Chapter 361: Is it a trap?

“What I mean is, during this period, besides your daughter, have there been any other people who have gone missing?”

When Liang Yu asked this, Su Ran finally calmed down. He seemed to view Liang Yu as his last straw, carefully recalling the events that had transpired in a short time.

He didn’t care what Liang Yu was here for. Even if Liang Yu’s purpose in entering here was to kill, set fires, and burn down the Sutra Repository, destroying all the precious ancient texts within, he wouldn’t care.

As long as he could help him find his daughter, he would do it willingly.

Liang Yu naturally couldn’t have known that the other party had thought so much in an instant, even planning to kill and set fires for him.

But then he heard Su Ran say this:

“Besides my daughter, over thirty people have gone missing within half a year.”

Speaking of this, Su Ran laughed self-deprecatingly.

“It’s such a common thing for people to go missing. Even reporting it to the衙门 (yamen) is useless.”

At this moment, both Liang Yu and Lan Ling were very curious: useless?

Why would it be useless? Was it the inaction of the government office, or were they also involved, leading to such a situation?

Su Ran seemed to have guessed Liang Yu’s expression at the moment, guessed what he was thinking, and continued to speak.

“This matter isn’t due to the inaction of the government office. On the contrary, many Arresters have been killed or injured because of this matter.”

“After such incidents happened several times in a row, the missing persons cases just faded away.”

Liang Yu frowned, finding this matter a bit interesting. There must be something being concealed here.

According to this situation, let alone several times, even after just one incident, it would be defined as a terrorist attack, and the army would be deployed directly. Only the target’s coordinates would be needed, nothing else.

But here, it just vanished like that?

Even a stone thrown into a pond creates ripples. The deaths of those Arresters were not even as significant as a stone; they didn’t even cause a splash.

Liang Yu found it ridiculous. He was too lazy to ask further. Anyway, according to his understanding, it was either related to the City Lord or to that General Jin.

They were the two most powerful and influential people in the area, and it was even possible that both of them were involved.

So he interrupted Su Ran’s intention to continue speaking and directly asked:

“Alright, just tell me where your daughter might be hidden.”

“Other things, I don’t want to know, and I don’t want to get involved.”

Su Ran’s face showed a difficult expression after hearing Liang Yu’s words.

How would he know his daughter’s location? He felt as if the other party was deliberately making things difficult for him, but he had no evidence to prove it.

He felt truly stifled. If he knew, would he still be here having a long discussion with him?

If he knew the location, he would have gone to find his daughter long ago.

But thinking of his daughter’s safety, he endured it. An extra helper would increase the probability of finding his daughter.

He gritted his teeth and said, “I guess she’s most likely in the mountain behind the Zen Temple.”

“Someone saw suspicious figures heading that way before, and strange noises often came from that vicinity.”

“Of course, it’s also possible she’s hidden underground, but the possibility of being hidden underground isn’t very high.”

Liang Yu nodded and did not press further. He watched as the one-man army discussed with Lan Ling.

They finally decided that Liang Yu would search the back mountain, while Lan Ling would check the Zen Temple to see if she could find a secret passage leading to the surface. Inside the room, a projection would display the illusion of the two of them resting on the bed.

Then he deliberately said loudly:

“You rest here, I’ll go check the mountain behind.”

As for the man next door, apologies, he was completely unfamiliar with him, and Liang Yu wasn’t foolish enough to believe what he said.

Who could guarantee that this man wasn’t a trap set by someone else?

Liang Yu even felt that this man was an actor hired by General Jin. He didn’t believe that with the other party’s methods, they couldn’t find their traces.

It should be known that when the two left the market, they didn’t conceal themselves, so it was impossible for the other party not to find their whereabouts.

The fact that they hadn’t come to find him for so long could only mean that even the so-called General Jin dared not act inside the Zen Temple. In other words, this place was a safe zone.

Liang Yu, having left the Zen Temple, soon arrived at the foot of the back mountain. Although the sky had darkened, the bright moonlight of the Underground World provided sufficient illumination.

He became curious at this point: how could there be a sun and moon in the Underground World? He had never been able to figure this out.

However, the subsequent turn of events made him cast this thought aside.

In front of Liang Yu, there was actually a path guided by light. He followed the light on the path and arrived in front of a Mountain Cave. He did not rush into the Mountain Cave.

Instead, he wandered around the Mountain Cave, checking if he could find any clues.

After wandering around, Liang Yu couldn’t find any clues, not even a single footprint.

This was originally a good thing, but he found it very absurd; instead, it looked more like something was deliberately covered up.

However, since no clues could be found, Liang Yu could only follow the light on the path and enter the Mountain Cave.

Liang Yu walked into the Mountain Cave, where a faint smell of decay permeated the air.

The smell made him feel a bit nauseous, so he immediately activated the purification ability of his armor and slowly proceeded along the illuminated path on the ground.

Soon, he arrived at the classic two-choice intersection. The bright mark on the ground indicated the path on the left.

Liang Yu, being a rebellious person, how could he choose to go left when there was an option?

Without any hesitation, he chose the path on the right. As he walked, he noticed something was off.

The entire passage, except for the ground, was covered by a layer of vines. The further he went inside, the thicker the vines became.

At this moment, Liang Yu stopped. He was already prepared to teleport away. If any abnormality occurred, he would not hesitate to return to the guest room of the Zen Temple.

After he stopped, he took a drone out of his backpack and let it explore ahead in his place.

The drone’s propellers made a faint buzzing sound, slowly flying downwards along the winding, thick vines.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the continuous subtle mechanical sound, as if it were the only sound breaking the dead silence.

As he delved deeper, the light grew dimmer, and a damp, decaying scent permeated the air.

Finally, the drone followed the vines to their end, and the sight before it was chilling.

An enormous Blood Pool lay across the view. The thick, dark red liquid seemed to be alive, gently undulating and emitting a pungent, metallic odor.

Small bubbles periodically rose to the surface of the Blood Pool, popping with a “gurgle, gurgle” sound, as if whispering the secrets hidden within its depths.