UCS Chapter 106

“Data shows that sleeping too long makes you stupid.”

 

Zhou Jing checked his watch. “Yun Zhiyi has now slept for ten hours.”

 

Mo Hua took a sip of soy milk. “Would you dare say that to her face?”

 

Zhou Jing pushed up his glasses. “Why wouldn’t I dare?”

 

Sun Jun frowned slightly, looking toward the film crew.

 

The village chief here had arranged lodging for them. They’d agreed on a meeting time for the next day, but Yun Zhiyi was late.

 

The congee and steamed buns were covered to keep warm, but couldn’t withstand the passage of time—they’d already cooled.

 

Yun Zhiyi was punctual and shouldn’t be late.

 

Could she be exhausted from traveling these past days? Or had she gotten sick from the change in environment?

 

Sun Jun suggested, “Since we’re almost done eating, let’s go find them.”

 

The group passed through the iron fence. The crew hadn’t started work yet. People bustled about—some actors sat reviewing scripts, some photographers adjusted angles. They heard someone calling Yun Zhiyi’s cousin, who apparently had scenes today.

 

Just then, Xiao Yusheng walked through the snow carrying a sketchpad and brushes, like a painting immortal formed from ice and snow.

 

Seeing him approach, everyone came to greet him.

 

Everyone knew Xiao Yusheng liked painting. Every day between filming scenes, he’d go out to sketch landscapes.

 

Someone asked eagerly, “I wonder what Best Actor Xiao painted this time? Could you let us appreciate it too?”

 

Mo Hua noticed Sun Jun looked curious. “We’ll go find Zhiyi. Want to wait here a bit?”

 

By now Xiao Yusheng had displayed his painting—a snowy forest scene.

 

Heaven and earth vast and desolate, with only a lone tree standing by itself.

 

Sun Jun glanced at it. “No need. Let’s go.”

 

Zhou Jing looked once but couldn’t see anything special. All his skill points had gone into math; he was completely ignorant about art. Seeing Sun Jun frowning thoughtfully, he asked curiously, “How’s his painting?”

 

“Not bad. If I’m not mistaken, the black pigment he used for the trunk was ground by himself.”

 

Sun Jun pressed his lips together, choosing his words carefully. “It’s just… I don’t know why, but it feels a bit uncomfortable somehow.”

 

Sun Jun had always believed paintings could reflect the artist’s state and psychological activity. Even if different people painted the same landscape, the results would be vastly different.

 

Zhou Jing thought about that painting, fully applying his Chinese reading comprehension skills. “A lone tree in the vast snowy expanse expresses the author’s lonely heart and his spirit of facing wind and snow, fearing no hardship?”

 

Sun Jun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “No…”

 

The interruption dissipated that hair-raising feeling from earlier.

 

Perhaps he was overthinking. When he’d looked at that painting, what he’d felt was actually “restraint” and “destruction.”

 

Entire forests chopped down, all obstacles removed—that one targeted tree, having lost all protection, could finally no longer resist.

 

What was he thinking? Maybe he really was overthinking it.

 

Sun Jun shook his head, tossing the strange thoughts aside.

 

The three of them, along with the bodyguards, headed to the room arranged for Yun Zhiyi and Tian Mian. They found a female staff member to knock on the door.

 

However, there was no response at all.

 

Had they gone out?

 

The staffer sensed something was wrong. She asked everyone to step back, then twisted the doorknob—the door opened easily.

 

The bedding was a mess.

 

Given Yun Zhiyi and Tian Mian’s habits, if they were up, they would never leave the quilt strewn on the bed. Besides, they could see Yun Zhiyi’s phone half tucked beneath the pillow.

 

Young people going out without their phone was practically impossible.

 

Something had happened.

 

The bodyguards’ hearts sank. The others also ignored everything else and turned their heads toward the room. The lead bodyguard, experienced as he was, told them not to move so as not to destroy any clues, then entered alone. By the bed, he found half a footprint.

 

The floor here was bare packed earth. Last night someone had clearly braved the snow and entered the room. When they came in, mud and snow from their shoes left prints. Before leaving, they had cleaned them up but overlooked the half-hidden under the bed sheet.

 

He lifted Yun Zhiyi’s pillow. Her soft sword was still underneath. All her going-out clothes were there; only a set of pajamas was missing—meaning they’d been taken away without any chance to resist.

 

She was at least the martial arts club president. With her level of vigilance, no one could have silently taken her while she was awake. So she had likely been drugged.

 

They’d had dinner together the previous night—no issues there.

 

Had she and Tian Mian eaten something else later?

 

He picked up Yun Zhiyi’s phone. The battery was high, with no apparent messages left.

 

The screen felt slightly uneven. Holding it against the light, the bodyguard could make out the carved characters “村一” (village one).

