It was a close call, but no real danger.

I sat in the car and took a breath. I was really scared to death just now. If Lu Yun hadn't arrived in time, I probably would have died under their guns.

After we were completely out of danger, Lu Yun found a dark spot to park the car, turned to me and asked, "How is it? Where's my sister?"

I shook my head and said, "Your sister and Fei Lichao are not inside. Jin Yuan was telling the truth. They didn't arrest them."

Lu Yun frowned. "Are you sure?"

I nodded and said, "I'm pretty sure they didn't arrest anyone."

Lu Yun's expression became confused, and finally she asked me again, "Are you sure you saw it clearly?"

I recalled what I had seen and the reaction of the guy I encountered inside, nodded firmly, and said, "Really not."

Lu Yun asked in confusion, "But... if my sister wasn't caught by them, where did she go?"

I don't understand either. If Jingjie and Fei Lichao weren't caught by them, why didn't they come back to the school to find us? Or they could have gone to Jiangbei. Why did they just disappear?

Or are they already dead?

I said, "Don't overthink it. If Jingjie and the others are still alive, they will definitely come looking for us. They can't be wandering around alone. Let's go back to school first. I'll contact Jiangbei and ask if Jingjie has gone to their place."

Lu Yun nodded in agreement and said, "After you get out of the car, let me drive."

After getting into the driver's seat, I headed towards the school. Forty minutes later, before I even reached the school, I stopped at the entrance of a residential area.

"Where is this? This doesn't seem to be a school," Lu Yun asked.

After I got out of the car, I looked around and, to make sure there was no danger, said, "This is indeed not a school, but this is a safe house that Sister Jing left behind. I want to go and see if Sister Jing is inside."

"Safe house? What's that?" Lu Yun asked, puzzled.

I stepped into the residential area, with Lu Yun beside me. I said, "It happened a long time ago. Back then, we had just arrived in Jiajiang and settled down at the school. One of the people in our team was very smart, you could say far-sighted. He told each of us to find our own safe house so that if something happened in the future, we would have a place to survive."

"So this is my sister's safe house?" Lu Yun asked, fixated on the residential building in front of her.

I nodded and said, "Yes, this is your sister's old safe house."

As we entered the building, Lu Yun led the way and asked, "Which floor?"

"The top layer."

Without saying a word, Lu Yun ran up to her, and I followed behind her. I didn't have to worry about the zombies.

In a short while, the two of us arrived at the door of the room on the top floor. The door was open, and it was pitch black inside.

"Is this the place?" Lu Yun asked.

“Yes, this is it,” I said.

Lu Yun took out an iron rod and knocked on the door, then called out, "Is anyone there? Sis, are you there?"

There was no sound from inside.

I took out my flashlight, and the beam revealed everything inside.

The room was covered in dust, clearly indicating that no one had been there for a long time.

Lu Yun and I went into the house. Lu Yun ran straight into the inner room. I stood in the living room, looking at everything in front of me, and remembered that a long time ago, Jing Jie, Hu Fei, and I lived here together for a period of time.

I glanced back at the kitchen, and it was still the same as before, except that the pots and pans were now covered in dust.

As for the dining table, the dishes and chopsticks were still left behind when we left.

A moment later, Lu Yun ran out from the inner room, shook her head at me, and said, "No, my sister isn't here."

I said, "Since you're not here, let's go."

Lu Yun and I were both a little disappointed. Before coming up here, I really hoped that Sister Jing was in this safe house, but after coming up here, all our hopes were dashed.

Now we can only hope that Jiangbei will send us some news.

...

We returned to school, and it was already late.

When I got back to my dorm, I contacted Su Mu in Jiangbei and told him about it. He said he hadn't seen it before, and that he would come over to discuss it with me the next morning.

I was in my dorm room, feeling very upset.

Come over tomorrow and let's discuss this together. How should we discuss it?

Should we go find them?

I put down the walkie-talkie, lay down on the bed, went to the window of the bathroom at the back, put my legs out on the windowsill, lit a cigarette, and slowly smoked it.

The moonlight tonight is a bit hazy, and there are no stars shining.

It looks like it's going to rain tomorrow.

...

The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of torrential rain.

The sound of the heavy rain was irritating. I walked out of my dorm room, still half asleep, and looked at the heavy rain outside in the corridor, without any particular thought.

Du Xu came out of the dormitory next door, still looking sleepy. After greeting me, he asked, "How did things go yesterday? Did you find it?"

I shook my head and said, "We didn't find Sister Jing and the others, but we found an outside team."

Du Xu rubbed his eyes and asked, "An outside team? How capable are they?"

I said, "Fully armed, very powerful."

How powerful?

“There are over fifty of them in total, and each of them has at least a pistol and an assault rifle, as well as bulletproof vests, military knives, and other equipment. How powerful do you think they are?”

"Hiss!" Du Xu gasped. "Isn't that a pervert?!"

I nodded.

Du Xu asked, "What about Lu Jing and Fei Lichao? We haven't heard a word about them at all?"

I said, "I raided the place last night, but I didn't find anything. Before that, I also tied up someone for questioning, but that person didn't know anything. So I guess Sister Jing and Fei Lichao really weren't arrested. As for where they went, I don't know either."

Du Xu nodded: "That's a bit troublesome. We can't find anything, there's no trace of them, and they haven't come back. Do you think it's possible that they..."

"Dead?" I blurted out.

"Mm." Du Xu nodded.

I shook my head and said, "It's possible, but unlikely. I believe they are still alive, but they probably can't come back for some reason."

Du Xu shook his head: "Sigh, there's so much trouble. We haven't even explained what happened at Biyuan yet, and now your people are in trouble. This is really a problem."

"What's the trouble?" Suddenly, an unexpected voice rang out.

Du Xu and I turned around and saw Wang Xintong—no, I should say Chu Yu—walking towards us.

She yawned, rubbed her eyes, and said, "Brother Lu, tell me everything you just said. What did you do yesterday?"

(End of this chapter)