After deciding to give up, he started to gain popularity

"Natsukawa-kun, the one who is missing... is Yukinoshita-san."

"..."

179. Yukinoshita Disappears

Yukinoshita disappeared. After hearing the news, Natsukawa Kanade was stunned for a moment, but then came disbelief.

Yukinoshita Yukino, missing, logically these two words should not go together at all, but the person who told the news was Kato Megumi, so Natsukawa Kanade had to believe it.

But just in case, he still asked: "Yukinoshita...Do you mean Yukinoshita Yukino?"

"Yes."

Got this reply.

"..."

Come to think of it, is there another "Yukinoshita" in Shuchiin?

So Natsukawa Kanade became a little panicked and subconsciously grabbed Kato Megumi's wrist.

People are always like this. When unfortunate things happen to people who have nothing to do with you, the impact will naturally be different from that happening to people around you.

Indeed, he and Yukinoshita Yukino may not even be friends now, but after hearing the news, he still couldn't help but worry about her.

"When did it happen?" Xia Chuanzou's tone couldn't help but sound a little anxious.

"About 20 minutes ago, on the road from the second level to the third level." Feeling the force coming from her wrist, Kato Megumi frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. She just placed her other hand on it, trying to transfer the strength.

Xiachuan Zou had been on edge, and when he felt the other party's action, he immediately reacted and let go.

"Sorry, I'm a little anxious..."

Kato Megumi just shook her head to indicate that it was okay.

"Did she say anything before she disappeared? Or did she do anything?" Xia Chuan Zou continued to ask. He had to know all the details.

"No." Kato Hui shook her head, but immediately added softly, "After we completed the second challenge, we went to the bathroom first. After I came out, Yukinoshita asked me to wait for her in front, but I waited for a long time and she didn't come over."

"Then I went back to look for her, but I couldn't find her."

“……” Xiachuan Zou frowned.

He could roughly guess what Yukinoshita Yukino was thinking. She definitely didn't like participating in such activities, especially when she had to form a partnership with others. But that was also why she couldn't choose to abstain, otherwise she might harm others - this guy always hated causing trouble for others.

So in order to end such an activity as soon as possible, this guy will definitely work hard to solve the problems and strive to finish the battle as quickly as possible, so she asked Kato to wait for her in front of the next level in advance, probably just to save some time.

But why did she disappear? Although she was indeed a person with a hidden lack of direction, she only needed to follow the paved stone road, right? There were many signboards along the way indicating the direction, so it was impossible for her to disappear in the deep forest, right?

Natsukawa Kanade was getting more and more headache.

But there was no time to think about it now. Since he had already found out the situation, he had to take action immediately.

So he asked the student union clerk who had been waiting on the side, "Have you arranged for someone to search?"

"Yes." The man nodded and said, "It was arranged by the vice president. She also asked me to come to the president to explain the matter."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for your hard work." Xia Chuan Zou nodded and thanked him.

He was relieved to hear that Kaguya had made arrangements, but after thinking about it carefully, he was still worried that the few people on standby in the student union would not be enough.

"Well, you need to work harder and go find the Discipline Committee and ask them to send half of their manpower to search not only the area around the missing students, but also the areas along the middle of other checkpoints."

"Ah? But people patrolling like this..."

"What are you patrolling for? Can discipline be more important than human life? Go and pass the message, quickly." Xia Chuanzou glared at him fiercely, and the latter nodded quickly and ran away.

Xia Chuan Zou looked around again and found that there were two students in charge of clocking in. He simply said to them, "You two should not be idle either. Go find some flashlights and come with me to look for people."

He couldn't tell whether the other party was a volunteer or a member of the student union, but at this time he couldn't care less and decisively used the authority of the student union president to recruit the two people.

After seeing that the two of them had obeyed, Natsukawa Kanade turned to Kato Megumi and said, "Kato, I'm sorry to bother you with the work here. If anyone comes to clock in, please take some time. If others ask about the people on duty here, please tell them that the student union is on a long march."

"Okay, I understand." Kato Megumi nodded slightly and agreed.

Natsukawa Kanade's brows finally relaxed a little. He was still very confident in Kato and believed that she could be competent for this job.

Not long after, the two people who had gone before returned with three flashlights in their hands.

Xia Chuan Zou took it and was about to take the two of them out, but he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Natsukawa-kun."

