As planned, after leaving Dr. Hu's house, Guan Xia and the others headed to Nanping District Police Station.
However, to be safe, Ji An drove around the city twice, deliberately taking secluded backstreets to ensure no one was following them before finally pulling into the station's parking lot.
As they got out of the car, Guan Xia sighed, "Investigating this case really feels like we're sneaking around. Nowadays, I can't help but scan my surroundings wherever I go, afraid I might miss something suspicious."
"Given how large and ruthless this criminal organization is," Jiang Yingyao chimed in as he shut the car door, "it's better to be cautious."
Walking toward Captain Zhou's office, Guan Xia asked curiously, "Ji An, after you left the police force, have you always investigated cases like this?"
Jiang Yingyao also seemed interested in the answer, turning to look at Ji An.
Ji An smiled. "Well, without the official badge, you have to be discreet. At first, it was hard to adjust, but I got used to it over time."
Jiang Yingyao pressed further, "Does Lu Tingfeng operate the same way?"
Guan Xia thought about Lu Tingfeng's usual demeanor and found it hard to believe.
Ji An chuckled and nodded. "Don’t let his carefree act fool you—he’s actually very careful. He’s even better at playing roles than I am. Once, for an undercover operation, he worked at a high-end club. Honestly, he was so convincing that he earned more in tips than his actual salary. The owner and several guests even tried to persuade him to switch to a more lucrative line of work. Luckily, we got the lead quickly, or he might’ve struggled to keep up the act."
Guan Xia was stunned, barely holding back laughter, while Jiang Yingyao, more experienced, managed to keep a straight face—though his expression was priceless.
As they talked, they reached the door of the investigative team’s office. Before they could knock, the door swung open, revealing Lu Tingfeng, who narrowed his eyes and asked in a dangerous tone, "What were you all discussing so happily? I thought I heard my name."
Guan Xia and Jiang Yingyao exchanged glances, silently slipping past him into the room.
Ji An played dumb with practiced ease. "Your ears are sharp! We were just praising your past achievements—how you led us through every obstacle to secure crucial evidence."
Lu Tingfeng wasn’t easily fooled, but before he could respond, Ji An pushed past him and asked Wang Yu, who was still busy at his desk, "Any progress, Wang Yu?"
Wang Yu glanced up briefly and handed over a few case files. "Found something. Take a look."
Ji An flipped through them while asking, "Where’s Captain Zhou and the others? Just you two here?"
Lu Tingfeng shut the door behind them. "Xu Nian called them away earlier. Qi Bai sent a message in the group about a new lead. Didn’t you see it?"
Guan Xia shook her head honestly. "We’ve been working all morning—didn’t check the group. Any details?"
Lu Tingfeng replied, "It seemed urgent. They didn’t elaborate, just said they had a lead. Then Captain Zhou and the others left to assist."
No wonder the office was nearly empty.
Guan Xia and Jiang Yingyao joined Ji An, each taking a file to review.
Guan Xia already had an idea of what she’d find—missing persons cases. She skimmed through the personal details, focusing instead on the police reports tracking their last known movements. Sure enough, every case had one thing in common: Kangjian Health Center.
Confirming the center’s involvement, Guan Xia exhaled, her chest tightening. The center had operated in Shangshuang City for over a decade as a chain—how many victims had there been?
After verifying the connection, Guan Xia revisited the details of her assigned case: a 22-year-old college student who vanished on May 19, 2022. She’d planned to go shopping with a roommate that weekend, but when the roommate canceled, she went alone—and never returned.
The roommate reported her missing that same night. Though the police officially opened the case on May 21, they began investigating immediately. Yet despite their efforts, no solid leads emerged.
Guan Xia noted that the student had visited Kangjian Health Center three months before her disappearance—likely during winter break. Surprisingly, this wasn’t her first visit; she’d gone twice before, spanning four and a half years. No wonder the police hadn’t noticed a pattern.
