"Mining output decreased every year. Didn't anyone suspect anything?" Lu Youqi asked in confusion.
"Exploration technology wasn't as advanced back then, so production often differed from projections. People probably thought Mine Pit No. 1 was nearing exhaustion and didn't think much of it..."
The middle-aged man pointed at the chart again. "Look, the years after the disappearances happened also happened to be when Mine Pit No. 5 went into production. They probably focused all their attention on Mine Pit No. 5, so no one looked too deeply into what was going on with Mine Pit No. 1."
"Other than the decrease in ore, was there anything else unusual?" Lu Youqi pressed.
"No." The middle-aged man shook his head. "I only found this after digging through a great deal of old information."
After all, they could only search for clues in old records. Finding even one anomaly was already quite difficult.
"Did you find the reason for the decrease in ore production?"
"No. I checked some reports and visited several people who had been in charge at the time. They couldn't even remember these things anymore." The middle-aged man let out a deep sigh.
Listening to him, Lu Youqi frowned.
The trail had gone cold again.
Just like the Missing Persons Case, the incident of reduced ore production had ended hastily, with no cause ever found.
These strange events had quietly lain forgotten in some corner, gradually fading from people's memories as time passed.
Only those who had experienced them and those connected to them remained trapped in those memories. Yet, unable to find the truth, they had gradually grown numb, and their recollections became increasingly blurry.
Old Xu Demin was like that. So was the middle-aged man before him. There were probably many more people like them in this quiet,