The Divine Hunter

Near noon, a few dark clouds suddenly appeared in the clear sky, and the dark clouds spread rapidly, covering the city of Vizima and blocking the sun. The weather in Vizima changed from sunny to cloudy, with a rustling cold wind blowing, and it didn't take long for a drizzle of drizzle to fall.

The first rain of autumn.

Even though the season is approaching autumn in Temeria, the temperature is still low.

Most residents hid under the eaves of their homes, shivering for shelter from the rain.

There was such a spectacle in the rain. Three suspicious figures in cloaks scurried along the empty street. Once the falling rain touched their bodies, they were bounced off by an invisible film and slipped from their sides.

But the rain became heavier and heavier, and gradually turned into a torrential rain. All that was left in the whole world was the hustle and bustle, and the silver curtains one after another, completely obscuring people's sight.

In the end, the three suspicious people on the street could not escape the fate of being drenched in soup, and ran to a house on Banyan Street in the Temple District to take shelter from the rain.

One of them took off his cloak to brush off the rainwater, and looked at the transparent glass-like water curtain falling from the eaves to the ground.

"What the hell! Could it be that the lion-faced spider is casting a spell to stop us?"

This heavy rain came too suddenly and at an untimely time, which greatly delayed the investigation progress of the three.

"Does that couple live near here?"

"No. 123 Banyan Street..." Oakes stared at the building's house number, "Yes, it's just a few steps north."

The witcher put on his cloak again, and braved the pouring rain to come to an old two-story brick house.

The house has a spacious courtyard scattered with wooden poles and ropes for drying clothes, blankets, and large tubs for clothes.

But it's all empty.

The gray-black wall tiles on the side of the house are covered with moss, scratches from gravel, and several graffiti of children, one of which depicts a family of three, parents standing on both sides with bright red smiling faces, and A little girl with braids in the middle held their hands and smiled sweetly.

"The little girl in the middle is Abigail."

So, this couple is the washerwoman's family who adopted her in the first place,

But since Yada's curse resurfaced a few days ago, the family has disappeared along with Abigail.

In order not to alarm the target, the witcher did not go through the main entrance, but went directly over the wall to the second floor, and then got in through a half-closed window.

The corridor on the second floor was dimly lit, only the scattered light from the cracks in the windows illuminated the mottled and decayed wooden floor. There was also a dirty table by the window with an oil lamp on it, half of which was left.

This is the norm for poor households, and families with a little money in Vizima have used magic lights for lighting.

The witcher listened carefully in the aisle for a while, silent. They leaned on their waists and searched in three ways.

Oaks searched for the two bedrooms upstairs and said they were bedrooms, but they were actually simple floor coverings, wardrobes and dressers.

Serrit and Roy stepped on their toes and stepped on the old wooden escalator to the first floor.

A wooden sofa was placed against the wall in the hall, covered with a dirty red blanket, and in the center of the hall was a wooden square table with a missing corner.

Serrit's nose moved, he caught a hint of rancidity in the air, and when he turned his eyes, he saw a mince pie that had been devoured by most of it on the dining table.

This is an anomaly, and there is no way that poor people would waste such expensive food.

The pie has been sitting for a long time, attracting a cockroach to devour it.

Other than that, there are no bright spots in the living room.

The witcher walked inside through the living room. The layout of the first floor was extremely simple. Except for the living room by the door, it was a place that could barely be regarded as a kitchen.

A crowded cubicle with an iron pot on the stove surrounded by stones in the middle.

Roy stirred with the spoon on the side of the iron pot. There was half a pot of beetroot soup left in the iron pot, but like the pie, it had been left for at least three days, and it had completely deteriorated and had a strong rancid taste.

"Did you find it?"

Oaks walked in from behind, "Don't say it's a human, there's not a single ghost. I only found this thing." He casually threw a cowhide book over.

On the cover of the book is depicted a lion-faced spider in a huge web, and its name: Black Greba, Zoran Akh Tra.

Roy took the book, flipped through it roughly, and found that the book was recording the beliefs and dogmas of the God of Evil Omen, and there were several lines of records after each dogma.