"This Kangjian Health Center has been planning this for a long time," Guan Xia mused. "Either they just matched her with a new client, or an old client suddenly needed an organ. Either way, they’re treating the entire city as their personal organ bank. It’s monstrous."
"Mine’s similar," Jiang Yingyao said, lifting his file. "A 17-year-old boy—a national-level athlete. No idea how they took him. He’s been missing for three years without a trace."
Ji An had been quiet until now. "Mine’s different," she finally said. "A 46-year-old man, paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident. He was taken just three days after his checkup—before the results even came back. His son took him to a park on a nice weekend, and when he stepped away to use the restroom, the man vanished."
The group fell silent, the weight of their findings sinking in. Their suspicions had been confirmed, but the reality was harder to digest.
Since activating the system and learning that this was a world fused with crime investigation stories, Guan Xia had mentally prepared herself for the high crime rates and the brutality of murderers in this world. Yet, when she actually encountered a case that exceeded her understanding, she still found it hard to believe, feeling as if her chest were blocked and even nauseous.
Before Guan Xia could adjust her emotions, Wang Yu suddenly spoke up, her voice tinged with surprise, "Brother Jiang, come take a look! There's a case file here—a missing person who disappeared just two days ago. The local police officers handling the case are still investigating."
Hearing this, Guan Xia perked up and practically lunged over, almost snatching the file from Wang Yu's hands in her haste.
Wang Yu didn’t mind Guan Xia’s abrupt action, only following her movements with her eyes as she continued, "It's a six-year-old child. The disappearance happened on the 9th, the same day we arrived in Shangshuang City, around 2 p.m. According to the witness statements, the child refused to nap that day and insisted on going out to play. The parents were at work, leaving only the grandparents at home. The grandmother was busy making steamed buns, so the grandfather took the child to play in the residential area. Some people were playing chess in the shade, and the old man went over to watch. In the blink of an eye, the child was gone. The police checked the surveillance footage immediately after receiving the report. It showed the child staying close to the grandfather at first but soon growing bored and running to the swings. However, the swings were too hot, making him cry briefly before something in a blind spot caught his attention. He ran toward it and vanished."
Lu Tingfeng reacted swiftly. "Then let’s head to the local police station handling the case right away. The child’s only been missing for two days—there’s still a good chance of finding him. We might even uncover something else."
Though Guan Xia was fully absorbed in reading the file, she didn’t miss their words. She immediately closed the documents and nodded. "Good, let’s go now. We can review the case file in the car."
The five of them quickly went downstairs. This time, Lu Tingfeng took the wheel. It wasn’t rush hour, so he drove at breakneck speed, but with few cars on the road, the ride remained smooth, allowing Guan Xia and Ji An to pore over the case file without interruption.
Guan Xia flipped through the pages rapidly until she found a mention of "Kangjian Health Examination Center" in the family’s statements. According to the missing child’s mother, the boy had been getting regular checkups at Kangjian since he was four. His last examination had been just a week prior. That day, the center was crowded, and as she and her husband brought their child in, two suspicious individuals approached them, striking up a conversation and complimenting the child’s looks and age. The parents, always vigilant when out with their child, quickly left without engaging. Looking back, they wondered if the child had been targeted then.
Guan Xia flipped back to the child’s photo—a six-year-old boy with delicate, almost feminine features. He had large, round eyes and wore brightly colored clothes, making him easily mistaken for a girl at first glance. He was indeed good-looking.
She turned a few more pages and refocused on the mother’s statement about Kangjian. "Sister Ji, what do you think? Could those two suspicious people the mother mentioned really be traffickers?"
Having both finished reading, Ji An handed the file to Jiang Yingyao in the passenger seat and pondered. "Whether they are or not, we’ll know once we ask at the local station. If they are, there’s a good chance the child is still alive—though whether we can recover him is another matter. If not..."
Guan Xia stayed silent. Two days might not sound like much, but for those desperate to harvest a child’s organs for medical purposes, it was more than enough time to get them onto an operating table.
