Chapter 301: Gathered in Fear

Gao Ting immediately agreed to Lu Xin’s suggestion and found a solution.

She spoke with the motel owner and arranged for everyone to switch rooms.

The motel had large dorm-style rooms, each packed tightly enough to sleep thirty or forty people.

Over half the drivers were already in the dorms, so they just had to head back. The few outsiders who had been sharing the space were swapped into the convoy’s standard rooms, looking bewildered as Boss Gao quickly ushered them out.

As the nervous drivers carried their luggage into the large dorm, they exchanged uneasy glances. An oppressive silence hung heavy in the air.

“Could it be… some deadly assassin snuck in and… killed them?”

“An assassin might almost be preferable. I’m afraid… I’m afraid ghosts dragged them away.”

…

Under the dim yellow light, people kept darting nervous glances around, terrified the person beside them might suddenly vanish.

Even more terrifying was the thought that *they* might be the next to disappear.

Some couldn’t hold their tongues, whispering theories, though none seemed truly plausible.

“Lu… Little Brother Lu, about this…”

Boss Gao Ting stood at the doorway with Lu Xin, asking hesitantly.

Usually, she was the decisive boss, her word law within the convoy. But now, she felt utterly powerless, needing Lu Xin’s input on everything, a fact that chafed slightly. Still, remembering how he’d handled that brain-like monster, and grateful for his previous help, she pushed past her hesitation and asked.

“I haven’t figured out why those people disappeared yet. Right now, I can only offer one suggestion.”

Seeing his serious expression, Gao Ting felt a knot of anxiety tighten in her chest. “What is it?” she asked quickly.

Lu Xin stated simply, “Call the guards!”

Gao Ting’s expression instantly turned strange.

Lu Xin elaborated seriously, “Calling the guards is the most reliable move. Qinggang has people who handle things like this, and Central City must too. Reporting it might alert their Special Cleaning Department. Maybe they can solve this.”

“Well…”

Although Gao Ting wasn’t entirely sure what the Special Cleaning Department did, she nodded firmly. “Okay.”

Truthfully, people from the Wasteland instinctively distrusted the Administration Halls and Security Departments within the high-wall cities. She subconsciously suspected these official bodies might be in league with types like Zhao Hui; reporting this could be walking right into a trap. But right now, her trust in Lu Xin outweighed her suspicions, so she gritted her teeth and agreed.

Given the bizarre circumstances, she didn’t dare let anyone go out alone. Flanked by two drivers, she went to the front desk, borrowed the landline from the plump motel owner, and called the Security Hall. They promised someone would be right over.

The group then returned to the large dorm room to wait patiently.

But whether Central City’s Security Hall was incredibly slow or something else was wrong, they waited and waited, and still, no one arrived.

Outside, darkness had completely fallen.

…

“What’s going on?”

“Should we call again and rush them?”

“We tried. Now no one’s even picking up. Should we send someone over there to ask?”

“Like this? Who’d dare go out?”

…

They waited and waited, but still, no one from the Security Hall showed up. The drivers grew increasingly agitated.

The disappearances were unnerving enough, but the encroaching darkness made everything worse.

“Is Central City always this inefficient?”

Lu Xin pondered for a moment and shook his head, thinking, *Qinggang wouldn’t be like this.*

He wondered if he should try finding the Special Cleaning Department himself. But if he left, he couldn’t guarantee the convoy’s safety. Besides, the higher-ups in Qinggang had specifically told him to avoid contact with Central City’s personnel if possible. Ability users entering another city always drew scrutiny.

Especially now that he carried information about the God’s Brain, keeping a low profile was critical.

*Looks like I need to prepare to handle this myself…*

After a moment’s thought, Lu Xin made a decision. He turned to Gao Ting and the others. “Stay alert for now. Keep the doors and windows locked tight.”

“Locking the doors and windows… Will that even help?”

The drivers sounded doubtful.

“It should,” Lu Xin mused, “unless we’re really dealing with ghosts…”

He paused, then added, “To be safe, we could try a couple more things. First, we could tie everyone’s wrists together with rope, linking us all so no one else vanishes without a trace…”

“Second, we could get some dirt from outside and sprinkle it on the floor to look for footprints…”

…

Hearing his suggestions, the group finally had a sense of direction. They quickly formed small teams, some searching for rope, others heading out to gather dirt.

Lu Xin watched quietly as they finished their preparations, then nodded to Gao Ting.

“You all stay here for now. I need to step out for a bit.”

“I need some privacy to think…”

…

“Privacy?”

Gao Ting looked startled, her expression filled with worry.

