Chapter 139

Being appointed by Tang Luo, A Tuo was very nervous but still appeared as steady as an old dog on the surface.

Tang Luo sat beside him reading materials, while he searched around the room, hoping to find some clues and complete the task early.

A driver who doesn't want to be a detective is not a good Shenmo Xingzhe.

Tang Luo flipped through the case-related documents and began to examine the detailed information of the four missing persons.

The first missing person, a university graduate serving as a village official, was named Huang Gaoyi, who had been working in this village for over half a year, ordinary and unremarkable, with nothing particularly special or noticeable.

His home was quite far from here; normally he would contact his parents once every ten days or so.

The news of his disappearance had not yet been officially told to his parents, but it could not be concealed for much longer.

When the time comes, regardless of whether there are any leads, at least the family must be notified.

At Zhang's Dental Clinic, Zhang Caiyi was a rare only child of that era; his parents had passed away several years ago. His wife, Mao Haixiang, still had her parents alive, and also had several brothers, but their relationship with her family was not good.

The family held a strong preference for sons over daughters; compared to Mao Haixiang's whereabouts, several relatives were more concerned about how the family property should be divided if all three were gone, and had even argued over it.

After being firmly rebuked by the township cadres once, he had become somewhat restrained.

"Master, shall we go upstairs to take a look?" After searching the first floor thoroughly, A Tuo found nothing and asked.

"Hmm, you go ahead." Tang Luo said.

A Tuo said: "Master, don't learn the 'self-destructive behavior' from horror movies."

After all, this is where a disappearance occurred; splitting up without reason is not a good idea, and the same applies to Shenmo Xingzhe.

"Wait, Master, you're not really waiting for me to die, are you?" After saying that, A Tuo suddenly "trembled with a tiger's body," realizing a possibility.

"How could that be." Tang Luo smiled helplessly.

He would indeed see someone die and not save them, but only on the condition that the person brought it upon themselves.

Even for the sake of merit power, Tang Luo could not possibly act as someone's nanny, following behind to wipe their bottom; likewise, he would not deliberately let someone die just for a little merit power.

Buddha saves those with affinity; all things depend on fate.

When fate arrives, no one can stop a person from seeking death; when fate does not arrive, even if one clings tightly to Master Xuanzang's legs and refuses to let go, wanting to die, they still cannot die.

"Let's wait until Qin Menglan and the others return, then we can go up again; you can take your time looking, unlike rushing through flowers—what could you possibly see that way?" Tang Luo said.

"Alright."

As night began to gradually fall, Qin Menglan returned with the Heavenly Howling Dog.

The cameraman then returned to the arranged accommodation with his camera, needing to first organize today's interview footage.

"Sister Lan, you're finally back." The anxious A Tuo immediately went to meet her.

"Did you find anything?" Qin Menglan asked.

"No, Master Luo looked at the materials all afternoon." A Tuo "tattled," saying it wasn't that he couldn't do it, but his teammates were too unreliable.

Tang Luo waved the stack of documents in his hand and said: "Quite interesting."

He was treating these materials like an illustrated novel.

"……" Qin Menglan was speechless for a moment; why was his attitude so passive? What happened to the saying "I love my work, work makes me happy"?

"Dog, it's up to you." Tang Luo suddenly stood up and said.

"Meow." The Heavenly Howling Dog responded, jumping down from Qin Menglan's arms.

"What can this cat do?" A Tuo looked bewildered; although it was brought out from the mission world, could it really solve the case?

If it were a duck, there might be a few possibilities.

"Finding people." Tang Luo stood up and said, leading the Heavenly Howling Dog toward the stairs.

In missing person cases, the most important thing is to find the person—alive, see the person; dead, see the body.

Tracking down a person naturally relies on the Heavenly Howling Dog.

Here, racking one's brains is useless compared to the Heavenly Howling Dog's nose.

Tang Luo is not being lazy or neglecting work; he is merely waiting for Qin Menglan to return with the Heavenly Howling Dog.

As for why he didn't start with the Heavenly Howling Dog right away, but instead let Qin Menglan take her around for interviews, it was simply to let her get familiar with the environment in advance.

To do a job well, one must first sharpen one's tools; sharpening the knife does not delay the woodcutter.

Now the Heavenly Howling Dog can begin chopping wood.

First, they went to the bedrooms of the three Zhang family members, wandered around once, and the Heavenly Howling Dog memorized their "scent," then began to sniff around and walk about.

After a while, on the second floor, the Heavenly Howling Dog meowed several times at the "office" desk.

This was Zhang Caiyi's study and also the room for receiving outsiders; besides a desk, sofa, and chairs, there was also a bookshelf and a filing cabinet.

"Is there something underneath?" A Tuo walked over and glanced downward.

There was no gap between this desk and the floor; things were probably inside the drawers?

A Tuo opened all the drawers, including the locked ones, but found nothing special.

"Little kitty, nothing special found—did you sniff the wrong place?" A Tuo said to the Heavenly Howling Dog.

The Heavenly Howling Dog looked at this foolish human with disdain, then flicked its paw.

