bioinnovel Chapter 142 The Mystery of the Locked Room in the Garden?
Chapter 142 The Mystery of the Locked Room in the Garden?
Lanzhi Courtyard, Training Room.
The soft sound of the hatch opening echoed slowly in the quiet space.
A little girl with a light blue ponytail darted out. She practically tiptoed, her face beaming with undisguised smugness, her eyes shining like a little fox that had just stolen a bite of honey—
No, judging from the way she looked, as if she wanted to write "Ask me what happened" on her forehead, she had clearly encountered something good that she could brag about for a whole year.
"I knew it! I really am a genius!"
She raised her chin to herself, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.
"I never learned it before, do I even need to think about why? It must be that Youyou deliberately held back a trick!"
"Hmph, this time I'll show her what's what!"
The girl was clearly in an exceptionally good mood, walking with a bouncy rhythm, her twin ponytails swinging behind her, each step feeling like she was walking on clouds.
Her expression clearly indicated that she had encountered something incredibly wonderful, and the look on her face practically proclaimed that she wanted to share this joy with someone immediately, that she couldn't wait even a moment longer than a second.
She looked around the training room; all the other battle pods were empty, not a soul in sight.
Upon seeing this, the smile on her face immediately brightened even more.
If no one is here, it means everyone is likely gathered in the living room, eagerly awaiting her appearance.
"Hmph—Hmph—Hmph~"
She hummed a little tune, her voice brimming with barely suppressed smugness, her tail practically wagging in the air.
She had waited too long for this day.
So long ago, she almost forgot what it felt like to show off last time.
Ever since Xue Youyou arrived, her presence has become increasingly faint, like a seashell forgotten on the beach when the tide goes out. The tide has taken away all attention, leaving her all alone.
She was transformed from a once-in-a-lifetime genius into an insignificant nobody on the roadside, her glory faded, and she almost forgot how dazzling she once was.
This time—
I will return like a storm!
The girl solemnly made this declaration in her heart, each word resounding with conviction.
Then she took a deep breath and, like an actor about to go on stage, lifted the curtain, pushing open the door from the training room to the living room with barely concealed excitement.
"Squeak—"
The living room light illuminated the world, and what came into view were familiar faces: one, two, three... six plus four plus one, a total of eleven people, but one person she most wanted to see was missing.
For her, it was like being doused with half a bottle of Doulishan spring water.
Knock—! What a disappointment!
Where did they go?
Disappointment was almost visibly written on her face, like a crumpled candy wrapper that couldn't be smoothed out no matter what. If she couldn't immediately put on a grand show in front of Xue Youyou—
Onega—! Watashi—!
However, before she could completely swallow her disappointment, the girl keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Everyone was visibly downcast, as if their mental support had been ripped out. In particular, Lu Yuan, Lu Yutang, Cui Yelan, Su Wanrou, and Luo Yan wore undisguised expressions of worry, their brows furrowed with an intense, almost palpable, sorrow.
What's going on?!
A bad feeling rose in the girl's heart.
She had only trained in the virtual space for a day and a night, which was just a day and a night of seclusion for her, and indeed only a day and a night had passed in the real world. Could something special have happened during this time?
What made her heart clench even more was that—in this scene before her, only Xue Youyou was missing. The missing piece of the puzzle was precisely the focal point of all the sorrow. It was hard not to associate this sorrow that enveloped everyone with Xue Youyou.
Everyone in the living room naturally noticed Meng Yanqing, who had just finished her special training. Her appearance drew everyone's attention to her.
Before she could speak, Lu Yutang, whose eyes met hers first, explained in a deep voice, "Youyou... she seems to have disappeared."
Upon hearing this, Meng Yanqing froze for several seconds, her mind blank as if it had crashed and restarted, before stammering, "It seems... she's missing?"
Lu Yutang nodded, looking worried, and said, "Well... strictly speaking, no one has seen her since the early hours of the day before yesterday."
"We have carefully compared the timelines, and Aunt Lu Yuan should be the last person to see Xue Youyou."
Meng Yanqing immediately turned her inquiring gaze to Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan sighed softly and had no choice but to repeat the information she already knew: "At that time, you were all training or resting, and I was the only one in the living room. Xue Youyou came out of the training room, greeted me, and then left. It was around 11 p.m.
Meng Yanqing nodded silently.
The timeline matches. Xue Youyou ran away after blowing up the virtual space. She specifically checked the time at the time, and it was indeed around 11 p.m.
"And then what?" Her voice unconsciously quickened.
"And then... she never came back."
Lu Yuan's voice deepened as she added, "To be more precise, from that moment until now, no one has seen her again. No news, no trace, no one has received any contact from her."
Meng Yanqing subconsciously checked the time again.
Now, it is eight o'clock in the morning of the third day since the night Xue Youyou disappeared.
In other words, the round of 9 to 16 qualifying matches on the second day have all been completed, and in a few hours, the quarterfinals on the third day will officially begin.
Unfortunately, Xue Youyouren has not yet appeared at this critical juncture.
This can no longer be explained by common sense.
After all, in everyone's mind, Xue Youyou was a bit eccentric and occasionally did things her own way, but she was definitely not the kind of person who would disappear on purpose and make people worry.
That's why her absence is all the more unsettling.
No wonder Lu Yuan and the others unanimously concluded that Xue Youyou had truly disappeared.
Meng Yanqing forced herself to calm down, took a deep breath, and continued to press, "Did she say what she was going to do at the end?"
Lu Yuan shook her head: "No. She just greeted me normally with a 'good evening'... Her voice and expression were normal, there was nothing unusual about it."
She paused for a moment, then added, "I've tried calling them all, but I couldn't get through to any of them."
"In short, although we all have great faith in her abilities and she should be in little danger, this matter cannot be delayed, so we finally decided to report it to the Alliance."
"The disappearance of a contestant is no small matter, especially since she is a star player. The league has already started an investigation and sent someone over."
Meng Yanqing remained silent for a moment, her lips moved slightly, and her voice tightened slightly: "Not even a single clue?"
Lu Yuan said, "It's not that there's none at all, but from the current perspective, this discovery probably doesn't count as a decent clue."
"There are six completely absorbed ice-type secret medicines on the ground in the courtyard garden, and a layer of frost around them. It looks like Xue Youyou used them there, and that's all."
"It's like he vanished into thin air—that's the final conclusion from the professional investigators sent by the Alliance."
"After repeated confirmation by pets skilled in tracking and reproducing, combined with the investigators' judgment, all of Xue Youyou's behavioral traces remained in the garden and did not lead anywhere else."
"What is this? It vanished into thin air?" Meng Yanqing finally couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"Right? We all felt chills after hearing it."
Lu Yuan smiled bitterly, her smile devoid of any genuine joy: "Even the investigators from the Alliance themselves commented that this is simply an unprecedented and bizarre case."
Meng Yanqing was speechless for a moment.
In this world of beast taming, thanks to the various special abilities of the pets that assist in investigations—some tracking scents, some reproducing images, and some sensing spatial fluctuations—there are virtually no cases that cannot be solved.
To commit the perfect crime is incredibly difficult, requiring the simultaneous deception of over a dozen different types of perception-type pets.
Not to mention this bizarre situation where there's not even a shred of clue.
She quickly went through Lu Yuan's words in her mind, her gaze sweeping over everyone present with a serious expression, and concluded: "Apart from the garden, no traces of related behavior could be detected anywhere else. In other words—this is a case of a missing person in a locked room in the garden?"