With a target in mind, Bai Mo and the other three immediately returned to the village.
In a village, the person who knows the local area best is probably the village chief.
According to the old lady who showed them the way when they came in earlier, the village chief's house was located to the east of Nanyue Village.
Runs a hotel.
A few people came to the east side of the village and easily saw the hotel by following the figures of some tourists dragging suitcases.
The name of the hotel is Youjian Inn.
After entering, Mu Nujiao negotiated with the lady at the front desk to check in.
Bai Mo and his companions did not go upstairs, but instead glanced around the lobby.
"Sister, is the village chief here?"
Seeing that she couldn't find anyone with her eyes, Lingling ran to the front desk and started asking questions.
"Little sister, what can I do for you? This hotel is owned by the village chief. I am his daughter. If you have any questions, you can come to me."
The receptionist looked to be in her thirties. When she saw Lingling's cute appearance, she immediately smiled.
Blinking her eyes, Lingling said, "Nothing much. I just like to listen to some stories, so I want to ask if you know the story of Zhenshuiworm."
Hearing this, the lady at the front desk's originally gentle expression suddenly stiffened a little, and she smiled somewhat unnaturally.
"Children are very curious. I don't know these random rumors and stories."
"Does the village chief know?" Mu Nujiao at the side couldn't help but ask.
"You know, I'm not sure either. If you ask the old man, there's no problem."
"Sister, where is the village chief?"
"Out."
"When will you be back?"
"Come back when you're back." The lady at the front desk said expressionlessly, then waved her hand impatiently and said in a hoarse voice:
"Those of you who have finished your formalities, please leave quickly and stop asking around. You are blocking the way for those behind you to complete their formalities!"
Seeing this, Lingling, Bai Mo and others looked at each other and had to leave the front desk first.
They booked a bungalow, which was similar to an apartment, just behind the hotel building.
After they left the hall, Bai Mo said, "It seems that the village chief's daughter knows something, but she is unwilling to mention the matter of Zhenshuiworm."
"Well, after Lingling asked about Zhen Shuiyin, her mind quickly became alert." Ding Yumian said.
"Where are we going? Are we really going to stay here?!" Lingling couldn't help but complain when she saw that they had already walked into a yard.
"No, let's pretend. Lingling, you wait a moment and go back to the lobby to continue waiting for the village chief. Ask the front desk lady about the situation. Yumian, you come with us."
It's only afternoon now, and Bai Mo certainly has no intention of taking a rest. He just wants to get information in a different way.
"Jiaojiao, come with me and visit the local people, especially the elderly, to see if we can find out something."
The group took action immediately. The old people in the village were relatively easy to find.
After leaving the area where there was a hotel, the two of them started asking almost everyone one by one.
"Grandpa, do you know the water worm?"
"What's the real hum?"
"Zhenshuiworm!"
"What is Zhen Sui?"
"It's the water earthworm!"
"Oh, the earthworms in the water. There are a lot of them in the ground, especially next to the toilet. I know."
Visiting is a rather difficult activity, and the above conversation is the norm between Bai Mo and most of the elderly.
Coupled with some dialect issues, the two men acted separately, one from east to west and the other from south to north.
In the end, I didn't get anything useful out of the question.
"I heard an old man mention it. He heard about Zhen Shuiyin from the village chief," said Mu Nujiao.
Hearing this, Bai Mo pondered for a few seconds and guessed:
"Could it be that the information about the Zhenshui earthworm is not known to the whole village, but is only passed down by word of mouth in one family or one person? It seems that many priests and wizards in ancient times were like this."
"I'm not sure. I'll go back and see how Lingling and the others are doing."
As soon as she finished speaking, Mu Nujiao saw four people in guard uniforms approaching them.
"Handsome guy and beautiful girl, someone reported you for asking around in the village. You don't look like good people. Please cooperate with us and go back to make a statement."
A young security guard with a Nanyue Village accent said this, laughing as he spoke.
Bai Mo: ???
Mu Nujiao: ???
No, what kind of village is this?
Coming out of the Security Department, Bai Mo looked up at the sunset, then looked back at the Security Department which was almost as big as a public toilet.
