PD -Chapter 178 The Strange Mountain Village

I was stunned for a moment. With no other choice, I climbed into the driver’s seat. Only then did Tang Shanshan toss me the car keys.

“From now on, don’t even think about ditching me again! If there’s a next time, I really will break your legs!” Tang Shanshan puffed out her cheeks and scolded me angrily. Before I knew it, her hand was reaching over again, ready to twist my ear.

I quickly dodged and surrendered.

“Alright, alright. From now on you’re the gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Wherever I go, you’ll stick right along with me. I won’t leave you behind again, okay?”

“That’s more like it!” Tang Shanshan rolled her eyes at me, finally calming down a little.

But less than half a minute later, she seemed to realize there was something wrong with what I’d said.

As a result, just after I started the car, my ear was caught in her grip again.

“What did you mean by that just now? You’re the gum! Who wants to stick to you anyway?”

I immediately begged for mercy.

“My lady, I was wrong. You’re my honored lady, alright? From now on, I’m your humble maidservant. Wherever you want to go, that’s where we’ll go.”

“Hmph! What kind of maidservant is as ugly as you?”

After fooling around for a while, peace finally returned to the car.

I drove out of the underground garage, but suddenly found myself thinking about Liu Xiaopeng again.

I pulled the car over, took out my phone, and opened my contacts. After hesitating for a moment, however, I put the phone back down and sighed quietly.

“If you want to call him, then call him,” Tang Shanshan said, glancing at me.

I sighed, started the car again, and continued driving.

“He wants some time alone. I’ll let him have it for now. We can talk again after a while.”

“You men are so dramatic,” Tang Shanshan said with another eye roll. Then she reclined her seat and closed her eyes to rest.

Without Liu Xiaopeng taking turns at the wheel, driving alone was genuinely exhausting.

By around two in the morning, I couldn’t keep going any longer. Left with no choice, I exited the highway somewhere in Hubei Province and found a hotel to spend the night.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we got back on the road.

Since we were already in Hubei, we weren’t far from the Shennongjia Forest Region.

Before lunchtime, we finally entered the forest area. After another hour of driving along winding mountain roads, we arrived at the location marked on the map as Longxiang Village.

Calling it a village wasn’t entirely accurate.

Most of the houses were built along the mountain road, and nearly every household seemed to be running some kind of business. Small convenience stores and farmhouse-style restaurants with large communal stoves were by far the most common.

On the mountainside in the distance were several terraced fields.

However, they appeared to have been abandoned for a very long time. It seemed that nobody in the village made a living from farming anymore.

That struck me as odd.

I had visited quite a few prosperous villages before.

Normally, even when a village developed other industries that brought in substantial income, farmland remained the foundation for people who had grown up there. Even if farming was no longer their primary source of income, many villages still kept some cultivated land to supply their own grain.

But looking across Longxiang Village, it resembled an urban village swallowed by a large city.

The sight left me feeling deeply puzzled.

Earlier, I’d asked the Bureau 507 agents to investigate the missing couple’s spending records. Their last recorded credit card transaction had been at a small gas station near the entrance to Longxiang Village.

After some thought, I drove straight there.

The gas station was tiny, with only a single pump.

The attendant was a young woman who seemed exceptionally friendly. Her Mandarin was excellent. After taking my payment, she efficiently opened the fuel cap and started filling the tank, even giving me several complimentary gifts.

I shot Tang Shanshan a look, signaling for her to gather some information.

Tang Shanshan’s cute appearance made her seem harmless and approachable. She was far better suited for casual conversation than a grown man like me.

As expected, the two young women quickly hit it off.

The area was fairly remote, and the attendant wasn’t particularly busy, so she had plenty of time to chat with Tang Shanshan about local food and scenic attractions in Shennongjia.

Her name was Zhenzhen.

She had a bright, outgoing personality, probably helped by the nature of her job. After all, gas station attendants spent much of their time talking with travelers.

After quite a while, Tang Shanshan finally steered the conversation toward the topic we actually cared about.

She took out a photograph I’d given her from the case files.

The picture showed the very couple who had been brutally murdered in my dream.

The young attendant accepted the photograph and narrowed her eyes as she studied it carefully for a few seconds.

Just as she was about to speak, a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties walked over from behind the fuel pump.

He was pale and chubby, not looking much like a typical villager.

Expressionless, he stepped behind Zhenzhen, took the photograph from her hand, glanced at it once, and returned it to Tang Shanshan.

“I’ve been handling most of the refueling these past few days,” the man said. “I don’t really remember these two.”

As he spoke, he suddenly broke into a smile, his expression turning warm in an instant.

Yet when I looked at that smile, I felt an indescribable sense of unease.

The warmth seemed to float only on the surface of his skin, as though he had abruptly put on a human mask.

I stepped out of the car with a smile, took back the photographs, and said politely, “Oh, that’s alright. We were just asking casually.”

The man looked at me and frowned slightly.

His gaze moved back and forth between Tang Shanshan and me for several seconds before he finally asked,

“You’re looking for them… why?”

“Oh, they’re friends of ours. We originally planned to go on a self-driving trip together, but work delayed us for a few days. We’re trying to catch up with them and surprise them,” I replied with a smile.

The man nodded silently.

Then, suddenly, he put on a look of realization.

“Oh, right, Zhenzhen. I remember now.”

Turning toward her, he asked, “The night before last, wasn’t there a young married couple who came here for gas? They said one of their tires seemed to be leaking air and asked us to take a look.”

“That’s right, Uncle!” Zhenzhen immediately nodded. “I was just about to mention that. They asked Uncle to patch the tire, and he didn’t even charge them for it. He said it was just a favor.”

“And then?” Tang Shanshan asked at once.

Zhenzhen thought for a moment.

“After the tire was fixed, they said they wanted to get onto the national highway. Uncle pointed them toward a shortcut, and then they left.”

I frowned.

The vehicle GPS data I’d obtained earlier did show their travel route. However, once they reached Longxiang Village, the mountainous terrain, incomplete maps, and poor signal reception had all become problems.

The signal had ultimately disappeared at a point somewhere near Longxiang Village.

As for the exact location, there was no detailed route information.

Now that we finally had a lead regarding the couple’s whereabouts, I asked Zhenzhen to tell me exactly which road they had taken.

She pointed toward the back of the gas station.

“Follow the mountain road downhill. At the fork near the foot of the mountain, take the northern path.”

“That road is narrower,” she added, “but it’s more than half an hour faster than taking the main road.”

I thought for a moment, thanked her, and then got back into the car with Tang Shanshan.

We were about to follow that route and find out exactly what had happened.