Not only was Lin Xi desperately imploring, even Gu Fan and Lu Yi were asking the police for help, as if the college students put all their hopes on the police.
"Alright, since everyone's here, we'll handle it together, let's check the surveillance footage," Su Hui nodded in agreement, and the other police officers followed suit. It seemed Su Hui had quite a high-ranking.
Lin Xi kept expressing her gratitude. Everyone thought that with the involvement of the police, they would soon find the missing Li Xiaoyan.
However, Gu Fan remained deeply worried. He was more eager than anyone else to find Li Xiaoyan. He hoped things weren't as he had imagined, otherwise it would be very bad, no, it could be said it would be terrifying.
Du Jun knew the people in the store, and the surveillance footage was quickly brought out. Everyone was watching it carefully, trying to find out what had happened. At the beginning, everything seemed normal. During the fight, Li Xiaoyan was still in the corner, clearly overwhelmed, she seemed to be very worried about her classmates.
Because the scene was chaotic at the time, the crowd was running around. At times, Li Xiaoyan was engulfed in the crowd, at other times she would appear. From her helpless look, it seemed that she was getting pushed around by the crowd.
There were too many people, all pushing against each other, especially when several tall and burly men surged around Li Xiaoyan, she completely vanished from view. However, from the direction of the crowd, it seemed Li Xiaoyan was pushed into the corridor.
The surveillance footage from the corridor was then switched on. Despite watching it several times, there was no sign of Li Xiaoyan. Everyone found this strange, wondering if they had missed something.
They then switched to the surveillance footage at the entrance. Everyone watched intently at each man and woman who rushed out. Since Li Xiaoyan was wearing a purple shirt at the time, she should have been easy to spot.
But to everyone's disappointment, hundreds of people came out in the following ten minutes and Li Xiaoyan was not seen amongst them. Everyone found this strange, as if a perfectly normal person had just disappeared into thin air.
Now, Du Jun, Lin Xi and the others were very worried. They had no idea what had happened to Li Xiaoyan or where she could be.
A chill ran down Gu Fan's spine. His worst fears were coming to pass; Li Xiaoyan's disappearance was alarming in itself, but a more terrifying issue lurked behind, casting a shadow over his heart.
Su Hui knew they needed to act quickly because the chances of finding Li Xiaoyan were higher. Some police officers started scouting outside the club, while others were investigating inside.
Gu Fan also hoped the police could find Li Xiaoyan because if they couldn't, everyone would end up living in constant fear.
Despite their efforts until the early morning of the next day, they found nothing. Li Xiaoyan's parents, worried over their daughter's absence, called Lin Xi again, which left Lin Xi in a state of panic. She didn't even know how to answer the call.
In response, Su Hui, accustomed to such situations, said, "They are Li Xiaoyan's parents, they should know and will find out sooner or later." After this, she reached out her hand, indicating to Lin Xi to give her the phone.
Finding someone else to bear this burden was the best outcome. Lin Xi quickly handed the phone to Su Hui, her heart pounding nervously, uncertain of what would happen next.
It had to be said, that Su Hui was very systematic with her approach, calmly detailing what had happened the previous night, asking Li Xiaoyan's parents not to worry too much since the police were involved. Just looking at Su Hui's expression made everyone feel that things weren't as bad as they thought.
However, when Su Hui ended the call, her serious face revealed the reality. It must have been a terrible shock for Li Xiaoyan's parents on the other end of the line.
"All of you haven't slept all night, you should go home. Let us, the police, deal with this," Su Hui was calm when saying this. She too had been up all night, she too was fighting to stay alert, but her duty required her to carry on.
Everyone obeyed Su Hui's words and left for home. Due to worry, Gu Fan insisted on escorting Lin Xi home and asked Lu Yi to accompany them.
Exhausted from staying up all night, Lu Yi was dropping with fatigue. But since his good friend needed help, he naturally felt obligated to offer it. He always valued his friendship with Gu Fan, so he was the first one to step up and help Gu Fan during the fight.
Similarly, Gu Fan was grateful for Lu Yi, so he was willing to bear the burden of compensation for the fight on behalf of Lu Yi.
Once the two men had safely escorted Lin Xi home, Gu Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief. They took a taxi back to Gu Fan's house and due to exhaustion, they didn't realize they were being followed.
When they reached Gu Fan's home, Lu Yi immediately crashed on the sofa. He was really too tired to continue as if he couldn't function without sleep.
But Gu Fan was very worried and woke Lu Yi up, saying he had something to discuss with him.
"Brother, don't you feel sleepy?" Lu Yi rubbed his eyes, looking exceedingly tired.
