Chapter 14:
Resort

To be honest, the experience of looking up and seeing a bunch of heavily armed police surrounding them from all directions, with a full set of protective clothing, gas masks and other equipment, was actually no less shocking than suddenly entering the deserted and desolate supermarket.

Seeing such a big formation, the foreigner was startled and immediately raised his hands in great cooperation.

Jing Qizhen and Gold Chain Brother glanced at the foreigner in unison: … This guy is really cooperative!

Just before coming back, Jing Qizhen had mentioned that perhaps the police knew about their disappearance. However, to see such a big number surrounding them when they came back was beyond everyone’s expectations.

Manman held her boyfriend’s hand tightly, looked around, and suddenly said softly, “Huh.”

The boyfriend lowered his head slightly and looked at Manman with some concern.

Jing Qizhen had also noticed at this moment that Yun Shuanghua was not among them.

At this time, their location happened to be near the cashier at the exit of the supermarket. Naturally, they could see at a glance that aside from them, only police staff were left in the supermarket, and there were no other customers around.

However, thinking that Yun Shuanghua seemed to be on a different floor than them at the beginning, Jing Qizhen was not too worried. Maybe he was upstairs at the moment? Anyway, it seemed that the police staff had sealed off the mall. If Yun Shuanghua appeared out of nowhere like them, there would probably be a team of police staff there looking for him.

Among the group of heavily armed and masked personnel, a staff member who seemed to be the leader quickly walked out and took a roll call one by one.

“Fang Qingzhuo?”

The old lady stood up, “I am.”

“Manman?”

Manman took a step forward, patted her boyfriend’s arm comfortingly, and said, “Here.”

“Xiao Yuanzheng?”

“Sigh…” Cold sweat broke out on Old Xiao’s forehead again as he responded.

“Jing Qizhen?”

Jing Qizhen also came out and responded, “Yes.” At that moment, he actually felt like he was called on by the professor in college.

“Si Jiayang?”

Manman’s boyfriend immediately raised his hand and stood next to Manman.

“Jin Guijuan?”

The cashier girl was still immersed in the scene where the female ghost Ms. Li had just disappeared. When her name was called, she felt like waking up from a dream and subconsciously said, “Ah.”

“Yan Hong?”

Gold Chain Brother was still taciturn and simply responded, “Yes.”

“Wilcox Johnson?”

Wilcox Johnson was very honest, sensible, and obedient at the moment. With his hands raised, he nodded immediately after his name was called. However, he looked around and realized Jing Qizhen and the others did not do so, so he hesitated and asked, “Can I put my hands down?”

The staff member behind the gas mask seemed to smile briefly. After a while, he replied, “Of course.”

Wilcox put down his hand decisively and looked left and right again, trying to keep in line with the people around him.

Taking advantage of the roll call, Jing Qizhen was silent for a moment, and then said to the Earth in his mind, “Let me ask you something.”

The Earth responded with a very cooperative, “Yes, just ask!”

Jing Qizhen: “First of all, you are the Earth–”

The Earth: “Of course, I know that I am the ball.” 0.0

Jing Qizhen said, “So, you should be able to see the activities of humans, or other animals and plants everywhere on the Earth!”

The Earth: “Theoretically, it’s like this.”

Jing Qizhen: “In practice?”

The Earth said, “In practice is still the same! It’s just that my attention span is limited, and you humans are too small. Usually, you only look at things that interest you. Just like you humans have eyes, but you don’t look at the color of your clothes or how many bacteria and microorganisms are on the fabric of your clothes all day long, right?”

Jing Qizhen: “…Human eyes cannot see bacteria and microorganisms.”

The Earth: “Huh? But I can! So what do you want to ask me?”

Jing Qizhen finally said, “So I want to ask, what were you doing before? Didn’t you know that the department store has been cordoned off and there are many police officers in place?”

The Earth: “Yes, I know!”

Jing Qizhen: “Actually, you can remind me a little bit.”

The Earth wondered, “But, didn’t you also know?”

Jing Qizhen: “Huh?”

The Earth answered naturally, “I heard you discussed it when you were in the erosion area! When you come back, you will call the police and test DNA. You also have to send a message to the female ghost Ms. Li! Oh no, Ms. Li outside the erosion area is a legitimate human being.”

Jing Qizhen: “…Okay! Your words are justified.”

He can’t expect much from the ball, can he?

At the same time, without waiting for Jing Qizhen and the others to ask, the staff member quickly introduced himself, “I am Tang Song, and I am temporarily responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the eight of you in the supermarket.”

At this point, Tang Song glanced at the time, he continued, “It is now 15:37 on February 23, just 24 hours have passed since you all mysteriously disappeared in the supermarket. Out of responsibility for you and everyone else and for safety protection, I hope you can cooperate with us next.”

Jing Qizhen and everyone looked at each other, nodded proactively and replied, “…Understood, it is as should be.”

Although they expected there would be police, they did not expect a big battle formation. But sudden public disappearance was really not a small thing that people could casually dismiss. Understandably, they needed to cooperate with the police.

Tang Song was also a little surprised by Jing Qizhen and the others’s attitude. However, since they were very cooperative, his attitude naturally became a bit gentler. He continued to explain, “We have arranged for a hospital visit. Let’s go through a physical examination first. Before the examination results come out, you’ll have to be temporarily quarantined for some time. After everyone was confirmed to be in good health, you could move freely.”