The desk was torn open by her, revealing a hollow space underneath; the three saw a dirty cloth doll lying on the floor.

Tang Luo crouched down, picked up the cloth doll, and shook it twice, shaking off some dust.

Tang Luo crouched down, picked up the cloth doll, and shook it twice to shake off some of the dust on it.

Suddenly, a voice came from the cloth doll.

It made Qin Menglan and A Tuo instantly tense. Did they find the culprit so quickly?!

Fortunately, it was in Tang Luo's hand, so nothing should happen.

"It really hurts." The cloth doll in his hand spoke again: "It really hurts, it really hurts."

In this locked-room disappearance scene, it appeared extremely strange.

This disappearance in the secret chamber appeared extremely strange.

"What is this...?" Qin Menglan asked.

"A talking cloth doll." Tang Luo handed it to Qin Menglan.

Qin Menglan took it doubtfully, turned it over, and found a hard object inside the doll's torso; she pressed it—"Ouch, that hurts."

The same sound as before came from inside.

"..." Qin Menglan said, "Just an ordinary sound-making doll?"

"Not necessarily—it's at least soaked in the aura of the Zhang family trio, which is why the dog found it." Tang Luo said, then looked at the Heavenly Hound, "I told you to find 'people,' and you bring me a cloth doll and think you can call it a day?"

The Heavenly Hound shook its head and began searching again.

"I'll go inquire about this doll's origin." Qin Menglan said.

"I'll come too." A Tuo said, leaving this to Master Xuanzang.

The two brought the doll to the barber shop of Master Wang opposite the non-village entrance.

"This doll..." Facing Qin Menglan's question, Master Wang thought for a moment and gave an answer, "Wasn't this used by Doctor Zhang for his patients?"

"Used?" A Tuo couldn't imagine how such a small, utterly unrealistic doll could be used.

"Exactly." Master Wang said, "When treating teeth, patients open their mouths but can't speak, so Doctor Zhang gave them a doll—press it when it hurts, so he'd know."

"..." Qin Menglan recalled a joke she had seen.

"Later, Doctor Xiao Zhang came, found it annoying, and stopped using it." Master Wang said, "This doll couldn't be related to their disappearance, could it? Something like accumulated patient resentment?"

"..." Master Wang was joking. Qin Menglan said, "We should trust science."

"Don't think I haven't watched your show—obviously not scientific at all." Master Wang said.

"It's very scientific." Qin Menglan argued, "Look, the 'ouch' you heard is exactly what this doll makes."

"Pull the other one." Master Wang, "I've heard it before—nothing this loud."

Qin Menglan was speechless; approaching science like this, the more useless it became.

"Ouch."

Suddenly, several people heard a sound coming from somewhere.

"Not me..." Qin Menglan said, the doll in her hand making no sound.

The sound was coming from inside Zhang's Dental Clinic!

At this point, no longer caring about secrecy, Qin Menglan immediately turned and headed toward the clinic.

"Ouch, ouch..."

Continuous sounds came from inside the clinic, deeply eerie.

"I..." Master Wang's throat moved up and down as he said to A Tuo, "That... isn't it really haunted?"

"Where would ghosts come from? Believe in science." A Tuo said.

"When you say that, little brother, don't clench your fists so tight." Master Wang said.

"..."

The two members guarding the clinic door were on high alert.

"Set up a cordon nearby, don't let anyone approach; if we haven't come out in an hour, notify superiors. Also, no matter what happens, don't go in—prepare to withdraw at any moment." Qin Menglan acted decisively.

"Okay." The two nodded.

Approaching the clinic interior, Qin Menglan took a deep breath, closed the door behind her, sealing off the outside world.

"Ouch, ouch..." The sound continued, seemingly coming from the kitchen!

"Xuanzang! Master! Dharma Master! Are you in there?" Qin Menglan stood at the door and shouted.

No one answered her—only "Ouch, ouch."

She clenched her hand in the air, and an ice-blue long spear radiating cold appeared in her grasp; Qin Menglan held the Demon-Breaking Ice Spear and slowly advanced toward the kitchen, each step securing ground.

At the same time, she reached out and flipped the switch on the wall lamp beside her.

"Click"—the bulb flickered once but did not light.

Originally, night was already approaching; now with the door shut, visibility inside the clinic was poor.

All objects were shrouded in a layer of black shadow.

Especially the two treatment recliners—at a glance, they looked exactly like someone was lying on them.

Qin Menglan did not rush in, but instead chose to thrust her spear into the recliner.

Leaving a cold-emitting hollow on it, but she struck nothing.

Just as she thrust, the "ouch" sound suddenly grew louder.

"Effective?!" Qin Menglan thrust again with her spear, accompanied by a somewhat painful sound, destroying the chair and all nearby equipment until they lay in pieces on the floor.

"Ouch."

Qin Menglan stepped back, having heard the sound now coming from the treatment area.

Right there!

A figure stood at the entrance of the corridor, silently staring at her.

"Ouch..."

Mixed with pain and weakness, the voice slowly drifted out.

Qin Menglan clenched her left fist, the Dragon Fist poised to strike.

"You're demolishing the house?" Tang Luo emerged from the dark shadows.