Cave Refuge-Chapter 263 - 259: Got Hooked_1
They had searched this place no less than eight or ten times, so they had anticipated this fruitless search and didn’t feel disheartened.
However, the fact that Robinson William could call them, bring reinforcements and summon the Patrol Office indicated that there must be a new discovery; he wouldn’t have bothered contacting them if he could have handled it himself.
This area was home to luxury villas with no other communities nearby, which allowed for an independent underground pipe network. Therefore, the underground pipe network here was not as complicated and labyrinthine as the one in the City Center.
At this moment, Dong Tianyu (Zachary) had used his Divine Sense to lock on to the location of the Bug Nest underground. When he scanned the entire underground pipe network, he was shocked to find dozens of Bug Nests. This explained why all the survivors living here inexplicably vanished overnight.
But Zachary was at a loss as to why, upon their arrival, the Bugs Clan did not attempt to attack them but instead seemingly sensed danger and hid as soon as they neared.
If these bugs did not attack humans, why did the survivors initially living here disappear?
And if they did attack, why did they burrow underground so swiftly upon detecting their approach?
Zachary observed each of the members present meticulously, figuring out the distinction between them and the missing survivors.
Seeing Zachary scrutinizing the members behind him, the old Zhao from the Patrol Office was certain this wasn’t a bluff, implying that Zachary had noticed something noteworthy.
"Captain Zhao, I want to ask, among the survivors who used to live here, were all of them ordinary people with no Martial Artists amongst them?"
Upon hearing Zachary’s query, Captain Zhao instantly began to ruminate over the missing survivors’ profiles and found that Zachary was correct: all the missing survivors were indeed ordinary people.
One thing’s for sure, Zachary asking this indicated that he probably discovered a clue.
"Do we have any ordinary people who committed grave offenses...?"
Though Zachary did not finish his sentence, everyone present instantly grasped what he was implying.
Robinson William and his team, being seasoned veterans, were unfazed by the idea of using lawbreakers as bait.
The Patrol Office, on the other hand, found this method somewhat cruel. Though they were unsure of how the survivors disappeared, the fact that Zachary chose to use prisoners over Patrol Office associates as bait showed that the position was extremely dangerous. It probably wasn’t humans posing the threat, but something else entirely.
Though such tactics were commonplace during these chaotic times, neither Robinson William and his team nor Old Zhao’s Patrol Office team would have openly condoned it. Especially given the current pressure to solve the case coupled with the usual disappearance of survivors.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the survivors living here were mostly individuals of higher status, leading to a large number of missing people at once, there wouldn’t have been such immense pressure from the authorities to form a joint investigation team.
Currently, the authorities knew well. For instance, in the case of Old Mian before the catastrophe, the disappearance of an ordinary person wasn’t given much heed, but if Warren George from Old Zhao’s family disappeared, the entire area would be turned upside down until Warren George was safely recovered.
Thus, despite its demands to either find the missing people alive or their bodies, the authorities also placed a time limit to solve the case.
Old Zhao hesitated for quite a while but finally asked Zachary, "What are the requirements for the bait?"
"Ordinary people! Alive!"
When Old Zhao heard Zachary’s conditions, he gave a sigh of relief. If these were the only requirements, the task would be much simpler.
Old Zhao picked up his radio, walked some distance, and spoke quietly for a while before returning, visibly relieved.
Returning, Old Zhao asked Zachary casually, "The bait will arrive shortly - do you have any information we can use to prepare a plan in advance?"
Upon hearing this, Zachary glanced at Robinson William, who was currently expressionless.
Seeing Robinson’s expression, Zachary told Old Zhao firmly, "In truth, I don’t have any specific clues concerning this case but I encountered a strange incident today. As I felt the repercussions of this incident could be quite severe, I contacted Robinson.
The incident I encountered seemed somewhat like the missing survivors’ case, and that’s why Robinson decided to bring me to the scene."
Watching Zachary share without getting to the point, Old Zhao did not rush him but patiently waited for him to continue.
Dong Tianyu looked at Old Zhao showing no signs of taking his bait, cursing inwardly about the old fox. He too didn’t budge and continued to remain silent about his tale.
