Chapter 97 Caught on the Spot

Chang'an has vanished?

My nerves immediately tensed up.

The person talking to Zhu Shi right now is probably from the Zhu family.

To avoid another attack by the Shadow-Switch, Chang'an should currently be under protection at the Zhu family mansion. However, just as we pinpointed the Shadow-Switch's location, news suddenly broke that Chang'an had disappeared. How should I interpret this situation?

Seeing that Zhu Shi and I looked strange, Ma Zao asked in a low voice, "Who is Zhu Shi's brother?"

"It's the person who came to my door on the first day you woke up in my house. His name is Zhu Chang'an."

I then briefly explained to Ma Zao the connection between Chang'an and this incident, while unpleasant thoughts kept arising in my mind.

Chang'an's disappearance at this point in time—could it be that she was kidnapped again by the Shadow-Changing Monster's clone? But the Zhu family mansion should have quite comprehensive security and defense measures, perhaps even a so-called barrier. According to Zhu Shi's assurance, let alone the Shadow-Changing Monster's clone, even if several of the Shadow-Changing Monster's main bodies personally went to battle, they wouldn't be able to kidnap Chang'an from inside.

Thinking about those things now is useless. Now that Chang'an is gone, it's necessary to find it. Let's wait patiently for Zhu Shi to finish his call and see what happened before considering the next step.

During the call, Zhu Shi listened to the person on the other end with a sullen expression, occasionally responding with a few "uh-huhs" or "okay." A short while later, the call ended, and she put her phone away with a completely blank face.

"What exactly happened?" I asked immediately. "Was the Zhu family mansion attacked by the Shadow Man?"

She said with a complicated expression, "No, no enemy has attacked or broken into my house."

"But you just said that Chang'an is gone?" I asked.

“Yes, my brother disappeared from home.” She sighed. “His keys, phone, power bank, Bluetooth earphones, shoulder bag, thermos, and of course his shoes also disappeared.”

When she said that these seemingly insignificant items had also disappeared, I quickly realized a possibility: "You mean, he wasn't kidnapped, but walked out on his own?"

Those items are things that one would bring before setting off. If the Shadow Man kidnaps Chang'an, he certainly wouldn't be so considerate as to help carry all those items along.

“My house’s security facilities and barriers are all designed for external threats, with virtually no protection for people inside. So if my brother wanted to leave on his own, there would be no way to prevent it,” Zhu Shi explained.

"Don't you have internal surveillance cameras in your home?" I asked.

“Yes, there is, but that’s my home, not a prison or a fortress. How could someone be watching the movements of the people inside 24 hours a day?” she said.

“That makes sense…” Asaho agreed. “Even in post-apocalyptic survival bases, most security measures are used to deal with external threats, making it difficult to monitor the movements of internal personnel comprehensively. There’s also the human element involved; no one can tolerate a place where their words and actions are completely monitored. Perhaps some people can accept it, but I certainly couldn’t.”

Zhu Shi nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, like privacy and stuff... Hmm? Zhuang Cheng, why does your expression seem a little strange?"

"...Because I'm really worried about Chang'an right now." I said seriously, "Although he wasn't kidnapped, his personal safety is still threatened. What if he gets attacked again by the Shadow-Switch Monster's clones while he's out..."

Zhu Shi's attention was diverted: "Yes, we must find him first..."

"Didn't they just say he took the phone?" Mazao seemed to be offering advice based on her recent experience with modern society. "Why don't we just call him and ask where he is right now?"

“I’ve called him many times from my home, but he hasn’t answered.” Zhu Shi thought for a moment, “But as long as his phone isn’t turned off, we should be able to track his location through the carrier. Let’s ask Lu Chan for help first, see if he has any connections…”

Before she could finish speaking, the "fireflies" searching throughout the nightclub sent back a picture that made me doubt my own eyes.

Seeing this, I interrupted her: "There's no need for that anymore."

Zhu Shi asked in surprise, "Why?"

I barely managed to suppress my disbelief and pointed across the street: "Look there..."

Zhu Shi and Ma Zao followed my finger and looked across the street. They saw the nightclub door open again, and a young man dressed in designer clothes, with a dashing appearance and a smiling face, walked out.

Beside him was a woman in a black dress, who appeared to be around the age of a female college student. She was beautiful, with fair skin and a curvaceous figure. He had his arm around her shoulder, and she looked visibly resistant, even nudging his stomach with her elbow, while he laughed heartlessly. The whole scene looked like an arrogant young bully harassing an innocent young woman.

