Translator: RogueKat | Editor: RogueKat

——————————————————————

"Sent by Brother Bing?"

Zhang Yuanqing furrowed his brow after reading the letter.

What does he mean by 'life-changing’ and 'can't control'?

It's so confusing... He returned his gaze to the black card and examined it once more, confirming that it was just a regular card. If he had to pick one feature, it would be that it feels good, and the material seems rare.

Is it a VIP card from a high-end club? Is there a busty and attractive babe, that only a strange man like me can handle?

Lei Yibing was his childhood friend nicknamed "Bing," who was two years older than him. Before his grandparents bought a new house, the two families used to live in the same alley.

Lei Yibing is physically strong and quick, but not very smart. He always protected his friend since they were children, leading fights and covering his back. If anyone made fun of Zhang Yuanqing for not having a father, Lei Yibing would defend him.

That's why Zhang Yuanqing always calls him "Brother Bing."

During high school, Bing's grades were not ideal, so he went to college in the neighboring province of Jiangnan. Since then, their contact has been reduced because they were separated by distance.

As Zhang Yuanqing put the black card in his pocket and picked up his phone, he sent a message to Bing, teasing him: "Which high-end club's card is this? Can you at least give me the address or contact information?"

After sending the message, half an hour passed, and there was no reply.

After half an hour without receiving a reply to the message, Zhang Yuanqing decided to call Brother Bing.

The phone rang twice before a deep, low voice answered from the speaker. "Hello! This is Lei Yibing's father."

"Uncle Lei?" Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback, then exclaimed with joy: "Is Brother Bing back in Songhai this week? Could you put him on the phone, I need to talk to him."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, followed by a solemn voice. "Yuanqing, I'm in Jiangnan Province. Bing is missing…"

"Brother Bing s missing?!" Zhang Yuanqing stood frozen in shock before blurting out, "What happened?"

How could Brother Bing have gone missing? He just sent me something," he added, his voice filled with confusion and concern.

"He went missing the day before yesterday. Your aunt Zhou and I rushed over immediately after receiving a notice from the school," Uncle Lei said, his voice heavy with emotion.

"Did you report it to the police? What did they say?", Zhang Yuanqing asked in a low voice.

Uncle Lei remained silent for a long time, and hesitantly said, "This is not easy to say, but the way Bing went missing is a bit strange..."

Strange? What does he mean… Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback.

Uncle Lei explained: "Bing disappeared from his dormitory two nights ago. The police checked the surveillance footage in the dormitory hallway and found that Bing did not leave his room all night. But the next morning, he was gone."

"The student in the same dormitory said that 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 this possible..."

Could a person disappear into thin air? Even a three-year-old wouldn't believe such a claim.

Zhang Yuanqing suppressed his anxiety and lowered his voice, "Uncle Lei, did Brother Bing offend someone at school?"

The first thing that came to his mind was that Brother Bing offended someone at school, and the other party had some power in the local area. That's why there were no problems shown on the surveillance footage because this often meant that the school was covering up for something.

Anyone who has been online in this age of information has heard, to some extent, similar things.

"The school officials said that they would cooperate with the police as much as possible, and the police told us to go back and wait for news. They will investigate... Your aunt and I didn't sleep all night."

Uncle Lei's tone was mixed with disappointment, frustration, and concern.

Sure enough, it's this kind of response, damn it…

Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and said soothingly: "Don't worry, you should know that my grandfather and cousin both work in the Police Department. I will ask them how to handle this kind of thing and what to pay attention to. If there's anything you don't understand or need advice on, feel free to call me.

"Ask his classmates at school as well. If Brother Bing has offended anyone, someone among his classmates is sure to know."

Uncle Lei felt a little relieved and said: "Got it, Yuanqing, don't worry. If there is any news, I’ll let you know as soon as possible."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yuanqing became restless and paced back and forth in the room, worrying about Brother Bing's safety.

People don't just disappear for no reason. If the surveillance couldn't capture it, then it must have been tampered with. He just didn't know who Bing Ge had offended.

But what kind of person could a junior in college have offended?

Wait a minute, it was two days ago when he disappeared…

Two days ago?!

Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback. It would take 2-3 days for the express package to arrive from Jiangnan Province to Songhai. According to the timeline, Brother Bing disappeared on the same evening he sent me the package…

Is this a coincidence? Or is there some link between the two?

