Wandering in the vast darkness

Chapter 65 Search

Not far from Zhoupu Middle School, across the street, lies the riverbank. The instructor asked the old man's son:

Do you know the way from here to the river?

The old man's son said he knew.

"Okay." The instructor pointed to Yu Wenhao and said to Officer Zhou, "You two cars, go to the riverbank right now. Jiang Suo, you go back to the station and check the surveillance footage. I'll divide the people outside into several teams and search every road on the other side, every building, every corner, don't miss a single one. Finally, Xiao Zhou, we'll meet up with you at the riverbank."

"Stay in touch, stay in touch closely!" Director Jiang waved his cell phone and said to everyone.

Everyone agreed, and they split up to begin their work.

A few kilometers downstream, this river makes a sharp bend, forming a confluence of three rivers. The Yuanpu Bridge spans this confluence. Beyond the Yuanpu Bridge lies the Qiantang River, which branches off into two streams: the Fuchun River and the Puyang River. The section of the river bordering Zhoupu is a tributary of the Fuchun River, also known as the North Branch River.

Along the river here, there is a riverside road. On both sides of the road, closer to Zhoupu, there are pumping stations, concrete companies and industrial parks. On the side closer to the North Branch River, the distance from the North Branch River varies from seven or eight meters to more than ten meters. The terrain is very complicated, consisting of vegetable fields, wasteland, piles of rocks and puddles of all sizes.

When Officer Zhou arrived at the scene, he said to Yu Wenhao, "We'll split up and search. We'll go up, and you two go down. Be careful, just search along this road. Don't go down to the other side of the road. The terrain is too complicated, and it's nighttime. If you fall into something, it's hard to say. Let's wait for the local people who are familiar with the terrain to come over. We'll search along the highway first."

They searched for nearly an hour, looking through almost every corner. They walked past the Shejing sluice gate and continued upstream until they reached the end of the road. Beyond that was Fuyang, but they still couldn't find any trace of the old man.

He remembered passing by and seeing the sign for Zhoupu Police Station, and even thought about going in to ask. Sigh, if only he had taken the old man there then, the local police would have known that the house the old man was talking about was long gone, demolished long ago. If only he had taken him in to ask.

"Come back, come back. He's not in your direction. Chief Jiang just called and said he saw him on the security camera at the cultural square in Hangfu Village. It was around 8 o'clock. He continued walking uphill," Officer Zhou said.

The instructor asked the old man's son, "Your father came this way. Think carefully, do you have any relatives around here? Has your father ever mentioned anyone? If he can't find his way home, could he have gone to a relative's house?"

Although the old man's son said he didn't blame him, explaining that outsiders couldn't tell his father had mental problems, only family members, when listening to him talk about things, realized his mind was confused and his timeline was jumbled. But Yu Wenhao felt that at that time, he had clearly noticed something was wrong with the old man, so why hadn't he asked him more clearly?

Yu Wenhao said, "We've arrived at the Starfish Adventure Park."

Yu Wenhao and Qiqi walked back to where they had parked. Officer Zhou and the others returned, and the instructor arrived with a large group of people.

Not far from here is Shuangfu Road, and across Shuangfu Road is Qianjiang Cemetery. When the instructor said "across," he wasn't referring to the other side of the river, but rather the other side of Shuangfu Road.

Yu Wenhao and Qiqi, one shining a flashlight to the left and the other to the right, walked side by side. A chilly night wind blew, and fine raindrops stung their faces; it was hard to tell if they were rain or river water carried by the wind. Both of them pulled up the hoods of their down jackets and walked forward with their arms tucked under their bodies.

"No, no, not here. It's next to Chengfu Garden in Qianjiang Cemetery, in Zhoupu Ecological Cemetery. My mother died early and was originally buried in Lingshan Scenic Area. Later, not all the graves in Zhoupu were moved to Zhoupu Ecological Cemetery," the old man's son said.

The instructor assigned two teams: one team searched the long stretch of wasteland and swamp between the road and the North Branch River on the left side of the road, while the other team searched the fields on the right side of the road, and the rest searched the road together in a carpet search.

Yu Wenhao sighed inwardly.

The old man likely crossed Shuangfu Road from here and headed towards the cemetery on the other side.

Everyone accepted the order and set off. Along both sides of the road, dozens of meters were filled with the beams of flashlights, like fireflies, moving upstream in the cold night. Loud shouts rose and fell in the darkness.

"Come on, what are you dawdling for? Let's hurry over there and look for it," the instructor shouted.

"Yes, my dad is probably here to see my mom!" the old man's son exclaimed.

Yu Wenhao clearly remembered that it wasn't raining when the old man got on and off the bus. The old man didn't have an umbrella. If he were still in the wilderness now, in this cold wind and rain... Yu Wenhao's heart tightened, and she dared not think any further.

They walked down the Zhoupu Port Bridge and arrived at the entrance of the Sea Starfish Ecological Adventure Park. Yu Wenhao's phone rang. It was Officer Zhou. Yu Wenhao answered it quickly. Officer Zhou asked where they were.

After searching for so long without any results, everyone was cold and tired. Standing there, they were all at a loss. They had searched all the places they could, and they didn't know what to do next.

Everyone searched for various means of transportation to get to the small square. Four people squeezed into the car that had been asked for a ride, while those who couldn't get a ride walked there.

Qiqi suddenly said from the side, "In our village, there is also an old man whose mind is sometimes clear and sometimes not. When he is not clear, he will go to his old woman's grave and say that he wants to take her home."

They parked the car at the tightly closed gate of the concrete company. Officer Zhou and two others went upstream, while Yu Wenhao and Qiqi went downstream to search. Fortunately, the rain had stopped by then. The beams of their flashlights could cover the complex terrain along the riverbank. If anyone was in the area, they could be spotted from the road.

After parking the car in the small square, Yu greeted them and they got out of the car. The instructor told them that this was the last camera where the old man was found. There were no more cameras up to the end of the road, where there was a police checkpoint. They had already contacted them, but they had not seen the old man. If the old man was missing, it was in this area.

Yu said hello.

The instructor asked, "Is your mother on the other side?"

The old man's son immediately shook his head and said no, "The relatives who used to live here have all moved away because of the demolition. I only have one older sister, but she lives in Ningbo, not here."

The cultural square in Hangfu Village where the elderly man was found is more than a kilometer away from where they are now parked. The guide said that since they found him there, they should continue to search upstream. So we all started searching upstream from the cultural square in Hangfu Village.

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