Chapter 229: Disappearance

I lay flat, carefully scrutinizing the faces of those coming and going. I discovered that every single one of them was a familiar face, and the scale was even larger than the operation in Gansu. The sheer number of people involved made me feel as if I had been transported back to the Republican era. It was said that when Ye Yuzhu led his men to excavate tombs for treasure back then, it was on a similar scale.

He Yu nudged me with his elbow. “Do you think we should take the initiative to go over and pledge our loyalty? They have so many people, and there are even expert and professor-level figures in the team. They’re bound to be more professional than us.”

Chen Canghai countered from the side, “But didn’t you two just barely escape from Chen Si’s territory?”

As soon as he said that, He Yu and I looked at each other in silence. I began to reflect. He was right. Every time, I wanted to work under Fourth Brother because it felt safer, but I knew deep down that this was just a way for me to avoid responsibility. It was as if having Fourth Brother to lean on meant I could ignore everything and just enjoy the fruits of his labor. I hadn’t realized that I was gradually becoming a burden to the team.

Thinking of this, I suddenly propped myself up and looked around. I asked He Yu, “Since you guys are here, where are Lu Ayao and the others? And Old Qian? Where are they hunkered down?”

The moment the words left my mouth, I noticed He Yu deliberately shift his gaze away from me. He pretended to stare intently at the tents ahead, as if he were studying something and hadn’t heard me. I immediately turned to Chen Canghai. His reaction wasn’t as quick as He Yu’s; he was a beat late, and though his eyes never drifted toward me, he had clearly heard what I said.

“What’s wrong? Are you two hiding something from me?”

I pushed He Yu. He tilted his head slightly, his brow furrowing into a tight knot as he asked back, “Old Qian? What Old Qian? We didn’t bring him out with us. He and Kuba should be sleeping in the tent.”

I frowned as well. “But when I woke up, I was the only one left in the camp. Is it possible you guys went out one after the other and missed each other?”

“Impossible! Little Chen and I did a full sweep beforehand. This place is only so big. Since we’ve been staked out on this hillside, not a single soul has come up here besides you.”

Doubt filled my mind. He Yu said they hadn’t brought Old Qian and the others out at all, but I had stayed in the camp for over half an hour after finding them gone. Even if Old Qian and the others had taken a wrong turn, they would have doubled back once they realized something was wrong. The half hour I waited was more than enough time for Old Qian to find his way back.

“This doesn’t make sense at all. Something’s wrong. Let’s get back and check.”

Hearing my words, the three of us quickly retreated from the hillside. We mounted our horses and, carrying wind lanterns, headed back the way we came.

Our tents were still where we left them. He Yu was the first to dismount and check. He lit all our lanterns and wind lamps, making the surroundings quite bright in an instant. But just as I had said, the tents were empty. The surrounding area was flat and open, with not a single figure in sight.

He Yu and Chen Canghai were clearly plunged into a state of massive confusion. I could tell their bewilderment was even deeper than mine. If my expression suggested I thought Old Qian and the others were lost, then He Yu and Chen Canghai looked as if they thought they had been devoured by ghosts.

At the same time, I had a premonition. I had known from the moment He Yu first mentioned Qian Deli that he was just trying to distract me, but he hadn’t expected that I wasn’t joking with him either.

“What exactly happened tonight?” I walked up to He Yu, my expression exceptionally grim.

He Yu scratched his head and started rummaging through his backpack, continuing to stall. “Xiao Yao, if you ask me, the priority is to find Old Qian and the others. How can people just vanish into thin air? Maybe the guy just wandered off to take a piss and got lost. Let’s split up and look; maybe we’ll find a clue. That guy is never reliable, and if he wandered too far…”

“Brother He…” Chen Canghai saw my face darkening and quickly tugged at He Yu’s sleeve to stop his rambling. “Maybe we should just come clean.”

I walked over and crouched down beside He Yu. “Did Lu Ayao go back with Lu Qianshan?”

