The investigation by the forefather revealed that this person had not cultivated any Abnormal Technique or Secret Technique, and had not even practiced martial arts. Besides being a bit strong, he was just an ordinary person."
Girl: "What happened to the woodcutter afterward? Was he brought back for research by the forefather?"
Man: "At the time, more than one person was secretly investigating him. The woodcutter was taken away by another Magic Sect. Later, the forefather gathered a group of people to confront them about this, but their response was that the woodcutter mysteriously disappeared, leading to a conflict among everyone."
Girl: "How did the woodcutter disappear?"
Man: "No one knows for sure; it's said that he was gone in the blink of an eye. This incident does not appear in official historical records, but it is documented in the internal texts of the Sect."
Girl: "Was he the Hidden Moth?"
The man took a sip of lemon tea and nodded: "Yes, that woodcutter was the earliest recorded Hidden Moth."
Girl: "The earliest Hidden Moth? Does that mean there were many Hidden Moths later on?"
Holding his lemon tea, the man took another sip and said: "Yes, there's an old saying, 'The Hidden Moth never dies.'
Girl: "The Hidden Moth never dies? Did that woodcutter live for over a thousand years and is still alive now?"
The man shook his head: "The woodcutter was a Hidden Moth, but the Hidden Moth is not the woodcutter. Because of this woodcutter, many people later began collecting information on similar mysterious events and found that every so often, similar occurrences would always appear."
This is not the conclusion of one person or one generation, but a continuous accumulation of historical information.
It seems that someone can always inexplicably appear at some place and then disappear just as mysteriously. Although no one has seen it with their own eyes, explaining the occurrences can only be done this way, and those in the know refer to such individuals as Hidden Moths."
The girl suddenly realized something and spoke up: "According to this, Hidden Moth should refer to a group of people or a type of person, but I recall you said earlier—the Hidden Moth is one person?"
The man frowned slightly, as if finding the lemon tea a bit too sour: "According to ancient records, the Hidden Moth is supposed to be one person. If it's confirmed that someone is the Hidden Moth, then no second Hidden Moth is found at the same time."
The Hidden Moth can also be caught, killed, or even have accidents. But after one Hidden Moth disappears, eventually another Hidden Moth will appear, as if newborn.
The latter may know the former, or they may be completely unrelated, but the only commonality is that they are both Hidden Moths, possessing the same abilities, able to achieve the same feats.
Thus the saying 'The Hidden Moth never dies' came about. Even if you eliminate the sole Hidden Moth, you can't stop a new one from appearing. Looking at the situation from this reversed perspective, it seems like a new Hidden Moth only appears when the old one vanishes."
The girl noticed another issue and pursued: "If the Hidden Moth has such skills, how can he be caught?"
The man pondered before answering: "No one has ever seen with their own eyes how a Hidden Moth wields his abilities; it's just presumed they have such abilities.
But Hidden Moths can indeed be captured, possibly because such abilities are restricted, like some kind of usage rules."
Girl: "Without seeing with your own eyes, how can you confirm he's a Hidden Moth?"
Man: "It's quite simple, by determining he achieved something, like what happened last night. You don't need to see how he did it, as long as it can be confirmed that he did it.
The story of that woodcutter is just a historical record, and the most recent documented Hidden Moth appeared in this city twenty years ago. His name is Zhou Du..."
Two decades ago, the Zhou Du case was revealed online, but the news was soon suppressed, and related posts gradually disappeared. However, many parties involved are still alive, and police archives are available.
On the surface, it's an attempted theft case. One day during business hours, at the Qi Yuan City Commercial Bank operations department, an on-duty staff glanced at the surveillance and noticed someone in the safe deposit box area, immediately notifying the guards.
The guards caught Zhou Du in the warehouse on the spot.
Today, checking public information, including the bank's internal reports, yields only this much content, without anything particularly extraordinary. But understanding the details reveals the peculiar nature of this case.
The so-called safe deposit box service involves renting a safety deposit box at the bank to store important documents and valuable items. It requires both the customer's key and the bank's secondary key to open, allowing retrieval from the warehouse.
Once the box is retrieved, the warehouse has a dedicated small room where customers can input the password to open the box for their transactions. Besides the customer, there are no other personnel in the room, ensuring privacy.
There were no customers entering at the time, but the on-duty staff noticed the surveillance showed someone in the warehouse, thus notifying the guards.
The peculiarity of the case lies in the fact that no one knows how Zhou Du entered the warehouse. Surveillance records show he emerged from the dedicated small room for operations, yet there is no record of him entering it.
Why during business hours? Some speculate because the bank activates its automatic alarm system at other times, whereas during business hours, this system is deactivated. If no one sees him, he wouldn't be detected.
Even more bizarre, when Zhou Du was caught by guards and escorted to the police station, he was handcuffed. At the station, a few escort personnel got off first, then looked back at the car, but he had mysteriously disappeared.
No one knows how he escaped. He was there when the car was parked, suddenly not! Unbelievable!
But nowadays it's much easier to trace someone's whereabouts than in ancient times. The police quickly captured Zhou Du again, proving he was just an ordinary person without any counter-surveillance or counter-capture abilities.
This time Zhou Du couldn't escape, as two officers handcuffed him on either side, first sent to the detention center, where he was closely monitored...
Hearing this, the girl couldn't help but interject: "There should be an interrogation, right? What did he confess?"
The man shook his head: "He confessed nothing; the police conducted a surprise interrogation for several days, and he didn't speak, neither about his reason for sneaking into the warehouse nor about how he entered.
The police speculated he might be trying to protect his accomplices, who were likely insiders at the bank; otherwise, it couldn't be explained. A week later, Zhou Du died in the detention center, never making it to court for trial and conviction; the case ended without resolution."
The girl moved her coffee aside and leaned in to ask: "How did he die? Was he silenced?"
Man: "That I don't know; it's not ruled out that he was silenced. But from what I know, the forensic report concluded he died of heart failure, and it's said his health wasn't good initially.
Among historically recorded Hidden Moths, many also died young due to poor health."
Girl: "You just mentioned 'The Hidden Moth never dies,' yet it seems they don't live long."
Man: "After all I've said, have you thought of anything?"
The girl widened her eyes and exclaimed: "Three days ago or last night, a new Hidden Moth appeared!"
**