Chapter 174 Casefile 5: Nether Festival (3)
The Brewing Workshop's first "Taco Night" was a resounding success. The pulled pork tacos and shrimp and cheese naan were a hit. After enjoying the steaming, stringy, exotic tacos, everyone scooped up a bowl of thick corn chowder, which was both comforting and satisfying.
Their conversation gradually shifted from the customs of the Ghost Festival to the trivialities of the city, and finally to East City of Eston. Aunt Wolf unexpectedly took over the conversation at this point: "Hey, my grandfather is from East City of Eston! I still remember when I was a child, he held me in his arms and told me how beautiful East City was. He even took me to see the tunnel he used to escape from East City to West City..."
Andre & Buster: "!!"
They both sat up straight in an instant: "Where is that tunnel?!"
"It's in an abandoned courtyard in the east of the city," Auntie Wolf said cheerfully. "Many elderly people should still know about it. If you're interested, I can take you to see it. It's a relatively unknown historical site, right? Although, aside from us descendants of immigrants, no one seems to care anymore."
"We'll go after dinner," Andre said, his green eyes flashing with determination. "I'm very interested in that period of history."
——It is true that an old person in the family is like a treasure.
Aunt Wolf's knowledge of the history of Easton East City was not much more than Andre's. After all, she had not experienced it firsthand, but had only heard many bedtime stories from her grandfather.
...Now that I think about it carefully, these cruel historical stories don’t seem to be very good material for bedtime stories.
But there is no doubt that these stories, which were so thrilling and terrifying to the young Aunt Wolf, did leave a deep impression in her memory. She still clearly remembers her grandfather's nagging words, and him holding her hand, standing in the abandoned and desolate courtyard, pointing out the tunnel entrance that once allowed them to escape from hell and return to the human world.
"Here it is."
After dinner was over and the dishes were cleared away, Aunt Wolf, as promised, brought Andre, Jiangyou, and Buster to a deserted house in the northeast corner of the city. This house was located at the foot of the city wall, only about 30 kilometers away from Easton East City.
Andre spread out the map, took out the compass and gestured, thought for a moment, put the map back in his arms, and then followed Aunt Wolf into the yard.
Aunt Wolf turned into the backyard of the mansion with familiarity and pointed to a locked trapdoor on the ground. "This is the entrance to the tunnel. Back then, Prince Abrey led the rebels to surround the East City of Eston, cutting off all supplies to the people inside. They vowed to use the people in the city as hostages to force out my brother who was guarding the West City of Eston."
"The twin cities were extremely close, only a few dozen kilometers apart. However, it was during a severe drought, leaving families with little food and the water levels in the wells extremely low. Seeing their chance of survival just a few dozen kilometers away, yet facing death from thirst and starvation under heavy siege, the people of East City actively sought ways to save themselves.
"Unable to defeat the soldiers outside the city, they devised the idea of digging a tunnel. Led by several earth magicians, they dug their way down for three days, exhausting all their physical strength and magical power. Halfway through, they encountered people digging all the way from the west city.
"It was then that people realized that the earth magicians were actually the Crown Prince's men who had been planted in the city long before. Both sides came up with this plan together and finally succeeded in digging a tunnel. The city residents evacuated without anyone noticing, while the Crown Prince's troops infiltrated the city and caught the rebels unawares."
Jiang You listened to Auntie Wolf's vivid descriptions, almost imagining that war-torn era. The dilapidated house seemed grand and elegant to her. Curious, she explored the surroundings, and before she knew it, she had left the group.
When Jiangyou staggered to the dead tree in the courtyard, there was a sudden "click" sound under her bone claws. Jiangyou subconsciously lowered her head: "What the..." thing?
"Little Bones! Watch out!"
--call out!
There was a sound of breaking through the air, and something silver swept over in the darkness. Then Jiang You felt that her vision was rising into the air...ah, no, it was her head that flew into the air.
"Oh! My wallet!" She shouted subconsciously, stretching out her bony claws to press down her head, but she saw her headless skeleton dancing. Fortunately, she fell steadily into a thick, familiar and reassuring embrace the next second.
"It's okay, the money wasn't spent." Andrei seemed to be able to read Jianyou's thoughts and answered before Jianyou could even ask. He took two steps forward and put Jianyou's head back on her neck.
"What was that just now?" Jiang You asked in shock.
Buster was already crouching by the tree. He looked it up and down and said, "It's a trap. There's a trigger buried in the ground. If you step on it, a steel wire will shoot out and chop off your head. It's really a blessing in disguise that it was Boss You who stepped on it."
It was night time and there was no light in the courtyard. The only thing left was the small oil lamps brought by several people. With limited vision, even if Andre stepped on the mechanism, he could not guarantee that he could avoid the attack safely. Only Jiangyou, a skeleton who often took off his head and used it as a wallet, could perform a split action on the spot.
Even Boss You, who is not likely to die easily, didn't care much about her head flying off. Buster even heard that what she just shouted was "my wallet" instead of "my head". If Boss You didn't always like to stuff things into her head, she probably wouldn't be panicking at all at this moment.
——This is the relaxation that is unique to liches.
"The trap is very new, probably laid recently. Judging by the traces, it's probably no more than a month old," Baster said. "Steel wire is the Ghost Face Man's usual weapon. Perhaps he used this place as a hiding place."
"Let's leave the same way we came," Andrei said decisively. "Buster, call the nearest patrol team over and guard this yard. Don't let anyone in or out. I'll take Little Bone and Aunt Wolf home first."
"Yes, sir!"
After such a long time, finally getting a clue about the Ghost Face Man, Andrei was naturally anxious. He sent Jiangyou and Aunt Wolf back to the workshop, repeatedly told Jericho to keep an eye on the house, and asked Jiangyou to close the access rights of the Dragon Crystal doors and windows after he left.
He hurriedly put on a full set of armor and a sword, went to the Knights Templar to mobilize more people, and led the team to the house in the east of the city.
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