Need Help (Part 2)

After leaving the hospital room, Mo Li instinctively looked around for Mei Duo. Before he had fallen unconscious, Mei Duo had stayed by his side the entire time. He did not know where Wei Dengke and Zhong Lichun intended to take him, but their expressions made it clear that This Matter was far from simple. He had narrowly escaped death once already. If he was about to risk his life again, he felt he should at least explain things to Mei Duo.

Unfortunately, Mei Duo had fainted after hearing about Mo Li's condition and was still unconscious in the bed of the neighboring hospital room. It was impossible for Mo Li to say goodbye to her. Seeing him looking around everywhere, Wei Dengke urged him impatiently, "What are you still looking at? Come with me!"

Hearing Wei Dengke's urging, Mo Li answered and left the hospital with him, his face full of disappointment. What he did not know was that just as he left, the unconscious Mei Duo finally woke up. The moment she awoke, she jumped from the bed as if by reflex and ran madly toward Mo Li's room next door. Unfortunately, by the time she pushed open the door, Mo Li was already gone.

Staring at the empty hospital bed, Mei Duo was completely Stunned. She stood there blankly, at a loss for what to do. She could not understand why Mo Li, who had been unconscious, was no longer in the room.

There was no need to go into how Mei Duo went to ask the Dean about Mo Li's whereabouts. It was impossible for the Girl to find him. Back on Mo Li's side, as he followed Wei Dengke out of the hospital, he noticed a dark green off-road jeep parked at the entrance. Its engine was already running, producing a low, Roaring Sound.

Wei Dengke walked up to the door, opened it, and gestured for Mo Li to get in. Mo Li hesitated Once Again before finally entering the vehicle. Wei Dengke climbed in after him and shut the door. Almost the instant it closed, Zhong Lichun started the vehicle, and it sped northeast along a small road.

"Where are we going?" Mo Li asked in confusion as he watched the scenery constantly changing outside the window.

"I don't know," Zhong Lichun replied coldly. While speaking, she pulled out a cigarette case from her jacket pocket and shook out a cigarette, placing it between her lips.

"Huh? You don't know? You're taking me away, yet you're telling me you don't know where we're going? Are you messing with me?" Mo Li was not known for his patience. Earlier, his mind had still been muddled from waking up, so he had not reacted. Now, hearing Zhong Lichun's answer, he immediately became angry.

"Have you seen these three people?" Just as Mo Li was about to lose his temper, Wei Dengke, who was seated beside him, took a photograph from his pocket and handed it to him.

Taking the photograph, Mo Li examined it carefully, then revealed an Astonished expression. How could he merely know these three people? If it had not been for them, he would never have encountered the Yeti earlier, nor nearly lost his life.

After standing Stunned for a while, Mo Li nodded and replied, "I know these three. They're foreign tourists. They once stayed at a hotel in Jia LS Township. Later, they left the hotel carrying climbing gear, saying they were going to climb Nanga Parbat. They never came back after that. After receiving the report, I led a team out to search for them, and then I encountered..."

At the end, Mo Li stopped. To ordinary people, Yetis were nothing more than a legend. He was afraid that Zhong Lichun and Wei Dengke would laugh at him if he said that he had encountered a Yeti, so he fell silent.

However, Zhong Lichun spoke the moment Mo Li stopped. "You encountered a Yeti, didn't you?"

"How... how did you know?" Mo Li froze upon hearing Zhong Lichun's words, then asked back with an incredulous expression.

"We already investigated. After you were rescued, your body was covered in a large amount of gray-brown long hair. There were also enormous primate footprints in the area where you were injured, and some blood samples from the scene did not belong to you. Combined with the legends from your Snowy Region, we concluded that you encountered a Yeti." Wei Dengke adjusted his Glasses and explained.

"...Do you really believe Yetis exist?" Mo Li asked, looking at Wei Dengke with a strange expression.

"Perhaps ordinary people see these things as mere legends, but if you knew what we do, you would understand why we believe the Yeti legends. After all, nothing we deal with is normal." Wei Dengke gave a bitter smile. While speaking, he waved away the smoke before him and casually opened the window on his side.

"Glasses, you'd better stop talking, or you'll violate the confidentiality rules. Mo Li, our goal this time is to find these three people, and we have to find them. But we aren't familiar with the environment here, so we need you to act as our guide and search with us." Zhong Lichun flicked the cigarette butt out through the window, then turned to stare at Mo Li.

Mo Li looked at Wei Dengke and Zhong Lichun with an extremely strange expression. These two actually believed Yetis existed? And what Wei Dengke had said earlier was worth pondering. What did he mean by saying that nothing they dealt with was normal? What department were they from? These two were surrounded by far too many mysteries.

Seeing that Mo Li merely stared at them without saying anything else, Wei Dengke smiled and spoke Once Again. "You don't need to think too much about it. As a Civil Police officer, you also have an obligation to find those three foreign travelers. Let's treat this as a joint investigation between us and your local Police Station. Don't worry. Once This Matter is resolved, I'll help you apply for a merit citation. I estimate a Second-Class Merit should not be a problem."

Wei Dengke was indeed right. Mo Li was a police officer, and finding missing tourists was his duty. Whether these two had appeared or not, as long as he could still move, he would never give up searching. Now that these two mysterious people were willing to help, Mo Li naturally would not refuse. After Wei Dengke finished speaking, he nodded and said, "All right! I'll take you into the mountains to search."

Hearing Mo Li agree, Wei Dengke smiled Once Again and extended his left hand. Mo Li also extended his left hand, and the two shook hands. What Mo Li did not know was that this mission, which he believed was simply a search for missing foreign tourists, would completely change his life.

After leaving the County Town, the vehicle headed directly toward Nanga Parbat. Along the way, Mo Li briefly introduced the nearby terrain and the things Zhong Lichun and Wei Dengke needed to watch out for. With his mind focused entirely on the three missing foreign tourists, Mo Li did not even remember that they would need Thermal Clothing to enter the snowy mountains. Dressed as they were, they would freeze to death before even reaching the mountainside.

Several hours later, the vehicle came to a stop. By then, the Mo Li Trio had reached the edge of the dense forest at the Foot of the Mountain beneath Nanga Parbat.

It was no longer suitable to drive any farther, so Zhong Lichun stopped the vehicle and was the first to open the door and get out. Mo Li and Wei Dengke got out as well. The temperature here was much colder than in the county area, and Mo Li instinctively shivered. Only then did he realize that none of them had brought cold-weather clothing or equipment. It was impossible to go up the mountain like this. Just as Mo Li was about to mention it, Zhong Lichun had already walked to the rear of the vehicle and opened the rear Carriage Compartment.