Chapter 327: Chapter 281: Blazing Red
Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment, and instantly thought of the mysterious woman who had helped Beibei in the restroom of the bar. If nothing unexpected, they were the same person.
"Damn it, this thing is coming for us!" Yang Xiao immediately realized that the person’s target was those who had participated in the crackdown on Granny Hong.
There weren’t many survivors of the mall mission. Apart from him, Beibei, Wu Zhe, and Wu Zhengwu, there was only a female deputy team leader and Su Guoxin left. All of these people were the target, and what was more frightening was that in just one night, two people had disappeared.
"Where did this person disappear?" Yang Xiao asked.
"At his own home. There was no one else at home, and there’s something strange, Su Guoxin is well-off, the neighborhood he lives in is also high-end with comprehensive surveillance. The surveillance shows that he returned home last night at a little past 9 o’clock and never came out again, nor did a second person enter his home."
"We visited his neighbors, and they didn’t notice anything unusual either. It was quiet all night."
"The people from the tech department also went to check carefully, apart from Su Guoxin, they didn’t find traces of a second person." Zhuge Zhijie gave a very detailed introduction.
"Another locked-room disappearance," Yang Xiao’s bad premonition grew stronger. He remembered Su Guoxin, who couldn’t have survived as the only person other than team leaders purely by luck. Yet, such people disappeared without trace or notice.
"Team Leader!" Zhuge Zhijie seemed to receive new information, his tone suddenly became urgent, "The Director ordered you to return to the station immediately. Elder Yang from the Provincial Public Security Department is on his way, there’s an important situation!"
"Alright!"
After hanging up the phone, Yang Xiao seemed to understand a bit more. This incident didn’t seem like a simple act of revenge by an Evil Cultivator but rather like some kind of supernatural event, specifically targeting them, very directed. And not unexpectedly, Yang Xiao immediately thought of that missing Red Bridal Veil.
"All of you must die, I will not let you go even if I become a ghost!" This was Granny Hong’s proclamation before she died. Now it seemed more like some kind of curse.
He could wait no longer. Yang Xiao glanced at the time; it was 9:57 p.m., very close to the estimated time of Beibei’s disappearance.
As Yang Xiao was about to put the Drama Robe into his backpack and stand up to leave, suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from behind him and covered his eyes, "Guess who I am?"
Yang Xiao’s annoyed mind instantly relaxed. The voice was such a comfort to him, "Stop it, Honghong, I have to go to work now. I’ll play with you when I get back, okay?"
"No, you’ve finally come back for once, you have to stay with me." When Yang Xiao turned around, he saw a youthful and beautiful face, Honghong in a red dress looked up at him with a pitiful gaze.
Honghong was his girlfriend of five years. He had been hesitant to talk about marriage due to his financial situation. But now that Yang Xiao had found success in his career, they couldn’t delay their marriage any longer.
"Be good, listen to me, I’ll come back and stay with you once I’m done with work." Yang Xiao bent down and gently kissed Honghong on the forehead.
But Honghong, clinging to Yang Xiao’s clothes, would not relent. She narrowed her eyes and threatened him with a cute expression, "No, I don’t believe you. You said the same thing before. I suspect it’s not true you’re going to work; you might be mixing with some vixen behind my back!"
"Really, our boss needs me." Yang Xiao dared not deceive his girlfriend.
"Then tell me, what does your boss need you for?"
With such a question from Honghong, Yang Xiao was momentarily flustered; he suddenly couldn’t remember what the boss wanted him to do. He casually picked up his phone and saw the first message on top was from his mother. His mother loved to nag him but was a gentle woman, reminding him every day to cherish Honghong, saying she was a good girl and that he needed to treat her well.
The next second, before Yang Xiao could scroll down, the phone was snatched away by a delicate white hand, "Look, you’re lying, your boss didn’t even call for you!"
"No, no, really, believe me." Yang Xiao was very afraid of being misunderstood by his girlfriend. As a scriptwriter who only wrote niche supernatural stories, he counted himself blessed to have a girlfriend at all, much less such an outstanding girl.
"Alright, I can let you go, but you have to prove to me that you love me." Honghong wrapped her arms around Yang Xiao, her delicate little face turned up showing a shy smile.
His heart pounding wildly, Yang Xiao understood in a second, "Then... you go wash first?"
"Mm-hmm."
