Another voice said, “Not sure, I’ve sent someone to check. Xiao Tu, is the computer fixed? That woman might be a police or a journalist.”

Xiao Tu replied, “Almost done.”

A woman’s voice said, “President Zhou, are you sure you’re alright? Shouldn’t you go to the hospital? There’s so much blood.”

The first voice answered, “What hospital? Want to make this an even bigger mess? Who did you people find for me? Where’s Apple? Damn it, she must be a cop—how else could she fight like that?”

You Mingxu shoved the door open. Everyone inside froze.

There were five people in the room. A middle-aged man in traditional Chinese clothing sat on the sofa, his forehead bandaged and blood staining his clothes. A beautiful woman in her thirties was cleaning and dressing his wounds. Two men stood nearby, both in their thirties or forties—one thin with glasses, one heavyset, but both faces showed similar malevolence.

A young man sat at the computer behind the desk. Seeing her burst in, he froze, and then his fingers flew across the keyboard even faster, almost frantically.

Xu Mengshan’s eyes swept over the bloodstained ashtray on the floor. He spotted a woman’s bag on the sofa—who else’s but Fan Jia’s? His vengeful emotions heightened his awareness, and his eyes caught a small glint under the coffee table. He quickly reached down and retrieved Fan Jia’s tracking device, its chain broken. No wonder the location hadn’t moved.

President Zhou glared at them darkly while the thin man with glasses spoke: “Who are you? Who let you in?”

You Mingxu darted to the computer and kicked the young man to the ground, but the screen was already locked, showing nothing.

Zhang Wei and the heavyset man shouted, “What are you doing? What are you doing!”

You Mingxu returned and grabbed President Zhou’s collar. When the others tried to intervene, Xu Mengshan thrust his police badge in their faces, blocking them aggressively.

You Mingxu glared at President Zhou through gritted teeth: “Where is she? Where is she?”

President Zhou’s face darkened. After a few silent seconds, he smiled: “So the police are conducting entrapment. I’ll have to file a complaint. That unidentified woman claimed financial difficulties, and I kindly offered to lend her money. But she tried to seduce me. When I refused and we argued, she attacked me and ran away after failing to seduce me. I’m looking for her too. Is this how police conduct business?”

Xu Mengshan exploded: “You shameless bastard!”

You Mingxu quickly blocked her partner, shouting, “Yin Feng!” Yin Feng pulled Xu Mengshan back as You Mingxu stared at President Zhou for several seconds before releasing his collar. “If anything happens to her, I won’t let any of you off!”

She turned and left the office, meeting several police officers running toward them—the backup had arrived. You Mingxu shouted, “Take them all to the station. Everyone else, help me find her!”

However, as they searched room by room, leaving no corner unchecked, and examining every possible hiding place with experienced eyes, they found no trace of Fan Jia.

They even ran into Brother Apple and his men, who were also searching for Fan Jia. They too were taken to the station.

As the searchable area grew smaller, You Mingxu and Xu Mengshan’s frowns deepened. The company had only one main entrance, and they hadn’t seen anyone leave. They’d initially thought Fan Jia had confronted President Zhou and was being chased—President Zhou’s group’s reactions suggested they hadn’t caught her yet. But now, Fan Jia had simply vanished?

—

Dusk fell over Huai City Police Station.

“You, you, you—” Old Tan’s face flushed red with anger as he hurled a stack of documents that struck You Mingxu’s face. His strength and the heavy files left visible marks.

You Mingxu had trained under Ding Xiongwei and Old Tan when she first graduated. Despite her recent successes, Old Tan still disciplined her as naturally as ever.

You Mingxu kept her head down, neither speaking nor apologizing.

Old Tan was furious. He took a large gulp from his thermos and shouted, “Who the hell authorized you to act alone? Weren’t you told to temporarily drop the Fenjin Bao investigation? Do you ignore orders from above? Now Fan Jia’s missing! She was your comrade, followed you all the way, and now she’s gone! Damn it, you brought in dozens of people without a shred of useful evidence—are you trying to kill me?”

You Mingxu’s whole body seemed to contain pent-up anger, and Old Tan’s words brought tears to her eyes. “I’ll find Fan Jia, I swear I’ll bring her back. No one else entered or left the company—her disappearance must be their doing! It could be the serial killer. Old Tan, let me interrogate them. I’ll crack them like stones.”

Old Tan saw her stubborn expression despite her reddened eyes. He slammed down his thermos and said, “Interrogate quickly. We don’t have solid evidence of their crimes yet—they’ll be transferred to Economic Crime soon, and they’ll have to be released before long.” He lowered his voice: “Find a way to get their fingerprints to compare with the suspect’s.”

You Mingxu: “Yes!”

—

Leaving Old Tan’s office, You Mingxu went to the bathroom and washed her face. Looking in the mirror, her eyes were still noticeably red, but more obvious were the red marks from the files—those wouldn’t fade quickly.

She walked out expressionless, only to find someone waiting outside the women’s bathroom. But she didn’t want to talk to anyone and kept her head down as she walked.

He caught her hand.

Yin Feng hadn’t expected her face to change so much in such a short time. He touched her cheek, his tone darkening: “What happened to your face?”

You Mingxu snapped back, pulling her hand away: “Just an accident, it’s nothing!”

Yin Feng blocked her path with his body: “Your face was fine when you went in… Did your superior hit you? How dare he strike you! Stay here, I must go speak with him!”

You Mingxu’s pent-up anger exploded: “Stop right there! How is this any of your business? If I’m blind enough to walk into a wall, how is that your concern? Fan Jia is missing—that’s my responsibility—and you’re worried about a few marks on my face? Speak with him? Who are you to me that you’d speak on my behalf? Yin Feng, when will you ever grow up? Get out, get far away. I don’t have time to babysit right now, understand?”

Yin Feng stared at her in silence.