Chapter 3181 — Ye Rou'er Goes Missing

"I've missed you too, Yao Yao. How have you been at the Palace of the Dark Night? How is it that you're able to call me? Did the Grand Elder allow you to contact the outside world? Have you been in touch with Wei Zhao?" Gu Pengzhan fired off a whole string of questions.

"I'm the Palace Master of the Palace of the Dark Night now, and no one here can interfere with what I want to do!" Gu Mengyao was full of pride as she said this. "Daddy, don't worry about me. I'm doing very well here, and the Grand Elder doesn't demand anything of me!"

"Ah?" Gu Pengzhan was startled. He had not expected Gu Mengyao to be so formidable! Ye Rou'er, too, had once been Palace Master of the Palace of the Dark Night, but clearly she had held no real power. Gu Mengyao was different—she had scarcely arrived at the Palace of the Dark Night before she had claimed the station that was her due!

"Yes, Daddy. I've already successfully received the inheritance, and I'm now a peak late-stage Yellow Rank expert, so the Grand Elder is very pleased," Gu Mengyao explained. "By the way, have you seen Mommy? Are you both well?"

"Your mother?" Gu Pengzhan was momentarily stunned, then asked hurriedly, "Yao Yao, are you saying your mother has come back?"

"That's right. Haven't you seen her?" Gu Mengyao's heart lurched. Surely nothing had gone wrong? After all, Ye Rou'er had set out half a month ago—why had she still not reached home?

"No, I haven't. Do you mean your mother has returned?" Gu Pengzhan was startled as well, and it suddenly struck him that something might be amiss.

"Daddy, wait a moment—I'll contact you again shortly!" Gu Mengyao was growing anxious. By rights, with Ye Rou'er's early Heaven Rank strength, there should have been no danger; yet Ye Rou'er had most certainly set out, and she had not come home. Where else could she have gone?

Even for an early Heaven Rank expert, Gu Mengyao could not rest easy. After all, the people the Dongfang family had sent before had also been Heaven Rank experts, and Ye Rou'er was truly no match for such people! So Gu Mengyao had to find some trace of Ye Rou'er as quickly as possible.

"All right. The moment you have any word of your mother, tell me at once!" Gu Pengzhan was frantic too, and he spoke hurriedly.

"Yes!" Gu Mengyao hung up and went straight to find the Grand Elder.

These days Gu Mengyao held great authority within the Palace of the Dark Night and could come and go freely anywhere in the Palace—a power Ye Rou'er had never possessed. Even the Grand Elder's own residence she could enter without announcing herself; this too was the Grand Elder's arrangement, so that whenever Gu Mengyao ran into difficulties in her cultivation, she could come consult her at any hour.

And so the disciples of the Palace of the Dark Night had come to see it plainly: Gu Mengyao was the true Palace Master. It was not as it had been in Ye Rou'er's day—the era when the Grand Elder's word was law had passed!

No one dared pay lip service to Gu Mengyao's words. Whatever she said carried the same weight as if the Grand Elder had said it! Such was authority.

"Greetings, Palace Master!" The Grand Elder's maids had once been formidable figures in their own right, and they had never deigned to show Ye Rou'er a courteous face; yet before Gu Mengyao they were utterly respectful. They knew full well that if Gu Mengyao wished them dead, the Grand Elder would not hesitate for an instant.

"Yao Yao, you've come!" The Grand Elder herself came out warmly to welcome her. At the sight of Gu Mengyao her face broke into a broad smile; the more she looked, the more pleased she was.

"Yes, Grand Elder. Just now I called my father, and he says my mother never returned to Donghai City. Wasn't she escorted back by our people?" Gu Mengyao asked outright.

"What? Wan'er didn't go back? That's impossible. It was our people who accompanied her all the way to the vicinity of Gu Pengzhan's company before they left her. How could she not have returned?" The Grand Elder was taken aback and asked, somewhat perplexed.

"All the way to the company? But my father says he never saw her!" Gu Mengyao's heart went cold. Surely nothing had really happened?

"Yao Yao, don't fret yet. I'll call the Shadow Group at once—we still have people in Donghai City, and after Wan'er went back I had Elder Li send extra hands besides. They've reported nothing amiss, which means Wan'er is safe!" As she spoke, the Grand Elder sent someone to summon Elder Li.

Thanks to Gu Mengyao, Elder Li had regained command of the Shadow Group, and his power within the Palace of the Dark Night was at its zenith! When Elder Li arrived, the Grand Elder explained Ye Rou'er's situation to him and then said, "Elder Li, go and ask the Shadow Group members in Donghai City where Wan'er is at present!"

"Yes, I'll go ask right away!" Elder Li went off to make the call, and some ten minutes later he returned with a strange look on his face. He said to Gu Mengyao and the Grand Elder, "Grand Elder, Palace Master, the Shadow Group people in Donghai City say that Elder Ye is presently staying at a hotel across from the Gu Group in Donghai City. Ever since she arrived in Donghai City she has been lodging there, going out now and then to circle the place where Gu Pengzhan lives, but she never stays the night—she always comes back to the hotel to sleep."

"Staying at a hotel nearby? So my mother hasn't met my daddy? And when she goes to the house at night, she only stays outside?" Hearing this, Gu Mengyao too found the business rather strange.

"Yes. Though we can't be certain—after all, the Shadow Group can't follow too closely. Elder Ye is a Heaven Rank expert; if they shadowed her too closely they'd be discovered," Elder Li said.

"Then… is there any way you can reach my mother?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"We can, but the Shadow Group will have to go to her hotel room to find her, since Elder Ye carries no phone or other means of communication." Here Elder Li suddenly thought of something. "There's another way—we can find the number of her hotel room and call her directly."

"Then let's use the second way. Elder Li, please look up the number now," Gu Mengyao instructed.

"Yes, I'll go ask them right away," Elder Li said with a nod.

After a while Elder Li returned and handed a slip of paper with a phone number on it to Gu Mengyao, saying, "Palace Master, this is the telephone in Elder Ye's room!"

Gu Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, took the number, and stepped out of the room to dial her mother Ye Rou'er's number. The Grand Elder and Elder Li did not follow her out—plainly they had no wish to eavesdrop on Gu Mengyao's private affairs.

The call was picked up quickly. Ye Rou'er assumed it was the hotel's service line—she ordered all three meals from the hotel restaurant, so she thought nothing of it—and said directly, "Hello, who is this?"