The answer to this question was so obvious, yet none of the many people present had thought of it. Ji Youzhi simply didn’t want to speak up.
"Seventh Uncle was talking about the dogs."
A child-like voice suddenly chimed in. Everyone was stunned for a moment, then realization dawned on them.
"Exactly! We visited so many homes, yet not one person mentioned having a dog. That’s indeed very unusual!"
After Detective Wang finished speaking, his mind went blank. Wait a minute, that wasn’t what their Lord God Hunter said.
"Huh? How did you know that, little one?"
Heavens, don’t tell me that a group of grown men couldn’t even figure out what a toddler could? Isn’t this too much of a blow?
Detective Wang felt utterly miserable.
"Oh, come on. This child is so young, how could she know all this? The Lord God Hunter must have told her beforehand," a young constable said.
"Makes sense."
Detective Wang nodded subconsciously, a silly grin on his face. Of course, how could a child be smarter than them?
Only Ji Youzhi, glancing quietly at the little girl in his arms and then at Detective Wang and the others, had a look of sympathy in his eyes.
"So many children were kidnapped overnight, yet none of the dogs in the village barked. This means the dogs were also drugged. But how did they manage to drug the dogs?"
Detective Wang and the other constables fell into deep thought.
"It’s very simple! Feed the dogs meat!"
The child-like voice interjected once again.
Detective Wang and his men glanced at her again. "That’s correct. If the drug was put into Meat Buns, which dogs love, they indeed wouldn’t bark."
"Little one, what else did your uncle tell you? You might as well tell us everything."
This was too demoralizing! Were they really being completely outsmarted by a toddler?
The little girl blinked her big eyes at them, then blinked at Ji Youzhi. "Seventh Uncle, what did you tell me?"
Where should she start?
Should she talk about Feifei?
Or should she just ask Seventh Uncle to demonstrate by flying?
She really wanted to fly!
Ji Youzhi touched his nose, then patted the little girl’s head. "Good girl, give your uncles some space to figure things out."
The little girl blinked. "Seventh Uncle, Feifei!"
Ji Youzhi said, "...How do you still remember Feifei? Sweetie, Feifei consumes a lot of energy. If I do Feifei now, and we encounter bad guys later and need to fight, then Seventh Uncle won’t have the energy for Feifei-fighting."
Upon hearing this, Xiaosuisui blinked and finally stopped mentioning Feifei. Ji Youzhi heaved a huge sigh of relief.
"So, the issue of the dogs being silent was solved with meat.
But there’s another question. Lord God Hunter, you instructed us to focus our investigation on the matter of the red strings.
Based on our visits, it seems that in practically every village, only one child received a red string.
Yet, several children are missing from each of those villages. How did they manage that?"
"I’ve thought about this too. They only gave a red string to one child in each village. I suspect there’s something different about these particular children.
It’s also possible these children were just general markers. The scent on the red string could have guided Gu Insects, leading people into the village.
Then, someone would follow the markers left beforehand by an elder and go to each household to abduct the children. That’s their method of operation."
"So that’s how it is! I knew I was missing something. I kept thinking about it but just couldn’t figure out what it was.
Now I completely understand."
As they spoke, the group arrived near the Land Temple.
"We’re here. Everyone split up. Once you find the Mountain Cave, do not act rashly on your own. Prioritize the children’s safety!"