When both Chen Gou and Tony rode their horses and stopped at a small square in the center of the village, a few old men rushed over.
One of them, an old man who seemed to be over 50 years old and still had a strong body, said respectfully, "Sirs, I'm the chief of the White Stone Village, Bai Fang. Thanks to the Covenant and you guys, the village has been finally saved."
"Cut to the chase. Take us to have a look at the bodies of the victims. Also, send someone to look after our warhorses and give them some water and beans!"
Tony dismounted from the horse and gave the reins to a young discerning villager.
Chen Gou did the same.
"Yes, please follow me."
With the village chief leading them, the group of villagers and the arriving Wildfire Mercenaries clustered around the two Abyssal Knights and arrived at the church where the bodies were temporarily stored.
It was a small church made of bricks and adobe that was just a little larger than the Long Song Team's small courtyard in Panshi City. There were no priests or bishops sent by the Covenant.
"It started about a month ago. A sick, comatose girl suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and started screaming wildly. Then, she died. We thought that she was just too sick, so we didn't pay much attention.
"A week later, a boy suddenly died in the middle of the night in the same way as well. There weren't any wounds on him, and he only screamed.
"Five days later, an adult in the village died a tragic death. This time, he had wounds on his body that looked like claw scratches from some kind of beast. However, we are sure that no beast had ever entered their rooms…"
"Interesting."
Tony, who had clearly taken an interest in these strange events, pulled back the white cloths covering several bodies on the ground one after another and squatted down to carefully examine the wounds on the bodies.
Chen Gou chose a corpse and started analyzing it seriously.
He hadn't studied anatomy, nor was he an expert at the characteristics of the wounds caused by various attacks.
However, thanks to an Awakener's keen perception, he obtained two pieces of very vital information.
Firstly, the wounds weren't just claw marks but wounds caused by sharp objects piercing their organs and fractures caused by violent trauma.
Secondly, the wounds on the deceased bodies were bloody and terrifying. The expression on their faces was so distorted that it was horrified, as though they had suffered brutal torture when they had been alive.
"After three days, more villagers died, and the deaths became increasingly more terrifying. A wife even saw her husband clearly sleeping on the bed when his stomach was suddenly torn apart, causing his organs and blood to gush out."
The old village chief added, "Then, the deaths became increasingly shorter, and the number of deaths increased even more. It wasn't until four days ago that more than one person started dying every night!"
In order to avoid an epidemic, the older bodies had been buried. The bodies in the church were the people that had died in the past ten days, but there were as many as a dozen.
The fatal injuries varied, but they all had one thing in common: They had a horrified look on their faces.
"Based on the state of the dead bodies and information available, I've come to several conclusions."
Tony said in a low voice, "Firstly, this is certainly not a case of revenge murder committed by humans. It's definitely an evil spirit causing trouble.
"Secondly, the horrified looks on the deceased prove that the evil spirit behind this is a cruel, bloodthirsty pervert that takes pleasure in torturing people to death. It enjoys the terror of the victims.
"Thirdly, based on the increasing number of deaths and shorter time intervals, it can be inferred that the evil spirit is probably getting stronger.
"What do you think?" He finally asked Chen Gou for his opinion.
Chen Gou, who didn't express an opinion upon hearing this, turned to the Wildfire Team and asked, "How long have you guys been here, and what have you found?"
"We only arrived here three days ago and found some patterns, but we don't know if they're right or wrong. The evil spirit only acts at night and targets random people. It comes and goes without a trace. Yesterday, we happened to be lucky enough to witness the entire process of a villager being murdered."
An ordinary young lady who was a member of the Wildfire Team stepped forward and said, "First, he shouted with a horrified look 'Don't, don't! Go away!'. Then, his limbs twitched as if he was resisting something before he suddenly flew up. The strongest member of our team couldn't even hold him down.
"In the end, after he sent our teammate flying, he hit his head against the beam and it shattered into pieces, spilling all over the floor."
When Chen Gou heard that, his eyebrows moved slightly. However, he still did not express an opinion. "What have you guys inferred?"
"We think that the evil spirit has two kinds of traits. One, it has extremely powerful stealth skills. Besides the victims, nobody can see it.
"Its second trait is that it attacks with its mind and soul and can kill invisibly from a distance."
The woman, though young, was the captain of the Wildfire Team, so she spoke without holding back.
Under the rule of the Church of the Covenant, it was everyone's duty to help the envoys of the church with their mission.
Furthermore, she had her own plans. If she could use this opportunity and socialize with the two Abyssal Knights, it would undoubtedly be of great help to the Wildfire Team in the future to gain a foothold near Panshi City.
If a small nameless squad like them wanted to grow and expand, they had to have support in the covenant.
Although these two Abyssal Knights seemed very young, only newly-promoted knights like them would accept their help.
A full Abyssal Knight Team would not give them a second glance.
"That's not right. Something doesn't make sense about those two possibilities."
Chen Gou contemplated this and shook his head before saying, "Most victims have their eyes closed even when they die. If it's stealthy, how did the horrified look on their faces come about?
"If it attacks with its mind, their expression can be explained. They were most likely caught in a terrifying illusion, but such an attack should result in a mental breakdown and soul annihilation with no obvious physical trauma!"
"Is it possible that these two possibilities are both true?" Tony asked with a frown.
He felt that he had said too much before. This mission was going to be quite tricky. He had a mask on his face, so nobody could see the change in his expression.
"That's not very possible. If it has a mental skill that can kill invisibly and can move so stealthily that even a demon hunter has a hard time detecting it, then it doesn't even need to restore its strength slowly. It would have slaughtered the entire village long ago.
"Also, I agree with you. This evil spirit is either becoming stronger or recovering. I'm afraid that we need to keep watch at night today and find out for ourselves what… exactly it is."
Chen Gou had never been bad at logical thinking. He attempted to get to the bottom of the matter and find out the truth behind it.
"That's all we can do," Tony answered with a nod.
Many times, what one heard might be false, but what one saw was true. Anything that was relayed would more or less deviate from the truth.
Thus, Chen Gou and Tony ordered the village chief to gather all the villagers on the square in front of the church. A few large bonfires were lit in the middle to keep them warm and allow them to spend the night there after dinner.
It was currently mid-autumn, and it wasn't very cold at night. The villagers were on the brink of collapse because they were afraid of dying and hence didn't resist this order.
They only hoped that the Abyssal Knights sent by the Covenant could find the evil spirit behind it.
The advantage of doing this was that no matter which villager was attacked that night, they would be able to see it at once.
All the villagers gathered around the bonfire in four directions and lay straw mats or bedding on the ground.
The Wildfire Team was situated on the outskirts of the square to monitor any suspicious figures that might approach.
Chen Gou and Tony stood in the middle as they observed the area in all directions.
From time to time, Chen Gou would scan the villagers and the Wildfire Team. He suspected that the evil spirit might likely have turned into a human like the Grimm Beast and hidden among the crowd…