Chapter 300: Unseen Departures

“Are you sure he didn’t slip out somewhere else when you weren’t looking?”

As the group of old drivers grew tense, Lu Xin frowned slightly and stepped forward to ask.

“Absolutely not!”

The old driver swore, explaining anxiously, “I was counting on borrowing money from him! I was just thinking about how to ask, didn’t want anyone else hearing. I was definitely waiting right here for him, I really didn’t see him come out… As for leaving another way, sure, he could climb the wall over there, but why would Old Li… Does he need to climb a wall just to leave the restroom?”

“Maybe because he didn’t want to lend you money but felt too awkward to refuse?”

Lu Xin thought this but kept it to himself, considering other possibilities instead.

Just then, Little Zhou came back from checking the restroom area, whispering, “Brother Lu, I’m sure Old Li didn’t climb out that way. The wall’s covered in thick dust. Anyone climbing it would definitely leave scuff marks all over…”

Lu Xin nodded slightly. He also thought climbing the wall was unlikely.

…

Just then, a commotion arose from the crowd behind them. Boss Gao had heard the news and hurried over.

After asking about Old Li’s disappearance, her expression immediately turned wary, and she looked towards Lu Xin.

Lu Xin met her gaze and gave a slight nod.

Gao Ting’s face paled. She bit her lip and shouted, “Don’t panic! Don’t split up looking for him! First…”

“…Do a headcount!”

She made her decision, “Right now! See if anyone else is missing.”

All the old drivers paused, looking at each other, thinking, *Everyone’s here, how could anyone be missing?*

But they couldn’t ignore the boss’s orders. Sun Gouzi and the others immediately blew their whistles, gathering everyone in the courtyard for a roll call against the list. Because they’d lost quite a few people back in White Tower Town, the headcount was a bit troublesome. They had to cross-reference the survivors with the drivers currently gathered, calling out names one by one.

“Liu Daqiang…”

“Here!”

“Meng Tuzi…”

“Here!”

“Zhang Sankuang?”

“Right here…”

…

As Sun Gouzi continued the roll call, Gao Ting and Lu Xin silently observed the crowd. Nearing the end, Gao Ting’s expression slowly changed. Although Lu Xin didn’t know the convoy’s survivors as well as she did, he also sensed something was wrong. He remembered thirty-seven people survived when the convoy left White Tower Town, but now, only thirty-one had answered.

The only ones not called were Boss Gao Ting and Sun Gouzi himself.

Even counting them, there were only thirty-three. So, where had the other four gone?

“B… Boss…”

One driver saw the situation and shakily raised his hand, “Tian Niu Zi went to get his hair washed while you were resting in your room…”

Hearing this, Boss Gao Ting’s eyes narrowed fiercely. She cursed, “Didn’t I tell you all to stay here?”

“We tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen…”

The driver whined, “He… he even said he’d be quick, back in half an hour.”

“Damn it.”

Boss Gao Ting spat viciously on the ground and swore, “Nobody panic yet. Wait for my arrangements, then we’ll search together. For now, try to remember when the missing people disappeared. Think about the last time you saw them.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but step closer to Lu Xin, a worried look on her face.

Lu Xin saw what she wanted to ask and shook his head gently, “I haven’t seen anything like this either. But I do know some people can do things that seem unbelievable. So, right now, the best thing is not to panic.”

He let out a soft sigh, “This is the kind of thing I handle back in Qinggang, so…”

He gave Gao Ting a reassuring smile, “I’ll do my best to help you find them!”

…

Although Lu Xin hadn’t made any promises, the boss felt a slight sense of relief.

She nodded at Lu Xin and said quietly, “I’m not good with fancy words, but… I owe you for this.”

*Just don’t offer to pay with your body…*

Lu Xin muttered inwardly but didn’t dare say it aloud.

The atmosphere wasn’t right. Cracking a joke now might just annoy people…

“Boss, they remembered…”

Sun Gouzi soon returned with three people, saying, “These guys were pretty much the last ones to see those two.”

Upon careful questioning, it turned out someone had seen a man named Bai Zhao during lunch. He’d even chatted with others about the sultry motel owner’s wife. After eating, he said he was going back to his room for a nap, and no one had seen him since.

A few others had been playing cards together. A man named Chen Laodong lost ten yuan and said he was going to wash his hands before coming back to play.

He too vanished without a trace. The others suspected he was deliberately hiding to avoid paying his debt.

The disappearances were all similar. People were there one moment, laughing and talking, and gone the next.

…

“How can it be this strange?”

Boss Gao Ting had clearly seen her share of trouble, but even she was at a loss now.

Lu Xin couldn’t answer her question either.

Did these people leave willingly through some unknown means, or did they truly vanish into thin air?

If they vanished, what kind of Ability User made them disappear, and how?

…

Seeing Lu Xin deep in thought, Boss Gao Ting grit her teeth slightly.

Lu Xin could take his time pondering the problem, but as the boss, she couldn’t. The people around her were already starting to panic.

Gritting her teeth, she ordered, “First, check the surveillance footage at the motel front desk! Then send someone to bring Tian Niu Zi back…”

“Two people together, so they can watch out for each other!”

…

Although the convoy’s old drivers were still scared, at least they had tasks. They shouted their agreement.

Sun Gouzi immediately arranged groups for each task. To be safe, they went in threes.

The rest also gathered, checking their rooms to see if anyone was just sleeping inside.

Soon, everyone dispersed to carry out their tasks and quickly returned to report: “We checked the front desk surveillance. But the cameras are mostly aimed at the parking lot to prevent car or wheel theft, so they don’t capture people. We checked the main gate footage, but only saw Tian Niu Zi sneaking out. There wasn’t even a shadow of Old Li or the others. That means they never left the motel…”

“We asked at the hair washing place. They said Tian Niu Zi left less than ten minutes after arriving, but he never came back here.”

“We checked all the rooms, nobody’s there…”

…

Just as the boss and Lu Xin were deep in thought, a sudden cry of alarm erupted from the crowd.

Everyone turned to look. The speaker was a skinny driver, maybe called Meng Tuzi. He looked around him as if he’d seen a ghost, but there was clearly no one there. The others were spooked by his expression, and for a moment, no one spoke.

“Liang Daweiba… Liang Daweiba is gone…”

Meng Tuzi stammered, pointing at the empty space beside him, “He… he was right here just now…”

Hearing this, Boss Gao Ting’s face changed drastically, “When did he disappear?”

“J-Just… just now…”

Meng Tuzi looked like he was about to burst into tears, “I was just talking to him! I turned my head, and he was gone.”

As he spoke, he instinctively tried to push into the crowd, but everyone else backed away fearfully.

“How is that possible…”

Even Boss Gao Ting’s voice trembled slightly.

Lu Xin didn’t speak immediately. He looked up towards the spot Meng Tuzi indicated. To others, only a faint blue shimmer might have flashed across the lens of his left eye. But in his vision, a stream of data and a flashing red box appeared on the lens. However, after quickly scanning the spot Meng Tuzi pointed to, he found nothing unusual – no mental radiation, no monsters.

Lu Xin frowned and glanced at the nearby wall.

Sister was hanging upside down, plastered against the wall, her little head covered in question marks. Clearly, she hadn’t detected anything either.

Now this was interesting…

…

…

“Well, at least now we can be sure we’ve run into something strange…”

After a moment’s thought, Lu Xin calmly surveyed the surroundings and said to Gao Ting, “Gather everyone together!”

“I think the priority now isn’t finding the missing people, but ensuring no one else disappears right under my nose.”