“Captain Jiang.” Old Qin put down the phone and strode quickly to Jiang Chengyi. “According to Zheng Xiaowen’s assistant, Zheng Xiaowen had a scene to shoot in the early morning, finishing around 5 AM, with her next scene not scheduled until 4 PM. Seeing she had time, Zheng Xiaowen said she’d return to her hotel room to rest. At noon, when the assistant called to remind her about the afternoon scene, Zheng Xiaowen said she needed two more hours of rest and hung up. But she hadn’t appeared by 3:50 PM. We’ve now confirmed that at 5:20 AM, Wen Peng had already left the film base in his white car with plate number XXXX980, and surveillance footage shows Zheng Xiaowen getting into the car with him, both seemingly chatting and laughing. I’ve already requested traffic control to block all roads leading out of the city and to trace the route of Wen Peng’s private vehicle as quickly as possible.”
Jiang Chengyi was still repeatedly listening to the recording found in Zheng Xiaowen’s room.
*Jiang Chengyi, let’s play a game. If you can find Zheng Xiaowen within twenty-four hours, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.*
It was Wen Peng’s voice, carrying a faint smile.
The recording lasted about five seconds, with no signs of artificial splicing.
“Captain Jiang.” Old Liu rushed over after searching around the resort with his team. “No trace of Zheng Xiaowen has been found, and there are no lakes or caves nearby. These two probably haven’t returned since leaving the film city at dawn. What do you think, Captain? Shouldn’t we hurry back to the city to find Wen Peng? Is it still necessary to seal off this area?”
The footsteps and voices in the hallway were growing increasingly louder.
The outside clamor made the room’s silence even more apparent.
Lu Yan stood stunned for a moment, then went to the bedside table to get the remote control and turned on the television.
Channel A:
*As you can see behind me, this is the Hanlin Mountain Resort Hotel. According to reliable sources, Zheng Xiaowen and Wen Peng disappeared from this hotel.*
Channel B:
*We’re now outside the film crew where Zheng Xiaowen was working. Currently, the entire production is suspended, possibly related to Zheng Xiaowen’s disappearance. Ah, there’s Director Zhang! Director Zhang, hello, we’re reporters from Star Weekly, we heard—*
Zhang Dashan’s angry shout “Get lost!” followed by violent camera shaking.
Channel C:
A group of reporters suddenly surged in one direction
*Quick! The police are here!*
*Excuse me, are you the officer in charge of this case? We’re reporters from X Station. Is Zheng Xiaowen suspected of being kidnapped? There are also claims that Wen Peng might be the perpetrator of several previous murders. Can you confirm if this information is accurate? Can you comment?*
The footage showed several unfamiliar police officers pushing through the crowd, apparently about to search. At a glance, Jiang Chengyi wasn’t among them.
After switching through several entertainment channels, all were reporting on this incident.
In this age of information explosion, the speed at which news spread was astounding. The reporters had originally come for news about Zheng Xiaowen and Zhang Dashan’s marriage, but now they’d stumbled upon even more explosive news, naturally appearing particularly excited.
Xiao Zhou walked to the door, inspected the hallway and corridor, then returned to check the bathroom and windows again carefully, finally drawing the curtains, preparing for any sudden developments.
Lu Yan watched Xiao Zhou pacing the room, thinking silently that what was originally a criminal case had instantly become a national focus after media exposure. With Zheng Xiaowen being such an influential figure in the entertainment circle, the pressure on Jiang Chengyi must be immense.
But judging from Old Qin’s tone earlier, their primary suspect was Wen Peng. Could there… not be other possibilities?
Though she had called earlier, with such chaos, Old Qin might not have remembered to relay her message to Jiang Chengyi.
She took out her phone, deciding to try once more. Fortunately, this time when she dialed, it connected after just one ring.
Jiang Chengyi’s voice was somewhat hoarse, with occasional walkie-talkie sounds in the background amid general chaos.
“What is it?”
She kept it brief: “We might have suspected the wrong person back then. The person who stalked me for over a month was thin and fair-skinned, and someone saw him wearing another school’s basketball uniform under his school uniform. He might not have been from No. 7 Middle School. I’m wondering if this person might have been familiar with some teacher or student from our school, which is how he got hold of our school uniform.”
After listening to her, Jiang Chengyi finally spoke: “Understood.”
Lu Yan was taken aback, suspecting his judgment differed from Old Qin’s.
