The locked-room disappearance

Inside a small apartment, hurried footsteps echoed across the floor.

Before long, two New Year's Watchers met in the living room, their faces deathly pale and their eyes filled with fear.

"We... we couldn't find him."

"I... I'll call the boss," one of the New Year's Watchers stammered, then hurriedly contacted Huang Wei.

Forty minutes later.

Two SUVs pulled to a stop. Ren Ye, Huang Wei, and the others hurried out and ran straight toward the apartment building.

Moments later, they took the elevator to apartment 601 on the sixth floor, where six dispirited New Year's Watchers stood in the living room.

"Where's my dad?!"

Ren Ye stormed into the living room, grabbed the nearest New Year's Watcher, and demanded, "Where is he?! Say something!"

The man he had grabbed lowered his head and answered in a trembling voice, "He's gone. Not a single..."

Thud!

Before the man could finish, Ren Ye shoved him away hard, his emotions instantly boiling over. "What the hell are you people here for? Huh?!"

Huang Wei immediately stepped forward to stop him, trying to soothe him in a low voice. "Ren Ye, calm down. Let's hear what happened first."

"Calm down, my ass! It's not your dad who disappeared, is it?" Ren Ye knocked Huang Wei's hand away and demanded, his eyes red, "What did you promise me? What did you tell me? You had a protection plan ready, and this is all you've got?! An official organization, and this is all you've got?! This is fucking dereliction of duty!"

His shouts rang through the silent apartment. Every New Year's Watcher felt deeply guilty, and none argued back.

Looking at Ren Ye, who had lost control, Huang Wei struggled to steady his own emotions. "Okay, I admit..."

"What are you admitting? What did we agree on in that interrogation room? One word from you, and I put my life in your hands. After all that, you couldn't even protect my dad?" Deeply agitated, Ren Ye pointed at Huang Wei. "I told you! Entering the gate was my choice. Whether I lived or died was up to fate, and whatever happened, I wouldn't blame you. But my family was off-limits. That was...!"

"Ren Ye!"

Huang Wei gripped his shoulders hard and roared, "I promise you, if your dad's life is threatened, I fucking swear on the collective honor of the New Year's Watchers that I'll pay for his life with mine!"

"What good is your oath? What good would your life do me?"

"Then what good does losing your temper do right now? You used to do this work yourself. You know better than anyone what we should do at a time like this, don't you?!" Huang Wei looked at him. "At least hear what happened first."

The shouting stopped, and silence returned to the apartment.

After a short while, the New Year's Watcher in charge of Ren Daguo's protection stepped up to Ren Ye. "If something went wrong, the fault is ours. I'm sorry... Ren Ye."

With that, the other five assigned to guard him all stood up as well, lowered their heads toward Ren Ye, and said, "We're sorry. We failed to do our jobs."

Their faces still bore the exhaustion of an all-night watch, their eyes were bloodshot, and they smelled of sweat from spending so long stationed in an enclosed space.

Yet neither their words nor their expressions showed any resentment, only guilt. Although many of these New Year's Watchers knew little about Ren Ye's specific circumstances or the details of the Star Gate in Qingliang Town, they knew he was a newcomer highly valued by both the Shanghai New Year's Watchers and headquarters.

Looking at them, Ren Ye saw his former self. Despite his overwhelming anxiety, he could no longer bring himself to say anything hurtful.

Huang Wei collected himself and immediately asked the man in charge, "What exactly happened? All six of you lost Ren Daguo without noticing a thing? That's impossible!"

The man slowly raised his head, his eyes just as bewildered as he explained, "The six of us were divided into three teams. One was inside the building, one kept watch around the target building, and the third was in a newly rented apartment across the street, with a clear view of apartment 601's living room window. A few minutes before you called and told me to get Ren Daguo, both he and that editor were still in the living room. I saw them with my own eyes."

Ren Ye and Huang Wei listened quietly.

"But after I took your call and walked over from the opposite building to this apartment, the two of them had suddenly disappeared. No more than ten minutes had passed." The man looked incredulous. "During that time, all six of us were so close to the target building, yet we didn't sense any Star Source Fluctuation at all. It's just unbelievable... Even high-stage players, second-stage or even third-stage ones, couldn't have stolen Ren Daguo out from under the six of us without using any supernatural abilities!"

The man swallowed and continued, "And as you've seen, there's no sign of a struggle in this apartment. The lock was also completely intact before we came in. There were no toxins in the air, and nothing unusual in the food or water. That means... no stranger broke into the apartment. Even if we entertained the possibility that Ren Daguo and that editor were both players who suddenly received a Star Gate mission and were teleported away, that would still have caused a Star Source Fluctuation we could detect! But they just... vanished into thin air inside this apartment, without leaving a single trace."

Ren Ye immediately asked, "Do you have any means of tracking a target?"

"Yes."

The man answered, "Although Little An is a Strength System player, his class inheritance includes a supernatural ability that makes him extremely sensitive to scents. After we discovered they were missing, we had him try tracking them, but the scent ended at the garbage bin by the stairwell entrance. It was faint, too, so they probably left it while taking out the trash."