Mu Nujiao on the side was also speechless, but at the same time, there was some doubt in her eyes, and she looked at the guards with a strange look.
"Let's go. I hope there will be good news when we return."
After saying that, Bai Mo looked up and saw Mu Nujiao looking at the Security Department with scrutinizing eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Something's wrong with this security department."
Mu Nujiao pointed at the building in front of her and said with a curious look on her face.
"I have been observing this while taking notes. Although the decoration and layout here are very similar to those of a normal security department, there are some differences, especially the uniforms of the guards."
"When I first saw them, I thought their costumes were fake, but when they brought us here, I put my concerns aside. However, there is something wrong with the interior layout and the recording procedures."
Shaking his head slightly, Bai Mo felt that it shouldn't be that mysterious.
"The uniforms are substandard. They might have been purchased online. It's not necessarily that small places don't provide uniforms. Similarly, small places don't have such strict regulations. Could it be that someone dares to pretend to be the Security Department? There's a branch of the Magic Association right next to it."
"So I also feel something is wrong. Let's go."
Mu Nujiao shook her head and went to the east of the village, but Bai Mo suddenly had an idea and pulled her back.
"Don't rush back yet. Let's go to the Spark Network station and see if they have collected any intelligence here."
Hearing this, Mu Nujiao's eyes lit up. How could she have forgotten this before?
Whenever Xinghuo.com sets up a base in a place, the first thing it does is to understand the local information.
The two of them had already walked around this palm-sized area several times, so they were naturally clear about the location of the Spark Network.
This is a bungalow with the Spark Network emblem and name simply hung on it.
Due to the frugal habits of rural people, even though it is already late, they still don't light the lights, but instead use the afterglow of the sun for lighting.
As a result, this small bungalow seemed a little dim.
Two staff members were sitting behind the desk in the room. When they saw someone coming in, they asked:
"Tourists? How can I help you?"
'These two don't know me!'
This was Bai Mo's first reaction, and then he took out his Spark Network certificate.
"I am the chief judge of the Xinghuo Network. I am here to find some information about Nanyue Village."
"ah?!"
"ah!!"
Two surprised voices were heard, and the two staff members looked at Bai Mo and checked the documents he placed on the table.
I don't know if the test showed anything, but I got nervous anyway.
One of the older women straightened her spine immediately and said:
"We are from Nanyue Village. Sir, if you want to know anything, you can ask us. I know everything."
"Are you from Nanyue Village?"
Bai Mo raised his eyebrows and felt something was wrong this time. Why were they all from Nanyue Village?
Are the people in this village so outstanding?
"Yes! My name is Xiao Congmin, and I was born and raised in Nanyue Village."
"Okay!" Finding the totem was the most important thing, so Bai Mo temporarily suppressed the doubts in his heart.
"Then tell me, is there any legend about water worms in your village?"
".I don't know." The older woman's face fell at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It was as if he saw an opportunity for rapid advancement in his career disappearing before his eyes.
"Every person stationed at the Spark Network needs to know the detailed information about the place. Why don't you know it?"
"Ah, do we still have to do all this? Didn't the webmaster tell us?" asked the young staff member who had been silent the whole time.
In an instant, Bai Mo and Mu Nujiao realized something was wrong at the same time.
What webmaster?
The basic grid setting of Xinghuo Network is the captain, and under the captain are team members. Generally, a team has a maximum of seven people and a minimum of four people.
When they first came in, they saw only two of them and didn't feel anything, maybe the others had gone out.
But as soon as the webmaster came out, the two of them immediately realized that something was wrong.
"Where did the leader of Xinghuo Network come from? Please report your identification and the phone number of your superiors."
The two were stunned for a moment, feeling that the young man in front of them had turned into a Mount Tai that shook their hearts.
He stammered and told the information.
After receiving the information, Mu Nujiao launched an investigation on the spot and eventually found out that there was no registered base in Nanyue Village.
This Xinghuo Network base that is openly opened on the street to handle matters for Nanyue Village is fake!