Seeing the figure in the red dress, without shoes, enter the bathroom, Yang Xiao’s first instinct was to follow, but he was stopped by Hóng Hóng as she turned around suddenly, raising her finger in a mock-serious threat, "No peeking, or you’re dead meat!"
"Heh, heh heh heh, okay, okay." Forget about work, Yang Xiao didn’t want to work at all right now; all he could think about was Hóng Hóng.
Soon, the sound of running water came from the bathroom. Yang Xiao sat outside waiting. With nothing better to do, he thought to fiddle with his phone, but the phone lit up briefly before the screen went black again, and it wouldn’t turn on. It was probably out of battery.
Listening to the diminishing sound of water inside the bathroom, Yang Xiao knew Hóng Hóng was almost done. He walked to the wardrobe and opened the doors, hoping to find a clean towel for Hóng Hóng to dry off with, but despite searching, he found none. Even more strange was that there wasn’t a single piece of Hóng Hóng’s clothing in the wardrobe.
Yang Xiao just found it strange, but instinctively didn’t think much of it. He resolved to earn more money to buy new clothes for Hóng Hóng.
After looking around, suddenly, Yang Xiao noticed that his backpack had been opened at some point, with a red sleeve sticking out.
"This is a girl’s clothing, it must be something I bought for Hóng Hóng!" Yang Xiao walked over and pulled a Drama Robe out of the backpack.
But upon further reflection, Yang Xiao couldn’t remember ever seeing Hóng Hóng wearing that Drama Robe. As he shook out the robe, a piece of paper fell from inside.
Picking it up, there were a few lines of text.
"Without a woman in your heart, your writing will be divinely smart. To garner more monthly votes, sever your fancies and romantic dotes."
Yang Xiao paused, recognizing the distinctly elegant handwriting as his own. He could even picture how proud and spirited he had felt when writing those lines.
Moments later, as if a numbed nerve was suddenly struck, Yang Xiao felt something odd.
He was a scriptwriter, and he had written that line to motivate himself, but with an unfinished script, how could he afford a home, and where did he find such an excellent girlfriend like Hóng Hóng?
"That’s not right, something seems... off!" Yang Xiao, one to obsess over details, wouldn’t let a mystery go unchecked. As he dug deeper, he noticed more and more inconsistencies. If they had been dating for many years and were about to get married, how could there not be a single piece of her clothing in his wardrobe? And there was only one pillow on the bed.
Shoes... Yang Xiao went to check the shoe cabinet, and in the next second, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. There were simply no shoes belonging to Hóng Hóng in the shoe cabinet by the door.
No shoes... How did she get here then? Even if she had been living with him all this time, didn’t she... go out at all?
"Babe~" A seductive voice came from inside the bathroom, "Open the door, take a look, there’s a surprise for you!"
To Yang Xiao’s ears at that moment, the voice was akin to the reaper’s scythe. His years of writing supernatural scripts allowed him to quickly regain his composure. After all, panic would serve no purpose but to bring death more swiftly. He called out to placate the "Hóng Hóng" inside the bathroom, "Wait a moment, I’m looking for something."
"What are you looking for? Let me out and I’ll help you find it," she said.
"No need, I’ve also got a surprise for you, it’ll be quick," Yang Xiao replied in an exceedingly soft voice as he opened the door and then bolted, running as fast as he could, even in slippers.
With increasing distance from the room, Yang Xiao’s mind became clearer. By the time he reached the lobby of the apartment building, he had remembered it all - what nonsense about Hóng Hóng; it was all fake. He never had a girlfriend.
As he stood there, catching his breath, planning to borrow a phone from the apartment manager to report the situation to the precinct, a group of people hurried in from outside. Yang Xiao, hearing the footsteps, turned around just in time to see Elder Yang in a Sun Yat-sen suit appearing behind him.
Xi Menxiu and Da Xiong were also there. Seeing that Yang Xiao was still alive was a relief to everyone. They pulled Yang Xiao aside, and Xi Menxiu whispered, "Captain, it’s great that you are okay. Luckily, the chief was vigilant. Worried about you, he had Zhuge Zhijie send you a message every three minutes to confirm your safety. And when you didn’t respond, the chief immediately brought Elder Yang over."
"Elder Yang, that ghost attacked me in my room," Yang Xiao reported.
Elder Yang looked Yang Xiao up and down before his gaze settled on the left shoulder, "You have a handprint on your shoulder, with six fingers."
