(...Prolog)
"From Aubi?"
Noah read the letter and furrowed his brow.
What does it mean for something to be life-changing? And what does "make full use of it" mean? Handle what?
Can't he even clearly express what he wants from me? ....
He turned his gaze back to the black card and inspected it repeatedly to confirm that it was just an ordinary card that felt pleasant in his hand, despite its rare material and metallic appearance.
Could it be a VIP card from one of the top clubs? Dealing with 36D-cup ladies is really only manageable for special men like me.
Aubrey Fielding, his childhood friend nicknamed Aubi, was two years older than him. Their families used to live in the same alley before Noah's grandparents bought the new house.
Aubrey had always been there for him, fighting on the front lines and defending him when he was bullied. Whenever someone made fun of Noah for being fatherless, Aubrey stood up for him.
Aubrey didn't have good grades in high school, so he went to university in the neighboring state of New Hampshire, and they had little contact after that.
As Noah slipped the black card into the pocket, he grabbed his cell phone and playfully messaged Aubi:
"What club is this VIP card for? Or at least give me the address or contact details."
The message was sent.
Half an hour later - No response...
Noah decided to dial Aubi's number.
After two beeps, the call was answered, and a deep masculine voice echoed from the speakerphone:
"Hello! This is Mr. Fielding, Aubrey's father."
"Mr. Fielding?" Noah said, initially startled but then delighted. "Is Aubi back in Massachusetts this week? Please put him on the phone, I need to talk to him."
There was silence on the other end of the line, followed by a despondent, tormented voice:
"Noah, I'm in New Hampshire. Aubrey... he has disappeared...."
Aubi disappeared? Noah stood frozen, and after a few seconds, he asked in a dazed and insistent tone:
"What's going on?"
How could Aubi have disappeared if he had just sent me something?
"He vanished two days ago. I was informed by the school yesterday and went there immediately," Mr. Fielding said, his mood grim.
"Did you contact the police? What did the security department say?" Noah asked in a hushed voice.
Mr. Fielding remained silent for a long moment, then hesitantly replied:
"It's incredibly complicated to explain, but there's something strange about Aubrey's disappearance..."
Strange? What do you mean? Noah was dumbfounded.
Mr. Fielding continued, "Aubrey disappeared from his dormitory two nights ago. The security cameras in the dormitory hallway showed that he never left his room all night, yet the next morning, he was gone."
"The other students in the dormitory claimed to have seen him before going to bed, but when they woke up, he was gone, and they assumed he had left."
Noah blurted out, "How is that even possible...?"
Could someone simply vanish like that? Even a three-year-old wouldn't believe such a thing.
Noah suppressed the fear welling up inside him and spoke quietly:
"Mr. Fielding, did Aubi offend anyone at school?"
In his initial thoughts, he concluded that Aubi might have offended someone, especially someone with local authority. He suspected that the surveillance could have been tampered with, making the events go unnoticed.
Nowadays, everyone who has been on the internet has heard of such occurrences to some extent.
"The school administration expressed their willingness to cooperate with the police, but the police told us to go home and await updates. They assured us that they would investigate. That's why my wife and I have been up all night."
Mr. Fielding's tone reflected frustration and concern.
That must be the answer, damn it... Noah took a deep breath and reassured him:
"Please stay calm for a moment. Both my grandfather and John work for the security department, as you know. I will ask them how to handle a situation like this and what precautions to take. If anything happens, just call me."
"Also, you should reach out to his classmates. If Aubi offended someone, I'm sure some of them would know."
Mr. Fielding seemed slightly relieved and replied, "Understood, Noah. Thank you, and don't worry, I'll keep you informed of any developments."
Noah ended the call and paced back and forth in his room, consumed by worry for Aubi.
It wasn't possible for someone to disappear without a reason, and if the surveillance system failed to detect it, then it must have been manipulated. The question remained: Did Aubi offend someone?
But who could a young student have offended?
Wait, the day before yesterday...