It seemed like it took Zhu Shi several seconds to finally make out the young man's face, and then she uttered a speechless exclamation: "He, he... he he he..."

The young man who walked out of the nightclub was my friend Chang'an.

Let alone Zhu Shi, even I don't know how to put this together. What kind of situation is this? Just when we were worried about their whereabouts and safety, they actually walked out of that disreputable place with a beautiful woman, completely shameless!

Now I think I can understand to some extent the feelings of parents who search frantically for their children after they haven't come home all night, only to find that their children have been playing games all night in an unlicensed internet cafe.

Zhu Shi and I exchanged a glance, then walked across the street with dark faces, approaching Chang'an from behind.

Chang'an clearly didn't notice us behind him immediately. He just smiled and said to the woman beside him, "See? I told you I could bring you out. Let's go across the street for a meal and discuss what's next."

"I already told you, mind your own business. I'm not going with you." The woman's voice was quite unwilling. "Go back now. It's not too late to stop now. And don't ever come looking for a filthy woman like me again. Getting involved with me won't do you any good."

Chang'an said with a playful grin, "It's not good for you to be so cold. I've been through so many nights with you, you should at least treat me..."

Before Chang'an, who was walking ahead, could continue speaking, veins were already bulging on Zhu Shi's forehead. She sneered and spoke first: "Looks like you're still a regular at that nightclub!"

“Of course, I’ve been there for at least two months…” Chang’an replied reflexively, then seemed to be struck by lightning, his whole body going numb, and he froze on the spot, “There…”

"What are you doing there? Keep talking, we're listening." I said, "I bet you have a lot of romantic escapades to brag about there, share them with us."

Hearing my voice again, Chang'an froze as if petrified. The woman beside him then pulled away from his arm that was around her, turned around, and looked at us with surprise and uncertainty.

"Who are you?" she asked.

“I am a friend of Chang’an, and this is his sister, Zhu Shi.” I was also observing her.

She came out of a nightclub where the Shadow Changer was lurking, and she was with Chang'an, who was being threatened by the Shadow Changer... So, could she be the Shadow Changer?

It shouldn't be. I briefly recalled the severed hand from the Shadow Man I got last night; it was a rough male hand. Looking at the woman in front of me, her hands were fair and slender, completely different from that rough male hand.

Unfortunately, comparing hands could only reduce the number of suspects to a limited extent. There were many men with similar hand shapes in that nightclub. Some men were even soaking in the bathing facilities, their hands turning red from the heat. I couldn't identify the Shadow Changer among them.

Zhu Shi seemed to have some doubts about the woman, probably having already confirmed it with "Mount Buzhou," and then shook his head at me.

"Excuse me, who are you?" I asked the woman.

“You can call me ‘Goldfish,’ I work at that wine tasting club… kind of like an employee,” she said vaguely.

But the implication is clear: her job there must also be providing special services.

Chang'an, as if forcing himself to confront a reality he didn't want to face, slowly turned his head, finally bringing us into his field of vision.

"Hello, everyone..." he said with an awkward laugh, "The weather is so nice today, what are you all doing here..."

"Enough with the nonsense," Zhu Shi said mercilessly. "Tell us clearly why you ran away from home. Do you know how worried we were about you? Running away is one thing... no, we can't just let it go like that, but you ran away from home to a place like that? Have you forgotten that your personal safety is still threatened?"

Ma Zao also came to our side. After hearing Zhu Shi's question, she seemed to understand something and said, "Perhaps it's because of the immense pressure of survival that she has developed a need for a gentle and loving environment..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi suddenly realized what was going on, and then her gaze toward Chang'an became even more contemptuous.

"No, that's not how it is!" Chang'an said, looking very embarrassed.

Seeing him so flustered under our questioning, I inexplicably thought of myself last night and felt a mixture of sympathy and satisfaction.

I never imagined that someone else's misfortune could be so sweet. Chang'an, you are truly my good friend.

"Weren't you going to play around with women?" I asked directly.

"No, I wasn't playing around... no, yes, I was just playing around with women!" he said, his words incoherent.

His reaction was puzzling, so I simply looked at the woman next to him who called herself a goldfish.

The goldfish turned to Chang'an and said, "You might as well just tell them the truth. If you won't, I will."

(End of this chapter)