The Hitzfeld Mysteries - Chapter 728: Page 728

Hitzfeld suddenly stopped, his nerves tense, and he looked around vigilantly.

...Nothing unusual.

By this time, the rear of the carriage had long been out of sight. There was only a narrow gravel track in front of us that curved slightly and led to the distance. Few houses on either side had windows, and even if they did, they were all welded shut with iron felt.

These low-rise, unevenly built houses usually have no alleys facing inward, so it is difficult to find a place to hide people. Hitzfeld did not find any dangerous elements, and his tense spirit relaxed a little.

Then she felt a chill on her face.

The crystal clear hexagonal snowflakes had just melted there.

Then the second piece, the third piece...

More and more white elves fell from the sky, landing on her shoulders, hair, and palms.

It’s snowing as expected.

Raising his head slightly, Hitzfeld looked towards the intersection ahead.

You can faintly hear the hustle and bustle of the city and bicycle bells, and from time to time pedestrians cross the street.

But her attention was mainly focused on the other side of the intersection, across the street even farther away from here, on the two tall twin buildings facing each other.

She stared at the building for a while and vaguely made out the letters on it, which spelled out "Red Leaf Hotel".

Then he stretched out his hand, turned around and looked behind him from time to time, as if gesturing something in the air.

……

"..."

Shrouded in a black cloak that enclosed her entire body, Ashley held a thick branch she had picked up as a walking stick and walked on the gravel road with some reluctance.

She had been walking for at least five hours since early morning, and even though she had extraordinary physical gifts, she would still feel exhausted without drinking a drop of water.

"I should have brought the water bag with me when I left home..."

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Ashley looked back the way she came.

It was a completely unfamiliar scene. She didn't even dare to move her feet when she made this move. She had to keep her toes pointing in the direction she intended to go.

Because for her, whether in front or behind, she had never seen that scenery. She had never been here before, and she was afraid that she would go back in a trance.

But overall, she doesn't think she's taking any risks.

First of all, this was in the "city". There were no wild beasts in such a large settlement, and she didn't have to face the various dangers like she did on Brays Island.

Secondly, she was just looking for clues along the railway line. Even if she couldn't find it, what would happen? There was this route, this gravel road that crossed the city. If it didn't work, she could just turn back and walk back along the road. She would eventually find the right place.

So - since there was no danger and no worries about getting lost, Ashley felt there was nothing to hesitate about.

"Woof woof!" A dog barked nearby.

"Oh, I forgot about you."

Ashley stopped, squatted down, hugged the big white dog and rubbed it, smiling happily.

"Nothing can go wrong with you here! Come on, Lily! We're going to teach Heath a lesson!"

"Wang!"

"But...it's snowing."

Feeling the coolness on her face, Ashley couldn't help but look up at the sky, watching the snowflakes falling.

"Although the people here are more particular about food and clothing than those in my place, they don't seem to know how to help each other. They even let some people wander around outside on snowy days..."

Muttering to herself, the girl recalled a glimpse she had caught a few blocks away.

They were a bunch of homeless people.

Their clothes were ragged, their hair and beards were tangled, and they hadn't cleaned themselves for who knows how long. In this cold weather, they huddled together in the shade, using the collected garbage and dirty newspapers to build a windbreak.

Ashley even leaned in and asked them, "Have you ever seen a fur hat dropped on the railway?"

None of those people said anything. They just kicked an empty tin can in front of her, and no one knew what it meant.

Now that I think about it, it was probably asking me for money?

Ashley wasn't sure if she remembered it correctly, but she had seen some people putting money into such a jar during her time at public school.

"But I don't have any money on me..."

Touching her pocket, Ashley felt a little dejected.

She was afraid that every "witness" she would meet in the future would be like those people, who would not speak unless they were paid.

"Wang!"

Lily pounced on her legs and pressed them twice, then jumped around and showed her fangs from time to time.

"Woof! Woof~!"

"No, Lily."

Ashley actually understood.

"They are already very pitiful. I cannot use violence to coerce them."

"Heath would be very angry if he knew I did this. We've already gotten into trouble this time, so it's best not to do anything out of line again..."

"Wow..."

Lily's erect dog ears drooped down, looking listless.

"Ah, anyway, just take your time to look for it."

Ashley forced herself to cheer up.

"Look at how frozen they are. If they were really picked up, they would definitely not put it on..."

