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"Let's go, let's see what's going on." Tang Chuan and Dugu Bo exchanged glances, their expressions slightly grim.
Dugu Bo nodded, and both figures flickered simultaneously, soaring like leaping stars towards the direction from which the bloody smell emanated, crossing several streets in a few bounds. A few minutes later, they quietly descended from a rooftop, arriving in a secluded alley.
Immediately, a horrific scene met their eyes. They saw several Spirit Masters lying haphazardly on the ground. Their bodies were incredibly shriveled, as if all their blood had been drained, resembling mummified remains, with skin clinging tightly to their bones, and their faces frozen in expressions of terror from their last moments.
"What vicious methods... This is clearly the result of something sucking the Life Qi from their bodies." Dugu Bo knelt down to examine them closely, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
Hearing this, Tang Chuan also knelt down to carefully inspect the bodies of these Spirit Masters. He noticed that the ribs and limb bones of some of them showed unnatural fracture marks, as if they had been tightly bound and strangled by something slender. Following this, he raised his hand, signaling Dugu Bo to come and examine these wounds.
"This method of death is somewhat similar to a snake strangling someone to death. Could the culprit's Spirit be a snake?" Dugu Bo asked, his brows slightly furrowed after the inspection.
A hint of gravity flashed in his eyes. Tang Chuan shook his head, then stretched out his hand to gesture the width of the wounds, his voice quite solemn, "I don't think so. For example, your Jade Phosphor Serpent, if it broke bones, it should leave wider marks.
But the broken bones of these people are only as thick as a palm." At this point, his voice suddenly paused, as if he had thought of something, and his expression gradually became unpleasant, "The width of these marks... it's somewhat like Blue Silver Grass..."
When Dugu Bo heard Tang Chuan say that these people were strangled by Blue Silver Grass, he immediately looked up, staring at the latter with a strange gaze.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I've been with you this whole time." Seeing this, Tang Chuan rolled his eyes, somewhat speechless.
Dugu Bo shook his head, a complex expression appearing on his aged face, and said in a deep voice, "I'm not doubting you, but hearing you mention Blue Silver Grass made me think of someone."
"Are you talking about Tang San from Shrek Academy?" Tang Chuan raised an eyebrow.
Dugu Bo nodded, then lowered his head again to examine the bodies, saying, "Let's search together again and see if there are any other clues."
Carefully examining the shriveled bodies before them, both of their movements suddenly paused simultaneously. They found that on the back or chest of these bodies, there were eight small, neatly arranged holes, with a very strange pattern.
"This is...!?" Their pupils constricted slightly, and the expressions of Dugu Bo and Tang Chuan instantly became grave.
"This... these are wounds left by the Eight Spider Lances!? It's a pity we arrived a step too late and let that fellow escape." Tang Chuan's face was ashen, speaking with extreme fury.
Dugu Bo nodded, a hint of regret flashing in his cloudy eyes, saying, "There should be no mistake. Blue Silver Grass plus Eight Spider Lances... it really is that Tang San from Shrek Academy. I just didn't expect that the son of the esteemed Clear Sky Douluo would actually take a crooked path for power, becoming a degenerate that everyone reviles."
"This beast!" Upon hearing these words, Tang Chuan's fists clenched tightly, his knuckles cracking, veins bulging on his forehead, and his voice carried an uncontrollable rage, "Don't let me catch him red-handed, otherwise, I will personally cripple him!"
Dugu Bo looked at Tang Chuan's unusually agitated reaction in surprise, and asked in confusion, "Why are you so angry? Oh, right, I remember asking you before, you both share the surname Tang, he's Tang Hao's son, and you know Tang Hao..." At this point, he suddenly paused, a look of realization flashing in his eyes. "You're not related, are you?"
Tang Chuan suddenly turned his face away, then stood with his back to Dugu Bo. He chose not to answer the question directly, but instead said in a low voice, "You will know the relationship between him and me sooner or later.
The reason I'm not telling you is because I'm ashamed to be associated with such a person. Let's go, it's time for us to return to the Academy." After speaking, he stepped out of the alley, his figure gradually merging into the heavy night.
Watching Tang Chuan's retreating figure, a glimmer of understanding flashed in Dugu Bo's eyes, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his aged face, as if he had guessed something.
A Month of Turmoil
A month passed in a flash. During this month, Heaven Dou City was in turmoil, with people dying mysteriously from time to time, their bodies all shriveled, identical to the initial victims.
The Tiandou Royal Family had sent people to investigate multiple times, but the culprit acted meticulously, and they consistently found nothing. Even Dugu Bo and Tang Chuan had gone out several times at night, hoping to catch Tang San in the act. But this fellow was extremely cunning; the time and place of his crimes were completely unfixed. Today he might be in the city's eastern slums, tomorrow he might be in the noble district of the west, and the day after he would appear in the commercial street of the north. In the vast Heaven Dou City, no one could predict where he would strike next.
"It seems that catching this beast in the vast Heaven Dou City will be very difficult." Standing on the rooftop, overlooking the entire city, the night wind ruffled the stray hairs on Tang Chuan's forehead.
Dugu Bo also stood on the rooftop at this moment. He turned to look at Tang Chuan and said in a deep voice, "To catch this fellow in the act, I think we must use bait to lure him."
"Bait?" Hearing this, Tang Chuan waved his hand, the moonlight spilling over his slightly weary face, saying, "It's fine, even if we don't catch him now, we'll still have opportunities later." As he spoke, a playful smile flashed across his face.
"Given Tang San's personality, once the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament begins, he will definitely try to commit crimes secretly on the arena. At that time, we'll set a trap in the arena to catch him red-handed, directly ruining him and his teacher Yu Xiaogang's reputations."
"That's a good idea." Dugu Bo nodded and chuckled.
Then, he changed the subject. "By the way, the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament is starting in a few months. Seven people are needed to participate in the tournament. How many do you have now?"
"How many people?" After a moment of silence, Tang Chuan unconsciously rubbed his chin, saying, "Me, Rui'er, plus your granddaughter, and Xue Qinghe's younger sister... I have a total of four people here now, still three short." He then corrected himself. "No, it should be two short. A few days ago, Xue Qinghe told me that Ning Fengzhi would send his daughter to our Academy soon."
As his words fell, the night wind blew, and the two stood on the rooftop, speechless for a moment. Only the distant sound of the night watchman's clapper slowly echoed in the night.
"Then what about the two missing people?" After a moment of contemplation, Dugu Bo frowned slightly.
Tang Chuan waved his hand, leaped down from the rooftop, and said seriously, "Solving this is simple. Let's go back to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and ask the Royal Fight Team if anyone is willing to join us."