“Siqi, we checked the surveillance videos along the road and found the car whose license plate was covered went westward and left the city at 10:00.”

“Left the west of the city at 10:00?” Han Siqi raises his hand and looks at the watch, “Now it’s wee hours.”

“Yeah. I’ve sent some guys to search out of the city. But there is no surveillance outside the city in the west. Besides, it’s dark outside, so it’s difficult to investigate.”

Han Siqi walks towards the car while saying, “Do you think Zhengzheng’s disappearance is related to that of Zhu Ting?”

“When I heard that Zhengzheng was missing, I had the same idea in the beginning, but I think it’s too coincidental. The car whose license plate was covered left Home Inn at 9:00 p.m. Nearby residents might not sleep at that time. But it’s late now. I will send someone to ask nearby residents tomorrow morning and see if we can get some clues.”

“If it’s really related to Zhu Ting’s disappearance, we’ll get a general direction at least.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll go to the west of the city.”

“West of the city? Don’t go there now. Go back to fetch something of Zhengzheng before going there. A police dog is on the way.”

Hearing what Zhen Chao says, Han Siqi becomes serious and responds at once, “OK, I will go back right now.”

When he is about to go, he sees Tian Xin and Sun Qiubo staring at him. He points to their car and says slowly, “Go back to sleep. I will let you know if I have news.”

“It’s your fault. Why did you call Zhengzheng?” Sun Qiubo scolds Tian Xin suddenly.

Tian Xin feels injured, “I was glad. I didn’t expect such an incident would happen! Do you think I want to see this result?”

Ignoring their quarrel, Han Siqi tells something to Lu Song and then drives back to the house in Splendid Oriental Castle.

When he just enters the community, Muxian calls him and asks the detailed information about Fu Zhengzheng’s disappearance once more.

It turns out that the police office raided all bars and clubs in the city from 9:30 to 11:30 this evening. To get the strongest effect, everyone that joined the operation switched the cellphone off one hour before it. They didn’t turn their cellphones on until the operation ended. Ji Muxian and Yang Tao received the message when they turned cellphones on and knew Zhu Ting had disappeared. Soon they got another news that Fu Zhengzheng was missing too.

Han Siqi tells Ji Muxian what he knows briefly. Ji Muxian hangs up the phone quickly.

He puts the cellphone into his pocket and walks into the house. Looking at the dark house, he feels lonely suddenly. He even expects that when he opens the door, Fu Zhengzheng will appear before him in a lively way. Even if she points to his nose to scold him or complain, he will feel glad.

But after he enters, no miracle happens. The home is cold and cheerless. It’s the first time for him to realize how lifeless the house is. It’s the first time for him to feel extremely depressed when he enters the house.

“Mr. Han.” Lu Song reminds him quietly behind. Then Han Siqi walks upstairs quickly, puts Fu Zhengzheng’s pajamas in a bag, dashes downstairs, and then drives towards the west of the city.

Now it’s past midnight. The city is not so noisy as it is in the daytime. There are fewer cars on the road. Han Siqi drives quickly towards the west of the city. Lu Song and other buddies drive fast to follow him. They feel nervous and are afraid that he will have an accident.

Usually, it takes over half an hour to go there, but it takes Han Siqi less than twenty minutes today. He stops the car by the roadside near the exit of the road out of the city. He stares ahead in the dark with his lips pressed together.

Man can’t predict anything. He thought she could be well protected since Lu Song and other men were sent to follow her anytime, so he went to see Zhen Chao with his mind at ease. Unexpectedly, it ended in this way. He never thought he would be so passive one day.

It’s meaningless to find out who is to blame. The only thing in his mind is how to find his wife and bring her home safe and sound.

He is clear that she is in great danger, so his hands are trembling on the wheel, though he warns himself repeatedly to calm down. He knows that if he is restless, his mind will be in a mess.

An SUV stops by his car. He turns around and sees Zhen Chao get out of it. He gets out of his car instantly and gives the bag to Zhen Chao.

“Zhengzheng’s pajamas.”

Zhen Chao takes them and looks back at a tall man behind him with a serious expression.

A big police dog is next to the tall man. He shakes his head, “Commander, the suspect drove away and left limited smell. Unexpectedly, there are pharmaceutical factories around. The smell is so strong that the police dog’s sense of smell has been disturbed completely.”

“Now that the police dog can’t help us, we’ll search by ourselves.” Han Siqi takes the bag and plans to get into the car.

Zhen Chao holds him back, “The surveillance video shows that that car heads in this direction, but the road forks 5km ahead. There are several more forks if you go about 10km along each branch. what’s worse, it’s night. The police dog can’t help us. Our search is difficult to go on. It’s useless if you take your men to search around.”

“Then what shall we do?” Han Siqi turns around to stare at Zhen Chao.

