Coming to Myself

Another person said, "Not sure. I've already sent someone to check. Xiao Tu, is the computer ready? That woman is probably a cop or a reporter."

Xiao Tu replied, "Almost done."

A woman's voice said, "Boss Zhou, are you alright? Shouldn't you go to the hospital? You're bleeding a lot."

The first voice answered, "What hospital? Do you want to make this even bigger? What kind of person did you hire? Where's Apple? Damn it, she must be a cop—who else would strike so viciously?"

You Mingxu pushed the door open, and everyone in the room froze.

There were five people inside. A middle-aged man in a Tang suit sat on the sofa, his forehead bandaged and stained with blood. A beautiful woman in her thirties was tending to his wounds. Two men stood nearby, both in their thirties or forties—one thin and bespectacled, the other chubby, but both exuding a similar air of hostility.

A young man sat at the computer behind the boss's desk. Startled by her sudden entrance, his fingers flew across the keyboard in a panicked frenzy.

Xu Mengshan glanced at the ashtray lying on the floor, surrounded by bloodstains. His eyes then fell on a purse discarded on the sofa—it had to be Fan Jia's. Fueled by a surge of vengeful rage, his vision seemed to sharpen. He spotted a small, glinting object under the coffee table, bent down swiftly to retrieve it, and his eyes burned even hotter: it was the location tracker that had been hanging around Fan Jia's neck, its chain snapped. No wonder the signal had been stuck in this spot.

Boss Zhou glared at them darkly. The thin, bespectacled man spoke up, "Who are you? Who let you barge in here?"

You Mingxu had already dashed behind the computer and kicked the young man to the floor. She glanced at the screen—it was password-locked, showing nothing.

Zhang Wei and the chubby man shouted, "What are you doing? Stop!"

You Mingxu strode back, grabbed Boss Zhou by the collar, and as the others moved to intervene, Xu Mengshan flashed his police badge in their faces, blocking them fiercely.

You Mingxu glared at Boss Zhou, her teeth clenched. "Where is she? Where is she?"

Boss Zhou's face darkened. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly laughed. "So it's a police sting operation. Well, I'll be filing a complaint. That unidentified woman claimed she was in financial trouble. I kindly lent her money, but she tried to seduce me. I refused, we argued, and when her advances failed, she attacked me and ran off. Now I'm looking for her too. Is this how the police operate?"

Xu Mengshan exploded, "You shameless bastard!"

You Mingxu quickly stepped in front of her partner, shouting, "Yin Feng!" Yin Feng dragged Xu Mengshan back. You Mingxu stared at Boss Zhou for a few more seconds before releasing his collar and saying, "If anything happens to her, I will make you pay!"

She turned and stormed out of the office, where several police officers came running—backup had arrived. You Mingxu yelled, "Take them all to the station. The rest of you, come with me—we need to find her now!"

However, as they searched room by room, leaving no corner unchecked and scouring every possible hiding spot with experienced precision, they found no trace of Fan Jia.On the way, they ran into Apple Bro, who was also searching for Fan Jia with a few others. They were all taken back to the station.

As the searchable area continued to shrink, You Mingxu and Xu Mengshan’s frowns deepened. The company had only one main entrance, and during that time, they hadn’t seen anyone leave. Initially, they thought Fan Jia had confronted Boss Zhou and was being chased, so they rushed in to rescue her immediately. Moreover, the reactions of Boss Zhou and the others indicated they hadn’t caught Fan Jia yet. But now, Fan Jia had vanished into thin air?

—

Dusk fell over Huaicheng City Police Station.

"You—you—you—" Lao Tan’s face flushed crimson with anger. Unable to hold back, he threw a stack of documents at her, hitting You Mingxu squarely in the face. He had strong hands, and the folder was heavy; her face reddened instantly.

When You Mingxu first graduated, she had worked under veterans like Ding Xiongwei and Lao Tan. Even though she now frequently achieved merits, Lao Tan still scolded her as easily as ever.

You Mingxu kept her head down, silent and unapologetic.

Lao Tan was furious. He took a large gulp from his thermos and roared, "Who the hell told you to act on your own? Weren’t we supposed to drop the Gold Splitting Treasure Company lead for now? Are you treating your superiors’ orders like they’re nothing? Now Fan Jia is missing! She’s your comrade, the girl who’s followed you all this way—gone! And you brought back dozens of people without a shred of useful evidence. Are you trying to piss me off to death?"

You Mingxu seemed to be holding back a storm of emotions inside. At his words, her eyes grew slightly moist. "I’ll find Fan Jia. I will bring her back. No one else entered or left the company during that time. Her disappearance must be the work of Gold Splitting Treasure Company! It might even be that serial killer. Lao Tan, let me interrogate them. I’ll pry open even a stone to find a crack."

Lao Tan saw her stubborn, unyielding expression, yet her eyes were clearly red. He slammed his thermos down heavily and said, "Hurry up and interrogate them. We don’t have solid evidence of their illegal activities yet. They’ll soon be transferred to the economic crime division and will likely be released before long." He lowered his voice, "Find a way to get their fingerprints and compare them with the suspect’s."

You Mingxu: "Yes!"

—

You Mingxu left Lao Tan’s office and headed straight to the restroom. She splashed water on her face and looked up at her reflection. The redness in her eyes was still somewhat visible, but even more noticeable were the red marks on her face from the folder—they wouldn’t fade anytime soon.

Expressionless, she walked out and immediately saw someone waiting outside the women’s restroom. But she didn’t want to talk to anyone right now and kept her head down as she walked.

Her hand was grabbed.

Yin Feng hadn’t expected that in the brief moment he turned around, she would end up like this. He touched her face, his tone turning serious, "What happened to your face?"

You Mingxu’s tone was sharp as she pulled her hand back, "I got it by accident. It’s nothing!"

Yin Feng blocked her path with his body and said, "It wasn’t there when you went in just now… Did your superior hit you? How could he hit someone! Stay here. I’m going to confront him about this!"You Mingxu's pent-up anger erupted instantly as she roared, "Stop right there! What's it to you? If I'm blind enough to run into a wall, what fucking business is it of yours? Fan Jia is missing now—that's my responsibility. And you're worried about a few scratches on my face? Reasoning? Who do you think you are to reason on my behalf? Yin Feng, when will you finally grow up? Get lost, get the hell away from me. I don't have time to babysit right now, understand?"

Yin Feng stared at her in silence.