Strange clues

Lu Xingchen looked through all the posters they had torn down. Every number, without exception, was red.

Rather than a simple bright red, the color was closer to that of blood.

Lu Xingchen frowned. "Brother Chu, don't you think the numbers on these posters look like they weren't written with a pen..."

Huo Chuyun saw the truth at a glance. "A finger."

Lu Xingchen nodded and continued his analysis. "Then that makes sense. Whoever wrote the numbers must have been in a state of extreme panic or somewhere unsafe, to dip a finger in blood and write them so messily."

"You're right. The production team wouldn't do this for no reason." As Huo Chuyun quickly found the correct numbers, he went straight to the heart of the matter.

"Remember the mission they just issued? There must be something wrong with Li Tao, the one who posted the missing-person notices."

Lu Xingchen pulled up the earlier text and studied it word by word. "We can only suspect something's wrong with Li Tao. As for what exactly it is, we'll have to find the first clue before we can analyze it further."

Meanwhile, comments flooded the livestream.

[Seriously, you two, are you here for a variety show or to be detectives?]

[Congratulations to the production team for exposing the truth with one basic attack.]

[Old Huo, what are you doing? Why are you putting on that voice? You never talk like that to us fans.]

[I keep feeling like the boss has some ulterior designs on Lu Xingchen.]

[Are you people sick? Just watch the show. Let Huo Chuyun shine alone, okay? Stop randomly shipping people.]

[Don't you think Lu Xingchen is deliberately cozying up to Huo Chuyun? You fans are so tolerant.]

[+10086]

[The person above is a Lu Yichen fan, right?]

"We found two valid numbers. The verification machine is near the Li Family Ancestral Hall. We're running out of time. Let's head over first."

Huo Chuyun checked the remaining time on his phone.

79:23

There were fewer than ten minutes left before the first mission ended.

"Okay." Lu Xingchen stacked the other, useless missing-person posters and handed them to a staff member. "The village has such a lovely environment. Let's not leave litter behind."

Although this was their first time on the show, the two were gradually getting better at evading the hunters, each watching one side and working together seamlessly.

Ding, ding, ding.

Lu Xingchen quickly took out his phone and silenced it before checking the message. "Someone's been caught by a hunter. Eleven people left."

Huo Chuyun asked casually, "Who?"

Lu Xingchen answered without a moment's hesitation. "Don't know him."

[You two really aren't afraid of getting flamed, huh?]

[Who is it? So obscure that even a nobody like Lu Xingchen doesn't know him.]

[Lu Xingchen, what's wrong with you? The one who got caught is your third brother, Lu Yihao! And you're pretending not to know our Yihao? What the hell are you playing at?]

[I'm dying. Lu Xingchen said he didn't know him without a second's hesitation. Xingxing is so cold. I love it.]

[I keep getting the feeling Lu Xingchen doesn't get along with those two Lu brothers.]

[Exactly zero people care whether Lu Yihao lives or dies.]

Lu Yihao had been staying with Lu Yichen. Neither believed the production team would actually set off their alarms. They were young masters of the Lu family, backed by Lu Group.

At first, they had only intended to hide. It was only later that a staff member reminded them that failing to complete the mission really would trigger the alarms they were wearing.

Only then did the two reluctantly come out. Not long afterward, Lu Yihao was caught by a hunter.

As a race car driver, Lu Yihao shouldn't have been too bad at running. But halfway through, he tripped over his leather shoes and fell flat on his face. One shoe flew off as he ran and landed in the lake, and he was still caught by the hunter.

Lu Yichen saw only a gust of wind as the hunter charged toward Lu Yihao. He hid around a corner, trembling, and watched helplessly as Lu Yihao was caught.

Lu Yichen almost wanted to cry, but had no tears. This was for real! His third brother had run so hard he'd lost a shoe and still got caught. This really wasn't a travel show!

At the verification machine, Huo Chuyun and Lu Xingchen verified the correct numbers, and the alarms they wore, which had been flashing red all along, immediately went dark.

Each received a card, and they found a safe spot in the Li Family Ancestral Hall to examine the clues.

"Mine says Li Tao's mother is named Wang Xiuli. She married his father, Li Qiang, in 1993 and gave birth to Li Tao the following year."

"Wang Xiuli is fifty-one this year, about 158 centimeters tall, and weighs around thirty-five kilograms. She has dry, sparse brown hair, large eyes with double eyelids and deep sockets, a high nose bridge, and thick lips. When she went missing, she was wearing a thick, worn-out floral padded jacket."

"Brother Chu, what does your card say?" Lu Xingchen asked with a frown. "This clue is really strange."

"Mine's the same as yours."

Seeing that Lu Xingchen was having trouble staying crouched and kept moving his legs and feet, Huo Chuyun helped him up. "If you're tired, you can lean on me."

"Okay."

Lu Xingchen's legs had gone numb. Pleased that Huo Chuyun had taken the initiative, he leaned back into his embrace without hesitation.

With his back to the camera, Huo Chuyun held Lu Xingchen's waist. Just lowering his head let him smell the delicate fragrance of Lu Xingchen's hair.

A fresh mint scent.

Feeling the small, soft body in his arms, Huo Chuyun found himself thinking how nice it would be to hold him like this forever.

Huo Chuyun's gaze shifted from Lu Xingchen's hair to his fair, slender neck, bringing to mind the scene at the hotel that day.

Comfortable, Lu Xingchen's gaze gradually grew unfocused. His eyes brimmed with moisture, as though veiled in mist, making the emotions in their depths impossible to discern.

His neck tilted back slightly, fully revealing its graceful lines. His fair skin seemed to give off a faint glow in the moonlight, like an exquisite work of art, utterly captivating.

Since Huo Chuyun had completely blocked the camera with his back, all the viewers could see was darkness, though there was still sound.

The cameraman, too, seemed to have discovered some intimate secret. He didn't dare speak or even move the camera, afraid of disturbing the pair in their intimate moment.

[What's going on?! Hello? Anyone there?]

[Why's the camera broken? We can hear them, but we can't see anyone!]

[I'm dying here. I need Old Huo's and Xingxing's good looks to go with my food.]

[What could possibly be off-limits to esteemed Banana members?]

[I can't see anything either. Hurry up and fix it! @Run Faster Official]

Huo Chuyun's hot breath washed over the delicate skin of Lu Xingchen's neck. Lu Xingchen didn't feel anything was amiss at all, as though, in his mind, this was simply how the two of them ought to be.

"Brother Chu, I remember that all along our way here, Tuanjie Village was full of blue-brick, tiled-roof houses. Every household was comfortably off. Wang Xiuli is 158 centimeters tall, so how could she weigh only thirty-five kilograms? Could she have suffered some kind of abuse?"

"She's only just past fifty, too. Why would her hair be dry and sparse? I can understand sparse. That happens to everyone when they get older."

"But since they specifically pointed out that it was dry, I suspect she might be malnourished. And why would she be wearing a worn-out padded jacket in the middle of summer, then disappear?"

"There are too many suspicious details here. What do you think, Brother Chu?"