"I have already investigated the specific situation there."
Professor Tenasi stood up as he spoke, opened the black drawer and took out a thick document.
Kaxiu took it and quickly scanned it. The information contained both information about the history of the two cities and specific information about the Alfama Mountains. The content was quite detailed, and he nodded.
"Professor Turnacy put a lot of effort into it."
Tenasi smiled as he sat in his seat. He was not a half-baked person. He had the real talent to become a professor at Wenmingda University. As long as the money was in place, it would not be a problem.
Picking up the tea, Tenasi took a sip.
Before he could swallow it, he saw a bulging yellow envelope on the table. A big hand pushed the envelope over until it stopped in front of the white porcelain cup tray.
"Professor Tenasi, a small token of my appreciation."
Gurgle.
Professor Turnacy quickly swallowed the tea, a smile appeared on his face, and he naturally put the envelope into his pocket. Just by the feel of it, he knew that there was definitely enough money.
Fifteen minutes later, at the office door.
Professor Tenasi enthusiastically shouted to Kaxiu as he left: "Mr. Dusk, you can come to me if you have any problems next time..."
Tenasi was still standing in the corridor until Kaxiu disappeared at the stairs. He patted his bulging pockets with his hands, smiled again, and closed the door with a snap.
There was a faint sound of cheerful whistles in the office.
************************
On June 18, 107th year of the Red Lebanese Federation calendar, the weather was sunny.
Shire County, this is a large county located in the north of the Red Lebanese Federation, with a population of more than 10 million and close to 20 million. Shire County is geographically flat, similar to an egg placed horizontally on a table. The west side is against the Alfama Mountains, and the east side is connected to the ocean, with several medium-sized coastal cities.
Its economic development has naturally shown a decreasing trend from the coast to the inland. The two cities with the worst development are Jinghu City and Mingshan City near the Alfama Mountains.
Of course, the poor development here is compared with other cities in Shire County. In fact, Jinghu City and Mingshan City can be regarded as medium-to-high-level cities in the country. They mainly provide log materials and develop tourism. In summer, these two cities are very popular for summer vacation.
Whenever the weather is hot, a large number of tourists come to travel.
Therefore, the safety of tourists is a big issue.
However, Jinghu City and Mingshan City have always done a good job, with a large number of police officers and remarkable operational efficiency.
Due to a combination of factors, the number of tourists here is increasing, and various industries relying on tourism are booming.
Mirror Lake City, Police Department.
Sheriff Burton sat in an office reading this morning's Mirror Lake City morning paper and took a sip of his hot coffee.
"Which bored tourist is playing this prank again?"
He shook his head speechlessly. In the corner of the newspaper was a long report with black and white illustrations.
"Mysterious pattern found at Kerston Farm in the south of Mirror Lake!"
The picture shows a remote open space in a farm, with a circle of incomprehensible black patterns on the ground. Inside the circle are messy lines that look like teeth or claws, and some unknown text symbols that look like tadpoles.
The report also included an expert analysis, saying that the wood used to draw the eucalyptus pattern was black charcoal, with some wood ash added.
Burton smiled. With the rapid development of tourism in Jinghu City, there are always some tourists who love to attract attention and take unconventional approaches.
Just half a year ago, the Purple Mirror Lake incident occurred in Mirror Lake City. It is said that a large number of tourists saw that in the early morning, part of the surface of Mirror Lake would turn into a magnificent and beautiful purple-red. At that time, there were many different opinions, some said it was a miracle, and some said it was a mysterious scientific phenomenon, which caused a lot of fluctuations.
As a result, it was later discovered that they were a few college students who were traveling from outside. For fun, they threw purple-red dye on the edge of Mirror Lake every morning. In the end, these people were also arrested and detained in the police station for several days on the grounds of destroying the environment of Mirror Lake.
The mysterious picture incident reported in the morning newspaper of Jinghu City today is probably a similar case. If it is a religious sacrifice, why don't you use blood to draw the picture? They use some charcoal and ash to mess with the lake and people. They are probably just some idle guys. Burton shook his head and put down the newspaper.
“Knock knock knock…”
A series of rapid knocks sounded at the door.
