Chapter 935 Carl's New Discovery

"In the past two months, including the case of Harrell Lancashire, there have been a total of three similar cases around this wetland."

"The three victims were all male travelers who came to the hot spring resort alone. On the day of the murder, they all left the 'Happy Palace Hotel' at dusk. For some reason, they went to the wilderness alone."

Mr. Detective smoked a pipe and calmly analyzed.

"Coincidentally, I found that there was an interval of 21 days between the first case and the second case, and between the second and third cases."

"Although I still can't think that the murderer committed the crime according to a specific time period, I can't rule out this possibility. What's more, today is the 21st day since the night when Harrell Lancashire was killed. .”

Is this a coincidence, or is there some kind of pattern?

Joan initially leaned towards the former.

After all, there were only three cases, which were too few as a statistical sample, and the so-called "crime cycle" summarized from them was not enough to be believed.

But suddenly, Qiao An remembered something again, and couldn't help but shudder!

"Mr. Pinkerton, what you said just now reminded me! According to the literature, the calendar used by the boggards is very different from the calendar that we humans use. For some reason, the 'month' of the boggards... Only 21 days."

Ted Pinkerton's face changed slightly, he held his pipe, and looked at the sun that was gradually setting to the west.

"It seems that the time left for us to solve the case is running out."

Qiao An was also restless, vaguely feeling that something big was going to happen tonight.

Just then, a dog barked from behind.

Joan cheered up and jumped up quickly.

"Carl is back!"

"This kid, it took more than an hour to come back after running out, it really makes people wait!"

Mr. Pinkerton also stood up, laughing and cursing.

It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon, and Karl went out to wander for nearly an hour and a half.

Joan and Pinkerton walked down the slope quickly, looking forward to seeing the police dogs approaching from far and near, but the expectation in their eyes quickly turned into disappointment.

Carl is back, but its mouth is empty, nothing.

"Old man, haven't you found the second half of the spear shaft?"

Ted Pinkerton fought back his disappointment and asked the police dog.

Carl shook his head, as if he thought the matter was insignificant, turned around and ran a few steps towards where he came from, then turned back and growled at his master and Joan, his eyes full of eagerness.

"What's wrong with Karl?" Joan asked without knowing.

"It seems to be urging us... to follow it."

Mr. Pinkerton stroked his stubbled chin and whispered.

"Then let's go quickly! Karl won't run out for so long in vain, he must have found something suspicious in the depths of the swamp!"

Joan couldn't hide the excitement in his eyes, and quickly ran to the police dog.

"I hope so."

Years of professional experience accumulated in investigating cases made Ted Pinkerton smell a hint of danger.

He quickly checked the revolver he was wearing next to his body to make sure that the magazine was full of lead bullets. Then he raised his cane and strode towards Carl and Joan, who had already run far away.

Karl led the way, running and stopping, and sometimes lowered his head to sniff.

Joan and Pinkerton followed closely behind the police dog, going from east to west, deep into the swamp.

Two people and one dog trekked through the muddy swamp for nearly an hour. When the sun was about to set, Karl finally stopped and growled towards the dense grass in front of him, looking a little nervous.

Joan quickly chased after him, stroking the back of the police dog's neck, and comforted Carl to calm down.

Looking in the direction of Carl's glare, there are endless wetland plants growing on the water. The tall reeds and cattails are like dense forests, and the low water onions and rushes are everywhere.

The dense green and lush vegetation blocked Joan's sight, and he couldn't see what dangerous things were hidden in the depths of the grass, so that Karl felt like an enemy, and he did not hesitate to run back and forth through the mud, and he and Ping Ke were all the way away. Ton led here.

Ted Pinkerton touched the storage bag, and there was an extra copper binoculars in his hand.

He observed the movement in the aquatic plants through the binoculars, and his face was a little strange afterwards.

"Mr. Pinkerton, what did you see?" Joan asked in a low voice.

"See for yourself."

Mr. Detective handed the binoculars to the curious young mage.

Joan's eyes were good. Looking through the "eight times mirror" in his hand, he soon noticed many huge black shadows crouching deep in the grass.

A gust of wind blew by, and the aquatic plants turned their heads with the wind.

In the brief space when the water plants swayed, Joan's vision became extraordinarily wide, and he finally saw the whole picture of the group of monsters lurking in the grass.

They look like giant toads, taller than an adult human by a large margin, with bumpy tumors on their slippery gray backs, secreting scalp-numbing brown mucus, and a milky white belly that breathes rhythmically , sometimes swelling, sometimes flattening.

Joan raised his eyebrows in surprise, and carefully observed these giant toads through a telescope. According to his visual inspection, there were no less than a dozen of them. They formed a circle among the water plants, and all their buttocks were facing the inside of the circle. They looked like guards on duty.

At this time, a water bird fluttered its wings and landed on the reed stick. It turned its head and plucked its own feathers with a sharp beak, but it didn't notice that a giant toad had already set its sights on the grass fifteen feet away. it.

The eyeball on the side of the giant toad's head close to the water bird turned slightly, then adjusted its squatting position silently, aimed its wide mouth at the water bird standing on a high place, suddenly opened its big mouth, and a red streak flashed out of its mouth. Light.

Joan had been staring intently at the giant toad, but he still couldn't see its predation movements clearly. He only felt that the water bird had disappeared out of thin air, leaving only the reed stick it was in just now swaying in the wind.

After a moment of stupefaction, Joan immediately turned the binoculars to the mouth of the giant toad, and only had time to see a small shadow shaking in its unclosed mouth. It was obviously the water bird that had just been sucked by its tongue. It was too late to scream, and was swallowed by the monster.

During this short observation period, Joan also noticed a strange thing!

Generally speaking, a big difference between frogs and toads is that the teeth of the former are well developed, and they can eat food with relatively hard "bones", such as various snails and birds; while the latter has no real teeth at all. Prey only on molluscs or insects.

But the giant toad that hunted waterfowl just now has sharp teeth that are closely arranged on both the upper and lower jaws!

Joan can only think that the recipes of these giant toads are different from those of their smaller distant relatives.

In order to fill their stomachs, giant toads must capture larger prey, such as beasts and birds, and thus have evolved developed teeth suitable for chewing muscles and bones.