Chapter 121
"dad?"
Walking slowly into the living room, Luo Jingyao glanced at the rocking chair on the balcony in the faint moonlight; it was empty.
The uneasiness in her heart grew even stronger, and she turned around and pushed open the door of the master bedroom.
The double bed remained in the same state as before she left in the evening. Mao Peilan's dresses of various styles were piled everywhere, and it didn't look like anyone had been back.
Luo Jingyao's sinking heart finally fell to the bottom after she couldn't find Luo Honghui even when she was lying on her side.
After searching almost every corner of the house, she slid open the screen of her mobile phone with slightly trembling hands and called Mao Peilan again.
Before the other person could say anything, she spoke first: "Mom, I'm home now, and my dad is missing!"
Mao Peilan was about to curse when she choked up and said uncertainly, "What do you mean your dad is missing?"
As she was speaking, someone seemed to be urging her. She said a few perfunctory words and then asked, "Is your father not at home?"
"Yes, it's already three o'clock in the morning. Where would he go if he's not at home? Has this happened before?" Luo Jingyao took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Mao Peilan was also a little panicked when she heard this: "No... Your father and I have been married for decades, and he basically never spends the night outside."
"When he goes out for a walk at night, even if he gets engrossed in chess, he'll be back before nine o'clock! Did he...did he have an accident? I saw a news report a few days ago about an old man who fell into a river and drowned after going out for a walk at night. Could your father have also..."
Listening to her mother's increasingly inappropriate words, Luo Jingyao stopped her immediately: "My father is not that old yet!"
Luo Honghui pays great attention to health preservation on a daily basis. Not only does he eat healthily, he also goes out for exercise in the morning and evening. His annual physical examinations show that all his physical indicators are normal, so there is basically no possibility of him suffering from any sudden illness.
Even if he really fell ill and passed out, someone would have discovered him long ago if he wasn't in a particularly remote place.
As long as you call the police or 120, the police and the hospital will do everything they can to contact the family. It's been several hours, and there's still no news.
"Mom, think about it carefully. Does my dad have any good friends' homes that we can go to?" Luo Jingyao comforted the person on the other end of the phone while guiding her to think again.
“Yes, there are two…”
"Okay, you contact them now and ask them. I'll ask the property management staff to help me search around the community."
After the mother and daughter finished their discussion, they went their separate ways. Luo Jingyao contacted the property staff as quickly as possible. They were very willing to send two security guards on the night shift to help her find the person.
Within two minutes, she met the two security guards who were rushing towards her in the community. After showing them Luo Honghui's photo and giving them a brief description of his physical features and clothing, the three of them dispersed to search.
Not long after, the three people who had walked around the park met again near the small square, and none of them had found anything.
At this moment, the cell phone that Luo Jingyao had been holding tightly in her hand rang.
As soon as the call was connected, Mao Peilan's anxious voice, slightly tearful, came to my ears: "Yaoyao, I asked several people, and they all said that they haven't seen your father today. What should I do... Is there any progress over there?"
"Not yet." She responded with difficulty.
"Wow, wow, wow... How could this happen? Where can he go?" Mao Peilan's emotions suddenly collapsed: "I'm going back now!"
Before Luo Jingyao could say anything to stop them, there was a long commotion on the other end of the phone. In the end, the phone fell into the hands of an unknown aunt. Perhaps seeing that Mao Peilan was in a bad mood, the other party patted her chest and promised her that she would definitely send the person back safely.
She felt a little relieved. In this situation, if something unexpected happened to Mao Peilan again, she really couldn't bear it.
When the phone returned to Mao Peilan, she took a deep breath and asked softly, "Mom, does Dad know Li Rui and Wang Ying?"
"Yes... yes, your dad always fixes any problems in the rental house. Those two are even better friends with your dad than I am with them!" At this point, the woman seemed to realize something: "Could your dad's disappearance be related to them?"
"Yaoyao, didn't you say that only Li Rui was in trouble? Why is Wang Ying involved now?"
"What case are you helping the police investigate?!"
Faced with Mao Peilan's questioning, Luo Jingyao opened her mouth but could not give any response. When she thought that it might be because of her negligence that her father was now missing, a deep sense of guilt surged like a tide and engulfed her.
