Chapter 54:

The missing people of Boston

After discussing the matter of the erosion area at the Boston villa with Tang Song and Wilcox, Jing Qizhen and the others returned to their rooms to rest.

Even the Earth, who had been chattering nonstop earlier, became uncharacteristically quiet, as it sensed that a small step of their plan had been achieved.

When Jing Qizhen emerged from the bathroom half-asleep and lazily sprawled on the hotel bed, a knock suddenly came at the door.

A polite voice from outside said, “Sir, Mr. Tang, who was with you earlier, asked us to deliver a set of books to you.”

The Earth: “Huh? 0.0”

Jing Qizhen sat up from the bed, muttering internally about Tang Song’s remarkable efficiency.

Taking the thick stack of approximately twenty books from the staff member, Jing Qizhen’s face turned into a ‘=.=’ expression.

Aside from the ‘Complete Guide for Standard Mandarin Proficiency Test (Latest Edition)’ he had casually mentioned during breakfast, the pile included titles like ‘Mandarin Proficiency Test Special Materials (National Edition)’, ‘Key Challenges in Mandarin Proficiency’, ‘Guidelines for the Mandarin Proficiency Test’, ‘The Art of Recitation’, and so on.

The Earth: “Wow—”

Jing Qizhen calmly said, “Don’t wow. These are all for you.”

The Earth: “Oh, really? 0.0”

Jing Qizhen dumped the books on the bedside table, lay back down on the pillow, and asked the Earth, “Can you read them yourself?”

The Earth: “Uh… I don’t think so. Ye’ will need to turn the pages for me.”

“Fine, I’ll set up a computer later and play some videos for you,” Jing Qizhen replied, holding onto his patience.

The Earth pleaded, “Come on, turn a few pages for me now while ye’ ar’ still awake! Just a few pages!”

Jing Qizhen: “…”

Faced with the Earth’s earnest request, Jing Qizhen took a deep breath, grabbed the ‘Complete Guide for Standard Mandarin Proficiency Test (Latest Edition)’ with his eyes closed, and slowly turned a few pages by instinct.

After flipping through about ten pages, Jing Qizhen fell asleep without realizing it.

Having barely made it past the preface and table of contents, the Earth quietly muttered, “Well then, good night! Remember, ye’ promised to set up the computer later.”

Jing Qizhen: “Zzzzz…”

When he woke up around 2 p.m., the Earth was off wandering somewhere. The ‘Complete Guide for Standard Mandarin Proficiency Test (Latest Edition)’ was still beside his pillow, with the pages returned to their original position.

Stretching and yawning, Jing Qizhen picked up his phone, turned off silent mode, and checked his messages.

Tang Song had updated their WeChat group by notifying them that the negotiation specialist he contacted earlier had almost resolved the communication issues.

Wilcox was spamming Tang Song in the group: [Hey, bro! What did your negotiation expert of yours do? He popped into a video call and almost drove three companies crazy! My boss even asked if we could hire him!]

Jing Qizhen: “…”

Tang Song ignored Wilcox and it was Lu Lingxi, newly added to the group, who sent a meme of a confused panda head full of question marks and said: [You won’t be able to hire him. Tell your boss to give up.]

Wilcox: [Oh, okay!]

At the hotel restaurant, Jing Qizhen found Manman and Si Jiayang. On the table were stacks of white porcelain bowls and a clay pot.

“Try the soup I made for Manman!” Si Jiayang eagerly served him a small bowl of soup.

Jing Qizhen: “Thanks.”

As he sipped the soup, he asked casually, “Where is everyone else?”

Manman, holding a spoon, smiled. “Tang Song went to a meeting and took Little Lu along for an internal report.”

“Is that so?” Jing Qizhen commented, “Lu Lingxi sure has endless energy.”

Si Jiayang: “He’s a pro!”

Manman added, “Grandma Fang, Guijuan, and Old Xiao are probably still asleep. They walked a lot yesterday and didn’t sleep all night. I told room service to hang ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs on their doors.”

Jing Qizhen nodded.

After finishing the delicious soup, he grabbed a lunch plate and took some food back to his seat.

He sent Wilcox a video call request and once the call was connected, Jing Qizhen put the phone upright on the table to let the young couple, Manman and Si Jiayang, join in the chat with the foreigner Wilcox.

While eating, he asked, “Do you have any clues about the erosion area in Boston?”

“No, we’ve got no leads at all!” answered Wilcox immediately.

Then he quickly argued with someone in the background in rapid English before shooing them out of the room and slamming the door.

“God, these guys are impossible to work with,” Wilcox groaned while running a hand through his blond hair,

Curious, Jing Qizhen asked, “What happened?”

Wilcox threw his hands up. “Someone suggested inviting a psychic to perform a grand summoning ritual to bring the missing people out of the erosion area!”

Manman and Si Jiayang: “…”

Jing Qizhen hesitated, then said diplomatically, “Well… it’s creative.”

“Sure, creative—but useless!” Wilcox shrugged.

“By the way,” he added, “They’re calling the erosion area ‘The Lost Land’ now since, you know, people go in and never come out.”

Jing Qizhen followed up, “There must’ve been more people at the party that night than just those who entered the erosion area, right?”

