Not the slightest ripple stirred in my heart at Xiao Cuo's words; the case was gradually coming into focus. If Xiao Xuan was the informant, the entire case would pivot one hundred and eighty degrees, rendering every other clue insignificant.

The police car wailed, and ahead rose a twenty-eight-story skyscraper, majestic and imposing—the headquarters of the Canlon Group. Our small patrol car looked like an insignificant beetle before it.

Xiao Cuo and I got out and headed straight for the lobby, stopping before the reception desk. Facing us was a young woman with light makeup, bearing a striking resemblance to the woman from the modeling agency.

Xiao Cuo, affected by the scene, kept a grim face and said nothing. I stepped forward: "We are police officers. We need to speak with Vice President Liu Shun regarding a matter. Please take us to him."

The receptionist replied, "Mr. Liu is in a meeting right now. Please wait a moment; I will notify him as soon as the meeting concludes."

State-owned enterprises, indeed. Police-civilian cooperation was running smoothly. Xiao Cuo and I sat to the side, passing the time with small talk. Before long, the receptionist returned, saying softly, "The meeting is over. Mr. Liu is in his office. Please follow me."

We arrived at the twelfth floor, and the receptionist led us into a vast office. Upon entering, my eyes immediately caught an enormous, reddish-brown desk. A middle-aged man sat squarely behind it, so perfectly integrated with the furniture that it seemed the desk had been born with him.

Liu Shun looked up, his gaze sharp, then settled into a fixed, practiced smile. "Please, have a seat, both of you. Xiao Li, quickly make tea for our guests."

Xiao Cuo and I settled onto the sofa section beside the desk. After accepting our teacups, Liu Shun finally spoke, "May I ask what brings two officers of your stature here today? What instructions do you have?"

His tone was relaxed and natural, entirely lacking the tension most people display when meeting police officers. That was understandable; as a leader in a major state-owned enterprise, the resources he commanded were far beyond the reach of small-time police like us, hence his complete lack of pressure in our presence.

However, the iron law remains: no matter how powerful a person, once they violate the national law, they stand against the state, and even the smallest officer can bring them down. Therefore, facing him, I felt no pressure either.

"We'd like to inquire about the matter concerning Gu Hengming. Mr. Liu, you must have known him, correct?"

I spoke slowly and politely, while Xiao Cuo sat beside me, opening his dedicated notebook to start recording. This conversation was merely the beginning; once started, it demanded a conclusion. Every word spoken was testimony, capable of proving his innocence or guilt.

"Oh, Gu Hengming. Yes, I know him. Ask whatever you need to know; I will tell you everything I know." Liu Shun was exceedingly cooperative.

"He's dead!"

Liu Shun straightened slightly, feigning surprise. "Dead? When did that happen?"

"This morning."

"Oh, what a pity, what a pity. It wasn't easy for him to start his company, and now it was finally gaining traction, but... Ah, what a shame."

Liu Shun wore an expression of profound regret, as if mourning a friend. But to me, this was the first crack in his facade. According to Huang Yang, Gu Hengming feared this man most of all; thus, Liu Shun was lying.

"What was your relationship with him?"

"Friends, but not particularly close. Just ordinary acquaintances with some business dealings."

"Business dealings? Mr. Liu, could you elaborate?"

"It's like this: I oversee advertising for the group, so I had some interaction with Gu Hengming's modeling agency. We had dinner together twice, strictly official business, you understand. No personal relationship."

The man was clearly lying. If there was no personal connection, why would someone fear him like the plague?

Knowing he was being dishonest, I decided to drop the pleasantries. "Gu Hengming was murdered. The killer is very likely someone he knew."

Liu Shun's body shifted again, resembling a sluggish inchworm wriggling on a leaf. He opened his mouth, pausing before his voice emerged: "Is that so?"

I remained silent, watching him closely, scrutinizing every flicker of his expression. Liu Shun also fell quiet, narrowing his eyes as if deeply contemplating something.

It was a silent battle.

If Liu Shun was the killer or the mastermind behind Gu Hengming's murder, then he was the superior who tipped off Xiao Xuan. As the deputy head of a major state enterprise, he certainly possessed the clout to bribe a police officer.

Everything was falling into place. How would he try to cover his tracks?

"Ask whatever questions you have. I will tell you everything I know." Liu Shun's composure remained, yet I detected a hint of panic.

"Do you know anyone Gu Hengming might have had serious conflicts with recently?"

"That... that I'm not very clear on. As I said earlier, I only met him twice casually; we had no personal ties."

"However, according to intelligence we possess, it seems there was some friction between you and Gu Hengming?" My voice was even, almost synthesized, merely stating a fact.

Liu Shun instantly sat up straight, his eyes wide, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "You suspect me?!"

"No, we are just verifying information. Of course, we hope nothing of the sort has occurred."