He turned around and looked at Kato Megumi who had just spoken with a little confusion, but saw her lips slightly parted: "Please, you must find Yukinoshita-san."

"..." Xia Chuan Kan was startled, but then he reacted and responded to her with a smile, "Don't worry, leave it to me."

He didn't expect that Kato and Yukinoshita had become friends.

Because they were in a hurry to find someone, it didn't take much effort for Natsukawa Kanade to rush to the destination - the place where Yukinoshita disappeared - with two "volunteers".

Then he told the two men to set out, one in front and one behind, along the stone road to look for people. If necessary, they could go a little deeper on both sides, but they must not cross the fence.

He first looked for a temporary toilet in the surrounding wooden houses.

According to Kato's testimony, Yukinoshita disappeared here, so he wanted to investigate the surrounding situation first.

Such facilities are built between each checkpoint to provide convenience for people who encounter emergencies. Even changing clothes is no problem at all.

Of course, Xia Chuan Zou didn't open every door and searched everywhere. He just searched briefly, and after making sure that there was no one in the house, he began to search the surroundings.

Of course, he didn't have a dog's nose, so he couldn't find people by smell. He just wanted to check for footprints around to see if he could find any clues.

Fortunately, his luck today did work, and he actually found a clue - towards the depths of the dense forest, there was a regular trail of footprints that were obviously left by humans. The size and shape were exactly the same, and it was obvious that they were left by the same person.

However, Natsukawa Kanade frowned, subconsciously thinking that these should not be Yukinoshita's footprints. She should not be the kind of person who would break the rules - there was clearly a notice not to go to places that had not been issued.

But we can't just ignore this clue at this moment.

After thinking about it for a while, he decided to search along this trail. Even if the person he found was not Yukinoshita, he might be able to discover something.

Because of his previous encounter with wild cats, he was very cautious during this exploration, constantly looking around until he came to the border - an area enclosed by a fence.

Just when he was hesitating whether to go back to gather people, he found a gleaming object on the grass next to the fence. He walked over and picked it up, and then the next moment his eyes became serious - a Panda doll pendant.

He once gave it to Yukinoshita.

180. No matter how hard your mouth is (3.5K)

It is now the beginning of May and the weather has gradually warmed up, but at this moment Xia Chuan Zou only feels cold in his heart.

Perhaps a lost pendant doesn't mean much, but considering Yukinoshita's disappearance, this is clearly something she left behind, otherwise it would be too much of a coincidence, right?

Judging from her footprints, she was not kidnapped and came here of her own will, but she is not a person who likes to break the rules, and her curiosity is not strong enough to start a "solo expedition".

It was precisely because he knew her personality that Xiachuan Kanade was even more confused about what had happened. It couldn't be that she was really attracted by something and climbed over the fence, right?

But at this point, there is no point in exploring her motives and analyzing her route. It would be better to just take action directly. This way the chances of finding her would be greater. Of course, the most important thing is another thing - worrying about her encountering wild animals.

The ferocious wild cat like the one before was already very threatening, not to mention creatures like poisonous snakes. Even if Yukinoshita was good at Aikido, she couldn't possibly deal with such a creature that didn't even have a human form, right?

Thinking of this, Xiachuan Zou simply took action.

After putting the Panda pendant he found into his pocket, Xiachuan Zou climbed over the fence and continued searching.

He wanted to follow the footprints again to look for someone, but he didn't expect that after only a few steps the entire footprint became disordered. Not only were they facing in all directions, but they were even mixed together and finally formed an "X" shape.

Natsukawa Kanade became even more puzzled, but his guess that Yukinoshita might have been lost was confirmed.

After thinking it over carefully, Xia Chuan Zou simply looked around and soon found a stone pestle of suitable height. So he walked over, turned on the flashlight mode on his mobile phone and turned up the volume to maximum, while playing his recorded recording on a loop and placing it with the back facing up on the top of the stone pier.

Then he felt that it was not safe enough, so he found two smaller stones and placed them on both sides of the flashlight to secure it.

After doing all this, he picked up the flashlight again, turned the brightness to maximum, and continued searching based on the footsteps.

These footprints were so messy that it was too difficult to simulate the opponent's actions, so he decided to use an exhaustive method, starting with the last footstep and searching in all directions. If he was lucky, he should be able to find the opponent within 10 minutes.

