hansen, who was warming up in front of the door, had entered the house before him, and Michelle, who had just screamed, was hugging Cora in shock.
"The fire is about to go out. Michelle went to the back of the house to pick up some firewood just now, and she seemed to see a black shadow!" Cora looked at Qin Lun uncertainly. Hansen was right in front of the door, and they could see it. Only Qin Lun was in the forest just now.
"It's not me!" Qin Lun frowned slightly, "Did Michelle go to the back of the house alone to pick up firewood?"
"No, Hans (Shepherd Hill's pseudonym) went with her!" Cora looked around and asked in surprise, "Hey, what about the others? Could it be that he chased that black shadow?"
"Hill!" Qin Lun and Hansen looked at each other in surprise. They knew that Hill, an old fox, would never take risks and chase suspicious targets alone.
"Take Michelle to the front, and Cora and I will go to the back of the house!" A light flashed in Seth's eyes. This Esmira patrolman, although a little arrogant, but Time seems to be very reliable.
"Let's go together. There is a bonfire in front of the door. You can see it clearly at a glance. Advisor Hans should not be in front!" Hansen was silent for a moment, then said immediately.
Everyone went around the back of the house and searched the place where Michelle and Hill met the shadow several times, but they found nothing. Hill, the old fox, seemed to disappear into the night out of thin air.
"He's too weak. He didn't even have any resistance, so he was taken away!" Seth punched the wooden table angrily.
Qin Lun and Hansen looked at each other, and at the same time saw the color of surprise in each other's eyes.
"With Hill's ability, unless it is a high-level apostle, it is absolutely impossible for him to disappear like this!" Hansen blocked others in the team channel, and said to Qin Lun secretly, "Perhaps for some reason, he himself Hidden."
"Impossible. When he disappeared, my senses covered several square kilometers of land here. If he hid in the forest, he would never be able to hide it from me!" Qin Lun shook his head firmly.
"Then why did he disappear!" Hansen circled the house a little irritably.
"Except for the black shadow that Michelle saw just now, none of us noticed the traces of the battle." Qin Lun's eyes flashed coldly, "It's too early to judge that Hill is missing. Hill must have been caught off guard Under the circumstances, we were directly taken away from our perception range by the enemy."
"Didn't you say that your perception covers several square kilometers here? How is this possible?" Hansen frowned tightly, "Could it be that the enemy used the space teleportation ability?"
"Hmph, no. This guiding task is only at the level of a sergeant major. As for the team you and Hill provoked, they won't find us so quickly, let alone in this forest." Qin Lun said thoughtfully, "If they were going to attack the team, it wouldn't be just Hill."
"Maybe they want to find a tongue to interrogate our team's intelligence?" Hansen was a little uncertain.
"Then why don't they go and catch Michelle, who is even weaker? You must know that this world exposes our bloodlines. Michelle is mixed among us. The other apostles don't know that she is a plot character." Qin Lun quickly denied Han Sen's question.
"Your Excellency Qin Lun, do you have any thoughts?" Cora calmed down her irritable husband, walked to Qin Lun, and asked softly.
Due to Qin Lun and Hill's wonderful performance yesterday, the policewoman from Esmila was not as frightened and uneasy as the others, and still had great confidence in him.
"An idea? There is indeed one!" Qin Lun said faintly in the team channel with the flickering fire in the fireplace reflected in his pupils, "Perhaps the Broken Starry Sky gave us a reminder, but because the target is too big, it was instead We ignored it!"