After some further questioning, we found out that these two people had no idea what Xinghuo Network actually did and they just followed the instructions of the network manager.
"Who is that webmaster? Take me to find him!"
The two villagers who had just learned that they were fake official members looked at each other, and the older woman said:
"I don't know either. That bitch Fang Linghua introduced it to me. I'll take you there!"
She rolled up her sleeves in a fierce manner, ready to fight.
Following her, Bai Mo and the others unexpectedly arrived at a hotel.
"Fang Linghua! Fang Linghua! How dare you cheat your aunt? Get out here!"
The older woman was cursing fiercely, and her voice could be heard at the west end of the village before she even entered the inn.
"Hey, Third Aunt, why are you here? Keep your voice down, there are people in the store."
Someone came out to greet them. Bai Mo looked closely and found that it was the village chief's daughter, the hotel receptionist.
"The job you introduced to me, that Xinghuo website, is fake. The superiors came to find me! Whoever opened the fake place, if you don't want your aunt to go to jail, call that person out!"
Upon hearing this, the receptionist named Fang Linghua was slightly stunned, and then she saw Bai Mo and the other person following behind.
She lowered her eyes, looked anxious, took her aunt's hand and walked to the side, whispering as she walked:
"Oh, such a big thing, why didn't you tell me quietly? The owner of that store disappeared a long time ago, and I haven't contacted him, but he is still running the business as usual and hasn't deducted your wages, so I didn't tell you about this."
"Then what do you say we should do?"
Hearing this, Fang Linghua's expression changed several times. She led her to sit on a bench in the lobby, and handed her a plate of snacks. Finally, she said,
"Third Aunt, wait a moment and eat something to calm your nerves. I'll go talk to the official from Xinghuo Network."
On the other side of the lobby, Bai Mo told Lingling about his discovery of the fake Xinghuo Network base.
She just calmly watched the lady at the front desk comfort her third aunt and walk over.
"Are you really official members of Spark Network?"
After taking a deep breath, Fang Linghua stepped forward and asked Lingling.
"His name is Bai Mo, sister, you look quite fashionable, you can just check it on the Internet, we are not bad people."
That afternoon, the village chief's daughter kept her mouth shut, and even the extremely cute Lingling couldn't pry her open, so nothing was gained.
In fact, Ding Yumian could use a magic trick to force her to tell them everything they wanted to know.
But Fang Linghua has a strong tendency to keep the secret about Zhen Shuiyin, which is a strong psychological defense.
It’s not that Ding Yumian can’t break through, Fang Linghua is just an ordinary person.
However, once Ding Yumian forcibly hypnotizes and controls her soul, forcing her to say things she doesn't want to say against her will, it will cause irreversible damage to her soul.
Lingling didn't want to do this, but she couldn't do it.
After all, the lady at the front desk is not a criminal.
If someone knows the information, it is their freedom and right to speak out or not.
"Okay, let me check it out."
Hearing this, Fang Linghua actually checked Bai Mo's information.
After a while, she looked up and said, "I can answer your three questions about Zhenshuiyin, but you can't cause trouble for my third aunt and her colleagues."
"What's the matter with the fake Xinghuo Network station here?"
"I don't know!" Fang Linghua's face stiffened slightly and she said firmly.
"Why can't you tell us all the news about the Zhenshui earthworm?"
"Because I don't know much. Only my father knows the details, but you can't learn it from him."
Hearing this, Bai Mo and the others looked at each other and Ling Ling said:
"Don't worry, sister. We won't do anything to your third aunt. Ignorance is not a crime."
Her flawless big eyes blinked, but Fang Linghua avoided her gaze when she heard the last sentence.
"We need to think carefully about the problem of Zhenshui earthworms. Before that, we need to take care of some official business."
Bai Mo took over the conversation, "Now it seems that the official institutions in this village need to investigate. They didn't notice the appearance of a fake Xinghuo station. This shouldn't be the case."
Seeing this, Mu Nujiao and Ding Yumian couldn't help but look at him in confusion.
After all, he had never paid much attention to the strange behavior here before.
