Chapter Seventy-Eight: Missing (Second update here—please vote for monthly tickets!)

Today’s second chapter

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Missing

The first people Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing caught, unbelievably, were the pair of Second Young Master Xu and Jin Buhuan.

Second Young Master Xu had come up with a very inventive hiding method. He had prepared a piece of cloth, one side of it coated in a dark blue-black shade, the same color as the rock face of the hillside. In such dim wilderness, with only the faint beam of a flashlight, Xu huddled beneath that cloth at the foot of the slope, his body curled into a tight ball. If one had not looked carefully, one might well have mistaken him for a simple boulder by the roadside.

But Xiao Qing’s keen eyes and ears spotted him at a glance.

“All right, all right, I admit defeat!” Xu Ershao grumbled, tossing the cloth aside.

He was truly depressed. At first he had been eager to end up in the same group as Bai Cai, and he had prepared that piece of cloth for exactly that purpose. It was not large—just enough for two people to cover themselves with difficulty. If they hid beneath it, they would have to press close together. Heh, and on a moonless, windy night, with a man and a woman squeezed under the same cloth... and after that...

What a pity, what a pity!

In his frustration, Xu Ershao even stomped hard on the cloth twice.

“Huh? Where’s Jin Buhuan?” Chen Xiao looked at Xu Ershao and laughed. “You’re not cheating, are you? By the rules, teammates in the same group can’t be too far apart.”

Xu Ershao stroked his chin and gave a sly, devious chuckle.

“Hmph, no need to look. The other one is here too,” Xiao Qing said flatly.

She walked over to a nearby tree and suddenly lifted her leg in a whirlwind sweep.

Bang!

Under that single kick, the whole tree shook violently. A moment later, with a thud, a black shape tumbled from the trunk and crashed into the grass.

Jin Buhuan cried out in pain, groaning as he struggled to his feet and massaging his waist.

“Xiao Qing, you didn’t have to hit that hard.”

Then he glared at Xu Ershao. “This is all your fault! I told you that lousy cloth was useless, but you insisted on crouching by the road under it! Look, if you hadn’t been found first, they wouldn’t have guessed I was nearby too!”

Xu Ershao shot back a glare. “Bah! You think I wanted to be grouped with you? Sigh, I had been waiting so long for a chance like that...”

The second group to be caught was Yaya and Bai Cai.

Bai Cai was very obedient and did not use her invisibility ability. The two girls hid in a clump of bushes with almost no originality at all.

As a result, when Chen Xiao came by, he merely called out on purpose, “I heard from Xiao Xu that there might be snakes hiding in the bushes on this island.”

From the distance came Bai Cai’s startled cry, and she sprang out of the bushes of her own accord.

Yaya, however, still seemed somewhat unfinished. She looked at Chen Xiao with a blank, puzzled expression.

“Huh? Is it over already?”

At that point, less than twenty minutes had passed—only half the allotted time. Yet two-thirds of the task had already been completed, and only Monica and Lu Xiaoxiao remained.

But the outcome was unexpected.

Another full twenty minutes passed, and Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing almost searched every inch of the woods, yet they still did not find a single person. Even the slope below had been carefully checked. Chen Xiao even made a special trip around the lakeshore.

And yet Lu Xiaoxiao and Monica seemed to have vanished to who-knew-where.

“Huh, who would have thought those two women were actually the best at hiding,” Xu Ershao said, scratching his head and laughing. “Fine, time’s up. This round counts as Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing losing. Call those two girls out. We can start the next round.”

In his mind, he was already calculating how he could get himself on the same team as Bai Cai next round.

But a problem arose.

Lu Xiaoxiao and Monica still did not show themselves.

“Call them,” Jin Buhuan said. He seemed eager to begin the next round as soon as possible.

Xu Ershao took out his phone, but after dialing the number... he frowned. “Huh? It’s turned off?”

“Turned off? Both of them?” Chen Xiao frowned.

“Listen for yourself.” Xu Ershao handed the phone over. Sure enough, after trying twice more, both Lu Xiaoxiao and Monica’s phones were switched off.

A faint unease began to spread through the group. Still, Xu Ershao laughed and said, “Maybe those two women are just very cunning. They were afraid that if they hid, Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing would call them—once the phone rang, their position would be exposed.”

