Only after leaving the religious hall did Xu Huo learn what had happened.
After he disappeared from the engineer's home, the painted woman searched all over Cockscomb Flower City. But communicating was difficult for her, and she didn't have a photo of Xu Huo. Her description was so vague that, by her account, everyone in the city could have been the person she was looking for. Besides, no one was willing to help her for no reason, so she took the money Xu Huo had given her and paid people to search.
At first, she offered more money to anyone who had seen Xu Huo and could tell her about it.
Then more and more people came to claim the money after hearing about it. Explaining the details to so many people would take a long time, so she hired someone to help her speak. The message was also simplified to "Find Passerby A."
After she had been spreading the word for a few days, some people came forward to help on their own. They even made a sculpture based on her description, so those claiming the money could identify their target more precisely.
After that, the search went like this: someone came to collect the money, and the painted woman pointed at the statue and asked whether he knew the person.
Things were normal enough at first. Everyone knew she was looking for someone, so the people collecting the money would volunteer to tell her if they saw him. But as the line grew longer, those farther back didn't know the details. They simply copied the people in front of them, taking the money and saying, "Yes, I know. Understood." Gradually, the painted woman started to find it a little annoying, so the message on her Communicator was reduced