"Speak!" I urged.
Lu Chusheng first handed me a cigarette, and after I lit it and took a drag, he said, "A cargo truck came and loaded some boxes. If I'm not mistaken, those boxes contain the missing girls! And probably many more girls like them!"
"Then why didn't you send people to pursue it? You just needed to intercept those vehicles," I asked, puzzled.
Lu Chusheng shook his head. "Of course, I thought of that. Do you know what happened when I later followed those trucks?"
Sigh! I was speechless. Couldn't you just tell me everything at once?
Noticing my impatience, Lu Chusheng didn't beat around the bush. He said, "It was that forest again. As soon as people enter, they disappear, and the vehicles disappear too. I think the problem lies there. Those girls are likely being hidden somewhere in that forest!"
"You mean the forest that She Mengtong suddenly drove into?" Zhang Keying voiced the question in my mind.
"That's right. Liu Yuning's people are still searching outside with no news. Shall we go take a look too?"
"That's all we can do now. No matter what, we have to find that cargo truck, even if we have to search the entire forest!"
With that, we left the provincial department immediately, intending to concentrate most of our police force in this forest. However, when we arrived and I compared it with the map, I found that it didn't exist. To be precise, it wasn't marked on the map. I immediately called He Xin, who was still in the technical department. She started typing on her keyboard, and after a while, she asked, "Did you arrive at the forest near Fangyong Town?"
"Yes, Fangyong Town can be found, but there's no information about this area."
"I found some information on a forum stating that there's a strange toxic fog in the woodland that causes hallucinations, and once you enter, you can't get out. Moreover, the forest is vast, probably larger than Fangyong Town. Many people have entered before and never returned. Subsequent police investigations yielded the same results. In short, no one has truly understood the secret of this forest."
"It really seems strange. That toxic fog, could it be man-made?" I muttered. Lu Chusheng had just made a phone call, and now he came to my side with a look of anxiety. "This is bad! I just tried to contact Captain Liu and the others, and their phones are all out of service!"
"No way?" My arm trembled. I then dialed Liu Yuning and the others' phones, one by one, only to find that the situation was indeed as Lu Chusheng described. Had they gotten lost in the forest?
This made us even more anxious. I looked at our surroundings and ordered, "Expand the search area. We'll sweep outwards in a fan shape in four directions!"
Everyone responded and formed teams. After they dispersed, only a few people were left beside me. Lu Chusheng had taken another group in a different direction. At that moment, only Ma Biao, Zhang Keying, and Xiahou were with me. Xiao Yuande and the others had been with Liu Yuning before, but hadn't returned.
Theoretically, with Xiao Yuande around, there shouldn't have been any issues on her side, at least in terms of safety. But the constant lack of contact was unnerving. We searched the forest for a long time and found that the fog was getting thicker. I thought this must be the toxic fog He Xin had mentioned earlier. Fortunately, we were all wearing gas masks. This time, we couldn't afford to be knocked out by any poisonous fog as we had in the past.
We had also installed night-vision goggles on our gas masks, so even in this darkness, we could see the road conditions clearly. However, the forest seemed to be densely packed with trees, and we could no longer see the path we had entered from. To avoid getting separated from Lu Chusheng, we had tied ropes to each other before we left. Although it was a clumsy method, it could prevent trackers and the like from being interfered with.
We had been walking for about an hour and a half, still navigating through this eerie dense forest. Ma Biao, who was behind us, called out, "This way of walking is definitely not going to work. Have you noticed? The mobile signal is gone here!"
If he hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed. I picked up my phone and checked the screen, only to find that the signal bars had turned blank.
This immediately reminded me of the case in the tourist area from before, when we were trapped.
However, I now had my own way of dealing with this situation. I raised my arm and twisted the bracelet beside me, and quickly got in touch with He Xin. Seeing me video-calling He Xin, Ma Biao asked curiously, "Deputy Director He, how can you still be online?"
"My equipment uses a different frequency band than your phones."
As I explained, I informed He Xin of the situation. After consulting with Director Zhang, she dispatched some experts and police officers.
I hoped these experts could solve the mystery of the toxic fog. After giving clear instructions, I put down my phone and urged them to continue walking with me. Ma Biao, however, said, "Shouldn't we wait for them to arrive? We've already walked so far without any results!"
I considered it and felt it made sense, so I told everyone to rest on the spot. Zhang Keying took out a bottle of water and handed it to me. I took a sip. Xiahou then asked, "What about us?"
"I only have one left. I'll bring more next time!" Zhang Keying replied apologetically.
"Tsk, so Deputy Director He really has special treatment!"
"If you have the chance to get promoted, you can try too."
Zhang Keying and Xiahou bickered for a bit. I was about to tell them to stop talking when suddenly, a loud barking and a howling sound came from somewhere in the forest. I immediately became vigilant and told them to be quiet, and everyone held their breath, drew their guns, and entered a state of alert.
At first, we all thought we had encountered wild animals in the forest. Who would have thought that after walking a few steps in the direction of the barking, we saw nothing? In front of us was still a large expanse of thick fog. Zhang Keying couldn't help but complain, "If only this dense fog could be cleared. It's so troublesome."
"There's no choice, we'll have to wait!" After an unknown amount of time, we finally saw someone approaching from another direction of the mist. To our surprise, He Xin herself had come, and Yuan Hezhi was with her. Also present were Xie Chuchu and Ling Xiaotao. It seemed the entire Punitive Justice team had been mobilized.
Don't let their roles as forensic doctors fool you; in this critical situation, they were all armed and ready. They were as formidable as any man.
Xie Chuchu and Ling Xiaotao, dressed in police uniforms, seemed like entirely different people, looking heroic and spirited. I initially thought only Liu Yuning in the team had such a presence, but perhaps I had underestimated them before.
The group continued deeper into the forest with their guns drawn. The experts were collecting samples along the way with various precision instruments. After about five minutes, several experts were analyzing gases. We stood guard beside them, fearing an attack by wild animals. But while they were working, the same strange howling sound came from a corner not far away...
We followed the sound and discovered a cave that suddenly appeared before us.
Ma Biao suddenly pointed ahead and said, "Finally, something else to discover!"
I nodded, signaling everyone to remain on alert, and then entered the cave. The experts were among us, surrounded by police officers.
This time, there were at least over 200 criminal police officers present, along with several members of the SWAT team. Li Fan was also among them.
Near a tunnel inside the cave, I saw irregular footprints on the ground. On a nearby rock, there were some blue-pink materials. I squatted down to examine them and collected them in an evidence bag. These were left on Liu Yuning's clothes, proving she had passed through here.
Besides me, Zhang Keying also noticed this. We continued deeper into the cave, only to find that the passage was getting narrower and narrower. Originally, two or three of us could walk abreast, but later, only one person could pass, and even then, they had to walk sideways.
We had to hug the walls, with our hands on the walls, moving sideways like crabs. Because there were so many of us, it would take a long time for everyone to pass. Zhang Keying and I were the first to get through, and we were eager to explore ahead.