Chapter 451: The Disappearance of Xu Yi
“Was it you?” Xu Sa narrowed his eyes as old, unpleasant memories surged up. “Who the hell are you working with this time to screw me over?”
“No… no, it wasn’t me…” Zhang Bijuan shook her head desperately. “I didn’t…”
“Then you better pray. Because if it was, none of you are getting out alive.” Xu Sa shoved her away and said to Liu Rui, “Go back and get the captain.”
Liu Rui nodded and pushed through the crowd, running off.
The onlookers were just about to disperse when a powerful pressure filled the area—Xu Sa had released the aura of an S-class ability user.
“Our teammate disappeared here. Please stay and serve as witnesses,” he said.
*
At the villa, Lu Weiyi was catching up on sleep when he was abruptly woken up. Liu Rui, drenched in sweat, couldn’t get the words out from his stuttering, and just grabbed Lu Weiyi to drag him out.
Seeing that something serious had happened, Lu Weiyi casually threw on a jacket and followed. “Speak slowly.”
Liu Rui tried to calm himself and forced out the words: “Xu… Yi… is… gone.”
“What do you mean, ‘gone’?” Lu Weiyi asked. As they passed by Lu Xiao’s villa, their car stopped and he shouted toward the house. Meng Huan poked her head out from the second floor and called, “Young Master Lu, everyone from the team is out. Do you need something?”
“One of our teammates is missing. Do you have time to come help us look?” Lu Weiyi asked. He wasn’t from the Capital base, and without a local guide, it would be hard to navigate.
“Sure, wait a second.” Meng Huan immediately ran down and got in the car.
On the way, Liu Rui explained the situation as clearly as he could.
The three of them headed straight to the cinema.
By the time they arrived, the theater had already been sealed off. Gao Yang stood at the entrance and approached them when he saw them.
“Yue Qiwen and He Song are inside,” he said. The three of them had been wandering around when they heard rumors of a missing healing-type ability user and an S-class sealing off the cinema. It had to be Xu Sa.
“He Song asked me to tell you: there are signs the ground was disturbed,” Gao Yang added.
Lu Weiyi looked at him. “You mean… someone might’ve been taken away underground?”
Nowadays, the tall walls of the bases were mostly effective only against regular zombies. Mutated ones, and especially ability zombies—or ability users—could easily bypass them. Earth-type users could move freely underground, making it simple to abduct someone.
“There’s that possibility. But the mall manager won’t allow large-scale searches. Says it would hurt business. We didn’t want to cause a conflict.”
“This cinema belongs to the Morning Light Squad, right? Have you tried contacting the security team?” Meng Huan asked.
Gao Yang shook his head. They were still unfamiliar with the power structure here.
Meng Huan nodded and waved over a young man from the curious onlookers. She handed him a crystal core and whispered something. The young man happily ran off.
“Captain Zhao’s security team is responsible for most of the Capital’s safety. Just report it directly to him. Once an official team is involved, no one can interfere with the investigation,” Meng Huan said, striding toward the entrance.
Inside, the dim lights were now fully illuminated. Yue Qiwen and He Song stood beside Xu Sa, holding everyone in place. The cinema staff were unhappy but intimidated by the team’s high-level abilities, and could only try to stir the crowd with emotion.
As soon as Lu Weiyi walked in, the three greeted him.
“Base Leader.”
“Sorry…” Xu Sa knew how important Xu Yi was right now.
“Tell me what happened,” Lu Weiyi waved his hand, letting his gaze sweep the room. He immediately noticed a family of three huddled in a corner and looked up at Xu Sa in surprise.
Xu Sa shook his head slightly and recounted everything that had happened in detail. As Lu Weiyi listened, his eyes scanned the area while his mental power spread outward. A small green vine also extended underground, probing areas with varying soil densities.
“Hey, Base Leader, we still have business to run here in the cinema. You’ve sealed the place off for no reason…”
“Qi Zhong, a customer went missing in your cinema. Don’t talk to me about ‘no reason.’ Regardless of who’s behind it, your cinema still bears responsibility for poor security. Today, our team has the power to detain everyone present. Tomorrow, if it’s someone else, who knows if this would just get swept under the rug?”
After speaking, Meng Huan turned to the upset crowd.
“Please cooperate, everyone. In times like these, abductions and torture happen all the time. Only by standing together and rooting out these places can we prevent more tragedies.”
“Meng Huan, don’t think you can spout nonsense just because you’re from the Blazing Flame Squad!” Qi Zhong pointed at Meng Huan furiously.
Meng Huan chuckled, “What nonsense? Didn’t the person go missing right here? Instead of helping us find them, you’re obstructing the investigation. You wouldn’t happen to be working with the perpetrator, would you?”