He Yu stared at me in shock. “Holy crap! How did you know? You kid… did you not fall asleep at all? You should have said so earlier! We’ve been acting like thieves in the middle of the night for nothing!”

I slapped the back of his head. “With the way you two were trying to cover things up just now, anyone could have guessed! Not sleeping in the middle of the night and running up to the hillside to play voyeur—you were just afraid I’d wake up, find no one there, and start questioning you, weren’t you? You two really thought you were being clever!”

“Don’t… don’t go making things up and distorting the facts, alright? What Little Chen and I were doing is called a proper night watch and patrol, you understand? It’s called… it’s called surveying the terrain and occupying a strategic position to facilitate our upcoming archaeological work!” He Yu argued.

Chen Canghai held the horse’s reins with an innocent look. “I knew I should have just pretended to be asleep.”

I didn’t want to deal with them. I picked up a wind lantern and walked around Old Qian’s tent again. I shone the light toward the distant grassland; the sky was just beginning to brighten.

In truth, I’d had a feeling ever since the night Lu Ayao asked to speak with me in detail. I suspected that Lu Qianshan had established contact with him long ago. That timely rescue in the Greater Khingan Mountains was likely no accident. Out of trust, I hadn’t asked many questions. It was something I could have figured out if I had given it even a moment’s thought, but I had deliberately avoided thinking about it. I knew that once I understood, it would confirm what Lu Qianshan and He Yu had said before: the Lu Clan only came to repay a debt. At most, we were clients connected by three copper coins, not so-called true friends.

He Yu probably didn’t tell me because he was afraid I’d get upset, but in the end, there was nothing worth getting angry about.

At most, it was just an admission that I, Gan Ji, hadn’t managed to win Lu Ayao over as a friend even after more than half a year.

They likely chose that time to leave to catch the first long-distance bus to the city. As for deliberately avoiding me, they were probably just afraid I would make a scene.

He Yu quietly nudged his way over to my side. “Calculating the time, they probably haven’t boarded the vehicle yet. If we run fast enough, we might still catch them. Want to try chasing them down?”

I shot him a sidelong glance. “Chase them? Like hell we are. We haven’t even dealt with the mess right in front of us. According to you, the only ones awake during that window were you, Chen Canghai, Lu Ayao, and Lu Qianshan. The hoofprints I saw must belong to the four of you. Eventually, those two headed back down the road while you two went up the slope. There aren’t any other tracks around here besides yours. Old Qian and Kuba vanished into thin air, and we don’t know if they’re dead or alive. We have to find them, fast.”

Seeing that I wasn’t biting, He Yu peeled a ham sausage and started eating. “I’m just saying, don’t be so tense. ‘Dead or alive’ is a bit much, don’t you think? People don’t just vanish into thin air. Besides, Kuba grew up on these grasslands. He knows this area better than any of us. Maybe they saw something and wandered off. He’ll definitely bring Old Qian back.”

I crawled into the tent, rummaged around, and tossed several jackets and warm robes in front of He Yu. “I’ve checked the tent. Their clothes are here, their horses weren’t taken, and their gear is all still here. The people are gone. What could you possibly discover that would make you run off in such a hurry that you didn’t even put on your pants? Do you still think this is normal?”

He Yu went numb, and Chen Canghai’s expression shifted as well.

“When I woke up, the outer zipper of Old Qian’s tent wasn’t even closed. Those two definitely ran into trouble,” I said.

Just then, a beam of sunlight spilled across the earth. Chen Canghai, crouching by the edge of the tent, called out to me, “Brother! Come look at this, quick!”

I walked over quickly and saw him pointing at a trail just outside the tent flap. It was a faint mark, about the width of a human palm, where the grass had been flattened. The three of us followed these intermittent traces with our eyes, looking out into the distance.

The worst-case scenario had finally happened. The tracks stretched all the way into the Crying Forest.