Chapter 55 Disappearance

Feeling the surging power within his body, Han Ning suddenly twitched his ears.

A burst of hurried footsteps echoed through the wind and rain.

He quickly suppressed his transformation.

The dark golden fur receded back into his skin, and his expanded muscles returned to their normal state.

Almost the exact moment he resumed his human form, a pink figure dashed out anxiously from the rain-veiled corner.

"Yuna?"

Han Ning recognized the newcomer.

At this moment, Yu Na's expression was filled with anxiety, entirely devoid of the cold and aloof demeanor she had worn over the past few days.

Her large eyes swept constantly across her surroundings, as if searching for something.

When she spotted Han Ning, her eyes lit up, and she hurried over.

"Han Ning!" Yu Na's voice trembled slightly. "Something's happened!"

Feigning a calm composure, Han Ning quickly fumbled with his clothes and trousers, which had been shredded to pieces during his transformation, exposing his body.

He used the ragged garments to barely cover his sensitive areas.

"What happened? Don't panic, tell me slowly!"

"Ah!"

Catching sight of Han Ning's rakish posture, Yu Na let out a sharp gasp, and a blush rapidly bloomed across her fair face.

However, she had no spare energy to care about why Han Ning was streaking in the wind and rain. Instead, she blurted out anxiously:

"It's been a whole day! Qianqian-jie still hasn't returned. According to the plan, they should have been back by yesterday evening at the latest!"

Sure enough, the only person who could cause Yu Na such deep anxiety was Lin Qianqian.

"A whole day?" Han Ning frowned slightly.

Could it be that while I was receiving the Beast Spirit's recognition, a whole day had passed in the outside world?

A sense of wonder welled up in Han Ning's heart.

"A whole day and a night!" Yu Na added.

"Let's head back first."

Han Ning immediately brought Yu Na and Xuebing back to the Biyun Resort.

The moment they stepped into the main building of the resort, Han Ning sensed that the atmosphere inside was wrong.

The lobby, usually used for rest and socializing, was packed with people, mostly Awakened individuals and their families.

The disappearance of President Wu and several vice presidents had evidently sparked panic among the others.

Scanning the room, Han Ning spotted Xu Ming sitting in an unassuming corner and quietly walked over.

"We must organize a rescue team to go in and look for them. President Wu, Vice President Zhao, and the others must have run into trouble. Every second we delay adds another layer of danger."

A burly man wearing a camouflage vest slammed his fist hard onto a table, speaking loudly to the surrounding Awakened ones.

With the temperature dropping steadily, nearing 10 degrees Celsius, the fact that this guy was wearing only a camouflage vest was a clear testament to his robust physique.

"Is your brain flooded with water?"

A bespectacled, lean-faced man immediately retorted,

"The president, the vice president, and Chen Feng's elite crew make fourteen people in total. Even they got trapped in there for a whole day and night without a trace, and what are we supposed to do? Going out there isn't just seeking death, it's a sheer waste of lives."

"Then what do we do? Just sit here and wait? Wait for them to come back?" The man in the camouflage vest widened his eyes in anger.

"What else can we do? We just have to wait." The bespectacled man sighed.

"To be honest... could it be that they found a boat, sailed straight away, and left us behind?" A faint female voice chimed in from the corner.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

The expressions on many people's faces turned exceptionally intricate.

"Impossible. President Wu is not that kind of person. He promised to stand and fall with us." The man in the camouflage vest shook his head.

However, his expression was no longer as firm as it had been just a moment ago.

"Enough! Stop arguing, all of you!"

An elderly man with graying hair attempted to restore order.

"What's the use of arguing now? The top priority is to figure out the situation..."

"Figure it out? How do you figure it out? Are you going to walk in there and see?" The bespectacled man sneered.

The lobby was in utter chaos; no one could persuade anyone else, and no one could come up with a viable plan.

"A bunch of mob rule rabble." Han Ning sat down beside Xu Ming and made his inner judgment.

Those who pinned their survival entirely on others probably wouldn't live much longer.

"Boss, these people have been arguing for over an hour. Could it be... did President Wu and the others really run into trouble?" Xu Ming whispered.

Before Han Ning could answer,

Yu Na suddenly grabbed his arm and pleaded in a very soft voice,

"Han Ning, I know your strength is formidable—even greater than the vice president's. Please, can you find a way to save Qianqian-jie? She, she means everything to me..."

Han Ning furrowed his brow and remained silent.

