Chapter 1

"Sent by Bing-ge?"

Zhang Yuanqing finished reading the letter and frowned.

What does "change your life" mean? What does "unable to control" mean?

Really, he didn't explain anything clearly… He turned his gaze back to the black card, examining it repeatedly, confirming that it was just an ordinary card. If he had to say what was unusual, it was that it felt nice in his hand, and the material seemed rare.

Could it be an exclusive card for some top-tier club? The 36D小姐 (xiǎojiě - miss/young woman) are indeed only manageable by an extraordinary man like myself.

Lei Yibing was his childhood best friend, nicknamed Abing, two years older than him. Before his grandparents bought a new house, the two families lived in the same hutong (traditional alley).

Lei Yibing had double A's in strength and speed, and a C in intelligence. He had always looked out for him since childhood, rushing ahead in fights, staying behind to cover the retreat when getting beat up. If anyone laughed at Zhang Yuanqing for being a fatherless child, Lei Yibing would stand up for him.

That's why Zhang Yuanqing always called him Bing-ge (Brother Bing).

Abing's grades weren't ideal in high school, so he went to college in the neighboring Jiangnan Province. Since then, being separated, they had less contact.

Zhang Yuanqing put the black card in his jacket pocket while picking up his phone to send Abing a message, teasing:

"Which club's exclusive card is this? At least give me the address or contact information."

The message was sent, but half an hour passed without a reply.

Zhang Yuanqing simply dialed Bing-ge's number.

After two "beep beep" sounds, the call connected, and a man's deep voice came from the speaker:

"Hello! This is Lei Yibing's father."

"Uncle Lei?" Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback, then pleasantly surprised, "Is Bing-ge back in Songhai this week? Let him take the call, I need to talk to him."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, followed by a sorrowful voice:

"Yuanzi, I'm in Jiangnan Province. Abing has gone missing…"

Bing-ge is missing?! Zhang Yuanqing stood there dumbfounded. After a few seconds, he asked, both confused and anxious:

"What happened?"

How could Bing-ge be missing? He even sent me something.

"He went missing the day before yesterday. Your Aunt Zhou and I received a notice from the school yesterday and rushed over immediately." Uncle Lei's voice was dejected.

"Did you call the police? What did the people from the Public Security Bureau say?" Zhang Yuanqing said in a deep voice.

Uncle Lei was silent for a long time, then said hesitantly:

"This matter is hard to explain, Abing's disappearance is a bit strange…"

Strange? What does that mean… Zhang Yuanqing was stunned.

Uncle Lei said:

"Abing disappeared from his dorm room the night before last. The police retrieved the surveillance footage from the dorm hallway and found that Abing didn't leave his dorm the entire night, but the next morning, he was gone.

"His roommate said they saw him before going to bed, but when they woke up, he was gone. They thought he had just gone out."

Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "How is that possible…"

Does he think people can disappear into thin air? Not even a three-year-old would believe that.

Zhang Yuanqing suppressed the anxiety in his heart and lowered his voice:

"Uncle Lei, did Bing-ge offend anyone at school?"

His first thought was that Bing-ge had offended someone at school, and that the other party had a certain amount of power locally, which is why the surveillance footage didn't show anything amiss, because that often implies that the school is covering something up.

In this age of information overload, anyone who's been online has heard of similar things.

"The school leaders said they would cooperate with the police as much as possible, and the police told us to go back and wait for news, that they would investigate… Your Aunt and I haven't slept all night."

…Uncle Lei's tone was mixed with frustration and worry.

Sure enough, that's the kind of answer I'd get. Damn it… Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and comforted him:

"Don't worry, my grandfather and my cousin both work at the Public Security Bureau. You know that. I'll ask them later how to handle this kind of thing, what to pay attention to. If you don't understand something, or need to consult something, feel free to call me.

"Also, you must ask the students at the school, if Bing-ge offended someone, surely some of his classmates would know."

Uncle Lei felt a little relieved and said:

"I understand, Yuanzi, don't worry too much, I'll tell you as soon as I have news."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yuanqing felt restless, pacing back and forth in the room, worrying about Bing-ge's safety.

People don't just disappear for no reason. If the surveillance footage didn't catch anything, it must have been tampered with. He just doesn't know who Bing-ge offended.

But who could a junior in college offend?

Wait, he went missing the day before yesterday…

The day before yesterday?!

Zhang Yuanqing was suddenly shocked. It takes 2-3 days for a package to travel from Jiangnan Province to Songhai. According to the timeline, Bing-ge disappeared the night he sent me the package…

Is this a coincidence? Or is there some connection?

