The sun is high

After showing the way for Xiuge and the others, the old goblin turned around again and continued his unfinished work.

Those ruined bushes made Shouge feel very awkward and uncomfortable. He wanted to tell the old goblin Sergei in front of him that with his gardening skills, it would be better not to do anything. He always felt that With this old goblin's pruning method of "add more water and more water", this originally beautiful grove will soon be razed to the ground.

However, before Xiuge could speak, his attention was attracted by the other party's extremely uncoordinated movements.

He swore that he had never seen such awkward and weird movements in his two lifetimes. This old goblin's limbs seemed to be completely out of control of his head. He would always twitch from time to time, or move in some obviously wrong direction. The strange feeling is even more serious than a person walking with the same hands and feet.

Wei Lin also frowned and glanced at the old goblin Sergey for a few times, but in the end she didn't say anything. She lightly winked at Shuge and then walked towards the way she came from.

The top priority now is to find the insiders in this caravan to understand the situation. There is no need to waste too much time on an old goblin who can't even do chores.

Xiuge glanced at Sergei one last time, then turned and left along with Weilin.

When the two of them reached the statue of the giant-eared goblin, Xiuge stopped. He was about to speak out his thoughts and judgments, but saw Weilin raise her hand towards him. After shaking his fingers slightly, a streamlined stream-level magic "sound blocking" was applied around the two of them.

The moment the magic took effect, the two of them spoke at the same time.

"He's lying..."

"There's something wrong with him!"

The two people who spoke at the same time were stunned, but then they both understood that the other party had also noticed something strange about the goblin, so Xiuge smiled and humbly said: "Why don't you say it first, Miss Wei Lin?"

"What the goblin named Sergei said twice before and after cannot be matched... He first said that there was no one here except himself, and then said that other people were indoors, but judging from the situation in the courtyard, there was definitely no one there. A permanent state.”

After saying that, the female mage raised the corner of her mouth in a rare move: "It's your turn, Mr. Shuge."

"There's something wrong with this guy."

After Shuge finished speaking, he immediately realized that he seemed to have said something nonsense, so he immediately added: "I thought at first that this Sergey was the gardener hired by the giant-eared goblins to take care of the courtyard and deal with it. Other chores, but that’s clearly not the case.”

"I just took a closer look. The clothes he is wearing don't fit well, but they are obviously the clothes that goblin merchants would choose. There are too many decorations and too complicated. Not only that, he even has a ring on his hand."

Xiuge made two gestures to his fingers: "And there are two rings on one finger. Although they are silver rings, this specification is obviously not suitable for the identity of a gardener. Of course, there is an even stranger phenomenon. "

He pointed at the belt that was tied around his body, a very classic and durable Walter buckle style: "Any businessman who wears that kind of clothing should have a belt that fits very well, but that guy's pants, But it was tied directly to his body with a rope, which meant that the clothes he was wearing did not fit him at all."

"Walk."

After hearing Xiuge's judgment, Wei Lin's eyes suddenly flashed with determination, so she immediately picked up the magic book, turned around and rushed towards the direction where she saw the old goblin before.

Xiuge followed closely behind, and the crystal gun in his hand was already loaded. At this moment, he actually had some expectations in his heart - he really wanted to use this magic gun to hit someone in the head. , I don’t know where this inexplicable impulsiveness comes from. Maybe it’s because I have an obsession with this type of firearms in my bones?

However, when the two of them rushed to the scattered trees, they found that the old gnome Sergey had disappeared, and only the gardening shears were abandoned on the scattered branches and leaves of the bushes.

An abnormal and depressing atmosphere gradually spread around this quiet mansion. Shuge and Weilin returned to the courtyard in silence, and the second building belonged to the Golden Boot Caravan and "still has people" in the words of old Sergei. The three-story mansion was now like a huge coffin of death. Among the closed doors and windows, Xiuge couldn't see any life at all.

For both of them, the choices they can make now are very limited.

Either give up on this important clue that is already close at hand, or step into this mansion where there is obviously a serious problem.

Wei Lin cast a questioning look, and Xiuge nodded silently in response.

Rather than being anxious in the uncertain turbulence and future, it is better to take the initiative when you have definite clues.

So Weilin took out the summoning medium she carried with her, and under the light of magic, a white hound with slender legs and body was quickly formed from the fragmented canine bones. Shuge naturally summoned his own The running rat, as soon as this big rat appeared, it circled around Shuge's feet affectionately twice, as if it had never escaped Shuge's control before.

Just like the gate to the courtyard outside, the protective magic on the door of the mansion has long since expired, so Weilin easily opened the carved wooden door in front of her with a simple lock-picking trick.

The two summoned magical creatures rushed into the silent mansion one after another under the orders of their masters, followed closely by the two Shuges.

The scene in the mansion was completely different from what the two of them had imagined.

This place is very clean, even spotless, and almost all the magic lamps are working normally. These rich giant-eared goblins are never stingy in these aspects. The lamps they choose are all high-quality products with guaranteed quality, so the mansion's The interior is actually very bright, with almost no particularly dark corners.

"If word spreads about what happened here, there might be new weird stories coming out."

Shuge gently rubbed the crystal gun with his fingers while constantly observing the surroundings. There were so many silver products here that it was outrageous. The silver ornaments inlaid on picture frames and lamps were enough to prove that these goblins were crazy. financial resources and aesthetic preferences.

There are always warning signs in the spiritual world, and Xiuge cannot ignore them. However, this warning sign has always remained very stable, and the metal disc has not changed more.