Bai Mo shook his head. He didn't care about it before because the villagers had a good opinion of the officials.
But the commotion caused by the aunt's swearing just now caused the whole village to become lively.
Bai Mo happened to listen to a few sentences using the phonetic system, and she discovered that all the official organizations here were from Nanyue Village.
There are even quite a few who have some relationship with that Third Aunt.
This made Bai Mo start to pay attention to the strange phenomena of the official organizations here.
With Lingling, the four of them immediately took action and investigated the official agencies here separately.
Knock knock knock!
There was a knock on the door. Fang Lingan opened the door and saw his anxious-looking daughter.
"Why are you in the mood to come to my place? Aren't you embarrassed to see me?"
He said with a cold face.
"Dad, a big shot from the Spark Network came to the village today."
"Come on, it's no big deal!"
His eyebrows moved and Fang Lingan said nonchalantly.
"They are asking about the water worm."
"What!?" Fang Ling'an's eyebrows immediately stood up, "You didn't tell them, don't be confused again!"
"No, but the magic associations and the like in the village have noticed something is wrong."
Fang Linghua glanced at her father and couldn't help but said, "What should I do?"
Suddenly, the old face hidden in the shadow of the door twitched.
"Why are you panicking? I'll be 70 next year! It's time for me to retire."
"But Third Aunt and the others..."
"You just said, what are they here for?" Fang Lingan did not answer, but confirmed it again.
"Come and find the water earthworm,"
"I'll go to the hotel with you, and I'll tell them what happens next!" The old man walked out proudly.
Outside the Magic Association Station
Looking at the seventeen people in front of him with their heads down, Bai Mo let out a long sigh.
"My fellow villagers, before you started working here, didn't you think about it? You are not magicians, so why would the Magic Association recruit all of you and let you manage a place?!"
In the silence, a simple and honest voice said:
"Anyway, the money is not less. These days, the employment pressure is high. We finally found a job. The president is a mage, so it doesn't matter if we are not one."
Bai Mo sighed helplessly. After investigating along the way, he basically understood it.
In the entire village, only the village committee is formal.
As for other magic associations, there are the Inquisition and the Hunter Alliance.
To put it nicely, it is a private enterprise.
To put it bluntly, they are all counterfeit and shoddy products.
It is precisely this group of counterfeits that manage this village to prosper.
There was no need to communicate with Ding Yumian face to face. Through the audio system, he always knew the status of their investigation.
It's exactly the same as mine!
Any official organization is fake.
The president, leader, director, bank president, etc. are mostly the same person named Fang Lingan.
A small number of them are Fang Lingan’s relatives.
Through a friendly and profound communication, he also understood who Fang Lingan was.
He is the village chief of Nanyue Village!
He is also the only mage in Nanyue Village, and a mid-level one at that.
Bai Mo really couldn't understand why the village chief did this.
rebel?
Not really.
"Anyway, everyone go back first. I will handle the matter with your village chief."
After calming the group of people down, Bai Mo took the evidence, sent a message to Ding Yumian and the others, and returned to the hotel together.
As soon as I entered the door, I saw an old man with a face like old tree bark, a straight posture and clothes made of linen sitting facing the door.
"Young men, you are back."
Seeing this, Bai Mo glanced at Fang Linghua, who was looking worried in the corner, and said:
"Village Chief Fang."
"That's right, old man. It seems that you already understand some of the things I did."
Looking up at the transparent bag in his hand, Fang Lingan let out a long sigh.
"The truth cannot be hidden. You are right in your guess. All the official institutions of Nanyue Village, whether magical or non-magical, except for the Village Committee, were established under my leadership."
Although I had guessed it in my heart, I was still confused when I heard the person who did the whole thing say it in person.
Bai Mo, Lingling, Ding Yumian and Mu Nujiao all felt an indescribable shock, a sense of being at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and a deep sense of incomprehension.
"May I know why?"
Throwing the evidence aside, Bai Mo walked over and sat down to ask.
"Of course." The village chief laughed twice and told the story in a leisurely tone:
"In the beginning, I just opened a police station. The security department of nearby Qingshan Town was too slow, and by the time they arrived to investigate the case, everyone had left."
