Chapter 1357 The Truth Crawling Out from the Ground Translated by XephiZ Edited by Aelryinth Mo Fan received a call from Qi Yang as soon as he got off the plane. Qi Yang asked Mo Fan, Lingling, and Zhao Manyan to head north right away. Despite being confused, the three drove an off-road vehicle that the Preventive Committee had provided for them. They followed the highway to a spacious grassland... They were driving very quickly, and kept going forward recklessly even when there was no road available. Judging by Qi Yang’s tone, something serious had happened. — The trio met Qi Yang’s Preventive Committee after they arrived in the valley behind a mountain. There were ten members in the Preventive Committee. Qi Yang was the Leader and the commander. As for the remaining nine members, two were Battlemages, and the rest were spies, watchers, and trackers. In terms of strength, they were not that impressive. Mo Fan might be able to take down the whole Committee by himself. That being said, the Preventive Committee was established to collect solid evidence. Once they had enough evidence to prove a great conspiracy was happening, they would request the assistance of the Magic Association! “What happened?” Mo Fan asked. “We received a report not long ago that the town here has gone missing,” Qi Yang said. “Shouldn’t it be something the Magic Association is responsible for?” Zhao Manyan grumbled. The government could not possibly ask them to do everything. They were currently following the trail of an Extraditor of the Black Vatican. All their efforts would be in vain if the Extraditor got away! “It definitely has something to do with the Black Vatican,” an ordinary-looking man of the Preventive Committee said. “Let’s check it out first,” Lingling said. The group went to the town and discovered the buildings were still around. Even the tents scattered across the field were intact. It did not seem like anything serious had happened apart from the slight disorder. The town was in a mess, yet the valuables were still around. It clearly was not the work of bandits. It was rare to see a huge town being robbed in China. The town was deserted. Not a single person was around, but there were bloodstains everywhere. It was what the Preventive Committee was worried about the most. The bloodstains were a clear sign that something gruesome had happened here... “A lot of people must have died, but I don’t understand it. There wasn’t a single corpse, not even a single part of their bodies,” Qi Yang frowned. It was the Preventive Committee’s first time encountering anything like it. The place was full of bloodstains that had dried up in the wind. They could all imagine the massacre, but why would the culprit bother cleaning up all the remains? It was hard work, and it had not been long since the town last contacted the outside world. It was impossible for the culprit to have enough time to clean up the mess. Lingling was closely inspecting the town. A member of the Preventive Committee came up to Qi Yang and was about to whisper into his ear. Qi Yang glared at him. The man quickly reacted and said aloud, “We found a mentally unstable old herdsman. He was sent to the nearest city to be treated. He seems to be a resident of this town.” “Can he talk properly?” Qi Yang asked. The man shook his head. “We’ll pay him a visit after he recovers. Did any of you find anything?” Qi Yang asked his members. “I think it’s the Beijiang (North of Xinjiang) Desolate Beasts. They have been living in the northern boundary of our country. This Beiji Grassland is very close to the northern boundary. It’s likely that the whole town is wiped out by the demon creatures before they could call for help... as for the corpses, I bet the savage Beijiang Desolate Beasts ate them all up,” a man with a rough face and thick lips said. “I agree with Daxie (Big Scorpion),” a woman agreed. Everyone called her Fujie (Sister Fu). “There’s another possibility. A Super Poison Spell might have caused it. The poison was strong enough to liquefy the remains... I also discovered wilted plants in the grassland to the north. The plants were stained with destructive energy; it’s a sign of the Poison Element,” the member that first showed up with information, Qu Kang, spoke up. Qi Yang fell into deep thought after listening to the reports and speculations from his underlings. As a matter of fact, he believed everything they had said was too one-sided. Something did not feel right to him. He looked at Mo Fan and asked, “What do you think?” “None of them are right,” Mo Fan said. “Why would you say so? It’s obviously a Super Poison Spell!” “You’re so young, you might not have enough experience. It’s what greedy creatures like the Beijiang Desolated Beasts do. They always ate up all the remains of their prey. There was a similar incident around thirteen years ago. It also took the authorities a long time to figure out the truth...” Daxie said. “Don’t just all talk at once, wait for your turn,” Qi Yang said. “That won’t be necessary. Is there something to eat? We haven’t eaten since the flight,” Mo Fan asked. “...” The members of the Preventive Committee opened their eyes wide. They all looked at Mo Fan as if he was a monster. The man still had the appetite to eat