This era's people certainly wouldn't have such things, so this unidentified woman should be like them, someone who came from the real world.

The woman's clothes were torn to shreds, but one could still make out that it was a coarse cloth garment, the style of which did indeed match this world.

After thinking for a moment, Li Bai suddenly looked at the man with the saber, "General, where was this body found?"

"In a side room on the second floor of the inn," the general recalled.

"There was only this one corpse in the room, correct?" Yao Shunyu seemed to have thought of something as well, and pressed for confirmation.

The general nodded. "That's right, only this one corpse. The remaining corpses were all found in their own rooms. Shopkeeper Wu and his wife were in their bedroom. Their two daughters were unmarried, so they lived together, and their bodies were discovered in their boudoir. The errand boy lived in the backyard." The general pointed with his hand. "That small house there. The body was lying behind the door."

Everyone looked in the direction the general was pointing. There was a small adobe house in the backyard, soaked in water and in a terrible state, as if it could collapse at any moment.

"We would like to take a look at the side room where the body was found. I wonder if that would be convenient?" Zhang Qizheng cupped his fist in his other hand towards the general, speaking politely.

"Please, feel free, masters."

The general seemed to have many things to deal with, so he assigned a soldier to take them there. Just before leaving the backyard, Jiang Cheng subconsciously turned his head and noticed that the body that had been uncovered was now covered up again.

The six bodies covered with white cloth lay there quietly, lined up in a row. The saber-wielding general was looking down at the bodies, his face turned to the side, not knowing what he was thinking.

Going up the stairs, the old wooden steps had been soaked in water. Each step made a creaking sound, which was unsettling in this environment.

The fatty stood on the stairs and looked down. The entire front hall of the inn was unrecognizable, filled with debris, overturned tables and chairs, broken bottles and jars, and puddles of mud on the floor. A faint stench hung in the air.

Jiang Cheng sniffed. The uneasy feeling grew stronger. He was familiar with the damp, rotting smell. It was a smell that came from the deep bottom of the water, cold, deep, and without sunlight...

He had smelled a similar scent during the Dahe Niangniang (River Goddess) mission.

Almost every room on the second floor had its door open, and the hinges of several doors were broken, the door panels hanging crookedly. Standing outside the door, one could see that the room was in a state of chaos.

The ground was slippery. Walking down a long corridor, the soldier leading the way stopped in front of a room. "Masters, this is the room."

This place was located at the end of the corridor. The fatty craned his neck to look into the room. This room was located in a remote area, and the room itself was relatively small. Judging from the layout, it was not used as a guest room, because there was no bed inside. There were only two large cabinets and several broken wooden boxes. Water was still dripping out of the gaps in the cabinets.

The group entered the room one after another, but the soldier leading the way looked embarrassed and hesitated to enter the room. Zhu Jie said considerately, "It's too small in there to accommodate so many people. You can wait for us outside."

Hearing this, the soldier breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't want to make it too obvious. "As you masters wish."

After entering the room, everyone tacitly began to search everywhere, leaving no stone unturned in the two wardrobes and several large boxes. It was clear that the innkeeper used this place as a storeroom, storing things like clothes and bedding that were not currently needed, as well as candles, porcelain bottles, and other sundries.

Soon, a discovery was made. "Found it!" It was Tang Qisheng who spoke. In front of him was a large wooden box with the lid open. Everything inside was wet, and in his hand was a hoodie, pink in color, with cartoon patterns on it.

Everyone took out everything in the box. Looking at the things in front of them, Jiang Cheng realized that his previous guess had become a reality.

A pink hoodie, a gray jacket, a pair of sweatpants, and a pair of sneakers. A pair of white socks wadded into a ball were stuffed inside the sneakers.

That's right, the unknown female corpse, like them, was a teammate who had come to this world to carry out a mission, but unfortunately, she had died last night. Everyone didn't even know her name.

"Sure enough, our feeling was right. There is indeed a problem with this inn. If we had stayed here last night, we would be lying in the backyard today," Gao Yanqing said with an ugly expression.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng suddenly said, "What you said isn't accurate. This woman didn't check in. No one in the city would dare to open the door for her in this situation. She sneaked in."

