I'm trapped in a block

Chapter 1253 Unsolved Case
"Later, this matter became an unsolved case, and no one continued to investigate it."

"The Tonggu government did not want to cause too much panic, and the mine was also worried that constant anxiety would affect production, so they prohibited talking about the matter. Later people never knew that this had ever happened."

"Over the years, fewer and fewer people know about that incident. After all, the news was quickly blocked, and apart from the mines, people in other parts of the town were unaware of it."

"Only I, as someone who experienced it firsthand, have a little bit of knowledge about the inside story."

The old man recounted the strange incident slowly and methodically, as if telling a story with only a beginning and no end, the suspense remaining unresolved until the very end.

The event that shocked the entire mining area seemed to come to an abrupt end, and was gradually forgotten as time passed.

People only remember that this incident happened, and it was confused with other ordinary mining accidents.

Even elderly people who remember the incident only mention it casually, saying, "Oh, you mean that disappearance case? I guess the person was blown up. Back then, conditions were like that; there were tons of unsolved cases and mysteries. These kinds of things happened all the time..."

But Xu Demin was different. He knew how much manpower and resources had been spent searching for those missing people, and that could not be covered up by saying "poor conditions".

People tend to embellish their memories. Things that cannot be understood will slowly generate "rational explanations" in their minds, gradually matching the logic of the event with their cognition, and fabricating an acceptable answer. The longer time goes by, the more deeply rooted this answer becomes.

“I studied ‘Dream Pool Essays’ and wrote down that incident. Whenever a reasonable explanation came to mind, I would revisit that incident and then use the facts to refute my embellished memory, over and over again.”

"This is what I learned in college..."

"We must be skeptical of everything unknown; this is the path to discovering the truth."

"I never expected that after so long, someone would still be able to find me and ask me about this."

"Sometimes, I really wonder if there's something beyond reason in this world, something that governs everything and turns coincidences into inevitabilities..."

The old man spoke softly, his eyes gleaming.

His gaze swept over Lu Qi, then fell on Martin's jar head, lingering on the spinning kimchi for a while before fixing on the colorful tentacles that occasionally emerged.

"Something I just can't understand..." the old man murmured softly.

Martin noticed that the old man was staring at him, so he touched his head as well.

“This is a hat,” he explained to the elderly Xu Demin.

Upon hearing Martin's words, the old man smiled gently and looked away.

"Do you think I don't know whether it's a hat or not?"

He then looked at Lu Qi and asked, "Where are you from?"

“Out of the province,” Lu You gave a vague answer.

"Which province?" the old man asked sharply.

Lu Ruqi's heart skipped a beat for a moment, but luckily he had memorized the names of several provinces when he was reading the newspaper at the newsstand.

“Lianshan Province,” he replied, feigning calmness.

"The accent doesn't sound like it; it sounds more like someone from Dongjiang, speaking in a very refined and scholarly manner..."

"My mother is from Dongjiang."

"Oh, the roasted river duck in Dongjiang is really delicious. I had it once when I was working before, and I still can't forget it..."

"It's quite delicious," Lu Youqi nodded in agreement.

Seeing Lu Qi's reaction, the old man smiled again.

Lu Qi wasn't stupid; he immediately realized he'd fallen into a trap.

That "roasted river duck" is definitely not from the Dongjiang River.

The more he said, the more mistakes he made; he still overlooked something...

However, the old man didn't press the matter further, but instead asked them what they were doing in Tonggu. "We're here for tourism."

"There aren't many tourist attractions here, but the mines are quite a novelty for people from other places."

"Just wander around casually, traveling all over the country."

"What do you think is the truth about what I'm talking about?" the old man suddenly changed the subject, asking the two men for their opinions on the disappearance case.

“Those twenty people must have offended someone of high status and were secretly dealt with,” Martin said without hesitation.

The old man smiled and shook his head after hearing this: "There are no people of high rank or power in Tonggu."

"Maybe the explosion blew something out and took those twenty people away," Martin continued to speculate.

“The mine has been explored long ago. We know exactly what’s in each place. It’s just that due to technical reasons, some places are suitable for mining and some are not. In order to select the right blasting point, we also need to explore before blasting. It’s impossible to suddenly blast something out.”

"What if there are things that can't be detected?" Martin pressed.

"That's possible," the old man nodded.

"What do you think it is?" he asked Martin seriously.

Martin was speechless; he didn't know how to answer.

After a moment of silence, he muttered softly, "Maybe it blasted open a bottomless crater that swallowed everyone up..."

"Where did the pit go?" the old man pressed on relentlessly.

At the scene of the incident, there was nothing except for traces of an explosion.

Seeing that Martin was about to start talking nonsense again, Lu Youqi quickly and quietly nudged him.

Martin immediately stopped rambling.

The old man didn't say anything more, just quietly observed the two of them.

“If you’re looking for anything, go to the mining park,” he said suddenly, with utmost seriousness.

"what?"

“The original No. 1 mine pit has been excavated and has now been transformed into a mining park, open to the public free of charge. If you are looking for anything, go there. Take the road behind the library and walk uphill. You will see the entrance to the park in no time.” The old man said calmly, as if he had seen through their intentions completely.

"That incident happened in Mine Pit No. 1." He looked at Lu Qi with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

He seemed to be hoping that these two "outsiders" would find the answer to the problem that had been troubling him for many years.

"Thank you."

After regaining his composure, Lu expressed his gratitude to the elderly man.

"You're welcome."

Old man Xu Demin turned his head and looked out the window again.

The windows of the library corridor face the Tonggu Mine. The mountain stands there quietly, with sunlight shining on it and white clouds drifting by.

It turned out that the old man had been looking at that mountain from the very beginning.

Unlike those beautiful famous mountains, Tonggu Mine looks very ordinary, even somewhat ugly. Mining activities have left the mine scarred, with no lush vegetation, pitted and uneven, and many places look as if they have been "shaved" off out of thin air. There are also ugly mountain roads that are clearly visible from the foot of the mountain.

Although the mountain wasn't beautiful, the old man was still "appreciating" it, his gaze seemingly piercing through the passage of time, looking towards a past long buried.

The mine was finished, the people were gone, but it seemed that something remained, lingering over the mountain, never quite dissipating...

(End of this chapter)