Chapter 939: Tracking Under the Moon

"Very good! My child, now go and eat something, take a good rest, and recharge your spirits. We will set off after dark."

Elder Gumoduo waved his hand and sent his nephew back to rest and recharge his batteries for tonight's trial.

After Guadra left, Elder Gumoduo also stopped making a sound, and narrowed his bulging eyes, as if he had entered meditation.

There is silence in the reeds, only the slight rustling of the wind blowing grass leaves.

Joan ordered the blood mosquito to hide in the grass and watch the boggard man, and then retracted his mind.

"Joan, what are those big toads talking about?"

Pinkerton couldn't wait to inquire.

The police dog Carl came over with his head poking around, he was also a curious baby.

Joan sorted out her thoughts, and then translated what she just overheard to the detective.

Pinkerton listened silently, frowning in thought, habitually took out a pipe from his coat pocket, but hesitated for a moment, then stuffed it back into his pocket, lest the rising smoke would alert the Bogman.

"Joan, judging from the boggard man's dialogue, the crime cycle we discovered before is not a coincidence."

"Including Harrell Lancashire, the three victims before and after are likely to have died at the hands of the boggards, and they were regarded by them as so-called 'trial opponents'."

"I'm also inclined to think that the boggards are responsible for this series of murders."

Joan's tone was low and his face was solemn.

"But what caught my attention even more was a detail that Elder Gumoduo inadvertently mentioned."

Mr. Detective smiled knowingly: "You mean, the 'human friend' who helped them arrange the trial venue and prey?"

Joan nodded slightly.

"The site of the boggards is far away at the mouth of the wetland two hundred miles away. They don't know much about the surroundings of the hot spring town. After dark, if they want to find a human being who happens to be alone at the edge of the wetland as a trial prey, it's almost impossible. It's impossible!"

"For that to happen, they have to work closely with the local people."

"I'm curious, who is the man behind the scenes who colluded with the boggards to kill their compatriots?"

"What is he trying to achieve by committing such a lunatic crime?"

The question raised by Joan made Pinkerton fall into long-term contemplation.

After a long time, he opened his mouth to break the silence.

"These doubts can only be answered when the truth of the case becomes clear."

"Before that, we still have a thorny problem, which is how to deal with the group of boggards who are about to rush to the next murder scene."

"Mr. Pinkerton, to tell you the truth, I'm sure I can deal with those boggards, and their giant toad servants."

Human life is at stake, and Qiao An can't care about modesty anymore.

"As long as you say a word, we can do it at any time!"

"Don't be impatient, Joan, I fully believe that you have that kind of strength, but now is not a good time to do it."

Mr. Detective tapped the young mage on the shoulder.

"If we act now, we can destroy the boggard's trial plan and save a potential victim, but this clue will also be broken."

"Even if we catch Gumoduo or Gudella and force them to find out who is behind the scenes, after all, it is only a one-sided statement and lacks physical evidence. They can deny it completely, and we can't do anything about him."

Mr. Detective spread his arms and shrugged.

"Mr. Pinkerton, I can understand your concerns, but how can we find out who is behind the scenes?"

Joan asked eagerly.

"It's better to wait and follow the boggards to the trial site. If not unexpected, their 'human friends' will kidnap the victim to the trial site tonight."

"While this person is connecting with the boggard man, let's take another shot and catch him. We will get all the stolen goods, and the other party will have no way to deny it."

After hearing Pinkerton's plan, Joan also felt that it was safer, so she nodded in agreement.

The two and one dog waited for a while in the water and grass, the night gradually fell, and the sky became dark.

Joan's left little finger trembled slightly, and he turned to Pinkerton and said, "The swamp man has started to move!"

"Very good! Let your mosquito agents keep an eye on them, and we will follow!"

Mr. Detective stood up, refreshed.

Through the eyes of the blood mosquito, Joan saw twelve swamp men, including Elder Gumoduo, each riding a giant toad and leaving the reed marsh one after another.

He ordered the blood mosquito to keep an eye on it, and at the same time, he noticed that the giant toad jumped ten yards across the swamp with a speed as fast as a galloping horse.

For Pinkerton himself, he couldn't catch up with these jumping giant toads with just his legs.

Qiao An thought for a while, and decisively cast a spell to summon two "Phantom Horses", and he and Pinkerton each rode one.

The phantom horse shaped by magic power is like smoke and fog, without substance, it walks calmly and silently on the water, and is fast enough to catch up with the giant toad.

The two rode the phantom horse, took the police dog Karl, and under the cover of night, followed the boggard man and galloped all the way to the east where the hot spring town is located.

...

As the night darkened, a slender crescent moon hung in the sky, and the moonlight tried hard to penetrate the night and the cover of water vapor, bringing some light to the vast wetland overgrown with water and grass.

Under the dim moonlight, a group of giant toads carried their masters on their backs, stomping on the ground with their strong hind legs, and their wide webbed feet were supported in the muddy water. Ten yards away, there was a huge splash of mud the moment it landed.

The giant toad and the swamp man on its back were all focused on their journey, not paying attention to a small bloody mosquito not far behind.

Joan separated a ray of mind, attached to the "blood mosquito" transformed from his own little finger, and stared at the bogman team with the help of the blood mosquito's eyes.

At the same time, he and Pinkerton rode a "Phantom Horse" each, and the police dog Carl, who followed closely behind the "Phantom Horse", hung not too far behind the giant toad queue, keeping a distance of about 300 yards .

Joan and Pinkerton had already blessed dark vision in advance. At such a distance, with the help of a telescope, they could clearly see the blurred backs of giant toads and boggards.

On the contrary, even if the tracked person looks back, under the triple cover of night, water plants and water mist, it is almost impossible to notice that someone is watching behind him.

The protruding eyeball structures of giant toads and bog people are a bit like the "compound eyes" of insects, and their dynamic vision is very developed.

However, there are advantages and disadvantages in everything. The special eye structure of anurans makes them almost all born with "myopia". They cannot see objects hundreds of feet away, and it is even more impossible to detect stalkers thousands of feet away. .

The two sides drove at full speed in the vast wetland, and within an hour they reached the edge of the wetland. Through the mist from the hot spring, the undulating buildings of the town in the distance could be seen faintly.