He acknowledged Lin Qianqian's strength; her energy-restoration abilities held immense value within a team.

According to Lin Qianqian, although President Wu and the other vice presidents might be slightly inferior in combat prowess compared to his own Level 4 state, they still possessed formidable strength.

Coupled with skilled fighters like Chen Feng and Lu Yunping, a full fourteen people had gone out, and not a single one had returned.

This forced him to remain deeply vigilant.

The Bailu Port berth area was little more than a kilometer in a straight line from the Biyun Resort.

Even with the complex environment and numerous obstacles in the foggy zone, in a day and a night, an ant could have crawled back.

Unless... they had encountered a terrifying crisis far exceeding expectations, or were trapped in some desperate dead-end, unable even to break through and send word.

Faced with unknown dangers, blindly rushing in was by no means a wise course of action.

Just as Han Ning was weighing the pros and cons, and the arguments in the lobby were intensifying,

"Bang! Crash!"

From the direction of the resort's main gates came the muffled sound of a heavy object crashing hard into the water, followed by the sloshing sound of something being dragged across the surface.

The lobby went dead silent for an instant.

Immediately afterward, everyone's eyes snapped toward the front entrance.

"Bang!"

The heavy doors of the resort were burst open.

Outside, Lu Yunping was drenched in blood, his right arm dragging a floating wooden door with a death grip.

Chen Feng lay atop the door with his eyes tightly closed and his face deathly pale. His left arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder, and dark red blood continuously seeped through the gauze wrapping the stump.

Behind them followed several other equally battered Awakened individuals, every single one looking as though they had just been fished out of a pool of blood.

A total of seven people.

"Old Lu?"

"It's Chen Feng, Ah Cai and the others!"

"They're back! Quick, help!"

After a brief, suffocating silence, the lobby erupted.

The crowd cried out and surged forward, hauling the wooden door into the dry area of the lobby with many hands, surrounding the group in a tight circle.

Several Awakened individuals skilled in healing techniques rushed over with emergency supplies and began administering aid to the wounded.

Han Ning stood behind the crowd, quietly observing the figures lying on the ground.

The moment Lu Yunping stepped into the lobby, the molten-gold tiger-head mark between Han Ning's brows grew faintly warm without warning.

With a slight thought, a layer of flowing golden radiance plated the surface of his eyes.

In an instant, the world before him transformed.

In the turbid air, microscopic specks of dust drifted, and the people emitted life halos of varying intensities.

His gaze locked onto Lu Yunping and the others.

"This is..."

A mass of squirming energy, shifting in eerie hues of blue, purple, and red, hovered like a living entity right above Lu Yunping's brain.

The exact same sight appeared on the bodies of the others as well.

Whether it was the heavily wounded and unconscious Chen Feng or the other conscious Awakened ones.

"Cough, cough... Water..." Lu Yunping lay flat on the ground, letting the others tend to him.

Someone immediately handed over a water flask.

He greedily gulped down a few mouthfuls, water mixed with bloody froth spilling down the corner of his mouth, and panted as he spoke:

"We... found a boat... in the berth area..."

"But... the monster guarding the boat... was too terrifying..."

Everyone instinctively halted their movements and listened intently.

"President Wu... Vice President Lin... Vice President Zhao and the others... to cover our retreat, they volunteered to hold the rear... and are still fighting a bitter battle against that horde of monsters..."

He closed his eyes in agony, his body trembling slightly.

"We... only then managed to escape with our lives..."

"Are the president and the others... still alive?" The burly camouflage-vested man grabbed Lu Yunping's shoulders, his voice hoarse.

"I... don't know..." Lu Yunping shook his head with difficulty, his voice intermittent.

"I think... they should still be alive. They... have strong abilities."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" The burly man abruptly stood up, his face a mix of grim resolve. "The president and the others might still be alive! We have to go save them!"

"Right! Go save them!"

"Bring your gear!"

"We can't wait any longer!"

Hearing that President Wu and the other vice presidents were likely still alive acted like a shot of adrenaline, instantly sweeping away the panic in the room.

At least President Wu and the others hadn't found a boat and fled, abandoning them.

Those who had just been arguing over whether to launch a rescue now raised no further objections.

Soon, a rescue team composed of over twenty Awakened individuals was rapidly assembled, every single one of them wearing a solemn expression.

Han Ning watched all of this coldly, like an outsider.

He pushed through the crowd, walked over to Lu Yunping, squatted down, and observed him closely.