Zhou Ning dialed Zhou Xiaoyu’s phone, and a female voice ca through.
"The number you have dialed is turned off or is out of service."
After hanging up, Liu Yongxin patted Zhou Ning’s arm.
"Don’t panic, concern leads to chaos. Xiaoyu might be in class. My wife knows soone from First High School. I’ll ask her about Cui Guanglin, whether he went to school today, and get so indirect information."
Liu Yongxin went to make a call, and Zhou Ning walked to the window, directly dialing his second aunt’s number.
"Is second aunt at work?"
"Uh, Xiao Ning, why are you calling ?"
"It’s nothing, I talked with Xiaoyu for a long ti last night. I just want to know, when she went back, you didn’t ntion it again, right? How was her mood?"
The second aunt snorted.
"She ca back a bit later than we did, saying that she walked back with you. Your second uncle convinced , and I didn’t say much. This morning, she left without having breakfast, quite early, without talking about anything else."
"She still went to school today? Were there classes?"
"You kid, did you work yourself silly? They’re in a boarding system at high school. They have a two-day break every two weeks. It’s not a long break this week. They would have had to ask for leave to co out on Friday night."
"I forgot because I’ve been busy. I just wanted to ask. Second aunt, don’t worry along with us. Xiaoyu is not an unreasonable child; she understands your concerns."
"Alright, don’t try to reassure . I know you’re a good child; I didn’t say anything much. You talk to her more. I have a class to attend, so I’m hanging up now!"
As she spoke, she hung up. Liu Yongxin had also finished contacting the person and was discussing sothing with Xu Dayuan. Zhou Ning hurriedly joined them.
"Cui Guanglin went back to school last night. They didn’t see Zhou Xiaoyu, but soone went to the Chinese Departnt office to look for her."
A bad premonition made Zhou Ning’s fingers feel sowhat cold, and Xu Dayuan waved his hand dismissively.
"Let’s not wait, let’s go directly. I’ll contact their school leaders on the way."
The group went downstairs, where Xu Dayuan had already gathered a few detectives, and two vehicles sped toward First High School.
Zhou Ning kept dialing Zhou Xiaoyu’s mobile phone on the way, but it was continually unanswered. Mr. Zhao glanced at Zhou Ning’s actions and stepped on the accelerator even harder.
A few minutes later, they arrived in front of First High School.
Xu Dayuan had already contacted the principal, so the security did not stop them. The cars drove straight in and parked directly in front of the administration building. They got out of the car and saw several teachers waiting there. Xu Dayuan imdiately headed for the elder one.
"Mr. Bai, how is it? Did you find anyone?"
Mr. Bai also had an anxious look on his face and pointed behind him at the administration building:
"After receiving your call, I had soone look for them. We searched the administration building and their classrooms, but we didn’t find anyone. Just now I sent two teachers to check all the restrooms; they haven’t co back yet."
"Did they have classes this morning? Were they attending classes as usual?"
"Mr. Zhou had no classes this morning; he has two in the afternoon. As for Mr. Cui, he went to class 2-3 of the senior year this morning, taught the first period, but wasn’t seen afterward."
Zhou Ning grabbed Mr. Qu and stepped forward.
"Let’s check the surveillance; let Mr. Qu do it. He’s fast."
Xu Dayuan naturally agreed.
"Is the surveillance at the security post?"
Mr. Bai nodded.
"Let the head of security take you there."
Mr. Zhao gestured.
"Quick, head of security, ride with Mr. Qu. We’re going to check the surveillance. You know what Zhou Xiaoyu and Cui Guanglin look like, right?"
"I do."
The group got in the car and turned around, heading toward the security post.
Mr. Bai pulled Xu Dayuan aside, and asked in a low voice:
"I say, when searching for soone at school, we should try to minimize panic. Tell , what exactly is the matter?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"I don’t want to cause panic either, but the situation is a bit special. You know I’m with the Criminal Police Brigade, and I can’t tell you the details of the case. You just need to cooperate with us in looking for soone. Are all the teachers in the office building now?"
Mr. Bai was taken aback for a mont, but he also knew that Xu Dayuan wouldn’t ask so bluntly if it weren’t sothing serious.
"In ten minutes, the bell for the end of class rings at 11:40. I’ve already notified all the teachers to gather in the multi-functional hall on the second floor."
Xu Dayuan nodded, gave a few commands to He Chunyang, and they quickly dispersed before speaking to Mr. Bai:
"Principal Bai, you go ahead to the multi-functional hall. Find a teacher to take to Cui Guanglin’s office, and also find the school’s floor plan. Have the teacher with the keys follow us. My people need to check every corner of the school, and Doctor Liu, I’m sorry to trouble you with following a teacher to the faculty dormitories."
Liu Yongxin understood what this ant. One was to see if anyone was hidden, and the other was that dormitories allowed them to look for items like hair or toothbrushes that could be used for DNA extraction. If sothing really happened, they could be used for comparison.
