Kidnapping and Disappearance

“This smell…” Xiangxiang frowned, leaning slowly toward the bushes and sniffing carefully.

A withered hand shot out from the bushes, seized her, and yanked her inside.

Not far away, the other children were playing and laughing, entirely unaware.

Jingjing, the teacher meant to be watching them, had her eyes on her phone. Some noise made her glance toward the corner. A faint look of confusion crossed her face.

Along the far wall of the kindergarten yard stood a section of wall about the height of a person.

A gaunt figure hauled itself over it with one arm, an unconscious child pressed against its chest. It landed on the other side, already winded, and stood there for a moment catching its breath. It wiped the sweat from its forehead.

It looked down at the child.

A slow, gleeful smile spread across its face.

“Your blood… must taste delicious.”

Jingjing eventually noticed Xiangxiang was missing. She counted the children twice, then searched the yard. On the low wall in the corner, she found a note.

I’m just taking her out to play. I’ll bring her back in three hours. Don’t call the police, or you’ll face the consequences.

Jingjing read it once and called the police anyway.

Wen Yiqian was on the bus to the kindergarten when Li Weiguo called.

“Where are you? Still at the station?” Li Weiguo asked.

“On the bus,” Wen Yiqian said, glancing out the window. He had no idea which stop this was. “Heading home.”

“A little girl has gone missing from Xinxin Kindergarten. I’m still on the west side of the city and can’t get there quickly. If you’re nearby, go check it out first.” A brief pause. “Officers are already on their way. I’ve told them to follow your lead.”

“Captain Li, you really do trust me too much,” Wen Yiqian said. “Actually, I…”

He stopped.

“What kindergarten did you say?”

“Xinxin Kindergarten. Something wrong?” Li Weiguo asked.

Wen Yiqian’s expression changed. Xinxin Kindergarten. The same one he had dropped Xiangxiang off at not two hours ago.

“Wen Yiqian? What’s going on?”

Li Weiguo kept asking. Wen Yiqian hung up.

He had already suspected trouble when he connected the gaunt man on the bus to the west side murder. Whether on the bus or after getting off, anything he and Xiangxiang had said would have sounded like nonsense to most people. But to the killer, it would have read very differently.

The killer would have concluded that the two of them had seen through him.

Faced with that, there were two options: run, or deal with the witnesses. If it was the former, fine. If it was the latter, a grown man was one problem. A small child was a much easier target.

Which was why Wen Yiqian had already boarded a bus to the kindergarten before Li Weiguo called. He had needed to confirm Xiangxiang was safe. He hadn’t told anyone, because his reasoning was still speculation — the kind that would sound like a made-up story to anyone who heard it.

Then the call came, and the last of his wishful thinking went with it.

Wen Yiqian breathed slowly and steadily, working to keep himself level.

He knew what happened if he lost control. He didn’t want that. He had no interest in waking up beside another body.

Once he was calm enough, he called Li Weiguo back and laid out everything: the gaunt man on the bus, Xiangxiang’s reaction, the route timing, the speculation. On its own it was thin. Combined with a missing child from that same kindergarten, it held together.

He hung up. Checked that his head was clear. Then closed his eyes.

Performance: begin.

He knew himself well enough by now. Once he started, confidence followed. He would go looking for the killer alone, tell no one, act the lone hero. Reporting to Li Weiguo first was the only way to counter that tendency in advance.

When he opened his eyes, they were steady.

He got off at the next stop and took a taxi — not to Xinxin Kindergarten, but back to Happiness Residential Complex.

The killer’s motive for taking Xiangxiang rather than coming for him directly was obvious. A child was easier to manage. The play was to use her as leverage and summon Wen Yiqian that way.

To do that, the killer would need Xiangxiang to make a call.

Xiangxiang didn’t have Wen Yiqian’s number.

So the call would go to the person whose number she did have. Grandma Xu. Who now lived directly across the hall.

Wen Yiqian rang the bell several times before Grandma Xu came to the door, blinking and slightly apologetic.

“Xiao Wen. I must have dozed off. Didn’t hear you.”

“It’s fine.” Wen Yiqian shook his head. “Can I borrow your phone?”

“Of course.” Grandma Xu reached for it without hesitation. She trusted this young man without reservation.

She glanced at the screen as she handed it over. “Why are there so many missed calls?”

“Telemarketing.” Wen Yiqian took the phone.

It was an old model designed for elderly users, large buttons and a small screen, no lock code. Calling and texting only. He wouldn’t have bothered stealing it off the street.

“Something urgent came up. I’ll return it in a few hours,” he said.

Grandma Xu waved him off. “Take it.”

Walking back downstairs, Wen Yiqian went through the missed calls.

Seven in total. Six from the number saved as Jingjing.

One from an unknown number.

He dialed the unknown number without hesitating.

It connected almost immediately.

(End of Chapter)