Chapter 300
The group searched the entire mountain but could not find any trace of the children. Only then did they truly panic and immediately contacted the school to report it to the police.
Although this spring outing was in a remote area, it wasn't without nearby residents.
Because of the beautiful scenery, schools had often come here in previous years, and nothing like this had ever happened before.
It was a place you could see from one glance to the other—where could the children possibly hide?
There was only one possibility: they had been taken away.
The children were so young; it was impossible for them to have left on their own, and there were no vehicles coming or going here either.
Si Nian was beside herself with anxiety. She instinctively glanced at Teacher Xu and saw that she, like everyone else, wore an expression of deep worry.
The fourth grade had lost the most children, and several teachers were frantic.
Her reaction wasn't particularly strange.
But Si Nian couldn't shake the feeling that this incident had something to do with Teacher Xu.
Right now, she only hoped that Second Child would be safe and sound!
When Eldest Child heard that his younger brother and Jiang Jiu were both missing, his face also changed color.
The group went door to door, asking and searching.
Seeing his expression grow increasingly grim, everyone hurried to comfort him: "It's okay, Zhou Zedong, maybe your brother just got lost."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure nothing bad has happened."
"Uncles, aunties, have you seen two children about this tall come by here?"
Everyone shook their heads, saying they hadn't seen them: "No, we haven't. Not many people usually come around here. If we had seen any children, we would definitely have told you."
"What happened? What's going on?"
Seeing such a large group searching, concerned locals also gathered around.
Zhou Zedong's eyes were panicked, his usual composure gone.
He instinctively went to find Si Nian, only to see her clutching her chest, her face pale.
He immediately ran over to support her: "Mom, Mom, what's wrong?"
Si Nian tried to calm her racing heart, but her voice trembled: "I-I'm fine."
She was terrified. After Second Child's disappearance, Si Nian had racked her brains trying to remember if there was any such plot in the book.
After all, Second Child was a character who survived until the later stages of the story; logically, nothing should happen to him.
But she was also afraid that the butterfly effect caused by her transmigrating into the book and changing the plot might have harmed him.
Now, after mentally reviewing all the plotlines, she found no mention of such an event happening.
How could Si Nian not be afraid?
She had also wondered if Teacher Xu was targeting her, but if that were the case, why were so many fourth graders missing too?
For a moment, Si Nian was utterly perplexed.
Seeing her distressed expression, everyone came over to comfort her, but Si Nian couldn't take it in.
Her mind was completely blank.
She couldn't hear what Eldest Child was saying either.
Like a mother who had truly lost her child, she was plunged into boundless panic.
She looked up, watching everyone frantically describing the missing children's appearances.
Seeing people shake their heads one after another, a sudden thought flashed through her mind.
She hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "If you haven't seen any children, then have you seen any vehicles? Any vehicles besides our buses?"
With so many of their buses coming up today, someone must have noticed.
The others, realizing something, also changed their expressions.
Sure enough, someone soon spoke up: "Yes, there was a white van, old and beat-up. A man even came to my house to buy cigarettes and soda."
Meanwhile.
A dilapidated van had been rattling along for who knows how long.
The two men in the front seats relaxed their tense expressions, smoking and laughing: "So worth it! That woman is really bold! Got us such good 'merchandise'!"
"No kidding! How much are we gonna make from this trip!"
"I heard these kids are all top students! We'll definitely get a good price for them!"
"That one girl is really pretty, gotta say!"
The two young men were happily sharing their joy when a puzzled voice interrupted them: "Uncle, where are we going?"
The driver was so startled he jerked, slamming on the brakes.
The two men whipped their heads around to see two grimy little heads poking up from the back of the van.
The four of them stared at each other for a moment.
"Ahhhh!!!"
"Ahhhh!!!"
Both sides screamed simultaneously.
"Shut up! What are you yelling for?" the two men snapped, embarrassed and angry.
"Uncle, you screamed first!" Zhou Zehan said aggrievedly.
The two men: "..."
Jiang Jiu looked at their classmates sleeping sprawled out in the back. He asked confusedly, "Uncles, are you teachers? Are we going home now?"
The two men were stunned.
They hadn't even processed how two extra kids had gotten into the back of the van.
Then they heard this question.
They exchanged a glance.
Quickly, they collected themselves and said, "Yes, why aren't you two on your own bus?"
"Yeah, why aren't we on our own bus?" Jiang Jiu shot back.
The men were speechless: How the hell should we know?
Zhou Zehan smacked his forehead: "Ah! We were playing hide-and-seek! Haven't Xiao Liu and the others found us yet?"
Jiang Jiu wrinkled his nose: "Xiao Liu is so dumb! It's been so long!"
The two boys hadn't even realized they were sitting in a kidnapper's van.
They even started complaining.
The two kidnappers' mouths twitched.
They had originally planned to quietly deliver the children to their destination.
Who would have thought there'd be two extra.
And they looked so young, probably only seven or eight years old.
Fortunately, they seemed pretty clueless and hadn't even noticed anything was wrong.
The two men immediately relaxed and smiled, saying, "The game's over. We'll take you back, but we need to drop the other classmates off first."
Jiang Jiu and Zhou Zehan exchanged a look, then immediately smiled: "Thank you, teachers. You're pretty nice."
The two men: "..."
The two kids climbed to the front. Seeing the unfamiliar surroundings and the children sleeping like logs, they were still a bit bewildered.
Zhou Zehan's attention was soon diverted by the soda bottles placed up front. His eyes lit up as he pointed at them: "Teacher, I'm really thirsty."
Zhou Zehan had drunk soda twice before. It was sweet and fizzy, really tasty.
The man frowned, fished out a bottle of water, and handed it to him.
Anyway, once they were delivered, it'd be over.
They didn't take these two kids seriously.
Right now, they also didn't want the kids making a fuss.
Waking the other children would be troublesome.
Zhou Zehan glanced at it and shook his head: "I don't want to drink that. I want that one." He pointed at the soda bottles in front.
The man's mouth twitched again and handed him one.
"Don't drink too much. There's no place for you to pee," the man said, frowning as he watched him gulp it down.
Zhou Zehan drank half and handed it to Jiang Jiu.
The two men frowned again.
This kid, dumb as he might be, was quite considerate.
The two children drank their soda and started chattering away again.
After exhausting all topics and seeing they still hadn't arrived, they got bored.
"Teacher, why is it almost dark and we're still not there? Do they live that far away?" Zhou Zehan complained.
The man's eyes tightened. He exchanged a glance with the man in the passenger seat, a flicker of ruthlessness rising in them, when he heard the boy add, "I haven't finished my homework yet. It's due tomorrow."
"I haven't finished mine either. If I don't finish it, Grandma will start nagging again."
After muttering to themselves, the two kids actually pulled out their homework books and started working on their assignments.
The two men who were about to take action: "......"
"Teacher, teacher, do you know how many people there were in total when Tang Monk and his disciples journeyed to the West to fetch the scriptures?"
The two men were taken aback for a moment, seeing Zhou Zehan blinking his big eyes at them.
Being called 'teacher' by a child for the first time, and under the gaze of his admiring eyes, the man in the passenger seat coughed, feeling a bit smug all of a sudden: "Isn't that simple? Of course, it's four people?"
Zhou Zehan paused, then lowered his head and continued writing.
(Countdown: Four days. Asking for a wave of 'For-the-Love' support. Minors, please don't spend money. I'm already very happy with just 'For-the-Love' support. Thank you for your support, my dear readers~)