Where was he?!

Jiang Ze rubbed the Jade Pendant in his hand with his fingers. It felt smooth and pleasantly cool to the touch.

"Host, you really pulled it off! Shen Yun didn't even realize his Jade Pendant had been swapped!"

The system sounded excited. Getting this Jade Pendant meant its host had seized a major opportunity meant for the protagonist. Not only would he earn a large number of points, but things would also go much more smoothly for him afterward.

The protagonist's halo alone would already make things difficult for Jiang Ze. With this Jade Pendant on top of that, his future would only get harder.

"Shen Yun was focused entirely on trapping me. Besides, the Jade Pendant was in his own hand, so he wouldn't keep checking it."

Before Shen Yun fell, Jiang Ze had spotted the Jade Pendant and spent points to exchange for an identical fake through the system.

While Shen Yun was stunned by his fall, Jiang Ze had swiftly swapped the Jade Pendants.

In such an urgent situation, no one would notice a detail like that. And who would imagine Jiang Ze had a system that could exchange for items?

That was how Shen Yun had succeeded.

Jiang Ze studied the Jade Pendant for a while but couldn't make anything of it. Asking the system got him nowhere either. To him, this Jade Pendant was utterly mysterious.

After putting it into a storage slot, he finally began surveying his surroundings.

The place consisted of stone platforms, with a large open space in the middle and an enormous stone pillar.

Every small stone platform seemed to bear traces of something having once been placed on it.

But whether someone had taken those things away or something else had happened, Jiang Ze couldn't tell. He searched for ages and found nothing besides the compartment where Shen Yun had discovered the Jade Pendant.

"Was this place made purely to hand the protagonist an opportunity?"

Unable to figure it out, Jiang Ze simply stopped thinking about it. Now that he had the Jade Pendant, he wasn't in any hurry to leave. The food in his storage space could sustain him for months.

Besides, someone might find him in just a few days.

At that thought, a tall figure involuntarily flashed through Jiang Ze's mind.

He took out a sleeping mat, blankets, and other everyday necessities, then lay down comfortably and drifted off to sleep.

Outside the Cave, however, everyone was in chaos.

"What?! Jiang Ze is missing?!"

Hearing the assistant director's report, the director's head buzzed and his vision went dark. He nearly fainted.

He hurried after the staff toward the Cave where Jiang Ze had been resting.

The sleeping bag inside lay open. There hadn't been much in the Cave to begin with, and now there was even less to glean from it.

There were only some scattered footprints near the entrance, as though the person inside had encountered something and rushed out.

"How could a grown man just disappear?! Are you sure he didn't go out to use the bathroom?"

Day had only just broken. It was around seven or eight in the morning, and the guests were still asleep. Only a few staff members had gathered there.

"I discovered it when I got up to use the bathroom a little after five. It's been three hours already!"

The speaker was a staff member who had been staying outside the entrance. They hadn't heard anything during the night. When he got up that morning, he had habitually glanced inside and discovered Jiang Ze was gone.

News of Jiang Ze's disappearance quickly spread through the entire Production Crew. The guests learned about it soon after waking up.

"Jiang Ze is missing!"

Jin Zhizhi stared in disbelief at the Production Crew busily searching for him, thinking it was a stunt arranged for the show.

Only when she saw the director searching with a deathly pale face did she truly believe it.

"Why haven't you called the police yet? Someone going missing on Barren Mountain is no joke!"

Jin Zhizhi picked up her phone to call the police, but the reception on Barren Mountain was so poor that she couldn't get a call through.

"Let's all help call for him around here first. He was here last night. Even if he went out, he couldn't have gone far."

Chen Yong'an had more life experience than the others and remained relatively calm. He immediately joined the search party.

Shen Yun wore an anxious expression, but when he turned his head, he found Jin Zhizhi glaring at him.

"Shen Yun, was this your doing?! You deliberately made Jiang Ze stay alone in the Cave last night. I think you had ulterior motives!"

