Chapter 299: The Missing Driver

Facing a group of angry old drivers the warehouse manager was sweating bullets. He did his best to placate them while quickly verifying and receiving the cargo. He kept assuring the old drivers “Everyone rest assured our company absolutely won’t allow this kind of thing to happen… It’s likely a misunderstanding… We’ll definitely give you all an explanation.”

Even after sending off the furious old drivers his mind was still reeling with confusion. How did things suddenly turn out like this…?

…

“This might be better.”

On the drive back Lu Xin sat in the passenger seat looking much more relaxed. He smiled at Gao Ting.

Gao Ting drove silently for a while before finally saying “Thank you.”

“It’s what I should do.”

Lu Xin smiled “Let’s first see what kind of punishment his company gives him and whether it’s severe or not.”

Gao Ting glanced at Lu Xin and slowly gave an “Mm.”

At this moment she couldn’t quite figure out this young man who hid a monster beneath his gentle exterior.

Was he genuinely thinking this way or just playing dumb?

His words and actions seemed to follow a certain logic and reason but they still felt difficult to comprehend.

Did he truly believe the Dadi Group would definitely punish Zhao Hui?

Believe the convoy wouldn’t face retaliation?

But things had reached this point and she didn’t know what else to say.

Initially she hadn’t paid much attention to the reporting incident but now the scene seemed to have escalated more than she’d imagined.

She was already starting to worry about something else.

“I also wanted to sound him out just now.”

Gao Ting spoke softly after a moment “I suspected that if our convoy was intentionally sent to White Tower Town then Zhao Hui might know something. I originally wanted to provoke him a bit see if I could get any key information out of him but he was very guarded and didn’t say anything. However judging from his reaction it really did feel like he was hiding something.”

“For example he was very angry…”

“Was he angry because I was degrading myself?”

As she spoke a cold smile touched her lips “It’s not the first time he’s known I degrade myself. Why was he so angry this time?”

“Huh?”

Lu Xin couldn’t help turning to look at her “This woman’s got some tricks…”

Back at the warehouse seeing her hang her head and endure the bullying he thought she’d been scared silly.

“So maybe it’s like this: because you weren’t taking care of yourself you angered him. Whether for revenge or some other reason he simply arranged for your convoy to head into White Tower Town… For him this should be simple just set the delivery date in advance and you’d naturally deliver yourselves to his doorstep. But is it really worth doing something like this over such a small matter?”

“Zhao Hui is very possessive and petty but it seems… unlikely he’d go this far.”

Gao Ting tried hard to recall saying “Perhaps… there are other reasons.”

Lu Xin nodded slightly turned his head slightly and asked “Could it be related to the cargo you were transporting?”

He’d thought about this before. Was the convoy’s timing just a coincidence? Did someone just want to feed these drivers to those madmen? Or was it planned from the start—that White Tower Town wanted both the drivers and the cargo they were hauling?

“Logically speaking we were just hauling some common ores from the Hongling side. That shouldn’t be it right…”

Gao Ting frowned her first reaction being disbelief but she wasn’t entirely certain.

“Unfortunately the cargo has already been handed over…”

Lu Xin smiled looking at Gao Ting.

Gao Ting paused for a moment then pulled a coarse cloth backpack out from under the driver’s seat placing it beside Lu Xin “I kept a sample. Ever since leaving White Tower Town I’ve felt uneasy. Even now I can’t figure out how this could be related but I kept a little just in case it’s needed later… Maybe we can find someone knowledgeable to take a look.”

“Impressive…”

Lu Xin looked at her approvingly hefting his own bag “On the way here I also stole… took a piece.”

Gao Ting gave Lu Xin a deep look a faint smile suddenly appearing on her face. She turned back to focus on driving.

But as she turned her head forward the corner of her eye caught a red figure standing among the messy roadside stalls. Because it was just a glimpse from the periphery it was very blurry. She only saw that the figure was short with limbs growing like tentacles writhing gently. The sight instantly sent a wave of goosebumps across her skin.

She quickly turned her head back staring intently her expression suddenly filled with confusion.

The space between those few stalls was now empty as if what she had just seen was merely a hallucination.

Moreover she subconsciously felt an urge not to mention it.

…

“Whoosh…”

The sports car its body almost scraping the ground sped all the way to an abandoned factory in Satellite City Seven.

With a ‘clunk’ a wheel hit a puddle and the car body swayed.

Zhao Hui pushed open the car door stepped out glanced at the puddle and the mud splattered on the car body cursed under his breath then turned and walked up a rusty staircase towards the second floor of the abandoned factory entering a spacious empty workshop.

“That woman is definitely suspicious!”

He muttered towards the empty workshop his expression tight with suppressed anger “I can feel she’s different from before. I tried to probe indirectly asking what happened on the road but she wouldn’t say. I was worried asking too much would expose me so I could only let her go first… What exactly happened at the lab? What’s the Black Table’s decision?”

“It’s alright the Black Table doesn’t plan to eliminate you.”

A voice sounded answering a completely different question than the one Zhao Hui asked “However your request for body enhancement might have to wait. After all your mission failed this time and it caused serious consequences.”

Zhao Hui paused then gritted his teeth “I’m willing to make amends!”

“You needed to make amends anyway.”

The voice continued “The priority now is to eliminate the potential repercussions of this incident. And…” The voice paused “Your suspicion is correct. The person who ‘reported’ you is very likely the one who caused this mission’s failure. The Black Table is very interested in this person. Of course the top priority now is to bring him under control.”

While talking to this person Zhao Hui felt an uncontrollable panic rising within him.

