"It's a corpse."
With just one glance, I confirmed the identity of the person standing before me.
Feifei, as if protecting her food, spread her wings and covered me. Her light red feathers stood up straight, like a miniature sun appearing out of nowhere, radiating a scorching light.
This allows us to clearly see everything in front of us.
Outside the secret passage was a small hut, seemingly an unused tool shed. Scattered around the corner were many cleaning and farming tools, as well as a half-person-high storage cabinet for changing clothes. At this moment, the door of the hut was ajar, letting in a sliver of moonlight. A stiff corpse, its death somewhat gruesome, was leaning against the wooden cabinet, its shadow coincidentally falling on the entrance to the secret passage.
The corpse, whose body was slowly covered with a thin layer of frost, must have died not long ago. It was dressed in a white robe with light shoulder armor and a breastplate. Judging from its attire, it was clearly a guard on duty tonight.
Fresh blood congealed into several slender prisms in the freezing air, hanging near the wounds of the purplish-red corpse. The knife wound on the abdomen and the cut on the neck were clearly visible, both poised to gush out hot blood.
"He was dragged in from outside."
Alice quickly crouched down and crept to the door of the hut. She touched the ground lightly, then peeked out through the half-open crack, shook her head, and whispered, "The action was hasty, leaving obvious traces. She's probably not a seasoned assassin. However, she seems to be a skilled swordsman. Her movements were very fast and accurate, and the marks from the stabs and slashes were decisive, indicating that she had made up her mind."
"Unfortunately, it's blocked by the branches and leaves outside, so I can't see the exact location to make the move, but I imagine it's not too far away."
What an unexpected coincidence!
On the very night we were trying to locate the girl who had been offered as a human sacrifice, a murder occurred near the suspected spot? And the victim seemed to be the guard on duty that night?
"Perhaps that person has the same goal as us," I speculated.
Miyuki shook her head: "We can't let our guard down easily. Although such a possibility exists, we can't be sure it's a revenge killing or a crime of passion. Of course, regardless of the perpetrator's motives, or whether our relationship or objectives will conflict, at least to the people here, both sides are just intruders."
"Judging from the current situation, we should take as a premise that someone among those who remain here has already discovered this matter and issued a warning to their superiors, and adjust our subsequent plans accordingly."
According to the previous plan, we should sneak into the church's backyard through the greenhouse garden as quietly as possible, and then use the trees and shrubs to cover ourselves, avoiding the sight of the guards, and head to the place where the girls who were about to be sacrificed might live.
According to Shen Xue, the area must have been surrounded by a large number of guards, and it would likely have been a fierce battle, with the survivors fighting and retreating before finally managing to escape.
She even planned her final escape route: besides escaping through a secret passage when she was sure she wouldn't be discovered, one option was to hide in a rarely used side room of a large house nearby, and the other was to find clothes similar to our size nearby and blend into the search team to slip out of the city, playing a trick of hiding in the dark.
“But the situation has changed a lot, which means that the chances of our subsequent actions being discovered have increased.” Glancing at Alice, who looked indifferent, Miyuki turned back to me. “The best advice is that we should stop for now, return the way we came, reduce the risk of exposure, and investigate again after this storm has passed.”
"Time is too tight."
I shook my head and denied it: "Regardless of whether the human sacrifices are really being kept here, it is foreseeable that more people will be sent here tomorrow, and there is a great chance that it will become completely sealed off. At that time, we will have no chance to confirm it at all."
"So……"
"On the contrary, now is a good opportunity. Let's assume that person is currently active nearby, and let's assume that he has indeed been discovered and alerted, but as long as we carefully maintain our concealment and avoid the guards' attention, we can successfully achieve our goal. Of course, we can also use a feint, using the commotion he causes to lure away most of the remaining personnel, making it much easier to deal with the rest."
Miyuki seemed a little hesitant.
"You probably don't want to hurt those who might be innocent, right?"
I could tell from her expression what she was thinking: "This is a fleeting opportunity. If we don't seize it now, there won't be another chance to take advantage of the situation so easily."
"...No, I am merely a sword. I am prepared for both battle and killing."
Her profile was revealed in the moonlight, revealing a cold and hard outline. Her right hand, resting on the hilt of the sword, was clearly gripping the weight, causing her knuckles to turn slightly white.
However, these are all things that are easy to say but complicated to do.
Given the current ambiguous and chaotic situation, we can only assume the worst-case scenario first, and then make some plans.
We sent Fifi, who was very conspicuous in the dark, back into the gem first. After confirming several times that there were no other guards nearby, we crouched down and carefully made our way forward, using the tall, neatly trimmed bushes for cover.
The green plants, completely different from the impression of the frozen snow city, are like tall green walls. The stinging thorns have been carefully trimmed into rounded, blunt tips that are not easy to hurt. They grow neatly in the designated framework, covered with grass-green vines and branches, and decorated with pure white, light pink and light purple flowers.
We are like tiny insects trapped in a giant's labyrinth, searching for an unknown way out in this small observation deck enclosed by a transparent glass dome.
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