Old William painfully propped himself up, using his elbows and legs, and crawled with difficulty into the cave.
Thick blood dripped onto the ground drop by drop. A section of the ground swelled up, and finger-thick roots drilled out to suck up all the fresh blood like suction cups, greedily slithering towards Old William.
Jian Jing's heart sank.
How could she have forgotten that the Titan Tree absorbed the blood of animals as nourishment? The previous explosion must have damaged it. Now, coming across the bleeding Old William, how could it not be like a shark catching the scent of blood, refusing to let go?
She had to hurry and take out her gun to intercept the roots.
"William!" she shouted, "Get away, quick!"
Old William turned his head back. His eyes were bright red. He actually erupted with a tremendous burst of strength again, charging straight at her.
Jian Jing dodged to the side, trying to grab his arm to drag him out.
He was as heavy as lead, almost immovable.
When she turned her head again, Qi Tian, who had been crouching in the corner just now, had also disappeared.
Jian Jing laughed in exasperation. One had gone mad, the other was shamelessly opportunistic. Even if she had three heads and six arms, she wouldn’t be able to save them. Since this was the case, she shouldn’t be blamed for cutting off their escape route.
Whether you went voluntarily or got summoned, I’ll block your path first before we talk.
She still had one last bomb.
Jian Jing had originally placed it in the cave entrance, intending to detonate it after leaving, to eliminate all future troubles.
Now, she would just detonate it earlier.
[System: Timed bomb has been set, countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1--]
"Boom!"
The ground shook violently.
After shaking for a bit, a huge boulder broke off from the ceiling and came crashing down. Old William let out an enraged roar, like an infuriated bear, bellowing as he charged at her.
This was precisely what Jian Jing had been waiting for. She immediately turned and fled swiftly.
Old William gave chase out of the cave, with rocks raining down behind him.
The ground quaked ceaselessly with deafening rumbles. It seemed like this third explosion had completely overwhelmed the ancient cave. It had started collapsing uncontrollably.
As Jian Jing ran, she continued taunting, successfully luring Old William out of the precariously swaying cave.
The trees outside were also affected. Thick branches snapped off and fell, completely sealing the cave entrance together with the countless rubble.
A giant tree trunk struck Old William’s shoulder. He crashed heavily to the ground.
Jian Jing heaved a sigh of relief.
But very soon, another key problem occurred to her.
The cave was hidden deep inside the forest. She had only been able to find her way here by following Qi Tian. Now that his abilities were gone, how was she going to leave this endless expanse of woods?
The system should have issued her a wilderness survival mission by now.
[System: Scanning shows environment has not met mission criteria yet]
Jian Jing: "..." Just a sarcastic remark.
She attached a locator beacon to the back of Old William’s collar, deciding not to bring him for now, in case he woke up and attacked her halfway.
As for figuring out which direction to go, was the pearl still there?
She crouched on the ground, rummaging around. Luckily, she discovered the pearl had not been lost, still wedged in a crevice between some rocks.
Not bad, she was pretty lucky.
As Jian Jing searched for the marked pearls, she carefully made her way back. About half an hour later, she found the entrance to the underground passage on the farm, hidden behind some bushes.
Once inside the root-structured underground passage, there was only one path.
She turned on her flashlight. Perhaps due to the tree entity’s influence, the roots here had completely lost their vitality, becoming dried up and brittle twigs that clung to the walls and crumbled at a touch.
She hoped it wouldn’t collapse. Jian Jing prayed silently as she quickened her pace.
After another fifteen minutes, she reached the end of the passage.
Old Frank was no longer inside the cage in the basement.
It must have been Qi Tian. Afraid he might launch a sneak attack, Jian Jing immediately shifted her perspective, only to see the retreating trees and bumpy path.
He had driven away!
Not only did he run, he sealed up the exit too.
Jian Jing turned on her X-ray device, confirming that not only had bolts been inserted above, heavy objects had also been overturned to block the way. Even if she immediately set her power stat to 10, the human limit, it would probably still be very difficult to push it open from below.
Since this path was blocked, she could only look for other exits.
Her sci-fi glasses switched to thermal imaging mode.
She discovered a human figure.
Unsure if it was Old Frank or someone else, she cautiously approached.
The passageway was open. Faint bleating sounds came from within.
She pushed the movable panel open and peeked in. Shocked by what she saw.
Jiang BaiYan was hugging a little white lamb, skillfully using his fingers to comb its fur.
"What are you doing in the sheep pen?" She climbed out of the exit and closed the movable panel, looking around incredulously. Indeed, this was the sheep pen on Frank's farm.
"Jingjing!" Jiang BaiYan was pleasantly surprised beyond measure, "Are you alright?"
Jian Jing's body was covered in dust, and the exposed skin had some scratches, but none too serious. "I'm fine, what about you?"
He brought his face closer. "Got slapped."
Jian Jing could see it was still a little swollen. "What happened?"
Jiang BaiYan briefly recounted his experiences, and added afterwards:
"Old William went mad chasing me. I didn't even know where I had run to anymore, and thought I was done for. Unexpectedly, halfway through the chase, he suddenly abandoned me and charged straight into the woods. I wanted to come back but couldn't find my way."
As he spoke, he stroked the little lamb in his arms, his expression distant, "Not long after, that white sheep appeared again, leading me all the way until we circled back to the farm. But I didn't dare enter the house, afraid it might be an ambush, so I could only hide here. Uh, other than the stench, it was rather warm."
Jian Jing's brows furrowed.
