Chapter 326: Chapter 280: Girlfriend
"Where is the bathroom?" Yang Xiao asked.
The girl led Yang Xiao and Xi Menxiu to a corner of the bar, which was now cordoned off with police tape. There were also people in Patrol Defense Office uniforms standing guard outside the door.
Once inside, they discovered that the bathroom was not very large, but it was decorated quite luxuriously. There was only this one entrance and no windows. Yang Xiao pushed open each stall door, conducting a thorough examination, but found no hiding place for anyone. It seemed Beibei must have encountered some kind of accident.
"Captain, we’ve checked everything here, including the ceiling, the ventilation ducts, and even dismantled the mirror behind the washbasin. Our people brought a life detector as well, but no signs of life were detected," Xi Menxiu quickly reported.
"Why is it only you here, where are the others?" Yang Xiao had not yet seen Da Xiong, Yu Shu, and Zhuge Zhijie.
"Da Xiong is with the technicians checking the nearby surveillance cameras. Yu Shu is leading a team to track down suspicious individuals, and Zhijie is staying at the office to coordinate with different departments. He’s also applying for permission. We need to access the files related to Ms. Bei’s Resentful Eye to determine if this is an unknown attack or if Ms. Bei’s own Resentful Eye has gone out of control."
Despite Xi Menxiu’s usually carefree demeanor, he was reliable when it mattered. He spoke with clear logic, and his mind was sharp. With his assistance, Yang Xiao quickly formed his own judgment of the situation, "It’s an attack, someone ambushed Beibei here."
"How do you know?" Xi Menxiu paused, a change coming over his expression.
"I’ve seen Beibei’s Resentful Eye before. If that thing were out of control, not a single person in this bar would be alive." The Ghost dressed in a Doraemon costume had left a deep impression on Yang Xiao.
"But who would ambush Ms. Bei?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Xi Menxiu paused, then suddenly realized something, "Shit, it’s the Yu Yuan Sect people!"
"Most likely," Yang Xiao guessed what those who had slipped through the net were planning—they were probably using Beibei as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Patrol Defense Office, to get back the Red Bridal Veil Resentful Eye from the Venerable Level Heretic Cultivator Granny Hong who had been killed, or to create a breach and escape from Rongcheng.
After Nalan Shuo’s arrangements, Rongcheng had become like an iron barrel. It was nearly impossible for those who had escaped to leave.
Having everyone else leave, Yang Xiao closed the bathroom door and stayed there alone. He quickly put on the Drama Robe from his backpack, considering the bizarre abilities of the Yu Yuan Sect’s people, and decided to use the Ghost Lantern to carefully search the place again, thinking he might uncover some clues.
As he focused his thoughts, he casually scratched his finger on the surface of the Drama Robe. The next second, Yang Xiao was stunned; the Ghost Lantern did not appear.
He tried again, but it was the same. The Drama Robe acted like an ordinary piece of clothing with no response whatsoever.
"What’s going on?" Cold sweat broke out on Yang Xiao instantly. This was the first time such a thing had happened; the Drama Robe’s powers were gone.
Without the Drama Robe, he was just an ordinary person. Let alone facing a genuine Resentful Eye Cultivator, even against a few powerless ordinary cultists, he might not stand a chance.
His first instinct was that something was off about this place—it was the environment here that limited the powers of his Resentful Eye. He walked briskly out, opening the door to leave. Although he felt panicked inside, he absolutely could not show it. If those Yu Yuan Sect heretics hiding in the shadows realized he was powerless, they would strike him down while he was weak.
Once on the other side of the bar, Yang Xiao tried again, and after several attempts, he came to a horrifying realization: he was powerless. His Drama Robe was now no different from regular clothing.
But... why?
Was this the aftereffect of overusing the Drama Robe’s powers, or did it have something to do with the Yu Yuan Sect’s heretics? As he pondered, Yang Xiao suddenly recalled Granny Hong’s last moment when she was killed—she self-destructed. The explosion wasn’t very powerful, but it splattered her blood and flesh all over him, and she also shouted, "Even as a ghost, I won’t let you off."
Could it be... that it’s manifested here?!
Did Granny Hong seal her own Resentful Eye with her life?
After the initial shock, Yang Xiao turned around and saw Xi Menxiu eagerly looking at him from a distance, gesturing for him to come over.
"What’s up?" Yang Xiao tried to appear as calm as possible—who knew if there were spies watching him in the darkness.
"Captain, there’s just been word from the office. All the exposed Yu Yuan Sect heretics inside Rongcheng have been eradicated. Also, there’s something else, the retrieval personnel from the technical department didn’t find the Resentful Eye you mentioned in the ruins of the shopping mall—the Red Bridal Veil, Granny Hong’s magic artifact," Xi Menxiu reported.
"Not found?" Yang Xiao’s ominous premonition had finally come true. It seemed the malfunction of the Drama Robe was related to this.
Yang Xiao’s first suspicion was that the Drama Robe had absorbed the Red Bridal Veil behind his back, but upon inspection, he found no similar embroidery patterns on it.