He said: “We’re searching for Zheng Xiaowen now. I’ll have someone from our team send Dr. Yu to your room shortly. For safety’s sake, stay in your room, don’t go anywhere. Oh right, Lu Yan, tell me your room number.”
Lu Yan gave him the room number.
Meanwhile, a group of people emerged from the film base.
The assistant director said: “Everyone heads back to your rooms to rest. If we still haven’t heard from Xiaowen by tonight, we’ll consider returning to the city. Don’t worry too much – Xiaowen likes to joke around, and Director Wen studied abroad, he’s somewhat westernized. These two are quite wild when they get going. Maybe they just went somewhere to blow off steam and will be back in a couple of days. By the way, don’t spread this around outside – the media is everywhere, careful not to make things worse. Oh, where’s David? The police were looking for him earlier, and seemed to have some questions.”
“Already left.”
David and his assistant Xiao Wei were walking quickly toward the parking lot. Xiao Wei was about David’s height, both considered delicate and fair-skinned among men. The difference was that David had black hair while Xiao Wei’s was dyed red, and David didn’t wear glasses while Xiao Wei wore black-framed ones.
David wore Alexander McQueen boots with about 5cm heels, dressed very fashionably, checking his watch while chewing gum.
Xiao Wei carried his boss’s small makeup case, complaining: “What’s Sister Xiaowen up to? Wasted more than an hour of David’s time. The Dior show this afternoon is still waiting for you to do makeup, now we might not make it in time.”
David rubbed his temples with a headache, glaring at him: “How many times have I told you to watch what you say and where you say it? Don’t you see people everywhere? Always brings me trouble. What’s my relationship with Xiaowen? It would be right for me to cancel a hundred jobs for her.”
“I’m sorry, Brother David.” Xiao Wei stuck out his tongue. “It’s getting late, let’s not be late.”
“Where are your car keys?” David suddenly stopped, impatiently brushing his bangs. “My car’s having some issues, and it’s not easy to get a ride here. I need to get to Dior. Don’t go to the afternoon show, stay here and wait for news about Xiaowen. Call me if she comes back. Don’t let people say I only care about making money and not about Xiaowen’s well-being. Also, give me your ID and driver’s license, in case we run into traffic police. Don’t want to waste time explaining.”
“Oh.” Xiao Wei only hesitated for a few seconds before digging the items out of his backpack and handing them to David. “Brother David, why don’t I drive?”
David casually put the documents in his pocket and glanced at him: “You just got your license three months ago and have driven less than five times total. How could I trust you to drive? Also, next time watch what you say around the film crew.”
“Huh?”
“What ‘huh’? Didn’t you see Xiaowen’s assistants glaring at you several times when you were complaining earlier? Xiao Wei, let your Brother David remind you once again, don’t you know Xiaowen’s status now? You’d better maintain good relationships with them.”
“Got it.” Xiao Wei obediently accepted the lesson.
“Here’s the room key, go rest in my room. I know you love coffee, there are several bottles by my bedside table, brought by friends from abroad, better than what you can buy here.”
“Thanks, Brother David.” Xiao Wei smiled.
David gave a perfunctory smile and snort turned his waist, and walked away.
“Take care on the road, Brother David.” Xiao Wei hurried after him a couple of steps to hand over the heavy little case. He had felt it was heavier than usual today, but Brother David had only said he’d added some new tools and wouldn’t let him look inside.
David took the case and walked toward the depths of the parking lot. After a few steps, he opened his phone and entered a news app.
It was reporting on the famous actress’s disappearance. The camera flashed briefly, showing a group of reporters chasing a young man in a dark suit: “So you’re the officer in charge of this case. Officer Jiang, can you tell us how far the investigation has progressed? We heard the police have invited a famous criminal psychology expert to follow the case closely. Can you tell us about suspect Wen Peng’s motives?”
Jiang Chengyi avoided answering, opening the police car door with colleagues on either side. With a bang, they shut out the noisy crowd.
David’s lips curled slightly upward as he blew a kiss at Jiang Chengyi’s profile on the screen, smiling and saying: “So long.”
After getting into Xiao Wei’s car, he opened the makeup case and put on a red short wig, then used an eyebrow pencil and shadow powder to make a few strokes on his face, finally putting on black-framed glasses.
The case was filled with compartments of makeup, through the gaps one could faintly see stacks of yuan bills underneath, as if freshly withdrawn from the bank.
Having completed all this in the shortest possible time, he closed the case, fastened his seatbelt, and was about to start the engine when someone suddenly knocked on the car window from outside.