Cheng Shang boarded the airship with the Cheng Clan disciples who had accompanied him. They had taken part in the entire operation, and even in their spare time, they had kept asking around and searching, talking to each group of villagers being relocated in hopes of finding his nephew.
Unfortunately, they had found nothing.
Before the temple was sealed off completely, he had also made a point of looking around inside, but that had yielded nothing either.
He had examined every set of bones piled in the temple, but they all appeared to be at least a hundred years old.
As the airship took off, Cheng Zicheng gazed down at Jiao Mountain and said, "Second Uncle, what exactly happened to Zishun...?"
Cheng Shang sighed. "Not finding him may be a good thing. At least it leaves us some hope." There were so many pits and tunnels on Jiao Mountain that even the locals might not know their way around them all, let alone outsiders.
"Will we come back, then?" Cheng Zicheng asked.
Cheng Shang fell silent for a moment before answering firmly, "Yes. Our Cheng family has to get to the bottom of this."
He knew that at least their two generations still cared about Cheng Zishun and remained determined to find him. The next generation, however, had no real interest in the matter. They had to find an answer while they were still around, or there truly would never be one.
In the airship's main cabin, Chen Chuan sat opposite Director Lei. It was already August, and bright sunlight streamed through the windows, spilling over the two men and the table in front of them. Wisps of steam rose from their teacups.
Chen Chuan said, "Director Lei, the Secret Sect Review Bureau handled this matter very well. The bureau