It was hard to imagine what could have happened for a veteran who had lived here for many years and was very familiar with the forest to follow in Megan's footsteps and quietly disappear in the forest.
If it was a ferocious beast, this veteran had entered the forest with a rifle. Even if he encountered a black bear or a cougar, he would still be able to fight it. Unless he encountered a brown bear with its cubs … That would be really dangerous. However, as a veteran and an experienced hunter, he would not make such a mistake.
To be honest, the stranger the situation was, the more confident Zhang Zian became. There was an 80% chance that there was something fishy going on in this forest. Megan and Mike might have seen something that they shouldn't have, and that's why they met with misfortune. There was only one person who could make two people disappear without a trace.
The elfins listened attentively to Mrs. Miller's story. They were attracted by this mysterious disappearance.
Zhang Zian quietly stretched out a leg to block Snowy Lionet. Snowy Lionet was always moving towards the fireplace to enjoy the warmth and dryness of the fireplace. If it kept moving, it would become a charcoal lion.
Mrs. Miller looked at him. He was still so young. If he disappeared like Megan and Mike, how sad would his parents be?
She said, "Child, thank you for your kindness, but this forest is really strange. You'd better think carefully about your decision. Even if you decide to quit now, I can understand."
"Don't worry. I am someone who walked out of the Devil's Sea in the Sahara Desert alive!"
The atmosphere was too depressing. Zhang Zian laughed and showed her the photos and videos he had taken during his trip to the Sahara, including the selfie he had taken during the return journey when he had almost died of thirst in the desert. At that time, he had really been prepared to die, so he had used the excuse of going to the bathroom to record a farewell video. Even the elfins had seen this video for the first time.
Mrs. Miller didn't understand Chinese, but looking at his dry lips and peeling face, as well as his eyes filled with longing for life, she could understand his desperation at that time.
She didn't expect this young man to have such rich adventure experience. No wonder she felt that he had a different temperament from ordinary people. This was the calmness that only someone who had experienced life and death would have.
"No matter how dangerous this forest is, at least it is not scarier than the Devil's Sea," Zhang Zian encouraged her. "And I did not enter the forest alone."
"Ah? You have a partner? " Mrs. Miller started. She had expected friends to join him. That would be nice. The more the merrier.
Zhang Zian whistled, and Famous responded with a bark from outside the house.
Zhang Zian opened the door, and Famous, wet from the fog, rushed into the room with its fur almost sticking to its skin.
Startled, Mrs. Miller sprang to her feet, but was relieved to see that it was a German Shepherd, and that it was lying docilely by the fireplace.
When Zhang Zian went to the visitor center, he did not bring Famous with him. It was dark at that time, so Mrs. Miller did not notice its existence. Later, Zhang Zian followed her here. Before he got out of the car, he told Famous to stay outside and see if there were any abnormalities around. This place was too remote, and he had to be cautious. He couldn't blindly trust Mrs. Miller just because she was pitiful. What if she was a liar who made up stories to win the sympathy of fools, and there was a psychopathic murderer's accomplice hiding nearby?
Famous patrolled around the cabin and did not smell any fresh odors left by other people nearby. It happened to hear Zhang Zian's secret signal, so it responded.
"What a great dog! What's its name? "Mrs. Miller used to have a dog, but it died of old age, so she did not have a dog anymore. She took out a comb and tried to comb Famous's wet and tangled hair. Seeing that it did not resist at all, the more she looked at it, the more she liked it.
"Famous," Zhang Zian said. "It will go into the forest with me to help you find your daughter. So, do you have anything with Megan's smell? It would be best if it was clothes or something. "
"Yes!" Mrs. Miller nodded immediately, and dug out a woolen hat from a pile of things. "They found this in the forest. I am sure that this is my daughter's, but they said that this kind of hat is too common to be used as proof."
Zhang Zian took the woolen hat, put it in front of Famous's nose, and let it smell it.
"It's a young woman's hat," Famous said. To Mrs. Miller, it was just a few barks.
"During the previous search and rescue, the forest patrol also brought police dogs, and more than one, but they said that the rainstorm washed away the smell …" Mrs. Miller said worriedly.
Zhang Zian smiled confidently. "The rainstorm did wash away your daughter's smell, but I am not trying to track your daughter's smell. With all due respect, your daughter has been missing for more than two weeks. Even if there was no rainstorm, I am afraid that there would not be much of her smell left."
"Then you …"
Mrs. Miller did not respond for a moment due to lack of sleep and confusion. When her eyes fell on the furnishings in the cabin, she suddenly understood.
"Ah! You are saying that you are going to track Mike's smell? "
"Yes."
Zhang Zian nodded. "There hasn't been a rainstorm in the past two or three days, right?"
"No! No! "
Mrs. Miller felt like she was grasping at straws, and her heart suddenly became clear. She nodded excitedly.
Megan had been missing for too long. Her smell had long dissipated, and they did not know exactly where she had entered the forest. It was too difficult to find her smell in the dense forest. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, Mike's smell should still be there. His starting point must be this cabin in the forest. If they followed his smell, even if they could not find Megan, at least they could find him.
As a veteran who had retired from the battlefield, Mike's smell was very distinctive, much more obvious than that of a young girl. The strong smell of tobacco, alcohol, sweat, and especially the pungent smell of gunpowder and gun oil mixed together. Zhang Zian smelled it when he first walked into the cabin. He believed that these smells would remain in the windless forest for a long time.
The forest was too dense, and the dense forest was a natural barrier to the wind. There was almost no wind in the forest, and the fog would not dissipate for a long time. The same was true for the smell.
The fire of hope in Mrs. Miller's eyes, which had almost been extinguished, lit up again as if it had been injected with new fuel.
Mike's disappearance was very likely related to Megan's disappearance. If they could find Mike, they might be able to find more clues about her daughter's disappearance.
The dark clouds that had been covering the sky for days finally revealed a glimmer of light.
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