Transmigration: I Have Storage Space in the Apocalypse
Chapter 189 - 186: Discovering Human-Made Traces [2000+ Votes]

Chapter 189: Chapter 186: Discovering Human-Made Traces [2000+ Votes]

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"Old Chen, Little Sister Jiang isn’t here?" Chen Dalang wiped the sweat from his forehead, seeing that only Xie Jingchen was inside the room and that the door was closed, he immediately guessed, "Asleep?"

"An emergency call?" Xie Jingchen nodded, then seriously counter-questioned.

"No, no. It’s about Jiang Hongrong’s place, something happened." Chen Dalang was anxious, wanting Xie Jingchen to come with him, but then he thought about Little Sister Jiang sleeping and her being heavily pregnant—what if she woke up and got scared not seeing her husband?

"I’ll get straight to the point—Lin Aihong has disappeared."

"Oh?" Xie Jingchen had no fondness for that name, and hearing it was her, he felt settled and indifferently counter-questioned.

"This morning, Little Sister Jiang was supposed to take her to see a doctor, right, she was feverish. But then they ran into you, and seeing that her sister was causing too much of a scene, Little Sister Jiang just took her home and gave her medicine. Before they left, the girl was still feverish, but her temperature had gone down."

At this point, Chen Dalang felt somewhat displeased, yet also helpless. After all, Lin Aifei coming out to apologize at a gathering was actually all Lin Aihong’s doing. If it weren’t for her acting like she was setting her sights on Old Xie in front of Zhang Shanni, none of the following issues would’ve arisen.

Lin Aifei couldn’t possibly feel closer to this younger sister whom she hardly sees once a year over her husband with whom she has lived year in and year out.

Lin Aihong really was brainless, knowing she was sick and with the outside world wrapped in ice and snow, she still dared to leave the military on her own!

"Has the military searched everywhere?" Xie Jingchen frowned, poured a cup of hot tea for him and followed up with the question while quickly putting on his combat uniform.

"Already did. We had just sat down for a short while after dispersing when Jiang Hongrong came looking for us. Now, it’s been over two hours and still no news."

"Eye-witness?"

"Yes. Zhu Yilai’s wife saw her leave, even asking her the way, saying she wanted to leave military premises."

"Entrance and exit log?"

"Yes. When she was leaving, she happened to run into Li Dalang’s wife coming back and bumped into her." Chen Dalang took the hot tea handed to him, gulping down three mouthfuls scaldingly into his stomach, finally feeling a bit warmer, and continued:

"We found Wen Mianhua. She said she saw a young girl going out, but because the girl was bundled up tightly, she did not notice she was sick."

"What time is recorded for her exit?" Xie Jingchen glanced out at the snowflakes outside the window and paused before asking.

"6:43 a.m.!"

Xie Jingchen raised the mechanical watch in his hand, summarizing, "It has been nearly three hours!"

Now the time was sharp at 9:30 a.m.!

Now, not only is it dark outside, but the temperature still hasn’t reached minus ten degrees, this kind of weather could be fatal for a woman with an illness!

And that’s not all, in the wilderness, there are attacks from wild animals and human nature!

Moreover, to the nearest village from military premises, even taking the shortest shortcut, is still seven or eight li away!

If rescue is not timely, then one can only wait to freeze to death or be murdered.

"Old Chen, go call sister-in-law down."

"Okay—"

"No need." Zhang Shanni had been startled awake at the sound of knocking, and upon hearing a familiar male voice, she hadn’t left her room. Only after overhearing the conversation between the two men did she feel it was time to come out. "Brother Chen, Brother Chen, you guys go ahead with your tasks. I’ll wait for you at home."

Zhang Shanni’s last sentence was directed at her own man.

Xie Jingchen nodded solemnly, his large hand firmly clasping her still-warm small hand for a moment before he quickly caught up with Chen Dalang’s pace.

Zhang Shanni tugged at the down cotton jacket she was wearing, sinking into a moment of quiet before she contained her visible emotions.

Xie Jingchen, along with Chen Dalang, went first to gather the Rong Team, as the military perimeter was too extensive.

His authority only allowed him to urgently summon his own military forces.

Due to the emergency situation, Chen Dalang had sent an urgent rescue request to the political department one and a half hours ago. Because it involved a military family member and a sick young girl, the military’s response was swift.

By the time Xie Jingchen joined in, the urgent dispatch had already been handed over to Yan Jinchang.

This way, calling a gathering wasn’t considered a breach of regulations. After all, it was the holiday season, and ordinary military personnel were all on a three-day New Year break. When they suddenly heard an urgent summoning order, everyone in the Third Battalion of the Land Battle Group was baffled.

But the bewilderment was only momentary; those who were well-informed had already picked up on whispers of alarm from the earlier hour of chaos.

The entire Land Battle Group mobilized two battalions, with Xie Jingchen personally leading and commanding the First Company, and the Second Battalion, as the Camp Commander Cao Zhuangrong was out on a mission, was led by his deputy, Chen Dalang.

The mission only mobilized two battalions due to the adverse weather.

Xie Jingchen and Chen Dalang each led their three military Commanders from their respective companies, each in one direction, to conduct a carpet-style search towards three directions of the military’s area.

Fortunately, there was Wen Mianhua who had last seen the rough direction in which the girl had walked, making this rescue mission have a prepared location, and they were assisted by capable hunting dogs.

After walking for about ten minutes, the hunting dogs found the first point of the incident.

However, the snowstorm was too severe, not to mention that one to two hours had already passed; even in ten minutes, snowflakes could bury the original tracks!

Luckily, during this operation, they could employ the hunting dogs from the Rong Team; despite the severe weather and heavy snow, the dogs had natural scent-tracking abilities. Following their instincts along the main road, they arrived at the entrance of a steeply inclined cave.

And by the cave entrance, the hunting dogs were excitedly barking wildly.

Their trained military handler nodded solemnly.

Amidst the swirling snow and howling wind, when they heard Lin Aihong’s weak cries for help from within the mountain ravine, Xie Jingchen finally exhaled a breath of cold air.

From the time he received the mission, one hour and twenty-six minutes had already passed, and Lin Aihong had been trapped in the small cave within the ravine for over two hours.

Without food, without warm clothing, and she was even starting to have a fever again, becoming so delirious that she could only hoarsely and instinctively murmur for help.

It was her hoarse voice that finally allowed them to pinpoint her exact location.

When they found Lin Aihong, Xie Jingchen alertly discovered some artificial traces!

It was too far from the military location; if it were an ordinary person walking there, it would take over an hour to reach that place! And yet, at the first point of the incident, the dogs could distinctly detect her traces of having fallen in the snow.

But for her, a frail woman, to end up in a mountain ravine several kilometers away, it was definitely not something she could have managed to do on her own!

"Boss, we’ve found artificial traces!" Yan Jinchang ordered his subordinates to wrap Lin Aihong in a warm blanket, and the accompanying military doctor immediately came forward to examine her, as a thermometer was already inserted into her mouth.

When moving Lin Aihong, he discovered something on Lin Aihong’s wrist—