Chapter 340: The Note Inside the Backpack

2022-05-20

“Another one’s gone missing?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Sun Qingqing’s voice trembled as she spoke. “Yes, another one. This time it’s a boy from our class named Li Jun. We thought he’d gone home after school like usual, but now his mother is calling, saying she can’t find him anywhere.”

“School let out at five, and she’s only calling now?” I pressed. “How many hours has it been?”

Sun Qingqing’s words began to break with tears. “Li Jun’s dad runs a business, so he’s barely at home. He never shows up for parent meetings either. When I visited their home, his mom would play mahjong late into the night every day. I doubt she really knows when he comes back, which is probably why she didn’t notice he was missing until now.”

I frowned. “What kind of parents are these? Check the surveillance footage. We need to find Li Jun.”

Sun Qingqing agreed, her fear coming through even over the phone. She sounded close to crying already. Two students missing from the same class? No matter if they disappeared outside the school, people would still hold the homeroom teacher responsible. If anything bad happened to the kids, Sun Qingqing probably wouldn’t be able to keep her job as their homeroom teacher.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the disappearances of Hu Ningning and Li Jun, along with Gu Hui’s death, were all somehow connected. But we still didn’t know what the children were up to. I remembered a case where a child had gone missing and after a full day’s search, it turned out they’d just fallen asleep under their own bed.

Let me clear up a common misunderstanding. Movies and TV like to dramatize that police won’t open a missing persons case until someone has been gone twenty-four hours. That’s not true. With the exception of adult men, who sometimes require a twenty-four-hour wait, police will file a case immediately for minors under eighteen, women over eighteen, and people with disabilities—you never have to wait a full twenty-four hours.

In child disappearance cases, those first twenty-four hours are the critical window. Lots of analysis and real-life experience have led to an effective method known as the ‘Ten People, Four Directions’ search.

When a child goes missing, calling the police and mobilizing every relative to help is the bare minimum. Ideally, you want about ten people—more is better—to search in four directions from the spot where the child disappeared. That’s where the ‘Ten People, Four Directions’ name comes from.

Four people are assigned to look in the north, south, east, and west, up to two kilometers out in each direction. Another four head straight to every train and bus station in the city, in case someone tries to take the child away. One person coordinates the information, and the last one waits at home, just in case the child comes back and nobody notices.

This method increases the chances of finding a missing child, but someone like Li Jun’s mom, who didn’t even know what time her kid came home and waited hours before asking, was just careless. Of course, when I was that age, kids walked home from school alone all the time. If your parents picked you up, the other kids would call you a coward.

After I hung up, Old Hu’s wife anxiously asked, “Did you find my granddaughter?”

I shook my head. “No, Hu Ningning’s still missing, but now a boy from her class is gone too.”

Gu Chen looked over at me. “Do you think the two cases are related? First Hu Ningning disappeared, now another child.”

I paused, then admitted I couldn’t answer for sure. We’d have to see how things developed. But deep down, I couldn’t shake the feeling they were all connected. What exactly was Teacher Gao up to? Could he have something to do with the two missing kids?

We didn’t have any more clues, and no one knew much of anything.

The heavy rain outside had died down, but a light drizzle still lingered. The weather had turned cold, and my thin shirt wasn’t enough anymore. I glanced at everyone and said, “I don’t think we’ll find them tonight. In this weather, everyone rushes home. Hardly anyone would be out on the streets, let alone see two kids. We should wait. If there isn’t any news by sunrise, let’s check out the town.”

Gu Chen nodded.

That night, I slept in the side room at Gu Chen’s place, sharing the same kang bed. As expected, Gu Chen asked me about Zhao Mingkun. He’d clearly noticed something confusing about my connection with Zhao Mingkun. If I’d been threatened by him, why would I be let off so easily?

Thinking about it, I said, “Honestly, I can’t give you a clear answer before all this is resolved. Let me ask you something—don’t you feel like someone on our team is playing tricks? Especially when it comes to Wu Zui. It’s like he knows our every move and leads us around by the nose. Something’s off. Don’t you think?”

Gu Chen was quiet for a minute before responding. “When you put it that way, after that thing happened, my superior told me I’d be better off staying out of it. That’s why he reassigned me. He never said why, but I figure something big is about to happen.”

I remembered being arrested and taken to some unknown place, where a mysterious person warned me about a traitor inside our organization, though I never saw who it was. He’d hidden himself well.

And when Sister Mao gave me the money, there was another secret note from someone. I’m still not sure who.

I sighed. “Looking at the situation, it’s probably Xiao Liu. What I don’t get is, Xiao Liu was personally chosen by Team Leader Shao, just like us, and has been at his side even longer than we have. That means from the very beginning, Wu Zui was watching and controlling us. But why would Team Leader Shao bring in someone he knew nothing about?”

Gu Chen laced his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. “I have no idea. Our first operation with the Special Investigation Team was tagging along with you to those beggars’ dens. I thought you knew Xiao Liu better than me.”

I shook my head. “I don’t.”

Gu Chen just sighed, saying nothing.

Dongxing City might look calm now, but under the surface, chaos was brewing. Two departments positioned against each other, different factions vying for a cut. Sister Mao and her subordinates were swept along, as were me and Zhao Mingkun, plus others whose loyalties were in question, not to mention the shadowy Wu Zui gang lurking in the dark.

It’s just a tangled mess. Everyone wanted something, but who’d still be standing when the dust settled was anyone’s guess.

The night passed quietly. At dawn, the village rooster crowed early. I checked the time—barely past six in the morning. Still groggy, I rubbed my eyes and pulled the curtain back. The summer sky was bright, the rain gone, but the ground outside was a muddy mess after last night’s downpour, and the roads were still tough to walk.

Gu Chen was next to me, bare-chested, doing push-ups. When he saw I was awake, he stood up.

“Any news about the kids?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Gu Chen replied, wiping himself down with a towel he’d snagged from the room. “No news all night. I don’t think this is a simple case of kids getting lost.”

I looked over at him, speaking slowly. “Based on what we’ve learned so far, wasn’t it Hu Ningning who left on her own? Sun Qingqing told us before that Hu Ningning never goes out by herself, but this time she did. So why now?”

I paused, half talking to myself. “Maybe she had something specific to take care of. Otherwise, why would an eight-year-old girl go out alone? And Li Jun didn’t go home all day either. It’s possible the two of them left together.”

Gu Chen asked, “So, what would two little kids go out to do?”

I glanced at Gu Chen. “Maybe… they went on a date?”

“A date?” Gu Chen shook his head. “They’re eight, what kind of date could they have?”

I looked at the muddy road outside. “Come on, we should check in at the town. Call and tell them to come claim Teacher Gao’s body. And let your dad know we’re heading out.”

Gu Chen nodded.

Right then, Gu Chen’s phone rang. He glanced at it—an unknown number.

“It’s probably Sun Qingqing,” I said. “Let me answer.”

“Hello?” I picked up.

“It’s Sun Qingqing,” she said. “We still haven’t found either kid, but we did find Hu Ningning’s backpack. It was on the side of the road.”

“Okay. What was inside?”

“Just the usual school stuff, but we also found a note.”

“What kind of note?”

“One that someone left there on purpose…”