after learning such a horrible tragedy had occurred. The whole place was covered in blood. It was extremely gory, yet he still noticed that he was starving... “You over there, set the place up so we can sit on the ground. You will soon know what happened here,” Mo Fan said. Mo Fan, Lingling, Zhao Manyan sat on the ground and ate some food. Meanwhile, the members of the Preventive Committee continued to search for clues, as they were not pleased with Mo Fan’s response. — “Leader, are they really here to lead us? Why do I feel like they are just a bunch of kids with some background?” Daxie asked Qi Yang in a soft voice. “I think so too; they don’t even bother listening to us or searching for clues. They didn’t even care about the investigation. What were they thinking?” Fujie harrumphed coldly. “He is...” Qi Yang was about to introduce Mo Fan to them when he suddenly felt the ground loosening, like something was about to come out of the ground. Qi Yang was confused. He took a close look at the ground, but did not notice anything. Mo Fan was done with his meal, and shouted, asking everyone to gather before him. The members of the Preventive Committee were displeased, as they were still busy with their investigations, yet they had no choice but to obey the order. After all, Mo Fan and his crew were in charge now. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖 “Do you know what’s causing this?” Qu Kang snapped. Mo Fan looked into the horizon. The sun was slowly setting in the west. Its remaining brilliance scattered across the land, while the darkness slowly invaded from the horizon in the opposite direction... Qu Kang went enraged when he saw Mo Fan enjoying the view of the sunset instead of answering his question, “What the heck are you all doing here? Are you only here to go through the motions? You’re done now, hurry back to your comfortable cities!” “Qu Kang!” Qi Yang snapped, his face dark. Qu Kang was a stubborn man. He kept glaring at Mo Fan and his crew. “Take a look yourself, they should be out at any second,” Mo Fan pointed at the bloody town and said helplessly. “What are we supposed to look at? Are you telling me the culprit is going to show up on its own!?” Qu Kang yelled. Ghastly cries like wild beasts were suddenly coming from the town, piercing and eerie. The cries were coming from the ground, echoing in the ears of the members of the Preventive Committee. The soil covered by dried bloodstains began to loosen up. The firm ground cracked apart as rotten hands reached out from the gaps, followed by broken heads and savage gazes, and finally festered bodies covered in blood! Their bodies were quite disgusting to look at. Even though most of them still had arms, legs, and bodies, their body ratios were incompatible. It was as if... they were made of the body parts of different people! Every corpse consisted of body parts of different people. Some had a man’s head, but a woman’s slender body. Some had bulky figures, but their arms and legs were those of children! Their appearance would be amusing if they were made of playdough, but they were clearly living humans recently. The way their body parts were connected together was sending chills down the Preventive Committee’s spines! “My Heavens...” Fujie screamed. She was frozen with shock. “Are these... the people of the town?” Daxie blurted out in disbelief. “Undead! It’s the undead!” Qi Yang said. Mo Fan did not seem surprised when he saw the undead crawling out of the ground. He said, “If there’s only blood, but no corpses, it’s pretty obvious that the corpses have gone into the ground, and would only show up at night. You call yourself elites of the Preventive Committee? You don’t even have the basic knowledge about the undead!” Mo Fan was clearly very familiar with the undead after his encounter at the Ancient Capital. The moment he set foot into the town, he knew who the culprit was, but he did not understand; the undead had already gone back to their graves, to their underground palace after the Calamity of the Ancient Capital. Why would they show up now? Why would the town be overrun by undead? Besides, the town was quite a distance away from the Land of the Undead. He had never heard of there being undead in Beijiang. A land that the sun was shining brightly upon was clearly not suitable for the undead! The members of the Preventive Committee were ashamed after being scolded by Mo Fan. Indeed, they had not expected the undead were behind it. “It’s getting more complicated. Let’s hope the two aren’t related...” Lingling looked at the ghastly undead. She could imagine what the people of the town had gone through, seeing how twisted and messed up they were. Apart from sorrow and grief, she was brimming with the anger from the sense of helplessness! “The rest of you will continue to follow the Shepherd’s trail, I’ll let you know his whereabouts at all time. Send out your spies if necessary. I’ll investigate the incident of this town myself. If the undead of the Ancient Capital is really behind it...” Mo Fan stopped talking. The Calamity of the Ancient Capital would always remain an incurable scar in Mo Fan’s heart. Whenever the scar was touched, hidden under his calm expression was anger that was building like a volcano!