novelraw Chapter 153 : Yan Ni's Disappearance
Chapter 153 : Yan Ni's Disappearance
For the next ten days or so, Shen Han kept a close eye on every move of the new Vice President.
A new official takes office with three fires.
In just two short weeks, several batches of employees at Jinxi Entertainment City were fired.
Some of these people went to apply for jobs at other nightclubs, some left the 546th Street District to seek opportunities elsewhere, and some troublemakers simply became roving pickpockets.
The chaos of personnel movement brought great obstacles and pressure to the work of the special task force members.
They couldn't possibly track and monitor every employee of Jinxi Entertainment City in real-time.
They could only collect some relevant information through disguised phone interviews.
On this day, near evening, Shen Han led four action team members to the nightclub as usual.
Just as they reached a large street corner, they were quietly called by a familiar voice.
"Manager Shen!"
The five people looked towards the sound and saw Mu Ze hiding behind a GG light sign taller than a person, craning his neck and looking around furtively.
The young man wore a baseball cap, the collar of his polo shirt pulled up to cover his neck, looking every bit like someone afraid of being recognized.
Little did he know that in the eyes of Shen Han and her group, this attempt at disguise actually drew more attention.
She led her team members behind the light sign: "Did something happen? Why are you skulking around?"
Mu Ze's eyes showed obvious anxiety as he tentatively asked: "Yan Ni seems to have disappeared. Manager Shen, can you not go to work first and give us some advice?"
Hearing this, the nerves of Shen Han's five-person group immediately tensed up.
They knew about the dirty dealings of the Zhou K Group's criminal faction, and upon hearing the words "person disappeared," they instinctively became vigilant and solemn.
Shen Han grabbed the young man's arm and quickly asked: "What do you mean by 'seems to have disappeared'? Explain more clearly."
Seemingly frightened by the suddenly changed demeanor of the five people before him, Mu Ze's forehead broke out in a sweat, and he even began to stutter.
"It was discovered by the girl she shares rent with. That girl works at a nearby venue. Actually, we're not sure if Yan Ni has disappeared or just gone back to her hometown."
"We discussed it for half a day in the rental house but couldn't come to a conclusion. What... what do you think we should do?"
Shen Han knew she might have scared him, but the matter was urgent, and she had no time to guide him slowly.
"Take us to Yan Ni's rental house now, and tell me everything you know on the way."
After saying this, she waved down a seven-seater private car running as a taxi from the roadside, just enough to seat all six of them.
The driver was an undercover member of the special task force, allowing everyone to talk safely in the car.
On the way to the rental house, Shen Han learned that Yan Ni had been notified of her termination the day before yesterday.
She had left after finishing her shift that day, and quite a few people at the venue had seen her go to the finance department to settle her wages.
No one had seen Yan Ni since then.
The woman she shared rent with also noticed some suspicious details, which is why she found Mu Ze and the others.
Yan Ni and her roommate had a good relationship, and she had even taken her to the wonton stall a few times.
Coming and going, her roommate had also gotten to know Mu Ze and his group.
The car quickly arrived at the old neighborhood where Yan Ni rented.
Shen Han opened the door and jumped out of the car, letting Mu Ze lead the way in front. The other four split into two groups, one keeping watch outside the neighborhood, and one following her.
Mu Ze glanced at the private car driving away and asked quietly: "Manager Shen, have you already paid for the car?"
"Yes, we have."
Shen Han walked while surveying the surrounding environment, answering casually before asking Mu Ze a few small questions.
Mu Ze naturally wouldn't know that the car they had just ridden in was specially used to cooperate with Shen Han's actions.
Hearing her questions now, his thoughts were immediately directed elsewhere.
Although the neighborhood where Yan Ni lived was somewhat better than the tenement building where Shen Han lived, her rented room was on the top floor, privately built.
The room was cold in winter and hot in summer, and when it rained, water would drip from the ceiling, offering no comfort to speak of.
But the rent was cheap.
Due to the small size of the private construction, the landlord had only partitioned two rooms for rent.
This also avoided the situation of having to squeeze into a shared rental with several people for the same rent.
When Shen Han and her four team members arrived at Yan Ni's room, there were already quite a few people inside.
Apart from a woman with heavy makeup, she recognized all the others.
Five of the small-time hooligans who set up night stalls were there, all standing to one side with their hands at their sides, not crowding towards the girls.
Shen Han noticed that these troublemakers' hair, originally dyed in various colors, had somehow reverted to black.
These people had lost much of their idle air and gained a bit of sedateness.
On the girls' side, there were both Betas and Omegas, all only seventeen or eighteen years old, with a maturity on their faces that didn't match their age.
Shen Han turned her gaze to the only unfamiliar face in the room and got straight to the point: "You're Yan Ni's friend, right? How did you discover she was missing?"
Although this short sentence was asked simply, it contained subtle interrogation techniques.
She didn't address the person as Yan Ni's roommate, but as her friend, which could better evoke empathy from the other person.
The word "missing" could make everyone feel the seriousness of the situation, thus maintaining a serious attitude towards the matter.
The woman had heard of Manager Shen's reputation, and seeing that Mu Ze had directly invited her over, she immediately felt as if she had found a pillar of support.
"Manager Shen, Yan Ni's belongings have been packed, and her suitcase is gone too. It looks like she hurriedly went back to her hometown or rushed off somewhere else."
"But she didn't take her most treasured possession with her. This is definitely a problem. No matter how rushed she was, even if she didn't take anything else, she would absolutely never leave that behind!"
