Bai Youwei and Shen Mo returned to the little girl's house, which was still empty.
The bloodstains on the floor had long since dried, the vegetable leaves in the yard hung wilted and droopy, and the kitchen was piled with unwashed dishes, signaling that someone had lived in the house.
Finding no clues, the two could only continue their search in the village.
They encountered a few villagers and inquired about the Uto grass, only to receive responses nearly identical to the village chief's—all insisted that there couldn't possibly be any Uto grass in the village.
"It was burned away many years ago and couldn't possibly reappear."
"You must have been mistaken, there are many wildflowers around the village, some are blue as well."
"Yes, what you saw were wildflowers, certainly not Uto grass. If anyone saw Uto grass, how could they leave it be? They would definitely burn it."
