The Missing Ah Bing

The two walked out of the administrative building. Chen Yuanjun swept his gaze across the parking spaces to the left of the entrance and spotted a striking woman. She wore a white business-style women's suit, light gray low heels, and a Burberry square scarf around her neck. A pair of sunglasses rested on the bridge of her high nose, complemented by a fashionable, exquisite hairstyle. Tall and fair-skinned, even behind sunglasses her features were visibly fine—she was a standout beauty. "Allow me to introduce: Xie Anna, hailing from the Xie family, an outstanding Musician." Li Dongze raised a hand with a smile, gesturing toward Chen Yuanjun. "The captain of our Public Security Bureau, Chen Yuanjun." Xie Anna offered a smile and extended her hand. "So this is Captain Chen, who charges at evil classes faster than a Spirit Realm walker and retreats from danger even slower than one? Ah, it should be fine to mention Spirit Realm walkers now, right? After all, it's an open secret." Li Dongze teased, "At one point, I suspected his class was Goddess of Luck, but unfortunately, no such class exists in the Spirit Realm." As a captain holding real authority and working on the front lines, Chen Yuanjun was indeed qualified to access information on Spirit Realm walkers against the backdrop of frequent cult incidents. However, he currently only knew of the existence of the evil faction and the orthodox faction, along with information regarding the transcendent classes of both sides. Higher-level intelligence was beyond his clearance. After learning of the Spirit Realm walkers' existence, Chen Yuanjun had grown deeply worried that his family might get caught in the crossfire, even entertaining the thought of sending them to the countryside. According to the intelligence he possessed, evil classes either operated in desolate, sparsely populated areas or lurked within bustling metropolises. Rural villages, being neither remote nor bustling, were instead a rare sanctuary for now. His reasoning was sound: his aunt, who was quite wealthy and striving in her career outside; his cousin, studying at a prestigious university in Songhai; and his maternal aunt, working at a hospital—all three could potentially fall victim to attacks by evil classes. The former interacted with social elites, while the latter two were in institutions that evil classes loved to target, and all of them were defenseless ordinary people. His unreliable old father wandered around outside all day and could run into danger as well. The safest ones in the family were his grandparents and his mother, who had narrow activity circles and were as ordinary as ordinary citizens could get. Chen Yuanjun looked around and said, "Let's get in the car first." He walked toward his car nearby and drove out of the Public Security Bureau with Li Dongze and Xie Anna. Keeping an unhurried, steady pace, Chen Yuanjun spoke: "Ms. Xie, Li Dongze explained the situation to you, right?" Xie Anna glanced at Li Dongze beside her and smiled. "He only asked me to help hypnotize two ordinary people, and required that this operation be kept confidential." Chen Yuanjun nodded, eyes on the road ahead. "Here's what happened: while restoring our database, we discovered a deleted file—a missing person's file. That missing person hasn't been found yet, and we haven't identified the insider who deleted the file either. I visited the missing person's family before, but strangely, his family doesn't remember ever reporting him missing." Xie Anna pondered with a solemn expression. "So you suspect the missing person's family might have been hypnotized into forgetting it." Li Dongze nodded. "Or perhaps the person who filed the report wasn't his family. That's another possibility." Xie Anna's gaze shifted between the two, smiling probingly. "For both of you to care so much, this missing person must be no ordinary case." Neither Li Dongze nor Chen Yuanjun responded. One concentrated on driving, while the other cast his gaze out the window. ... Songhai, in an office, before a floor-to-ceiling window. Swordsman of the World's End listened to his phone, gazing out at the scenery outside as he spoke: "That's the situation with Lei Yibing. He happens to be on your search list too. Do you want to go check out his home? I'm also curious about what's going on with that restored missing-person file." Over the phone came Sect Master Chunyang's cold voice: "My intuition tells me he has nothing to do with Yuanshi Tianzun. Their timelines don't align. Lei Yibing disappeared in Jiangnan