Chapter 449 – Disappearing into Thin Air?
It was the Qingming Festival, and Zhang Changzheng, who had been working in the provincial capital, returned with his wife to pay respects to their ancestors.
Three years earlier, Zhang Changzheng had been promoted to the province, and naturally, his wife had moved there with their two children.
However, his parents had been unwilling to leave and had stayed behind in their old home in Anren County.
Zhang Changzheng and his wife would always bring their children back during holidays.
This time, during Qingming, their family of four returned again.
Zhang Changzheng even brought his wife and children to the Xu family.
The Xu family, of course, was delighted and welcomed their arrival warmly.
“Uncle Changzheng, do you have any new and interesting cases to share with us lately?” Xu Jinning asked.
In the past, whenever Zhang Changzheng visited the Xu family, he would talk about some of the newer cases he could share with Xu Jinning.
Zhang Changzheng had a talent for storytelling. Even the most ordinary cases would become thrilling and full of twists when he told them.
Of course, there were also some cases that were truly strange and unexpected, which made Xu Jinning even more curious.
So, every time Zhang Changzheng came, Xu Jinning would always ask if there were any new cases that didn’t require confidentiality that he could talk about.
Looking at Xu Jinning with a gentle expression, Zhang Changzheng said, “You won’t believe it, but there is one.”
“This case is not only new but also unusual, and to this day, we still have no leads.”
Zhang Changzheng thought that Xu Jinning was his lucky star, and since she always had some unique ideas, perhaps she could offer a fresh perspective.
Hearing that their father was going to tell a case story, Zhang Changzheng’s two children quickly sat down to listen as well.
The other members of the Xu family also perked up their ears.
Zhang Changzheng cleared his throat and began, “Lately, in my bureau, we’ve been getting reports from people saying their things have gone missing.”
“Actually, losing things is a pretty ordinary occurrence,” Zhang Changzheng continued. “But recently, the number of people coming to report stolen items has increased significantly.”
“The things these people have lost are quite bizarre.”
“Some lost a few pounds of rice.”
“Some lost a bag of candy.”
“Some lost a slab of pork…”
“And some even lost two chickens…”
At first, the reported missing items were all types of food.
As Zhang Changzheng explained this, Xu Jinning recalled that if it were modern times, people wouldn’t report such small losses to the police.
But in this era, food wasn’t as abundant, and when things like this went missing, people really would go to the police.
In the past, public security officers didn’t always focus on solving major cases. Often, they helped people find lost chickens or ducks. Even in modern times, police sometimes help find missing cats or dogs.
So as she listened to Zhang Changzheng talk, Xu Jinning wasn’t particularly surprised.
“But recently, the type of missing items has changed.”
“And the number of people reporting lost items has continued to grow.”
“Moreover, the way things are disappearing is quite strange.”
“It’s as if they’re vanishing into thin air.”
Zhang Changzheng went on, providing an example. A while ago, someone reported losing a brand-new bicycle.
But when the police asked how it went missing and whether there were any suspects, the situation became more peculiar.
“The man was a bachelor, and he had saved up to buy that new bicycle,” Zhang Changzheng explained. “He hadn’t even ridden it yet. He carried it home, planning to use it the next day for work.”
“At the time, he locked the door from the inside, and then went to the kitchen to prepare some food.”
“But when he came out of the kitchen, about 20 minutes later, the bicycle that had been in the courtyard was gone.”
The door to his courtyard had remained closed the entire time, with no signs of it being opened.
And while he was in the kitchen, he hadn’t heard any noise coming from the courtyard.
There were no footprints in the courtyard either.
What made it even more baffling was that the courtyard walls were over three meters high, and the top was lined with broken glass shards to prevent anyone from climbing over.
So, with such high walls and the added glass, it seemed highly unlikely that someone could have climbed in.
Especially considering that they would have had to steal the bicycle without making any noise—it seemed almost impossible.
“There were no traces, no footprints on the ground, and no marks showing the bicycle had been pushed away. After our team investigated, we found that the bicycle seemed to have vanished into thin air.”
At first, Zhang Changzheng and his team suspected that the man might have been lying.
But they eventually confirmed that he wasn’t. He really had bought the bicycle, and just as he described, it had disappeared without a trace.
“It wasn’t just that man who lost his bicycle. Some people reported missing money. The money was locked away, the keys kept close, and no one else had been in the house during that time. Yet when they opened the safe again, the money was gone, and the lock remained perfectly intact.”
There were numerous reports of missing items.
Some people lost watches, others lost gold and silver jewelry, and there was even a doctor who reported that some rare, antique books from his collection had vanished…
In any case, the number of people reporting stolen items had been steadily increasing during this period.
“…And based on their descriptions, as well as our own investigations, it truly seemed as though these missing items had disappeared into thin air.”
“But…”
Zhang Changzheng paused for a moment and looked at Xu Jinning. “Ningning, do you think it’s really possible for things to disappear into thin air?”
In the past, Zhang Changzheng would have dismissed the idea outright.
But ever since he met Xu Jinning, and especially since that time when he had a mind-reading experience with her, he had begun to believe in some aspects of metaphysics.
Particularly after their investigation turned up no suspects, he started wondering if there might be some truth to metaphysical explanations.
Or perhaps there was another possibility that he hadn’t considered.
Moreover, after analyzing all the reports, Zhang Changzheng and his team had started to suspect that the missing items were likely taken by the same person.
As for who that person was, how they took the items, and where those things were now…
They had no clue.
Zhang Changzheng’s question left Xu Jinning momentarily stunned. She wasn’t sure how to answer.
If this were modern times, she would have immediately said that such metaphysical occurrences were impossible.
But…
She had transmigrated!
Was there anything more metaphysical than that?
So, she really didn’t know how to respond.
At that moment, Xu Jinning thought about one tool that could have been very useful in this situation.
Surveillance cameras!
If these households had installed surveillance cameras like in modern times, they would have been able to figure out how the items went missing and who took them. As long as the cameras were functioning, they could have checked the footage.
But in this era, electricity hadn’t even been fully established yet, and there was no internet.
Naturally, surveillance cameras were out of the question.
So, once something went missing, it all came down to human investigation.
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