"An intelligence liaison officer? Why would they be at Panlong Airport?" Sun Hang was stunned, "If I remember correctly, the liaison point should be set up in the Management Committee's office building, right?"

"Panlong Airport is the only airport in Lizhou City, naturally making it the air transport hub... The mission of that liaison officer was to airlift various collected mysterious object samples back to Chunming City. But no one expected that just as he stepped into Panlong Airport, the entire airport was engulfed by a suddenly appearing fireball." Yang Qi said, "What's wrong? Why do you look so pale?"

"That liaison officer, does he have a high clearance level?" Sun Hang took a deep breath and asked.

"This level isn't particularly high." Yang Qi said, "However, he should be aware of the mysterious object investigation activities in Lizhou City."

"Including those hunters sent out on missions who have yet to return?" Sun Hang asked.

Yang Qi nodded.

"What missions were those hunters executing?"

"I'll have to apply for permission from the Disaster Response Committee to review the archives..."

"No need." Sun Hang interrupted her, "Just use my clearance."

"Okay... Got it..." Yang Qi looked at her laptop resting on her lap, and she couldn't help but furrow her brow, "Perhaps... you should look at it yourself?"

She handed the laptop to Sun Hang.

The screen displayed a twenty-seven-page action plan, which began with a drone surveillance report.

230 kilometers west of Lizhou City lies a mountainous region with extremely complex terrain, home to hundreds of Qiang villages. These Qiang villages maintain a very primitive appearance, living a self-sufficient life in these traffic-closed mountains.

As part of the jurisdiction, the Lizhou Management Committee had considered relocating these Qiang people to the city, but they were unwilling to abandon the ancestral land they had lived on for generations. Only a few villages that had more frequent contact with the outside world moved to a newly built settlement area on the west side of Lizhou City after the eternal night descended.

To prevent the remaining Qiang villages from experiencing freezing deaths or starvation, the Lizhou Management Committee periodically sent people to deliver food, oil, coal, and other supplies to these villages and repeatedly urged them to move into the settlement area for unified management...

However, the persuasion efforts yielded minimal results... Those Qiang people who maintained their traditional lifestyle preferred to huddle together shivering around a bonfire for warmth rather than give up their villages.

According to Lizhou Management Committee's "Qiang People's Settlement Management Ordinance", long-range drones regularly patrol these staying Qiang villages to ensure there are no severe cases of freezing or starvation. However, just four days ago, in a Qiang village named "Liangshui Gou", everyone vanished as if evaporated into thin air, completely disappearing from the drone's view.

The surveillance report was accompanied by dozens of drone aerial videos and hundreds of photos. From these videos and photos, it was evident that the buildings in Liangshuigou Village were intact without any signs of damage. There were no signs of battle, corpses, or blood within the village.

At the center of the village's drying field, there was a spot where a bonfire had already extinguished, and the corner of the drying field was piled with many firewood and coal briquettes.

The scenes in these photos were almost identical, except for the absence of people in the pictures. There seemed to be no abnormalities at all.

"It looks as though an entire village has evaporated into thin air." Candle Dragon commented beside.

"There's plenty of fuel for warmth... As for food, take a look at these photos." Yang Qi pointed at the screen, "In front of and behind the villagers' houses are hanging bacon and corn. This yard even has quite a few potatoes piled up... Basically, we can rule out the possibility that the villagers collectively left the village due to a lack of fuel or food."

"If they've left the village, where could they go?" Sun Hang muttered, "Were they planning to come to Lizhou City and got lost in the mountains?"

"Impossible." The old sheriff driving denied flatly, "To be honest with you all, during a previous persuasion operation, I was the one driving into the mountains. Damn it, those villagers are stubborn to the extreme, refusing to come to the city! An old man with a white beard even raised a cane to hit us, saying that even if they starve to death, they will die on the land left by their ancestors... To get them to leave the village collectively, you'd have to tie them all up and carry them out one by one!"

"Uh, have you been to Liangshui Gou Village?" Sun Hang asked.

"I haven't been to Liangshui Gou, but the attitudes of the remaining villagers are pretty much the same." The old sheriff sighed, "In their eyes, breaking ancestral rules is scarier than mysterious objects... I really don't know what they're thinking... Are rules more important than human lives?"

"Precisely because of this, the Disaster Response Committee has concluded that the collective disappearance of Liangshui Gou Village's villagers might be related to mysterious objects." Yang Qi said, "Two days ago, Lizhou City dispatched an investigation team consisting of six hunters, four investigators, and twenty-five sheriffs to investigate Liangshui Gou Village."

"Two days ago?" Sun Hang continued to ask, "How long does it take to get from Lizhou City to Liangshui Gou?"

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