Thinking up to this point, he instinctively reached into his pocket for the black card, but as he did so, he suddenly froze.

The black card was gone.

Did it fall on the ground? Zhang Yuanqing immediately looked down and scanned the floor of the room.

"It’s not here."

He went on his hands and knees and crawled on the ground and peered under the bed, which was covered by a layer of dust, as well as some coins, pens, buttons, and other miscellaneous items covered the floor of the bed, but there was no sign of the black card.

The card was missing, and he distinctly remembered putting it in his pocket.

How did it just disappear into thin air?

Thinking about Brother Bing's mysterious disappearance, the strange content of the letters, and the eerie disappearance of the black card, Zhang Yuanqing felt a sense of panic and confusion in his heart.

"Could the black card be related to Brother Bing's disappearance? Or could it be an important clue?"

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuanqing decided to use his "old illness" to reboot his memory.

He poured cold water into the glass, grabbed the medicine bottle from the bedside table, unscrewed the cap, and then took off his shoes and lay down on the bed.

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

The trigger for his old ailment was actively imagining a scene with a calm mind, preferably one that he had seen before but couldn't quite remember.

This would stimulate his brain activity, gradually warming it up, and eventually leading to a boiling point of mental energy.

After many years, my father's face had become a vague memory, making him the perfect subject.

As time passed, his father's face gradually became clearer and clearer until it was vividly present before Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. His heart pounded violently, like an overloaded engine.

At that moment, time seemed to rewind, and the scene from an hour ago played out like a movie, frame by frame.

He saw himself opening the package, reading the letter, placing the black card in his jacket’s pocket, and then sending a message to Brother Bing.

Here, for the next half hour, he sat motionless at the desk, scrolling through short videos for over ten minutes and exchanging a few “NSFW” images with his gaming buddies in the group chat.

He saved a few high-quality images and then read a few minutes of a novel.

Since he was always thinking about the black card, he called Brother Bing to talk about it.

After the call, the critical moment arrived, and he became anxious, pacing around the room in a frenzy.

This was the most vulnerable time for losing the card.

In his memory, he saw himself pacing the room with a frown on his face, then reaching for the black card, only to find that it was gone.

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

Gone?!

The black card just disappeared like that, out of nowhere.

What the hell did Brother Bing send me... In an instant, Zhang Yuanqing's scalp tingled with a sense of fear.

Without much time to ponder, chaotic noise filled his ears, as if countless voices were overlapping with each other. Fragmented images erupted in his mind like a volcano, flooding him all at once.

There was a warm liquid flowing from Zhang Yuanqing's nose, and it felt as if steel needles were piercing his head.

Twisted in pain, he crawled towards the head of the bed and tremblingly poured out five small blue pills. He shoved them into his mouth and then shakily grabbed a glass of water, tilting his head back to swallow the pills and water together.

After a while, Zhang Yuanqing sat at the bedside, panting with a pale face.

At this point, he could basically confirm that there was a certain connection between Brother Bing's disappearance and the black card.

"Brother Bing disappeared after sending me the black card, and that black card is strange, obviously not an ordinary thing…”

This made him think that Brother Bing may have been threatened and was forced to send the card to him.

"But why didn't he hand it over to the local police station and instead sent it to me?”

Does he think I, a college student who has never even killed a chicken or stayed up late, am more reliable than the police officers at the station?

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly thought of the detail that "the security cameras and dormitory staff did not detect any abnormality".

To achieve this level of proficiency, one must have a certain degree of power and influence.

The reason why Brother Bing didn't hand over the black card to the local police station is that… he doesn't trust them either?

Or perhaps the person or organization that caused him to disappear has an influence that extends to the local police station.

"He sent me the black card because he knew my grandfather’s a retired police chief and my cousin is a police captain. They both have significant connections in Songhai City, and people from Jiangnan Province cannot influence me?"

I have to tell my cousin about this.

"Ding dong~"

At that moment, he heard the doorbell ringing, the sound coming from the entranceway.

Grandma's footsteps immediately sounded, passing through the living room and arriving at the entrance hall, where she turned the doorknob.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, we are investigators from the Kangyang District Police Station. Is Zhang Yuanqing at home?" the person outside the door responded.