Outside the gathering place in the forest, two figures walked slowly towards them.
The sun was high in the sky, but both of them were holding thick cotton-padded clothes. One was tall and the other had a calm face. It was Bai Mo and the two who had just returned from Hansheng Mine.
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the entire gathering place was quiet.
There was no one in sight. Zhang Tao told Bai Mo that most people were going to work or looking for supplies at this time.
Laziness cannot survive in the buffer zone. If you stay at home all day long, you can only starve and wait to die. Even Wu Fan, a gangster, knows this very well.
The group of people who were just waiting to die were very disdainful.
Zhang Tao also said that with Wuji City as the center, this flushing area is covered by a total of eight expanded restricted areas.
And the area where the gathering place is located,
It is exactly at the intersection center of three of the restricted areas.
Fortunately, the danger levels of these three restricted areas are not high. They are two C-level restricted areas and one D-level restricted area. The creatures in the restricted areas are relatively easy to deal with, and most of them follow certain rules of action.
Judging from experience, most of the creatures in these restricted areas are nocturnal. Especially during the noon period, creatures in the restricted area rarely appear outside the restricted area. Therefore, this time period is the best time for human activities.
Not long ago, the Parliament announced the results of a study. Under normal circumstances, the higher the risk level in a restricted area, the smaller the range of activities of the organisms in the restricted area, and correspondingly, the greater their autonomy.
In other words, the higher the level of the forbidden area, the more difficult it is to expand, and the active area is often small, but the creatures in the forbidden area are more able to deviate from the established rules.
The whereabouts are strange,
May appear in any corner of the restricted area coverage area at any time.
Therefore, relatively speaking, for a restricted area with a lower risk level, the risk level of the buffer zone near it will also be at a lower level, because at least the actions of the creatures in the restricted area can be followed.
In the view of the Parliament, once the danger level of the restricted area is too high, it is very likely that examples like the one in the past will occur, and creatures in the restricted area may even have the opportunity to escape from the constraints of the restricted area.
So far, what happened in Equality Paradise is still highly confidential and has not been announced to the public. Very few people know about it.
Zhang Tao could tell that Bai Mo didn't know much about the situation in the buffer zone, so whenever he thought of anything along the way, he would tell him incessantly, fully demonstrating what it means to be a chatty person.
It is worth mentioning that he never asked about Bai Mo's identity and origin.
Bai Mo was very interested in the buffer zone and was not impatient. He kept listening silently. When he learned that there was a D-level restricted area nearby,
He seemed to have thought of something and showed a thoughtful expression.
"Brother Bai, you said before that I should be worried about another thing, what exactly are you referring to?"
At this moment, a doubtful voice sounded. He turned his head and saw Zhang Tao looking at him hesitantly, hesitant to speak, as if he wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask.
Zhang Tao was indeed hesitant. After Bai Mo said this before, he did not continue. He thought it was some secret that was inconvenient to tell, so he acted very cautiously.
Bai Mo was about to answer, but suddenly stopped and looked at the gravel road ahead.
Zhang Tao followed his line of sight and looked over, and was stunned for a moment. He saw an irregular pool of dark red clots on the road ahead of him, which were obviously blood stains.
However, he remembered clearly that there was no blood on the road when the two left this morning, and judging from the color and degree of coagulation of the blood, this pool of blood only appeared a few hours ago at most.
The amount of bleeding was quite large, and if they all belonged to the same person, it would have been enough to cause death from excessive blood loss.
Zhang Tao quickly stepped forward to check without thinking.
Bai Mo stood there, silently watching this scene, then looked away from the ground and asked, "Did you see anything?"
"The blood stains roughly appear in two colors, which indicates that the time point of blood coagulation is likely to be different. In other words, this pool of blood does not belong to the same person. Maybe two people were injured at the same location at different times, so
Only then will blood stains belonging to two time periods be left."
After a pause, Zhang Tao continued his analysis, "There were no traces of fighting at the scene, which means that either the injured person was killed with one blow, or one party had the strength to crush him and knocked him down and took him away in an instant."
