Chapter 12 Red Nose (2) "Hmm... Ah Tan?"...
Xie Tan frowned and flipped through the picture album again.
There was a book with pictures of various birds, but due to the limited drawing skills of children, they were all drawn similarly, with the only difference being their size and color.
"TuTu, are you here? Your mom's been looking for you, she's so worried! Stop playing, come home for dinner, TuTu—"
Lu Jinzhao went to the activity room and was surprised to find Xie Tan there. He smiled and said, "We meet again."
He walked in, gestured with his height, and asked, "Have you seen a little boy? This tall, wearing a yellow short-sleeved shirt with cartoon birds printed on it. He was playing with other children in the neighborhood, but everyone else went home long ago. He hasn't gone home yet, and his parents are frantically looking for him."
Xie Tan put down the picture book: "Missing?"
"Hopefully they just got carried away playing and lost track of time. It seems they're not here—did those pigeons fly out from here? People moved away, and it became their base."
Lu Jinzhao sighed, thinking it was someone's pigeons that had flown into the service building to play. He pointed outside and said, "I'll go look for them again. I'll go now..."
Xie Tan naturally followed him. Lu Jinzhao blinked. Did this mean he wanted to go look for it with him?
He flashed his signature bright, shining smile, brighter than the moonlight, as if pleased with his judgment that "the neighbor is indeed a good person."
"..." Xie Tan pulled down his hood.
Do such people really exist in the world? Xie Tan found it hard to understand.
But it has nothing to do with him.
Xie Tan followed behind Lu Jinzhao, observing the residents and security guards searching for the person in the community, without getting involved.
An elderly woman with mobility issues asked Lu Jinzhao to climb up to the flower bed on the top floor to take a look.
There was no one in or behind the flower bed.
When Lu Jinzhao returned, Xie Tan was still looking up at the flower bed: "Why did you go to a place like this to look?"
Lu Jinzhao: "A group of children were playing hide-and-seek. He was the only one left, and they couldn't find him. They thought he had gone home, so they ended the game and went home."
The old woman leaned against the wall, fanning herself, and glanced outside: "The neighborhood isn't that big. His parents have already gone outside to look for him."
Xie Tan: "Perhaps he hid at someone he knew."
"Huh?" The old woman looked at him.
Lu Jinzhao quickly followed the train of thought and thought of a possibility: "Those kids always go to Sister Liang's shop to play, right? Sister Liang had something to do and locked the door to go home in the afternoon. He might have hidden in the backyard of the shop before that, in the next room. I remember there are a few baskets there? Sister Liang uses them to put vegetables in and dry them. He can't hear anything if he's hiding inside."
The older woman listened and found it increasingly plausible, hoping it was true. She immediately called the shop owner and then informed the child's parents.
The boss rushed back to open the door, and sure enough, the group found the sleeping little kid in a basket in the corner of the backyard. They dragged him out and gave him a good beating.
Xie Tan didn't go inside, but watched from afar. There were several small red birds on the little boy's short-sleeved shirt.
It wasn't him.
The owner of the album used various colors, but never red, so he probably doesn't like red, especially since it was just a false alarm.
Xie Tan turned and left.
The parents thanked everyone for their help, especially the elderly woman and Lu Jinchao. Lu Jinchao waved his hand, saying, "It was my neighbor who came up with the idea, he—"
He spotted Xie Tan's back at a glance, immediately greeted everyone, and jogged to catch up.
"TuTu's parents asked me to thank you."
Xie Tan nodded indifferently.
"You reacted so quickly back then, is that from experience?" Lu Jinchao walked beside him, his upper body turned towards him, and asked with a smile.
His teasing of others was like the warm sunshine on a sunny day with moderate temperatures—not scorching, but gentle and breezy.
Xie Tan thought to himself, "It's true, but it's probably different from what the protagonist of a shonen manga thinks."
He wasn't the clever kid who used this trick to win at hide-and-seek; he was the fool who got tricked.
