Ki Darmo shook his head.

“No Arya, there are also women. But, the kidnapped villagers were men and women who were still young or unmarried,” answered Ki Darmo.

Arya seemed to nod.

It seemed like he had understood the reason why the villagers who spent their daily lives fishing in the river never became victims.

They were all men who were married. This ghost didn’t seem interested in them. He needed humans whose energy he could use.

“Okay Ki, now I ask permission to go to the skull cave area to investigate. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a clue later on in the form of a way to enter the cave to free the kidnapped villagers.”

“There must be a secret door so that Gento Ireng who used to be part of the villagers can get in and out of the skull cave,” explained Arya again.

Ki Darmo took a deep breath. He was worried about the decision of the young man in front of him.

But, there was nothing he could do. Slowly, all the villagers here could disappear if no action was taken. “Please, Arya, do I need to call some of the villagers here to accompany me?”

“No need Ki, it will just invite suspicion and I won’t be able to investigate the skull hole secretly.

“Okay, be careful Arya.”

Arya just nodded with a smile, then he got up from his seat and left Ki Darmo and the pavilion.

Because Arya already knew where the skull hole he was going to was, he didn’t need to ask one of the villagers to point out the location of the hole.

Right when he was a few steps away from the river cliff in front of the hole, Arya stopped in his tracks and then looked around the area around the skull hole.

In addition to the bushes and small trees that were densely packed on the right and left sides of the skull hole, there were also several large and tall trees, one of which Arya had been paying attention to for a long time.

“Hmmm, I should investigate the skull hole from the top of that tree. If I look at it closely while standing on the edge of the hole, it will definitely invite suspicion from the White Crocodile Demon Queen and her followers,” Arya muttered.

“Wuuuuus...!”

By stamping both feet on the ground, Arya's body shot up like an arrow to one of the large and tall trees.

Its location was not far from the cliff on the edge of the skull pit, allowing him to freely observe the skull pit.

Relaxed, Arya perched on one of the branches facing straight towards the pit below.

At that time, the river water was not murky like yesterday, but was clear. However, Arya could not see the bottom of the pit even though he had focused his gaze and inner strength.

It was so clear that the surface of the pit looked blue like the sky that was very bright that afternoon.

Arya still had not found the signs he was looking for in the form of a secret door into the skull pit.

"There is absolutely no gap on the surface of the pit that I suspect is a secret door, is it possible that the whirlpool in the middle is the entrance to the bottom of the pit?" Arya muttered to himself as he carefully observed the whirlpool in the middle of the pit.

However, the young man immediately shook his head.

If that was indeed the secret door, there was no way a human would survive entering the whirlpool.

Arya, who had been seen occasionally squatting on the branches of the large tree, now moved to the base of the branch, sitting dangling while leaning against the tree trunk.

He seemed to be scratching his head with his gaze still directed at the skull pit that was right under the hanging branches of the large tree.

His position was very high. Arya was sure that he would not invite suspicion from the inhabitants of Lubuk Ular.

He leaned back for quite a while thinking about how to solve the secret.

He had to be able to get into the hole to free the kidnapped residents. He was sure they were still alive until then.

Arya decided to dart back down from the tree branch and set both feet on the ground.

The young man then walked slowly, pushing aside the bushes and small trees on the cliff slope right in front of the skull hole.

His sight and hearing, he set were sharper than when he was on the big tree earlier.

************

“Who is that handsome young man and what is he looking for on the river cliff?” The White Crocodile Demon Queen muttered as she looked at the secret mirror on the wall of her room.

Apparently, that afternoon, Dewi Purbalara aka the White Crocodile Demon Queen was already in her private room and observing her kingdom through the mirror.

Her secret mirror was indeed able to show, not only the area around the skull hole, but also Serayu Village and places further away.

For quite a long time, Dewi Purbalara observed Arya's movements who was on the cliff edge of the river.

Curious about Arya and what he was doing on the cliff at the edge of the pool, Dewi Purbalara then came out of her room and ordered one of the guards in the throne room to call Gento Ireng.

One of the former residents of Serayu Village who was now a confidant of the White Crocodile Queen, also came to her.

"Excuse me, Queen. Is there anything I should do?" he said, "or should I get rid of you?"