"I see."
Bai Mo nodded, raised his head slightly, and looked in a certain direction.
"but……"
After a moment of silence, Zhang Tao hesitated and said, "One thing I'm curious about is that in addition to the blood stains that obviously belong to two people, there are many blood spots of different shades in this pool of blood, as if they were dripping continuously after that.
"
He frowned slightly, "And there are no other blood stains on the surrounding roads. This means that the injured person did not leave here, but stayed here for a while, so there is blood dripping from time to time."
"Hmm...very good analysis."
Bai Mo's expression became a little weird, "Then who do you think did this?"
"Mostly restricted creatures."
Zhang Tao looked determined and said, "After all, if it was man-made, then there would either be corpses or more bloodstains nearby, but there would be nothing."
Since the emergence of the buffer zone, there have been many incidents of killing due to conflicts. Some people even kill people to show their strength. After all, if they are not near the city, no one will go out of their way to maintain order. Killing is not a big deal.
And because of this, if this pool of blood is man-made, once a deceased person appears, the murderer will not deliberately hide the body, and may even leave in a swaggering manner.
And if the owner of the blood was only injured but not dead, then there would definitely be more blood left on the road when he left.
But there was nothing.
No matter whether it was the body or the blood stains, no more clues could be found at the scene.
The owner of the blood seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, and strange events like this would most likely be related to the creatures in the restricted area.
There are quite a few people who have died due to restricted creatures these days, and if they encounter one, they can only consider themselves unlucky.
Zhang Tao sighed secretly, feeling sad in his heart. His intuition told him that the owner of this pool of blood was dead.
"The analysis makes sense, so how do you think the creatures in the restricted area are able to make corpses disappear out of thin air?"
Bai Mo's expression became increasingly weird, and for some reason, an imperceptible smile gradually appeared on his face.
Zhang Tao thought for a while and replied casually: "There are many possibilities, the simplest one is - maybe the forbidden creature can fly, and after it kills its prey, it catches it straight into the sky, so there will be attacks from time to time.
Blood dripped down."
"Then why is there different blood belonging to two people on the ground?"
"This is easier."
Zhang Tao smiled and said, "Maybe this pool of blood is some kind of trap deliberately left, and the hunter is waiting in the sky. Once someone comes to check, he will be thrown to the ground in an instant and become that thing's next
prey."
"Right."
After a pause, Zhang Tao asked curiously, "Brother Bai, you have been looking at the top of my head since just now. Is there something dirty on my head..."
Speaking of which.
As if he suddenly thought of something, the smile on his face became stagnant and his voice stopped abruptly.
There was silence all around, and a strange atmosphere began to spread.
"Tick tock."
A drop of thick liquid fell on the tip of Zhang Tao's nose, with a familiar fishy smell that mixed with the oozing sweat, a bit similar to the smell of rust——
It's blood.
Realizing this, Zhang Tao suddenly trembled, and his body became stiff instantly. He didn't dare to raise his head, but just looked at Bai Mo blankly, praying in his heart, never give that answer...
However he was disappointed.
After a brief silence, the strange smile on Bai Mo's face became stronger and stronger, and then he said word by word:
"What do you think?"
The three words were like a heavy hammer. Zhang Tao's heart suddenly trembled, and he wanted to flee immediately, but his feet felt like lead, extremely heavy, and he could not move no matter what.
After a strong ideological struggle, he swallowed, finally mustered up the courage, moved his neck stiffly, and looked in the direction of his head.
at the same time.
"Tick tock."
Another drop of blood fell, just hitting Zhang Tao's cheek, but it was nothing, because what caught his eyes was a withered male corpse penetrated by branches.
The corpse was hung very high, perhaps because the blood had been drained away. The body was extremely thin, almost blending into the dry branches. The panic before death was vivid, and the bloodshot eyes protruded outwards, full of resentment.
, looking at Zhang Tao.
Zhang Tao looked horrified and couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
To be continued...