FEG | Chapter 18

Chapter 18, Missing

Yueyue really could not pull Ma Daobin, and shook her head at him.

“Stinking girl, what do you mean?” Ma Daobin was outwardly fierce but inwardly timid, “Hurry up and pull me out!”

Yueyue let go, pointed at herself, then pointed outside, and waved her hand. She planned to go outside and call people to rescue him.

“Stinking girl, you don’t even have a mouth, do you! What are you gesturing for?” Ma Daobin lifted his foot and tried to kick her, but found that his legs had also already sunk into the wall.

“Quick! Quick, pull me out!” Ma Daobin shouted frantically, and his crazed expression scared Yueyue into shrinking back.

What to do, what to do... Ma Daobin knew he had to think of a way to get out, but his mind was blank, and he could not think of anything.

“Skill! Right, I still have a lifesaving skill...” Ma Daobin was like someone who had grabbed a lifesaving straw, and he activated his skill with immense relief.

[Stonification]

The user can turn into a lifeless stone, concealing their aura while resisting attacks.

Ma Daobin turned into a stone, and the wall’s swallowing stopped.

But thirty seconds later, Ma Daobin turned back into flesh, and was still embedded in the wall, unable to move.

“How could this be!” Ma Daobin despaired, the stonification skill was perfectly countered by the wall’s swallowing effect.

Thirty seconds, then another thirty seconds, Ma Daobin used up the number of times he could activate the skill, and only his face was still exposed outside the wall.

“Stinking girl, use your skill to save me!” Ma Daobin did not know how many times he had shouted this. Yueyue shrank back but firmly shook her head and refused him, “I’ll kill you, if you dare not save me I’ll never let you go even as a ghk...”

Ma Daobin disappeared into the wall, and the wall became smooth again.

The night was long and short.

Sun Fangchi only dared to doze off for a moment until the sky was faintly bright, and after the sky was fully lit, he also stood up from the sofa, stretched, and walked to the window. Sun Fangchi looked outside, and the sky was still gray and hazy, with no sun in sight.

His eyes touched the ground outside the building, and Sun Fangchi froze.

Yueyue was crouching at the place they had agreed to gather last night, clutching a cloth doll, a tiny little ball.

Ma Daobin was not there, and he was probably in grave danger. Sun Fangchi washed his face before going out. The elevator made a humming sound as it ran, and Sun Fangchi carefully recalled. This sound had not been there last night, so it looked like something in the elevator had changed...

When he reached the first floor, the lobby was empty.

Sun Fangchi came to Yueyue’s side and crouched in front of her. Yueyue secretly glanced at him. Sun Fangchi said, “You came down by yourself?”

Yueyue nodded.

“What happened?”

Yueyue made a tug-of-war motion, and Sun Fangchi did not quite understand. “He was pulled away by someone?”

Yueyue shook her head and continued the tug-of-war motion.

Sun Fangchi understood that he was not going to ask anything out of her, so he said, “Have you eaten anything?”

Yueyue looked up at him. Sun Fangchi patted her head. “Come on, let’s go find something to eat first.”

Sun Fangchi took Yueyue to the small shop and used the only ten yuan on him to buy two loaves of bread. They each ate one sitting on the steps in front of the building.

The other players came down one after another. Sun Fangchi looked, and saw that two people were missing.

Ma Daobin and Lao Hongli.

Zhou Xin’s face was very ugly. She roughly described what had happened the night before.

“Gone?”

“What do you mean, gone? If they died, there should at least be a corpse!”

Zhou Xin said, “I didn’t see anyone when I turned back, and I didn’t hear any movement along the way.”

Bureau Chief Chen said with a hint of reproach, “You didn’t even turn back to look for them?”

Zhou Xin turned her face away. After she discovered that Lao Hongli was gone, she had panicked and hidden herself in the room. How would she have dared to risk her life and go check?

Old Du said, “That’s human nature too. But how did Ma Daobin not come down?”

Everyone looked at Yueyue, and Yueyue was so frightened that she hid behind Sun Fangchi.

Sun Fangchi answered for her, “Before, I asked her, and she kept making a pulling motion.” Sun Fangchi imitated her gesture.

“What does that mean?” Old Du did not understand.

“Tch! Little mute, can you write?” Jin Qiao’s exquisite fingernail poked Yueyue’s head.

Yueyue winced, her small head shrinking back.

Sun Fangchi blocked her hand and said with righteous indignation, “Let go of that little girl, beauty, if you have any request, you can come at me!”

Jin Qiao spat at him. “Pah, you’re not old, but you sure know how to act like a lecher!”

Sun Fangchi sighed. “You’ve misunderstood me, I’m as pure as can be, I could never do anything obscene. I’m sure you’re wearing obscene-colored glasses, so what you see is obscene-colored.”

Jin Qiao: “...”

Jin Qiao had been cold-shouldered by Bureau Chief Chen all night yesterday, and was already in a bad mood. While talking to Sun Fangchi, she made out that he was actually quite handsome, a clean and fair young man, leagues away from Bureau Chief Chen’s greasy, fat-headed and big-bellied look. She immediately became interested.

Although this young man was cannon fodder and not worth teaming up with, playing around a bit, not bad either.

“Really? I don’t believe it...” Jin Qiao’s eyes were like silk, and her voice grew even more coquettish as she freely exuded her feminine charm.

Sun Fangchi was after all only fond of teasing and joking, and had no intention of actually doing anything with her. He said awkwardly, “If you don’t believe me, then forget it, I can’t produce any evidence.”

Beside them, Zhang Xu squeezed past Sun Fangchi and leaned in front of Jin Qiao, ingratiating himself. “Beauty, guys like this are mostly all show and no substance. They just happen to have a sissy face, enough to fool little girls. Beauty, you can’t fall for it, right?”

