Chapter 74

Chen Nan was awakened by a bucket of ice water.

As soon as he woke up, he met Shen Shian’s dark eyes.

Shen Shian breathed a sigh of relief and put down the bucket in his hand. “If you guys can’t wake up, I might consider pricking the soles of your feet a few times with a needle.”

You guys? Can’t wake up?

Chen Nan discovered that he was lying on the carpet in the living room. He turned his head and saw Tao Yuan, who was also drenched on the sofa and was obviously just woken up.

Before he had time to figure out what was going on, Shen Shian’s next sentence was like a thunderbolt in the blue sky, which completely awakened him:

“Fangzhou is missing.”

“What?!!!” Chen Nan and Tao Yuan sat up at the same time.

Tao Yuan looked around and quickly reacted, “We are in a coma? Is it because of the food?”

“Not food.” Shen Shian shook his head. Shen Xun had confirmed that the food was edible, and all of them ate the same thing. If the problem was with the food, he and Shen Xun shouldn’t be fine. In the same way, it couldn’t be poisonous gas or the like. The dog spirit had smelled everywhere, and there was no suspicious gas in the air. “I suspect it is an ability. Someone in the base can use the ability to make people fall asleep.” They should have used it when he and the child entered the space, so they were not affected by it.

Chen Nan and Tao Yuan were immediately scared: If they really have this kind of ability, doesn’t it mean that they are completely exposed to the other’s control and have no resistance at all?

“Wait a minute,” Chen Nan said, “Then why are we all okay but only Fangzhou is missing? Does it have anything to do with his ability? Could it be that the other party also has someone who has evolved ability like ‘thousand miles ear’ and heard us talking, so Fangzhou was chosen as a specific target?”

Tao Yuan thought for a while and shook his head, “I don’t think the probability is high. If the other party really has ‘thousand miles ear’, they should know that we are not a loose and relaxed group. If a person is missing, it will definitely cause follow-up trouble. Anyway, we are all passed out, if they want to kidnap him it would be easier, so why not? Besides, Fangzhou’s ability can only be regarded as a support at best. It’s very useful for people like us who want to travel to the capital but it’s unnecessary for a self-sufficient base. If they could really hear our conversation, and knew that we have no intention of being an enemy to the base and will leave tomorrow, why bother?”

Shen Shian agreed with Tao Yuan’s point of view, “Don’t scare yourself first, no matter what the other party has, we will always find a way to crack it. The most important thing at the moment is to figure out how Fangzhou disappeared and where he is now.” The anxiety of discovering that one member was missing and two members were asleep ten minutes ago had disappeared. At this time, the youth was calm and his eyes were dark. “Can you two recall anything when you fell asleep? Was there anything unusual, and when was the last time you saw Fangzhou?”

Tao Yuan frowned, “After I took a shower, I laid on the sofa and thought about some things. I couldn’t remember when I fell asleep, but it should be around eleven. There was nothing suspicious. Finally, The last time I saw Fangzhou was when we ended our conversation, when he and Chen Nan entered the bedroom.”

Chen Nan immediately answered, “After entering the bedroom, Fangzhou took a shower first, and there was nothing weird. After the bath, I chatted with him for a while. After a while, we said goodnight to each other and went to bed at about ten o’clock. Now, even the lights are still on.”

Shen Shian estimated in his mind: he and Shen Xun entered the space at about ten thirty and spent a total of more than five hours in the space. It’s less than three hours in the real world. When they came out of the space and noticed something was wrong, the clock in the living room was 1:07.

In other words, Liu Fangzhou’s disappearance was within two hours from 11 o’clock last night to one o’clock this morning.

“Fangzhou’s shoes are gone,” Shen Shian walked to the bedroom and looked around, “This shows that he should be sober when he disappeared.” They wouldn’t put on his shoes to kidnap a comatose person.

“He was dragged away abruptly?” Chen Nan’s heart immediately hurted, and the scene of the young man desperately calling for help but no one responded instantly came to his mind. He clenched his fist and punched hard on the sofa: F*ck, he should have been very scared then.

“Not necessarily. I can be sure that he did not cry out for help, and there is no sign of struggling in the room.” Since he practiced his cultivation more, even in the space, Shen Shian could still perceive the outside world, but because he was in the space, it would be restricted. Generally, entering the space from the bathroom could only accurately perceive what was happening in the bathroom, but if there have been fierce disputes and screams outside the bathroom, it was impossible to not be aware of it at all.

Chen Nan was stunned, “What do you mean? He never left on his own initiative, right?”

Shen Shian did not speak, and walked along the line from Liu Fangzhou’s bed to the entrance of the suite. He stopped at the entrance and picked up a vase from the wooden cabinet: it looked like it was accidentally knocked down. It wasn’t broken since the carpet was thick, but all the water inside spilled out, dampening a large area of the carpet.

He remembered clearly that the vase was still good when everyone entered the room last night.

He glanced across the door and answered Chen Nan’s question, “No way, the door is still locked.” Even the hair caught in the crack of the door was still there.

Tao Yuan checked other places, “The windows are also locked.”