“It’s okay, don’t worry,”

Lu Xin understood her concern and smiled reassuringly. “If whatever this is comes after me, it’ll actually be easier to deal with.”

Though Gao Ting couldn’t shake her unease, she nodded silently.

Lu Xin gave her another smile and nod before leaving alone.

He returned to the standard room he’d occupied earlier. When Gao Ting moved everyone to the dorm, she’d swapped out all the standard rooms, but perhaps sensing Lu Xin was different, she hadn’t given this one away. Without Old Zhou and Little Zhou, however, the room felt unnervingly quiet. He switched on the light; the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling swayed gently, as if caught in a draft.

*Creak…*

The sound came as Lu Xin sat down on the bed.

He took out his phone again and tried calling the contact from the Qinggang Office. No connection.

Or rather, there was simply no signal at all.

Lu Xin paused, then put the phone back in his backpack. He laced his fingers together, rested his chin on them, and began to think.

He sat quietly for a long time as the night outside grew steadily darker.

A cool night breeze swirled silently through the courtyard outside.

Lu Xin waited, but nothing happened. He started to feel bored.

*Still no word from the office contact,* he thought. *Did he disappear too?*

*This must be connected to what happened back in White Tower Town, right?*

Han Bing had already warned him they might try to silence witnesses.

If they were making a move, targeting the drivers first made sense.

One, the drivers were already on their list. Two, it was a way to test him.

He certainly wasn’t going to interfere directly, but how should he handle this situation?

Before, he could at least ask Han Bing for advice on problems like this. Now, he was on his own.

Mom was usually good at finding people, but she wasn’t here now.

“Hmm…”

Lu Xin fell silent for a moment, then glanced up. A pale shadow clung to the ceiling, half-hidden in the darkness above.

“Sister, you didn’t see anything earlier?”

Lu Xin asked hopefully. What if Sister had caught a glimpse of something?

“If I’d seen anything, I’d be talking to you with my toy right now.”

Sister hugged the Screaming Chicken, gave it an expressionless squeeze, and added, “But I think this whole thing is pretty fun. A few times, I thought I saw something, but when I tried to look closer, it was gone. So, I don’t know if I saw anything or not.”

“Are you trying to tie my brain in knots?”

Lu Xin sighed and muttered, “It’d be great if Mom were here.”

Sister glared resentfully at Lu Xin and squeezed the Screaming Chicken hard.

Lu Xin ignored her and looked down at his own shadow. The dim bulb overhead cast only a small patch of darkness at his feet. As he focused on it, a pair of blood-red eyes seemed to materialize within the shadow, meeting his gaze. Four eyes stared—his and the shadow’s. After a long silence, Lu Xin asked, “Did you notice anything?”

“Hehehehe…”

A hollow, dry laugh echoed in his ears. “Razing this entire motel to the ground would be exceedingly simple…”

Lu Xin shook his head, resigned. “So you didn’t notice anything either?”

The shadow fell silent.

Lu Xin shook his head again, muttering, “It’d really be great if Mom were here.”

The atmosphere in the room turned awkward. Both Sister hanging from the ceiling and the eyes lurking in the shadow stared silently at Lu Xin. He looked back, a touch of innocence mixed with faint disdain in his gaze.

It was also quite awkward.

*Looks like whatever it is won’t come looking for me…*

He sat for a few more minutes, glancing hopefully out the window one last time before lowering his head in disappointment.

“Ah—!”

Suddenly, a string of panicked screams echoed from the distance, followed by the thudding sound of someone running.

Little Zhou’s tearful voice quickly followed. “It’s bad, Brother Lu! Just now… someone else disappeared!”

“Hm?”

Lu Xin frowned, rose quickly, and followed Little Zhou back to the large dorm room.

He saw the room was now in chaos. The rope binding everyone’s wrists together was still there, but several empty loops dangled limply where people had been just moments before. Those people had vanished.

The dirt scattered on the floor was churned up with frantic footprints.

People were stumbling over the dirt in panic, searching frantically everywhere, some even peering under the beds.

Seeing Lu Xin, Gao Ting rushed over. “Just now… we were all just sitting here, nothing was happening! But I had this bad feeling… so I asked Sun Gouzi to do another headcount. I never expected… never…”

“There were thirty of us when we gathered here. But when he counted just now… there were only twenty-seven left!”

…

“Three more missing?”

Lu Xin looked up, startled.

They were all in the same room, practically staring at each other. How could more people just vanish?

Gao Ting nodded vigorously. “Yes, three more! And we… we don’t even know *when* they disappeared!”

This time, the tremor in her voice was unmistakable.