The light from the stairwell shone into the dark room, revealing a narrow little space carpeted with fleece carpet in He Ao's view.
To the left of the entrance was a cramped bathroom. Through the narrow passage formed between the bathroom and the wall stood a somewhat old large bed and a desk with a small television hanging above it.
He Ao reached out and turned on the room light, then walked inside. An unopened takeout meal sat on the desk, while the chair beneath it had been pulled out, as though someone had been sitting there just moments ago.
Beside the desk was an open suitcase filled with neatly folded clothes. A passport had been casually tossed on top of them.
He Ao crouched down, picked up the passport, and opened it.
The photograph in the passport was indeed that of the Middle Earth Tourist.
He raised his head, glanced around the empty room, then reached out and touched the chair.
The chair was still warm, and the unopened takeout was still hot.
Clearly, someone had been here until just now.
Too late?
But would kidnappers happen to leave the door ajar like that?
Or had the Middle Earth Tourist left temporarily because of something?
"The door is open."
Just as He Ao was thinking, extremely faint footsteps came from behind him. Then he heard a voice farther back say, "Looks like we won't need the spare key."
"There's no movement inside?"
Another voice farther ahead said, "Don't tell me he's not here?"
"Maybe he went out to eat? Or buy something?"
The voice in the back guessed.
"Shh. Keep it down. Don't talk too much."
The voice in front spoke.
"Don't worry. We're talking so quietly that ordinary ears can't pick it up," the voice behind laughed. "And