Shen Han had noticed as soon as she entered the room.
There were signs of the room being tidied and things moved around. It wasn't messy, and on the surface, it did look more like the owner had moved out.
"What is it that she didn't take with her?"
Hearing the question, the woman immediately rummaged in her bag beside her and pulled out a wooden photo frame.
It was about 6 inches, with an acrylic plate inside holding a photograph.
The woman handed the frame to Shen Han, saying: "This is a family photo of Yan Ni and her family. She cherished it very much and always kept it under her pillow when she went out. If she was leaving, she wouldn't forget to take this!"
Shen Han took the frame and looked down to see five people in the photo.
Besides Yan Ni's parents, there were two girls, one big and one small, plus a baby held in the mother's arms.
The older girl was Yan Ni.
In the photo, she wore braids and an old-fashioned white shirt, looking somewhat shy towards the camera, her whole being exuding an air of innocence.
The younger girl was probably only seven or eight years old.
She was holding onto the hem of Yan Ni's clothes, and the sense of dependence on her sister was clearly felt by Shen Han even through the photo frame.
After returning the frame to Yan Ni's roommate, Shen Han took a slow breath. The feeling of her lungs filling with oxygen made her thoughts clearer.
Over the next few minutes, she asked a few more questions.
The scattered replies from the people in the room were all transmitted back to the command center through her detection glasses, to be organized and analyzed by the special task force members.
Towards the end of the conversation, Yan Ni's roommate suddenly asked Shen Han: "Manager Shen, you don't think I'm making a big deal out of nothing, do you?"
"What if Yan Ni really had an emergency and left, forgetting to take the photo?"
As the woman said this, there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice, having lost some of the initial conviction.
It seemed her statement had faced quite a bit of skepticism before.
Shen Han stared at the family photo in the other's hand and said seriously: "Any matter concerning personal safety is never making a big deal out of nothing."
"Moreover, I also believe Yan Ni isn't the type to be careless. Leaving without saying goodbye and having her phone turned off all the time, it's very likely that she's really in trouble."
After saying this, she also cautioned everyone: "Things have been unstable recently. You should all be careful, keep in touch with each other, and you can call me if there's any problem."
Seeing Shen Han about to leave with her people, an Omega who was usually close to Yan Ni suddenly spoke up: "Manager Shen, you'll find her and bring her back, won't you?"
Shen Han paused her steps, turned to face everyone, and said steadily and confidently: "Yes, I will definitely find her and bring her back."
As the tactical team left the residential building, there was still no feedback from the command center.
A special forces member disguised as a bodyguard asked in a low voice: "Captain Shen, should we directly request a search warrant and thoroughly search the entire Jinxi Entertainment City?"
Shen Han continued walking, thought for a moment, and replied: "That would take too much time. More importantly, the enemy might not keep crucial evidence within the entertainment city, let alone hide people there."
"I've notified the command center to check the surveillance footage from the past two days. Hopefully, they can find something. For now, let's head back to the entertainment city."
"Are we going to breakthrough by finding that Vice President Zhang?" a team member asked.
Shen Han shook her head: "Suspects in high positions like Zhang Lei have usually undergone anti-interrogation training. It's not easy to make them talk."
"The person I want to find is Ren Hui. Although he's a fence-sitter, his conscience isn't completely gone. Using him as a breakthrough point is the most time-efficient plan."
......
When Ren Hui saw Shen Han appear before him with an unfriendly expression, he was sitting on the sofa in the manager's office reading a newspaper.
He glanced up at her and snorted: "Who's upset our Manager Shen? Your face looks really sour."
Shen Han had no time to waste. She directly snatched the newspaper from his hands and asked in a low voice: "Has Zhang Lei and his group already started taking action?"
Ren Hui's eyes flickered slightly: "What action? I don't know what you're talking about."
After dropping these words, he stood up and walked towards the door.
This reaction further confirmed Shen Han's suspicions.
Even if Ren Hui wasn't involved, he definitely knew some inside information!
With this in mind, Shen Han directly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back onto the sofa.
"An Omega has disappeared from the entertainment city, just in the past two days."
"The people who took her even created a fake moving scene in her rental house. If it hadn't been discovered, her friends and family would have thought she just went somewhere temporarily for a short period."
At this point, Shen Han's voice carried a hint of sternness: "Brother Hui! If you know something, I hope you can reveal at least a little to me."
Ren Hui shook off her grip and frowned: "I told you I don't know anything!"
"If I were on their side, would I be in such a miserable state? How you fight is your business, don't drag me into it!"
With that, Ren Hui again walked towards the door.
"Ren Hui! You're a father too. Do you think that as long as you don't actually step into that darkness, you and your family can live peacefully in the sunlight?"
"Today it's someone else's daughter who's been kidnapped. In the future, if your daughter is bullied at work or taken by traffickers on her way home, can you still be an uninvolved bystander?"
"Do you know what those girls go through in the hands of traffickers? They're kept like livestock, turned into breeding machines! Sex slaves! Human organ banks!"
Hearing the increasingly cold voice of the woman behind him, Ren Hui's hand, which had just grasped the doorknob, hesitated.
The metal doorknob, which should have turned easily with a light twist, now felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, impossible to press down.
Ren Hui sighed silently, slowly turned around, and looked at the woman before him with a complex expression.
"I'll take you to a place, but let's be clear: after showing you the way, I'm leaving. Whatever you do next, don't drag me into it again!"