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墨書 Inktalez
Zhao Yan's light laughter echoed in the not-so-large staff room, drawing everyone's attention. She chuckled softly at first, but soon couldn't help but burst into laughter. The room fell silent, and on the other end of the phone, no one spoke; all that could be heard was Zhao Yan's laughter.
"Are you crazy?" Teacher Zhao shot a sideways glance at Zhao Yan. "Why are you laughing when Wang Yedan is missing?"
But Zhao Yan paid no mind to the others, continuing to laugh as if the news had delighted her immensely.
"I don't know why, I just want to laugh," Zhao Yan said between giggles. "Wang Yedan is missing, and I can't possibly give all the benefits to just one person. Wang Yedan is missing, ha ha."
Old Shao sighed and waved his hand. "This isn't the time for jokes; we need to check the surveillance footage immediately."
Director Zhang, listening through the phone, caught Old Shao's serious tone and realized he wasn't joking. Understanding the gravity of the situation, Director Zhang spoke up. "Officer, Teacher Zhao knows where the school's server room is. Let's head there right away."
Old Shao nodded in agreement.
As Teacher Zhao led everyone outside, she turned back to Zhao Yan and said, "Go home and write a five-thousand-word reflection. I'll settle your account later."
With that, Teacher Zhao hurriedly brought everyone to the server room, where Director Zhang had already arrived with Wang Kun and his wife.
Wang Kun stood at the door with a furrowed brow, maintaining a calm demeanor while his wife clutched his arm tightly, looking very worried.
"Is Wang Yedan's phone turned off?" Old Shao asked directly.
Madam Wang nodded and looked down at her phone. "Yes, my husband just discussed school investments with Director Zhang from this morning until now, including Wang Yedan's future at school. After their conversation, we tried calling Yedan, but her phone was off. I called several times after that; it was still off, which is why I called Teacher Zhao. I just tried again, and it's still off."
Wang Kun asked, "How can you say Yedan is missing? If there are no leads, the police wouldn't make such an uncertain statement."
Wang Kun, as the owner of a business, had a sharp mind.
Old Shao sat down in a chair. "Yes, Luben's suicide is not closely related to your daughter, but the incident arose because of her. The sudden suicide of a lively and cheerful college student may have some unknown reasons behind it."
"This reason is likely also the cause of my daughter's disappearance," Wang Kun replied.
"Indeed," Old Shao answered.
"It's right here." The school security guard pulled up the morning's surveillance footage, starting from the moment Wang Yedan left the dedicated study room for Class 941.
However, Jiang He interjected, "Let's go back to the moment Wang Yedan arrived at school."
The security guard glanced at Jiang He and said, "You think like a detective, but you’re not as sharp as I am. To find out when this girl went missing, we don’t need to see where she was last or who saw her last. Why look two hours earlier? Isn’t that redundant?"
Jiang He shook his head. "You only want to find out when she went missing, but what we need to investigate is who caused her disappearance. We should start from six in the morning and go backward."
The security guard mumbled a few complaints before beginning his search. It was a tedious and uninteresting task, so it was no wonder he was growing impatient.
But Jiang He’s eyes never left the computer screen. He spoke up, "Right here."
"Huh?" the security guard asked. "Where?"
Jiang He pointed to the far right of the screen; there was an arm visible, dressed in a black trench coat, which had a white metal button on it.
"Can you really tell just from one arm?" The security guard clearly didn't believe it.
However, the guard's disbelief quickly faded. When the person was fully exposed to the school's entrance camera, he realized that it was indeed the person they were looking for. It was around seven o'clock in the morning when Wang Yedan appeared on the video, walking straight towards the Liberal Arts Building without stopping.
By about ten past seven, Wang Yedan was already waiting at the door of Office 601. At that time, Old Shao and others were in the male dormitory on the sixth floor, listening to Zhang Jun and others share their opinions about Wang Yedan. Wang Yedan stood at the door, the corridor empty and dimly lit.
Wang Yedan paced back and forth in the corridor, occasionally glancing at the slogans on the wall.
Then she reached into her pocket, and as she took out her phone, a piece of paper also appeared in her hand. Wang Yedan unfolded the paper, which seemed to have something written on it. After looking at it for a moment, she crumpled it up fiercely and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
Due to the angle of the camera, no one could see what was written on the note.
"Did you see that trash can?" Elder Shao asked. "How often is the trash emptied?"
Director Zhang scratched his head. "I'm not sure about that; I don't handle those things."