"Come in." Burton raised his head slightly.
Suddenly a young police officer came in with an anxious look on his face: "Sheriff, there was another missing person case this morning..."
"What?"
Burton frowned and suddenly felt a headache.
The past half month can be said to be the end of the police station. There have been a series of disappearances in Jinghu City. Many foreign tourists were fine the day before, but disappeared without a trace the next day.
Today, it seems that another case of disappearance has occurred.
Next, Burton was called to the office by his superior as expected. Five minutes later, he walked out of the office quickly and came to the area where many police officers from the criminal team were.
"Criminal Division, follow me. There's another case coming."
More than half an hour later.
In the south of Mirror Lake City, there is a small town between the Alfama Mountains and Mirror Lake. A number of police officers in dark blue uniforms are questioning people in the town, some with their heads down taking notes.
"Nothing happened last night. As usual, we walked around the town with Sarah and ate some specialties of Mirror Lake City. When I woke up this morning, Sarah was still there. She said she wanted to go downstairs for a walk, but she disappeared unexpectedly. Later we went to look for her, and only found a necklace that Sarah's mother gave her next to Mirror Lake..."
"You mean the blonde female college student? I saw her when I was taking a walk in the town this morning. I saw her walking towards Mirror Lake. It was probably around six in the morning. Later, her friends went around the town asking around and looking for her..."
…
At the edge of town, Burton turned and asked a police officer.
"Any useful clues?"
"No, but our colleagues from other teams are looking for traces around Mirror Lake. The number of police officers mobilized by the police station this time is far more than usual, and we should be able to get some important clues."
More than an hour later, in the dense forest on the east side of Mirror Lake.
White clouds float in the azure blue sky, and the sun shines on the trees, making the green leaves sparkle. The wind blows through the trees, causing waves to ripple, and the leaves rustle overhead, as if it is raining. It moves continuously from far to near and from near to far.
Sometimes it is in the east, sometimes in the west.
In a clearing among sparse trees, the sun cast long, mottled shadows through the gaps between the leaves, creating a feeling of both warmth and coolness.
The surrounding landscape looks very quiet and comfortable.
If we exclude the body lying on the ground.
Burton was wearing a blue police uniform and he kept wiping the sweat off his forehead. He was a little fat and had a big face. Next to Burton stood a tall, thin man with a hooked nose and a black pipe in his mouth.
Special Mobile Unit, Sergeant Randy.
Randy took a puff of his cigarette and said to Burton next to him, "Isn't it strange? It looks like it was kidnapped by a wild beast, but there are no bite marks on its body, only a hole on its neck..."
The two of them looked at each other. The woman lying on the ground was dressed very neatly, with no signs of struggle. She seemed a little confused before death, and her face was pale. The wound was on her slender neck, with three pairs of holes like being bitten by a snake.
A few minutes later, colleagues from the identification department determined the preliminary results.
The woman died of severe blood loss, and the blood did not dry up from the wound, but was sucked dry by some creature. The three pairs of holes on the neck of the woman were the traces left by the creature sucking blood.
"Wolf? Brown bear? Tiger? Bat or something?"
Burton read the report and thought about it, but he really couldn't imagine what kind of creature could suck all the blood out of an adult, and the places where the blood was sucked were just a few tiny pinholes.
"Go back and submit the report to the director..."
Three days later, it was June 21st, 107th year of the Red Lebanese Federation calendar.
"Another missing persons case!? It started on the 15th of this month!"
Burton slapped his head with a headache, put the newspaper in his hand on the table, then stood up and walked quickly to the director's office.
Two minutes passed.
"There's nothing we can do about this..."
Director Kenneth sighed: "We can only do our job as best as possible. After all, it involves another..." He paused and said: "I reported it to my superiors three days ago. They said they would send someone to deal with this matter..."
"According to the time, it should be almost time..."
Kenneth and Burton chatted for a while, and about ten minutes later, there was another slight knock on the door.
"Come in." Kenneth looked up.
A police officer walked in quickly.
"Chief, there is a strangely dressed man outside who wants to see you. We have temporarily placed him in the lobby."