Seeing Dong Tianyu fall silent, Zhao sneered and thought of him as a sly fox. He also chose not to ask any further and patiently waited for the fish bait that was to arrive.
At this moment, whether it was the members of the special forces team behind Robinson William or the Patrol Office members behind Old Zhao, the anticipation and eagerness to hear more from Dong Tianyu was visible on their faces.
However, both Robinson William and Old Zhao held their tranquility. William knew what Zachary was going to say next and Old Zhao knew that the bait was about to be delivered and soon, Dong Tianyu, despite his aloofness, would have to respond to the situation.
The atmosphere at the scene fell silent. Luckily, the Patrol Office was quick to deliver the bait. They didn’t have to wait long before an unconscious bait was brought forth.
Dong Tianyu scanned the bait using his Divine Sense and confirmed that it was an ordinary person who was still alive. As to why the bait was currently unconscious, he was disinterested to know any further.
Old Zhao accepted the unconscious bait from the member of the Patrol Office who had brought it. He held it near Dong Tianyu and asked, "Will this guy do?"
"Yes, give him to me." After saying that, Dong Tianyu took the bait from Zhao. In the presence of several martial artists including the bait and Dong Tianyu, no one cared as Dong Tianyu effortlessly carried the bait who was over two hundred pounds in weight with one hand.
Everyone looked puzzled as Dong Tianyu casually tossed the bait onto a nearby street and casually strolled back to them.
Dong Tianyu didn’t explain. Instead, he instructed everyone to slowly back away in their cars, while he kept his divine sense enveloped around the bait.
As soon as his Divine Sense detected bugs approaching the bait, Dong Tianyu immediately gave the order to stop the cars. Instantly, everyone disembarked.
Just as Old Zhao was about to question what was going on, Robinson William switched on his flashlight and pointed it at the bait. They were far from the bait in terms of distance.
However, there was no obstruction between them and everyone being a martial artist had a sense of extraordinary sharpness to their vision which was far beyond ordinary people.
As Robinson William trained his flashlight at the bait, everyone involuntarily turned to look.
They now saw the dark bugs completely enveloping the bait, and the unconscious bait was lying still on the ground with no reaction.
The dark bugs under the flashlight slowly changed color, becoming seemingly transparent. If one didn’t observe carefully, it would be hard to notice a layer of bugs on the almost transparent bait.
Outside of Robinson William, who was prepared at the prompt of Dong Tianyu, everyone else looked shocked by this scene. They all remained silent in a seemingly unspoken agreement.
Everyone silently watched as the bugs slowly consumed the bait until it disappeared from sight.
Those who had searched inside the bug nest multiple times felt instant fear and their expressions abruptly changed.
At this moment, Dong Tianyu spoke up: "According to my observations and considering that you guys have also surveyed this area several times, I suspect that these bugs deliberately avoid martial artists. They won’t appear where martial artists are present."
Hearing Dong Tianyu’s words and recalling their previous solo explorations where they hadn’t been attacked, everyone at the scene let out a sigh of relief.
Old Zhao was curious since Dong Tianyu was also a martial artist and hence should not encounter these bugs, then how Dong Tianyu found out about these bugs.
Though curious, Old Zhao knew his priorities and decided not to probe further into the matter at this time. Instead, he immediately picked up the phone and reported in detail what he had just seen.
The one who received the call initially believed that Old Zhao had killed a bait and fabricated some ludicrous story due to the pressure. However, after Old Zhao’s repeated assurances and suggested demonstration with fresh bait, his superior officer realized that if what his subordinate was saying was true, then the situation was quite serious.
Not to mention, if ordinary survivors found out that bugs don’t attack martial artists, they would desperately want to become martial artists. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Becoming a martial artist requires the consumption of a lot of food. Everyone was well aware of the current situation in Pengcheng; only mushrooms and fish could be massively grown and raised.
However, mushrooms and fish fall short as compared to staple food and red meat in terms of resisting hunger. Let alone all survivors in Pengcheng becoming martial artists, even if only one-third of them became martial artists, the current food production in Pengcheng would not be able to keep up with the daily consumption of martial artists.
And this was just considering the amount of food a martial artist would need to minimally maintain cultivation.
