Volume 1, Chapter 49 – Demonic Sound

Cao Chuan claimed he only handled coordination and assessment, yet in dealing with emergencies he was highly professional. “Most of the flesh has been chewed clean. The blood shows no residual toxins; otherwise these insects would not eat it. No tearing marks from large predators. Judging by how much was eaten, he was gnawed for a full half day, which means he has been lying here nine to ten hours. Time of death was this morning. With poison ruled out, bites ruled out, and beast attack ruled out, I think something deeper in the illusory-realm affected him.” He looked at Bai Xiang. “Anything to add?”

At other times he was tight-lipped; now, unexpectedly talkative.

“You previously said the outer rim of the illusory-realm was low risk,” Bai Xiang said.

“That is so,” Cao Chuan nodded. “But there is no way to guarantee that. If we could guarantee safe zones around every Demon Pool, there would be no need for publicity to paint them as so dangerous.” He added, “And so far the statement is not wrong. They were not killed on the outer rim.”

“This is only a dozen paces from the outer picket,” Bai Xiang glanced back the way they had come.

If this did not count as the rim, how small was this Demon Pool supposed to be?

“Quite normal,” Cao Chuan looked down at the body again. “Plenty of unfortunates die like this.”

What did he mean.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes.

“Illusory-realm—do you know what that implies?” Cao Chuan crouched and tilted his head at her. “On day one, the Chilong Army sent a fifteen-man squad in to scout. None returned. Everyone first assumed they died deep in the fog. An hour later, the second squad found them thirty meters from the picket line—also reduced to this. No one outside heard a sound from within.”

“There are many current guesses,” he went on. “One is suppression or tampering of the senses. The deeper into the fog, the heavier the Demon Pool’s taint. Sense errors arise—losing direction, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, unable to make sound.”

“Another is that they died earlier. When they went deeper and met something unclean in the fog, they died for good. What walked back and fell here were only their bodies.”

“This, too, is a common residue of contamination. Many illusory-realm Demon Pools show it.”

“In other words,” Bai Xiang also looked at the corpse, “cases like this are mostly due to crossing the ‘line’ and coming into close contact with the ‘contamination’ inside?”

Cao Chuan nodded. “I guess they wanted to speed up the investigation.”

Why they wanted speed was easy to grasp. Their companies surely had their own channels. With such a commotion at the field camp, even if Fang Xiaochun’s presence could not be traced, Benling Sword Dao and the Chilong Army were out in the open. It was not hard to infer what lay behind the illusory-realm.

Rеаԁ οո KаtReαdіnɡCαfе

That would be enormous merit.

Whoever first broke the Demon Pool and found the demon kingdom’s entrance hidden behind it would surely reap lavish rewards.

Officially and among the people, their reputation would soar.

Men die for profit; gain moves the heart.

If this is true of individuals, all the more for companies founded purely for profit.

Li Yu, Han Zhifeng, Gu Yong.

These three “experts” had very likely tried to snatch the greatest credit by taking a risk when Officer Cao was not watching.

Did they think when he said “go pick someone up,” he meant pick up their competitor?

“Do we need to go deeper into the fog?” Bai Xiang asked him.

“Others might,” Cao Chuan looked at her. “For you, there is no hard requirement.”

“What counts as deeper? What is the ‘line’ to judge by?”

“Color,” Cao Chuan said with certainty. “This outer fog is dense, but still normal fog. Go a bit farther and you will see blood-colored mist.”

“Cross into that and you are past the line; whatever happens, do not be surprised,” he nodded. “For example, get close and you will hear a very particular ‘sound.’”

“Sound?”

“Like a harmonica, or a reed organ. Sometimes far, sometimes near. You can hear it near the red mist zone.”

Reαԁ оn KαtRеαⅾinɡCafе

After a pause, Bai Xiang asked, “Tried outside approaches?”

“Fans, exhausters, fire—tried them all,” Cao Chuan shook his head. “Wind will not scatter it, suction will not draw it, fire will not enter. A flame touches the mist and goes out.”

“And we tested with torches. You can see how damp it is here. Very difficult.”

So it had to be broken from within.

Bai Xiang pondered.

Other brute-force means—explosives, missiles, even bringing in a master on Zhou Jing’an’s level—would not do.

As Tao Shuohua said, it would likely wreck the entrance to the demon kingdom and leave the root problem unsolved.

“Let’s go.”

Cao Chuan stood.

“As long as we do not enter the red mist, we are on the rim.”

“We will search the rim first. You can also see whether anything here sparks ideas.”

Saying so, he started off a couple of steps.

Halfway, no sound behind him; he looked back. Bai Xiang was crouched where he had been, twig in hand, teasing the remains.

She really had nerve.

Not afraid the body carried contamination?

Rеαԁ оո ΚαtReαԁіոɡСafе

Speechless, Cao Chuan came back and stood by, watching her movements.

“Anything?”

He asked.

“How did you handle the body?” Bai Xiang looked up.

“Burned,” Cao Chuan said.

“No autopsy?”

“Already autopsied. Useless,” he shook his head. “I told you up front. Why do you think I am so sure, if not because I read the report.”

“Then your autopsy was not thorough.”

Bai Xiang stood and pointed. “Listen.”

Cao Chuan narrowed his eyes. “Listen to what…?”

“Just listen.”

???

Fine.

Let’s see what you are up to.

Not entirely convinced, he crouched, got as close as he dared to Gu Yong’s body, focused his hearing, and did catch a faint ‘sound.’

Rеαd οո ΚаtRеаⅾіnɡCαfе

“Like a harmonica, or a reed organ?”

Bai Xiang suddenly stamped hard into the torso. With a crackle, the ribcage caved under her heel.

What was she doing?

Cao Chuan sprang back.

Bai Xiang motioned him over.

He obeyed, leaned where she indicated, peered closely—then his gaze sharpened, shock flashing in his eyes.

At the caved chest, on the snapped ribs jutting up, there were countless tiny vacuum holes crowded together.

What was this?

Could bugs bore that deep?

“That is the source of the ‘sound.’”

Bai Xiang said.

“Under certain influences, his bones and skin were drilled full of such holes. As long as he moved, air passing through them would make this noise at the ear—his own, or another’s.”

“His body had become a peculiar instrument.”

“When it happened, he might not even have known.”