Thirty minutes after Chaochao went missing.

The roar of helicopter rotors echoed through the forest, and the air currents stirred up fallen leaves.

Three of Huo’s helicopters were circling nearby.

Hundreds of drones traversed the forest, conducting low-altitude reconnaissance.

The other children have been urgently returned to the camp. Half of the guests stayed behind to look after them, while the other half voluntarily joined the search.

Jiang Chi had rushed back to the camp to inquire about the progress, and after receiving a negative reply, he turned and left. After walking twenty meters, he suddenly kicked over a folding chair by the roadside. Ten seconds later, he silently bent down to straighten it, and without looking back, plunged into the dense forest.

"Mr. Huo."

"Gu Kai insisted that he did not know where Miss Chaochao was and insisted that he had no knowledge of the matter."

Lin Cheng handed the tablet to Huo Qin, speaking in a flat and straightforward manner.

On the tablet screen, a surveillance video was clearly displayed.

In the cramped and filthy basement, Gu Kai knelt on the floor, his face bruised and swollen, tears streaming down his face. In the corner, a dark figure huddled, his assistant who had fainted long ago.

"Gu Kai's assistant immediately confessed that the person he was dealing with was the man we arrested last night, and the three people present today..."

He said he had never met or contacted them.

Lin Cheng's throat tightened, which meant that Chaochao's disappearance today was very likely an accident.

Huo Qin stared calmly at the monitor screen, but the knuckles of his fingers, resting on the side of the tablet, tightened inch by inch.

Lin Cheng continued.

"A professional wilderness rescue team can arrive within five minutes."

"In City B, Mr. Xie and his team have already received the news and are on their way."

"And... Old Chairman Huo almost fainted after hearing the news."

Huo Qin didn't even lift his eyelids.

"..." Lin Cheng lowered his eyes, no longer speaking, his gaze discreetly sweeping over the mud stains on the man's trousers and the bits of grass still clinging to his sleeves. A complex and indescribable feeling of unease filled his heart.

President Huo has personally searched the accident radius three times.

Now, Huo Qin finally turned his cold gaze away from the tablet and turned it to Lin Cheng.

Sweating profusely, Zou Shilin had just finished directing the operation when he saw the man seemed ready to move again, and immediately ran over, still covered in sweat.

"Mr. Huo, why don't you take a rest? I've already increased the workload..."

Before he could finish speaking, Huo Qin brushed aside the arm blocking his way, walked straight past him, and spoke in icy swifts:

"roll."

This is the first word Huo Qin has uttered since he last spoke.

Zou Shilin dared not dissuade him any further and could only stand there, watching the man's figure walk further and further away with a gloomy expression.

internet--

Liang Beibei's live stream was suddenly shut down, causing a huge uproar. The program's official Weibo account was instantly flooded with comments from a massive fan base, with tens of thousands of posts demanding a definitive explanation.

Despite the previous crackdown by the Huo family, marketing accounts that were really craving traffic couldn't help but quietly emerge and spread rumors.

Some say it was a malfunction in the live streaming equipment, forcing an emergency stop.

Some people say that a guest accidentally fell off a cliff.

Some people say that the capital was too arrogant and the recording was canceled.

It wasn't until several netizens from Nanjun County in Y Province discovered that multiple firefighting helicopters near their homes were flying towards the forest that the second rumor suddenly gained momentum.

Chaochao's fans were even more uneasy. Some even went up the mountain to pray for peace, while most others were asking questions.

Could Chaochao really have disappeared? Is Chaochao safe?

Where is Chaochao?

—Your every day is paving the way ahead.

Following the system's guidance, Chaochao kept walking straight to the left without looking back. She used a twig to push aside the wild wormwood that stretched out wildly, lifted her short legs and stepped over the thick grass stems with a little effort, while the swaying grass shadows around her were like countless green hands, touching her all over when she wasn't paying attention.

Unable to bear the tickling all over her body, Chaochao turned her head sullenly and glared at the meter-high weeds.

Hmph, they don't even say what they ate to grow so tall.

Chaochao pressed on, head down, and as he walked further, his view seemed to open up a bit. The weeds were no longer so dense and lush, and the number of open spaces where he could easily find a foothold was visibly increasing.

Chaochao just kept walking and walking. She didn't know how much time had passed, but she felt a little thirsty and a little tired.

If only her little backpack were here.

The little dumpling had a thin red mark on the back of her fair hand, which had been scratched by serrated wild wormwood on the way here.

Chaochao, who would normally run to her father's arms and whine for comfort if she bumped her head even slightly at home, simply breathed on her hand when she cut it, and then walked forward without making a sound.

After a while, Chaochao, who was tired from walking, decided to find a place to rest.

She chose a vacant lot next to wild grass that grew on pig feed, where the shade would provide respite from the heat. Moreover, there was a peculiar shallow pit in the grass, just big enough for her buttocks to fit in.

Chaochao sat in the pit and curiously twisted left and right.

She called out "Xiao Qi" in her heart.

Her response was still a piercing electrical buzzing.

But she's almost gotten used to this sound, which's like her brain short-circuiting.

A gentle breeze blew by, and the tips of the grass hanging overhead nodded slightly, causing a drop of water to fall and hit Chaochao's nose, flowing down and slightly wetting her dry lips.

Really thirsty, Chaochao couldn't resist licking her lips. She turned around and looked up, staring intently at the wild grasses, her eyes brimming with anticipation.

You can't eat or drink anything indiscriminately...

But she was a little thirsty…

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Let's forget about it for now.

The little dumpling, who had been trying to quench its thirst by looking at grass, withdrew its gaze with restraint.

Just as she turned her head, "Swish, swish, swish—"

Chaochao first felt a chill on her neck, but before she could touch it, a sudden downpour began to pour down on her head.

Chaochao, her face covered in water after receiving the "wonderful rain" gift, was speechless.

With a quick shake of her head, Chaochao scrambled out of the pit, her hands and feet scrambling. In her anger, she took the opportunity to lick her lips once. She turned around, ready to confront the commoner with a fierce expression.

"Me and you—"

She had just opened her mouth when she hesitated and closed it again.

A cleansed mind is indeed sharper.

Chaochao stretched out a hand to feel it.

There's no wind here...?

She looked ahead, bewildered, at the swaying grass.

"Swish swish swish—"

There seemed to be the sound of people walking around.

Chaochao's eyes suddenly lit up, and she immediately ran to the side, about to greet the other person: "I—"

The baby voice abruptly stopped.

From the grass, a colossal creature slowly emerged. Its fluffy, milky-white fur gleamed like pearls in the sunlight, but its bloodthirsty eyes and gleaming claws revealed it to be a ferocious, cruel, and extremely dangerous subspecies of black bear—the Spirit Bear.

Chaochao's little hand, which was raised halfway, froze in mid-air.

That's not right...

Don't all white bears live in icebergs?

Her impression of bears was being refreshed by the terrifying story her brother told her last night about bears that love to eat people.

Chaochao, who confronted the bear the next day: "..."

From now on, let Daddy tell the stories.