After being dumped by the diva, I was picked up by her arch-enemy.

Sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the French windows, falling on Gu Ruanxing's face.

She squinted and turned over, her hand reaching for her phone on the pillow.

The screen lit up; it was 11:17 AM.

There are several unread messages on WeChat.

The notes are "Teacher Wang (Erhu)" and "Teacher Li (Guzheng)".

Gu Ruanxing clicked on it in a daze.

Teacher Wang: "Hello Ms. Gu, Jiang Yichen arranged to meet us at 10:00 AM today to finalize the arrangement framework. But he hasn't shown up yet, and I can't get through to him on the phone. Has there been any change in the arrangements? Could you please help me inquire?"

Teacher Li: "Ms. Gu, Lao Wang and I have been waiting in the recording studio for over half an hour, but Brother Jiang hasn't arrived, and we can't get in touch with him. Did he oversleep last night because he was too tired?"

Gu Ruanxing stared at the screen, and her drowsiness instantly dissipated.

Jiang Yichen stood people up?

wrong.

This person is generally quite reliable, especially when it comes to music.

Gu Ruanxing sat up, got out of bed barefoot, and quickly walked out of the bedroom in her slippers.

The living room on the first floor was empty.

There were no water glasses on the coffee table, and no signs of breakfast being prepared in the kitchen.

Jiang Yichen's black sneakers were not on the shoe rack in the entryway.

He didn't come back at all last night.

Gu Ruanxing's heart skipped a beat.

She quickly picked up her phone and sent a WeChat message to Jiang Yichen.

Gu Ruanxing: "Jiang Yichen, where are you?"

send.

A minute passed, and there was still no movement.

Gu Ruanxing posted another message.

Gu Ruanxing: "The two folk music teachers said you had an appointment with them today, where are you?"

It was like a stone sinking into the sea.

She dialed the number directly.

beep - beep -

No one heard.

Dial again.

Still no one answered.

Gu Ruanxing frowned, bit her lower lip, and opened another person's chat window.

Gu Ruanxing: "Youzi, is Jiang Yichen with you?"

Xu Zhiyou's reply came very quickly.

Yuzu: "Huh? No."

Yuzu: "Wasn't he recording a song in the studio yesterday?"

Yuzu: "What's wrong, Xingbao?"

Gu Ruanxing's fingers paused as she looked at these messages.

It's not with Xu Zhiyou.

Where is he?

Gu Ruanxing took a deep breath and sent Xu Zhiyou a detailed account of what happened last night and the message the folk music teacher sent today.

There was silence on the other end for about ten seconds.

Then the news started coming out in rapid succession.

Yuzu: "What?! He didn't come home last night?!"

Yuzu: "I can't get through on the phone either?"

Yuzu: "No, no, he replied to my message around 6 PM yesterday, saying he was ready to go home after recording the song!"

Yuzu: "She never replied to me again after that!"

Yuzu: "Xingbao, did something happen to him?!"

Gu Ruanxing stared at the screen and realized something was wrong.

Yesterday evening around 6 PM.

Sixteen hours have passed by now.

A perfectly healthy person, but I can't reach them by phone, they don't reply to my WeChat messages, and they even stood me up for work appointments.

This doesn't seem normal at all.

Gu Ruanxing replied quickly.

Gu Ruanxing: "Don't panic. I'll have someone from the company check where he went after leaving the building yesterday."

Gu Ruanxing: "Do you have any connections? Can you check surveillance footage or locate the source of the problem?"

Xu Zhiyou replied almost instantly.

Yuzu: "I'll have Sister Yu investigate!"

Yuzu: "Star Baby, wait for my news!"

Gu Ruanxing put down her phone and quickly changed her clothes.

While tying her hair into a ponytail, she made a phone call to the security supervisor at Star Entertainment.

"Review the CCTV footage from all entrances and exits of the company building between 6 PM and 7 PM yesterday. Focus on which direction Jiang Yichen went after leaving the building."

"quick!"

After hanging up the phone, Gu Ruanxing thought for a moment, then picked up her phone and opened the half-dead dormitory group chat.

Group name: [Central Academy of Drama 412's Eternal Home]

Gu Ruanxing's fingers hovered above the keyboard, hesitating for two seconds.

Then quickly typed out a message.

