Chapter 56: Narrow Road Encounter

  One day, if you find that your loved ones and friends suddenly disappear from your side without any warning or sound, it's best to pinch yourself first to see if you're dreaming. I pinched my arm hard until purple bruises appeared, but still couldn't believe the situation in front of me wasn't a dream.

  Where did my sister and Lao He go? Where was Lao He's call from just now? Why could I get through earlier but not now? A string of question marks kept flooding into my mind. I wanted to find an answer, but no matter what, I couldn't get a reasonable explanation.

  Ding ding ding...... The phone rang.

  I took a quick glance and hastily picked it up, putting it to my ear, hoping it was Old He or my sister calling.

  "Hey, Xiaoyu, have you arrived at the hospital? Has your sister taken the medicine?" It was Wang Jue calling.

  Hearing that familiar voice, innocently asking about my well-being over the phone, I had an overwhelming urge to burst into tears.

  "No, they're all gone..."

  "What's wrong? Did you go to the hospital?"

  "The hospital and public security bureau have all been to, older sister has been missing for three days already, Old He hasn't come to work, mobile phone can't be reached either."

  "It's impossible! I just called you a moment ago! Where are you? I've already arrived in Xiangcheng."

  I stood at the entrance of the Public Security Bureau, at a loss except for waiting for Wang Jue.

  After a while, Wang Jue arrived. I told him the whole story in detail. He couldn't believe it was true either, took out his own mobile phone and dialed Old He's number again, still unreachable.

  The guard at the gate kept staring at us, I don't know if we've already been listed as suspicious persons. Wang Jue looked at him and asked me: "Was it this guard who said that Old He wasn't in just now?"

  I nodded. Wang Jue took a step forward and said to the guard, "Officer, we are friends of He Jing's. Something urgent has come up at his home and he needs to be informed personally. Can you help us get in touch with him?"

  The guard came out of the gate and asked, "What happened at his home?"

  "It's a big deal, can't say for now. If it wasn't a big deal, we wouldn't be standing here for so long, would you please help us out?"

  The guard went back to the gatehouse, picked up the phone and started dialing. It seems that without two brushes, it's still quite difficult to mix in the rivers and lakes, my admiration for Wang Jue deepened again.

  After a long time, the guard seemed to have made more than one phone call, hanging up one and making another, repeating this process for over ten minutes. He finally came out of the security room and said to us: "The situation is now quite complicated, the Public Security Bureau also wants to find He Jiaming's family members to understand some things, you go to Room 104 on the first floor to find a police officer surnamed Wu."

  I and Wang Jue cautiously entered the office area, heading towards room 104. Along the way, I expressed my doubts to Wang Jue one by one, and he analyzed each of them in turn. In the end, we both felt that the current situation was extremely inconceivable, with a ninety percent chance that something had gone wrong. He shared his thoughts, saying that if Old He's disappearance was real, then the person who answered the phone several hours ago might not have been Old He himself.

  As we were talking, Wang Ju and I arrived at the door of room 104.

  He knocked on the door of the house, which opened automatically. A thin and dark police officer was sitting at his desk, beckoning to us.

  I took a close look at him and my heart skipped a beat! It was him again!

  It was Wu, the police officer who sat in room 104, who assisted in the investigation last time and took notes with Old He. The same Wu who winked at me with a weird smile, the one who looked 90% like Hou Dayong.