 

The “一” was toward the top, as if she’d meant to write more and hadn’t finished.

 

Village…

 

Right next to the crew was a village.

 

What had she wanted to write?

 

Village? Hamlet? Mountain village road?

 

Or… villagers?

 

Thinking of the film’s theme—women trafficked into deep mountains struggling to escape—everyone felt a chill.

 

Had they spent last night in a traffickers’ village?

 

No, impossible, right?

 

Were they crazy? With so many people in the crew, if anyone exposed it, the entire village would go to prison!

 

Besides, the crew had been beside the village for so long with no incident. Why did trouble start the moment Yun Zhiyi arrived?

 

How had these people slipped silently into the crew area and taken Yun Zhiyi and Tian Mian?

 

Zhou Jing’s face went pale. His first reaction, after rapid analysis, was Yun Zhiyi’s cousin.

 

Yun Zhiyi had basic caution; she wouldn’t randomly eat anything. If someone wanted to drug her without raising suspicion, the likeliest person was Yun Wan.

 

And Yun Wan was with the crew. If the village really had problems and she had contact with them, she could easily bypass everyone and have Yun Zhiyi taken.

 

They hurried out, planning to tell the director what had happened, but were met with an even more shocking piece of news—

 

Yun Wan was missing too.

 

Had she really done it?

 

Or had all three of them been taken together?

 

Was the kidnappers’ target the Yun and Tian families?

 

The director’s face darkened. With something this big, filming couldn’t continue. In this heavy snow, if anyone got lost, they could die. But if they called the police, whether the film could ever be released was uncertain.

 

He looked at Xiao Yusheng, whose company was the main investor in this public service film.

 

Xiao Yusheng nodded, his expression serious. “People are most important. Everything else can wait.”

 

His tone was very reassuring.

 

But Sun Jun, sensitive as ever, heard a trace of anger beneath that voice.

 

Someone had gone missing—wasn’t that what they should be most worried about? Or was he upset that their disappearance might affect the film’s release?

 

No…

 

Sun Jun thought of that painting and suddenly had a ridiculous suspicion.

 

He was angry because someone was coveting his prey.

 

The mountain signal was terrible. Staffers desperately searched for reception, but couldn’t connect to any network.

 

Before long, the staffers who’d gone down to report to the police returned pale-faced with even worse news—last night’s snowfall had blocked the mountain road. Fallen rocks had sealed the path; they couldn’t get out.

 

The actors, who had been barely maintaining their composure, could no longer stay calm. None of them had imagined that the place where dreams came true would become an island they desperately wanted to escape.

 

Just then, a female actress cried out in joy, “It went through! I sent it!”

 

She waved her phone. On the screen was a successfully sent distress message.

 

It was Zhou You.

 

Last time, Zhou You’s livestream for the Gao family had greatly pleased Gao Shi, who not only gave her an endorsement but also a newly developed Gao-brand phone. Though the technology was still immature, it had one major advantage over common phones—a satellite-based emergency location system.

 

No one had expected it to come in handy here.

 

Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Before that breath was fully out, a group of people emerged from the forest. Wrapped from head to toe, with hiking packs on their backs, they looked like backpackers.

 

However, their bearing didn’t match backpackers at all.

 

The tall man at the front pulled down his mask and showed his ID. “Hello, we’re police.”

 

His resolute face and reliable aura inspired confidence.

 

Zhou You stared blankly at her phone screen. “I just sent the SOS. Is 5G really that fast?”

 

＊＊＊

 

Elsewhere.

 

After Gao Shi stepped outside and had Star send the message, it was as if some unseen force sensed the Gao family “bug” and moved to correct it—signal vanished completely.

 

At the same time, he learned that the road down the mountain was blocked.

 

Gao Shi’s feeling of being watched grew stronger.

 

From the sudden snowfall at the start, to his consciousness being forcibly suppressed last night, to today’s lost signal and blocked roads, it felt as if a great hand was pushing them onto a predetermined path.

 

Could it be that the “plot” was finally acting again?

 

Fortunately, before the signal disappeared, the closest search team had already contacted him and would arrive in no time.

 

Gao Shi turned and returned to the house. Kongmiao’s face was now as pale as Ying Bujie’s—his spiritual energy transfer had ended.

 

Gao Shi quickly dragged Kongmiao to a seat. Kongmiao was completely drained, as heavy as a log.

 

Then Gao Shi went to lift Ying Bujie.

 

The moment his hand touched Ying Bujie, the little axe at his waist glowed with golden light.

 

A warm energy flowed into his body, then transmitted from him toward Ying Bujie.

 

Ying Bujie’s complexion visibly turned rosy.

 

Gao Shi stared at the faint golden glow in his palm, incredulous.

 

Was this… spiritual energy?

 

***

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