"What's up?"

Lin Wu asked, somehow remembering what Zheng Mingxian had said before.

Could it be that...

Bai Jing said: "That group of people looked like they were looking for something, and they were in a hurry. After they settled down in the B&B, they didn't rest overnight, and some of them left that night. It wasn't until dawn that the people who left came back, but only one of them came back, and he was still wet and unconscious at the door of the B&B. He was found by the B&B owner and dragged in."

The remaining members of the archaeological team did not rest, but were waiting for those who were leaving.

Seeing that they were acting strangely, Bai Jing and Bai Ning did not sleep either. They waited in the room to see what they were going to do.

As they were waiting, they suddenly heard a chaotic noise outside. They went out to ask around and found out what was going on. They also saw the owner of the B&B helping the archaeological team carry someone into the room. The soaked person was unconscious but was trembling and mumbling something.

Bai Jing and Bai Ning wanted to pretend to be normal guests who were woken up, and went forward to ask what happened and take a closer look, but they were driven away by the people from the archaeological team with a bad attitude.

"In fact, I wanted to climb over through the window outside and listen to the movements in their room. But the young woman who followed them was very perceptive, and she almost discovered me, so I had to give up and go back."

Lin Wu could hear the interest in Bai Jing's tone.

She seldom met anyone she found difficult, and that woman caught her eye.

"What happened next?" Lin Wu asked.

Bai Jing said, "Because of this, Bai Ning and I gave up our plan to leave and stayed to observe them. The man woke up in the evening, and they talked secretly in the room for a long time. At night, the woman led the team and left with several archaeologists. Bai Ning and I saw this and followed them from behind, and found that they were heading to the back mountain."

"While tracking them, I noticed they had a map on them. They followed the map and listened to the archaeologist. We followed them for most of the night and finally followed them to a river."

At this point, Bai Jing paused, and when he spoke again, his tone was more confusing.

"They just disappeared right in front of that river."

Lin Wu asked: "Disappeared? What do you mean? Did they jump into the river?"

"No." Bai Jing denied, "Bai Ning and I were watching from a distance at the time. I didn't expect that the woman was very alert. After she stopped, she asked people to search the area and used thermal imaging equipment. There was no other way. In order not to be discovered, Bai Ning and I had to retreat far away. When we came across a small swamp, we smeared the mud on our bodies just in case, and then we dived back."

"But when we went back, we found that they were no longer visible by the river. We checked the riverbanks on both sides and found no signs of anyone going down there. The only footprints we could find were very far from the river. This proves that they did not go any further into the river, at least from the traces."

Lin Wu frowned slightly.

Bai Jing continued, "We were wondering if they had gone back, but we only found our own footprints and nothing else. There were no signs of vegetation nearby, nor were there any signs of people walking by. This means they didn't go back either. They really just disappeared out of thin air."

"No one can really disappear out of thin air." Lin Wu denied, "The person who returned the night before was soaking wet, which means he must have gone into the river. Those people must have some special means to go into the river without leaving any traces. Have you gone into the river to look for them?"

"Of course we looked in the river. But you don't know that the river is very shallow, less than half a meter, and the river bottom is very smooth. Bo Ning and I went down and slipped several times. The river is also very narrow, and it is not wide enough for things like bamboo rafts to pass through. Then we looked upstream and downstream, but we couldn't find those people." Bai Jing said.

Lin Wu frowned even more tightly, "What happened next?"

Bai Jing said: "At dawn, Bo Ning and I gave up on going back and decided to find other people to help us look for it. But it was a bit strange that we got back to the homestay in Zhangjia Village very quickly, and it only took us half the time to rush there at night. Later, I also asked someone to survey the road section, and there was no problem with the route we took. Maybe it took us so long because we were tracking and stopping all the time."

"But this is not important. What is important is, when Bo Ning and I returned, guess what we saw?" She said seriously, "You will never guess."

Lin Wu heard her say this and said casually, "It can't be like the night before, when only one person went back, and he was soaking wet again."

"Huh?" Bai Jing was surprised. "You have become smarter than before, or is this just a blind guess?"

Lin Wu: “…”

It's actually fucking true.

She: “Guess.”

"..." Lin Wu: "Why don't you understand that I am smarter."

Bai Jing: “Absolutely impossible.”

Lin Wu: "...You have to know that you are not always far away from me. In a few days, my fist will be able to touch your face."

Bai Jing pretended not to hear, "Just as you guessed, the person who returned was an expert from the archaeological team. He was also soaking wet and passed out at the door. Bo Ning and I saw him when we returned. We dragged him in and asked the remaining members of the team to pick him up. This time, the expert woke up earlier, at noon."

"Bo Ning and I asked them what was going on as our saviors. When they refused to tell us, we told them that we were professional explorers and had solutions to all kinds of situations and could help them. We persuaded them and they finally agreed. It's also possible that the few old and weak ones left were really helpless."

Lin Wu asked: "What did they say?"

Bai Jing said in an unhappy tone: "They might as well not say anything, it's useless."

Lin Wu: “???”

"Those people were dispatched by relevant departments. At first, someone anonymously reported that there was an ancient tomb group in the area, which was closely related to a certain culture they were studying. It was considered a very important development, so they applied for a team to come here. But after they arrived, they found that they knew nothing about the local area and only had a map submitted by the reporter." Bai Jing said.

Lin Wu listened carefully, his thoughts racing as he wondered what was going on.

However, Bai Jing didn't say anything else after he finished speaking.

Her mind was stuck: "Then what?"

Bai Jing: "That's all."

Lin Wu: “???”

Lin Wu asked: "What exactly did their team members experience during their two outings?"

“They said they didn’t know.”

"? Aren't there any survivors who came back?"

"Both said that after they followed the river, they fell into a coma for unknown reasons, and woke up in front of the guesthouse. They had no memory of what happened during that time."

“………”

"Oh, and the map they mentioned. I asked them to come and see it. They said they had a map. Fine. But they said the map was with the woman leading the group, they didn't have it, and the only copy disappeared with their backpack. And they didn't remember it."

“…………”

Really, so useless.

Lin Wu said with a blank expression: "Don't tell me, you haven't made any progress either."

"How is that possible? If I hadn't discovered it, how did that Bo Liu come from?" Bai Jing raised his voice slightly.

Lin Wu pressed his aching brow and said, "Speak."

Bai Jing was silent for a moment. "Actually, what the two survivors said is true. People who have been there really can't remember what happened. It's the same for me and Bo Ning."

Lin Wu: “?”

Bai Jing said, "After questioning the remaining members of the archaeological team that day, I sent people to search the upstream and downstream of the river and the vicinity. We didn't find the missing people, but we found the Huo family that you asked me to find at the beginning."

(End of this chapter)