"Mom, be careful on your way back. I'll go to the property management to check the surveillance first."
She ended the call as if escaping, and at her request, the security guard took her to the community's monitoring room.
After repeated communication and coordination with the property manager, the other party reluctantly agreed to Luo Jingyao's request to check the surveillance. She stared at the display screen in front of her without even blinking, and finally found Luo Honghui in one of the split-screen images.
"Here!" She pointed at the screen and looked at the time in the lower left corner again.
At 6:43 in the evening, Luo Honghui was wandering around the small square of the community. He finally walked into the pavilion. While twisting two walnuts in his hand, he stretched his neck to look at the chess game in front of him.
He stayed there until after seven o'clock. The sky, which was not bright to begin with, had become completely dark. Because it was cold in winter, most of the people in the small square had already dispersed.
Fortunately, the surveillance camera in the community has night vision function, so I can still barely see the swaying figure under the lens.
The time came to 8:03, and the chess game in the pavilion finally ended. Luo Honghui walked around the small square twice alone, and then walked towards the gate of the community.
The property staff was very perceptive and switched the surveillance camera view in time, only to see Luo Honghui walk out of the gate and turn right into a supermarket.
Three minutes later, he came out of the supermarket with a plastic bag in his hand.
Looking carefully at the shape of the object in the bag, it should be a cigarette.
Luo Honghui was staggering, probably heading towards home, but he unexpectedly received a phone call on the way.
After answering the phone call, he hesitated and wandered there for a long time, but finally turned and walked out the door, and his figure disappeared on the busy street.
A little after eight o'clock...
Luo Jingyao frowned and recalled that at that time the police seemed to have just completed the arrest of Li Rui and had withdrawn from his residence.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Luo, our surveillance only covers this community. We really can't help outside the community!" The property staff said with great regret.
"Some businesses outside the complex may have installed surveillance cameras in front of their doors, but there's no guarantee that your father will be captured on camera. Furthermore, if you go in private and ask to see the surveillance footage, they'll most likely refuse to cooperate."
"From the surveillance footage in the residential complex, we can see that your father left completely of his own accord. He might be back soon."
The other person said this cryptically, probably because he was embarrassed to directly say that she was making a fuss, so he could only hint at it indirectly: "Also, whether it's the security surveillance along the road or the private surveillance of the merchants, it would be best if the police intervened if they want to retrieve it. Miss Luo, why don't you consider calling the police?"
Although there is no longer a restriction that a person must be missing for more than 24 hours before being reported to the police, to be honest, based on what she has learned over the past few months, Luo Jingyao is well aware that the functions of grassroots police stations are very limited.
They may be able to help retrieve surveillance footage from surrounding businesses, but to check the call records of the person involved, one must apply to their superiors. As for finding someone through public security surveillance, relevant procedures must also be followed.
And she had a strong premonition that Luo Honghui's disappearance must be related to the phone call she received.
After coming to her senses, Luo Jingyao politely thanked the property staff and turned to leave the monitoring room.
Without hesitating for too long, she dialed a number and put the phone to her ear.
Her unfocused eyes stared at the dead trees swaying in the darkness before her. She spoke calmly, "Officer Lin? My father... seems to be missing."
The loud sirens pierced the silent night sky. In winter, dawn always comes especially late, and there seems to be no difference between four in the morning and midnight.
When Lin Jiafan got out of the car, he saw Luo Jingyao standing outside the property office building with a confused look on her face. He didn't know how long she had been waiting like that.
He walked forward quickly and, in the dim light of a street lamp not far away, saw the woman's nose and cheeks, which were red from the cold.
"Coach Luo."
The familiar deep male voice successfully brought Luo Jingyao's drifting thoughts back. She blinked her dry eyes and saw the handsome face in front of her clearly.
For some reason, at this moment, all the fear, worry, terror and uneasiness suddenly came together, and the sudden and complex feeling made her pout uncontrollably.
"I searched for a long time and looked everywhere I could, but I couldn't find him."
A voice with a subtle hint of crying rang in his ears, and Lin Jiafan felt his throat tighten. By the time he reacted, his right hand had already rested on the shoulder of the person opposite him.
"Take a deep breath," he heard himself say calmly.
"Tell me the whole story again in detail."
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