Wilcox confirmed, “Of course, but most of them were too drunk or high to remember anything. We pieced together what happened through shaky phone videos and the villa’s surveillance footage. Same as us, they just vanished suddenly. No one noticed right away because everyone was wasted.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a typical wild party.” Manman nodded thoughtfully.

Jing Qizhen focused on the key point. “So, the missing people who entered the erosion area might not have been in a sober state?”

No wonder they never made it out…

Wilcox, recalling his own dangerous experience in the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store erosion area, paled. “Oh crap, what if my relative in there didn’t make it!?”

“Extreme fear can sober people up. It’s a survival instinct,” Si Jiayang reassured him.

Manman added calmly, “Besides, the housemaid who went in with them was probably sober, right?”

Wilcox wasn’t comforted. “I bet they’re all gone—oh, NOOO!!!”

In his distress, he accidentally knocked over his phone, ending the video call with a clatter.

As the WeChat video call ended, Si Jiayang, ever considerate, helped Manman with her bowl and chopsticks. Watching her eat, he couldn’t help but smile before turning to Jing Qizhen, who sat nearby.

With a sigh of mock regret, he remarked, “This really is a tragic story.”

Jing Qizhen: “…”

He glanced at the food in front of him and suddenly felt like the hotel’s buffet tasted more like dog food.

After dinner, Jing Qizhen received a message from Tang Song, summoning the group to the conference room. Naturally, Si Jiayang stayed close to Manman, while Lu Lingxi also joined them.

A few minutes later, Tang Song, who was still full of energy despite attending countless meetings that day, arrived carrying a stack of documents.

Tang Song: “Good evening, everyone. How’s the food here treating you?”

“With the way you push yourself, aren’t you worried about your hairline?” mused Si Jiayang thoughtfully.

Tang Song: “… Do you think you’re any better during your overtime marathons?”

Si Jiayang: “But I’m on vacation now and you’re still working!”

“Overworked night owls like us shouldn’t hurt each other, okay?” Tang Song said earnestly.

Manman couldn’t help but give Si Jiayang a light punch.

Si Jiayang: “… Ahem.”

Jing Qizhen watched the exchange unfold and realized that after two days of venting their frustrations over not being able to enter the erosion area, Tang Song and Si Jiayang had formed a solid ‘friendship,’ complete with frequent snarky banter.

Tang Song then distributed the documents to everyone in the room.

“Our advisory team has reviewed all the video footage you brought back from the erosion area. These are their findings, experience summaries, and some additional actionable plans they’ve suggested. Take a look. They might serve as helpful references.”

Flipping through the pages, Jing Qizhen remarked, “Your advisory team sure has an active imagination.”

“That’s exactly how they described you. When faced with that strange little girl, your unconventional thinking inspired them quite a bit.” Tang Song smiled.

Jing Qizhen hesitated briefly before responding, “Uh… I’m honored?”

Tang Song chuckled and added, “As for the data we’ve gathered on the Boston villa, we’ve done our best to collect what we could. However, those Ivy League graduates still haven’t made it out, so unexpected complications are highly likely. Be prepared to adapt as needed.”

Jing Qizhen: “Uh… actually, this afternoon, Manman, Jiayang, Wilcox, and I discussed this issue.”

“Oh? And what’s the conclusion?” Tang Song turned to him.

Jing Qizhen: “It seems that those Ivy League students probably entered the erosion area while drunk… or even high. So, they likely weren’t able to function at their usual cognitive capacity.”

Tang Song: “…???”

The others looked equally bewildered. “=口= What?”

“American college students partying too hard isn’t exactly groundbreaking news,” Manman casually added while still engrossed in the stack of A4 papers.

Tang Song blinked several times before calmly saying, “I’m telling the advisory team immediately! They’ve made a critical oversight.”

Jing Qizhen: “Um, don’t be too harsh on them.”

After all, it was a natural assumption to think rationally during a life-or-death situation. Most wouldn’t consider that the missing individuals might have entered the erosion area saddled with debuffs like drunkenness or drug use.

Clearly disapproving of such behaviors, Grandma Fang would have sternly lectured anyone engaging in underage drinking or drug use.

She couldn’t help but shake her head and softly said, “If you think about it another way, maybe this erosion area isn’t as difficult as we imagined.”

“Let’s hope so.” Tang Song nodded and exhaled deeply.

Jing Qizhen noticed the heavy expression in Tang Song’s eyes. He could tell that from the moment the ‘Ribbon of Red Dancing Shoes’ appeared, the situation had shifted from being merely about the dangers of the erosion areas to one of human conflict.

Just then, the notification sound for new text messages suddenly chimed from several phones on the conference table.

Jin Guijuan casually unlocked her screen and, upon seeing the message, gasped sharply. Her heart pounded wildly, leaving her unable to calm down.

The second to check his phone, Old Xiao, also froze in shock. His eyes widened as he counted the number of zeros in his bank account balance. His blood pressure spiked, sweat beading on his forehead as he stammered, “Th-this is… the b-b-bank b-balance—”

Tang Song paused for a moment before breaking into a smile. “Oh, right. As an experienced rescue team with multiple successful missions in erosion areas, we negotiated compensation with the families of the missing individuals. The agreed-upon advance payment was supposed to be transferred to your accounts within one business day. Thanks to Wilcox acting as an intermediary, my friend even gave them a discount.”

At that moment, everyone, except Tang Song and Manman, had the same thought: This is just the discounted advance payment!?