The day before yesterday?
Noah was taken aback. It typically takes 2-3 days for a package to travel from New Hampshire to Massachusetts. In the timeline projection, Aubi disappeared the night he sent me something...
Is this a mere coincidence, or is there a connection?
As he contemplated, his instinct urged him to touch the black card in his pocket. But as he reached into his pocket, he suddenly froze.
The black card was gone.
Noah frantically looked down, his eyes scanning the room's floor in a hurried search.
Nothing!
There was a layer of dust on the bedroom floor, a few coins, pens, buttons, and other small objects, but no black card.
The card had vanished, and he distinctly remembered putting it in his pocket.
Had it vanished into thin air?
Noah was deeply unsettled and perplexed by Aubi's mysterious disappearance, the cryptic contents of the letter, and the sudden vanishing of the black card.
Noah took a deep breath and decided to employ his "old trick" to jog his memory.
He poured cold water into a glass, retrieved the pill bottle from the bedside table, took off his shoes, and laid down on the bed.
Then, he closed his eyes and focused on conjuring an image in his mind, preferably one that he had seen before but didn't remember clearly.
His father's face, after all these years, had become blurred - the perfect subject!
Over time, his father's visage gradually became hazy and then clear, eventually becoming fully visible. Noah's heart pounded vigorously like an overworked engine.
At that moment, time seemed to rewind, and the events from an hour ago played out frame by frame, resembling a movie or a TV show.
He saw himself opening the package, reading the letter, placing the black card in the pocket of his sweater, and then sending a message to Aubi.
Following that, he remained seated at the table for the next half-hour, browsing through short videos for ten minutes before switching to YouTube. He saved a few interesting videos.
Afterward, he briefly read some fiction novels and called Aubi because his mind kept fixating on the card.
Then he briskly walked around the room, as that was the most probable time for the card to have fallen.
On his mental screen, he witnessed himself pacing the room, his brows furrowed, until he reached for the black card and realized it was gone.
Noah's eyes widened in horror.
Gone?
The black card had simply disappeared, as if swallowed by the earth's depths.
"What on earth did Aubi send me...?" he pondered, feeling a slight tingling on his scalp.
It was too late to dwell on it, as a cacophony of sounds erupted in his ears, resembling the voices of a million people overlapping one another, and fragmented images surged forward like a volcano erupting.
A warm liquid trickled from Noah's nose, and his head felt as if steel needles were being driven into it.
His face contorted as he crawled toward the bed, trembling, and poured five small blue pills into his mouth.
Then he reached for a glass of water, tilted his head back, and swallowed the pills and water together.
A few moments later, pale and gasping for breath, Noah sat at the edge of the bed.
By now, he was certain that there was a connection between Aubi's disappearance and the black card.
"Aubi vanished after sending me the black card, and this black card has an eerie presence that's clearly far from ordinary..."
This suggested that he had been threatened in some way and was coerced into moving the item.
"But why didn't he hand it over to the local office and instead sent it to me?"
Could it be that I, a college student who has never killed a chicken or slept with anyone, am more trustworthy than a police officer at the station?
The detail of "no abnormality noticed by the surveillance and dormitory staff" came to Noah's mind.
Someone capable of such a thing must hold a position of power.
Aubi didn't hand the black card to the local office because... the office couldn't be trusted either?
Or perhaps the person or entity behind his disappearance had influence over the local office.
"That's why he sent me the black card, knowing that my grandfather used to be a sheriff and my cousin John is currently a senior police officer with strong connections in Massachusetts. He must have been aware that individuals from the neighboring state of New Hampshire couldn't exert influence over us."
I have to inform John about this.
"Ding-dong~"
At that moment, the sound of the doorbell rang from the front door once again.
Grandmother's footsteps echoed through the living room and into the hallway as she turned the doorknob.
"What do you need?"
"Hello, we are investigators from the Boston District Security Department. Is Mr. Noah Eveline at home?" the person at the door responded.