The dog spirit who had been following Shen Shian sniffed the air and provided another clue. “There is no smell in the room, no one has come in.”

Now Chen Nan was completely stunned: The doors and windows were all locked, and no one else had come in. What about Fangzhou???

He must not be in the suite. Shen Shian picked up the child and said to the two men, “Get dressed, let’s go out and look for him.”

They lived in 8001, and when they walked a few steps along the corridor after going out, they came to the door of 8005, where the tall, short, and fat trio lived.

Shen Shian stopped suddenly and Tao Yuan noticed that his expression was not right. “What’s wrong?”

“I remember that all three of them took their female companions back to their room, right?”

“Yes.” The laughter was very loud, and the soundproofing effect of the door was not particularly good. It was difficult to ignore.

Shen Shian let out a sigh, “There was no one in the room, not a single one.”

There was no heartbeat and no breathing. It was a complete dead silence.

Chen Nan’s palm broke out a cold sweat, “…also missing?”

Tao Yuan walked to the door, he didn’t know what to do, so he just unscrewed the door with a “kacha”. He walked in quietly and quickly walked out again with a solemn expression, “No one, and no signs of fighting.”

It was impossible to check out in the middle of the night.

The sudden increase in the number of missing people undoubtedly made the several people feel more and more heavy. The only good news was that not all rooms on this floor were empty, and most of the customers in the rooms were sleeping. Shen Shian estimated that he would have to splash a bucket of water with ice to wake them up.

“Let’s go.” He patted Shen Xun’s head twice, “It’s up to you next.”

The dog spirit tried his best to smell any scent. Following his instruction, Shen Shian and the others got on the elevator, descended from the elevator to the first floor of the hotel, and walked straight along a street after exiting the door of the hotel.

Shen Shian sighed when he was halfway there, “No need to follow the scent anymore.”

Tao Yuan and Chen Nan turned their heads: “???”

“In front is the entrance to the base where we came in. Unless Fangzhou chooses to return on the same route in the middle of the night, the scent we are following is the one he left behind in the evening.”

It was nearly two o’clock in the morning, there was no one on the dark road. Because it was too dark, the things that were hidden carefully during the day and could not be discovered were finally exposed at this time: on the neatly trimmed camphor trees on both sides of the street, dozens of red dots glow faintly between the branches and leaves, like a pair of eyes peeping quietly in the night.

Chen Nan felt a few chills along his spine, “Those are, cameras?”

Tao Yuan whispered, “Yes.”

Shen Shian asked the child, “Is there any other place where you can smell Fangzhou’s scent?”

Shen Xun shook his head, “Only this street and the hotel, the scent in the hotel is stronger.”

Shen Shian turned around, “Let’s go back.” Liu Fangzhou was still in the hotel.

As soon as everyone returned to the door of the hotel, the lobby manager Yang Xueqiu greeted them. The shady air-conditioning in the hotel, which was supposed to be a tool to cool off the heat, but at this time, Chen Nan, who was covered in sweat, shivered from head to toe.

Gritting his teeth, he rushed straight to him. “Where is Fangzhou?!”

Yang Xueqiu was very surprised, “What?”

The surprise on his face was so real that Shen Shian felt that he was not a disguise, but whether the surprise was because of Chen Nan’s problem, or because he saw that several of them were not in a coma, it wasn’t known.

“One of our friends is missing in your hotel,” Shen Shian looked into Yang Xueqiu’s eyes, “I wonder if Manager Yang can give an explanation?”

Yang Xueqiu seemed to be even more surprised, “Missing? How could someone go missing? I remember that these gentlemen only booked a suite, so they should share the bedroom? Shouldn’t people in the same bedroom notice that one person had left? Or did the gentleman leave no message when he left?”

Chen Nan was anxious and wanted to say something but Tao Yuan grabbed his arm. “According to Manager Yang, the person disappearing is our own fault?”

“The hotel only provides accommodation services and cannot track or control the guests’ movements.” Yang Xueqiu politely said, “But since the person is missing in the hotel, this hotel will definitely take our responsibilities. These gentlemen, please don’t be too anxious. Maybe the guest was just too bored and went out for a walk. Noah’s Ark is so big that the city gates are closed at night, so no one should be lost. Look at the time, it’s too late and the staff have already rested. In addition, some corners are not powered on and it is not convenient to search. I will mobilize the residents of Noah’s Ark to help find that guest early tomorrow morning, I believe we can find him. Can these gentlemen accept this plan?”

Shen Shian stared at him for a while, then nodded, “Of course. Thank you, Manager Yang.”

Because there were cameras in the elevator, Chen Nan kept quiet until he walked back to the door of the suite. “Brother Shen, do we just believe the nonsense of the lobby manager? Fangzhou’s disappearance must have something to do with them!”

“Of course I don’t believe it.” Shen Shian swiped the door with his room card and motioned for the two of them to go in first, “There are cameras everywhere and if there are too many people, it is easy to reveal your behavior. You two will look for clues in the room, I will look elsewhere in the hotel. The manager had said something that was correct.”

The young man looked at the city wall in the distance through the corridor window, and a touch of hostility flashed across his eyes, “This place is so big, it also has tons of secrets.”