Soul echo

Chapter 284 Escape
In just one day, all the merchants of Chartres were summoned.

The next day, without announcing it to the public, the Chartres merchant group was established.

On the third day, the merchant group that received funds from the Church of Art and Beauty began to rely on their own contacts to purchase the grain reserves of the landowners and gentry around Chartres.

In the merchant group, there were grain merchants, butchers, and fur merchants—even the butchers in Chartres were persuaded by the merchants to join the merchant group.

Then on the fourth day, the residents of Chartres discovered that in the place where the grain was sold, the grain merchant had posted a notice stating their new rules.

Although it is strange, those rules did not have any impact on their lives. Naturally, they did not arouse heated discussions among the residents of Chartres, but only mentioned them before and after meals.

The only two hotels in Chartres thought that the "certain amount" rule would affect their business, but when their bosses went to inquire, they found that it had no effect on them, and even benefited them.

Because the food resources in Chartres have been integrated, all the stores of grain merchants have become "sales ports". If you want to pick up the goods, you have to take the "tickets" to the warehouse to pick them up yourself.

It's a good thing for them that they don't need to go to a few places to replenish the food reserves, and there are people to help with the loading.

On the fifth day, the members of the Gombula family finally came to buy food.

The merchant group bought all the food in Chartres except for their own use. Even the pigs, sheep, and chickens raised by the farmers were owned by the merchant group, but they were still kept in the farmers' homes.

Today, if Chartres wants to buy food, he can only go through the merchant group-even the Gombola family.

The Gombola family came here to buy food in a "large amount" this time not for anything else, but because today is a "sunny day". According to the promise Baron Gombola made to Lily, he needs to send his own team when the weather clears. Go clean those altars.

In fact, the last few days have been sunny, but Baron Gombola has not moved. Until today, Lily finally completed his "arrangement", and he walked into this trap by himself according to Lily's "idea".

The Gombola family not only bought a lot of food, but also bought a lot of outdoor survival supplies. It seems that the Gombla family seems to be planning to let their team stay in the wild for a few days.

On the sixth day, the team of the Gombula family set off. Surprisingly, that team had muskets.

When Zhong Ye and the others broke into the Gongbula Manor, they didn't see any soldier holding a musket in his hand. According to the attitude of those soldiers at that time, they didn't know the identity of Zhong Ye and the others. Because of this, those soldiers There were no muskets in the hands of the soldiers, but Zhong Ye was surprised that the team that set off today had muskets in their hands.

It was also on the afternoon of the sixth day that the envoy of the Gombola family came to Chartres.

After the messenger came to Chartres, he kept nodding and bowing to Lily, expressing that his master did not know that Baron Gombola was a cultist.

At the time, Lily didn't say anything because she didn't know what to say.

But it was precisely because of her silence that the messenger became even more frightened.

On the seventh day, heavy snow suddenly hit, and Chartres changed back to a world of ice and snow in just one night.

It was also on this day that Lily handed over the supervision of the merchant group to the Church of Art and Beauty.

However, one day passed, two days passed...

On the tenth day, the Gombola family still hadn't responded.

This attitude couldn't help but make Zhong Ye and Lily Lieber suspicious, so they stopped waiting and chose to take the initiative.

But when they came to the Gombola family, they were told that the Baron Gombola had died of illness—it was four days ago.

At that time, the team sent by the Gombula family had just set off. That night, heavy snow swept across the city. Baron Gombola suffered a heart attack and died in bed. He was not found until the next morning.

——This is because Baron Gombola doesn't like to be accompanied by people, so there are no servants to serve him at night.

"Where's the body of the old baron?"

Zhong Ye's eyes widened, and he stared at the middle-aged man who had just inherited the title from his father, "Did you hold a funeral?"

"No, no, of course we held a funeral!" The middle-aged man was taken aback and shook his head hastily, "We don't want father's sleep to be disturbed, of course we held a funeral!"

His voice was a little high, his face was a little flustered, and he was sweating coldly, so it was obvious at a glance that he was lying.

However, not holding a funeral is not... In other words, it is a problem of other aspects!

"What are you trying to hide?" Zhong Ye lowered his head and asked coldly, "What are you hiding?"

"Hu, nonsense!"

The middle-aged man suddenly became furious, "Enough! My father just passed away, and you want to take away our power..."

"To shut up!"

Zhong Ye stared and shouted violently.

The middle-aged man's voice stopped abruptly, he stared blankly at Zhong Ye, his lips moved, but he couldn't say a word.

"Is there something wrong with the old baron's body?" Zhong Ye's voice was like a cold, wriggling tentacles, piercing into his ears, "The body is shriveled, there is no blood on the body, and even many bones have been dissolved , it feels like nothing but skin and flesh—isn’t it?!”

"No, no!"

The middle-aged man screamed, looking at Zhong Ye with 'fear' and 'panic' clearly written in his eyes, "Father is not like that!"

Zhong Ye looked at him coldly, "Then, what about the old baron's body? Could it be buried already?"

"Of course it has been buried! It has been cremated!" the middle-aged man shouted.

Zhong Ye's eyes narrowed, and he roared angrily, "Who is the priest who performed the funeral for him?!"

"Yes--"

The middle-aged man's voice disappeared again, he opened his mouth wide, and the name he was about to blurt out was blocked in his throat.

Cold sweat broke out from his forehead and rolled down.

"Who is it?" Zhong Ye stepped forward, glared at the middle-aged man, and continued to ask.

"Yes..." the middle-aged man muttered, unable to say a word for a long time.

From his reaction, it can be seen that the 'Painted Skin' disguised as Baron Gombola has probably escaped.

Not only one 'Painted Skin' escaped, but other 'Painted Skins' hidden in the city may have also escaped - as the team sent by the Gombula family!
"In your manor, many people have died recently, right?"

Zhong Ye raised his hand and grabbed the middle-aged man's shoulder, forcing him to look at himself, "What about those corpses? What about the people who found those 'corpses'? What about the people who get along with those 'dead people' day and night? You don't think so, just Because of your order, you can make all of them shut up, right?"

Lily Lieber and others who accompanied Zhong Ye to the manor looked at him in surprise, not quite understanding why Zhong Ye suddenly became like this.

But now Zhong Ye has no leisure to pay attention to these things, he squeezed out his voice through his teeth: "You have been abandoned, if you tell the truth, there is still a chance... Do you think those monsters will 'finish'? Won't you put any curse on you?"

The eyes of the middle-aged man, who was planning to keep silent, trembled when he heard these words.

"Help, save me!" The middle-aged man screamed desperately, "They have already escaped! They are going...to..."

Suddenly, he found himself unable to make a sound.

Immediately, he noticed the panic and panic in the eyes of the people around him when they looked at him, so he trembled in his heart and looked down...

The head, which had begun to melt, fell from the neck and hit the ground, turning into a puddle of meat.

The torso that was held by Zhong Ye also went limp and fell to the ground, turning into a pool of bloody paste.

"……Hold!"

(End of this chapter)