Province last April, when Yuanshi Tianzun hadn't even become a Spirit Realm walker yet, or had only just become one." Swordsman of the World's End said calmly, "My intuition tells me you should check it out. Of course, if you think your intuition is sharper than a Swordsman's intuition, suit yourself." Sect Master Chunyang fell silent for a few seconds before letting out a smirk. "I don't like wasting time, but recent investigations have yielded nothing. Since I'd have to investigate Lei Yibing anyway, consider it bumped up. Send me his home address." With that, he hung up the phone. ... Kangyang District, Pingsheng Community. In an old residential building, Chen Yuanjun stood before the security door of Apartment 402 and pressed the doorbell. Ding-dong~ After two rings, footsteps approached, and a middle-aged woman in her early fifties with good spirits opened the door. "Yuanjun, what brings you here!" Seeing Chen Yuanjun, a warm smile instantly lit up her face. Then, looking at Li Dongze and Xie Anna, she asked, "And they are...?" Chen Yuanjun introduced, "They're my colleagues." Colleagues... Aunt Zhou's smile faded, and she quickly asked, "Is there news about Ah Bing?" She urgently grabbed Chen Yuanjun's arm, her eyes filled with anticipation. Chen Yuanjun said softly, "Aunt Zhou, let's talk inside." The three entered the apartment. Chen Yuanjun looked around. "Uncle Lei isn't home?" "It's not the weekend, he's at work." Aunt Zhou pulled disposable paper cups from the cabinet beneath the coffee table, intending to brew tea for them. Chen Yuanjun waved his hand. "No need, Aunt Zhou. We just have a few questions and then we'll be on our way." He observed the woman and said with relief, "Compared to the last few visits, your complexion looks much better. Regardless of what happened to Lei Yibing, you and Uncle Lei still have your lives to live." Aunt Zhou sighed. "Lately, it's all thanks to Yuanzi coming over every few days to keep me company and talk me through it. He said if Ah Bing comes home one day only to find my health ruined, good news would turn into tragedy. I have to take care of myself and wait for Ah Bing to return." Chen Yuanjun fell silent for a few seconds, sighing inwardly. In truth, based on his years of experience handling cases, Lei Yibing having been missing for nearly a year was practically equivalent to being declared dead. Yet alive or dead, since he had promised Yuanzi he would look into it, he would see it through to the end—until Lei Yibing's death was confirmed. "Aunt Zhou, this really is a routine follow-up," Chen Yuanjun said, looking at Xie Anna. "This is an outstanding profiler from our Public Security Bureau. She'd like to ask you for some information about Ah Bing." With that, he gave the Musician lady a slight nod, signaling that she could begin her performance. As if performing a magic trick, Xie Anna produced a small silver Ferris wheel ornament from her pocket. Casually placing it on the table, she gave the wheel a flick with her finger. "Before questioning, I like to fidget with little toys. I hope you don't mind," she said with a smile. "Not at all, not at all..." Aunt Zhou replied, her gaze instinctively drawn to the spinning Ferris wheel. Her eyes grew dazed bit by bit, the Ferris wheel seeming to transform into a vortex that drew her soul inside. In her daze, she heard the young female profiler ask, "When did Lei Yibing go missing?" Aunt Zhou's eyes were hollow as she mumbled, "Last year, April twelfth." Xie Anna asked again, "Think carefully. When did Lei Yibing go missing?" Aunt Zhou gave the exact same answer again. Xie Anna was in no hurry. "Captain Chen found Lei Yibing's missing-person file in the archives of the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau. Were you the one who filed the report?" Aunt Zhou shook her head blankly. "Not me." Xie Anna's tone was gentle. "You reported it to the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau. You reported it to the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau. You reported it to the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau..." She repeated it three whole times. Aunt Zhou said with a dull expression, "I reported it to the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau... I reported it to the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau..." Suddenly, her face contorted in agony, her voice turning shrill: "I didn't report it! I never reported it!" Xie Anna's brow twitched. She quickly soothed, "Forget what was just said." Only then did Aunt Zhou's