"What’s going on at home?"

Cheng Tao pursed his lips and took a long time before he slowly opened his mouth.

......

Eighteen Bends.

A group of several people led their carts and slowly moved along the mountain path, occasionally entering the dense forest on both sides, searching for something, and shouting loudly from time to time.

"Dad!"

"Dad!"

Yu Lingjia cupped her hands together, placed them around her mouth, and shouted loudly:

"Where are you?"

"I’m your daughter Ling Jia!"

"If you hear me, please respond!"

She started by shouting loudly with all her might, but gradually her voice became hoarse, and finally, she squatted on the ground, sobbing and crying uncontrollably.

The others found it hard to understand her emotions.

The pain of losing her father abruptly, the ecstasy of hearing clues about him, and the dissatisfaction and despair of searching for days without a trace.

Not to mention...

The unexpected death of her dormitory friend, the whispers of outsiders, and the encounters of the past few days had nearly driven her to an emotional breakdown.

"Yu."

Monkey slowly stepped forward, comforting her softly:

"Don’t be too sad. Although we don’t know why Uncle hasn’t come back to see you, we all saw him just a few days ago."

"This means he’s fine."

"As long as he’s fine, that’s a good thing."

Yu Lingjia’s body trembled slightly, and with tearful eyes, she looked up.

"It’s true."

Gu Qian and Liu Wei also came today. Both nodded in agreement, and Gu Qian added:

"I could tell, Uncle cares about you a lot. He even said you’d definitely get into Shanghai University, and later he asked that Daoist to find you at school, didn’t he?"

"But..." Yu Lingjia sniffled:

"Why didn’t he come to school to find me himself? If he’s fine, why not come home to see us? What’s he hiding from outside?"

She initially doubted that Monkey was lying, but when he brought in two witnesses who swore convincingly, her suspicions faded.

Her father wasn’t dead!

But,

Why hasn’t he shown up?

"Perhaps..." Liu Wei’s imagination ran wild:

"Uncle got involved with some powerful figure and is temporarily too scared to come home, fearing he’d drag you into it?"

"Have you watched too many movies?" Gu Qian couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

"Then what’s your theory?" Liu Wei shrugged.

"Let’s keep looking." Monkey scratched his head:

"When we ran into Uncle that day, it was very foggy, and I can’t remember exactly where on the road it was, but it should be around here."

"Yeah."

Liu Wei nodded:

"It should be around here."

"Let’s keep looking, then." Gu Qian gestured grandly, about to say something to rally everyone when several figures appeared in her sight and puzzled her:

"Public Security Bureau..."

"Hey!"

Someone shouted from below the forest:

"Up there, could you lend a hand and tie the rope, please?"

The person was wearing a Public Security Bureau uniform, with a few others busy below.

"Sure."

Liu Wei rolled up his sleeves, stepped forward, took the rope thrown up to him, and tied it to a nearby tree, watching as the Public Security Bureau people climbed up using it for support.

"Hey, buddy."

His eyes full of curiosity, he sidled up to a young man and asked:

"What’s happening down there?"

"There’s a corpse." The other wiped the sweat off his forehead and spoke, panting:

"It should have been dead for a few months. Someone passing by smelled something foul, and when the forest ranger went down and saw it was a body, they reported it."

"It’d be better if you kept your distance later; it’s not a pleasant sight."

"A corpse!" Liu Wei’s face turned white:

"How could there be a corpse here?"

"Don’t know." The other shook his head:

"From the looks of it, it seems like someone dumped a body. We’ll need to return to the headquarters for a further check to determine the situation."

"Xiao Li!"

At this moment, someone shouted from below:

"Come give us a hand to lift the body up."

"On the way!"

Xiao Li promptly stepped forward.

"Chief!"

Someone shouted from below:

"We found a wallet here with an ID card inside. It should be the dead person’s, named Yu Mancang, from Qionghua District."

?

Yu Lingjia, who was about to turn around, froze, speaking slowly:

"What was that name just now?"

"Yu Mancang." Liu Wei clapped his hand:

"Yu, isn’t your father called Yu Man..."

Before he could finish, he realized something was wrong, and his voice abruptly stopped.

"Swish!"

Yu Lingjia dashed forward, ignoring the steep rocks and dense vines, rushing towards the busy Public Security Bureau below, her eyes filled with panic.

"Yu!"

Gu Qian shouted anxiously:

"Watch your step!"

A moment later.

"Woo..."

"Dad!"

Yu Lingjia knelt beside a corpse, sobbing and crying softly.

On the other side.

Monkey and the other two were being questioned by the Public Security Bureau personnel.

"I swear!"

Liu Wei swore loudly:

"Just a few days ago, right on this road, we saw Uncle Mancang. Apart from the three of us, there was also a Daoist."

"Really!"

"If I’m lying, may I be struck by lightning or meet a terrible end!"

"But..." Xiao Li looked puzzled:

"It’s not that I don’t want to believe you, but the deceased has been dead for months already, the body is right over there, and the belongings on the deceased prove his identity."

Uh...

The three of them looked at each other in dismay.

"I just remembered."

Monkey clapped his hands lightly and said:

"That Daoist gave Uncle a reading, saying he had the fate of dying young."

"Yes." Gu Qian also said:

"He also mentioned that one shouldn’t lightly do readings, give divinations, or predict easily without cost, claiming that those who don’t follow this will face consequences. We all paid for our readings, but he read Uncle’s fortune for free."

"That’s right." Liu Wei nodded:

"I heard that fortune-tellers don’t charge for reading the fortunes of the dead."

Upon finishing his words, the three looked at each other, all wearing complex expressions.

Ghost!

What they encountered that day was actually a ghost!

And that Daoist...

He probably knew long ago that the person wasn’t human.

At the time, the three of them were in a daze, unaware that they were in an extremely special situation, experiencing a unique encounter.