Upon hearing this, Qin Beiting's footsteps paused, and his heart sank.
When he had left that morning, she had been fast asleep, showing no signs of waking.
Since he had confined her to the villa on the mountain, she hadn't cried or caused trouble, even cooking him noodles. He had thought she was quite accustomed to this life of a caged bird. To his surprise, she had escaped in less than a day!
"Find her! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but bring her back! I want to see her when I return!"
Qin Beiting hung up the phone. His steps, which were heading back to his office, took a turn. Qi Xifeng, following behind him, hurried to say, "Brother Ting, the meeting..."
Qin Beiting: "You go in my place."
Qi Xifeng noticed his grim expression. "Did something happen?"
Qin Beiting didn't answer. He simply called Chen Dong to bring the car, then stepped into the president's private elevator and descended.
...
It was already afternoon when Qin Beiting returned to the villa on the mountain. The weather was gloomy, with snowflakes drifting down. The roar of helicopters could be heard in the air, along with the sounds of search parties scouring the woods.
Lola stood at attention by the main gate, unmoving. Snow had accumulated on her head and shoulders, indicating she had been standing there for quite some time.
"From where did the person escape?" Qin Beiting asked as he got out of the car.
Lola: "Reporting to Seventh Master, it should be from the front gate."
Qin Beiting said coldly, "Should be?"
"I went to the restroom. When I came out, she was gone, and the main gate was open at the time," Lola replied truthfully.
Normally, she would have endured it. But that morning, while she was eating breakfast, Yu He had come down. Seeing that breakfast was once again instant boxed meals, Yu He, just like the night before, went into the kitchen herself to make tomato and egg noodles. She had also served Lola a bowl, telling her not to eat the boxed meal and to eat with her instead.
Lola couldn't help herself. Thinking that it was breakfast time anyway, and it didn't matter which meal she had, plus Yu He's noodles were clearly more appetizing, she ate them.
Who would have known that about half an hour after finishing, her stomach started to feel unwell, constantly needing to go to the restroom, and she was experiencing diarrhea.
After running to the restroom twice and emerging, she discovered the main gate was ajar, and Yu He, who had been upstairs, was nowhere to be seen!
Logically, it would be better for Yu He to go out the front gate than the back. The back gate led to the rear mountain, where the terrain was much more treacherous than at the front.
However, the terrain at the front wasn't much better. The mountain roads here were winding, and anyone unfamiliar with the area could easily get lost in the mountains. Besides wolves, there were other fierce wild animals.
The weather was bad now, with snow falling. Coupled with the blizzard warning for the mountain tonight, if the person wasn't found before dark, her fate would be dire.
"Your subordinate's handling of the situation was negligent. I am willing to accept punishment," Lola said, bowing in apology.
Qin Beiting, his face grim, called out to someone. "Give her a set of gear."
The implication was clear: she was to join the search party in the mountains. If they were lucky, they might find the person and redeem her failure; if not, whether she would return alive was uncertain.
But Lola, who obeyed orders strictly, showed no fear. "Yes!"
Her life had been saved by Qin Seventh Master; it was only natural for her to risk her life for him.
Qin Beiting entered the courtyard with a stern expression. Lu Yiming had set up a simple search command center in the middle of the courtyard.
Lu Yiming and a few subordinates were diligently watching the screens of their instruments, displaying the searched maps and surveillance footage from the drones.
Seeing Qin Beiting enter, several subordinates stood up. "Seventh Master."
"Search situation," Qin Beiting asked.
Lu Yiming shook his head. "We've searched a twenty-kilometer radius centered on the villa. No clues have been found."
Qin Beiting frowned in dissatisfaction.
"I have to admire Miss Yu's stamina. It takes a normal person four to five hours to walk twenty kilometers, even without rest. Our people have been searching for two hours and haven't found her," said Lu Yiming's deputy.
Four hours had passed since Yu He's disappearance and the commencement of their search. Logically, Yu He couldn't have covered a straight-line distance of twenty kilometers so quickly, especially in the mountains where it was easy to get lost.
"This indicates she is likely still within the twenty-kilometer range, hiding, or has met with an accident."
After Lu Yiming finished speaking, he noticed Qin Beiting's expression growing more somber. He immediately spat, "It must be because Miss Yu is hiding that she's so hard to find."
"Increase the personnel and search the mountain! Regardless, you must bring her back!" Qin Beiting commanded with a grim face.
Everyone: "Yes!"
Lu Yiming recalled the experience of searching for Yu He in the mountains back then, and the terrifying sight of her suffering from her fear of the dark. He immediately dispatched two more teams and bloodhounds.
"Find her before dark!"
Qin Beiting stood in the middle of the courtyard, watching the seconds tick by on his watch. His heart sank inch by inch, filled with an unbearable torment.
This agonizing torment felt strangely familiar, as if he had experienced it before.
His mind was a mess, every cell screaming with discomfort. Only one voice remained in his heart: Come back quickly! Please, won't you come back?
The sky grew darker, and the wind and snow intensified, cloaking the ground, branches, and everything else in a layer of snow-white. As the snow accumulated, the trails to follow grew fewer.
The search teams had yet to report any good news. The sky gradually darkened, the north wind howled, and the snow had piled up a centimeter high.
Lu Yiming watched Qin Beiting's anxious and uneasy silhouette standing outside. It was exactly the same as it had been back then. For a moment, he couldn't help but suspect that Brother Ting had never forgotten Yu He in the past five years.
The two of them had finally met again, only to be unable to be together again due to amnesia.
This was even more dramatic than a soap opera.
"Brother Ting, should we go inside? the wind and snow are too strong out here," Lu Yiming stepped out of the tent and asked.
Qin Beiting, however, seemed not to hear him. He asked instead, "Is there still no news?"
"The heavy wind and snow have significantly increased the difficulty of the search."
Just as Lu Yiming finished speaking, the courtyard lights suddenly went out, plunging the surroundings into darkness.
"What happened?" Lu Yiming immediately asked.
Someone from the deputy's side quickly investigated. "Reporting to Captain, the wind and snow are too severe and have damaged the electrical circuit. The specific situation is being investigated."
Without electricity, the difficulty of the search would increase even further.
"There's a generator in the basement," Qin Beiting said.
Lu Yiming immediately sent someone to fetch it. However, even with the generator, the power supply was not ideal, as it couldn't be sent to the searchers in the field.
Qin Beiting glanced at the night sky, where large snowflakes were falling, then at his watch. He turned and entered the villa's living room with his laptop.
Seeing that he was preparing to do something, Lu Yiming quickly followed him with a powerful flashlight and asked, "Brother Ting, do you have any other methods you haven't used yet?"