Lorne stopped, his ice-blue eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze locked onto a haggard young man not far away.
A distraught young man stumbled along the street, his eyes vacant, clutching a woman's hairpin tightly in his hand. His lips moved soundlessly as he mumbled to himself.
Lorne's hearing far surpassed that of an ordinary person, and he clearly caught the desperate whisper:
...Rizi...why...just a moment ago...she was fine...
Seeing this distraught young man wandering the streets, the townspeople began to talk about him.
"Look at Mr. Kazuya!"
"So pitiful, he looks so haggard."
"Because Rizi was snatched right beside him!"
"Every night makes people uneasy!"
"It's terrifying! Once night falls, you don't know which girl will be next..."
The scent of fear had long hung over the town like a dark cloud, thick and suffocating.
Hearing these words, Tanjirou understood that this was very likely a clue to finding the Demon.
So he immediately said to Lorne:
"Big Brother Lorne, let's go find Mr. Kazuya; I still remember his scent."
Lorne nodded slightly, and the two walked through the crowd towards the young man named Kazuya.
Kazuya stood dazed in front of a jewelry shop, his gaze fixed, the hairpin clutched tightly in his hand.
It was the same style as the samples displayed in the window, only the one in his hand was already soaked with the cold sweat from his palm.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Kazuya?"
Tanjirou asked softly.
Kazuya slowly turned his head, his bloodshot eyes staring blankly at the two.
His cheeks were sunken, his beard disheveled; he clearly hadn't rested properly for a long time, and he looked as if all life force had been drained from him.
"Who are you...?"
"We heard about the missing girls here and wanted to understand the situation."
Lorne said straightforwardly.
"We'd like to ask where Miss Rizi disappeared."
"Rizi!"
These two words were like an electric shock, startling Kazuya awake.
He grabbed their sleeves, his knuckles white from the force, his voice trembling uncontrollably:
"You...you can help me find Rizi? She's okay, isn't she? She'll definitely come back!"
"Please calm down,"
Tanjirou supported his trembling shoulders, patting them twice to offer a hint of comfort,
"We are here for that very reason. Please take us to where it happened."
Kazuya took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, like a drowning man grasping at driftwood, and led them to a quiet alley.
He pointed to the empty depths of the alley, his voice again torn by a sob:
"That night, Rizi disappeared in this alley..."
He covered his face in pain,
"I just...I was just walking ahead...and when I looked back, she was gone! Without even a scream!"
"Disappeared?" Lorne frowned. "Can you describe the situation in detail?"
"I don't know, she was just there...just there, and when I turned around, she was already gone!"
Kazuya covered his face in pain,
"I've been looking for her all this time, but there are no clues at all."
"I should have walked behind her then, I should have held onto her, if only I had held onto her then..."
Tanjirou and Lorne exchanged a look. This situation was indeed very strange; ordinary Demons wouldn't have the ability to make people disappear.
"Besides Rizi, have any other girls gone missing?"
Lorne continued to ask.
"Yes, several young girls have already gone missing."
Kazuya wiped away his tears,
"They all disappeared suddenly at night."
Lorne squatted down, his fingertips gently brushing the ground.
The residual energy fluctuations in the air were extremely faint, but his magical senses still picked up a trace of an anomalous imprint.
"There are still some traces here, but it's very strange, as if she was dragged directly underground."
Lorne pointed at a few shallow marks on the ground.
Tanjirou also squatted down and sniffed:
"Although there's a faint residual scent of a Demon, but..."
He frowned:
"It feels a bit off, blurry."
Lorne stood up at this moment and asked Tanjirou:
"It will definitely act again after dark; we must stop it before it succeeds. Tanjirou, your nose is more sensitive; can you smell blood, or can you find its approximate area of activity based on the Demon's residual scent?"
Tanjirou sniffed carefully again, then replied:
"Big Brother Lorne, I don't smell blood. However, there's a residual Demon scent here, and I'll do my best to find it."
Subsequently, Tanjirou began to search for the Demon's scent all over the town based on the residual scent there.
Lorne and Kazuya followed behind Tanjirou, who was alternately bending down to sniff here and squatting to sniff there.
Looking at the strange glances the townspeople gave them, as if they were looking at fools, Lorne felt a bit awkward.
Although it was Lorne's suggestion for Tanjirou to search, his performance was truly...difficult to describe.
Time passed like this, little by little, until only a sliver of the setting sun's red light remained in the sky.
Kazuya, who had been following them, began to waver:
"Please believe me, Rizi really disappeared into thin air."
Tanjirou stopped, turned to Kazuya, and replied with a serious expression:
"I believe you; we came here for this very reason."
As night fell, Kazuya watched Tanjirou, who was still searching, and hesitated, wanting to say something.
Lorne directly interrupted what Kazuya was about to say:
"Don't worry, before it was just to confirm and narrow down the scope, and those things are active at night. Now is just the right time."
As Lorne's words fell, Tanjirou immediately spoke up:
"Big Brother Lorne, I've found a new scent nearby. That guy should be around here."
Lorne understood upon hearing this that the Demon was about to strike again.
Meanwhile, Kazuya, after hearing what Lorne and Tanjirou said, was somewhat confused but also seemed to have realized something.
"Those guys...are you...really...?"
"Big Brother Lorne, the scent is getting stronger and stronger."
Tanjirou suddenly looked up, then sprinted in one direction.
Lorne also left Kazuya behind and quickly followed, simultaneously releasing his magical senses to perceive the surroundings.
Watching them suddenly run off, moving incredibly fast and effortlessly leaping onto rooftops, Kazuya finally truly felt that the matters of Demons and the Demon Slayer Corps really existed.
Tanjirou and Lorne arrived at a small alley and stopped, then drew their nichirin blades.
Lorne's magical senses could detect unusual fluctuations emanating from underground, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact location.
It still depended on Tanjirou, who, following the strongest scent, plunged his blade down hard.
Then a faint cry of pain was heard, and the ground became like water, with something resembling clothing surfacing.
Lorne stepped forward, and before the girl could be swallowed again, he reached out like lightning, precisely grasping her arm, and yanked upwards! A huge suction force came from the black bog.
But Lorne's arm muscles bulged, and he forcefully pulled the girl out of the "quagmire," then carried her to safety.
"Tanjirou!"
"Understood!"
Tanjirou's heart settled when he saw the girl was unharmed.
He retracted his blade and took a defensive stance, his legs slightly bent, his gaze locked on the black swamp that was still wriggling eerily, like a living thing.