He swallowed hard “Should I bring in some gunmen? Those big truck drivers don’t have guns in the city.”

“Your desire to atone is commendable.”

The voice said “But that’s not what you need to do.”

“Blocking the news and cleaning up the loose ends will be handled by the Hell Group. What you need to do is something else.”

…

“Hell Group?”

Zhao Hui slowly repeated the name his face showing a mix of envy fear and relief. But when he heard about the ‘something else’ his expression immediately turned alarmed. He shook his head vigorously “I know what you want me to do but I can’t! My old man won’t forgive me… We agreed before I only needed to help you with small things within certain limits!”

“Blocking the news and cleaning up the loose ends will be handled by the Hell Group. What you need to do is something else.”

The voice seemed not to hear Zhao Hui’s refusal repeating the sentence again.

Zhao Hui’s face showed hesitation as he whispered “I know what you want me to do but I can’t my old man…”

“…And what you need to do is something else.”

The voice repeated the sentence once more unhurriedly.

A somewhat ferocious smile gradually appeared on Zhao Hui’s face as he bit his lip slightly “Is that so? I’ve wanted to do this for a long time…”

“Haha I’ll show them how capable I am…”

…

“Very good.”

The voice praised Zhao Hui with satisfaction saying softly “Go prepare!”

…

…

“Damn it! We’ll go raise hell at the warehouse again tomorrow! If those bastards don’t give us an explanation we’ll go get guns outside the city and deal with them!”

“Reckless! What’s the use of causing trouble at the warehouse? We need to go to their headquarters!”

“Guns are hard to bring in it’s illegal. Better to just go chop him up with knives!”

“The question I’m struggling with now is was he taking advantage of the Boss or was the Boss taking advantage of him?”

“Heh… Makes sense!”

After returning to the motel the group of old drivers were still cursing venting their righteous indignation.

Although there was some uncertainty surrounding the matter their anger was real.

Hearing that their Boss had actually been bullied by someone else even though they had long heard the supervisor had an unusual background the group of old drivers felt the urge to just slash him a couple of times first. Those who don’t lead often fear the higher-ups less.

Of course while talking they also stole glances at the Boss’s expression.

After all the Boss had this habit at night so everyone wasn’t quite sure if her nightly habit had just flared up…

“What’s all this nonsense? Got time for this why not think about what cargo to haul back?”

“Everyone rest well today. Remember without my permission no one leaves the motel!”

Gao Ting wore a cold expression unwilling to say much more to them. After giving the order she said “I’m going back to my room to rest first.”

Watching her the expressions on the crowd’s faces gradually turned grim.

It was obvious the Boss wasn’t happy this time. That meant she’d been forced.

Unbearable absolutely unbearable.

After the group of old drivers dispersed many secretly discussed where they could get a gun.

…

Normally after delivering goods to Central City their convoy wouldn’t just return empty. They would try their best to purchase some rare items in Central City or take on some private cargo jobs along the way to earn extra money. Of course the cargo on the return trip was uncertain usually decided on the spot based on what was most profitable.

With the Boss giving them time off everyone finally relaxed.

Usually they would definitely go out for a stroll but with the Boss’s orders no one could leave the motel.

So they could only disperse in small groups some playing chess others flirting with the boss’s wife.

“It’s almost two o’clock why hasn’t the contact person arrived yet?”

Lu Xin took advantage of the free time to contact the liaison but the call didn’t connect.

He asked the front desk but no one had left a message for him.

This was rather strange. How could they stand him up?

Back in his room he found the note he left earlier was still there just slightly moved. Lu Xin wondered if the wind had blown it but wasn’t sure. Before he could figure it out Little Zhou brought him a basin of food—a stew with four fist-sized steamed buns and a large tender scallion laid across the top.

Lu Xin temporarily stopped thinking about those things and started wolfing down the food with Little Zhou in the room heads close together.

“Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong…”

Just as he hesitated about fighting Little Zhou for the last steamed bun a commotion suddenly erupted outside.

Lu Xin and Little Zhou put down their chopsticks and went out to see a group of old drivers gathered together looking extremely agitated. Hurrying over to ask they saw one old driver his face panicked yelling loudly “It’s Old Li! Old Li just… strangely disappeared…”

“Disappeared?”

No one understood “What do you mean disappeared?”

“He just… just disappeared ah…”

The old driver pointed towards the restroom “Just now… just now Old Li and I went to take a piss. I finished first so I came out – the smell inside was too strong. Old Li said he needed to take a dump so he didn’t come out yet. I waited a bit thinking about asking him to lend me money… When he still didn’t come out I went in to look for him. I didn’t expect… I didn’t expect such a big guy like Old Li would just… just disappear…”

“What do you mean gone?”

The surrounding people listened feeling both weirded out and astonished “Could he have fallen in?”

“Did you fish around?”

…

The old driver stomped his foot angrily “What are you talking about? He’s really gone!”

“Old Li’s so big the pit’s so shallow how could you not see him if he fell in?”

Seeing the old driver so tense everyone finally became anxious and rushed into the restroom to see.

Lu Xin also followed craning his neck and glancing around a few times while pinching his nose.

It was a public restroom. Not every room in this motel had a private bathroom only the mid-to-high-end rooms did. Most of the ordinary rooms were makeshift structures and many even slept in large communal rooms.

These restrooms were also dry latrines with individual pits inside.

The space wasn’t large only about seven or eight meters long and just over three meters wide. You could see everything at a glance.

It was completely empty indeed no one was there.

But how could such a large person really just vanish?

…A legendary pee escape?”