Despite her pessimism, Guan Xia prayed inwardly that the perpetrators hadn’t acted so quickly—that they still had time to rescue the child and prevent another tragedy.
They left Nanping District and reached the local police station handling the case in just over twenty minutes.
A young female officer greeted them and, upon hearing their purpose, immediately said, "What a coincidence—Sister Cao, the officer in charge of this missing persons case, just left. I overheard that they’ve located the suspicious couple the mother mentioned, the possible traffickers. They left about ten minutes ago. If you hurry, you might catch up. Should I call and get their address for you?"
Before the officer could finish, Guan Xia urgently replied, "Please, that would be a great help."
Recognizing the gravity of the case from their urgency, the officer didn’t hesitate. She pulled out her phone, made a quick call, and hung up after a few seconds. "Got it. The couple works at Juntaimall nearby—just a ten-minute drive. Sister Cao said to call her when you arrive. They’ll be waiting at the back delivery entrance. But to avoid disrupting their work, it’s best not to bring too many people. Here’s Sister Cao’s number."
After jotting down the number, the group hastily said their goodbyes and jumped back into the car. As soon as the mall came into view, Lu Tingfeng called the number. After a brief exchange, he hung up and said, "They’ve already met the couple and will bring them to the back delivery entrance to wait for us. Guan Xia and Wang Yu, you two should go—you’re young women, less conspicuous."
Guan Xia and Wang Yu, seated beside her, acknowledged the plan.
Before the car even stopped, Guan Xia spotted four figures standing near a glass door—two officers and a couple in their forties. Though they stood in a secluded corner, their uniforms still drew curious and nosy glances from passersby.
At first glance, Guan Xia felt both relief and tension—because her intuition remained untriggered.
This meant the couple were indeed ordinary people, not the traffickers they’d suspected. The child’s disappearance wasn’t a simple abduction case but was instead linked to Kangjian Health Examination Center—the criminal organization.
With Wang Yu already out of the car and the door open, Guan Xia couldn’t voice her thoughts directly. Instead, she tugged at Ji An’s sleeve before getting out, giving her a subtle shake of the head—a signal Ji An would undoubtedly understand—then quickly exited the vehicle.
It seemed that two police officers had already come by earlier, and now two more arrived. Although others might not know the reason, the couple, who were aware of their identities, grew visibly nervous. The middle-aged woman swallowed hard and whispered, "We... we really haven’t broken any laws. We’re law-abiding citizens—we’ve never done anything wrong in our lives."
The middle-aged man, equally tense, quickly added, "That’s right, officers. You can investigate us all you want. We just talk a lot and love children. Whenever we see kids, we can’t help but chat with them—that’s all. We mean no harm. It’s just... our own child passed away from illness five or six years ago, and we haven’t been able to have another since. So when we see well-behaved, beautiful children, we can’t help but feel envious. That’s why we strike up conversations. I swear, officers, we only talk to them—nothing more."
Before Guan Xia and Wang Yu could even speak, the couple had already spilled every detail of what happened that day.
That day, they had also gone for a medical checkup. After finishing, they were waiting outside to hail a taxi, but the streets were crowded, and no cabs were available. That’s when they noticed the missing child—adorable, held obediently in his father’s arms, his big round eyes curiously scanning the surroundings. The child’s sweet face was impossible not to adore. Since it was still early and they couldn’t get a ride, they decided to approach and chat with the little boy.
The child, unafraid of strangers, responded with a bright smile. But the father, as if guarding against thieves, shot them a sharp glare before hurrying away with the boy in his arms.
At the time, the couple felt awkward but brushed it off. Who could’ve imagined that two days later, the police would come knocking?
As they spoke, the couple even muttered to Guan Xia and Wang Yu, "Thank goodness the officers called ahead instead of showing up at our workplace directly. Otherwise, we’d never hear the end of the gossip from our coworkers."
