On the second floor of the school, Roy and Vivien quickly flipped through the materials.
And Cadell stood behind the two with his arms crossed his chest and stared coldly in return. She wants to figure out what tricks these two guys who are inexplicably looking at the registration form can play.
"1256, 1257, 1258, 1259, 1260..." The two found five blank registration forms from the thirteen piles of documents. It was one for each of the last five years.
"So, there are five missing persons, and one missing person a year." Roy whispered to Vivien. "The unique law shows that it is not a coincidence."
"What did you two find? Should you explain it to me?"
"Mr. Cardell, you have been in charge of keeping the admission information, so have you seen these blank registration forms?"
The middle-aged woman took the paper and checked it twice, her eyebrows twisted into a twine, "These papers are specially made, only one for each student, and the price is not cheap. I didn't waste that much. But I can't completely rule out that I was not careful. stuffed in."
"They weren't blank..." Roy explained, "recording the information of a certain student, but unfortunately these words have been erased, and even the described student disappeared. To be precise, the murderer Take it away."
"Why did you start babbling like Vivien? What can you do, dare to kidnap my students without knowing it in Edsberg, a big city where thousands of people live? Sparrow I don't have the guts to help." Cadell retorted, "Unless you can produce other evidence, Roy, if you dare to cheat in front of me, just wait and drop out of school."
"Do you want evidence? It will take a while." He was the only one who witnessed the changing process of the marks on the clothes, and could not be trusted by others.
But now he has a rough idea in mind.
"Mr. Vivien... 'His' last diary entry, what date is it?"
"I have turned over the diary dozens of times in the past two years, and I can recite it back and forth," Vivien said. "On October 4, 1258, that night, Bob slapped me in the face when he was drunk, and I was angry and scared. Came to school and 'he' followed."
"At that time, you and I also agreed that 'he' should have disappeared from October 4th to November 1st of the new year."
Today is October 7, 1260, which means the time when the symbol on Roy's sleeve gradually faded, that is, the time when the student who drew the symbol disappeared.
Both events are in this range, so it cannot be said to be a coincidence.
Roy's thoughts were like electricity.
Around October, just looking at this monotonous date doesn't make much sense. But less than a month later, it will be the New Year.
The Witcher world works the same way life does, in a constant cycle. There are eight mana points in this cycle. One-to-one correspondence with important festivals in this world, including New Year (Halloween), Winter Solstice, Spring Festival (Candle Festival), Spring Equinox, May Festival, Summer Solstice, Harvest Festival, and Autumn Equinox.
The closer to these eight days and nights, the stronger the magical aura, and the easier it is for some magical phenomena and mysterious events to occur. The murderer chose to commit the crime at this time, so it is likely to be a creature that is extremely sensitive to magic.
Roy wrote down the first sentence: From 1256, the murderer committed a crime every year, and the crime time was close to the New Year. It was most likely a creature sensitive to magic: a monster or a human gifted with magic.
The second sentence: The murderer will gradually erase most of the traces left by the missing person in the world, including the memory of the missing person by the people around him. The words written by the missing person, the paintings drawn by the missing person, and the words that directly describe the missing person will be deleted. erase...
"Vivien, I remember you mentioned in your diary that you and your family have unknowingly ignored 'him'."
"I think yes, I want to ensure fairness, so most of the energy is equally distributed to every student in the school, and it is inevitable that he will be ignored and neglected." Vivien's pretty face was full of sadness, "and Bob is an old alcoholic, She was so busy looking for drinks all day that she didn't have time to deal with him, her mother was confused and couldn't communicate normally most of the time."
"Then 'he' is a man ignored by everyone..."
The five missing persons... Even if the people around them have had their relevant memories erased, and their traces and words have been erased, none of their family members have noticed the strangeness like Vivien and came to investigate the clues
Roy took down the third sentence: The target chosen by the murderer may be children who have been ignored by everyone...including orphans.
Maybe it's because of some mysterious screening principle, or maybe the murderer's cunning nature is revealed.
Compared with the people who have attracted much attention, if the missing targets are those who have been ignored by the people around them, the impact and change on the real world will undoubtedly be much smaller. It will also be more hidden and difficult to detect.
…
Roy showed these three conclusions to Vivien and Cadell. The former was a little surprised. She had noticed these points long ago, and she was clear in her mind, but she did not summarize them so concretely and thoroughly.
And Cadell's original casual expression finally changed, but he was still skeptical, "Roy, these three conclusions seem quite intimidating, but I'm still the old saying, it can't stand without evidence."
"Maybe the facts are the opposite of your inference. There are no five missing persons at all."
