Chapter 56:

The whole world knows that you are missing!

The Filipino maid’s apron bore a dried, dark bloodstain. She curled up in a corner, trembling nervously and mumbling in a daze, “We’re all going to die, we’re all going to die…”

A young professor, still chewing gum, leaned against the back of a sofa chair. Although his face was pale, he managed to maintain some semblance of calm. His once-neat suit now looked like a crumpled, pickled mess, with wrinkled hems and cuffs.

“Well, at least the killer among us won’t die,” remarked the professor nonchalantly.

A blond-haired boy cast him a disgusted glance and sneered, “Do you think this is the time for jokes, dear Professor Jones?”

Professor Jones shrugged indifferently.

“Shut up!” snapped a freckled girl, her face tense with frustration and impatience.

In another corner, a tall, burly red-haired man ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Forcing himself to remain calm, he said, “It’s been seven days. There are only five of us left. The killer is among us. Let’s stop these pointless accusations. If we continue like this, we’ll all die, the killer included. Don’t forget, this villa is sealed off and the food here is limited. We can’t last much longer.”

Those words brought a renewed wave of fear to the group.

The housemaid, already on the verge of a breakdown, edged slightly closer to the girl named Caroline, unconsciously seeking safety.

Caroline glanced at the maid but remained silent. Clearly, she saw the housemaid as the least threatening compared to the three men.

The invisible division among the group had happened many times over the past seven days.

Professor Jones spoke again, “We’re not in some isolated, remote area. This is a villa in a Boston suburb. There were plenty of people around on the day of the incident. I still can’t understand. Where did everyone else go?”

“Seven whole days,” as he spoke, he raised seven fingers. “We’ve been missing for seven days. How is it possible that no one called the police? How could the police overlook this villa where the incident happened?”

The blond-haired boy replied, exhausted and cold, “You’ve repeated this countless times, dear Professor Jones. What now? Are you trying to prove that, besides the killer among us, there’s an accomplice outside?” His tone was heavy with suppressed anger and impatience.

Professor Jones shrugged again. “That’s an objective fact, Joyce. Otherwise, how do you explain the lack of intervention after all this time?”

Caroline tilted her head back, took a deep breath, then suddenly turned to the housemaid. Irritated, she said, “Go do what you’re supposed to do!”

The housemaid nodded frantically and nearly stumbled as she stood. “I’ll cook! Yes, I’ll go now!”

“No!”

“Stop!”

Professor Jones and the red-haired man both shouted simultaneously.

The housemaid was startled and let out a choked sob. “Oh, God.”

The blond-haired boy, Joyce, glared at the housemaid coldly and menacingly. He spoke slowly and deliberately, “Do not leave anyone’s sight. Do not do anything alone unless you want to poison everyone’s meals. Do you understand, madam?”

Midway through his speech, his sharp gaze shifted to Caroline, who had just spoken to the maid.

Outside the villa, Jing Qizhen and his team stopped in their tracks as they approached.

The entire villa was almost entirely wrapped in green vines, dense and tangled. While it hadn’t formed a complete cocoon and sunlight could still filter through the gaps in the windows, the interwoven vines created an effect similar to packaging straps on a shipping container.

“Something about these vines gives me a bad feeling.” Si Jiayang scratched his chin thoughtfully.

Manman glanced at him. “Are you thinking about the tentacle trope? Too bad Grandma Fang isn’t here. We’re not exactly experts on plants.”

Si Jiayang blinked. “In any case, don’t get too close. These could be dangerous.”

Meanwhile, Jin Guijuan had already picked up a rock and hurled it at the vines. The vines merely let the impact leave a small dent and shed a couple of leaves. The stone landed silently on the vine network without making much noise.

“Preliminary test; seems safe enough.” Jin Guijuan clapped her hands.

Jing Qizhen pulled out a lighter from his backpack. “Let’s try fire next. If the vines still don’t react, we can consider them ordinary plants.”

Manman and Si Jiayang, exchanging skeptical looks: “…”

“Don’t throw a fireball directly. If the house catches fire, we won’t have time to extinguish it,” Yan Hong cautioned.

Old Xiao, sweating nervously, chuckled. “But we don’t have bamboo poles for this kind of thing…”

Before Jing Qizhen could explain, Wilcox snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it covered!”

A minute later, he returned triumphantly from a neighboring villa, carrying two fire extinguishers.

Jing Qizhen: “…”

“Now you can throw fireballs all you want!” Wilcox grinned.

Jing Qizhen: “Actually, I was about to suggest that if the house caught fire, we could just use the music box to summon snow.”

Manman, Jin Guijuan, and the others nodded in sudden understanding.

“Music box?” Wilcox asked in confusion.

Jing Qizhen explained briefly, “It’s an item that can make it snow.”

