Missing

The old guard and their descendants will not listen to Zuo Jin's orders.

At the tomb of Emperor Luo Zhong, the last emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty, there were many surviving members of the imperial family and descendants who came to pay their respects. Moreover, the number of people at the tombs of emperors was greater than that at other imperial tombs, reaching almost a thousand.

Excluding the workers who came to watch the spectacle, this place was entirely the domain of the old guard and their descendants.

Zhang Xuezhou even spotted Feng Ziqiang and Jin Shixue in the crowd.

Feng Ziqiang is the son of Feng Xiangyu, a representative of the old guard, while Jin Shixue is a master among the old guard and was once injured by the mirror's remains.

Feng Ziqiang looked the same as always, while Jin Shixue looked more tired, unlike the energetic person he was when they first met.

Although they were important figures in the old clan, these two were not the ones presiding over the ceremony; they simply sat in the front and watched.

"Little Feng!"

Zhang Xuezhou drifted closer, but with dozens of people between them, it was difficult for him to force his way in, so he could only call out.

His calling him "Little Feng" came out of nowhere, and Feng Ziqiang didn't expect anyone to call him that. Jin Shixue, however, quickly turned his head to check.

Upon discovering Zhang Xuezhou standing behind him, Jin Shixue's heart skipped a beat, and he pulled Feng Ziqiang up again.

"Quickly, quickly, make way!"

Feng Ziqiang was clearly still getting used to it, but when he was lifted up by Jin Shixue and saw Zhang Xuezhou behind him, his heart skipped a beat.

Zhang Xuezhou is not considered old among committee members, only thirty years old, but the power he controls is precisely tied to the old guard and their descendants.

Feng Ziqiang's father, Feng Xiangyu, had no choice but to smile and cooperate. If Feng Xiangyu and Zhang Xuezhou were to interact as equals, it would be perfectly acceptable for Zhang Xuezhou to address him in this way; it would even be a term of address that would only be used in a more intimate relationship.

Feng Ziqiang felt no sense of humiliation; on the contrary, he felt closer to Zhang Xuezhou, thinking that it would be easier to get along with him in the future.

Overjoyed, he parted the crowded people and quickly ran a few steps before reaching Zhang Xuezhou.

"Committee Member Zhang, what brings you here?" Feng Ziqiang exclaimed happily, "I haven't seen you for quite some time!"

"With you all here handling things, we feel very reassured," Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile. "Just go for it and do your best to make Dongshan the best it can be!"

"Rest assured, our project is being carried out strictly according to the design; there won't be the slightest mistake," Feng Ziqiang assured, patting his chest. "We've not only ensured the construction process is in place, but we've also brought in many volunteers to guarantee that the money is used effectively!"

"It seems like progress is going well," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"The most difficult part, the foundation, has been basically completed. After this project, construction will be much simpler. In another two or three months, we should be able to build a basic structure here!"

Feng Xiangyu pointed to various places in Dongshan.

The Dongshan area is riddled with potholes and the roads are worn down. The noise from the crowds is almost unbearable, but the work is progressing well and everything is steadily improving.

"Are there any adverse situations?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"Without!"

Feng Ziqiang patted his chest and repeatedly vouched for him, but only after Jin Shixue nudged him with his elbow did Feng Ziqiang wince in pain and change his mind.

"The entire project is progressing normally. Only a dozen or so people broke their hands and feet during construction; they've all been taken to the hospital for treatment," Feng Ziqiang said. "This is a normal injury rate for a project!"

"Um!"

Three people are still missing!

For large-scale projects, it is difficult to prevent accidents during construction, and it is impossible to install monitoring systems to supervise every part of the construction site, which includes some casualty indicators.

At the current stage of the project, Feng Ziqiang felt that all the indicators and indices were within normal limits.

If it weren't for the fact that Jin Shixue had pointed out his flaws, Feng Ziqiang would have thought nothing of it and would have chosen to only report the good news.

"Committee Member Zhang, the missing person likely didn't disappear during the foundation laying ceremony," Jin Shixue solemnly stated. "I suspect it occurred during the nighttime celebrations!"

"Oh?"

"The missing persons are not workers," Jin Shixue said. "Those three were all personnel involved in the night fire ritual!"

