Chapter 54 Mysterious Disappearance
The policeman’s surname is Gao. He has ten years of experience in grassroots case handling. He is an old policeman and has strong observation and analytical skills.

Due to professional reasons, when he looked at Zhang Changsheng, he instinctively observed him carefully, trying to infer something from his micro-expressions.

There was a reason why he asked this. This afternoon, staff at the 7 Days Hotel called the police and found six people's ID cards and mobile phones in the guest room, which were packed in the same bag.

At 2 o'clock this afternoon, which was past the latest check-out time, the staff called and found that their phones were turned off. After checking the surveillance footage, they found that they had left the hotel one after another in the second half of the night and had not returned since.

The police station immediately retrieved nearby surveillance footage and noticed that the six of them left the hotel in the middle of the night and entered the blind spot of the surveillance video. Judging from the direction they walked, they went into the mountains.

Judging from the surveillance cameras around the commercial district, these people had not been seen since the time they disappeared until the hotel called the police.

The police immediately retrieved the identity information of these six people and discovered that they all had the nature of a gang organization. All of them had been in detention centers. They were either stealing, robbing, or engaging in gang activities.

They are related to the debt collectors of online loans and are involved in many murders, but there is not enough evidence.

But why did they come here from thousands of kilometers away? Are they here to collect debts?
There was another thing. Ouyang Xue told him to help look after Zhang Changsheng. She said that a few thugs wanted to cause trouble in the Taoist temple and she happened to see them and taught them a lesson. If this group of people wanted to cause trouble again, she would teach them a lesson.

The people who suddenly lost contact were the ones who were taught a lesson by Ouyang Xue.

Therefore, based on this incident, Officer Gao's first instinct was that this group of people was most likely targeting Zhang Changsheng.

It was a bit strange to see that Zhang Changsheng was intact and showed no signs of having been beaten, and the Taoist temple was not damaged. Could it be that this group of people did not come to the Taoist temple? Or did Zhang Changsheng deal with them?

Zhang Changsheng asked, "Movement? What do you mean?"

"If there's a theft or someone breaks in, you're Officer Ouyang's friend, and she asked us to take good care of you. If anything happens, feel free to contact us." Officer Gao gave a kind reminder.

None of these people are good people. If they came in the middle of the night to attack Zhang Changsheng, and this place is so remote, no one would know if he was beaten to death.

"Thank you. This is an important Taoist place. There are gods above our heads. Most people don't have the courage to do this." Zhang Changsheng replied calmly.

Officer Gao didn't notice anything unusual about Zhang Changsheng. After looking around, he left. Before leaving, he said that it would be better to install cameras here so that it would be safer.

Zhang Changsheng said that he was planning to do so and thanked him for his reminder.

Two policemen walked out of the Taoist temple and looked at the surrounding mountains, which were rolling and undulating. If there were a few people hiding inside, it would be very difficult to find them.

"Lao Gao, where do you think these people went? Going into the mountains in the middle of the night, what were they trying to do?"

"People like this will only do something beneficial. They must have something important to tell them. Otherwise, why would they travel thousands of kilometers to come here and travel in the middle of the night? I won't believe it even if you kill me." Police Officer Gao said.

"Could it be that he got lost after entering the mountain?"

"It shouldn't be, he's not a child." "Then I can't figure it out. Did he drink too much and get hot-headed, so he ran to the mountains to raise mosquitoes? Besides, what is the relationship between that Taoist priest and Ouyang Xue? He also has a daughter. Could she be Ouyang Xue's?" the other party joked.

"Don't talk nonsense. Ouyang Xue has such high standards, how could she be interested in a Taoist priest? Maybe he is a distant relative. Let's go and report the situation to the higher-ups and see how they handle it. Maybe this is our chance to make a contribution."

"Come on, if there's no major case, I'll just pray for the good fortune. The last murder case was so bizarre that Ouyang Xue was helpless. Now that the case has been taken over by the people from the Gou Chen Bureau, it will most likely remain an unsolved case. Do you think there are really ghosts and gods in this world?"

Police Officer Gao stopped and warned, "Don't say anything you shouldn't."

"I know, I wasn't talking to you. I just said a few more words. When I think about that scene now, I feel terrified."

Police Officer Gao said, "The higher-ups said this case is beyond the scope of general criminal investigation. We don't have enough authority. Don't think too much. Just do our job well."

"Speaking of this, I heard that the owner of the farm house, Lao Wang, has been hanging around outside the store at night these days. Instead of going home, he sleeps in his van. He said that this is how he can find the murderer. Don't you think it's ridiculous?" The policeman shook his head.

After the two returned to the police station, they immediately reported all the information they had collected to their superiors. The behavior of these people was indeed abnormal. They left behind their mobile phones, ID cards and wallets and sneaked away in the middle of the night. Most people would not do such a thing. There was only one possibility that they were plotting to do something unspeakable and were afraid that someone would leak the information, so they did this.

After receiving the report, the superior made a comprehensive analysis and decided to transfer a police dog from the criminal investigation team to search for these people.

However, that was also the next morning.

When the police dog arrived, it first smelled the wallets and mobile phones left by several people, tracking them by smell.

Sure enough, the police dog came out of the commercial area and chased all the way to the foot of the mountain. However, when it approached the bluestone steps at the foot of Xilongguan Mountain, it stopped, wandered around, and kept barking.

This made the police officers who were tracking the dog feel strange. They wondered why the police dog was so scared when it was fine just now.

The police dog found this place by following the smell of these people, which means they had been here before, but the smell is gone now. There are two possibilities. One is that they left in a car, and the second is that they used some special means to cover up the smell on their bodies.

The police let the police dogs search the surroundings, but did not find their scent, only on the bluestone steps leading to Xilong Temple.

But they had already investigated before and found out that they had never been to Xilong Temple.

The police formed a search team and searched the mountain for a whole day but did not find any trace of them. They also contacted their relatives and friends by phone but there was no news of them.

More than 24 hours after they lost contact, the police confirmed they were missing and opened a case for investigation.

The news of the disappearance of six tourists spread in the scenic area, and the people were in a panic. A few days ago, someone was eaten to the point of only bones in his residence, and now several tourists are missing at the same time. Was it taken away by some dirty creature, eaten to the point of only bones, and thrown into a cave?
The people in Xilong Temple were in panic, but Zhang Changsheng and Niu Niu in the Taoist temple were not affected at all and lived every day as usual.

In the middle of the night, Zhang Changsheng, who was practicing, suddenly opened his eyes.

(End of this chapter)