The children enthusiastically invited him to play hide-and-seek and to be "it," but he searched the entire neighborhood and couldn't find a single person.
As he closed his eyes and counted down, the children laughed and went home.
Xie Tan stopped and finally gave him a look: "What are you doing following me?"
Lu Jinzhao also stopped, his smile fading slightly, and said seriously, "That child isn't the one you're looking for. Perhaps you could ask me? I know quite a few people in this neighborhood."
He clasped his hands together and said, "Please let me help you as compensation for my mistake."
Did he say something wrong? It took Xie Tan a moment to realize that he was referring to the phrase "words of experience".
Xie Tan didn't feel any particular emotion; he simply recalled past events as Lu Jinzhao spoke, as if observing someone else's affairs, which were not important.
What's slightly more important is that he then realized that although Lu Jinzhao's smile was silly, he was actually very perceptive.
Seeing that he didn't refuse, Lu Jinchao asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"The locksmith."
"Um?"
Xie Tan did not explain: "Did anyone go missing three days ago?"
The strange incidents of people getting lost in the neighborhood disappeared three days ago.
“No children are missing, but a high school student ran away from home and hasn’t come back yet. His parents aren’t worried. This isn’t the first time this has happened in their family; they’re always arguing.”
Xie Tan: "Also living in Building 9?"
The building that was swapped was Building 9 and the service building.
“Yes.” Lu Jinzhao stroked his chin. “Speaking of which, a friend of my classmate from another department has also disappeared. They are both college students and have a lot of freedom when they don’t have classes. At first, no one paid attention, but when the counselor asked, we found out that he had been out of contact for five days. The last time he appeared was backstage at the opening ceremony, helping out.”
Xie Tan: Was anything left at the scene?
"There was nothing backstage, but I found this at the door while I was cleaning."
Lu Jinzhao pulled a thin, dark green stick from his schoolbag; there was a small flower bud at the bottom.
He grasped the flower bud and pushed it upwards, revealing a blooming red rose at the tip, which he then shook towards Xie Tan.
Xie Tan pinched the plastic flower stem, glanced down at it, and a word popped into his mind: balloon, dove, rose...
Magic props?
Lu Jinzhao proposed joining Xie Tan's investigation.
His amber eyes gazed at him sincerely, like ice cubes in golden liquor, their edges smoothed by the liquor, gently clinking together with a soft, watery light.
Like worrying about a classmate's friend, worrying about a neighbor's child who went missing in the same building, worrying about more potential victims, anyone would fall under the spell of such a gaze.
Xie Tan hadn't originally intended to refuse.
Since Lu Jinzhao would investigate anyway if they refused, they might as well share information and resolve the issue sooner.
"Let's exchange contact information." Lu Jinzhao took out his phone and smiled. "I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Lu Jinzhao."
[Embrace the Sun] requests to add you as a friend.
Xie Tan passed: "Xie Tan".
They formed a temporary investigation team, and their first step was to... split up and investigate separately in two different locations.
Lu Jinzhao is a well-known and popular young man in the neighborhood. People often stop to chat when they bump into each other, and he is responsible for inquiring about the family whose child ran away from home.
On the way, Lu Jinzhao opened the newly added friend's profile. The nickname was [.at]. Looking out the window, he idly pondered what the nickname might mean.
"Hmm...Ah Tan?"
Lu Jinzhao smiled, "What a nice name."
Xie Tan then arrived at the kindergarten shown in the preview image, which is not far from Heshun Community, about two kilometers away.
In the afternoon, there was no one at the kindergarten gate. Xie Tan observed his surroundings. The fence was more than two meters high, with anti-climbing features on top and an electronic lock...
He was dressed all in black and stood alone outside the door. After a while, the security guard peeked out of the guard booth window and asked him what he was doing.
Xie Tan walked over and casually took off his hood.
Seeing his natural demeanor and noticing that he was a handsome young man, the security guard's initial wariness disappeared.
Xie Tan then inquired about the kindergarten, focusing on safety. The security guard, understanding the situation, asked, "Do you have younger siblings at home who are of kindergarten age?"