"That's right," Yao Shunyu echoed. "This woman isn't stupid either. From the looks of it, she didn't alarm anyone. She probably just wanted to change into clothes from this era to better hide herself, but she didn't expect..."

Yao Shunyu stopped here, but everyone understood what he meant. The woman didn't expect that she would encounter a ghost so soon after arriving in this world, and even lose her life.

Recalling the woman's frozen face and the fragmented body that had been gnawed on, the fatty felt a chill run down his spine.

After all, the person was dead, so everyone didn't avoid anything. Lu Qin carefully searched every pocket of the clothes, but other than finding a phone that was soaked in water and couldn't be turned on, she found nothing.

After cleaning up the scene, the group returned to the backyard. The bodies were now gone. The general was standing in front of the adobe house, with several soldiers surrounding him, as if listening to the general's instructions.

Seeing Jiang Cheng and his group return, the general waved his hand to dismiss the soldiers and walked over to ask, "Masters, have you found anything?"

The experienced and prudent Zhang Qizheng replied, "Not yet."

The general looked slightly disappointed, but still nodded. "Masters, you have traveled a long way to get here, and you must be tired. Originally, I should have let the masters rest for a few days, but lives are at stake, so..."

"It's our duty. General, you are too kind," Tang Qisheng said with a cupped fist in his other hand.

"How about this? You masters can rest well during the day. Later in the evening, I will host a banquet for you to wash away the dust. I have official duties to attend to, so please excuse me for now." After the general finished speaking, he didn't dawdle and turned to leave.

Of course, before leaving, he also left two soldiers for Jiang Cheng and the others to use, but even though that's what he said, the fatty always felt that these two people were left to supervise them, fearing that they would be afraid and run away.

But at least there were people accompanying them. Jiang Cheng and the others had many questions to ask about this city, the so-called Zhennan (Pacify the South) Marquis Mansion, and the Chun Shen (Spring God) Lake, which was dozens of miles away, and which they were most interested in.

From the mouths of the two soldiers, everyone gradually gained a deeper understanding of the background of this world. This city was called Luo An City and was located on the border of the dynasty. Here, the heavens were high and the emperor was far away. The Zhennan Marquis was the ruler of this city, and this Zhennan Marquis was by no means an idle official who had received the blessings of his ancestors, but a true warrior who had fought on the battlefield. His achievements were earned with his own hands. A large part of the reason this city was brought under the dynasty's control was due to the Zhennan Marquis's efforts.

When mentioning this Zhennan Marquis, the faces of the two soldiers were full of respect and awe, which they couldn't fake. Slaying generals and seizing flags on the battlefield had always been the way to become a hero.

"Hehe, I have long heard that the Zhennan Marquis is exceptionally brave and martial. After hearing what you two young brothers have said today, it has truly broadened our horizons. I wonder when we will have the good fortune to witness his demeanor," Jiang Cheng changed the subject. "I heard that there is a lake dozens of miles away called Chun Shen Lake. The name is really interesting. I wonder if there are any legends about it?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing the three words "Chun Shen Lake," the expressions of the two soldiers changed instantly. They stammered and hesitated for a long time, unable to say anything.

Seeing this, the fatty looked at Jiang Cheng and said in coordination, "I told you not to ask. Didn't you see that the two young brothers don't want to tell you? Don't make things difficult for them."

Hearing what the fatty said, one of the soldiers immediately became alarmed. "Masters, you have misunderstood. It's not that we don't want to say, it's just that we really don't know much. We only know that Chun Shen Lake has a wide surface and the water is deep and the waves are rapid, even comparable to the great rivers and seas, and... and it is rumored that the lake... the lake is very strange."

"Strange?" Yao Shunyu showed a look of great interest.

The soldier couldn't resist them. He looked around and, finding that no one was paying attention, lowered his voice and said, "Yes, it's strange. In the heat of summer, the lake water is terrifyingly cold. If anyone splashes the water a few times, when they go home at night and lie in bed, their bones will feel cold and painful, and they'll have to drink medicinal soup for a few days."

"Also, the fish in the lake are frighteningly large. Their eyes stare straight at people, making people feel panicked. It is said that a wandering master once passed by and said that there was evil energy hidden in the lake, and the creatures in the lake were disturbed by the evil energy. If anyone eats something from the lake, it will attract the evil energy into their body, causing them to lose years of their life at best, and bringing disaster at worst, and even... even bring them a bloody disaster!"