Wilcox nodded as if he understood and gestured to the extinguishers. “So, what about these?”

Jing Qizhen replied, “They’ll work too.”

He quickly wrapped some flammable material around a stone, ignited it with his lighter, and skillfully tossed the flaming ball at the vines.

The vines, with their high moisture content, didn’t catch fire. Aside from some scorched and blackened leaves, there was no dramatic reaction like thrashing vines or signs of danger. However, a piece of cloth on the villa did catch fire.

Seeing this, Wilcox confidently stepped forward with a fire extinguisher and sprayed foam over the flame, quickly putting it out.

After confirming that the vines were safe, the group moved closer to the villa.

Fully geared up, Gu Leshan approached silently. He had planned to press his ear against the wall, but as he got closer, he could already hear noises from inside.

Gu Leshan: “…” Turns out, the villa’s soundproofing wasn’t great.

He listened intently and gestured to Jing Qizhen, holding up five fingers to indicate he heard five voices inside. Judging by the heated arguments, things were lively in there.

Meanwhile, Lu Lingxi scanned the villa from various angles with infrared equipment. “No signs of explosives,” he reported.

Jing Qizhen, who had been examining the vines and boards blocking the villa, picked up a rock from the garden. Through a gap in the vines, he knocked it on the wall a few times and called out, “Hello, anyone there?”

Inside the villa, the five people who had been arguing turned abruptly, startled, and shouted, “Who’s there!?”

Manman and Si Jiayang joined Jing Qizhen, inspecting the wooden planks and vines blocking the villa. “How was this place sealed off?” they wondered aloud. “We’ll need tools to get through.”

Only separated by a wall, not only Jing Qizhen and his team could hear the movement inside, but the five people trapped in the villa could also hear them. Initially in a state of anxiety, the group also began to calm down and listen closely. Naturally, they could communicate after that.

The only downside was perhaps, aside from Jin Guijuan who had never learned English and Old Xiao who had almost forgotten everything he learned, only Jing Qizhen and the rest could understand the language. On the other side, the people inside could not communicate in Chinese.

Luckily, Wilcox, who was still concerned about his relative, switched to fluent English and called out, “My dear little cousin Joyce, are you still alive?”

The golden-haired boy named Joyce froze in shock. His expression of disdain and sarcasm vanished, replaced by disbelief as he ran to the wall. “Wilcox? Cousin?”

“Thank goodness, my little cousin. You’ve still got that tough luck of yours!” Practically pressing himself against the vines, Wilcox peeled back a section of the plant and sighed in relief “This is wonderful. My aunt—your mother—can finally sleep peacefully.”

Joyce pounded on the wall. “Cousin! Did you bring help? Get us out of here!”

The other four inside the villa also lit up with hope.

The housemaid was almost crying with joy, frantically wiping her tears with a clean part of her apron. “Oh Lord, we are saved!”

A young man with red hair and a sturdy build named McCain also sighed in relief.

Caroline called out in a slightly shrill voice, “Open the door quickly!”

Professor Jones was still the calmest among them. He asked, “Are you relatives of Joyce? Did you contact the authorities? If not, I suggest you call the police first and then get us out.”

“We’re trying. Hey, folks, stop rushing us,” Wilcox responded while he struggled with the stubborn vines.

Jing Qizhen commented objectively, “That guy just now perfectly exemplifies the idea that when there’s trouble, you call the police to avoid everyone getting picked off one by one like in a chain of blunders.”

Jin Guijuan chuckled at his remark and whispered, “Why do I feel like they’re completely out of the loop?”

“It’s because our circumstances are different. They’re trapped inside the villa, so they lack an overall understanding of the situation,” Jing Qizhen replied.

The Earth suddenly interjected, “Isn’t it because of me?”

Jing Qizhen was confused. “…What?”

The Earth replied smugly, “0.0 Because I was here when you first entered the erosion area, you weren’t entirely clueless!”

“You’re amazing,” Jing Qizhen sighed.

The Earth beamed. “Yeah, =v= I think I’m awesome too! So be nicer to me, okay?”

Jing Qizhen hesitated before asking, “What exactly do you want?”

“Well, it’s just…” the Earth fidgeted slightly before blurting out, “I noticed Tang Song has satellite access. Could you ask him to take a few cloud-free photos of me from space during the next typhoon? I heard humans like selfies at a 45° angle. I want to try too!”

Jing Qizhen replied dryly, “…Should I also set up a social media account for your selfies?”

“Can you? Please set one up for me! OvO” the Earth perked up.

While the Earth and Jing Qizhen debated selfies, Wilcox was shouting instructions to the noisy, clueless people inside the villa.

“Hey, folks! Don’t worry about calling the police. The whole world already knows you’re missing!”