Chapter 15: Vanished Without a Trace

After a long wait for the noon break, Yu Yanan, cheeks puffed in anger, pinched Shen Xin’s ear and roared, “Shen Xin, you’d better give me a clear explanation!”

At once, the classmates around began to whistle and jeer.

Only when they reached a secluded alley did Yu Yanan let go, demanding, “Shen Xin, be honest—who was the vixen you spent last night with?”

Shen Xin pulled a miserable face and complained, “There’s nothing like that. After I saw you home last night, I just went back to sleep.”

With her hands on her hips, Yu Yanan, brimming with anger, pressed on, “Still trying to dodge? Come clean—confession gets you leniency!”

In his mind, Shen Xin heard Sister Dan’s warning. He gritted his teeth and said, “Yanan, actually, you know, men also have a few days every month when they feel inexplicably irritable and can’t sleep. I was just up all night with insomnia, that’s all. That’s why I’m like this today.”

Yu Yanan stared blankly for a few seconds, then grinned slyly. “All pent up, aren’t you? Serves you right. I’m right here, waiting for you, but you act all coy. Tonight, let’s both take the night off, relax a little, and I’ll help you ‘cool down.’”

Shen Xin shuddered all over, quickly stepping back several paces, flustered. “Yanan, you really hide your depths well. I always thought you were such a pure girl, but you’re a lot more bold than I ever imagined.”

Yu Yanan shrugged it off. “With the way things are these days, I’m surrounded by it every day. Of course I know about these things between men and women. Don’t worry, I’m still ‘original.’”

“Yanan, please, give me a little more time!” Shen Xin kept retreating. He’d just gotten his hands on a cultivation manual; if he started living with Yu Yanan, how could he practice? How could he keep his secret?

She giggled, “Didn’t expect you to be so traditional. It’s fine. We’ll get married and have kids eventually anyway. I’ll let you enjoy it ahead of time.”

“No, absolutely not. Yanan, listen, I’m just getting started in my career. As soon as I’ve made thirty million, I’ll retire. By then—”

Before Shen Xin could finish, Yu Yanan’s full, red lips pressed against his, cutting him off.

In that instant, Shen Xin felt as if struck by lightning, wholly bewitched.

Yu Yanan only gave him a quick, dragonfly kiss, then stepped back with a mischievous smile, her cheeks flushed. “Tonight, we’ll continue,” she teased, skipping away.

Shen Xin stood there dazed for a long time, and then, lost in a trance, went to deliver lunch to the people at the compound. The entire afternoon, he drifted through three classes, his mind elsewhere.

But all afternoon, he didn’t see Yu Yanan.

Shen Xin didn’t take it to heart; in fact, he felt a subtle anticipation for the coming night.

Waiting always drags on endlessly.

After class, he hurriedly called Yu Yanan.

No one answered. He stopped one of her roommates, but she said Yu Yanan had left right after lunch and hadn’t come back—she had no idea where she’d gone.

After delivering dinner, Shen Xin took special leave and headed to Yu Yanan’s workplace, but her colleagues said she’d called in sick at noon and hadn’t shown up at all that evening.

Riding his little electric scooter, Shen Xin returned to his rented apartment, feeling restless. He forced himself to tidy up the filthy, cluttered room and changed the bedsheets.

His mind began to wander toward what might happen when Yu Yanan arrived.

“Snap, snap!”

Shen Xin slapped his own cheeks a few times, muttering, “Shen Xin, what are you thinking? Are you just ruled by your lower half? You’ve always seen Yu Yanan as a little sister!”

The stinging pain brought him back to his senses. He immediately sat down to meditate, not seeking spiritual improvement, just hoping to still his heart.

The night passed in a flash. Yu Yanan did not come. With a complicated sigh, Shen Xin called her again, only to hear the same message: “The number you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later.”

“That can’t be. Even if Yu Yanan wanted to mess with me, she wouldn’t leave her phone off all night, would she?”

A sense of unease surged within him.

Not bothering to wash up, he dashed out and ran to the girls’ dormitory. Ignoring the dorm matron’s protests, he rushed up to the fifth floor and found Yu Yanan’s room.

He knocked heavily on the door.

Moments later, it opened. A bleary-eyed girl demanded irritably, “Who is it? It’s only six—can’t you let people sleep?”

“Gao Xin, did Yu Yanan come back last night?”

“Yanan? Didn’t she say she was spending the night with you? What, did you two have a fight?”

Shen Xin’s heart sank halfway to the floor. Voice trembling, he said, “No, I haven’t seen her since after class yesterday.”

“That can’t be. At lunch she was all smiles, saying she wouldn’t be back to sleep because she was going out with you tonight.”

“Try calling her, quickly.”

“All right, all right!”

Gao Xin, Yu Yanan’s closest friend, was now uneasy too. There’d been too many incidents at Niu City University lately; she dared not think too much. Hastily, she dialed Yu Yanan’s number.

No miracle occurred. The phone was still off.

Now Gao Xin panicked, yelling, “Everyone get up! We can’t reach Yanan!”

A chill shot from Shen Xin’s feet to the crown of his head.

He asked anxiously, “When did you last see her?”

“Around one in the afternoon, I think. She took a call and hurried off, didn’t say much. I thought she was going to meet you.”

Shen Xin burst out, “I was in class all afternoon! Didn’t you see me?”

“I did—I thought you were just putting on a show for class!”

“Damn it!”

Seeing he was getting nowhere, Shen Xin spun around and went to the dorm matron, barely containing his frustration. “Let me see the surveillance footage from around one yesterday afternoon.”

“Hey, what’s with you? You barged into the girls’ dorm and I haven’t even said anything about that yet!” The dorm matron, a woman in her fifties, glared at his furious face, her own temper rising.

“Enough nonsense—this is a matter of life and death! Hurry up!”

Shen Xin was at his breaking point; his tone was harsh.

The dorm matron, angered at first, suddenly paled at the mention of life and death. Just over a month ago, there had been three murders in this very building—she dared not risk ignoring this. Flustered, she said, “Come with me. What exactly is going on?”

She took him to the security room, where the guard replayed the footage from around 1 pm the previous day.

Shen Xin saw nothing unusual. Yu Yanan hurried out of the dormitory area around one, but after that, the monitors showed nothing more.

His mind a mess, Shen Xin rode his electric scooter to the compound, not caring that Sister Dan was in seclusion. He knocked, and after a while, she opened the door, her face looking unwell, her voice heavy. “What is it?”

“Sister Dan, Yu Yanan is missing. I want to borrow a million yuan to post a reward for help finding her.”

Sister Dan was stunned for a moment. “You can borrow the money, but think carefully. Yanan is an ordinary person—if you put her on a reward platform, it may bring trouble later. You could call the police, or find Tang Ziran.”

“Tang Ziran, right! I’ll contact her right away. Thank you, Sister Dan.”

“You reckless boy!” Sister Dan shook her head and closed the door again.