Super God Grandmaster

Chapter 34: Chapter 31: Qing’er Disappears Chapter 34: Chapter 31: Qing’er Disappears Yuan Jingxing didn’t know what had happened, splashes covered his entire face, he thought that there was some monster approaching. He was startled and asked, “What’s happening? Is there a monster in the water?”

“Surely not, don’t scare me. I’m timid, and I didn’t hear of any creatures in this pool,” Ren Haotian panicked, wanting to get out of water.

Hearing this, Jiang Shizi chuckled.

“I’ll scare the hell out of you!” Another rock was thrown up, creating a splash that was two meters high.

“My gosh, there really is a monster.” Jingxing said, ready to head for the shore.

But Haotian said, “No, it’s not a monster, someone is throwing rocks from the surface.”

Immediately after, they heard laughter.

Jingxing said, “That’s Jiang Shizi that rascal.”

Haotian yelled, “Damn female lion, do you plan to pelt us to death?”

His face was covered in spray.

Haotian shouted, “Come at us again, and we’ll come out stark naked.”

“Truly two shameless fellows.” Shizi threw the last two stones she held and ran off.

After setting the gears, Su Zhanze and Ye Chen went back. At that time, Bi Chun had collected a whole basket of mushrooms and said, “There’s still plenty left.”

“That’s enough. Here’s about two to three kilos. I’ll use these as ingredients for tonight’s dinner,” Zhan Ze answered.

Ye Chen started a fire and was about to roast the cleaned and skewered mushrooms.

Zhan Ze couldn’t wait and said, “Ye Chen, hurry up, give me a few, I’ll bring them over to Yu Qing.”

Bi Chun asked, “Are we sure they’re not poisonous?”

Ye Chen glanced at Bi Chun, pinched a piece of the nearly cooked mushroom, and ate it. He said, “If it’s poisonous, I’ll die first.”

“Hey, I didn’t mean it.”

“Understood, you’re just being cautious,” Ye Chen said. “In case of poisoning, I’ll be the first one to get poisoned. You can rest assured.”

“I really didn’t mean it.” Bi Chun looked at Su Zhanze.

“Hmm, I know you didn’t mean it.” Zhanze took a whiff, saying, “It smells good.”

“These mushrooms are actually quite fragrant. Using them as seasoning, they’ll naturally smell good after being roasted.”

“Hurry up and add more.”

Ye Chen followed Zhanze’s instructions and added some more seasonings, making the aroma even stronger.

“Well done! It’s so good to be with you,” Zhanze said.

“He he, these are just survival skills.”

Zhanze was growing impatient.

Ye Chen soon roasted a few skewers for Zhanze, who grabbed them enthusiastically and went to find Yu Qing.

The panicked Jiang Shizi bumped right into him, almost knocking Zhanze down.

Zhan Ze got a bit startled and seeing Jiang Shizi’s flushed face, he said, “Hey, girl, did you sneak a peek at someone bathing? I didn’t know you had this fascination!”

“Brother Zhan Ze, don’t make baseless assumptions.” Jiang Shizi’s face reddened further.

“If you’ve done nothing wrong, why are you blushing?”

“I’m not blushing, is there anything to eat?”

“Yes, there is food, do you want to eat?”

“Of course I’ll eat, why wouldn’t I?” She immediately snatched a skewer of mushrooms that were still steaming.

“And where is Yu Qing?”

“She’s over there sketching.”

She then followed Zhan Ze back to their former spot.

On an easel was a nearly finished sketch, but Yu Qing was nowhere in sight.

Zhan Ze called out to her a few times then asked Shizi, “Where is Yu Qing?”

“When I last left she was here, perhaps she saw some butterfly or something interesting and left,” Jiang Shizi moved to the other side and began to call out as well.

Ye Chen continued to grill the mushrooms, their aroma filling the forest. After eating two pieces, he said, “They’re really delicious.” Looking at Bi Chun, who appeared to be salivating, he said, “You’d better not eat, I can’t afford to compensate if you get poisoned and die.”

Bi Chun, who was a big foodie herself, saw him eating so delightfully and was moved by her grumbling stomach. She snatched two skewers and exclaimed, “These are the ones I picked.”

“Hehe, I’ve already told you. If you get poisoned, don’t blame me. I really can’t pay the price,” Ye Chen answered, still chuckling.

Bi Chun ignored him and took a bite, muttering, “They actually taste quite good.”

“Better than the dumplings, right?”

Just then, Zhan Ze and Shizi ran back in a hurry, saying, “Yu Qing is missing.”

Bi Chun stood up and said, “What? Are you joking?” She seemed skeptical.

“Who’s got the time to joke around?” Zhan Ze seemed quite distressed.

Ye Chen rose and asked, “Wasn’t the female lion with Yu Qing? Weren’t they sketching together?”

“I was together with her initially, but when I left for a while and came back, she was gone.”

By now, Haotian and Jingxing had returned from taking baths and, smelling the aroma of the mushrooms, asked, “Can we eat now?”

They were surprised to hear that Yu Qing had disappeared.

Haotian asked, “When did this happen?”

“It just happened a moment ago,” Bi Chun answered.

“Wasn’t she with Shizi?” Ren Haotian asked.

“I just stepped away for a moment, and she was gone when I returned,” answered Shizi.

Suddenly, they all became nervous.

