On the other side, Ling Yun and his party left the villa, walked about three hundred meters east, and soon discovered another independent western-style building nearby. There were many flowers planted in the yard, and there were tomatoes and cucumbers on the side.

.

"Hello, is there anyone here?" Ling Yun walked up and knocked on the door.

Soon, a response came from inside. The person who opened the door was an old woman with white hair and a stooped body.

"Hello, we are the Charles family who have just moved nearby. Today we specially came to visit the neighbors nearby." Ling Yun said, handing a beautifully wrapped gift to the old woman: "These are my wife and children.

I hope you like the cookies we prepared.”

"Oh, thank you." The old woman took the gift, but her eyes fell on the three children behind Ling Yun.

She opened the door and welcomed everyone into the house, murmuring: "Just call me Laura. Come in and sit down. I'll prepare some black tea for everyone..."

"Let me help you." Lin Yuanqi put on the posture of a good wife and mother, and helped the old woman into the kitchen: "Are you the only one who lives here?"

Mrs. Laura told him that her husband passed away two years ago and her daughter married a policeman in a local town. The couple lived in the center of the town and would occasionally visit her during holidays.

Mrs. Laura seemed to like children very much. She always smiled at Tang Yao and the others while talking, and said that she would bring them some candies and toys. Although Ling Yun said not to bother, she couldn't resist the old man's enthusiasm.

After she left, Ling Yun quickly got up and walked around the living room. Soon he noticed that in the photos hanging on the wall, Mrs. Laura also had a lovely grandson.

"Thank you, grandma." Tang Yao obediently accepted the gift, trying her best to act like an innocent child. Although Li Xinjian felt disgusted, he could only force a smile in order not to cheat.

"Did you grow all the flowers and plants outside?" Lin Yuanqi chatted with the old woman about household matters and lied that he was also very interested in this aspect.

"Yes, you can take away some dishes if you like. Anyway, I'm alone and can't eat that much." Laura said with a smile: "Since you are interested, you can come to me later, I have plenty of time.

"

"No problem, madam. We live in 63/c in front of you, not far from your place." Lin Yuanqi said, suddenly noticing that the old woman's hand holding the tea shook like an electric shock.

Laura put down the tea cup and glanced at the three children, as if she had something to say.

Seeing this scene, Ling Yun called Pan Rong and said to her: "Hannah, take your brothers and sisters to the garden to play for a while."

Pan Rong nodded and led Tang Yao and Li Xinjian out of the room.

Seeing the three children leaving, Laura lowered her voice and asked Ling Yun and Lin Yuanqi: "Do you know what happened in that house before?"

Ling Yun nodded and said calmly: "The agent has told us the truth. I am very sad about the murder that happened in the past and hope that the police can catch the murderer as soon as possible."

"No, no, no, dear, you are thinking too simply." Mrs. Laura looked solemnly, looking at the three children playing in the yard, pointing at Tang Yao and Li Xinjian, and said to Ling Yun: "You'd better give that

It will be safer for the two children to find a boarding school elsewhere."

"What do you mean?" Ling Yun asked.

Laura told them that if they didn’t believe it, they could ask around. If there were children between the ages of five and ten in this area, the adults in the family would find ways to send the children to boarding schools outside the town. Even their own

The same goes for my grandson. Only occasionally during school holidays will his daughter and son-in-law bring him to visit them.

"Why? Is this some strange custom in the town?" Ling Yun asked.

Laura said nothing, took a fairy tale book from the bookshelf and handed it to Ling Yun.

Ling Yun opened it and found that what was described inside was a story called "The Pied Piper of Hamelin":

A long time ago, a serious rat infestation occurred in a small town. People were helpless and had no choice but to abandon the city and escape.

At this time, a spotted-clothed flute player appeared. He was dressed in strange colors and had a flute on his waist. He said he could get rid of rats, but he would need a reward.

The residents of the small town said that as long as they could drive away the rats, they would pay him fifty times the reward.

The spotted-clothed flute player took out his flute and played a soft tune. All the mice ran out from under the cupboard and under the bed in the ditch room, following the flute player.

The flute player walked to the river and continued to play the flute. The mice jumped into the river one after another, and they were all washed away by the river.

The residents were extremely happy, but when the flute player asked for payment, the residents said they had no money to pay.

The flute player said nothing and left the town silently.

That night, the moon hung high in the sky and everyone slept peacefully. In the middle of the night, a clear flute sound suddenly sounded in the air of the small town.

The sound of the flute was fluttering, and children from every family ran from home to the road, following the spotted-clothed flute player.

He walked up the mountain while playing the flute, and all the children followed him. As he walked, the moonlight was gradually blocked by the clouds, and the flute player and the children walked farther and farther away, and finally they all disappeared into the mountain.

"In the past ten years, there have always been young children disappearing inexplicably in the town. It was not the work of human traffickers. Even if the windows and doors of the room were locked, the children would disappear."

Laura looked at the couple in front of her and continued: "Not only that, but after that, several horrific murders occurred in the town. My son-in-law David is a policeman in the town. He said that, in fact, there were

The police have not disclosed some details to the outside world... because they are so incredible!"

Hearing this, Ling Yun had roughly guessed something.

Sure enough, Laura said solemnly, the on-site investigation results showed that the murderers of the victims were all children who disappeared mysteriously from each family.

"The James family once came to my place as guests, and I met their little daughter Leah. She was a good, well-behaved and polite child like an angel." Laura sighed: "I once persuaded them to ask them to do it as soon as possible.

Send Leah to study abroad, but James and Jenny don’t believe these things.”

"So there is something in this town that is bewitching those children." Ling Yun asked the other party: "Madam, are suburbs like ours more dangerous than in the town?"

Laura nodded: "Although there are also missing children in the town, they only account for a small part of them. And David said that those missing children all have one thing in common, that is, they have all been to the dense forests nearby.

"

As she spoke, she pointed in a certain direction outside the window and told Ling Yun and others: "Going deep into the forest, there is a natural waterfall. In the past, because of this waterfall, it attracted many foreign tourists.

People in the town used to go to the woods for picnics with their families. It wasn’t until the disappearance happened and they realized there was something wrong with the woods that they no longer dared to go near that place.”

"That's it. Thank you for your advice. My wife and I will send the children away as soon as possible." After hearing what the old woman said, Ling Yun planned to go to the waterfall to investigate. So, he made an excuse and talked to the other party.

After finishing speaking, he left with his companions.

It was already around one o'clock in the afternoon when the group of people left the mansion.

The car drove through a forest, and there were thick shadows everywhere on the mountain path. Although it was still daytime, the surroundings were extremely quiet, making people always feel that some terrifying ghosts would suddenly appear in the dense grass on both sides.

"Going back to the first disappearance case, something must have happened here."

Ling Yun drove the car, while Tang Yao and others in the back seat were searching for relevant news on their mobile phones. Unfortunately, the information on the Internet was very limited. If you want to know the specific situation, you may have to ask the residents of the town and visit them.
Chapter completed!