Hearing this, Ren Ye felt both anxious and lost. Over the past two days, he had crammed a great deal of basic knowledge about the Startrace Gate and players with Xu Peng. He knew very well that, if this man's account was accurate... Ren Daguo had effectively vanished from a locked room under inexplicable circumstances.

Beside him, Huang Wei, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said, "My assessment is that the Bell Society probably didn't take them."

Just moments earlier, their colleagues at the Shanghai New Year's Watchers headquarters had confirmed Skinny Monkey's and Fat Dragon's identities. They could now be certain that Bell Society members were behind this incident.

Ren Ye looked up at him and asked, following a police investigator's reasoning, "You mean the evidence at the two scenes is completely different?"

Huang Wei nodded and spoke quickly. "According to Gu Nian's account, four Bell Society members appeared at the scene in the university district. They chose to abduct their target by force, and many of their decisions must have been made on the fly. Otherwise, they wouldn't have tried it right outside a police station. But here, your dad and the editor disappeared without leaving a trace."

"If the Bell Society had the ability to spirit people away without anyone noticing, why would they attempt a forcible abduction outside a police station? Why not just steal your sister away?! Besides, even if they were operating on two fronts, they should have struck simultaneously. Otherwise, once we noticed anything, we'd definitely tighten security here."

Ren Ye understood what Huang Wei meant. He was telling him that even though Ren Daguo had disappeared, he might not have fallen into enemy hands.

But even if that were true, could Ren Ye really rest easy?

A living, breathing person had simply vanished. That was his own father! The one person in the world who had raised him!

Ren Ye remained silent for a long while, then clenched his fists and challenged him. "That's only speculation. What if they chose to operate on two fronts as a backup plan? Some unexpected problem could have kept them from acting simultaneously. And what if one of their players has a supernatural ability you don't know about yet? What if the Bell Society hired a high-stage player?"

Huang Wei was left speechless, because the possibilities Ren Ye had raised did indeed exist.

"Whoever took my dad, their ultimate target has to be me. He should be safe for now. I'm certain of that." Ren Ye turned to Huang Wei and spoke with clear reasoning and a tone that brooked no argument. "Two things. First, before they contact me, you have to find those Bell Society people. I have no enemies right now except them. Second, if you can't find them, then whoever tries to blackmail me afterward, I'll choose to get my dad back. No one... is going to stop me. And don't tell me how crucial the Star Gate in Qingliang Prefecture is. I'm a son first and a police officer second."

Huang Wei gritted his teeth. "All right. I respect your choice, but please give me some time."

With that, Huang Wei walked into the kitchen, closed the door, and immediately called his direct superior, Yan Duoduo.

In a bar near the imperial palace in the Capital.

Dressed in a well-fitted suit, his hair neatly groomed, Yan Duoduo sat on a barstool, patiently waiting for a meeting.

The meeting was to report Ren Ye's situation to headquarters, and it was a highly prized opportunity to deliver that report in person.

Ring, ring!

His phone rang. Yan Duoduo frowned and took it out. "Hello?"

"Boss, something's happened over here..." Huang Wei braced himself and explained what had happened that night, hiding nothing.

After listening, anger rose in Yan Duoduo's face. "Do you know who I came to the Capital for this time?!"

"To... to report on Ren Ye's situation," Huang Wei answered in a voice barely louder than a mosquito.

"And knowing that, you still managed to lose him?! Didn't I lend you personnel? What were you doing?" Even when furious, Yan Duoduo never let his expression become uncontrolled, much less resorted to cursing. His emotions remained remarkably steady. "Go deal with the fallout right now. Right now! Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. I'll be available for your call around the clock."

"Yes, understood. I have an approach."

"Stop telling me you have an approach. I want results!" Yan Duoduo hung up sharply. After careful consideration, he immediately called Shanghai headquarters. "Hello? Send personnel. Send elite personnel to reinforce Qingfu District. Also, whatever Huang Wei requests, you must cooperate. Yes, citywide cooperation...!"

After giving a series of instructions, Yan Duoduo got off the barstool and headed toward a sofa.

"Hey, Shanghai's top dog! Come sit with us," a colleague said with a smile and a wave.

Yan Duoduo ignored him and spoke only to an old man beside him. "Could... could you help me cancel tonight's briefing? I still have some materials that aren't ready."

The old man nodded slowly. "All right."

Five minutes later, Yan Duoduo left the bar, his face flushed red with anger.

It wasn't that he didn't want to give the report. The star of that report had lost his father. If he reported that now, he'd probably be greeted with two hard slaps to the face.

Shanghai.

Huang Wei left the apartment building with Ren Ye and ducked into the car. "Our superiors are taking this case very seriously. To find leads faster, we're heading back downtown to pick up colleagues from the information department, then meeting a member of a player organization that's very active in Shanghai. They operate in the gray area between legal and illegal, and they're extremely well-informed."

Ren Ye raised an eyebrow. "What organization?"

"The Fraud Merchants' Association." Huang Wei started the car and explained quietly, "Their motto is that every transaction is, at its core, a fraud. All that matters is how convincing and impressive your performance is."