Chapter 15:
Disappearances around the world

Seeing that the Earth was going to shut itself down again, Jing Qizhen stopped paying attention to it. Instead, he shared several pieces of news he had just seen on his tablet to the WeChat group, and then told them, “Look at this news.”

Their mobile phones have been handed over to Tang Song. However, Tang Song acted quickly. By the time Jing Qizhen and his group arrived at the resort after completing their physical examination, their new mobile phones, computers, etc. were all in place.

After Manman got her new phone, she immediately started a WeChat group and added everyone, except Yun Shuanghua of course, whose whereabouts were unknown.

“In a villa in Massachusetts, some people suddenly disappeared at a campus party. The party host called the police and there is still no news about the missing students,” Grandma Fang pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and read the message on her phone carefully.

Manman and Si Jiayang raised their heads at the same time. Manman said seriously, “Are they also missing in public? It’s a bit similar to our situation.”

The foreigner Wilcox even shouted excitedly, “Massachusetts? MIT, Harvard, and several well-known universities are all there.”

Grandma Fang nodded, “Yes, the news said that the villa where the disappearance occurred is located in the city of Boston. The missing college students may actually be from Ivy League universities…”

Jing Qizhen stated, “It also said as of the date of publication, the students who disappeared at the party have not returned yet.”

Yan Hong, who still looked a bit solemn after losing the gold chain, frowned and reminded them, “However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the news is not up-to-date, or that the local government blocks the news.”

Manman leaned casually on her boyfriend, shook her head and said, “I think it is unlikely that the local government blocked the news.”

The cashier girl Jin Guijuan asked curiously, “Manman-jie, why do you say this?”

Manman explained, “The reason is very simple. The news that they really want to block will not appear on the Internet at all. Even if it appears for a moment, it will be quickly erased.”

Hearing this, Jing Qizhen suddenly thought of something, “It seems our news here is not blocked.”

Manman glanced at Jing Qizhen and nodded, “Yes, I think so too.”

The cashier girl was a little confused, “Why don’t I understand what you are talking about?”

Jing Qizhen simply explained, “Although the department store was cordoned off when we were taken to the car, those police cars were not camouflaged. There should be many people outside who have seen them! Moreover, although it is only closed for a day, places like supermarkets usually have a lot of traffic, so the residents around must have noticed something is wrong.”

Yan Hong took his mobile phone and started to check the local news, and said simply, “You will know if you check online.”

Soon, Yan Hong also shared a piece of local news with the WeChat group.

Jing Qizhen took a tablet and clicked on it. The title of the news looked quite scary. “Customers mysteriously disappeared while shopping in the supermarket, and their whereabouts are still unknown!”

Jing Qizhen touched his chin, “It’s okay. This title is a bit like ‘Approaching Science’.”

Others: …

Seeing everyone’s unanimous reactions, Wilcox couldn’t help but curiously ask “What is ‘Approaching Science’, a popular science magazine?”

Jing Qizhen sincerely suggested, “You can watch the TV shows. The script is very good. ”

Wilcox replied happily, “Okay, I’ll go look for it!”

Si Jiayang suddenly said, “Oh. I found another report, but the content was very simple, just one sentence. It’s basically reporting the matter and saying that the missing customers have been found. I will send you a screenshot!”

After Si Jiayang finished speaking, the WeChat group rang, and everyone looked down at the screen.

At the same time, Tang Song, who had taken a shower after disinfecting, had already changed from a full set of protective clothing into a proper military uniform and walked into the conference room in a hurry with his hair still wet.

There was no one in the conference room. However, facing the conference table was an entire giant screen wall.

At this time, the huge screen wall was evenly divided into nine boxes, and each box was lit up.

Seeing Tang Song, the old man whose image appeared in the center of the conference room screen wall waved his hand and greeted kindly, “Xiao Tang is back?”

Tang Song nodded and briefly reported the day’s situation.

“At 15:33 on February 23, the eight missing customers from Yunhai Wancheng Department Store appeared inside the supermarket at the same time. Technicians compared the surveillance videos in the supermarket before and after their disappearance. The situation when they returned was basically the same as when they disappeared. According to the surveillance video, they disappeared at 15:33 on February 22, exactly 24 hours later.

“At present, it seems that the eight missing customers are in good health and no abnormalities were found in their medical examinations. Two hours ago, I arranged for their DNA samples to be collected in their respective residences. The laboratory is comparing them with the DNA of the latest blood samples collected from them. The DNA comparison results will be available later.”

Everyone in the video conference nodded.

