Free Web NovelChapter 680: Chapter 621: Is [Mask] Here? Collective Disappearance?!_2
At this moment, Li Shang and Chang Erbing felt their blood freeze, a glacial chill passed over their necks, as if the scythe of the Death God had already lightly kissed them.
The breath of death was so close, close enough to smell its cold, metallic rust.
With a shared understanding, a single thought burst into both their minds: I’m going to die!!!
Yet.....
The tearing pain they expected did not arrive, nor did the engulfing darkness come as anticipated.
It seemed to last as long as a century.
Until outside the factory, there came the distinct roar of a car engine starting.
The sound was so familiar, so pleasant to their ears, it was their blue and white car.
A massive sense of post-crisis collapse instantly overwhelmed the two of them.
Chang Erbing’s legs went soft, and with a "thud," he collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mush.
Li Shang wasn’t much better off, gasping heavily for breath, his chest heaving violently, as if he was about to exhaust all the oxygen left in his life.
It took a full half minute for Chang Erbing to barely regain control of his voice, and with lingering fear, he said:
"Captain Li, our... our car... was hijacked... by [Mask]..."
He felt like saying that sentence took all his strength.
Li Shang let out an unintelligible mumble from his throat, his gaze somewhat out of focus, looking at Chang Erbing in silence for a long time.
He really couldn’t understand why [Mask] would appear here.
Chang Erbing was even more perplexed.
He mouthed the words, wanting to speak but hesitated, looking at Li Shang, his eyes clearly questioning:
"Captain Li, what on earth is going on?
You couldn’t possibly... really be in cahoots with Mask? Is this trap a trap within a trap?"
Li Shang deciphered the unspoken words in his eyes, a feeling of suffocation and absurdity rushed to his head, but he opened his mouth, only to find he couldn’t utter a single word.
He really didn’t know how to explain it, everything that happened tonight had long exceeded this "Detective’s" realm of deduction.
He took a deep breath, forced himself to suppress his swirling emotions, glared at Chang Erbing fiercely, then cautiously moved towards the edge of the hole.
The well shaft was filled with post-explosion dust, in the flashlight’s stark white beam, deformed, twisted pipe structures, collapsed bricks, and large patches of scorched, charred marks from high temperatures were revealed.
The whole site looked just like an ordinary explosion site.
The special agent’s body was nowhere to be seen, perhaps buried in the pit.
Feng Ju and Ma Bin were also gone without a trace, the entire well shaft was empty, no sign of life, nor bodies.
Li Shang racked his brain, his inner Detective Power blazing, yet he couldn’t deduce what on earth was happening now?
It seemed like everything was wrong, yet everything seemed right, and vice versa.
Chang Erbing jumped in after him, retrieved the law enforcement recorder, adjusted its angle slightly, and pointed it at the buried pit.
He cleared his throat, lowering his voice:
"Captain Li, we really shouldn’t bring the law enforcement recorder anymore; it’s bad luck!"
Li Shang turned around in silence, started digging with his back to the law enforcement recorder.
Though no match for [Mask], they were certainly formidable against a pit that couldn’t fight back.
In less than a quarter of an hour, they roughly excavated the entire pit bottom.
In the end, there was no sign of the special agent’s body, not even a piece of charred remains or a fragment of clothing.
The whole explosion scene was eerily clean except for the pipe’s remains!
The special agent wasn’t blown to death here, maybe he never came at all?
[Mask] didn’t seem to have suffered an explosion just now, so who did this explosion blow up after all?
The air?!!
Li Shang stared at the pit’s empty bottom, suddenly feeling cold all over.
The single most crucial question was, if the special agent wasn’t blown up, then where did he go, and is he dead now?
If he wasn’t dead....
Li Shang dared not think further, nor could he comprehend.
Chang Erbing observed Li Shang’s ever-changing expressions from the side, truth be told, he hadn’t seen such a bewildered look on Captain Li’s face in ages.
Ever since gaining the title of "Detective," no matter how tough the case or tricky the mystery, nothing seemed to stump Captain Li.
The "Detective Power" was ultimately not omnipotent.
Li Shang felt his inner cosmos had burned out, he irritably tugged at a tuft of hair on his forehead, pulling hard.
A clump of hair with follicles was forcefully plucked, shooting a sharp sting through his scalp, yet it briefly clarified his chaotic thoughts.
"That’s it!"
Li Shang suddenly raised his head, turning to Chang Erbing,
"Call Ma Bin, quickly, call Ma Bin!"
Chang Erbing swiftly retrieved his phone, found Ma Bin’s number in the contacts, and dialed.
The long dialing tone sounded especially eerie in the deathly silent ruins.
Beep— Beep— Beep—
Until it automatically disconnected, only the mechanical busy tone responded.
No one answered.
Li Shang’s heart suddenly sank, a dire premonition surfacing in his mind—could Ma Bin be dead?
"Call again!"
Li Shang’s voice carried a faint, imperceptible tremor,
"Call Feng Ju! Try calling Feng Ju!"
Chang Erbing found Feng Ju’s number, pressed the dial button again.
Again, the long waiting tone, again, no answer, eventually turning into the same cold electronic busy tone.
Li Shang’s heart thoroughly sank, as if plunged into an ice cave.
Ma Bin and Feng Ju both losing contact couldn’t be a coincidence.
With his detective intuition, it’s almost conclusive—the two of them have been eighty percent hurt.
Whether they died at the hands of the special agent or at [Mask]’s hands.
If they died at [Mask]’s hands, so be it, but if they died at the special agent’s hands, then it’s over.
Chang Erbing looked at Li Shang’s suddenly extraordinarily pale face, terror gripped his heart, trembling with unease he said:
"Captain Li, what do we do now?"
Li Shang’s pupils filled with blood, squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth:
"Search, we have to search the whole well shaft, alive we see people, dead... we at least see some corpse remnants!"
The flashlight beam twisted like a dying serpent, wildly twisting and shining in the well shaft.
Five minutes later.
Deep in the well shaft, they found a puddle of pitch-black blood, already half-congealed, showing an eerie gelatinous texture in the low temperature.
The ground around the blood was in a mess.
Large chunks of concrete had been churned up, the ground plowed into uneven footprints, and nearby the pipe wall bore several deep claw marks, with unknown substance powder scattered thickly beside.
Also two severed, waxy yellow fingers, bloodied with no nails.
Clearly, a brutal life-and-death struggle had occurred here.
Li Shang picked up the severed finger, examined it for a while, frowning more deeply.
"This finger joint is thick, the skin slack and waxy yellow, it should be quite old, not Feng Ju’s, not Ma Bin’s, nor the special agent’s.
If not them, then whose finger is it?"
This time, Li Shang genuinely couldn’t reason it out, he truly didn’t understand why, just randomly choosing a spot in the sewers, there would continuously be uninvited guests appearing one after another.
What’s the deal, is the sewer air fragrant? Do they all like to crowd into sewers?
Li Shang paced back and forth anxiously, finally crouching again in front of the puddle of blood. The flashlight beam trembled slightly, illuminating his ashen face, his lips pressed into a fine line.
Under the flashlight, the black blood on the ground glistened in a strange sheen.
From the blood loss, it should be deceased, right?
Who died?
The special agent? Ma Bin? Feng Ju? Or the owner of the severed finger?
If indeed they died, where did the body go?
If they didn’t die, where did these people go, one by one, they all wouldn’t have... evaporated into thin air, right?
The fact of their evaporation isn’t frightening, what’s terrifying is, if they all evaporated, would he and Chang Erbing also sensibly follow suit and evaporate as well?
If not, it somewhat seems a bit out of place!!!