After a pause, he added, “Let’s split up and shout from everywhere that the game is over. Once they hear us, they’ll come out on their own.”

No one objected. Very quickly, the six young people headed off in different directions—some into the woods, some toward the lake, some around the villa.

Voices rose here and there, calling out again and again.

But about twenty minutes later, everyone gradually returned to the original spot. Lu Xiaoxiao and Monica still had not come back.

By then, even the most optimistic Xu Ershao was starting to feel nervous.

“Could something have happened?” Bai Cai asked worriedly. She did not especially like Xu Ershao fawning over Monica, but there was no real enmity between them.

“Could there be tree hollows or sinkholes or something on this island? It’s so dark out—could those two girls have accidentally fallen in?” Jin Buhuan suggested a possibility.

“But if they fell into some hole, they’d call for help on the phone,” Xu Ershao said, his expression growing serious. “Besides, this place was developed by the company. Any dangerous pits or caves would have been filled in.”

The others looked at one another. Then Chen Xiao said in a low voice, “Search. Keep searching.”

He was the first to grab a flashlight and once again dashed toward the depths of the woods.

Xu Ershao was also getting anxious, so he called for the staff on the island.

There were eleven staff members on the island in all: one manager, six attendants, one plumber and electrician, one person responsible for driving the yacht, and two security guards.

When they heard that Young Master Xu’s friends had gone missing on the island, everyone grew tense. They all took flashlights and began a thorough, grid-like search of the island.

The island was not large. Walking in a straight line from the east side to the west side would take no more than twenty-five minutes. If one ran, the whole island could be crossed in ten.

Yet after a full hour of searching, by the time it was nearly midnight, there was still not a single trace of them!

It was as though Lu Xiaoxiao and Monica had simply vanished from the island into thin air!

Everyone gathered again on the lawn beside the villa. At Chen Xiao’s suggestion, each person described the route they had searched.

“Wait...” Chen Xiao suddenly frowned. “Where’s Little Jin? Where’s Jin Buhuan?”

Only then did the others realize, in the confusion of the search, that one more person was missing.

Jin Buhuan was gone too!

In an instant, the whole scene fell silent.

Everyone’s expression changed strangely.

At midnight, a bank of clouds quietly rolled in from the horizon, slowly veiling the moonlight. The night wind stirred gently, and a rustling sound of leaves swaying drifted from the woods.

The group stood together, looking at one another. Every face looked odd, and in every pair of eyes there was more or less unease.

“Does the island have a map?” Chen Xiao asked the manager. “There should have been blueprints when it was first developed.”

The manager was already drenched in sweat. “Yes! There is a blueprint... it’s in my office. I’ll go get it!”

He turned and ran toward the villa area.

Chen Xiao then looked at the boatman. “Have you checked the dock thoroughly? And the yacht? Could someone have secretly hidden aboard?”

“No,” the boatman said with certainty. “I’ve checked the yacht. It’s not very large either. If someone were hiding on it, we’d definitely be able to tell... And we’ve been calling out for ages. Even if they were inside the yacht, there’s no reason they wouldn’t answer...”

“Chen Xiao, could they have accidentally fallen into the lake?” Bai Cai suggested another possibility.

“That’s unlikely too,” Xu Ershao replied. “The lake shore all around here is shallow. The water is very shallow. Unless you go more than ten meters from the shore, the water won’t even reach your waist... There’s no reason for them to wade into the water just for a game.”

By then, Xu Ershao had already tried calling Jin Buhuan, but after a moment he put the phone down, his face darkening.

“Little Jin’s phone... is turned off too!”

Turned off?

Chen Xiao, Xiao Qing, and the others all looked grim.

Before setting out to look for Monica and Lu Xiaoxiao, everyone had agreed to keep their phones on, and they had even checked each device’s battery level.

At a time like this, Little Jin had no reason to turn his phone off.

“Chen Xiao... I have a bad feeling,” Xiao Qing whispered, tugging lightly at his sleeve.

Chen Xiao’s heart stirred, and he looked at her.

In truth, he too had begun to sense something strange—something very much like the feeling he had had during the times he himself had been in danger before. His heart felt heavy, and he could not shake the impression that something was about to happen, that some danger was quietly lying in wait nearby.

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