Xie Tan didn't have much contact with children, but recently he had been dealing with a ghost. He thought to himself, "The little ghost is growing up so fast, it feels like it was born not long ago and is already going to kindergarten."
The security guard thought it was an exaggeration by the parents lamenting how quickly time flies, and laughed twice before bringing up the kindergarten's security issues.
Security is excellent, with secondary authentication via fingerprint and facial recognition for pick-up and drop-off, an electronic system recording departure time and the identity of the person picking up or dropping off, and a hand-to-hand handover system...
"Don't worry, I've been working here for two or three years and nothing's happened!"
Sure enough, the security guards were far too relaxed, unlike the level of vigilance one would expect after a child goes missing.
Xie Tan: "I heard there are cases of child abduction in the neighborhood."
"Really? These human traffickers are lawless! We haven't lost any children here, but I'll be on the lookout..."
The security guard said, "Oh, a parent said the day before yesterday that they wanted the older brother to pick up the younger brother, but the older brother has disappeared."
"Where's the surveillance footage?"
"The surveillance cameras are under maintenance these past two days, so the pick-up and drop-off procedures are even stricter. We've checked multiple times—there's a market just across the street. When school lets out, the fruit vendors set up their stalls, and they also sell that Lasu you kids love. The older brother is only in his third year of junior high, still a kid. I bet he just didn't want to pick up his younger brother and threw a tantrum and went off to play somewhere."
A classic tactic in horror stories: a malfunctioning surveillance system.
They also sell fruit, strawberries?
Xie Tan received a message from Lu Jinzhao as soon as he left the kindergarten, and they exchanged contact information.
Lu Jinzhao had finished asking his questions, but he had class and couldn't go back for the time being. He said he would go back to find him as soon as get out of class was over and told him to go home first.
Attending class? Dichu University, that's a good opportunity to make my presence known.
This is the school he will be attending in the future, and we can now see some clues that he is currently enrolled.
Normally, even though he's a character who's just escaped the fate of being cannon fodder, he might not get a single shot even if he walks around Diqiu University from morning till night.
But if he joins Lu Jinzhao, the chances of him being drawn into the painting are much greater.
Xie Tan replied with the three words "See you at school".
The campus of Diqiu University is vast, with an exaggerated difference in elevation, including a long staircase that rivals a mountain climbing project.
On the other side, it faces the river, and its interior layout is avant-garde and bold—like some designs from big brands that are hard to understand.
Several more artistic garden areas are randomly distributed throughout, making it a great value for outsiders who can experience a large maze without buying a ticket.
The school's designer may have worked in theme park design.
Xie Tan had memorized the map beforehand, but he had two options: he had No. 7 walk in front to guide him, as if he were quite familiar with the school.
A student in the distance glanced at his phone, then looked around in confusion; he was probably a freshman who had only been in school for a few days.
Xie Tan walked past him, and Xinsheng's eyes lit up. Sure enough, he called out to him.
"Hi student, do you know how to get to Laboratory Building No. 4?"
The cat sat upright on the ground, its long tail making an elegant circle in the air, pointing to the road to its right.
Xie Tan then casually pointed to the road to his right, and continued forward without looking to the side.
"Thank you so much!"
The new student thanked him repeatedly and ran off to class.
The cat stepped upwards, as if climbing an invisible ladder of air, and rubbed against Xie Tan's palm, as if asking for a reward.
The host is indifferent, but if it takes the initiative, he will just give it a perfunctory response!
It has completely figured out how to get along with its host, meow!
Cat was filled with enthusiasm, puffed out her chest and raised her head, continuing to walk forward to lead the way for Xie Tan.
Xie Tan waited for Lu Jinzhao at a coffee shop on campus. Outside the coffee shop was a huge poster for a magic show, advertising that had spread to the campus. The performers were the Red Nose Circus.
He glanced at it again, got his coffee, and the cat told him that the comic had been updated.
He sat in the shade of the tent outside the store and opened the app.
A note from the author:
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