Plus, there was something Yang Xiao could not figure out—with even the powerful White-robed Ghost Bodhisattva neatly handled by the Drama Robe, let alone a Red Bridal Veil. Originally, Granny Hong had been scared out of her wits when she saw the White-robed Ghost Bodhisattva; she would have run away if she hadn’t figured out Yang Xiao was an imposter at the last moment.
There were too many mysteries that Yang Xiao couldn’t unravel at the moment. The loss of the Drama Robe’s powers could be investigated later, but Beibei’s disappearance could not be delayed.
Yang Xiao now even hoped that Beibei had been abducted by the Yu Yuan Sect; at least that would mean she was still alive. If she encountered some supernatural event, came across those illogical, malevolent ghosts, then her chances wouldn’t be good.
As time ticked by, second by second, it was almost dawn. In the meantime, Yang Xiao, not believing in misfortune, had tried wearing the Drama Robe several times to no avail; the robe was as lifeless as a corpse.
At six in the morning, Da Xiong arrived, finally bringing them an important clue—Yu Shu had found a witness.
According to the witness, she had just come out of the restroom when she bumped into Beibei, who was staggering and walking unsteadily, as she had drunk too much. Crucially, the Beibei she saw was not alone; there was another woman with her, supporting her, and they seemed very close.
"We asked the friends that came with Ms. Bei, and they don’t recall such a person. Ms. Bei had never been to this bar before, and they didn’t see any friends come to find Ms. Bei while drinking," Da Xiong whispered the information.
"What did this person look like?" Yang Xiao guessed that the problem must lie with this individual, most likely an Evil Cultivator.
"Don’t know, the witness had been drinking as well, and she said that the person supporting Beibei was keeping her head down; she only knew it was a woman."
After saying this, Da Xiong quickly added, "However, we have already started investigating. Last night, the bar hosted a special celebration, a cosplay community event that was invitation-only, requiring a reservation for entry. The technical department has intervened, using the bar’s reservation data provided to backtrack to the individual, and results should come out soon."
Yang Xiao was not as optimistic as Da Xiong. These heretic cultivators had all sorts of bizarre abilities, infiltrating a bar would be a piece of cake for them. However, he did not want to dampen everyone’s spirits as this was also one of the few things they could do.
Soon after, the technical department reported back. They had reviewed surveillance videos of the various exits near the bar during the incident and found several people moving large luggage, but after Yu Shu personally visited each one, they were all excluded from suspicion.
The most crucial piece was the testimony of Beibei’s friend. She only saw Beibei entering the restroom by herself and never coming out again.
Yang Xiao even had someone secretly check this friend’s background and recent movements, but no issues were found.
Working nonstop until noon, there was still no progress, and Yu Shu’s investigation was also not going smoothly; his brute force tactics had almost caused a conflict.
Having barely rested before, Yang Xiao felt his head heavy and his ability to think declining rapidly.
Noticing that Yang Xiao was exhausted and still injured, Xi Menxiu and Da Xiong persuaded him to rest first, promising to notify him immediately if there were any updates.
Knowing his presence was of little use, Yang Xiao went back, but not to the office. He went straight to his apartment instead.
After a simple meal, Yang Xiao, dragging his weary head, collapsed onto the bed without even taking off his clothes and fell into a deep sleep.
He slept for a long time, and when Yang Xiao opened his eyes again, it was already dark outside. With a glimmer of hope, he opened his backpack, took out the Drama Robe, hung it up respectfully, and after several bows, put it on. But after several attempts, it was of no use. The patterns of the Ghost Lantern, the Silver Dust Whisk, and the Soul-Capturing Mirror were all there, but they could not be taken out—the Drama Robe had become a mere garment.
Sitting on the sofa, Yang Xiao was so frustrated that he could not utter a word. There was a time he wanted to rid himself of this robe, but now, he found he couldn’t do without it.
Suddenly, his phone rang; it was Zhuge Zhijie calling. Yang Xiao immediately grabbed the phone, silently hoping for good news, and answered the call.
But what Zhuge Zhijie said next stunned Yang Xiao on the spot, "Say that again, another disappearance?!"
"Yes, Captain, we’ve just received the news. The one missing this time is a technologist from the Luming Patrol Defense Agency, named Su Guoxin. You should know him."
"I don’t recognize him," Yang Xiao said truthfully.
Zhuge Zhijie then sent over a photo of a man wearing glasses who looked quite geeky. It was only upon seeing the photo that Yang Xiao remembered meeting this man, who had been on a mission with him, Beibei, Wu Zhe, and Wugu Zhengwu, brought in as reinforcement by the female vice-captain and survived. To think he too had disappeared.
"Captain, according to the investigation, the disappearance of this person was very close to Beibei’s. Beibei’s is estimated to be around 10 p.m. last night, while this person disappeared between 1:45 a.m. and 2:25 a.m."
"Why is the time of this person’s disappearance so precise?" Yang Xiao quickly realized there was a problem.
"Because Su Guoxin called at 1:45 a.m. to order a bouquet of roses to be delivered to his door, but when the florist arrived and knocked on the door, there was no response," Zhuge Zhijie explained. "The florist’s arrival time was 2:25 a.m."
"What was he ordering flowers for, to give to a girlfriend?" Yang Xiao pressed.
"That’s where the problem lies. This Su Guoxin has been a perennial single man; he’s never had a girlfriend."