Gu Fan sighed: "I do want to sleep, but I'm too anxious. I'm unable to sleep, do you know why?"
"The one who disappeared is Li Xiaoyan, not Lin Xi. What are you worried about?" Lu Yi was puzzled, but Gu Fan continued: "What if Lin Xi is the next one to disappear?"
Hearing this, Lu Yi instantly perked up sensing an odd atmosphere. He quickly asked, "Bro, what do you mean?"
Gu Fan, with a serious face, said: "Firstly, Lin Xi and Du Jun found a peculiar secret room. Then Zhao Rui disappeared. After that, we were followed when we came back, and now Li Xiaoyan is missing. Don't you think something is wrong?"
"Why does it sound more and more terrifying? Brother, don't scare me." Lu Yi was feeling out of sorts, breaking out in a cold sweat, and was no longer sleepy.
Gu Fan added, "I'm not trying to scare you. We have to be prepared. If another person disappears, we are probably in big trouble."
"What I dislike most is trouble." Lu Yi pulled a face and then scratched his head, "Could it be just a coincidence? The disappearances of Zhao Rui and Li Xiaoyan might be separate incidents."
"I hope it's two separate incidents as well, so let's just wait to see if there will be a third one." Actually, Gu Fan also wished it was a coincidence. But thinking about being followed after they returned from the trip made him feel terrible, and he couldn't convince himself that it was coincidental.
Lu Yi said, "OK, supposing it's not a coincidence, then why? Why make Zhao Rui and Li Xiaoyan disappear? There must be a motive for everything. If I were a kidnapper, I'd choose Du Jun, since kidnapping a rich man's son could bring a lot of money. Zhao Rui and Li Xiaoyan are not worth kidnapping. Besides, if the same group of people kidnapped Zhao Rui in the mountains and then followed us all the way to the city and took the opportunity to kidnap Li Xiaoyan, why are they targeting us for kidnapping? Are we really that attractive?"
"Yes, it doesn't make sense." Gu Fan, with his head down, gave it some thought, and then said, "What if Zhao Rui and Li Xiaoyan weren't kidnapped by anyone?"
"If they weren't kidnapped by a person, could it be a ghost..." Lu Yi stopped speaking at this point, a chill ran down his spine as he thought about the peculiar secret room they had previously entered with Du Jun and Lin Xi.
Lu Yi chuckled nervously, "Are you suggesting they were cursed after entering the secret room and then mysteriously disappeared one by one due to unexplainable scientific forces?"
"If there really will be a third or even a fourth disappearance, I don't think we can rule it out." As he spoke, Gu Fan seemed very worried. The reason he insisted on taking Lin Xi home in the morning was not to learn her address, but because he feared that Lin Xi might be the third one.
"Gu Fan, I think you're overthinking it. We were followed when we returned home, maybe it was them. Don't talk about any devils or ghosts. My heart can't cope with this kind of shock." Lu Yi felt that the more they talked about it, the more terrifying it became – he no longer wanted to discuss this topic again with Gu Fan.
"The peculiar secret room, the person following us... is there any relation between the two?" Gu Fan also knew that they shouldn't discuss further, but he couldn't help but think about it.
Lu Yi said, "If it's the secret room causing it, then relax, we didn't enter it. Our safety is guaranteed. We just need to protect Lin Xi. But if there's someone behind all this playing tricks, we were followed too. So, there is also a possibility of us disappearing unexpectedly."
"Indeed, we still haven't cleared up whether it's human or ghost." After saying this, the expression on Lu Yi's face became graver while Gu Fan remained silent for a long time. The atmosphere was tense, and they were dominated by fear deep down, trembling slightly.
But soon, sleep overcame them, and they couldn't hold on any longer. They decided to get some rest, and think about everything else later after waking up. After all, they needed to recharge their energy whether they were dealing with humans or ghosts.
Meanwhile, outside Gu Fan's house, a shiny black car was parked with two men inside. One was looking at Gu Fan's house through a pair of binoculars, occasionally glancing around to see if he had been noticed.
The other one was on his cell phone, appearing worried as if fearing criticism. Once the call connected, he respectfully said, "Hello, Sister Leng, another one has disappeared. We haven't found any traces, but we followed a few of them home and nothing happened. I think nothing similar should happen today."
A cold voice came from the other end of the phone, "Of course, if two people disappear within a day, it will surely attract police attention. Ok, I now understand the situation, your task is to keep a close watch and let me know about any movement from those students. Also, remember, do not let them discover you."
The man cautiously replied, "Alright Sister Leng, we will be careful."