Chapter 151: Wang Yazhuo Goes Missing!

My heart suddenly sank. I didn’t have time to ask more questions; I immediately rushed downstairs. Just as I was getting into the car, Lu Fatty finally arrived, breathless. He climbed into the front passenger seat and told me not to worry, but I didn’t respond. I floored the accelerator and didn’t slow down once on the way. The sound of sirens echoed as all the cars made way for us.

At last, we arrived outside the police station. I got out of the car and dashed inside without even closing the door. In Lu Fatty’s office, I only saw the little one sobbing. When she saw me, she immediately threw herself into my arms. I picked her up and asked where Wang Yazhuo had gone. She shook her head through tears, saying that Wang Yazhuo had left a long time ago.

Lu Fatty and several other officers rushed in. One of the policemen told us that Wang Yazhuo had left the station over an hour ago but hadn’t returned yet. I put the little one down and frantically dialed Wang Yazhuo’s cell phone, but no one answered.

Seeing my distress, one officer came over and patted my shoulder, telling me not to worry, suggesting Wang Yazhuo might have just gone out for a walk. In my anger, I grabbed the officer by his collar, stunning everyone. Lu Fatty was furious too, reminding us that before we left, we had repeatedly instructed everyone to keep an eye on Wang Yazhuo and not let her go out alone.

The officer looked wronged and explained that everyone had been busy investigating cases and didn’t have time to stay by Wang Yazhuo’s side constantly. He also said they had emphasized to Wang Yazhuo to behave and stay at the station, and she had agreed. No one expected her to leave recklessly.

I released him and forced myself to calm down. I crouched by the crying little one and asked, “Tell me, why did Sister Yazhuo leave here?”

The little one cried even harder, saying that after reading a letter, Wang Yazhuo suddenly left the station. Before leaving, she told the little one to wait there, saying she would be back in a few minutes. The little one obediently agreed, but she waited for nearly an hour. When Wang Yazhuo went out, she bumped into other officers, and only then did they realize she was no longer at the station.

I paused, then asked where Wang Yazhuo had received the letter. The little one said it was delivered by someone in a police uniform. After hearing this, Lu Fatty immediately sent someone to investigate who had given Wang Yazhuo the letter. Within minutes, they found the person: an ordinary young policeman.

That officer said that before entering the station, he had been stopped by a fruit stall owner who gave him the letter to deliver to someone named Wang Yazhuo at the station. The young officer knew we had been staying in Lu Fatty’s office recently and naturally knew Wang Yazhuo. He thought delivering a letter was no big deal, so he complied.

The officer hadn’t opened the letter and didn’t know its contents. The little one said that after reading the letter, Wang Yazhuo casually stuffed it into her pocket and hurried out. The officer and I quickly ran out of the station. The officer pointed to a fruit stall, saying that’s where the stall owner who had handed over the letter was.

I approached the stall and grabbed the owner by his collar. I was utterly frantic and demanded to know what was going on with the letter. Lu Fatty and other officers gathered around. The owner trembled but dared not lie and immediately began to explain.

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The owner said that over an hour ago, a tall, thin man gave him a large sum of money, telling him to find any policeman to deliver this letter. The owner thought delivering a letter wasn’t a big deal, so he helped the man. With a mournful expression, he asked if something had happened and kept insisting he wasn’t involved.

Lu Fatty stepped forward and asked the owner what the man looked like and how much money he had been given. The owner described the man as about 1.8 meters tall, extremely thin to the point of being skin and bones, but dressed neatly in a suit.

Lu Fatty frowned deeply, and so did I. This description matched closely the image I had formed of the suspect. My heart sank even further. After confirming the details, Lu Fatty told me not to worry too much; the man might not be the culprit since he gave the stall owner a lot of money, which didn’t fit the profile of someone struggling to get by.

I asked, “Was there any clothing or valuables missing at the crime scene?”

Lu Fatty paused for a moment and then called the officers still at the scene to confirm. Indeed, the wardrobe at the crime scene had been rifled through, and very tattered clothes were found nearby. It was suspected that the culprit had changed into a clean set of clothes before leaving.

The drawers at the crime scene were also opened, and valuables were suspected to be missing.

This meant that the person who went through such trouble to deliver an unknown letter to Wang Yazhuo was very likely the culprit. A chill ran down my spine. It was highly probable that Wang Yazhuo had fallen into the hands of the culprit. Given the culprit’s cruelty, hoping for mercy or a halt to the crimes was utterly futile.

My mind was in turmoil. Lu Fatty half-supported me as he led me back to the police station. The office was crowded, with people talking over each other. Lu Fatty had dispatched officers to retrieve nearby surveillance footage, trying to locate Wang Yazhuo. But after more than an hour, there was still no news.

The little one had no idea why Wang Yazhuo had suddenly left after reading the letter and kept crying. I was restless, with a roaring in my head. Suddenly, regret washed over me. I was afraid Wang Yazhuo might have been worried or disgusted if I told her she could be the culprit’s target. But if I had warned her, maybe she would have been more careful and not fled the station so recklessly in such an emergency.

Lu Fatty saw through my thoughts and told me to calm down, saying that regret and worry were useless now; finding Wang Yazhuo quickly was what mattered most.

Suddenly, the bloody scene of the crime flashed through my mind, and cold sweat broke out on me. Lu Fatty was right—time was critical. If we didn’t find Wang Yazhuo soon, she might not survive.

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I gradually calmed down. Several officers reported that through surveillance footage and questioning nearby residents, they had identified a suspicious target. Around the same time Wang Yazhuo ran out of the station, the suspicious person was waiting outside a nearby park, a blind spot for cameras and sparsely populated. The footage showed only a silhouette walking there, after which nothing could be seen.

According to eyewitnesses, the person’s appearance matched the suspect’s profile very closely.

The footage showed Wang Yazhuo running toward that spot after leaving the station, but unfortunately, what happened in the camera’s blind spot was not recorded. However, witnesses confirmed that Wang Yazhuo had indeed been there, standing with the gaunt man, but no one knew what happened afterward.

I wasn’t surprised the culprit had targeted Wang Yazhuo and knew her information. The culprit was brazen enough to appear near the police station; if he dared to do that now, he must have done so before. By challenging judicial authority, he surely kept an eye on the task force handling these cases. For days, I had been taking the little one and Wang Yazhuo in and out of the station, and that was likely how the culprit had zeroed in on Wang Yazhuo.

Wang Yazhuo’s features shared similarities with Hu Yufang and several other corpses, making her an easy target.

Moreover, in recent days, besides the beast-like man in the trench coat and those wishing to harm me, the culprit might have been lurking in the hotel where we stayed, waiting for a chance to strike at Wang Yazhuo.

This time, the crime scene was discovered very quickly, possibly because the culprit wanted to distract the task force and lure Wang Yazhuo out of the station as part of a trap.