Jin Qiao’s gaze swept over Zhang Xu’s bulging chest muscles and biceps, and at once he felt a kind of electric shock. His gaze grew even hotter, and he shoved Sun Fangchi even farther away.

Jin Qiao lazily gave a “hmph,” which counted as her approval of Zhang Xu’s words and her acceptance of his approach.

Zhang Xu smiled smugly, standing by Jin Qiao’s side and giving Sun Fangchi a show of force in a possessive posture.

Could he have a disease!

Sun Fangchi ignored these two people whose brains were not functioning properly, and turned his attention to the others.

Bureau Chief Chen was very dissatisfied that two people had gone missing in one night. “...Two living people disappeared, and there wasn’t the slightest sound? I don’t believe it, I suggest everyone talk about everything that happened last night, integrate the clues, and it should provide strong support for finding the next direction.”

Zhou Xin pressed her lips into a line, her voice hard and cold. “Everything I know I’ve already said, if you don’t believe me there’s nothing I can do!”

Old Du said warmly, “How could we not believe you? It’s mainly because we’re worried you might have overlooked some details because you were nervous. Three cobblers make a Zhuge Liang, so tell us in detail, and let us cobblers help you think it through.”

Zhou Xin let out a long breath. “Yesterday, after everyone returned to their rooms, Lao Hongli said she wanted to buy... something, so I came down with her and went to the shop over there...”

“Buy what thing?” Bureau Chief Chen frowned.

Zhou Xin rolled her eyes. “Sanitary pads!”

“...” Bureau Chief Chen’s face darkened, and Old Du held back a smile.

Zhou Xin continued, “Then the shop owner’s alarm clock went off, and he very anxiously drove the two of us out. I felt something was wrong, so I pulled Lao Hongli and ran toward the apartment entrance. After entering the apartment, I discovered the shadow directions were wrong... After I used my skill, I found that the security guard was not a living person at all! I pulled Lao Hongli to run, but when the elevator did not arrive, we took the staircase. By the time I came out of the staircase entrance, Lao Hongli was gone. I already said these things once just now, if you make me say them again, it’s still the same.”

After she finished, about two or three minutes passed before anyone spoke.

Bureau Chief Chen said, “It looks like the security guard is this round’s ghost, it’s just that his attack conditions still aren’t clear.”

Zhou Xin sneered. “Pure nonsense, I already used appraisal, do I need you to tell me this result?”

Bureau Chief Chen was contradicted by Zhou Xin, and grew angry and embarrassed. His face darkened, and he put his hands behind his back without saying a word.

Old Du pondered for a moment. “I think the shop owner is a hint. Setting an alarm clock at night really is a little strange, I’m afraid this time point is very important.”

Zhou Xin nodded in agreement. “I thought so too. I asked the owner at the time, but he was very nervous and simply didn’t give me the chance to speak. I thought he looked like he was afraid of something. As soon as the alarm clock rang, he didn’t even collect the money and just drove people out and shut the shop. He must be a knowledgeable insider.”

“Very reasonable!” Old Du raised his voice and said, “Miss Zhou really is a wise person, able to stay calm in the face of life-threatening danger and analyze clues! Let’s go ask the owner for information first, what does everyone think?”

Zhou Xin, whose heart had been flattered, was a little excited, and was the first to agree with Old Du’s suggestion. “I agree, for now, this is the best way.”

Bureau Chief Chen hesitated for a moment, and actually agreed too.

Jin Qiao sneered, pinched her exquisite manicure, and said lazily, “Sure, I have no objection.” Zhang Xu immediately followed with, “Then I agree too, beauty, I’ll protect you.”

The gazes of Zhou Xin, Old Du, and the others landed on the three people who still had not voiced an opinion.

Wei Tao stood the farthest away, still wearing that detached and above-it-all expression, gazing into the distance. “I’ll act alone.”

Zhou Xin’s brows were tightly furrowed. “I’m saying, do you really understand how dangerous this game is? Two people are already missing, and whether they’re alive or dead is unknown!”

Old Du stopped her. “There’s no need to force it. In this game everyone needs to work together. People whose ideas differ, acting together is actually more dangerous.” Ignoring Wei Tao no longer, Old Du invited Sun Fangchi rather insincerely, “Little brother, what do you think?”

Sun Fangchi smiled without any warmth. “Sorry, I want to take the little girl with me. You all go ahead, I’ll think of another way.”

Old Du’s satisfaction showed faintly. “All right then, be careful you two.”

In the course of the conversation, Old Du replaced Bureau Chief Chen as the temporary team’s central figure, and led a few people toward the shop.

Sun Fangchi met Wei Tao’s gaze. Wei Tao said nothing, and returned to the apartment. In the open space outside, only one big and one small person remained.

Was the security guard the ghost in this game?

Sun Fangchi thought it over. The clues he had were really too few, and he still could not be certain...

Sun Fangchi, who had fallen into deep thought, suddenly found a soft thing in the hand hanging naturally by his side. He looked down and laughed in spite of himself. It turned out that Yueyue had stuffed her little hand into his.

“What’s wrong?” Sun Fangchi half-crouched, meeting Yueyue’s eyes levelly.

Yueyue looked at him timidly, gripping his hand even tighter. With her other hand holding the cloth doll under her arm, she laboriously took out a slip of paper and handed it to Sun Fangchi.

When he unfolded it, he saw the same handwriting as on the previous note. The content was a string of phone number and address, followed by a sentence that was forcefully written through the paper: “Save my daughter’s life, no matter how much money it takes, I can afford it!”