After Chu Guodong finished looking through the photos, the middle-aged man continued, "About half a month ago, our village hosted a group of government officials who claimed to be on a mission to T City. They stayed in our village for one night, and when we woke up the next morning, we found that they were gone. Many people from our village also disappeared. Now, there are only about ten able-bodied men left in the village."

Gu Yanlin had just shown sympathy for the middle-aged man's complaints when the man continued:

"A few days ago, a group of people, claiming to be soldiers, passed through our area. They were driving similar vehicles to yours. We treated them well, and even gave them a lot of food to take with them in exchange for their help in finding someone. But the day after they left, they secretly slipped back and stole all the grain from our village warehouse."

"If it weren't for the children in our village seeing it, we would still be in the dark, foolishly waiting and hoping they could help find the people from our village, or at least give us a clue."

The man spoke with fury, his words tinged with sadness. The theft of one warehouse's food was one thing, but at least they hadn't put all their eggs in one basket; they still had other provisions. The cunning middle-aged man didn't reveal this to Chu Guodong and his group.

However, there has been no news from their village for half a month, which is understandably worrying them. They have searched the surrounding area thoroughly, but found no clues.

Their village was also very hospitable, and coupled with their innate trust and respect for soldiers and government officials, they always treated them with great hospitality. However, these people not only showed no gratitude, but one by one, they harbored ill intentions, or simply had ulterior motives to deceive them.

After these two incidents, their village completely lost the desire to communicate with the outside world. However, they had no choice but to accept that one of their village's roads was the best-preserved and most convenient in the vicinity, and many vehicles were coming and going these days.

They often come over and disturb the villagers.

They then organized the remaining able-bodied men to set up roadblocks on the only road leading to the village, preventing outsiders from coming.

In order not to reveal the village's exact address, they deliberately chose a location that was some distance away from the village and out of sight.

After hearing the middle-aged man's description, the group had nothing to say and looked at him with sympathy; it was truly a tragic situation. The villagers had lost both their supplies and lives, and what's more, they didn't know if the people were alive or dead. To save the remaining people, they might have done something irrational, but the fact that they were blocking the road already proved that the villagers were relatively rational.

"Chief Chu, please, you must help me search, even if it's just to bring me some information," the man pleaded, holding Chu Guodong's hands.

"Don't worry, we will search carefully along the way," Chu Guodong promised the middle-aged man.

When it comes to matters of life and death, he would investigate thoroughly even if the middle-aged man didn't bring it up.

Hearing Chu Guodong's promise and seeing the solemnity on his face, the middle-aged man sighed inwardly and waved to signal the people behind him to let them pass.

Seeing that the wooden stakes blocking the road had been moved and people had cleared a space for vehicles to pass, the group got into their car and continued on their way.

Before leaving, Chu Guodong asked him if he wasn't afraid they were also liars. The man didn't answer, but just gave a bitter smile.

They don't have a car and can't go far in this freezing weather. They also don't have any connections outside, so if they want to find a place far away, they can only hope that passersby will help them find it.

Moreover, he observed carefully and realized that these people were probably all carrying guns. If they really wanted to force their way in, they probably wouldn't be able to stop them, and it would cause unnecessary casualties.

Fortunately, his nephew said that this person was quite upright and capable, and should be reliable, which gave the middle-aged man a glimmer of hope.

Hopefully, they can successfully find the people from their village. Among the missing are his daughter and his father, who is over 70 years old. If it weren't for the fact that the village only has the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the dozen or so able-bodied men left, and there wasn't a second person who could take charge, he would have already gone off to search for them without a second thought.

He suffered greatly during this time, with countless blisters in his mouth, but he endured it so that no one else in the village could tell.