CHAPTER 402: CHAPTER 402 HE IS STILL ALIVE

Looking at the pale complexion of the young girl, Zhao Pan immediately knew that Yun Shifei must have suffered greatly along the way. See, her face had lost its color, and her spirit seemed drained.

If Mr. Cheng were to see Yun Shifei in this state, he would undoubtedly break Zhao Pan’s legs.

None of them believed Cheng Lie was truly dead, so, no matter what, they had to find him.

Thus, Zhao Pan said, "Miss Yun, please rest for now. Our team is already searching for Mr. Cheng. Even if we have to turn over the entire forest, we will find him."

"Can I come along?" Yun Shifei asked.

Seeing the resolve in her eyes, Zhao Pan sighed. "Alright, Miss Yun. But you haven’t had anything to eat yet, have you? Please have some breakfast first, and then we’ll set off."

Otherwise, he truly feared that in her current state, Yun Shifei might collapse halfway through.

Yun Shifei didn’t object; she realized she did need to eat something—or she wouldn’t hold up.

After setting their luggage down, Zhao Pan brought Yun Shifei downstairs to the dining hall and ordered a variety of dishes for her to eat.

After eating, Yun Shifei got into Zhao Pan’s car and headed toward the forest area.

The destination was three hours away by car and was near the border, a very remote location where they would later have to proceed on horseback.

Yun Shifei followed Zhao Pan deeper into the wilderness. The road was rugged, and on the side was a fast-flowing river. Previously, Yun Shifei would have been too frightened to traverse such areas.

But now, as she thought of Cheng Lie having met with trouble here, no matter how terrifying the place seemed, she felt she had to go and see for herself.

She thought, no matter what, she would find Cheng Lie.

However, when she arrived and saw the vast expanse of forest, it was entirely different from the small jungle she had imagined. This was a real, dense wilderness.

As they walked inside, the sunlight was completely blocked out by layers of leaves, casting the woods into a cool and dark shadow.

Zhao Pan led Yun Shifei to a particular spot. "This is where Mr. Cheng and I were when the accident happened."

Yun Shifei noticed a pit in the vicinity, presumably caused by the explosion at that time.

Not far away, there was a rapidly flowing river—not wide, but the current was strong, and falling into it would be dangerous.

Zhao Pan said, "At that time, I was washed into the river. When I woke up, I was already lying on the riverbank. But I had no idea where Mr. Cheng had gone."

At this point, Zhao Pan looked visibly distressed.

It had been several days. If Cheng Lie was unconscious and stranded out there all this time, without anyone finding him—then, well...

The thought left Zhao Pan’s heart feeling cold and heavy.

Truthfully, Mr. Cheng hadn’t done anything wrong. The fault lay with them.

Why hadn’t they properly managed their own team? How could betrayal have crept up on them without anyone realizing?

After this incident, Zhao Pan had conducted a thorough investigation of his subordinates and even alerted Qin Chi Jin to stay vigilant.

But they still hadn’t figured out who had managed to buy off those two traitors.

Yun Shifei gazed at the site of the explosion, her mind conjuring up an image of Cheng Lie at that moment. Her body trembled slightly.

Cheng Lie must have been overjoyed when he first heard news of his father. Yet he could never have imagined that it was all a trap.

Those people had come to kill him.

In the end, there was an explosion, and Cheng Lie disappeared.

Zhao Pan believed Cheng Lie had likely been swept into the river. But what if there was another possibility?

Yun Shifei couldn’t hold back and asked Zhao Pan, "Could it be possible that Cheng Lie was taken away by them?"

It was the slimmest possibility, so Zhao Pan initially denied it.

"I remember before I lost consciousness, Mr. Cheng and I fell in the same direction into the river." Of course, now that he kept replaying the memory, Zhao Pan sometimes doubted whether he had conjured the scene out of sheer grief.

But he thought it was highly likely.

If they had truly resolved to kill Mr. Cheng, it wouldn’t have been easy to dispose of his body discreetly. They had even brought search dogs for the search, but in the end, they found nothing.

After hearing Zhao Pan’s account, Yun Shifei’s emotions steadied somewhat.

So Cheng Lie must have fallen into the river.

Falling into the river, though, was still an almost certainly fatal situation.

But even so, "almost" meant there was still hope.

Yun Shifei stared at the river. Slowly, she began following the current downstream.

Zhao Pan hurried to keep up and reminded Yun Shifei to be careful, as the riverbank was quite slippery.

In her fragile state, Zhao Pan was genuinely worried she might slip and fall into the river.

Yun Shifei gestured to Zhao Pan to not worry and kept walking with her eyes fixed on the river downstream.

But the river stretched for a long distance, and she had no idea where it might lead.

Zhao Pan said, "Miss Yun, this river runs all the way to a small town nearby. We’ve searched every bit of the riverbank, but so far, there’s been no sign of Mr. Cheng."

This was the most despairing part—not seeing Cheng Lie, nor knowing if he was still alive.

Yun Shifei pressed her lips together and suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Oddly enough, she felt more hopeful now.

"If we can’t find Cheng Lie, that means he’s still alive."

She smiled as she looked at Zhao Pan.

In her eyes, Zhao Pan saw small, glimmering lights—bright and dazzling.

Zhao Pan nodded.

A silent understanding passed between them.

They had already traced the river to its source and found nothing. Could it be that Cheng Lie had been rescued by someone?

Yun Shifei thought they might have to wait for some time.

But just waiting wouldn’t suffice—she decided to create a missing persons notice for Cheng Lie.

She posted it in the surrounding villages and small towns.

She also published an announcement in the newspaper about Cheng Lie.

Yun Shifei even took to the internet, posting a missing persons notice about Cheng Lie online.

Since her school was one of the first to have a forum, it had grown to have some influence on the internet.

Anyone who wanted to share or browse messages online often visited their school’s forum.

So Yun Shifei decided to post it on her school’s forum.

She didn’t have a recent photo of Cheng Lie, but even an older photo would suffice.

Thankfully, she had once wanted to preserve their memories, so she had uploaded some of their photos online, allowing her to access and download them now without going back home.

Yun Shifei understood well the power of an internet audience. To attract attention, she posted a story about herself and Cheng Lie online.

She wrote it in the form of a narrative.

After all, she felt that her relationship with Cheng Lie was like a story in itself.

To her surprise, not long after posting it, the comments started flooding in rapidly.

Within half a day, the post had become a hot topic with hundreds of comments.

For a post to gain over a hundred comments within just half a day—it was quite the achievement back then.

However...

Yun Shifei looked at the comments and felt slightly disappointed.