At that, Shen Yun immediately put on an innocent, aggrieved expression again. He clutched Du Chen's sleeve with one hand as though frightened and spoke softly.

"Zhizhi, I know you're worried about Jiang Ze, but you can't just accuse people without reason! I was with Brother Du Chen and the others all last night. I never left the tent."

Du Chen promptly nodded as well. Although he had gone to sleep early, he instinctively felt that Shen Yun couldn't have done it.

Chen Yong'an had also gone to bed early and said nothing.

Jin Zhizhi knew she had no evidence. She was simply angry about Shen Yun's behavior the previous night. If someone had stayed with Jiang Ze, perhaps this wouldn't have happened.

While everyone outside scrambled around searching for him, Jiang Ze slept soundly. The stone walls were so thick that hardly any sound could pass through them.

The Production Crew, Jin Zhizhi, and the others searched for most of the morning, but Jiang Ze seemed to have vanished into thin air without leaving a trace.

By then, the news had also reached B City.

"Say that again?!"

Standing at the boarding gate, Meng Zhiyuan suddenly tightened his grip on his phone, his expression darkening.

"Zhiyuan, I only just heard myself. That young man of yours seems to have disappeared last night. They discovered he was missing this morning."

Meng Zhiyuan hung up immediately and handed his luggage to the assistant beside him.

"You go ahead and board."

He had been about to board a flight to C City and wouldn't have landed until that evening.

"Dad, let me borrow your private jet."

On the other end of the call, Grandpa Meng paused. This was the first time he had heard Meng Zhiyuan use that tone.

"Use it if you need it. Call Chen."

In the end, Grandpa Meng didn't ask what had happened. He trusted Meng Zhiyuan's abilities.

Meng Zhiyuan made several calls as he walked, his expression growing grimmer and grimmer.

"Jiang Ze..."

He knew Jiang Ze had some secrets, but he didn't know how many ways he had to deal with a crisis. If he was merely trapped, that storage space Meng Zhiyuan had learned about should allow him to hold out until help arrived.

What he feared was that Jiang Ze had encountered danger.

At that thought, Meng Zhiyuan quickened his pace, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Meng Zhiyuan managed to cut a six-hour flight down to three. By the time he reached C City, Mu Shaoxuan was already waiting there.

"Zhiyuan, I just called the Production Crew. They've contacted the police, but since it hasn't been twenty-four hours yet, not many officers have been sent out."

"Mm. Call Meng Cheng directly and tell him to send people over to search. Take me to the Production Crew."

Mu Shaoxuan didn't dare say anything more. Seeing Meng Zhiyuan's grim face and the frightening chill radiating from him, he could only drive as fast as he could.

When they reached the task site on Barren Mountain where the Production Crew had set up camp, Jin Zhizhi and the others had already been sent to rest in their tents.

The director couldn't afford to let anything happen to another one of them, or he would be in serious trouble.

As soon as Meng Zhiyuan arrived, he headed straight for Shen Yun.

"Uncle! Why are you..."

Shen Yun's face lit up at the sight of the tall man before him. He was about to say something when the man's icy gaze made him falter.

"Where is he?"

The man's deep voice rang out, as though tempered in ice, terrifyingly cold.

Shen Yun shuddered at his voice but still forced himself to answer.

"Uncle... what are you talking about? How would I know where he..."

"Don't call me Uncle."

Meng Zhiyuan cut him off impatiently, his tone even carrying a hint of disgust.

"I'll ask you one more time. Where is Jiang Ze?"

Under his gaze, Shen Yun began to tremble. His face looked deeply aggrieved, as though he was so frightened he might burst into tears.

Du Chen, standing beside him, couldn't bear to watch any longer. He raised an arm and shielded Shen Yun behind him.

"Who the hell are you? Jiang Ze is missing, so go to the police! Why are you coming after Shen Yun? Are you crazy?!"

Mu Shaoxuan, who had followed Meng Zhiyuan in, couldn't help glancing at him.

Buddy, you've really got guts. You sure know how to walk straight into the line of fire.