How Nothing Was Found  

Alice knew that Beryl had figured it out; 

 "Could they have changed locations? Let's search elsewhere." The flame of hope in Herschel's heart was not extinguished. Others turned and walked away, saying, "We'll search separately, and if we find anything, we'll share it."

An hour later, everyone returned dejectedly. Javier was also disappointed; he cleared his throat and said, "Their gang is large. I guess they must have consumed the supplies they found themselves, or maybe they moved to a different place. If not, let it go. Fortunately, our medicines and other daily necessities are still intact, and we can exchange them with the villagers."

Everyone had to accept this explanation. Javier discussed with Crawford how to make the exchange. Alice went out to find her car, thankfully still parked in its original place.

At that moment, footsteps approached from behind. Alice looked up, and a furious Beryl was walking towards her. She subtly curved her lips and walked away. They reached an empty mountain hollow where Beryl couldn't catch up. She shouted, "Alice, stop right there!"

Alice, walking briskly, stopped and calmly turned to face her. "Why are you following me?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Beryl felt a moment of panic.

Alice unabashedly pulled out a silenced gun in front of her, the dark muzzle aimed at Beryl. "Do you have anything else to say?" she asked.

Coldness surged through Beryl, cold sweat dripped, and she looked around, but there was no one. Even if she shouted her lungs out, no one would hear.

Suddenly, she realized, her eyes widened in shock, "Did you deliberately lure me here?"

Beryl swallowed nervously, trembling all over, her lips turning pale. She spoke with panic in her voice, "Alice, I... I was wrong. I won't use this to threaten you again. Can you spare me?"

"Only dead people won't reveal secrets," Alice's eyes filled with growing intent to kill.

A crack of a breaking branch echoed suddenly. Beryl instinctively turned her head and found a man standing not far away, watching them. She felt a sense of relief—she was saved!

Alice, with displeasure in her dark eyes, glanced at Hurley. "Disturbing, continue," Hurley nonchalantly said.

Upon hearing this, Beryl stiffened, pleadingly looking at Hurley with tear-filled eyes. "Please save me. She's a devil and will eventually kill everyone."

"If I were you, I wouldn't foolishly provoke someone who wants to kill me," Hurley disdainfully glanced at Beryl. Coldly, he added, "Besides, she is my lifesaver." Hurley looked at the composed and self-possessed Alice, his gaze softening both in expression and tone.

Alice: "…"

"Bang~" The moment she spoke, a bullet was fired. Before Beryl could turn and run, a bullet hole appeared on her head. Her eyes were filled with astonishment as she tried to say something, but eventually, she fell straight to the ground.

A hint of interest flashed in Hurley's eyes, "She must have thought you would look back, giving her a chance to escape."

The reason Alice didn't turn around was that she hadn't heard any footsteps. She had sensed Hurley's presence the moment he appeared.

"What did you hear?" Alice aimed her gun at Hurley, dangerous narrowing of her eyes.

Hurley raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, "I just arrived, heard nothing. Also, I'm on your side; I won't disclose what I saw just now."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and sensing that the man seemed unafraid of her shooting, Alice wordlessly lowered her gun.

" 

Alice scrutinized him once again. The man wore a white shirt, black pants, his exposed arms showing well-defined strength. His extraordinarily handsome face surpassed that of a celebrity, and his deep black eyes were unfathomable.

This man was definitely not ordinary, at least more dangerous than he appeared on the surface.

"When Crawford was being interrogated, I overheard someone asking him about the location of the weapons."

She glanced at Hurley, turned around, and was about to leave. Hurley thought she might inquire about the location of the weapons, but to his surprise, she seemed indifferent.

"You're just leaving like this?" he asked loudly.

"Otherwise? Should I arrange for her funeral?" Alice didn't even turn her head.

Hurley found her reasoning surprisingly reasonable and followed her as she left.

The next morning, the convoy was still exchanging goods with the villagers, and they unanimously decided to continue their journey in the evening.

 Beryl is missing," Herschel hurriedly approached.

"Wasn't she with you? How could she go missing?" Javier frowned.

Herschel scratched his head, "She didn't come back last night. Initially, I thought she went to someone's house, but this morning, I searched the village twice, and everyone said they hadn't seen Beryl."

Javier then called everyone to join the search, "Since the sun is not too hot now, and the temperature is bearable, let's split up and look for her."

The members of the convoy reluctantly stood up. No one wanted to go out on such a day; going out and coming back felt like being drenched in rain, with sweat soaking them from head to toe.

Herschel knew the principle of motivating people, so he promised, "Anyone who helps me find Beryl gets two cans of meat."

Everyone perked up at the mention of canned meat. The big man spoke straightforwardly, "You should've mentioned the reward earlier."

After all, nobody liked to do something challenging without a good incentive.

In order not to attract attention, Alice walked with the main group until they reached a fork in the road leading to the village. Others assumed she was going in that direction to find someone and didn't pay much attention.

Alice strolled through the village.surrounded by mountains, with a vast area of vegetation. Even with the sun out, the temperature felt comfortable, and a gentle breeze carried refreshing moisture.

Not far away, under a tree, several children were playing hopscotch, their faces radiating innocent happiness. Alice stood there for a while, realizing that she might not see such bright and innocent smiles again in the future.

"Who the hell killed Beryl? Show yourself; I'll fucking kill you."

Considering Beryl's beauty encountering someone with ill intentions was also possible.

However, Herschel didn't believe this explanation. He lifted his head and saw Alice standing at the outer edge of the crowd, expressionless.

"Alice, I remember you have a gun. Did you do it? Did you kill Beryl because you had a conflict with her?" Herschel grabbed her shoulders, glaring at her fiercely.

Alice forcefully pushed his hands away, indifferently saying, "To add crime to my name, what's the difficulty? It's true that I had a conflict with Beryl, but which eye of yours saw me kill her?"

Javier then looked at Alice, "Is there anyone who can vouch for what you were doing last night?"