Considering that Yukinoshita might also be moving around, in order to avoid missing him, he left his phone behind. He thought that after hearing the voice, she would definitely understand what he meant. Not only that, if other search team members found this place later, they could also provide some help.

After making all these preparations, Xiachuan Zou turned back to confirm the "center point", then observed carefully and found a single-thread trail that looked the clearest from the messy footprints. He then followed the footprints step by step.

The rest is up to fate...

Xiachuan Zou prayed silently in his heart, praying that he could hit the target with one shot.

However, luck was not on his side. He followed his footprints all the way but ended up back at the starting point.

"This shouldn't be the case..." Natsukawa Kanade muttered to himself with a frown.

If they were really lost, it would be impossible for them to walk back so accurately, or even start in the completely opposite direction.

In his opinion, if a person is lost, even if he is so flustered that he does not pay attention to the traces of where he came from, he cannot possibly take two completely opposite paths, right? One on the left and one on the right, or even completely in a straight line. This does not look like he is looking for an exit at all, but rather like he is using the process of elimination, searching for something along the way...

Thinking of this, Xia Chuan Zou finally had the answer in his heart, so he couldn't help but curse inwardly.

"This idiot."

After he had an idea in mind, he went back to his starting point and observed the footprints in all directions again.

Fortunately, there was neither wind nor rain during this period, and the traces were well preserved. He quickly found a trail of footprints that obviously had smaller steps, and then he followed the trail without hesitation.

There was no mistake this time, and there was no need to shout. Not long after walking, I saw a petite figure sitting on the grass with her hands on her knees, leaning against a tree.

"Yukinoshita?" Natsukawa asked, and then tilted the flashlight slightly so as not to shine it directly at the other party.

"Xia Chuan?" The figure raised his head, with an expression of disbelief.

"Finally found you." Xia Chuan Kanade breathed a sigh of relief.

After hearing a familiar cold voice, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

"Why are you sitting here? Are you injured somewhere?"

After confirming the other party's identity, Xia Chuan Zou hurried over, turned the flashlight to the lowest brightness, then squatted down beside her and began to check.

Yukinoshita Yukino's face did have a puzzled expression, but now that she had seen him, she added some other emotions. However, she didn't have time to think about it. When she saw Natsukawa Kanade squatting down, she subconsciously covered her ankle and retorted, "Nothing, I'm fine..."

"Why are you still trying to be brave at this time?" Xia Chuanzou glared at her fiercely and said angrily, "If you are really fine, why are you sitting here alone? Why don't you just walk back? It's fun to let others think you are lost?"

"You..." Seeing the other party's bad tone, Yukinoshita's already bad mood became even worse, and she immediately retorted, "Anyway, you don't need to worry, I can walk by myself."

Then she supported herself on the ground with her hands, as if she was about to get up, but with the slightest movement, she suddenly felt pain.

"Well……"

So Natsukawa Zou understood instantly, and she started to be stubborn again.

Then, regardless of her objections, he lifted up her trouser legs and examined her.

Where the flashlight was shining, there was a large red and swollen area on the ankle. You didn't even need to compare it with the fair skin next to it to know that this guy was in a serious sprain.

"Is this what you mean by okay?" Xia Chuan Zuo glanced at her coldly.

This guy really doesn't know how to take care of his body. This is clearly caused by overusing his feet. It was probably not this serious when he first sprained his foot.

“……” Seeing that she could not win the argument, Yukinoshita simply turned her head away without saying a word.

"What about other places? Are there any injuries?" Xia Chuan Zou was still a little worried, so he simply asked again.

"...No." Yukinoshita shook her head slightly.

"That's not bad..." Xia Chuan Zou nodded slightly. Since there were no other wounds, he probably hadn't encountered any wild animals. As for other things, he was too lazy to ask. Then he stretched out his hands and wanted to help him up.

"Bear with me for a moment. I'll go slower."

"..." Yukinoshita seemed to understand what he meant, and did not refuse. Instead, she cooperated very well and grabbed the other person with both hands and struggled to stand up.

After helping Yukinoshita completely stand up, Natsukawa Kanade let her lean against a tree first, and then squatted down with his back to her.

"Come up, I'll carry you back."

"..." Yukinoshita seemed a little hesitant.

Seeing that there was no movement behind him, Xia Chuanzou pretended to be angry and said, "Are you still concerned about these messy things at this time?"