I Cultivate in a Government Office

Chapter 190: Chapter 116: Sudden Turn, and a Successful Cleanup Operation

「Lingshan Town.」

On the edge of town, a clearing had been carved out beside the mountain forest. It was piled high with logs, stone, and various semi-processed building materials. This was a lumber processing and temporary storage site for the Hongyuan Trading Company.

Liu Rong and Wu Yan stood outside a simple work shed on the edge of the yard.

The two had stayed behind in Lingshan Town. An inconspicuous informant, planted during their earlier investigation into the missing persons case, had suddenly sent a vague message that morning. It seemed the group of workers who had gone missing months ago had all, in one way or another, been in contact with the Hongyuan Trading Company before they vanished.

The lead had come late, and it didn’t align with the primary direction of the investigation, which pointed toward the mountain forest south of the city.

After discussing it, Wu Yan and Liu Rong decided to do some preliminary digging while everyone’s attention was elsewhere. They hadn’t even gone through formal channels, simply using the excuse of "a routine visit to inquire about recent worker turnover."

Before long, a middle-aged man in a gray tunic hurried out of the work shed. He was the on-site manager, surnamed Qian. He was all smiles, rubbing his hands together. "Officers! What brings you out here in this heat? Quick, come inside and have some tea."

"Don’t trouble yourself, Boss Qian."

Wu Yan waved a hand dismissively. "We’re just asking around. We heard you hired a batch of temporary workers a while ago? About three or four months back."

Boss Qian paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, yes. The survey team had just arrived back then, and we were swamped. We did hire some extra hands to help haul materials and chop trees. They were all temp workers. They’d do the job, collect their pay, and leave."

Liu Rong took out several portraits and handed them over. "Could you please take a look? Do you recognize any of these men? Their families are looking for them. They said they worked here, but then they lost contact."

Boss Qian took the portraits and studied them carefully, one by one. His brow furrowed slightly as he muttered, "This one... looks a little familiar... I think this one came by... Can’t recall this one..."

He studied them for a while before handing them back. "Officers, with so many people coming and going, and so many temp workers... it’s hard to remember them all clearly. However..."

He turned, walked into the work shed, and quickly returned with an old, palm-sized Memory Stone. "We have a rule here. Everyone who works for us, no matter how long, has their image recorded for payment and our files. The records from three or four months ago should still be in here. It’s just a pain to dig them up."

A glint appeared in Wu Yan’s eyes. "You keep image records? This Memory Stone... can we borrow it to check against our files?"

A troubled expression crossed Boss Qian’s face. "Well... the Memory Stone also has some of the company’s ledgers and manifest images on it, so it’s not really convenient to let it off the premises. You’re welcome to view it here, but our reader Array is very basic and slow to retrieve files. I’m afraid it would take up too much of your time. How about... you come back another day with the official paperwork? I’ll be sure to cooperate fully!"

His attitude was polite and accommodating, and his reasoning was perfectly plausible.

Wu Yan and Liu Rong exchanged a look and didn’t insist. "Alright then. We were just doing some preliminary inquiries. Sorry to have bothered you."

"Not at all, not at all! Take care, officers!"

Boss Qian escorted them all the way to the main road at the edge of the yard, only turning back after watching them disappear into the distance.

Once they were a good distance from the yard, walking along the dirt path back to their temporary post, Liu Rong lowered his voice. "Brother Wu, weren’t we a little too direct? Asking those questions, showing him the portraits... If that Boss Qian is really up to something, didn’t we just tip him off?"

Wu Yan’s pace didn’t falter. His gaze swept over the dense shrubs lining the road and the dark forest beyond. His tone was calm. "This is our only lead. If we didn’t push a little, we probably wouldn’t have gotten even this much. We’ll report to Yang Group Leader as soon as we get back."

Liu Rong looked thoughtful.

Wu Yan made a rare joke. "If we really manage to follow this lead and dig something up, you’ll have another major accomplishment to report to your Brother Yang. It’ll make your bid for that Senior Officer promotion even stronger."

A smile touched Liu Rong’s lips, and he was just about to reply.

Suddenly—

A faint breeze rustled through the woods, sweeping across the path without warning.

It was a light breeze, carrying the unique, somewhat muggy scent of grass and trees from the afternoon forest.

But Wu Yan and Liu Rong both tensed at the exact same moment. An inexplicable, bone-chilling cold shot through their bodies—the instinctive response to mortal danger!

But the premonition came too quickly, too fast for them to take any evasive action.

Liu Rong felt a sudden chill in his chest, as if an impossibly fine, impossibly fast icicle had pierced straight through him. He instinctively glanced down. Over his heart, a thumb-sized hole had appeared in his blue uniform.

He opened his mouth, but no sound escaped. His body swayed, the light in his eyes fading rapidly. With a THUMP, he collapsed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Wu Yan felt the same tearing pain and icy cold in his chest. But his position had been off by a hair’s breadth; the fatal attack hadn’t pierced his heart directly. The immense force sent him staggering. He looked down to see a ghastly, bleeding hole in his upper right chest. Blood gushed out, instantly staining his shirt red.

In the final moment before consciousness faded, his survival instinct and deeply ingrained training took over. With his last ounce of strength, his left hand slammed down on a hard, fingernail-sized object he carried close to his body.

It was the panic alarm issued to the Major Case Team for fieldwork. Once pressed, it would emit a shrill siren, and nearby monitoring Arrays would react instantly.