It was probably the experience of the owner and the couple.

For example, they found out that most of the members of the Church of the God of Bad Omen have experienced misfortunes in their lives, such as the loss of a loved one.

Or people who deal with death a lot, and who love pain, such as executioners, soldiers, or bandits, are attracted to the religious outlook of the Lion-faced Spider sect.

They believe that death is eternity and that living deserves suffering. Even if they are separated from their relatives, it is only a short-term separation, and sooner or later they will meet again in the eternal web woven by the lion-faced spider.

And the family lost their daughter, so they adopted Abigail and believed in the lion-faced spider. In the notes, between the lines revealed their thoughts about their deceased daughter.

"According to the book, a witcher who is engaged in dangerous work and usually has no good end is also suitable for worshiping the god of bad omens." Oakes muttered,

"Would you like to worship it?"

"I only believe in the sword in the hand!" Oakes said, "As for them, if they are true believers, they will definitely carry the scriptures with them. Even if they want to flee, they will not leave this full book."

"That's right, death can't wipe out the piety of the believers." Out of suspicion, the witcher searched the house again, and found a locked basement in the corner of the kitchen against the wall.

Because he didn't find the key, Serrit simply used the Alder seal to directly open the wooden door. The next second, thick dust rushed in, the air was filled with the smell of damp and moldy, and there was a faint stench.

The three witchers who came out of the sea of ​​blood from the mountain of corpses immediately recognized that it was the putrid odor from the corpse, which was very light and fresh.

human corpse.

The three jumped into the basement one by one, and then there was only a pile of old sundries in sight.

They followed the path indicated by the smell in their senses, walked to a certain corner of the basement, where the corpse stench was most intense, and then tapped on the wooden floor directly below.

"Boom, boom—"

"empty……"

The witchers exchanged glances. The rectangular wooden floors were covered with scary gaps, and they were not even reinforced with hammers and nails, but were directly covered.

They inserted the blade into the gap and pried lightly, and the floor was pried open, revealing a dark pit below.

The fishy smell of blood and the strange smell of spoiled meat accumulated to the top.

The witcher was stunned. In his field of vision, less than one meter from the ground, two middle-aged men, a man and a woman, were lying quietly in the wet soil.

They wore thin, close-fitting grey linen trousers, their serene faces were bloodless, and their pale skin was tinged with an ominous black.

Between them, both hands were held together until death. The gaps caused by sharp weapons could be clearly seen on the wrists. .

Blood stained the nearby soil, and half of their sleeves, and a rusty dagger stuck in the pool of dried blood.

Roy jumped into the kang, and then a pile of scalp-numbing insects got out of the corpse's clothes, and instantly fled into the invisible darkness underground.

Roy didn't care. He had seen too many corpses, and his expression didn't change at all. He focused on the fingers of the two of them. The bones were protruding and covered with rough calluses.

Apparently doing some dirty and tiring work for a long time.

"The washerwoman and her husband."

"Suicide in fear of sin?" Serret lifted the man's clothes and examined his body. "Could it be that he was afraid of Princess Yada's revenge?"

When the witcher finished examining the body, there were no other injuries except for the cuts on the wrists.

"If there is no accident, they committed suicide. They died because of excessive blood loss. The time of death was more than three days. It is very close to the recurrence of the curse of Yada."

"I can't figure it out..." Roy was still a little surprised, "Those three days were enough for the believers to abscond to a country other than Temeria to start a new life, and Yada didn't disclose the matter to the king, why did they choose to kill themselves? ."

"Who knows?" Oakes guessed. "Hasn't this couple encountered misfortune? Maybe Princess Yada's incident is just an opportunity to make them decide to go to the 'Eternal Land' to reunite with their daughter."

"Only from a doctrinal standpoint, cultists of lion-faced spiders do not resist death."

"I don't think something is right." Roy pondered, "How many lion-faced spider believers are left in Vizima?"

"With this couple, there are sixteen families in total."

"Go! Go and see another house."