Chapter 45: Suspicions

"Hmm? How come there's nothing?"

After a short while, as Ji Chang commanded the wasps to land on the wall by the entrance of the small courtyard, Huang Mang stared at the grass beyond the wall and couldn't help but voice his confusion.

Ji Chang furrowed his brows.

Not only had they not come across the figures of Wang Lingling and Gao Xiang all along the way, but now, as they landed on the wall and scanned the surrounding grass, there was no trace of Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling to be found.

Based on the information Ji Chang had deduced from Chen Lingxue's account of when Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling had left, he believed that even with the wasps' help, they wouldn't have been able to catch up to Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling's pace.

However, not only had they failed to catch up, but they also couldn't find any trace of them.

"Ji-ge, could they have already entered the thickets? Or perhaps Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling weren't hiding in this thicket in the first place?"

Seeing no sign of Wang Lingling, Huang Mang looked at Ji Chang with growing anxiety.

"Then let's go check over there!"

Ji Chang nodded and, after confirming the absence of the rooster's presence, guided the wasps to fly down from the wall and search through the thicket.

...

After more than ten minutes of combing the area around the small courtyard, flying close to the tips of the grass, and even searching through the thicket beyond Zhou Jun Tang's uncle's courtyard, Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling were still nowhere to be seen.

During this time, Huang Mang had been calling out Wang Lingling's name without rest.

But, there was still no sign of the two.

"This is just too weird! Where could they have gone?"

Huang Mang's voice was hoarse as he pondered aloud, "Ji-ge, could we have been looking in the wrong direction? Maybe they were hiding in the thicket to the west of the courtyard?"

Hearing Huang Mang's words, Ji Chang contemplated them.

He thought Huang Mang might have a point, considering that they had searched for so long and hadn't caught sight of the pair.

If it were due to visual obstruction that they couldn't see Wang Lingling, that could be understood.

However, based on Chen Lingxue's description, Gao Xiang had the extraordinary ability to stretch his body, and after stretching, he became as tall as a writing desk.

Though slender, a height of over half a meter should have been easily noticeable.

Just as Ji Chang was preparing to guide the wasps to change direction and search the thicket to the west of the courtyard, he suddenly noticed a buzzing sound coming from the side of the road!

Ji Chang was familiar with this sound; it was the sound of flies in flight.

Previously, flying close to the grass tips and being solely focused on searching, Ji Chang hadn't paid attention to the gathering of flies.

But now, in order to reach the thicket to the west of the courtyard more swiftly, Ji Chang had chosen to fly over the road.

After all, the grass in the thicket varied in height, some tall and some low, which significantly affected flight speed.

As a result, Ji Chang spotted the cluster of flies.

Now, riding on the wasp, Ji Chang was no longer afraid of the presence of the flies.

The wasp was much larger than the flies.

After Ji Chang approached, many of the flies instinctively moved away.

However, what caught Ji Chang's attention wasn't the flies themselves, but the reason behind the cluster of flies!

Lowering the height of his flight slightly, Ji Chang quickly saw the object that the flies were swarming around.

It was several plastic-wrapped food containers stacked together!

Faintly, Ji Chang could make out the overlapping grains of rice and various food items inside the containers, along with maggots and even braised pork.

"What's this?"

Ji Chang stared at the food containers half-wrapped in plastic, pondering aloud.

Seeing this, Huang Mang couldn't help but ask, "What's the matter, Ji-ge?"

"Did Squad Leader order takeout before shrinking? Did you specifically ask for braised pork?"

Ji Chang turned to Huang Mang and inquired.

"Yes!"

"Wait a minute, Ji-ge, are you suggesting that this is the takeout we ordered?"

Huang Mang realized what Ji Chang meant and, focusing on the braised pork, grimaced before continuing, "Ji-ge... don't think about it. With so many flies, and considering how many days have passed, this takeout is definitely inedible by now!

Look, there are even maggots inside!"

"Why do you only think about eating... What I mean is, since the takeout boxes are here, Gao Xiang and Liu Qing must have been shrunk when they came to this place!"

Hearing Huang Mang's words, Ji Chang couldn't help but roll his eyes before continuing, "In other words, Gao Xiang and Liu Qing should have been hiding in the nearby bushes!"

"Er! Right, right, right, hehe, Ji-ge, you're right!"

A sudden realization dawned on Huang Mang, causing him to grin.

At that moment, Ji Chang glanced at the wall to his right, which happened to be where the boundary between Grandfather Zhou's courtyard and Uncle Zhou Jun Tang's courtyard lay.

Subsequently, Ji Chang guided the wasps to dive into the thicket right by the wall.

"Wang Lingling! Gao Xiang, Liu Qing, we're here!"

Just as they entered the thicket, an excited Huang Mang called out hoarsely.

Ji Chang also commanded the wasps to fly through the grass and leaves, landing on the ground.

Soon, they discovered numerous footprints and various traces.

The marks were clearly left by people.

Ji Chang and Huang Mang exchanged a glance, understanding that they were in the right place!

However, even after Huang Mang had shouted for quite a while, they received no response, nor did they see any sign of Gao Xiang, Wang Lingling, or Liu Qing.

"Did we miss them? Did they take a different route?"

Ji Chang raised an eyebrow involuntarily.

He thought this was quite possible.

When they came, the wasps could fly in a straight line, directly from the house to the wall by the entrance of the courtyard.

If Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling had chosen a different route, they might have easily passed each other by.

After all, with their vision obstructed, even the relatively thick Gao Xiang might not have been noticeable.

Perhaps, when they had just flown past this area toward Uncle Zhou Jun Tang's courtyard, Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling had taken Liu Qing and turned back.

"It seems they've probably gone back!"

Huang Mang nodded to himself.

"Let's go back!"

Ji Chang nodded as well.

However, at this moment, a sense of unease suddenly welled up in Ji Chang's heart.

Although he preferred to believe that they had missed each other and that Gao Xiang and Wang Lingling were on their way back, it felt like something wasn't quite right.

But exactly what was wrong, he couldn't put his finger on it for the moment.

When Ji Chang first learned of Gao Xiang's return, his initial reaction had been different from that of the others. He wasn't immediately happy. Instead, he felt deep skepticism.

Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want his classmates to return safely. On the contrary, he would be glad, but his own experience of being shrunk in the courtyard told him how dangerous it was, beyond words.

In contrast, if Gao Xiang had managed to return safely, he would be happy, but his skepticism was greater.

How had Gao Xiang and Liu Qing managed to survive?

So many days had passed—what had they eaten? What had they drunk?

Moreover, even though Ji Chang hadn't seen Gao Xiang, based on Chen Lingxue and Dong Xuan's descriptions, he felt that Gao Xiang's level of mental power should be at least third-tier according to his own standards.

After all, coming back from outside the courtyard would have consumed a fair amount of energy.

Despite all this, Ji Chang decided to head back first. Perhaps all his speculations were unnecessary, and by now, Gao Xiang and Liu Qing had already reunited with the others!