In this way, they walked and stopped along the way, and asked passers-by from time to time if they had seen the hat. Unconsciously, the man and the dog walked out of the entire red leaf area and were gradually moving towards the suburbs.

But Ashley was still unaware of anything, especially when a worker at work saw her face and mistakenly thought that she had had a conflict with her family and ran away secretly. He bought her a fruit pie and a cup of clean water. After eating, Ashley felt more energetic!

“I’ve never walked this far before.”

She talked to Lily as she walked.

"Wang!"

With every word, Lily would bark in response.

"Heath always treats me like a child. He won't let me go out and never takes me with him wherever he goes. It seems that taking good care of me is more important than anything else."

"Wang!"

"But she never thought about whether my thinking would change after her education and teaching me to understand some things."

"Wang!"

"I'm not so stupid as to do something on purpose to attract her attention... (Woof!) I just finally understood what my mother had to pay in the end, and why... why I was the only one who survived in the end."

At this point, the tall girl choked up a little. She stopped to sniffle and poked the stone with a stick.

"Woooo..."

The big white dog looked up at her face, not knowing how to comfort her. It could only circle around her and lick her hanging fingers with its tongue.

“I don’t know what I’m going to live for next…”

Ashley petted Lily's dog head.

"I don't know. I want to become a Flint Knight. Is it because I've always wanted revenge..."

"Woooo..."

After venting in silence and stillness for a while, Ashley suddenly let out a breath.

"I'm just daydreaming again."

"I am a warrior of the Sky Hunters. I cannot be so indecisive!"

"Wang!"

"Come on, Lily, keep going forward and see what you can find over there..."

The man and the dog continued to move forward, gradually leaving the old city and entering a dark wilderness.

What comes into view is a vast expanse of farmland. Standing on the ridge and gazing into the distance, one can see white snow still remaining in the regular folds. A railway line passes by the edge of the ridge in a slight arc and disappears at the end of the sight.

Ashley walked forward on the ridge of the field. Occasionally, when she encountered a bullock cart pulling people, she would stop and ask for information about hats. The few people she met along the way treated her as a lunatic.

"You're such a pretty girl, why are you wearing such strange clothes and coming to the wilderness..."

"He also brought a dog with him. The dog was quite majestic, and its leather looked very valuable..."

"This is Old Sind's territory... She will not have a good ending if she comes here..."

"Should I remind her?"

"Forget it..."

Ashley totally ignored the looks from others. She was a savage and didn't know what shame was.

It wasn't until Lily grabbed her cloak and started barking that she responded and vaguely heard footsteps approaching quickly.

Turning back, I could only vaguely see a few moving figures.

She had been walking for most of the day and now it was getting slightly dark. It was the time of the day when the light was the worst and people's vision was also the worst.

"Excuse me--"

However, before she could "be polite" as her teacher taught, the sound of breaking air coming from the front reminded her that this visitor was very unfriendly.

Then Ashley won't be polite anymore.

She tilted her head slightly to avoid the attacking long black shadow, raised her left foot and kicked out hard.

A "crack" sound was heard in the darkness, followed by a scream of "Ah". The figure rolled over and fell off the ridge of the field, and fell into the manure ditch with a "plop".

Smelling the stench so close, Ashley gave up the idea of taking the long stick and just picked up the stick in her hand, inserted it between the other person's legs and lifted it up.

"what!!!"

This time the scream was even more miserable.

The remaining few people were obviously shocked by their companion's fate. Instead of taking advantage of her opportunity to recover her breath to speed up, they slowed down one by one, as if they were hesitating whether to continue.

But Ashley would not let them go. She took a step forward to steady her center of gravity, contracted her shoulders to swing the stick in a circle, and swept it out to hit the two men in the face, making them scream "Ouch, ouch" and roll down the slope.

"stop!"

Seeing that they were no match for the opponent, one of the remaining people stood up and shouted in panic.

"Ok?"

Ashley paused, trying to hear what he had to say.

"We... this... we should have treated you as another person..."

"Someone else?"

"Yes... He was a wanted criminal... He was also wearing a cape... He had a dog... So when we saw you we thought..."

"So that's it."

While the other party was still racking his brains to make excuses, Ashley had already retracted the stick and moved aside to make way for them.

"Then you should leave quickly."

"?"

The group of people were stunned and did not react for a while.