"Yuan Jun, go find out right now," Elder Shao ordered.
Without hesitation, Yuan Jun immediately ran out to look for that piece of paper.
The video continued playing on the computer screen. At seven-thirty, Director Zhang walked out of an office at the end of the corridor and opened the door to 601, allowing Wang Yedan to enter. Shortly after, Teacher Zhao and project team members appeared in the corridor with a large group of students.
There were no cameras inside the office, but everyone present, except for the security guard, knew what had happened inside.
At eight o'clock, a group of students left the office, laughing and joking in the hallway before streaming out.
By eight twenty, Wang Yedan's parents arrived at the office. At eight forty, the project team members exited the office. At eight fifty, Wang Yedan left the office.
Once outside, Wang Yedan hesitated for a few minutes in front of a trash can, her actions suggesting she was looking for something inside it. However, after a few moments, she chose to walk away. Instead of returning to her dormitory, she made her way alone to the playground.
On one side of the playground were tiered bleachers. She sat in the center of the bleachers, head down, arms wrapped around herself, completely still. There weren't many cameras on the playground, and they were too far from Wang Yedan for anyone to see what she was doing. Yet everyone knew what she was up to; she was simply sitting there quietly, feeling the cold and dry winter wind.
The west wind tousled her hair, which flowed like a black banner.
Around nine thirty, she stood up and crossed the path to enter a classroom.
In the video, Teacher Zhao's exaggerated gestures were visible, but without sound, it was unclear what he was saying.
At ten o'clock sharp, Wang Yedan left the classroom. Unlike her classmates who left in small groups, Wang Yedan walked alone among their departing figures, appearing somewhat desolate and sad. She wandered aimlessly along the path until suddenly it seemed she had an epiphany; she appeared to have found purpose and walked toward the distance.
Wang Yedan reached a corner of the campus where fewer people were around until eventually there was hardly anyone on the road.
"What is that place?" Old Shao asked.
"The parking lot," replied the security guard.
Wang Yedan headed straight for the parking lot and walked down to its lower level.
"Wang Yedan didn't drive here," Jiang He said. "Why would she be at the parking lot?"
Turning to Wang Kun, Jiang He asked, "Did you make her wait in the parking lot?"
Wang Kun replied, "Yedan was urging us to come earlier over the phone. We could tell she wasn't in a good mood, so we didn't have time to park in the underground garage and just left the car downstairs by the Liberal Arts Building."
"That's strange," Jiang He remarked.
The security guard switched the video back to the underground parking lot in chronological order, and Wang Yedan's figure reappeared on the computer screen. It seemed like she was looking for something as she slowly walked deeper into the parking area. Suddenly, she appeared to see something and walked toward a specific direction.
A car was quietly parked there, but the camera couldn't capture what was happening inside.
Wang Yedan walked straight up to the car and opened the front passenger door. After that, the car started and left the underground parking lot. It quickly drove out of the premises, heading who knows where.
"Who is that person?" Wang Kun asked. "How did Yedan end up in their car?"
In an instant, Xu Yiman recalled the rumors about Wang Yedan being supported by someone. Could it be true? However, upon closer inspection, this car was nothing special—just an ordinary Beijing Hyundai. Given Wang Yedan's status, it was unlikely she would be involved with someone driving such a vehicle.
"Don't you recognize it?" Jiang He asked, somewhat surprised.
"Recognize what?" Xu Yiman instinctively replied.
"This car doesn't belong to anyone else; it's from your family," Jiang He said, looking at Wang Kun.
Wang Kun furrowed his brow, unsure of himself as he turned to his wife beside him. "Do we have that car?"
Madam Wang studied the license plate intently for several minutes before replying, "Yes, that's our car. Usually, it's driven by Yedan, and her uncle arranged for this license plate."
Wang Kun said, "Maybe Yedan parked the car in the lot a few times and didn't drive it last night, so she came to take it today."
"No," Jiang He interjected, standing up and shaking his head at the two of them. "Your daughter drove to the police station last night. By that time, the school gate was already closed, so no cars could have entered. Moreover, when your daughter came to school, she walked in. Besides, if there was no one in the car, she wouldn't have sat in the passenger seat."
"Keep watching the surveillance footage," Shao the Elder instructed. "I need to know when this car was parked in the lot."
Then Old Shao turned to Xu Yiman and said, "Immediately notify Captain Liu to search the entire city for this white Hyundai with that license plate."
Who could this mysterious driver be?
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