Thinking of this, he instinctively reached for the black card in his pocket, but when he put his hand in his pocket, he suddenly froze.

The black card was gone.

Did it fall on the floor? Zhang Yuanqing quickly looked down, his eyes scanning the floor of the room.

No!

He got down on the floor and looked under the bed. The floor under the bed was covered in a layer of dust, as well as some coins, pens, buttons, and other sundries, but no black card.

The card was gone, and he remembered very clearly that he had put it in his pocket.

How could it just disappear into thin air?

Coupled with Bing-ge's mysterious disappearance, the strangely worded letter, and the mysteriously vanished black card, Zhang Yuanqing felt a strange sense of fear and confusion.

"Could the black card be related to Bing-ge's disappearance? Or is it an important clue?"

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuanqing decided to use his "old ailment" to restart his memory.

First, he poured cold water into a glass, took out a medicine bottle from the bedside table, unscrewed it, and then took off his shoes and lay down on the bed.

After doing all this, he closed his eyes and remained still, visualizing his father's face in his mind.

The condition for triggering his old ailment is to calm down and imagine a scene, preferably one that he has seen before, but doesn't remember very clearly.

This will stimulate brain activity, slowly warming up, and finally bringing his brainpower to a boil.

After so many years, his father's face had long become blurred, making it the perfect subject.

Time passed, and his father's face gradually went from blurred to clear, until every detail was visible, and Zhang Yuanqing's heart beat violently, like an overloaded engine.

At that moment, time seemed to flow backward, and the events of an hour ago flashed by like a movie, frame by frame.

He saw himself opening the package, reading the letter, and putting the black card in his jacket pocket, followed by sending a message to Bing-ge.

Up to this point, for the next half hour, he sat at the table without moving, browsed short videos for more than ten minutes, and exchanged a few lewd pictures with the lsp (old pervert) in the game group.

He saved a few high-quality pictures.

Then he read a novel for a few minutes, but because he kept thinking about the card, he called Bing-ge.

…After making the call, the crucial moment arrived. He paced around the room anxiously, which was the most likely time for the card to fall out.

In his memory, he saw himself pacing around the room with a frown, then reaching for the black card, and discovering that the card was gone.

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly opened his eyes, his face full of horror.

Gone?!

The black card was just gone, vanished into thin air.

What the hell did Bing-ge send me… For a moment, his scalp tingled.

Without time to think, he heard a chaotic noise in his ears, like the voices of countless people叠加 (diejia - superimposed/layered) together, and fragmented images in his mind, like an erupting volcano, gushed out all at once.

Warm liquid flowed from Zhang Yuanqing's nose, and it felt like steel nails were being hammered into his head.

His face twisted, he crawled towards the bedside, his hands trembling as he poured five small blue pills into his mouth, then trembling again as he picked up the water glass, tilted his head back, and swallowed the pills and water together.

After a moment, Zhang Yuanqing sat on the edge of the bed, panting, his face pale.

At this point, he could basically confirm that there was some connection between Bing-ge's disappearance and the black card.

"Bing-ge disappeared after sending me the black card, and that black card is strange, clearly not an ordinary object…"

This couldn't help but lead one to think that he might have been subjected to some threat, forcing him to transfer the item.

"But why didn't he give it to the local Public Security Bureau, but instead sent it to me?"

Could it be that a college student who hadn't even killed a chicken, let alone slept with anyone, was more reliable than the police?

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly thought of the detail that "the surveillance and the people in the dorm didn't notice anything unusual."

And to be able to do this, you would definitely have to have a certain amount of power.

Bing-ge didn't hand the black card over to the local Public Security Bureau because… the Public Security Bureau couldn't be trusted either?

Or rather, the person or force that caused him to disappear had influence over the local Public Security Bureau.

"He sent the black card to me because he knew that my grandfather was a retired police chief and my cousin was a security captain, with considerable connections in Songhai City, and that the people in Jiangnan Province couldn't influence me?"

I have to tell my cousin about this.

"Ding-dong~"

At this moment, he heard the doorbell, coming from the entrance.

His grandmother's footsteps immediately sounded, passing through the living room to the entrance, and she turned the doorknob.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, we are investigators from the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau. Is Zhang Yuanqing home?"

The person outside the door replied.

.......

ps: Please collect this, gentlemen. There will be another chapter tonight.

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Mai Bao Xiao Lang Jun reminds you: Remember to collect after reading



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