“You—”
“This has already been reported to the Security Guard Unit. Someone will be here soon to investigate,” said Lu Weiyi to Xu Sa. “Since you’re involved, stay here and wait for them.”
Xu Sa nodded. “Don’t worry.”
“I’ll go with you,” Yue Qiwen stepped forward to stand beside Lu Weiyi, casting a subtle glance at the ground.
Lu Weiyi understood immediately—he must’ve been the one who noticed the irregularities underground.
Lu Weiyi nodded and looked at Meng Huan. “Let the security unit know. If needed, have them get Captain Zhao. The morning meeting should be over by now.”
“Got it,” Meng Huan replied.
“Hey, you!” Qi Zhong stepped forward to stop them, but before he got close to Lu Weiyi, he was blocked by someone.
After the two left the cinema, Yue Qiwen said quietly, “It was likely a sudden attack by an Earth-type ability user who relocated the healer immediately. The attacker was high-level and very skilled.”
If their base hadn’t been doing earthwork operations recently, he might not have noticed the change in soil composition.
Lu Weiyi nodded. Plants are extremely sensitive to soil changes, and the green vine had already fed back the information to him.
They walked for half a street and turned a corner, where the soil changes stopped.
“Check again. Has the trail disappeared around here?”
Yue Qiwen extended his power underground while Lu Weiyi spread his mental energy over the crowd, observing the surface.
“It has,” Yue Qiwen confirmed, pushing up his glasses. “There’s loose soil here—they came out here.”
The area was all residential, so it was impossible to check door-to-door. The investigation hit a temporary deadlock.
Especially since it was just their squad right now, they could still conduct a proper search. But once word got out and other factions got involved, things would only get more chaotic.
Thinking of that, Yue Qiwen frowned and glanced at Lu Weiyi, who had been mostly quiet. As a high-level ability user, he could feel the constant trickle of faint energy radiating from Lu Weiyi, like a signal beacon.
It was unlike any other mental-type user of his level, but Yue Qiwen didn’t say anything and just kept driving.
Nearly two hours passed. They had already searched most of the base when Lu Weiyi suddenly said,
“Found them.”
Yue Qiwen looked over. Lu Weiyi continued, “Southeast, 3,000 meters underground.”
Yue Qiwen immediately sent his power in that direction, but it was too far. He could sense the soil had changed again but couldn’t track the person’s location.
“Aren’t we going to rescue them?” Yue Qiwen asked, seeing Lu Weiyi resting his arm on the car window without any sign of taking action.
“Just a small fry. Let’s wait and see who’s really behind this,” Lu Weiyi replied calmly.
He looked like a cat toying with a mouse. For the first time, Yue Qiwen found himself unable to read this much younger Base Leader.
At that moment, Xu Yi was already unconscious, being carried by an Earth-type user who moved through the ground like a mole. Wherever they passed, the soil split into a narrow one-person passage that quickly closed behind them.
The tunnel was only wide enough for two. Dust constantly fell from above, but there was no collapse. They just kept advancing.
Every so often, the man opened a hole in the ceiling to exchange air, rested for a few minutes, then continued.
Sweat dripped from his forehead. He had a pouch at his waist full of crystal cores, which he kept absorbing. Even so, the soil ahead began to resist—clearly he wasn’t that high-level, just experienced.
Whether he had trained specifically for this or it was his natural talent was unclear.
“Base Leader, Xu Sa’s asking about you. He said he can’t reach you,” Yue Qiwen handed over a phone.
“I’ve already found them. I’m…” Lu Weiyi thought for a moment, “lying in wait?”
“…”
Xu Sa was silent for a second, then understood, though he didn’t quite know how to respond to the word choice.
“Should I have the others return? Should we inform Brother Mingxu?”
“Have the rest continue searching. Send someone to where they were having lunch, and inform everyone on-site. Make sure the whole place knows.”
Xu Sa didn’t know what Lu Weiyi was planning, but he immediately sent someone to carry it out.
Lu Weiyi was too conspicuous sitting in the vehicle, so he said to Yue Qiwen, “I’ll follow them. You drive around slowly, don’t draw attention, make it look like we’re still searching for someone.”
“Then take my phone,” Yue Qiwen handed over his own phone.
“I don’t need it, you—”
“It’ll be easier to stay in contact. I’ll tell them when I pass by—I won’t be going alone,” Yue Qiwen insisted, pressing the phone into his hand.
In a less crowded area, Lu Weiyi got out of the car and immediately blended into the passing crowd. With the aid of his mental powers, he didn’t attract much attention.
Meanwhile, everyone at the cinema had already been taken away by the security team for centralized questioning.
