The Vanishing Lover

Old He stood behind the officer, arms crossed, his tightly furrowed brows knotted into a massive lump of flesh.

His gaze was fixed on the computer screen – the surveillance footage from the roads between Guanlan Court and the Xinhe Hotel, and between the aquarium and the Xinhe Hotel, on the day Qin Guan described, the day Xu Ruyi had her "accident," had all been retrieved.

First, early that morning, the nanny, Feng Xiangping, had left home and taken a taxi straight to Xinchang Road near the Xinhe Hotel – Officers Wu and Lu had gone to Guanlan Court to question her. Feng Xiangping claimed it was pre-arranged the night before: she would go to the Wuhan Snack Shop on Xinchang Road first thing to buy glutinous rice chicken for Little Pear.

Officer Wu had also checked the shop's cameras at "Wuhan Snack Shop"; Feng Xiangping did indeed buy glutinous rice chicken.

At 9:40 AM, Xu Ruyi and Feng Xiangping, each carrying a large canvas tote bag, drove to the aquarium with Little Pear.

The front entrance of the aquarium used facial recognition, capturing all three of them clearly.

Cameras inside the aquarium also recorded Xu Ruyi playing with the child and taking photos.

During this time, Xu Ruyi received a call – a virtual internet call, its origin still unknown – she took it in a corner outside the restrooms, a blind spot for the cameras.

Qin Guan had said that if Xu Ruyi hadn't gone to the Xinhe Hotel in the afternoon, then it must have been in the morning. "Since she had planned to meet, she naturally made thorough preparations. The two places are so close, she could even have slipped over during the time she was on the phone."

The aquarium cameras didn't capture Xu Ruyi's white-clad figure leaving, but she was on the phone for a very long time – the total duration she was in the blind spot or otherwise lost from view on the footage was a full seventy-plus minutes.

There was another suspicious point.

The side door of the aquarium originally had a camera, but somehow its position had shifted, no longer covering the passageway. Even so, it managed to capture a figure in black clothes flashing past twice.

Once was about three minutes after Xu Ruyi started her "phone call," and the other time was three minutes before she reappeared in the surveillance footage.

Suspicious. Extremely suspicious.

But it was only suspicious. As far as surveillance went, this was hardly concrete proof.

"Boss, can we really take everything Qin Guan says at face value?" Xiao Wu leaned in, asking cautiously and nervously in a low voice.

The direction of this case was subtly shifting, and the boss seemed even more tense than before cracking it – something everyone had noticed.

Old He didn't speak.

His deep, murky eyes stared fixedly at Xu Ruyi in the aquarium footage. He never wanted to believe Qin Guan's words; if possible, he wouldn't even listen to them.

But reason was clear: if what Qin Guan said was true, this entire case could be overturned.

As a criminal investigator, he had no choice. He had to investigate. He had to dig out the complete truth.

"Captain He, you're finally back."

Seeing Old He re-enter the room, Qin Guan's frantic heart finally calmed a little.

His hair was already disheveled from running his hands through it.

The lie detector test, actively confessing the whole truth – this was Qin Guan's final move. If this move failed, if Old He didn't trust him and took no action, he would truly have no way back.

Calm down. Stay calm.

Qin Guan admonished himself.

Old He's expression was cold, stern, his raised eyes tinged with the annoyance of having been played and his time wasted.

So… he hadn't found evidence of Xu Ruyi going to the Xinhe Hotel? With so many cameras along the way, none captured Xu Ruyi?

How was that possible?

Qin Guan took a deep breath, then another – how many times was this now? The threads he'd painstakingly straightened out in his mind were being muddied, bit by bit, by that woman.

The black stockings, outside Yongfa Supermarket – surveillance found no proof Xu Ruyi was following, didn't even capture Feng Xiangping or Xiao Zhi. Now, the Xinhe Hotel, meeting Qi Min – no sign she went to the hotel either.

How did she do it?

How did a woman who knew nothing, raised in luxury, understand this? How did she manage it?

