Chapter 24

After Lin Mo left his post, he moved forward, walking toward the place where the sound came from.

Although there was nothing going on now, Lin Mo could still judge the general direction.

Just like that, time passed.

Lin Mo followed the road in front of him and eventually arrived at the edge of a cliff.

Here, one could see houses built of wood.

However, the houses looked very messy.

"Were they attacked by Hilichurls or monsters?"

Looking at this scene, Lin Mo stepped forward, took a brief look at the surrounding houses, examined them, and pondered: "There are no signs of doors or windows being broken, and no signs of destruction in the surroundings. As for the doors, they are all locked and cannot be pried open."

"But the clutter at the doorways is very neat, which clearly shows that people lived here, but the people here have disappeared."

"If they were abducted by monsters, then it wouldn't make sense for it to be this neat."

"But if they weren't abducted, then what was the reason that caused the people here to leave so quickly?"

Lin Mo examined the surroundings while looking at the houses, conducting a simple search.

He quickly analyzed several important points.

"The window of this house is open, but there are no valuable things inside, just some simple furniture."

Lin Mo observed as he walked, and soon noticed that the window of one house was not closed tightly.

He immediately walked over.

Judging from the open window, it hadn't been closed in time, and inside, besides simple tables, chairs, and bowls and chopsticks, there was nothing of value.

These tables and chairs were made of wood and were not valuable items.

"No signs of monster attacks, no signs of destruction, but people lived here before."

"It's just that for some reason, the people here left quickly, even in such a hurry that one house's window wasn't closed."

"But more of them had their doors locked, which means the people who lived here originally mostly locked their doors and windows and left quickly."

"Some danger drove them away."

"But for the people living here, danger must come from the outside."

"For example, attacks by monsters or magical beasts."

"But there are no traces of any monsters or Hilichurls coming here."

Lin Mo whispered while walking.

He soon walked through the entire place.

He even walked around the outside to observe carefully and found no traces left by monsters.

Whether it was Hilichurls or Mitachurls, once they attacked people, they would inevitably leave traces.

But there were no traces in the surroundings.

Not even a Slime.

This was also a very safe place, with no threat of magical beasts in the surroundings.

Then why did the people here leave in such a hurry?

"Strange sound."

While thinking, Lin Mo suddenly thought of something and said thoughtfully: "Could it be that legend?"

"In the past in Liyue, there were bandits in the mountains outside Liyue, and they would blow a strange horn before every raid."

"That eerie horn sound wasn't to set the mood, but a threat to the weak, a kind of warning."

"To save their lives, the villagers would flee their homes overnight, taking as much property as they could, unable to care about anything else."

"Later, after the bandits were captured, the shadow of fear remained in the hearts of the villagers."

"This also led to some mountain folk in later times hearing that horn sound and subconsciously feeling that bandits were visiting, causing them to flee in a panic." ===== CHAPTER 57 =====

"This also proves why they left in such a hurry without any crisis; someone is imitating the behavior of those bandits from back then."

"The sound I heard these past few days should be someone imitating it."

"It's highly likely to be some guys from the Treasure Hoarders."

Lin Mo walked while examining the surroundings.

"It should be the Treasure Hoarders."

"Then, since they blew this horn, they must have come to scavenge things. If they left, it shouldn't be that there are no traces."

"I have to look around."

Lin Mo made a simple judgment, feeling that his judgment should be correct, while examining the surroundings.

The current situation was very likely the work of the Treasure Hoarders.

But he couldn't be sure of the specifics.

Since he had already investigated to this point, it was better to solve the problem once and for all.

He couldn't go back to find Wen Qi now and tell her the situation.

Then have people investigate; that would be too troublesome.

Since he was already here, he would just solve it.

He could just explain it simply later.

Thinking this, Lin Mo began to examine the surroundings, but he really didn't find any footprints.

"The place is only this big; if I look carefully, there will definitely be no problem."

"If it really is the work of the Treasure Hoarders, then blowing these horns in advance must be for safety, and if they left, they would definitely choose a safe place."

"If I were one of them, I would choose a path with relatively lush vegetation along the way when retreating, one that wouldn't break branches."

"The normal road has no traces, so the remaining direction here should be that way."

Lin Mo examined the surroundings and soon found a road with lush vegetation.

Compared to the wide road without weeds under his feet.

The road in the distance had very dense plants.

Without hesitation, Lin Mo decisively walked over.

There weren't many roads here now, so he would go check the situation first.

Lin Mo drove straight in, soon passed through that road, and moved forward.

"There's even a rock wall covering this."

Examining the surroundings, Lin Mo found that this road was remote.

Lin Mo walked while examining the ground, and soon found what he wanted.

"A very shallow but unnatural trace."

Lin Mo squatted down and touched the vegetation in front of him with his hand.

The vegetation in front of him was a trace left by heavy objects being dragged.

This proved that the direction he was looking in was correct.

Thinking of this, Lin Mo continued forward.

As he walked, he soon found more and more traces; these traces were very clear but appeared messy and hurried.

"Looks like the speed has increased."

Seeing this, Lin Mo raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes: "Could it be that they are close to the so-called stronghold? That's why they suddenly accelerated, and because no one discovered them, they didn't clean up much later."

This also meant that he might find his target.

Without hesitation, Lin Mo decisively accelerated.

Soon, Lin Mo stopped.

He saw a man sitting on a rock by a remote road in the distance, supporting his face and yawning.

The clothes he was wearing were clearly those of a Treasure Hoarder member.

"Sure enough."

Seeing the appearance of that Treasure Hoarder member, Lin Mo could already judge that it was definitely related to the Treasure Hoarders.

The traces became more and more obvious here.

Without hesitation, Lin Mo stepped forward directly. ===== CHAPTER 58 =====