Gu Ruanxing: "Big sister, Jiang Yichen has gone missing. We haven't been able to reach him since yesterday evening. We can't get through on the phone, and he hasn't come home."

Gu Ruanxing: "You have a wide network of connections at the law firm, could you also help me inquire if there are any channels to quickly find out someone's last mobile phone location?"

After the message was sent, the group was quiet for a while.

Bai Wanyi's reply came quickly.

Bai Wanyi: "I asked my colleagues in the criminal investigation team at the station if they knew anyone who could help with the investigation. Send me their phone number."

Gu Ruanxing immediately sent Jiang Yichen's number.

Bai Wanyi: "Received. I'll let you know as soon as there's any news."

Gu Ruanxing: "Thank you, elder sister."

The group chat was silent for a few seconds.

Then, a message from Xu Zhiyou popped up.

Xu Zhiyou: "Big sister, please! Jiang Yichen must be in some kind of danger!"

Bai Wanyi: I know. Don't worry, I'll get on my end as soon as possible.

……

Lin Qinghe's apartment in the east of the city.

Lin Qinghe had just finished a video conference with a brand and leaned wearily back in the swivel chair in front of her desk.

She habitually picked up her phone and opened WeChat.

There are unread messages in the dorm group chat.

And quite a few.

She swiped the screen and started watching from the beginning.

The more she looked, the paler her face became.

Her fingers hovered above the keyboard.

I want to type, but I don't know what to say.

What can she do to help?

She didn't have Gu Ruanxing's company resources, Xu Zhiyou's connections, or Bai Wanyi's legal network.

There's nothing she can do.

Lin Qinghe stared at the messages on the screen, but ultimately didn't send anything.

……

Time passed by, second by second.

In the afternoon, news came from Su Yu.

Surveillance cameras outside the Star Entertainment Building captured Jiang Yichen leaving the building and walking alone into an old alley next to it.

But that alley is a blind spot for surveillance cameras.

The street surveillance camera at the other end of the alley did not capture Jiang Yichen walking out.

In other words, once he entered that alley, he never came out again.

When Xu Zhiyou received the message, she panicked.

She asked Su Yu to continue retrieving CCTV footage from all the intersections around the alley.

Meanwhile, Gu Ruanxing wasn't idle either.

Through her family connections, she contacted several private investigation companies in Shanghai and sent them all out.

Bai Wanyi also gave feedback.

Someone she knew found the last signal location of Jiang Yichen's phone—near that alley.

Then the signal disappeared.

The phone was either turned off or the SIM card was removed.

The three clues converge, pointing to the same conclusion—

Jiang Yichen was taken away in that alley.

……

Wednesday marked the second day since Jiang Yichen went missing.

Gu Ruanxing spent almost the entire day on the phone.

Star Entertainment's security team, family connections, and everything else they could mobilize were all used.

But still, nothing was gained.

Su Yu led a team to check all the cameras at intersections within a three-kilometer radius of the alley.

In one scene at an intersection, a silver van was seen driving by around 7 p.m. that evening.

However, the license plate number was obscured and could not be identified.

The trail ends here again.

Thursday night.

Lin Qinghe's apartment in the east of the city.

The city lights outside the window were bright, but the room was dark.

Lin Qinghe curled up in the corner of the sofa, her knees drawn up to her chest.

The TV wasn't on, and neither were the lights.

She has been keeping an eye on the updates in the dormitory group chat for the past two days.

Gu Ruanxing would update the group every few hours with the progress.

The results are all the same.

No one was found.

My phone suddenly vibrated.

Lin Qinghe looked down.

It's not WeChat.

It's a multimedia message.

Sender number: Unknown.

Lin Qinghe frowned and opened the MMS message.

It took two seconds to load.

A photo appears on the screen.

The image is somewhat blurry, as if it was taken from surveillance footage.

At the dimly lit alley entrance, a silver van was parked under a streetlamp.

The car door was wide open.

Two men wearing baseball caps, each holding one arm, were dragging a person into the carriage.

The person being dragged had their head drooping and their body limp, clearly having lost consciousness.

But that black shirt, that slender figure, that familiar silhouette…

Lin Qinghe's pupils suddenly contracted.

The phone slipped from my fingers, hit the sofa cushion, bounced, and flipped over.

It's Jiang Yichen!

The person being dragged into the van in the photo is Jiang Yichen!