"Fine. Since you’ve already investigated beforehand, I won't hide anything. I did have some issues with him." Liu Shun abruptly shifted his demeanor, his surface agitation settling back into calm. "In February, we had several important clients visiting, so we approached Gu Hengming and borrowed some women from his agency to serve as hostesses. However, the quality of his models was too low, and they offended the clients. Consequently, we withheld the final payment and demanded compensation for damages. Because of this, there was indeed some conflict between him and me, but it was purely professional, certainly not as severe as you might imagine."

Having reached this point, it was time for us to withdraw. The next steps would be handled by Zhang Jiewei. He was a criminal investigation expert, capable of investigating Liu Shun's claims and the other matters we hadn't uncovered using the most effective methods. If any new findings contradicted Liu Shun's statements, we could summon him to the station for questioning.

We left the Canlon Group around eleven in the morning. The sun was glaring, but a chill ran through me. A dark thought surfaced: I wonder if Xiao Xuan has been captured?

As soon as the thought appeared, my phone rang, jarring my nerves.

Seeing the caller ID nearly made me collapse. It was Chief Jiang.

If he was calling now, it meant Xiao Xuan’s situation had been clarified, and something terrible must have happened. Her failure to make contact with the outside world didn't prove her innocence; it could only prove the outcome I dreaded.

"Why did you take so long to answer? Lan Jinxuan is missing. You and every member of the Special Operations Unit, except Gao Jianning, must immediately drop whatever you are doing and find her within twenty-four hours!" Chief Jiang’s voice was sharp, making my eardrums vibrate intensely, and my heart seemed to shatter into pieces.

I knew that once a person goes missing, the hope of finding them diminishes exponentially if they aren't located within twenty-four hours, like air escaping an open balloon. From now until this time tomorrow would be the critical window to find Xiao Xuan.

I immediately notified the others, relaying Chief Jiang’s orders and assigning different search sectors. Then, Xiao Cuo and I started searching along the route from the station toward Jia University.

According to Chief Jiang, Xiao Xuan disappeared en route to Jia University when her phone signal suddenly vanished. Technical personnel immediately reported this to the Chief. Fortunately, Xiao Xuan was under close surveillance, so Chief Jiang didn't dismiss it as a simple powered-off phone. He immediately dispatched people to Jia University, but they found no trace of her. Based on his years of experience, he instantly concluded that Lan Jinxuan was missing!

I knew Xiao Xuan's character; she would never abandon her post mid-mission without cause. While I desperately hoped Chief Jiang was wrong, I trusted his judgment, and even more, I trusted my understanding of Xiao Xuan!

Xiao Xuan was heading to Jia University on her own; she must have taken a bus. The closest bus stop to the precinct was served by Route 804, which went directly to Jia University. We immediately drove to the bus company depot and obtained the phone numbers of all 804 bus drivers, calling them one by one. However, the responses on the other end dashed our hopes successively.

I kept encouraging myself: We will find her. She was wearing her police uniform. Such a beautiful police officer would certainly leave an impression on the driver if she boarded.

Finally, a rough voice answered, "Around nine this morning, I recall a female officer boarding. I think she got off at the Jia University stop."

My heart soared with joy. Without even taking the time to express my gratitude, Xiao Cuo and I sped toward Jia University.

Xiao Cuo had been running around with me all day and was parched. There was a convenience store nearby, so we stopped the car to grab two bottles of water. Just then, a police car pulled up. The door opened, and Zhang Jiewei leaped out, shouting at me, startled by his sudden appearance, "Have you found Lan Jinxuan yet?"

Seeing how tense he looked, the suppressed annoyance in my chest boiled over into anger. I yelled back, "What are you doing running around here? Isn't it chaotic enough already?"

I had assigned him the task of reviewing surveillance footage along the route from the precinct to Jia University. He had abandoned his post—a clear breach of discipline. Still, my own reaction was excessive. But his intense concern truly infuriated me. She was my girlfriend; why was he displaying such worry?

Zhang Jiewei ignored my attitude and persisted, "Any leads?"

Xiao Cuo, sensing trouble, quickly interjected, "Not yet, where have you been?"

Zhang Jiewei sighed. "I finished reviewing the tapes. I saw her board a bus, but there were no more cameras near the vicinity, so I came over here."

Hearing this, my tension eased slightly, not because I forgave him, but because his account matched the bus driver's. This confirmed Xiao Xuan disappeared after getting off the bus.

The three of us immediately split up, canvassing door-to-door. Soon, we heard Zhang Jiewei call out loudly, "Hurry over here, this lady saw something!"

I ran faster than a rabbit, arriving at least half a minute ahead of Xiao Cuo. Panting, I rushed to the woman operating an aluminum door and window shop. "Where did she go?"

The woman said, "A little after nine this morning, I saw a very pretty female officer walking this way. I thought she was here to check something, so I looked twice. Then she walked right past my doorway."