Hearing this, Bai Mo was slightly speechless. Don't take opening a police station as a matter of course.
He doesn't have that ability now, which makes him seem like not a big shot.
"Later, some important things were lost in our village. In order to find them back, I opened a bank because I couldn't afford the hiring fee of a hunter detective for a long time.
After three years of not finding anything, I gave up the idea. However, employment for young people in the village became a problem, so I started thinking about how to enrich the village.
I expanded the police station into a security department and added the Hunter Union, which temporarily solved the employment problem for the villagers.
Then I discovered that with these official institutions, some fools with lots of money were happy to come here for vacation and to invest, and gradually it became what you see now.
Everyone in the village was skeptical at first, but after seeing so many organizations come out one after another, they gradually believed it after I persuaded them. "
After summarizing everything he had done over the years in one breath, Fang Lingan seemed to have let go of the burden.
"I didn't take a penny of the money from everyone in the village. It's all in the bank card."
He took out a bank card with the password recorded on it and continued:
"I'm almost 70 anyway, I won't be in jail for long, young man, help me return all the money."
After taking the card, Bai Mo felt like he was listening to a fantasy story and was silent for a while.
His silence seemed to make the village chief misunderstand his meaning, and he saw his eyes slightly sank, and said in a serious tone:
"But I know I'm not the only one at fault, but young man, please let others go. I'm willing to exchange it for information about Zhen Shuiyin."
"Can."
Coming back to his senses, Bai Mo nodded immediately after hearing these words.
"Is Nanyue Village a village built by the guardian of the Zhenshui earthworm?"
"Yes, the story of Zhen Water God has been passed down from generation to generation here." The old village chief looked at him in surprise.
"Where is it?"
"It hasn't appeared for a long time. According to the legend my grandfather told me, it is sleeping under the altar in the back mountain."
"Altar? Is there a way down? Do you have a way to wake it up?"
Hearing this, the village chief narrowed his eyes and looked deeply at Bai Mo, then suddenly sneered and said:
"The altar is the passage, but the key is lost!"
Hearing this, Bai Mo was startled immediately, and like Lingling beside him, he looked at Ding Yumian the first time.
Seeing Ding Yumian shook his head, their hearts sank immediately.
Bai Mo asked hurriedly: "How did you lose it, where did you lose it?"
At the same time, he remembered that the village chief had said before that something important in the village was lost, so he hired a hunter detective to look for it.
Lingling thought of more in an instant. She remembered that the Zhen Shuixian was bought at the auction.
And the Zhenling given by Xiang Xuewu seemed to have been purchased as well.
So she immediately said, "Bai Mo, token, bowstring!"
Hearing this, Bai Mo immediately understood and didn't hesitate to say anything.
Under the wide-eyed stares of Village Chief Fang and the unknown front desk lady next to him, he took out the Zhenling and Zhenshuixian.
“Are these two things the key?”
"How did you get them?!"
Compared to his daughter's gaffe, Village Chief Fang was much more calm. After being surprised, he shook his head.
"The key is a ring-shaped jade talisman with the seal of the water god Zhen. These two were stolen together."
After listening, Bai Mo sighed, "You should be the totem guardian family. I don't understand how you lost the totem inheritance."
"If children are not good, they will meet the wrong people."
Village Chief Fang glanced coldly at his daughter who was lowering her head behind him and snorted lightly.
Finally, he glanced at Bai Mo.
"Especially the handsome ones."
"Can the space under the altar be opened forcibly?" Mu Nujiao suddenly asked.
"No, the restrictions set by the altar will self-destruct if attacked by external forces!"
Hearing this, Mu Nujiao shook her head and continued to ponder.
On the other side, Lingling, who had just opened the computer, looked up and said:
"Bai Mo, the person who auctioned the Zhen Shui Xian and sold the Zhen Ling should be the same person. Although that guy is dead, his estate was inherited by his family. The key should be among his estate.
His family recently went bankrupt and put all those things up for auction, but the auction hasn't started yet." (End of this chapter)
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