expression calm down. Xie Anna turned to her two companions, her tone serious: "Just now, I tried to hypnotize her and forcefully instill the belief that she had reported her son missing at the bureau. Normally, she would succumb to my hypnosis and believe she truly had. But she showed immense resistance to my suggestion. Her belief that she never reported it overpowered the notion I tried to implant. This can only mean that a Musician more powerful than me once hypnotized her, making her firmly believe she never filed a report." Li Dongze drew a sharp breath. "My guess was right." Chen Yuanjun's expression turned grave as he probed, "Can you make her recall more details? For example, who hypnotized her, or when she went to the bureau to report it? In short, the more details, the better." Xie Anna knitted her brows. "The person who hypnotized her was of a higher level than me. To break their hypnosis, I can only use a deeper dream-entry hypnosis. I can give it a try, but I can't guarantee success." Once both nodded, Xie Anna looked at Aunt Zhou, her voice ethereal and gentle: "Aunt Zhou, you are tired. Please lie down on the sofa, close your eyes, and get some good sleep... In your dream, you will reunite with your son, and you will remember everything about him..." Guided by the voice, Aunt Zhou lay on the sofa and gradually drifted off to sleep. Xie Anna's ethereal, gentle voice continued guiding her from the side: "Now, you will slowly remember everything about Lei Yibing—his childhood, his school days, his... disappearance. Now, remember: after you went to the bureau to file the report, who did you meet? Who made you forget about this?" Aunt Zhou remained silent, silent, offering no response for a long time. ... Outside Apartment 402, in the stairwell. A man wearing a mask and a peaked cap leaped forward and vanished into thin air. A moment later, he manifested within Aunt Zhou's dream. The dreamscape was a blank void. Aunt Zhou stood rigid and dull within this blank world, like a statue. In the empty dreamscape, a woman's voice echoed repeatedly: "Who was the person that made you forget about this?" Sect Master Chunyang clicked his tongue twice. "A Musician at the Saint stage couldn't even make her remember a thing. The matters surrounding this Lei Yibing are certainly not simple." He walked up to Aunt Zhou. His eyes, harboring madness beneath the surface, rippled with invisible waves. "Who made you forget Lei Yibing's disappearance?" Aunt Zhou's dreamscape began to shift. Scenery quickly sketched itself into being, revealing Aunt Zhou's bedroom. On the bed, an exhausted Aunt Zhou slept soundly. That was all. "The mastermind completed the hypnosis while she was asleep?" Experienced as he was, Sect Master Chunyang immediately decoded the information presented by the dream. In the living room, Aunt Zhou, lying on the sofa, finally responded: "I... don't know..." Xie Anna turned helplessly to her two companions. "Perhaps my ability is limited, or perhaps she truly doesn't know who hypnotized her. There are far too many ways for a Spirit Realm walker to silently hypnotize a mortal." Li Dongze pondered for a moment before saying, "Then let's switch questions. Ask her when she went to the bureau to file the report." In a gentle, ethereal voice, Xie Anna asked, "Lei Yibing went missing. Do you remember when you went to the Public Security Bureau to report it?" She repeated the question three times. ... Inside the dreamscape, Sect Master Chunyang waited a moment. Seeing the dream remain completely blank, he used the dream and let invisible ripples wash through his eyes as before, repeating the question echoing in the dream. At that moment, the dream shifted abruptly. The Kangyang District Public Security Bureau building appeared, along with an anxious, deeply worried Aunt Zhou. She hurried toward the reception desk, her voice rushed and distressed: "Officer, my son is missing!" The receptionist, a delicate-featured young person, quickly asked, "Has he been missing for more than forty-eight hours? When was your last contact, and where?" Aunt Zhou said anxiously, "It's already been three days." The receptionist's face turned serious. "Please wait a moment. I'll connect you with someone from the security team." The scene shifted. In an office at the bureau, Aunt Zhou was filling out a statement. In the date field, she clearly wrote: July 14, 2019. In the living room, Aunt Zhou suddenly wept bitterly in her sleep: "July 14, 2019... I remember, I remember it all! Ah Bing... Ah Bing went missing four years ago..."