Even hybrid monsters have their day

"Pfft..." Xiaobai couldn't help but laugh again. This was the eighteenth time this person had mentioned this. Geng Miaowan rolled her eyes at Xiaobai and said in her mind, "You rascal, you knew he was a person from the beginning but didn't warn me, scaring me half to death."

Little White didn't say anything, but simply stood far away to avoid being affected by her anger. Her expression just now was priceless; it felt it could laugh for a long time.

"Hey, hey, I'm talking to you. What's wrong with you? You did something wrong and you're keeping quiet. It's really rude." The man got a little annoyed when he saw that Geng Miaowan was not speaking.

Geng Miaowan stood up, patted her bottom, and said, "It's the middle of the night, who told you to pretend to be a ghost and scare people here?"

"Where did I pretend to be a ghost to scare people? I... I just accidentally slipped down that little slope over there and it wasn't easy for me to climb back up," the man retorted, dissatisfied with her accusation.

Hearing him say there was a landslide ahead, Geng Miaowan was incredibly grateful that she hadn't continued forward, otherwise she probably would have slid down too. But... she stared at the man for a long time. His face, now free of blood, was very clean, and his hair was hastily tied up. Although disheveled, he looked somewhat scholarly.

Perhaps realizing that his appearance just now was indeed somewhat frightening, the man thought for a moment and said, "My name is Ai Shaochen. May I ask how you are addressed, young brother, and why you are still lingering in the mountains so late?"

Geng Miaowan countered, "And why are you still lingering in these mountains so late?"

"You, I asked you first, why are you asking me instead?"

Geng Miaowan glanced at Xiaobai, then looked at Ai Shaochen and said, "I... my name is Geng Wan, I just happened to be passing by. Alright, it's your turn to answer my question."

Ai Shao Chen frowned, clearly dissatisfied with her answer. However, based on his usual teachings, he still answered her question politely, "I am the newly appointed magistrate of Yonghe Town. Around noon today, I heard that a child had gone missing from a family in Shangxing Town, so I thought of coming to Shangxing Town to investigate the situation. Who knew..."

He paused here, looked around nervously.

"What's wrong?" Ai Shao Chen's words piqued Geng Miao Wan's interest. She hadn't expected the magistrate of Yonghe Town to be so enthusiastic, even coming from another county to investigate a case. Her resentment towards him lessened considerably.

Ai Shao Chen scooted closer to Geng Miao Wan, almost touching her body before settling down, and whispered, "I originally came with two constables. When we got to the foot of the mountain, we found a little girl's shoe, the toe pointing inwards, as if it had been accidentally lost while entering the mountain. So I took the constables into the mountain, thinking that if the child had gone into the mountain on her own, we might be able to find her. If she had been abducted into the mountain by villains, we could at least find some clues."

Geng Miaowan nodded, thinking that although Ai Shaochen looked like a bookworm, he could analyze things quite well.

"So what happened next?"

"After we entered the mountains, we walked along the mountain path for about fifteen minutes and found a footprint on a dirt slope where there was no path. It was a very faint footprint; if it hadn't rained here a couple of days ago, it probably wouldn't have been left at all. The footprint looked about the same size as a shoe from the foot of the mountain. So we followed the footprint up the dirt slope and walked for quite a while until we arrived here, where we saw a little girl standing in the grass."

As he spoke, Ai Shao Chen pointed to the patch of grass he had just crawled out of, "It's right there!"

Geng Miaowan looked in the direction he was pointing and saw only a dense patch of grass, nothing else. Remembering what Madam Lu had said, she asked, "Was that little girl wearing a red floral white blouse and had two pigtails?"

"How did you know?" Ai Shaochen asked in surprise.

"What a coincidence! I'm from Shangxing Town, and the little girl who went missing there was wearing that very dress." This completely piqued Geng Miaowan's curiosity. "And then what happened?"

"Later..." Ai Shao Chen looked at Geng Miao Wan, his expression somewhat blurred in the darkness. He cleared his throat and continued, "Later, I quickly ordered two constables to go and pull the child away. But as soon as the constables reached the child, the child vanished into thin air. In the blink of an eye, even the two constables disappeared with him. I was shocked and rushed forward without thinking to see what had happened. But after only a few steps, my foot slipped, and I tumbled down the slope."

When I woke up, it was already dark. I found myself lying on a patch of pebbles and weeds, so I climbed up by the moonlight, and that's when I met you.

"You mean, all three of them vanished right before your eyes?" Geng Miaowan looked at the place Ai Shaochen had mentioned where the people had disappeared, her heart churning with turmoil, like a boulder thrown into a still lake, creating countless waves. She had initially thought that the disappearance of children was not so simple, but now it seemed to be more than just not simple; it was downright bizarre.

“I know this sounds unbelievable, but I swear, every word I’ve said is true.” Seeing her serious expression and silence, Ai Shao Chen assumed she didn’t believe him. He pointed in that direction and said loudly, “There, right there, I saw it clearly…”

Suddenly, Xiaobai darted up from the side, stood in front of Geng Miaowan, bent over, and looked warily into the bushes. This was Xiaobai's usual action when encountering danger. Seeing this, Geng Miaowan felt a sense of foreboding. "What's wrong?"

A rustling sound came from the grass; the blades of grass swayed and moved without wind, as if countless things were crawling inside. The moon had somehow disappeared behind the clouds, only a few pale rays of light struggling to peek through the gaps, flickering and uncertain.

The sound grew louder and louder, approaching from afar. An indescribable odor emanated from the grass, assaulting Geng Miaowan's chest and making her feel nauseous. The sounds coming from the grass sent chills down her spine and sent shivers down her spine.

"Something's wrong! Get out of here! Quickly!"