I looked around. This spot was about two hundred meters from Jia University. There were four or five side streets branching off the main road. This meant Xiao Xuan vanished down one of those side alleys.

But she was on an assignment. Unless there was an urgent reason, she would never voluntarily turn down a side street. There had to be a cause that drew her away from the main thoroughfare and into the side roads.

What cause?

My mind raced, but Zhang Jiewei already had the answer. He stated calmly, "She ran into an acquaintance."

As expected of a criminal investigation expert, he thought of it immediately. But I wouldn't praise or thank him; I only wanted to find Xiao Xuan faster.

However, Xiao Xuan was a local; she knew countless people. Tracing her acquaintance now felt like searching for a needle in the ocean.

We proceeded to search down every side street, questioning every roadside vendor, but ultimately found nothing. Since there were no surveillance points here, our search hit a wall.

By dawn, the search radius had expanded to nearly ten kilometers around Jia University, but we still had no breakthroughs.

Hope was slipping through my fingers like grains of sand, impossible to grasp. I didn't know what tomorrow would bring.

Would the sun even rise?

I didn't go home that night. Zhang Jiewei and another officer temporarily assigned to us remained in the main monitoring control room, taking turns watching the recordings. After all, the disappearance of an officer was a disgrace to the entire force. The Chief must have been alerted; they would move heaven and earth to find Xiao Xuan.

Unconsciously, I drifted off on the sofa. Then, nightmares began, clinging to me like octopus suckers, rendering me immobile. The cold, dark seawater became my bed.

Suddenly, I heard Xiao Xuan screaming with piercing despair. I could clearly discern every shriek and gasp, yet I couldn't convey my feelings to her—like a patient whose throat has been cut, all sound vanishing through the dark hole in their neck. I struggled to swim toward her, but I couldn't get any closer; I drifted further away instead.

Two dark shapes suddenly emerged from the deep, dark water, lunging toward me, extending long, sharp claws ready to tear my flesh. I fought back fiercely, plunging my gleaming blade into their chests, only to realize they were Ou Jinglan and Li Yalian. They pointed at me, shrieking, "You killed us! You killed us!" I was horrified and tried desperately to flee, but their hair exploded outward, enveloping me entirely. They clawed into my mouth, nostrils, eyes, and ears, and the hair that entered my body opened mouths, greedily sucking away my flesh and organs.

I struggled desperately, and in my thrashing, I glimpsed a figure amidst the swirling black hair. This person was hiding far away in a dark corner, only their eyes shining with a faint glimmer—like a wolf's eyes, or perhaps a phantom lurking in the void. An inexplicable terror gripped me, and I tried to distance myself, but within that faint glimmer, I perceived a trace of smugness. My heart turned icy—why was he smug?

Suddenly, those faintly shining wolf eyes seemed familiar. I must have seen them somewhere before!

A jolt of electricity shot through my body, electrifying every cell. Chen Yujia had said that parts of my dreams overlapped with reality. This person could very well be the one I was looking for, the perpetrator of all this evil. I couldn't let him go!

My eyes opened wider than they ever had, threatening to tear my eyelids apart. My eyeballs felt like they might pop out at any moment. But the person was well concealed; the murky seawater and the ghost-like underwater vegetation hid everything except those two faintly glowing eyes.

I desperately tried to recall when and where I had seen such eyes. But the memory remained elusive. It was as if my memory storage disk had been violently struck, crisscrossed with terrifying cracks, making it impossible to follow the patterned lines back to any specific past moment...

Suddenly, a shadow appeared before me. From a distance, it looked like Xiao Xuan, though she seemed to be crouching on the ground. I dared not shout, afraid of scattering the image, and moved toward her quietly. Then, she slowly turned around. The light grew brighter, and I could clearly see her features—her lips, teeth, the light in her eyes—but my heart shattered at that moment.

I saw: rough hemp ropes bound her limbs tightly, digging into her fair skin like carving knives, the abrasions weeping patches of bright red blood. She was kneeling there, tears welling in her eyes, filled with despair.

My heart was seized, but I felt no physical pain, only the urge to rush to her side. Yet, I passed right through her body. This seemed to cause her even greater agony; she struggled violently, opening her mouth but making no sound...

A sharp, intense pain suddenly struck my heart, delivering a savage blow. My shattered heart could not bear it. With a scream, I lost consciousness.

I struggled in the dark, cold water and painful memories, trapped like a silkworm that has spun its own cocoon too tightly. Just as I felt I couldn't breathe, a series of thunderclaps echoed from the heavens, piercing thousands of feet of water and slamming down upon my head. I jolted, and the silken cocoon enveloping me burst apart. I gasped for air, opened my eyes, and saw another officer lying beside me, while Zhang Jiewei was still staring intently at the large screen.

Shame washed over me. I quickly scrambled up, nudged him, and said, "You rest for a bit. I'll take over."