"Later, it became an unsolved case, and no one continued investigating it."
"The Tonggu government didn't want to cause too much panic, and the mine was also worried that ongoing fear and unrest would affect production, so discussion of the matter was forbidden. Those who came later never learned that it had happened."
"After so many years, fewer and fewer people knew about it. The news had been sealed off quickly, and aside from the mine, people elsewhere in town didn't know either."
"Only I, as someone who experienced it firsthand, knew a little about the inside story."
The old man recounted this strange incident at an unhurried pace, as if telling a story. It had only a beginning and no ending; its mystery remained unresolved to the very end.
The incident that had once shaken the entire Mining Area seemed to have ended abruptly just like that, gradually forgotten as time passed.
People only vaguely remembered that something like it had happened, mixing it up with ordinary mining accidents.
Even elderly people who still remembered it would only mention it casually: "Oh, that Missing Persons Case? They were probably blown to bits. Conditions were just like that back then. There were tons of dubious cases and unsolved cases. Things like this happened all the time..."
But Xu Demin was different. He knew how much manpower and resources had been spent searching for those missing people. That was absolutely not something that could be brushed aside with "poor conditions."
People tended to embellish their own memories. Things they could not understand slowly developed "reasonable explanations" in their minds, allowing the logic of what happened to gradually align with their understanding. They fabricated an acceptable answer, and the longer time passed, the more deeply rooted that answer became.
"I followed the