Stuck on Laravel debugging: Controller returning empty array despite correct Eloquent query results

I'm completely tearing my hair out trying to fix a critical bug for our 'Laravel Quick Fix & Consultation' service, and I'm hoping someone here has faced this specific nightmare before. It's driving me absolutely insane!

The core problem is this:

• I have a Laravel controller method that's supposed to fetch data using Eloquent and return it as JSON.
• When I use dd($query->get()) *just before* the return statement, the data is perfectly there, a collection of models with all the correct attributes.
• However, the moment it hits the return response()->json($query->get()) or even just return $query->get(), the API response is an empty JSON array []. Every. Single. Time.

Here's what I've already tried for this Laravel debugging:

• Verified the database connection and credentials are correct and working.
• Checked the model's $fillable and $guarded properties (though this shouldn't affect reading).
• Confirmed model relationships are correctly defined and eager loading isn't breaking anything.
• Checked server error logs (laravel.log, Nginx/Apache logs) – nothing relevant.
• Inspected network requests in the browser – the response body is indeed [].
• Tried simplifying the query drastically, even just return Model::all() – same empty array.
• Checked for any middleware that might be stripping the data.

It feels like the data is vanishing into thin air between the last dd() and the actual HTTP response. Anyone faced this exact issue before? I'm completely stuck and need a fresh pair of eyes!