“Go back to sleep. I’ve sent many persons to search in different places. Perhaps we’ll be lucky.”

“I can’t fall asleep.”

“Even if you can’t fall asleep, you need to lie down and refresh yourself. We are not sure to be able to find Zhengzheng tomorrow. You must store enough strength and energy to rescue Zhengzheng.” Han Siqi hesitates. Zhen Chao thinks and adds, “I can understand your feeling now. I don’t feel better than you. But please remember my men are very capable. So long as there is a clue, they can follow up and seize the culprit.”

“Go back to sleep now. I will stay here.” Han Siqi ignores Zhen Chao and looks at Lu Song.

Lu Song comes over and whispers to him, “Our men will arrive soon. This is the map of the west of the city.”

Han Siqi takes the map and begins to study it.

Zhen Chao can do nothing with him. Han Siqi arranges his men to search around each fork. Zhen Chao says he has sent people there but hasn’t received any useful information.

“Siqi, anxiety is useless. The people I sent are not fewer than yours. We have to investigate carefully when it’s light.” Zhen Chao persuades Han Siqi again, “It’s past 2:00 a.m. Let’s sleep in a nearby hotel and go out of the city tomorrow morning to save time.”

Han Siqi follows Zhen Chao and checks in a nearby hotel finally.

But though he comes to the hotel, he is sleepless during the whole night. He stares at the watch, counting every second.

When Fu Zhengzheng was on the way back from Weihan Group, Tian Xin called her, saying she was play mahjong in Home Inn and asking if she was interested in watching it. Because she didn’t know when Han Siqi would go home and she was bored at home alone, she drove to the hotel.

Lu Song went upstairs with her. After entering the hotel and seeing Tian Xin and Sun Qiubo, he left.

A woman smoked in the room. Fu Zhengzheng found it choking, so she opened the door and windows to let fresh air in. Then she went to the balcony to breathe fresh air. At this moment, she saw a man stun Zhu Ting and drag her into a car. She wanted to stop him by shouting, but it’s a little far. She thought Lu Song and his men had left. In order not to alert the guys outside, she entered the room immediately while calling Yang Tao, but she couldn’t reach him.

Seeing her walk out hurriedly, Sun Qiubo called her at once. She just said she had to do something and must leave right away. Then she dashed downstairs while calling Ji Muxian. But he couldn’t be reached either. She was very anxious. Then she ran to the side door on the first floor and peeped outside. Finding nothing was going on outside, she called Han Siqi while going out. Unexpectedly, as soon as she went out of the door, she felt a pain on her shoulder and her cellphone dropped on the ground. Then she passed out. (Han Siqi always blames himself for not hearing Fu Zhengzheng’s call. In fact, she called him and his cellphone just received the call. But before his cellphone vibrated, hers had dropped on the ground and been switched off.)

When she comes to herself, her eyes are covered and her mouth is blocked. Her hands are tied. She struggles and then hears a man warn, “If you dare to move again, I will throw you into the lake to feed the fish.”

She doesn’t know what’s going on and has to sit still. Then she eavesdrops the sound attentively. It’s quiet around. She can vaguely hear the sound of insects and occasional rowing. She feels strange and can’t figure out where she is and when it is.

After a long time, she is pulled up by someone.

“Lower your head, bend over and go out.”

She is still unaware of the situation. She lowers her head and bends over obediently while listening to the sound secretly. She seems to hear the footsteps of three or four persons. She follows them to go forward. On the way, she stumbles several times and nearly falls. A person next to her holds her in time and tells her to maintain balance rudely.

“Don’t move!”

Once the man is done, Fu Zhengzheng feels herself lifted. Then she sinks heavily and the person puts her down.

“Move forward.”

After walking for about ten minutes, she hears a door open and feels a faint light before her. She guesses she may enter a house.

“Take them to the eastern room and watch them.” It’s still the rough voice that Fu Zhengzheng has heard for several times.

Then she is taken to a room.

“Sit down. Stay here obediently.” A reedy voice says. Then the door is closed.

Fu Zhengzheng keeps silent until there is no sound at all in the room. She raises her foot and stamps it. She stamps once, pauses for two seconds, and then stamps twice consecutively.

Soon someone stamps in the same way to respond nearby.

Zhu Ting is in the room too.

Fu Zhengzheng feels excited immediately. She twists the rope around her wrists secretly and feels frustrated at once – it’s the packaging string usually used in malls. Once it’s tied, it will only become tighter and can’t be loosened. What’s worse, she seems to be tied with many strings. It seems that the opponent is afraid she is a police officer and thus is well prepared.

She puts her ear to the wall to listen to the outside sound and finds the wall rough, so she guesses it may be a countryside house. She hears faint and intermittent sound outside. She speculates the guys outside will go to sleep. Then she racks her brains to figure out how to escape.

At this moment, she feels a hand press her chest suddenly…