Jing Qizhen and the others did not expect that they would be quarantined when they came back, but their experience was indeed outrageous, no matter how true. It was not strange to worry about some strange creatures or viruses they bring back. Anyway, they were back; everything else was just a trivial matter.

Tang Song’s eyes fell on the supermarket shopping cart next to Jing Qizhen and the others – there was also a bloody giant axe placed there. Moreover, without Yun Shuanghua’s help to share its weight, the shopping cart seemed to be on the verge of being crushed.

Grandma Fang asked directly, “Do you have laboratory-grade sealed boxes? We brought some samples back from there.”

Tang Song had already put away the roll call list he had taken out before. After hearing Grandma Fang’s words, his face hidden behind the gas mask was covered in surprise. He immediately replied, “You are Professor Fang who majors in biology! When we contacted your family yesterday, your partner reminded us to prepare some sealed boxes first…”

Grandma Fang gestured towards the tattered and somewhat deformed supermarket shopping cart that everyone brought back, “These are all special samples brought back from there. It seems that you all are professionals, so you must pay attention to protection. I don’t need to talk about anything else.”

Tang Song nodded with a smile in his voice, “Okay, don’t worry.”

Jing Qizhen looked around and realized that, except for Grandma Fang, everyone else seemed to have their own concerns, so he took the initiative to ask, “Excuse me, during the quarantine, can we contact our families or make an online call?”

Tang Song continued to nod and agreed, “Yes.”

Although he was a little surprised that Tang Song and other staff had no intention of concealing the news, after hearing his answer, Jing Qizhen simply took out his mobile phone, gestured towards him, and continued, “In fact, in addition to the samples brought back by Grandma Fang, we also recorded a lot of video data.”

After saying that, Jing Qizhen smiled at the young couple Manman and Si Jiayang. After all, Manman was the one who started taking photos and recording everything casually.

Tang Song: …

After a moment of astonishment, Tang Song immediately said, “We will take your mobile phone and other storage devices first. We will prepare a brand new mobile phone for everyone later, and we will also collect the data in your mobile phone and copy them.”

After the two sides had a friendly and tacit exchange, Tang Song directed the staff to take Jing Qizhen and others into a car, packed them all, and sent them to a resort on the outskirts of the city.

Considering the dense traffic in the hospital, Tang Song and his staff had prepared the corresponding medical equipment from the beginning for the physical examination. From consultation to taking pictures and later blood tests, they were all done step-by-step at the resort.

Later, Tang Song left his contact information and told Jing Qizhen and the others that they could reach him at any time if anything happened. He promised to keep his phone on 24/7.

After Tang Song left temporarily with a large group of armed staff, Jing Qizhen and others sat in the lounge of the resort, looking at each other a little.

Jing Qizhen held his chin, “I’ve been wondering why Yun Shuanghua wasn’t here.”

Yan Hong said in a deep voice, “The female ghost once suspected he was a thief…” After changing his clothes just now, he had completely shed all his gold ornaments. Gold Chain Brother’s new appearance, on the contrary, seemed to give people an extremely calm and reliable look.

As soon as his words came out, everyone’s heart sank.

This was the one aspect they differed from Yun Shuanghua. They had no direct conflict with the female ghost, but Yun Shuanghua was different…

After going through the same adversity, everyone was back together yet Yun Shuanghua disappeared out of thin air. Inevitably, they were a little worried.

Seeing that everyone was a little depressed after a long silence, Wilcox opened his big blue eyes and tried to liven up the atmosphere. He emotionally said, “I originally thought that being quarantined meant we would be locked in a small room and wait in silence. I didn’t expect the facilities here to be so good.”

Their scope of activities was limited to the hotel in this resort. There were mountains and water views outside the window, and there were various entertainment facilities and fitness equipment in the building, with a smooth network and full Wifi. Although they could not go out, it was not hard to live in a beautiful environment…

Jing Qizhen also smiled slightly as he took the tablet prepared by Tang Song. When he checked online, he found out that almost at the same time as their sudden disappearance happened, similar incidents broke out abroad unexpectedly.

Jing Qizhen immediately called in his mind, “Ball!”

The Earth responded, “What are you calling me?”

Jing Qizhen asked, “How many erosion areas did you keep?”

Earth suddenly said angrily, “I don’t want any of them. Those inexplicable idiot balls should roll away from me!”

Jing Qizhen: “…calm down.”

At this point, Jing Qizhen suddenly reacted, “You were offline from time to time to see the situation in other erosion areas?”

The Earth complained loudly, “Why are you humans so weak? Why are you the only one who can hear me?”

Jing Qizhen said, “When you don’t know that I can hear you, aren’t you excited when encouraging humans? What did you say back then? ‘Warriors from Earth, let’s fight desperately to save the planet’, huh?”

The Earth: “You humans are so annoying. Go away!” T-T
 

Dahliya: There’s confusion about Old Xiao’s real name. In this chapter, his name is Xiao Yuanzheng. In a later chapter, his name is Xiao Zhengwen.
I’ve checked and Zhengwen means main body of a text, it doesn’t seems to be a name. So I chose Yuanzheng.