It doesn't matter if your souls are scattered, as long as you die.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the twelve police officers gathered in a house provided by a fellow villager.

Each of them presented the questions and answers from their visits.

Team leader Zhao Tao was deep in thought when he saw that the records in the notebook were surprisingly consistent, stating that it was thunder rather than an explosion.

The people in the neighboring village all thought it was thunder, not an explosion. Why do the people in this village think it was an explosion?

Thinking it over, Zhao Tao went outside, entered the main room, and found the owner of the room.

"Sir, may I ask why you believe the sound during the day was an explosion, rather than thunder?"

The old man took a drag of his pipe, exhaled a puff of white smoke, and then replied, "At first we also thought it was thunder, but it didn't rain."

Zhao Tao was speechless. Was it for this reason?

It's not uncommon for there to be thunder without rain, so how can you be so sure that it was an explosion rather than thunder based on this reason?

"Grandpa, thunder without rain is a normal natural phenomenon..."

"What, you're saying this is thunder, not an explosion, right?"

Zhao Tao nodded. "Our comrades came back from visiting the neighbors, and everyone said it was thunder, not an explosion. Sir, you've probably made a mistake."

The old man frowned, put his pipe on the table next to him, and sounded somewhat disappointed.

"Officers, are you saying you don't want to go into the mountains to investigate?"

Zhao Tao: "..."

It's not that he didn't want to investigate; if it weren't for an explosion, a simple thunderstorm wouldn't have warranted an investigation.

"grandfather……"

"Officers!" Before Zhao Tao could finish speaking, the old man interrupted him, his face pleading, "Please, go in and investigate."

Seeing the tears welling up in the old man's eyes, Zhao Tao instinctively knew there was more to the story.

"Sir, we can go into the mountains to investigate, but you need to give us a reasonable reason."

Zhao Tao made his stance clear: they wouldn't go into the mountains without any other reason.

When he met Zhao Tao's eyes, the old man subconsciously lowered his head. After a while, the old man seemed to have made up his mind.

"A year ago, a group of people..."

"Third Uncle!"

A shout from the doorway interrupted the old man's words. Zhao Tao looked over and saw a middle-aged man hurrying in.

He nodded and greeted Zhao Tao with a smile, "Hello, police officer."

"We made a mistake. It was just thunder during the day, not an explosion. They got it wrong."

When Zhao Tao first noticed that the old man was interrupted, he glanced at the door and then looked away, deliberately avoiding the gaze of the person who came in—a clear sign of guilt.

The middle-aged man's entry at this moment clearly indicated that he did not want the old man to reveal what he wanted to say.

"What's your surname, fellow villager?" Zhao Tao asked with a smile.

"What does it matter if I have a noble surname or not? I'm just a villager here, and everyone calls me Dazhuzi."

Zhao Tao nodded. "Dazhuzi, right? Do you know that making a mistake is considered filing a false police report, and you'll be held responsible?"

Da Zhuzi was taken aback, and his face showed obvious anxiety.

"Officer, you're wrong. We were just ignorant and couldn't distinguish between thunder and an explosion. It wasn't intentional."

Zhao Tao suddenly laughed, "Alright, I was just kidding."

"Now that we know it was thunder and not an explosion, there's no need to investigate further. Let's leave now."

As he spoke, he walked next door and called out, "Pack up and head back."

Upon hearing the last sentence, Da Zhuzi visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

The old man became anxious and tried to rush out to stop him, but after meeting the gaze of the large pillar standing at the door, he retreated with a sorrowful expression.

As Yun Li listened to their conversation, she became even more curious. What secrets did this village hold?

They were afraid of being discovered, but also hoped that the police would come into the mountains to investigate.

What exactly are they investigating?

What Yun Li could see, Zhao Tao, as the police captain, naturally couldn't miss either.

As soon as the group of twelve left the village, Zhao Tao whispered a few words of advice to them.

The team members nodded, immediately dispersed, and ran into the mountains, quickly disappearing without a trace.

However, Yun Li clearly saw with his mental power that these police officers had not gone far, but were hiding in the bushes.

After the team members hid, Zhao Tao also slipped into a concealed spot.

He carefully avoided the villagers' houses and circled around before arriving at the old man's house.

To find out what's hidden in this village, you have to find the old man who was trying to tell the truth earlier.

Zhao Tao crouched down and came to the back of the old man's house. He originally wanted to go straight in to find the old man, but he heard voices coming from inside the house when he turned the corner.

They were quite far away, so I couldn't quite hear what they were saying.

So he went around to the back door of the kitchen, carefully unplugged it, and walked through the kitchen to the passageway leading to the living room.

The passageway was originally spacious, but the old man had piled up a lot of miscellaneous items, leaving it only wide enough for one person to walk through.

Using the moonlight streaming through the window, he surveyed the passageway and found a place to hide himself.

"Third Uncle, I've said so much, how come you still don't understand how serious this is?"

The old man tapped the table with his pipe, saying, "I'm already this old, I might just kick the bucket tomorrow. Before I go, I only have one wish: to see my son and grandson."

Dazhu sighed with a worried look on his face, "Third Uncle, I know you miss Second Brother and nephew Shengli, but we can't find them."

Just because you can't find it doesn't mean the police can't find it.

The old man suddenly became agitated and finally burst into tears like a child.

Dazhuzi felt a mix of emotions as he watched his third uncle cry loudly, disregarding all decorum.

Just then, several people walked in through the open courtyard gate.

"Third Uncle, why are you crying? And why aren't the police going into the mountains anymore?"

The speaker was a middle-aged woman who led the way into the main room, followed by two women and a man.

When the old man saw the person who came, he wiped away his tears with embarrassment, and then pretended to be fine as he picked up his pipe and took a puff.

Seeing his pretentious act, the woman couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle silently.

Then, turning his gaze to the man beside him, he asked, "Brother Dazhu, someone just said the police have left. Are they coming back to check the mountains tomorrow?"

Da Zhuzi shook his head, but before he could speak, the expressions on their faces changed, and they asked anxiously:

"What's going on!"

"Are they just going to give up?"

Da Zhu paced back and forth a few times in frustration. "People aren't stupid. After going around asking around, everyone in the two neighboring villages said it was thunder, not an explosion. This is just..."

"What do other people say matter? As long as we insist that it was an explosion, they will definitely go into the mountains to investigate. We will follow them and maybe we can find everyone."

The woman interrupted him, speaking urgently.

The others nodded in agreement. "That's right. As long as we insist it was an explosion, and even fabricate a story about spies causing sabotage in the mountains, they might even send troops to search the mountains."

"If we search the mountains, the chances of finding them will be much greater. How could you just let them get away like that?"