"Missing?" Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows.
"Yes. It was said that one of the workers last saw the missing man around two in the morning. He sat up from his bed, muttered a few words, got dressed, and walked out of the house. At that time, his roommates thought he was just going to the toilet. They didn't expect him to never come back. "
"After that, the construction company gathered people to look for him. They found his helmet and wallet in the tunnel that was halfway through construction. However, they couldn't find him. It was as if he had vanished from the face of the earth. This incident caused a small commotion at the time. The subway tunnel they were building didn't have any forks, and the end was a dead end. No one could think of a place to hide him."
Milliped hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Our city has been the capital of the dynasty for the past few hundred years. At that time, there was a rumor circulating among the construction team that the construction of the subway line had destroyed the underground dragon vein. The disappearance of the worker was a warning. This rumor became more prevalent after more and more people fell ill for no reason. However, the management of the construction company was more inclined to believe that the missing man was the victim of revenge by his enemy. They said that the helmet and wallet in the tunnel were just a distraction. As for why they couldn't find the body, it was because the murderer threw the body into a mixer and mixed it with the concrete." This speculation is indeed more realistic, especially when the missing man had a dispute with another worker in the construction team because of some emotional issues.
"This speculation is indeed closer to reality, especially when the missing person had a dispute with another worker in the construction team because of some emotional issues. The two were from the same village, and the suspect liked a girl in the village. They had already agreed on the betrothal gift, but the missing person interfered and married the girl with an additional thirty thousand yuan. Because of this, the two became enemies. The suspect had a strong motive to kill the missing person, but later the police also conducted an investigation. I don't know if it was because the detection methods at that time were relatively backward, but in the end, they couldn't find any substantial evidence and could only choose to let the missing person go."
Zhang Heng nodded. "Do you know what the missing man muttered before he left the house at night?"
"His roommate didn't hear it clearly because he was half-awake at the time. He said he only heard one sentence. It probably meant that the water was a little cold."
"The water was a little cold?"
"It's quite inexplicable. It was summer at that time, and it hadn't rained for several days. There weren't any lakes or rivers nearby either. Maybe I dreamt of my hometown when I was sleeping." Ma Lu couldn't help but shiver after saying that. Although he didn't really believe in this kind of thing, he usually just treated it as a casual conversation after a meal.
However, just as he had said, the three of them were currently in this subway tunnel, and they had yet to see the next station after walking for so long. Coupled with the rumors he had heard, no matter how calm Milliped was, he could not help but feel nervous.
However, the culprit who caused all of this didn't seem to have much of a reaction.
To Milliped's surprise, Zhang Heng continued, "I think I know what happened to the missing worker."
Milliped was stunned. A moment later, he said, "What are you talking about? That's just a legend. Besides, it's been a long time since then. We weren't even there that night. Even the police couldn't find out what happened. How would you know what happened?"
"It's very simple, because we are experiencing what happened to him back then," Zhang Heng said calmly.
When he said that, the temperature in the tunnel seemed to drop by a few degrees.
Milliped felt a chill in his heart, but he forced a smile. "Now is not the time to joke."
"Indeed," Zhang Heng admitted. "So unfortunately, I'm not joking."
He stopped walking as he spoke and picked up a coin from the ground in front of him. "I threw this one yuan here thirty minutes ago."
"What do you mean?" Milliped's head was still spinning.
"It means we're going in circles," Zhang Heng said.
"How is that possible?" Milliped's eyes widened. "There aren't any forks in this tunnel, and we didn't turn back either. We've been walking in the same direction. Even if we took ten thousand steps back, even if we did go one round without realizing it, we should've seen the platform we came from."
"Logically speaking, that's true," Zhang Heng said. "But what we're facing now can't be explained with logic."
"Friend, don't tell me you're a little too immersed in the story I told you earlier?" Milliped smiled bitterly. He turned to look at Meinan, hoping to get some support from her. However, he did not expect her to accept Zhang Heng's explanation completely. She then asked with a serious face, "Did you find anything else?"
"Time is still passing." Zhang Heng compared the time on his watch with the time on his phone and found that both were the same.
Although this watch was a birthday gift from Zhang Heng's parents, it had a lot to do with the old man in the Tang suit. Whether it was in the quest or the real world, its flow rate was always the same. So, if he compared it with his phone, it was easy to see if there was a problem with the time.
Other than that, Zhang Heng was also constantly paying attention to his physiological condition. At least, his metabolism was at a normal level so far. In other words, they were not in a situation similar to a time loop. It was more like someone had secretly picked out a section of the tunnel and connected it from end to end, forming a closed loop.
Was it Loki's doing?
This kind of thing sounded very much like Loki's style, but combined with the story he heard before, Zhang Heng did not think that this was Loki's doing, or at least not to deal with them. After all, this happened more than fifty years ago when the subway line was first built. If Zhang Heng's guess was right, the missing worker was trapped in this tunnel with no exit or entrance.
But the other party was different from them. It was more like he was summoned into this tunnel. Before he left, he mentioned water, which should be a key piece of information. However, the scope of the information was too broad, and Zhang Heng had no clue what it was.
"So, are we hallucinating?" Asked Meinan. As she spoke, she reached out and touched the wall on the side. The touch from her fingertips was extremely real, and she could even clearly feel the roughness and coldness of the stone wall. After that, Meinan picked up a small stone and threw it at the stone wall on the other side. It bounced off, and the stone didn't go through the wall.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
