Hospital 444

Hearing what Li Jun had said, Village Chief Ge’s expression changed instantly.

Ge Pingyan had been able to compete with Shen Zhian for the position of village chief and ultimately win because he possessed the ability to read people and assess situations. Merely hearing that snippet of conversation enabled him to quickly understand the implications.

Village Chief Ge immediately said, "Hmm, it seems there has been a complication. I’ll go up and ask. Jia Yan, you and the other cadres wait here."

"Village Chief!" a village cadre said urgently, "Shall we also go?"

"There might be danger, you all stay here, I’m going!"

After that, Ge Pingyan quickly jogged over to the scene.

With just a few words, he had crafted the image of a good village chief who leads by example in the face of danger. And those few village cadres certainly weren’t about to risk their lives for slight flattery, given that in this sealed-off village, there was no longer any official career to speak of.

"As expected from an experienced cadre, the village chief really has high awareness!"

"Yes, the village chief is an official after all. If an official doesn’t stand up for the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes!"

Ge Pingyan ran up to Li Jun, who was just about to say something, only to be interrupted by the village chief.

"Li Jun," Ge Pingyan said in a low voice, "has the fog spread?"

"No, it hasn’t..."

"Good." Ge Pingyan glanced behind him and said, "Keep any big issues to yourself for now. The village cadres are watching from behind. Later, don’t say anything, just report that we encountered some danger but there were no casualties."

"But, Village Chief..."

"No buts! Only speak when it’s just me and Jia Yan left! Come!"

For Ge Pingyan, maintaining the stability of the village was his top priority, and he could not allow any chaos to ensue. It was just like what the actor from his own family in "A World Without Thieves" said: once people lose confidence, it becomes hard to lead the team.

After the patrol ended, he brought Li Jun and the others to the village cadres and said, "Gentlemen, it was all good, this time it was quite thrilling. One of the team member’s porcelain dolls got completely lost, but no major incident happened."

Dai Wei admired Village Chief Ge upon hearing this. In such a short time, he had noticed that his porcelain doll was gone and used it to explain what Ge Pingyan earlier referred to as "something to report." It was also fortunate he hadn’t said "there was an accident," otherwise it would be difficult to fabricate a believable story.

"He managed to survive even after losing an entire porcelain doll?" the village cadres asked in surprise, looking at Dai Wei, "Is this child on his first patrol today? A calf doesn’t fear a tiger because it’s new!"

"Full of youthful potential, indeed! Village Chief, this youngster should be nurtured well!"

In the past few years, to stabilize public sentiment, Village Chief Ge had held several "Excellent Patrol Member" commendation meetings in the village, packaging them individually into village heroes based on their patrol stories, and the deceased patrol members were termed as "martyrs." This certainly inspired the villagers greatly, and many even saw patrolling as a glorious and sacred mission. This also led to great support for the Village Chief’s proposal to extend the age range for patrol members, and the village committee was currently discussing this proposal.

Village Chief Ge Pingyan’s great prestige in the village was inseparably tied to these maneuvers. The village cadres behind him, including the director of the village committee, the director of public security, the women’s director, and others, were all suggesting that Dai Wei should be included in the new year’s commendation meeting.

What followed was a series of unremarkable flattery, and after most had left, Village Chief Ge said, "I’d like to have a word alone with a few of the young comrades," prompting the village cadres to leave.

On the scene, only Village Chief Ge Pingyan, his assistant (who was also his younger brother) Ge Jiayan, and nine patrol team members remained.

"Follow me!" he commanded.

Afterwards, the village chief led them into the office of the village committee.

"Jia Yan, you go out and keep watch for me. If anyone comes, come in and say that they have something to report to me."

"Okay." Ge Jiayan, a confidant of the Village Chief, promptly walked out without asking further questions.

In the village, without electric lights, the only sources of illumination were flashlights (small living necessities provided by the temple), candles, and matches. To save resources, the village chief had only lit a few candles.

This made the village chief’s office seem eerily gloomy.

"Li Jun, you speak first," the village chief directed, pointing at the others, "The rest of you go sit in the next room for a bit until I’m done asking him questions. Ruping, take a candle over there."