Haotian said, “Don’t worry, she might have just wandered off.”

“Yes, yes…” Yuan Jingxing responded.

Ye Chen extinguished the fire and followed Zhan Ze to the cliffside to begin the search for Yu Qing. They called for her for quite a while, but heard no response. If there had been any sounds, they would have heard them. Everyone started to grow increasingly anxious.

“Damn it, why is this happening?” Ren Haotian grew anxious and said, “If Yu Qing is nearby, she should be able to hear our shouts. She should definitely be able to hear us.”

Yuan Jingxing pondered, “Did she perhaps encounter a monster?”

“Can you stop making up things? How could she possibly encounter a monster?” Jiang Shizi was becoming noticeably panicked. Where could she have gone? Guo Yuqing wasn’t one to play such pranks. She wasn’t that type of person. How did she just disappear out of the blue?

“Qing’er isn’t one to joke around,” Bi Chun stated.

“Did something really happen? Did she encounter a monster?” Haotian proposed.

At his words, everyone grew tense again.

Ye Chen circled the area around the easel and concluded, “There are no signs of a struggle, so she likely didn’t encounter a monster,” He made a simple judgement based on his experience.

“Are you sure?” asked Zhan Ze.

“If there was a struggle, there definitely would have been signs of it. But there aren’t any. You all can take a look as well.”

Zhan Ze listened and nodded.

“She couldn’t have been attacked by a huge monster and didn’t even have time to fight back, could she?” Jingxing inquired.

An alarmed Shizi protested, “Stop spouting nonsense.” She dreaded the idea of him being right.

Haotian continued, “If anything had happened, we should have heard her scream.” But they hadn’t heard anything.

Zhan Ze asked, “So where could Qing’er have gone?”

“Could Yu Qing have gone down the mountain?” Bi Chun wondered.

Zhan Ze responded, “That’s not possible. If Yu Qing had gone down the mountain, she would have definitely told us. She wouldn’t leave without telling anyone.”

“Could she have gone to the back hills?” Jingxing cast a glance towards the back hill, which was becoming increasingly eerie.

Haotian suggested, “Maybe she got lost. That could be a possibility.”

Ye Chen walked to the edge of the cliff, which overlooked an expanse of precipitous slopes and dense forest below, which vanished into unknown depths.

Haotian followed him and asked, “You don’t think she might have fallen over the edge, do you?” He yelled down the cliff, his voice echoing, yet receiving no response.

Jingxing suggested, “We should check the back hills.”

Shizi grew anxious and uttered, “Nothing bad actually happened, right?”

Yuan Jingxing comforted her, “Don’t worry yet. We will search the back hills. She might have just lost her way.”

Zhan Ze agreed with Jingxing’s suggestion. Everyone believed they should check the back.

Unbeknownst to them, dusk had set in. Despite their efforts, they hadn’t found Qing’er, nor any clues. She had disappeared as abruptly as a kite with a severed string. Her trace was completely lost.

Shizi, on the verge of tears from worry, asked, “What should we do? Could Yu Qing have truly been taken by a monster?” It seemed the only plausible explanation.

Haotian suggested, “We should alert the people at the base of the mountain. It’s getting dark fast.”

“Maybe there are really…” Jingxing couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence. He hesitated to instill more panic by speculating further, although there had been, indeed, rumors about monsters in the mountains for some time.

They wondered what could have really happened, fearing the worst case scenario wherein she had really encountered a large monster. They didn’t want to entertain such a grim thought and chose instead to believe that she had only gotten lost.

Jingxing observed, “It’s getting dark out.”

“You should tell your father,” Haotian turned towards Su Zhanze.

“Haotian, you go down the mountain to check if Yu Qing went down. If she did not, inform my father and guide him here. It’s likely that Yu Qing is lost,” Young Master Ze tried to avoid the possibility of Yu Qing encountering a monster.

“What about you?” Haotian asked.

“We will continue searching the mountain while there’s still light.”

“Be careful.”

“Yes, you should look out too.”

Zhan Ze was clueless, anxious, and worried. Why was there no clue at all?

“Ye Chen, wait here while we head ahead. If Yu Qing comes back, at least someone will be here waiting for her.” He knew that Ye Chen was somewhat bolder.

“You’re heading forward?” Ye Chen looked at Young Master Ze.

“I need to go and check it out.” Young Master Ze wanted to try once more and see what was really happening.

“You’re braver, so this should be no problem, right?” He decided to leave Ye Chen behind.

“Right, and be sure not to separate from each other. We don’t know if there truly are any wild beasts in the mountains. None of us should be alone.”

“Got it.” Accompanied by a few others, Zhan Ze headed toward the back hills. Their voices gradually faded into the distance, until they were eerily distant.

The sun had already set, and much of the twilight had faded away. The more Ye Chen thought about it, the more ominous the disappearance of Yu Qing seemed. But could they have indeed encountered a monster? If so, there would have been signs of a fight, maybe even blood traces.

Could she really have been so negligent as to go to the back hills without informing anyone else? No, she couldn’t have been that kind of person. If she had wanted to go to the back hills, she would have told everyone else. But what exactly happened?

He turned around again and approached the cliffside. The drop was steep and about a hundred feet below was an expanse of thick woods.

She probably wasn’t down there, he reasoned, as the sun was about to set.