"I'm sure it's this caravan... The leaders of the goblins boasted about this to me several times along the way."

Weilin raised her finger and pointed to an envelope and certificate in a glass frame on the wall. They were the "Magic Goods Transportation and Sales Permit" issued by the Legal Committee to specific caravans and business groups and the "Merlin Le and annual high-quality caravan commendation." In the eyes of businessmen, this is indeed a kind of capital worth showing off.

Xiuge nodded. He couldn't say too much at the moment, because a large amount of detailed information was being fed back from the running rat. Its senses were much more sensitive than humans, so the various subtle traces it captured were also richer.

The thin-legged white hound summoned by Wei Lin seemed to smell something, so it headed upstairs to explore on its own, while Xiuge held the crystal gun and moved to the hall next to it.

Following the "tips" given by the running rat, Shuge reached out and uncovered a corner of the carpet in the hall, and an extremely discordant tiny hole immediately appeared in front of him.

"Miss Wei Lin, this should be the trace left by the crystal gun shot, right?"

Wei Lin stretched her head over to take a look, and then commented: "Hmm... but the power is limited. It should be the old style from more than ten years ago, otherwise the nearby floor would have been blasted through by magic power and debris."

Xiuge reached out and touched the edge of the hole: "The traces are very new. There is not even any dust inside. It should have been left recently."

He held the crystal blunderbuss, gestured a little, and then raised his eyebrows: "The height of the giant-eared goblins is limited. What kind of situation will make them shoot towards the ground? The enemy is crawling on the ground?"

This thought flashed through Shuge's mind like lightning. The old goblin Sergei's staggering and uncoordinated movements, abnormal clothing, garbled speech, and the silent but still cleaned mansion and courtyard... …

This all seems to point to a possibility.

But before he could speak, Wei Lin, who was also searching for traces in the hall, let out a muffled groan. Xiuge turned around and saw that the female mage's face suddenly turned pale. At the same time, , Xiuge also heard the faint banging and barking sounds coming from the second floor of the mansion, but within two seconds, the barking from the white hound turned into a weak whimper...

Wei Lin decisively terminated the magical connection between herself and the summoned object, and Shuge immediately issued an order to the running rat to stop it from approaching the second floor of the mansion.

A smell that impressed Xiuge gradually came over.

It has a pungent, sour smell, like the smell that comes from a large amount of rotten meat.

However, the smell now was much stronger than what Shuge smelled in Ernst's old house. It was as if the sewers of Salem City had been exploded.

"Changebug..."

Shuge whispered his conjecture: "It takes at least three days for the changelings to devour an adult and completely digest it. The giant-eared goblins are much smaller than humans, so for them, this is That should be enough time.”

Such a strong smell means that there are probably not a few changelings in this mansion. The old Sergei is probably the first individual to complete the "digestion", but he is still in the stage of understanding and understanding. In the process of learning those memories, only in this way can we explain why he made such an uncoordinated move!

Now that the situation here has been roughly confirmed, Xiuge and the two have no reason to leave. After all, the biggest threat to the changeling bugs comes from their ability to imitate and learn from other creatures. As long as they are still at this stage, Then it is still a fragile existence.

What's more, these changelings are closely related to the plans secretly promoted by the Walter Kingdom and the Ernst family. If you want to know more clearly what to do next, you must go to the second floor of the mansion.

Weilin's movements were swift. These days' experience had made her more capable than before. She took off the mage badges on the magic book that could increase magic power and quickly wrapped them around her palms. , and then took out the magic pendulum he carried with him and let it swing gently.

The fresh traces of magic scattered in the air were clearly revealed under the action of the magic pendulum. So following the faint trace of magic, the two quickly and silently stepped onto the stairs to the second floor of the mansion.

The second floor was equally bright and quiet. Apart from the pungent smell in the air, everything seemed normal.

The rooms here are used as bedrooms for caravan members and as warehouses for important commodities and collectibles. Now, the traces traced by the magic pendulum are leading all the way to the warehouse room at the end of the corridor.

"Okay, hiding it in the collectibles warehouse? It's very much like a giant-eared goblin who will die in a pile of money."

Wei Lin told a joke that was not very funny, and then put away the magic pendulum. She raised her palm, and the light blue magic light was already beating between her fingers.

Shuge controlled the running rat to jump onto his shoulder, and walked forward with it. On his free left hand, the dark green light and shadow flashed slightly, and Charron's Touch was ready to go.

A few steps away from the door of the collection warehouse, Weilin stopped and raised her palm, so the Legal Committee's special violent door-breaking magic "Disintegration Portal" was instantly applied to the heavy iron-wrapped door. On the door, under the influence of magic power, this heavy door twisted and collapsed on the spot, and fell towards the inside of the warehouse.

Then Shuge and the two saw an unforgettable scene.

In the warehouse filled with all kinds of exquisite collectibles, a large mass of viscous liquid that was entangled and fused with each other was slowly squirming there. They were so huge that they almost reached the ceiling. And among these liquid masses, a large number of tragic body remains are being "digested" bit by bit. They are all members of the goblin caravan, and now, these twisted changelings have obviously entered. In the final stage of digestion, most of the victims' bodies were stripped of their skin, and only their heads remained intact...

And among the bodies of these giant-eared goblins, there were many silver jewelry and clothes that once belonged to them. In addition, Shuge also saw the magic bones that Wei Lin used to summon the white hound.

This is already the canteen where the changelings digest knowledge and memories.