"Yes, Dad... I mean, Village Chief," Li Ruping immediately picked up a candle.

Upon hearing the Village Chief’s words, Dai Wei realized the Village Chief intended to verify the truth by questioning them separately.

"All right, Village Chief."

Dai Wei followed the others into the resting room next to the office.

In the past, this room was used to receive officials from higher up, usually the party secretary for the village. Before Nanmian Village was administratively merged with other villages, they didn’t have their own party secretary. After the fog sealed the village, Village Chief Ge became the highest leader of the village.

The door was closed, and the voices of the village head and Li Jun were not loud outside, so they could not hear clearly.

"Wait a minute, I don’t want to stay here!"

At that moment, Li Ruping’s younger sister, Li Yanping, suddenly shook her head and said, "One of us might be an extra ’person,’ possibly from the unknown entity in the fog! Isn’t it very dangerous for me to be here?"

"Yanping!"

"Sister, I have to go out, I must!"

"I want to go out, too!" This time, it was Su Wenqing who spoke, and obviously, Li Yanping was not the only one with this thought.

Just as they were all about to leave in unison, a person stepped out, blocking the doorway.

It was Li Dongshan, who was the oldest of those present!

"No one is allowed to go out!" Li Dongshan even closed the door, "Especially because there might be a dangerous ’person’ among us, we can’t go out. If you leave and someone in the village dies, who will be responsible?"

"Then what do you mean?"

"We have to see what the village head decides!" Li Dongshan glanced at everyone and said, "The village head’s idea is correct. By questioning us one by one, we can clearly see if there are any discrepancies in our memories, which will make it easier to identify that ’person.’ Everyone has to trust the village head. Do you think the village head hasn’t figured out what’s happened? He’s taking a risk by questioning us alone, isn’t he?"

This statement left everyone dumbfounded.

Village Head Ge’s prestige was so high in the village that after Li Dongshan spoke, everyone was at a loss for words.

"Yes," Li Ruping, who was quite discerning, said, "I’m the village head’s daughter-in-law, and he still made me stay with you all, without any special treatment!"

This left Li Yanping speechless for a moment.

"Then let’s follow the village head’s arrangements." At this time, Jiang Shan, who was a towering one meter ninety, stood up. His height was so imposing that when he stood, he brought a lot of pressure to everyone: "I absolutely, unconditionally support Village Head Ge!"

By now, many people had shifted their gazes toward Dai Wei. And Dai Wei realized that no one wanted to sit with him.

Many had already begun to subconsciously consider him the source of the disaster, even suspecting that he might be the unknown entity that came out of the fog.

Most crucially... he didn’t have the bamboo pole and porcelain doll! This made his suspicion appear even greater!

Actually, Dai Wei himself was puzzled. Why was he the only one who remembered Captain Lin Tai?

After a while, Li Jun opened the door and said, "Dai Wei, the village head wants you to come over."

"Okay..."

Dai Wei walked outside and quickly reached the village head’s desk.

"Village head, I..."

"Wait a minute." The village head stood up and said, "You saw Lin Tai, right?"

"Yes, I did."

"Lin Tai disappeared after noon. My wife was so anxious she almost went mad, and now you’re telling me... you saw him this afternoon, and he even participated in tonight’s patrol, right?"

"Yes..."

"Tell me what he was wearing."

Based on his memory, Dai Wei described the shape and color of Lin Tai’s hat, coat, trousers, and shoes in detail.

After speaking, the village head’s expression changed drastically.

Before he disappeared, Lin Tai had not even left the house because he had to patrol every night, so he was sleeping all morning. The outfit described by Dai Wei was what he was supposed to wear after lunch when he was about to go out. But as soon as he got dressed up at home and was ready to leave, his wife turned around for a moment, and Lin Tai vanished abruptly.

Ge Pingyan had not told anyone about Lin Tai’s attire! After all, everyone in the village knew Lin Tai, and they didn’t need a description to help search for him!

Dai Wei couldn’t possibly have known about Lin Tai’s outfit!

So...

He truly had seen Lin Tai!