Chapter 271: Rumors About the Mountain

Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Rumors About the Mountain

"Yeah! It’s undeveloped over there, so it looks really mysterious. Plus, I heard the police even found a body inside, which makes it even more exciting!" Zoe Sawyer rubbed her hands together, her face alight with excitement, looking completely captivated by the rumors. "If I went in there and made it back out, I’d definitely be famous!"

The first boy reached into the plastic bag, grabbed a pack of spicy strips for himself, and said while eating, "You can’t go over there. My mom said a lot of aunties ran in there and disappeared!

That mountain eats people. It’s really dangerous."

Perhaps seeing his friend eating without any issue, the second boy glanced at Zoe Sawyer’s expression. After confirming she wasn’t going to object, he also grabbed a pack for himself. "I heard from my grandma that there used to be crying in the mountains. She heard the cries of many girls."

The commotion attracted the other children nearby.

One after another, they gathered around, eating their snacks and chattering away about the rumors they had heard at home.

"My mom says there’s a man-eating monster in the mountains. If kids go there, they’ll get eaten."

"No, no, there’s a Mountain God! What that madman says is true. His mom was taken by the Mountain God, that’s why she never came back."

"Grandma said that when she was little, she saw an older girl who came down from the mountain, but she disappeared less than two years later."

The children chimed in one after another, quickly sharing everything they knew.

Although they argued a bit amongst themselves, every version of the story agreed on one thing: the mountain eats people, it’s dangerous, and you can’t go in there.

Zoe Sawyer interjected at the right moment. "The madman you’re talking about, is he the one who wanders the streets? I heard from people around here that his older brother and sister-in-law take very good care of him."

A girl who had been quiet until now scoffed, "That’s a lie. His brother and sister-in-law are just keeping a close watch on the madman, afraid he’ll run his mouth."

The girl’s words made Zoe Sawyer’s heart skip a beat. But before she could ask for details, one of the kids shouted, "My grandma’s calling me for dinner!"

Most of the children scattered at once, each of them running home.

After the others had run off, Zoe Sawyer realized that the girl who had just spoken hadn’t left. Instead, she had plopped down right next to her.

The girl cupped her chin in her hand and tilted her head, looking at Zoe Sawyer. "Miss, you’re a cop, right?"

Before Zoe Sawyer could answer, the girl continued, "It doesn’t matter if you admit it or not. I know you’re here to investigate the body in the mountains.

I heard from my grandmother that a long time ago, many of the men here got their wives from the other side of that mountain. To keep them from running away, many of them would be ruthless—breaking their legs, things like that.

To keep their own mischievous kids from running in there and getting snatched, they always said there were man-eating monsters in the mountains."

Finished, the girl patted the dust off her pants, stood up from the steps, and stared at Zoe Sawyer before leaving. "My grandmother said the madman saw something he shouldn’t have, and it scared him mad. His brother knows."

Zoe Sawyer watched the girl’s skipping figure recede into the distance, then cleaned up the trash on the ground and walked toward Evan Keller and the others.

"How did it go?" Evan Keller asked.

Zoe Sawyer relayed everything she’d heard, including what the little girl had told her.

"Sounds like most of the missing people were women, and most of the disappearances happened a long time ago.

It was probably before the nation’s founding, or not long after, that someone trafficked girls down from the mountains," Heath Hale said, his expression grim.

Some cases were too old to investigate now, but the madman’s situation happened within the last decade or so. They might still be able to dig something up.

"Let’s go. Back to the station!"

Zoe Sawyer’s team didn’t hesitate and quickly returned to the police station, running into Monkey just as he was getting back.

Seeing Zoe Sawyer and the others, Monkey was about to report what he’d heard when Barry Quinn raised a hand to stop him. "Later. There’s something we need to verify first."

The team went to Director Lennox’s office once again.

After hearing Zoe Sawyer’s account, Director Lennox was silent for a long while. Finally, he wiped his face, his tone growing heavy. "Whether it was before the nation’s founding or just after, this area was extremely poor and lawless. Many men couldn’t find wives, but they were desperate to carry on their family lines. So they’d resort to all sorts of methods to abduct women, forcing them into marriage and childbearing.

Then they’d worry the women would run away, so they’d get violent. If they accidentally killed one, they’d just toss the body in the mountains and bury it wherever.

It wasn’t until a police station was set up here, followed by a series of public legal education initiatives and strict crackdowns, that this practice gradually died out."

When Director Lennox first took up his post here, he had heard these rumors as well, but the records from that time were incomplete. So much of the information was lost, and the truth was impossible to verify.

He learned most of what he knew from veteran officers who were here before him, or from chatting with the local women.

So even if Zoe Sawyer’s team asked for the records now, he wouldn’t be able to provide them.

After hearing the background, Heath Hale thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you still have the file on that madman? I’d like to see his parents’ information."

Director Lennox quickly pulled up the madman’s file.

The madman’s surname was York. The family members section only listed his brother and sister-in-law; the section for his parents was blank.

"The madman came from a single-parent family. According to his dad, his wife couldn’t stand the poverty here. She ran away after their child was born, sneaking off when no one was paying attention.

There were no security cameras back then, and ticket purchases weren’t tracked by name, so there was no way to find her.

As for his father, he passed away from lung cancer ten years ago. Since then, he’s been cared for by his older brother and sister-in-law," Director Lennox explained, pointing to the information in the file for Zoe Sawyer’s team.

He knew, of course, that there were many suspicious things about the story.

In fact, there was a huge question mark over whether she had truly run away at all.

But at the time, he had just joined the force here, a low-ranking officer with no real authority. Plus, the madman’s father and brother both insisted that she had simply run off and that there was no need to file a police report or waste resources on it.

And so, the matter was dropped.

Later, when Director Lennox finally had the authority and ability to investigate, his desk was piled high with other cases, and he couldn’t afford the distraction.

If Zoe Sawyer and her team hadn’t suddenly asked to see the madman’s file, the case might not have crossed Director Lennox’s mind again anytime soon.

After listening to Director Lennox’s account, Barry Quinn noticed Monkey, who was off to the side, shaking his head and trying to catch his eye. He clearly had something to say.

"Director Lennox, we’ve found something new regarding the madman. Would you like to hear it?" Barry Quinn asked.

’He’d have to hear Monkey’s report eventually anyway, so they might as well do it here.’

Director Lennox looked at Monkey and asked, "What new finding?"

Monkey recalled what he’d heard, his tone exceptionally firm.

"The madman’s mother didn’t run away. She was murdered."