"Evidence... If the murderer can be found, it will be the best evidence." Roy breathed out, "Mr. Kadel, I beg you not to question me first, and believe me for the time being."
"The murderer came out every year near the New Year's day for five years in a row and took a victim from the Cardell House." Roy asked, "Do you have a feeling?"
"The murderer is hiding in the school," Vivien's pretty face turned pale, "Are you running out to murder when the New Year is approaching?"
"It's impossible..." Kadel shook his head. "Everyone in the school, including the helpers in the kitchen, I know the bottom line. I dare to swear to Prophet Rebioda that there is absolutely no murderer."
"I didn't say that the murderer must be a human." Roy has observed the teachers, students and logistics staff of the school. They are all normal human beings without the ability to delete memories. "It's more likely that some kind of monster inhabits the school."
"Do you have an idea?"
"Not sure, you two wait a moment." Roy's memory did not contain any monsters that fit the conclusion. But that doesn't mean he is helpless.
He turned and left the room, walked in the hallway for two minutes, then took out the notebook Leto had left him before he left, and re-entered the room.
The notes recorded the knowledge of herbs, potions, and monsters, but he was busy learning common words for more than half a month, and he still had time to read the notes.
"What is this?" Vivien and Cadell couldn't help but cast curious glances.
"The experience notes left by a master witcher, which record the information of various monsters, may have the target we are looking for."
Afterwards, the three of them read most of the entire notebook about monsters, and Roy became more and more frightened.
After browsing more than a dozen different types of monsters, on a certain page, the three of them saw such a description.
"The end of autumn is the best season for bear hunting. Serrit and I are staying in a small mountain village.
That night, the wind was so strong outside the window that my bladder was swollen and swollen. I went to the yard to urinate, and the pendant on my neck suddenly began to vibrate, the amplitude was very slight, and the residual magic power was not strong, but there was no doubt that new prey was calling me. Hunting monsters is more interesting than hunting grizzly bears. There are many, especially in this completely unknown situation, this soaking in the urine is the guide of my destiny.
Nearby I found an oak tree over 500 years old, with some intricate symbols inscribed on it... The magic comes from this tree.
After trying the Alpha Seal, the Igni Seal, and the feces of the evil spirits in turn, I discovered that there was a chemical reaction between the salt and the oak tree.
The roots of the oak tree opened their mouths in pain, revealing a deep, dark tree hole.
I woke Serret up and went down to the tree hole to have a hard time.
The apprentice of the Snake School, yes, it refers to you who are reading this passage. The following content is not allowed to be skipped:
The monster under the tree hole, I named him Stripper / Hunter Ghost / Devil in the Tree, the appearance is a slender humanoid creature with a fuzzy face, rough and hard skin like tree bark, with sharp fangs and claws , Once bitten by it, the hands, feet and nerves will be gradually paralyzed.
The diagram is as follows-
Its speed and strength are similar to ordinary people, and it can regenerate quickly, and ordinary sharp weapons cannot cause fatal damage to it.
But he feared fire, salt, and corpse-eating sword oil.
After Serit and I quickly solved it, we took out a total of fifteen remains from the tree hole. On the second day, we communicated with the people of the mountain village for half a month. After extensive investigation, we obtained information about this head The monster's information is as follows:
It sleeps in the tree hole most of the time, and only wakes up under the abnormal fluctuation of magic power around New Year's time every year, and hunts nearby creatures.
Its targets are young human children, and the more lonely it is, the better it suits its taste.
It will wrap the lost prey with vomit until it suffocates to death before enjoying it. Its vomit also has an incredible and miraculous effect, which can gradually strip the prey from the real world, and complete the stripping when the prey dies.
Most of the traces left by the prey in the real world will disappear, and everyone will forget the poor man.
This is a forgotten ghost that sleeps under an ancient tree and devours the neglected...
Rookie, when you read this record, you must have not passed the green grass trial. If you want to deal with this guy, remember to bring all the equipment and thicker clothes for the weak point. If you can kill it, take the most valuable tongue, dry it and save it.
6 October 1204, Nilfgaarde, province of Vicovalo, Oaks, written in Mount Berry.
…
The three looked at each other for a while.
"So, there's something living under that horn tree in the yard?" Cadell looked in disbelief, speaking in an astonishingly hoarse voice. "I have lived for several years, how is it possible, how can I be unconscious?"
"Try it and you'll know!" Vivien clenched her palms into fists, her pretty face full of determination and hatred, "I remember, there's still a lot of salt in the kitchen?"
Roy took a deep breath and glanced at the disappearing mark on the left sleeve again.
The man he forgot, maybe still alive, is going, rookie