Another Mysterious Disappearance

When Qin Luming was in class, he shared this news with Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang. Both were very happy for Qin Luming and insisted he treat them to a meal.

Guo Gaoming, being a big mouth, posted the news of Qin Luming's book finally being signed to the class group chat, claiming the class now had another great writer.

Qin Luming had no choice but to send a red envelope in the class group chat. He didn't explain that the contract had just been signed, let alone that he was a great writer; he wasn't even at the entry level of online novel writing.

"Congratulations." When class ended at noon, Zhu Baiqing also came over to congratulate Qin Luming specifically. In the online novel industry, apart from competing for website recommendation resources during the promotion period, there's basically no talk of peers stealing each other's livelihoods... although he would have felt a bit more superior and comfortable if Qin Luming hadn't been able to get a contract for longer.

"Thanks," Qin Luming said with a smile.

"Actually... never mind. You're not someone who has to bow to reality anyway. Writing a book according to your own heart is quite a comfortable thing," Zhu Baiqing nodded. He originally wanted to offer some words of encouragement and caution from a senior's perspective, such as achieving an average subscription of three thousand after going on shelves to be considered barely at the entry level, but he decided it wasn't necessary.

Today, Zhu Baiqing checked the account that had tipped him one million starting coins again and noticed many large tips. He then realized that Qin Luming was actually a low-key rich person. Forget three thousand average subscriptions; it would probably take an income level of thirty thousand average subscriptions to make Qin Luming's heart flutter for a moment.

"Want to have lunch together? My treat," Qin Luming invited.

"No, I'm with Ahe," Zhu Baiqing shook his head and then walked towards Qi Ahe, who had been standing not far away, watching them.

Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang were also waiting for Qin Luming. In reality, Zhu Baiqing joining them wouldn't have affected their mood, but if he didn't join, no one would feel any regret.

Qin Luming took Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang to eat barbecue. Naturally, there weren't any high-end barbecue restaurants near the school. The three of them ate until they were stuffed for three hundred yuan... and this was even with Qin Luming ordering a large fruit platter and a big jug of juice.

After lunch, Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang returned to school. Qin Luming went to print out the novel and website contract documents. It was a thick stack, looking quite formal. Qin Luming reviewed the contract clauses, filled in the relevant information as instructed by the signing editor, signed his name, and found a courier to send out the contract.

After finishing his classes in the afternoon, the novelty of his recent signing wore off for Qin Luming. He considered a very practical issue: signed works generally require stable updates to gain the editor's attention and the website's promotional resources. If he continued to update sporadically like before, his signing would make little difference.

"Uh..." Qin Luming scratched his hair.

He'd think about it later.

As Qin Luming was about to hail a shared bike, he habitually scrolled through his notification list and saw a news alert that he had set up with keywords.

"This afternoon, a former abandoned dual-purpose road and railway steel frame bridge in Mentougou was discovered to have disappeared from its original site. This all-steel structure bridge was built in the 1980s. Due to its design load capacity being unable to meet the growing traffic demands, it was officially decommissioned ten years ago, and a new bridge downstream took over its mission. The main structure of this steel frame bridge had been awaiting demolition. Currently, our reporters are investigating whether the bridge's disappearance was due to official demolition or the work of a theft ring, similar to the previous Zinc Factory disappearance incident..."

Qin Luming found the bridge on his phone's map. It wasn't far from the old Zinc Factory he had visited last time, so Qin Luming decided to go and take a look.

A strong intuition told Qin Luming that this was Zhou Nan's doing again... If it really was her, this Her Majesty the Empress, after coming to the real world, first took a Zinc Factory, and then took a bridge. What was she trying to do?

Qin Luming still took a ride-hailing car to get there. Upon arriving near the Mentougou Bridge, he saw a scene of desolation.

Young tender yellow grass mixed with gray-white withered grass that hadn't endured the harsh winter. Broken concrete from the flood control embankment littered the riverbed. The land on the opposite bank had long been abandoned for cultivation. The edge of the city, which it couldn't cross, was visible not far away. A mountain range covered with a shallow plantation lay at the end of his vision, with the loess base color faintly visible.

The steel bridge that originally spanned the two banks had completely vanished, leaving only the foundation ruins on both sides. It was exactly the same as the way the Zinc Factory disappeared, uprooted entirely. Everything that should have been part of the steel bridge's main structure had been stripped clean and removed from its original location.

The construction of the steel bridge was undertaken in the last century to improve transportation conditions for the Zinc Factory. All the steel structure materials were provided by another steel enterprise in City A.

Now, the Zinc Factory was abandoned and had even disappeared, while that steel enterprise, relying on the vigorous development of City A's economy and infrastructure construction over the years, was still thriving.

Qin Luming walked to where the pier should have been, but now only a huge pit remained. A few earthworms were tentatively crawling out of the muddy hole, and there were faint signs of groundwater seeping into the bottom of the pit.

The disappearance of the Zinc Factory was attributed to a criminal gang that stole cement pavement. Could this railway bridge have been done by the same criminal gang?

Qin Luming absolutely did not believe this explanation. He firmly believed his own judgment: only Zhou Nan possessed such unscientific abilities and could achieve this using divine arts.

But what was this Zhou Nan trying to do? What value did the Zinc Factory and the steel bridge hold for her... Qin Luming really couldn't figure it out.

Trying to understand the mind of an Empress from another world seemed like a difficult task.

Qin Luming tried to put himself in her shoes. If he were a monarch in the real world with a certain amount of power, and he traveled to another world, what would he do?

He'd probably try to find a way to get enough to eat first... Forget it, Qin Luming gave up on trying to understand Zhou Nan.

Qin Luming couldn't understand Zhou Nan, but Zhou Nan's actions might not be without logic. Qin Luming opened his electronic map and saw that the old Zinc Factory and this steel bridge in Mentougou were on a straight line.

Of course, any two points on a map are on a straight line... It's just that now, extending this straight line to the left led to Ma Shilong's home.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, these three actions of Zhou Nan, which Qin Luming had discovered, were all on the same straight line.

Connecting any two points definitely forms a straight line, but there's no saying that any three points still form a straight line.

Qin Luming's finger traced across the map. Looking to the right, continuing along this straight line, it led into the mountains... No, a flash of inspiration struck Qin Luming. Within these mountains, there was a dam!

This dam was even older than the Mentougou steel bridge. In the 1970s, floods ravaged the waters around City A, so City A concentrated its efforts to build this dam. The dam was quite magnificent, with a height difference of over three hundred meters from its highest point to its lowest, even surpassing many famous world-class dams.

However, after the dam was built, for some unknown reason, the water flow gradually decreased, even reaching a point of drying up completely. This dam, which served both flood control and power generation, was gradually abandoned without ever being used.

After the last batch of workers maintaining the dam left in the 1990s, the dam became an unvisited place in the wilderness. It wasn't until recent years, with the rise of short video platforms online, that occasional streamers would go there to film survival videos or livestreams, and the dam finally returned to people's attention... Even people in City A had forgotten about it before.

Qin Luming suddenly understood a little. Thinking about the Empress's style with a great hammer in hand, she must have had an unstoppable momentum. She didn't deliberately choose; she simply picked a direction. In that direction, if she saw something, whether it was the Zinc Factory or the bridge, and she wanted it, she took it.

He still couldn't understand the value of the Zinc Factory and the bridge, but Qin Luming felt that Zhou Nan's next target might be that dam.