Tang Song stood in front of the screen wall and continued his report, “In addition, the cooperation of these eight missing customers is very good. Among them, Professor Fang Qingzhuo is a senior expert in the field of biology, and she brought us two sets of biological samples. There is also a large amount of image data in all eight mobile phones collected from them. They took the initiative to hand over all the data and it is currently being reviewed and summarized.”

One of the middle-aged people with curly hair was a little surprised, “Is there actually any video data this time?”

Tang Song replied, “There’s a lot of video data recording almost the entire process of their disappearance. They even took photos of a special creature in the form of a ghost that was remarkably similar to the rumors in our country.”

The people participating in the video conference marveled upon hearing this news, even though they had experienced countless storms.

At this moment, the door of the conference room was knocked open, and a baby-faced young man in a military uniform poked his head in with eight test reports in his hands. When he caught a glimpse of the big names with familiar faces on the screen wall, he suddenly became nervous and wanted to retract his head.

Tang Song turned around and walked over, stretched out his hand to take all the reports, and while flipping through them, asked in a low voice, “The results just came out from the laboratory?”

Baby Face nodded nervously, “They all match.”

Tang Song responded, “Okay, leave them and go back!”

Baby Face ran away in a hurry.

After Tang Song quickly flipped through the eight DNA test reports, he raised his head and repeated the news to the screen wall, “The DNA comparison results in the laboratory have come out. There is no abnormality in the DNA data of the eight of them. It’s confirmed.”

A woman who kept smiling in the video conference asked gently, “I heard that in addition to Professor Fang Qingzhuo, there is also a foreign student with a special identity among the eight missing people?”

Now that the most important DNA verification issue for the eight missing people has been confirmed, the big guys participating in the video conference couldn’t resist gossiping.

Before Tang Song could answer, someone had already said, “Wilcox Johnson, right? I know this foreign boy. That is his pseudonym in our country. I don’t remember his real name. Anyway, it’s very, very long. That guy is from a long-established noble family in their country, and he seems to be the second in line to the throne.”

After the bosses finished gossiping, Tang Song carefully choked out a sentence, “…Actually, it’s more than that.”

Everyone in the video conference looked curious, “Oh?”

Tang Song explained, “Apart from Professor Fang Qingzhuo and the foreigner, Yan Hong is an undercover police agent and was performing a secret undercover mission when he was accidentally involved in the disappearance. Manman’s parents’ names are both on the domestic rich list, and she is an only child. Maybe out of protection for her, her surname is different from her parents.

“Xiao Zhengwen is extremely sensitive to numbers. According to his colleagues, he may have a photographic memory. Jing Qizhen’s parents are both senior scientific researchers in the military, but his parents are very busy at work and live away from home all year round, so the child basically grew up freely. Si Jiayang’s situation is similar to Jing Qizhen, but he’s been living with his grandparents and the elderly do not have the energy to take care of him. He has been growing and cooking his own food since he was a child, so his cooking skills are amazing.

“The only one who is more ordinary is the supermarket cashier Jin Guijuan. This girl’s hometown is in the depths of Shiwan Mountain. She could not finish junior high school due to family reasons, but she once helped a trafficked woman escape, and during the escape process, she also successfully assisted the police in destroying a pyramid scheme.”

Everyone who participated in the video conference: …

After a long silence, an old man with curly hair said hesitantly, “I heard that overseas in Massachusetts when the disappearances occurred, several top students from Ivy League were missing. But now it seems that the people who have gone missing here are not low in status at all!”

Another old man joked to him, “The little girl named Manman alone is absolutely not low.”

Tang Song nodded slightly and continued to answer, “Among the missing people in Boston, Massachusetts, are the youngest professor of the local university attending the campus party and a Filipino maid serving dishes. There are also disappearance cases in other countries and regions. The known ones are the Mediterranean coast, Africa, and Japan. The information is not clear yet, and the information is still being collected.”

“Have the missing people in Massachusetts returned?”

Tang Song shook his head, “There is no news so far.”

Suddenly, a particularly refreshing cell phone ringtone rang, and Tang Song immediately said, “It’s the number of the people in the resort!” He specially set a special ringtone for Jing Qizhen and his group.

All the big guys participating in the video conference signaled to Tang Song almost in unison, “Pick it up!”

Tang Song directly took the call and pressed the speaker.

Jing Qizhen’s clear voice came from the mobile phone, “Hello, Officer Tang. May I ask, have the test results and the necessary reporting work been completed?”

Tang Song: …

Jing Qizhen’s voice was gentle and polite, “If you are not busy for the time being, maybe we can have a group voice call. We still have a lot of details to share. Also, before we came back, we had promised something to the person who appeared in the video many times – that is the female ghost, Ms. Li – and we need help from the police.”

Tang Song: …???