"Dressed strangely?" Burton asked.
"Yes, he was wearing all black in this hot weather. A wide-brimmed sun hat, a big windbreaker, sunglasses, a mask and gloves." The police officer had a strange look on his face, obviously he had never met such a strange person before.
On the other side, Jinghu City Railway Station.
A steam train roared to a stop on the platform.
"Passengers, please get off the train. We have arrived at Jinghu City." The conductor came down from the train and shouted loudly while directing the crowd.
Passengers left the platform quickly, carrying their suitcases.
"Is there anyone who hasn't gotten off the bus yet? We're at Jinghu City!"
The conductor shouted into the carriage.
A few seconds later, a tall and handsome figure walked out of the carriage. His long golden hair was as flamboyant as a lion's mane, shining brightly under the sunlight. Passengers around looked over, but no one approached. They seemed to be frightened by the other person's perfect figure and handsome face.
The conductor next to him was suddenly stunned, as if he was also shocked by the outstanding appearance and indescribable temperament of this passenger.
The blond man didn't care about the eyes around him. He looked up at the azure blue sky and saw a group of white birds flying by.
The clouds were soft and covered half of the sun.
"The weather is so nice... No wonder my uncle would retire here..."
The man muttered to himself, then, under the gaze of the conductor, he pushed through the crowd and walked away with his suitcase.
The same platform, but in the afternoon.
The sky was dim and the clouds were changing. Like a painter's palette, yellow and red were mixed together. The clouds looked like a golden field or a sparkling sea.
Another steam train arrived at the platform, spewing steam.
At the conductor's call, a large number of tourists who came here for vacation got off the train, leaving in groups of three or five with clear goals in mind.
Click.
Black shoes stepped on the platform.
A tall man came down, about 1.9 meters tall. He was wearing a gray T-shirt and black trousers. He was carrying a large suitcase, at least twice as big as an ordinary tourist's.
But it didn't look out of place, perhaps because the man was big and sturdy, the box looked small in his hands.
The man stood on the platform, looked down at his watch, and then started walking, quickly blending into the crowd of tourists around him.
Early the next morning, at Lillian's luxury apartment.
Kaxiu opened his eyes in bed. A ray of sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains, splitting the white sheets in half. He got up, washed up briefly, and walked to the spacious living room in two or three steps.
There was a knock on the door.
"Mr. Dusk, your breakfast is here."
There was a clear, sweet female voice outside the door.
"OK."
Kaxiu walked over and opened the door.
Outside was a pretty, graceful female student, who looked young and was wearing a uniform.
She held the plate in her fair hands and waited quietly.
"Come in."
Kaxiu immediately returned to the house, and the waitress came in and put breakfast on the table, then left respectfully.
Lillian Luxury Apartments has some similarities to hotel services.
Kaxiu sat down at the table and started to eat his first breakfast since arriving in Jinghu City. It tasted good. While eating, he recalled the information that he had almost memorized in his mind. It was not easy to find the ruins of Aqaba with these clues. After all, they only locked down an area, which could only be considered an improvement.
Whether it can be found in more than a month is still an unknown, and Kaxiu is ready to run away at any time.
After breakfast, I picked up the Jinghu City Morning Post that came with my plate. A bold title was prominently displayed.
"A series of disappearances has occurred in Jinghu City!"
Then the general situation of the case was given. It said that there were 20 missing persons in Jinghu City in one month, including locals and tourists. The police found three bodies, all of which died of blood loss, and it was suspected that something had sucked their blood dry!
"Vampires?" Kaxiu shook his head indifferently.
There are many such reports everywhere, some are true, some are false. There is nothing strange about them appearing in newspapers.
He glanced down at the report again.
The report mentioned that almost all the missing persons were on the side of Mirror Lake close to the Alfama Mountains. And according to some traces, the victims seemed to have been taken into the mountains.
"etc!"
"Mirror Lake, mountains, dense forests, blood clan, ruins..."
Multiple elements are pieced together and gradually combined.
Kaxiu couldn't help muttering to himself, a vague picture was about to emerge in his mind, it was the memory of dusk.
"Secret medicine for faking death?"
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