Zhou Ning nodded at him; Liu Yongxin, carrying a survey box, followed a teacher out.
Zhou Ning accompanied Xu Dayuan to the third floor of the office building. The naplates on the doors bore the nas of various teaching and research offices, but it seed like the entire third floor was dedicated to the Grade 11 Level 2 teaching and research offices. They walked to the very end where it read "Grade 11 Level 2 Chemistry Teaching and Research Office."
They pushed the door open to find two teachers inside. When they saw people enter, their eyes naturally shifted their gaze. Without waiting for the accompanying teacher to introduce them, Xu Dayuan had already raised his ID:
"I’m Xu Dayuan from the Criminal Police Brigade. Please put down your work and answer a few questions. Did you see Cui Guanglin this morning?"
An older female teacher imdiately stood up and nodded:
"5:40 is the ti for morning self-study. I arrived at the teaching and research office at 5:35 and happened to see Teacher Cui carrying a thermos and heading out, towards the west building— oh, that’s their Grade 11 Class 3."
Another male teacher continued:
"After the first class ended, I returned to the teaching and research office with Teacher Cui. He tidied up his desk and then left with his car keys. He didn’t say where he was going. I’ve already told Mr. Bai on the phone just now."
"Do you know what car he drives?"
"A Teana, silver-gray 2010 model, cost him 240,000, had the car for a month."
Zhou Ning didn’t wait for the teacher to speak, quickly interjecting.
The teacher nodded, looking sowhat surprised at Zhou Ning.
"Right, a Teana, top of the line with leather interior. But how did you know?"
"I’m Zhou Xiaoyu’s brother. Did you see Zhou Xiaoyu this morning?"
Both shook their heads as if realizing sothing, and the male teacher quickly said.
"After the first class, when I ran into Teacher Cui, I even asked him how it went with the parents last night, whether he had set a date? Teacher Cui just smiled, and I didn’t notice any unusual emotions. He seed in a hurry, so I didn’t ask further."
Zhou Ning walked over to the desk with Cui Guanglin’s naplate. The desktop was immaculate, stacked with howork books and papers without even a crease, and the thermos was empty, with no water droplets on the outside.
Zhou Ning opened the survey box and, wearing gloves, picked up the thermos, scanning it over. Not a single fingerprint was found, a discovery that made him even more anxious. Would a normal person clean a cup so thoroughly as to not leave any fingerprints?
Then he used a brush over the desk surface, revealing traces of wiping. Zhou Ning opened all the drawers and saw a bottle of 75% alcohol solution in the bottom one. He bent down to sll the tabletop and looked towards Xu Dayuan.
"The desktop and all objects have been cleaned ticulously, leaving no fingerprints. Such cleaning is pointless unless there was a special sll or... bloodstains on the hands."
The last two words were said through clenched teeth by Zhou Ning. At the sa ti, he grabbed the Luminol reagent from the survey box and sprayed it onto the desk and the thermos.
At the bottom of the thermos and on the desk, they each showed a crescent-shaped fluorescent trace. Zhou Ning held up the thermos and noticed the bottom, where it was fluorescing, was dented inwards, likely from a blow that resulted in bloodstain contamination.
Zhou Ning’s fingers were already trembling, and he quickly used a cotton swab to collect samples. The thermos was also packed into an evidence bag.
Xu Dayuan imdiately dialed Mr. Zhao’s phone, and the other side picked up almost instantly.
"Mr. Xu, we quickly reviewed the surveillance, and Cui Guanglin’s car entered the school at 8:30 last night, unmoved in the parking lot on the west side. Zhou Xiaoyu arrived at the school gate at 7:30 this morning.
Up until just now, we haven’t found either of them or Cui Guanglin’s car leaving the school. Even if so vehicles left, we didn’t find any trace of them on any."
"You an to confirm that they are both inside the school?"
"Yes, confird that they haven’t left the school grounds. The north gate of the school can’t be opened, there are anti-climb nets on the high walls all around, and they’re covered with surveillance caras. It’s impossible to leave without a trace. Even the vehicles entering and exiting the canteen are strictly searched, and they’re all in view of the caras, no omissions."
With this answer, Xu Dayuan felt at least a bit relieved. As long as they didn’t leave the school, the scope was limited. He imdiately dialed a number to report the situation here and to mobilize more personnel.
Just then, the female teacher’s phone rang. She looked at Zhou Ning and gestured to her phone, her look questioning whether she could answer it. Zhou Ning glanced and saw the na ’Principal Bai’ on the screen, waved his hand to indicate that she could answer.
The female teacher was smart enough to put the phone on speaker. Principal Bai on the other end of the line didn’t wait for the female teacher to speak and imdiately shouted in a panicked voice.
"I can’t get through to Mr. Xu’s phone. Mr. Sun told the police that they found Teacher Cui— no, Teacher Cui has already arrived at the multi-functional hall."
Xu Dayuan heard the commotion and quickly leaned in, snatching the phone.
"Repeat that, where is the person?"
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