What kind of bizarre instance was this? Gigantic tree monsters, creepy owls, guiding lambs in the forest, where did they come from?
"This white one?" She squatted down and poked the fluffy little lamb.
"No, that one's bigger. But," he lowered his voice mysteriously, "out of all the sheep here, only this one bleats."
Jian Jing was skeptical, and poked the yellow sheep next to it.
The yellow sheep lowered its head chewing grass, completely ignoring her.
She could only temporarily set aside these questions for now, and said, "Old William is still in the woods, we have to go rescue him. Did you see Old Frank?"
Jiang BaiYan shook his head.
The two had no choice but to call the police first.
The small town's police force was nothing to boast about. They had to wait over an hour before two officers came. Jian Jing didn't make a big fuss, only saying they went hunting in the woods and met with an accident, their guide getting injured.
With the locator beacon's help, she quickly led them to the unconscious Old William.
He was immediately sent to the hospital, and the police also advised them to get themselves examined.
"There's a fragrance on you two," said the older officer. "Did you eat any mushrooms?"
Jian Jing thought to herself, what mushrooms, did you think this was Yunnan? But on second thought, she realized something was off.
"What fragrance?" she asked.
The policeman said, "We have a fungus here called the Titan Mushroom. It smells and tastes very nice, but easily causes hallucinations of gigantic objects. You really didn't eat any?"
Jian Jing asked, "What does it look like?"
The officer described, "Very small, the size of a fingertip, grayish black."
Jiang BaiYan also recalled, "Could it be that thing Old William stuffed in the roast chicken on the first day at noon?"
Jian Jing's facial muscles twitched. She decisively said, "Alright, let's get ourselves checked too."
So together they went into the hospital to clean their wounds and get their blood tested.
While waiting for the results, a commotion erupted from the operating room. Curious, Jian Jing moved closer to the isolation door, only to hear the originally anesthetized Old William loudly repeating a single word from inside.
"Sheep!"
"Sheep!"
"Sheep!"
At the start, the doctors only wanted to get him under control, not paying attention to what he was saying. But upon clearly hearing what it was, the lead surgeon, a female doctor, suddenly let out a shriek. "Teresa!"
She pounced over viciously, hysterical with grief, "Was it you?! Did you kill my child?!"
All while questioning him, tears streaming down her face, as if driven mad.
Jian Jing's heart ached with sorrow.
It seemed like other than Old Lide, the relatives of the other victims had also never forgotten.
"Jingjing," Jiang BaiYan asked softly, "Did he do it?"
Jian Jing thought for a moment, then said, "I think so."
"He said he didn't kill Kerry, that after Kerry went missing he went into the woods and met the owl," Jiang BaiYan was still confused. "What does the owl signify?"
She shook her head, her mind in turmoil.
Things had reached this point. The entire story had split into two parts now - one fantastical or sci-fi side, and one realistic materialist side.
The legends of the giant tree, the curse, the owl, the lamb, and the Native American belonged to the former; Kerry's disappearance, the murder of five teenagers, the disappearance of one couple, Qi Tian's arson belonged to the latter.
From Reid's investigation, William had a solid alibi and no time to commit the crime. He may have lured Kerry into the forest, but did he kill Kerry?
It should be known that after Kerry's disappearance, the townspeople searched many times. So many people didn't find her, but William found her quickly and killed her and abandoned her body in the wilderness?
Unless they had a particularly secretive place, Kerry was attacked that night and lost her autonomy, this may have caused this situation.
However, what was the motive?
William didn't seem to have a motive to kill Kerry.
This pattern of behavior was completely different from the way the five teenagers were killed later.
By comparison, Jian Jing was more inclined to believe that Kerry was not killed by William.
But the five teenagers were.
Reid's diary mentioned that ten years later, William had appeared at the scene of the crime.
At that time, was he already abnormal? When he said he met an owl, did it mean he had been in the white cave and was affected by the giant tree, and a violent side of his personality appeared?
So why did he warn them not to stay in the forest after dark?
Was it to catch by pretending to release, or did he usually not realize his abnormality, and only vaguely remembered that something terrible had appeared in the forest?
"How annoying." She pressed her temples, her head aching for this pitiful special task.
Alright, let's take a look at Qi Tian first.
She closed her eyes and peeked at what Qi Tian saw.
Woods.
He was still hiding in the woods.
After a little thought, Jian Jing asked the nurse at the reception desk to borrow a phone and called the police station: "Sorry, I suddenly remembered that little Frank went into the woods and never came back, maybe he met with an accident too..."
Two days later.
The 1992 case was solved.
The police found a knife in old William's house stained with blood from several victims, which matched their wounds. And there were also a lot of old William's fingerprints on the knife.
As for the person himself, his mind had never recovered for some reason, and he just kept repeating the words "sheep" and "owl".
But in any case, the evidence was overwhelming, and the task was considered completed.
System decoded.
[Task Name: Frank's Farm (Completed)]
[Content Description: 30 years ago, five teenagers were brutally murdered, the suspect was someone else, what kind of secrets were hidden underground on the farm, who was calling for the advent of demons in the depths of the forest?]
[Task Rewards and Penalties: Successfully finding the real murderer and capturing them alive, reward 30 courage points; damaging the giant tree, rescuing innocent souls, reward 20 special contribution points]
This was good news, but there was also bad news.
As soon as the special task ended, the "Borrowed Vision" limited card could no longer be used.
Qi Tian still had not been found.
The author has something to say: Qi Tian has had foreshadowing since the first season after all, it would be too abrupt if he just died like this
Let him cling on a little longer and get his comeuppance next season
