[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-55":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2299024,4497,"Chapter 55: The Missing Couple","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-55",55,"\u003Cp>Ning Zhe squatted by the door and chatted with his grandfather for a while, learning from his perspective the general outline of what had happened yesterday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around seven this morning, his grandfather returned from night fishing at the reservoir and saw a large crowd gathered near Bishui Bay from afar; a bright yellow police cordon stretched along the shore, police officers and reporters had arrived, ambulances were parked at the perimeter, and many family members had gathered on the stone steps to claim bodies, with staff processing their paperwork—many had come in such haste they forgot their household registration books and ID cards and had to rush home to retrieve them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After asking around, his grandfather learned that an underground cable in the estate had leaked electricity, killing many people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe’s grandfather was a traditional Chinese patriarch; his ancestors had suffered greatly under landlords, so he had always harbored a natural hostility toward this luxurious project built on the town’s edge, especially believing such large-scale construction would pollute Taojiang’s water and ruin his fishing luck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, he took a certain grim satisfaction in this safety accident, waiting for the estate’s behind-the-scenes boss to be investigated—ideally hoping to see him fined and jailed on the news—until a neighbor nearby came up and said, “Old man, stop laughing—look, doesn’t that person inside look like your grandson?” His smile froze on his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that, nothing much happened: after the doctor finished examining his body, Feng Yu drove to help his grandfather bring Ning Zhe home, leaving Bai Zhi to guard him while she returned to the crime scene to assist with the investigation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, her identity was unsuitable for appearing in public media, so the person interviewed by the news was Tian Chengyun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the incident last night was reported as a safety accident… Ning Zhe pulled out his phone and searched for related reports, finally fixing his gaze on the footage of Tian Chengyun being interviewed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tian Chengyun?” Ning Zhe frowned—he knew Tian Chengyun, or rather, Old Li knew him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Li and Tian Chengyun were both lucky survivors who accidentally broke part of the rules during the escape; Xie Yaoan and Liu Yunzhi were too, but among the four, only Xie Yaoan and Tian Chengyun survived—the other two were dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the interview, Tian Chengyun mentioned nothing about the estate being sealed by unknown means, nor did he speak a single word about ghosts or the bizarre; he merely cooperated with the news report, reinforcing the narrative that last night’s event was merely a pure safety accident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Was Tian Chengyun silenced? By whom?” Ning Zhe grew curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was someone—or some organization—that had sealed the estate last night, then thrown a ghost inside, like dropping an alligator gar into a pond full of koi, turning the beautiful estate into a slaughterhouse littered with corpses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the massacre, he sealed the news, somehow silencing the survivors, represented by Tian Chengyun, and disguised the entire incident as a safety accident, cleaning up perfectly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the reason he did this seemed to be… to summon again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, Ah Zhe, if you’re coming back, why didn’t you tell me? Why did you sneak off to the estate in the middle of the night?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His grandfather smoked as he asked: “Did you sneak out to meet some girl and get caught red-handed by her mom?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe was about to retort, but then thought better of it—this was easier than fabricating another excuse—so he countered: “So you’re going to catch me in early romance?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Early romance? At your age, I already had a two-year-old kid.” His grandfather shrugged: “But I’m wondering why you never go for those girls who’ve been after you—turns out you’ve got lofty ambitions, hooked up with some rich family’s daughter, planning to fly up to the phoenix’s branch?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That phrase usually describes women marrying into wealth… A man with ambition should leap over the dragon’s gate himself—relying on a woman isn’t real strength.” Ning Zhe shook his head: “Don’t bring up that nonsense—modern society doesn’t encourage early romance or marriage. You want great-grandkids? Wait till I hit the legal marriage age of twenty-two.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His grandfather gave him the look of a useless piece of wood: “By then, I’ll be dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I’ll take your great-grandson to burn paper money at your grave.” Ning Zhe said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You little brat…” His grandfather shook his head, exasperated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In backward areas, many of the girls who were in Ning Zhe’s class in middle school are already mothers now—though not yet married, they can have children first. Ning Zhe was used to this feudal and surreal culture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Ning Zhe argued with his grandfather, a soft hand reached from behind and gently tapped his shoulder. Almost instinctively, Ning Zhe spun around, seized the wrist, and prepared to violently snap it—until he looked up and saw the hand belonged to Bai Zhi, and he stopped applying force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Ning Zhe asked softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi lowered her head in silence, her hand twitching slightly in his grip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe released her hand, and only then did she whisper: “Mom hasn’t replied to my message…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?” Ning Zhe froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She unlocked her phone and turned the screen toward him; Ning Zhe looked up—the last message on the chat was sent thirteen minutes ago: Bai Zhi had notified Feng Yu that Ning Zhe had finally woken up and asked her to come quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The message showed as read, but there had been no reply since.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I just called Mom too, but no one answered,” Bai Zhi said nervously. “I can’t reach her.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you try calling your dad?” Ning Zhe asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh… I’ll try.” Bai Zhi nodded and opened the dialer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…So you never thought to ask your own father for help? Ning Zhe rubbed his forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He found Bai Zhi’s family strange: a mother who never lifted a finger, a father obsessed with work and absent from home, and a mentally unstable daughter—all distant from each other, never turning to family when problems arose, hardly acting like a family at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Aunt Feng’s maternal love toward Bai Zhi still showed a glimmer of kinship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi dialed, held the phone to her ear, waited—no answer. She redialed—still no answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How is this possible?” Bai Zhi lowered the phone, bewildered, staring at the screen’s “recipient is turned off” message, utterly lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She walked back behind Ning Zhe and whispered: “Dad’s phone is unreachable too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both parents missing? Ning Zhe was now equally confused, and asked again: “Did your mom say where she was going?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She went to the hospital,” Bai Zhi answered honestly. “Dad got injured during the estate incident—he’s not in danger, but he’s being observed in the hospital, so Mom went to see him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe’s expression turned strange. His own father was hospitalized, yet his daughter was guarding a stranger’s bedside?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He understood Bai Zhi’s family even less now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright…” Ning Zhe stood up. “Let’s go to the hospital and find them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Might as well find out what really happened last night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1182,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","731b73d8e780c00304b40b624de07ee03c1e6a6ac988069fa2c1849bc4fa41e1","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-56","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-54",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]