"A bloody disaster..." Gao Yanqing subconsciously thought of what had happened in the inn. Shopkeeper Wu's family had died, leaving no descendants. Wasn't that a bloody disaster?

Perhaps sensing everyone's hesitation, the other soldier immediately explained, "Masters, please don't overthink it. The death of Shopkeeper Wu's family has absolutely nothing to do with eating things from the lake. They would never dare to eat things from the lake. Not to mention them, no one in the entire Luo An City would dare to."

"Just because of that expert's words?" Zhu Jie frowned and asked.

It wasn't that she didn't believe the soldier's words, but she felt that it was unlikely. After all, it was just a rumor, but according to the soldier, the fish and other aquatic products in Chun Shen Lake were indeed substantial. It wouldn't make sense to cut off the fishermen's livelihood just because of one sentence.

Hearing this, the soldier didn't argue, but lowered his voice even more. "Of course it's not because of that expert's words, but because of the Zhennan Marquis Mansion. This is the Marquis Mansion's order. If anyone dares to go to Chun Shen Lake to fish or cast a net to salvage things without permission..." The soldier paused, then stretched out his hand and fiercely pulled it across his neck. "They will be killed if caught."

"That serious?" The fatty widened his eyes.

The soldier swallowed and nodded.

After this conversation, Jiang Cheng and the others developed a great interest in this so-called Zhennan Marquis and vaguely sensed the mystery surrounding him.

In the following time, Jiang Cheng and the others wanted to get more information from the soldiers, but whether it was because the two soldiers really didn't know or didn't want to say, they didn't ask for any valuable clues after that.

However, Tang Qisheng indirectly inquired about whether there were any customs or special habits in Luo An City. The fatty pricked up his ears to listen. The two soldiers said a few sentences here and a few sentences there. After listening for a while, the fatty felt that it was uninteresting and stopped paying attention. Tang Qisheng, on the other hand, looked very interested. It seemed that if he had paper and pen in his hand, he would listen and take notes.

They walked around in the area around the Fu'an Inn. Pedestrians on the road took the initiative to avoid them when they encountered them, and occasionally glanced at them with very cautious eyes, which made the fatty extremely uncomfortable.

At noon, someone sent food. This time it was real food, no longer the very hard cakes. The food was specially prepared for them. Originally, the two soldiers didn't have a share, but Jiang Cheng only gave them a small signal, and the two soldiers really sat down and ate with them. It could be seen that the lives of these soldiers were not very good on weekdays, and they ate ordinary food as if it were delicacies.

After eating, after this period of contact, the soldiers' vigilance towards Jiang Cheng and others gradually decreased. Jiang Cheng took the opportunity to ask them about the bodies in the inn, asking where the bodies had been taken. One of the soldiers said naturally while burping that the bodies had been taken away by people. This was the rule, and the bodies could not be left overnight.

"Has this kind of thing happened often before?" Zhu Jie pretended to pour a glass of wine for the soldier and took the opportunity to ask.

It could be seen that the soldier was originally unwilling to talk about these things, but after all, he had eaten their food and drank some wine, so he gradually lost control of his tongue. "It wasn't like this before, but it has been really evil lately. As far as I know, including Shopkeeper Wu's family, this is the fourth case in the past few days."

"Are the four cases the same?" Jiang Cheng asked, "I mean the scene, is it all water and stuff?"

"Yeah." The soldier nodded. "What I came into contact with was similar, all water, every scene was the same, and what's even stranger is, do you know what, this water is all Chun Shen Lake water, and the mermaid musk in it is unique to Chun Shen Lake, the only one in the world."

"But how far is Chun Shen Lake from here, at least dozens of miles away, you say, such a long distance, this water... so much lake water, how did it get here?"

"Could it be overflowing from the well?" Yao Shunyu chimed in, actually continuing to fish for information.

"No, impossible." The soldier had drunk some wine, and his face was quietly flushed. "Not all of these families have wells, and our people have checked, and there is no problem with those wells, those waters seemed to come out of thin air."

"And so many times, every time no one is left alive, the whole family is dead, you say this is evil or not?"