Xiao Zhi?

Xiao Zhi was just a university student, not a criminology major. Even if exceptionally capable, his knowledge should be limited.

Did she have someone erase the surveillance? Like he himself used to do?

Impossible. That required significant connections. Qin Guan didn't believe Xu Ruyi had those kinds of contacts.

"Anything else you need to confess? If it's all this kind of bullshit, don't bother. You're wasting my time!" Old He glared at Qin Guan impatiently, checking his watch – he was about to leave.

This was Qin Guan's only chance. Once lost, it wouldn't come again.

"Yes! There's more! I beg you, stay and hear me out!"

Qin Guan sat up straight, took another deep breath, and began his calm narration again.

"Xu Ruyi met Qi Min that day. Whatever method she used, she definitely met her. I believe she and Qi Min agreed on a plan: for Qi Min to keep hiding, or rather, to disappear completely."

"Because I previously told the police... yes, that I was responsible for Qi Min's death. And also because Li Yang is relentlessly pursuing the matter of my affair with Qi Min."

"With these two points, as long as Qi Min remains missing, this missing person case stays open. The police and Li Yang will keep investigating me. That way, I'm constantly entangled. All my energy will be spent dealing with this, leaving me no time to deal with her. Yes, she's doing this to distract me, to implement her own plan."

Qin Guan closed his eyes, as if seeing into the heart of the woman who once shared his pillow. Killing Qi Min? She didn't have the guts. But using Qi Min to restrain him, to build a cage around him, as the next step to deal with him – that was Xu Ruyi's way.

"Therefore, she needed to move Qi Min away."

"All she had to do was pay, and Qi Min would agree. It was all benefit and no harm for Qi Min. She had nothing left here anyway. Take a sum of money, hide away and enjoy herself for a while – perfect."

"So, please check Xu Ruyi's bank accounts! There must have been a large withdrawal before that day! Banks leave a paper trail, don't they? It must have been a large sum. Qi Min has a big appetite. Xu Ruyi, wanting to cooperate, would have to pay. Qi Min knew Xu Ruyi had money and would definitely demand a fortune – a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, all possible!"

"But she doesn't realize Xu Ruyi was only using this to lure her in! Xu Ruyi's real goal is probably to kill Qi Min and then frame me for it!" Qin Guan gritted his teeth, throwing out this potential twist ahead of time.

Yes, even though he knew in his heart Xu Ruyi absolutely wouldn't dare "kill," he had to say it.

Because this "murder" needed to be slowly shifted onto Xu Ruyi.

"To get rid of Qi Min, to kill Qi Min... Xu Ruyi couldn't possibly do it alone. She doesn't even know how to avoid cameras. So, there must be someone very professional guiding her. That person probably even scouted the route for her in advance."

That person could only be Xiao Zhi.

"I've been mentioning Xiao Zhi all along. You probably haven't believed me," Qin Guan looked at the impassive Old He. "But this person is Xu Ruyi's accomplice. I must reiterate: after the incident, he was in class at school. I know that. But before the incident? Did you check? At the very least, on the day Xu Ruyi had her fall, and the day she met Qi Min, Xiao Zhi must have been present!"

Qin Guan was getting agitated. For some reason, every time he mentioned that boy, he became worked up.

He swallowed, forcing himself to calm down. "You can also ask my daughter! When she came home that day, she mentioned Uncle Xiao Zhi. Although Xu Ruyi and the nanny said it was the child's dream talk, I know it wasn't! That child must have seen Xiao Zhi's figure to say something like that!"

"I beg you, Captain He, investigate again! Check Xu Ruyi's accounts! Check Xiao Zhi! Xiao Zhi must have been here! This time you will find evidence because if he was here, he was definitely absent from school! He can't be in two places at once! Once you find him, you'll have your breakthrough. The true truth of this case will finally be revealed! Captain He, don't you want the truth? Don't you want to be played for a fool, trapped in someone else's scheme?"