"Is this the Nightfire Ritual?"

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to the people carrying incense and dancing in front of Emperor Luo Zhong's tomb, which made Jin Shixue quickly nod.

"They said they disappeared in the blink of an eye," Jin Shixue said. "It was probably just the time it takes to change into ceremonial robes. The three of them vanished, leaving only their clothes lying on the ground!"

Feng Ziqiang believes the missing person may have slipped and fallen into the imperial tomb, and could return at any time.

Jin dynasty historians do not see it that simply, yet they also cannot discern any clues within their own understanding.

Lacking any real ability himself, he suddenly encountered Zhang Xuezhou, an exceptionally observant person, and couldn't help but quickly seek his help to see if he could obtain an answer.

"Where did it disappear to?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"It's right there by the barriers around the imperial tomb!"

Jin Shixue pointed in a direction and quickly led the way.

The barrier he was referring to was the one surrounding the tomb of Emperor Luo Zhong.

Before the Luo Li Emperor Cultural Relics Museum is completed, Luo Zhong's imperial tomb will not be directly excavated, but will remain closed to allow for the safe transfer of the cultural relics.

Luo Zhong's imperial mausoleum is empty, which is arguably the most awkward construction among all imperial mausoleums.

However, the Zuo Household was doing everything they were supposed to do in this area, and it didn't seem any different from other areas.

After being led around, Zhang Xuezhou found himself behind the barrier. He saw that lime had been sprinkled where the three people had disappeared, and three sets of clothing remained in the same spot, with a stone weighing more than ten kilograms placed on top of them.

"The barriers in this area are not made of one piece of aluminum, but are insertable barriers; you just need to insert or remove them to enter or exit," Jin Shixue said. "The disadvantage of this type of barrier is that it's easy for someone to choose a specific area to enter, but the advantage is that it has particularly strong wind resistance. Many imperial tombs with strong winds use this type of barrier structure for their isolation panels!"

"Disappeared so quickly?"

Lacking a direction for investigation, Jin historians and others examined the isolation devices at the imperial tombs in an attempt to find the reason for the disappearance of the people.

Zhang Xuezhou then touched the dirt beneath the clothes.

The soil wasn't particularly loose, but it wasn't covered with marble tiles, unlike some tiled paving strips.

He pondered that the purple sword orchid's method of burrowing and hiding was not particularly sophisticated, and felt that it would be too difficult to pull a living person away out of thin air.

Without the level of ground breaking skills of Kong Zhong and others, it would be almost impossible to catch people through ground breaking in a limited area.

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't figure out why the purple gladiolus was attracting people.

"Does the purple gladiolus need to be sacrificed and fed on corpses, like the magnolia tree?"

Compared to the limited research directions of Jin Dynasty historians, Zhang Xuezhou had slightly more ideas, but even those were limited, and his ideas were full of contradictions.

"Has the interior of the imperial tomb been searched?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"I took two men in today and searched the place, but we found nothing," Jin Shixue said.

"Let's go take another look!"

Having found nothing outside the imperial tomb, Zhang Xuezhou had no choice but to focus his search on the interior of the tomb.

"I heard that Committee Member Zuo has been frequently checking on the project's progress these days. Does he know about the disappearance?" Zhang Xuezhou asked casually.

"It's rather unfortunate that things happened this way," Jin Shixue said. "The disappearance occurred after Commissioner Zuo left, and he hasn't come back in the two days since returning to Western Capital City!"

"He's been back in Western Capital City for two days?"

Zhang Xuezhou frowned.

Zhang Xuezhou ran around investigating the situation. He wasn't just running around aimlessly; he relied on his senses to confirm that he hadn't heard any voices inside the Zuo Household villa and that Zuo Jin Zhang Xuezhou wasn't there.

He thought of the three people who had mysteriously disappeared, then pondered the lights that came on in the Zuo Household area at 7:20 p. m., and even more so the time when Zuo Teng's emotions went erratically. He felt that these times were more or less similar.

With a shadow hanging over him, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but be more cautious when exploring the tomb of Luo Zhong.

Not only did he not enter alone, but he also had Jin Shixue and others fetch several sets of leather clothes from the construction site, and put on sun-protective goggles and other items to protect his body from head to toe before choosing to enter the mausoleum.