The Case of the Child Missing from the Daycare for 45 Days

"Mom, do I look good?"

Liu Fei'er spun around in front of her parents. The Dragon Group uniform looked sharp and heroic on her, and both her mother and father nodded in approval, grinning from ear to ear.

Liu Lang felt a twinge of jealousy. The Special Investigation Bureau's uniform lacked any distinctive flair, easily mistaken for a security guard's attire—no wonder he had never seen Orchid or Dongfeng wear theirs.

The Dragon Group had even assigned Liu Fei'er a jeep, despite knowing full well she couldn't drive. They had also rented a small villa for her in Wangfu Garden.

Tang Feng said with utmost embarrassment, "Resources are limited; I hope you won't mind. As for the car, it's standard issue for the Dragon Group—it's yours, even if you don't drive it."

Whether intentional or not, Tang Feng added with a wicked sense of humor to Liu Lang, "Choice matters far more than effort."

Liu Lang felt an itch of pure frustration.

At this critical juncture, Liu's parents, who had come along to help move, nodded repeatedly. "Xiao Lang, you need to work hard and get transferred to Fei'er's unit too. Look at how incredible these benefits are!"

Why couldn't *he* ever encounter such sugar-coated bullets?

Just kidding—a true man cares nothing for food, clothing, shelter, or transportation.

"Wow, Fei'er, there's even a small garden here!" Liu's mother exclaimed, her lifelong dream having been to own a private garden.

"Mom and Dad, you should move in and live with me. I'd be terrified living in a place this big all by myself," Liu Fei'er said, proving what a good girl she truly was.

Yet her parents remained much more reserved, claiming their business still needed attention...

"Uncle, Auntie, our unit's cafeteria requires a long-term, stable supply of fruit. Wonder if you might be able to provide it?" Team Leader Tang Feng asked sincerely.

After doing some mental math, Liu's parents immediately patted their chests and guaranteed there would be no problem at all.

Ah-Zeng and Ah-Sun had been watching the scene unfold for a while. A somewhat depressed Liu Lang asked them, "Are the Dragon Group's perks really this generous? I'm starting to feel like Team Leader Tang isn't recruiting subordinates; he's trying to steal my girlfriend."

"No idea. I don't care about such things," Ah-Zeng said, flicking her bag of potato chips and picking out the last one to eat.

Ah-Sun shook her head as well. "I don't know either. I live at home."

When Liu Lang learned that Ah-Sun frequently ran into high-ranking government officials while simply taking walks around her neighborhood, he finally uttered the words from the bottom of his heart: "Choice matters far more than effort!"

"Help look into this case. The team leader asked me to hand it to you," Ah-Zeng said, passing a file to Liu Lang.

Liu Lang didn't take it. "The Dragon Group is handing out assignments to a rising star of the Special Investigation Bureau?"

"Oh, my mistake. It's Fei'er's first case." Ah-Zeng turned toward Liu Fei'er, stepping forward in slow motion.

Liu Lang snatched the file. "Hand it over, then... A missing persons case in Tiantongyuan, or is it a head-and-face swap again?"

"We've already checked it with the equipment provided by Chief Engineer Dai. We can rule out that possibility." Ah-Zeng pointed at the missing persons list. "The missing people include men, women, the elderly, and children..."

"If the equipment didn't react, it's just an ordinary crime case. This should be Qin Chuan's department," Liu Lang interrupted, looking puzzled.

Ah-Zeng sighed and ripped open another bag of potato chips. "Because the missing people have all shown up in different TV shows, movies, and even variety programs."

"Huh?"

"We specifically checked the production lists for those TV shows and movies, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with the missing individuals. We also checked with the producers, and confirmed those people were definitely not in the footage when the final cuts were made."

Liu Lang stared at Ah-Zeng with wide eyes.

"That's right. For some unknown reason, the missing people somehow managed to get themselves into television broadcasts. But there is one obvious common thread: all the missing individuals lived in Tiantongyuan at the time of their disappearance."

On the way to Tiantongyuan, Liu Lang watched a variety show titled *See You Again, Lover 9* on his tablet.

The original show had never featured a man named Zhang Da, but now he was right there in the video. Whether online streaming resources or videos downloaded onto offline devices, this man had been added to all of them.

"Yangzi, I'm going to finish you off! Mailing, I'm going to slap you twice!" Zhang Da was seen in the video viciously beating up two obnoxious guests.

"Hahaha, I've heard of this Yangzi and Mailing. They get cursed out by tons of people online. For Zhang Da to barge in and beat them up must feel deeply cathartic for a lot of folks," Liu Lang couldn't help laughing aloud.

Ah-Zeng glanced at him through the rearview mirror. "Neither of you even knows how to drive... This isn't funny. Zhang Da beat up Yangzi in the video, and the real-life counterpart has now developed the exact same injuries."

"What?!" Liu Lang couldn't believe his ears.

Ah-Sun continued, "Not only that, Zhang Da is a wanted murderer, and right now in the video, Yangzi is running for her life from his pursuit. This is the most serious one so far. As for the others, some ended up in Teletubbies, some in romance dramas, some in cartoons, and some haven't been located yet."

"You guys actually want Fei'er to handle a case this dangerous?! She's just a fragile young maiden with no strength to truss a chicken! Your Dragon Group is utterly inhumane!" Realizing that if he hadn't intercepted it, Fei'er would have faced such danger, Liu Lang couldn't help feeling resentful.

"Fragile young maiden with no strength to truss a chicken?" Ah-Zeng let out a dry laugh.

"A weak girl?" Ah-Sun rubbed her chest, as if it still hurt.

On the very first day of reporting to the Dragon Group, to test Liu Fei'er's combat capabilities, Tang Feng had instructed Ah-Zeng and Ah-Sun to attack her together.

Liu Fei'er had deployed an endless array of tricks—physical attacks, spell-based attacks, long-range and close-quarters alike—giving the duo a profound taste of the vast disparities that exist in this world.

Tang Feng had been exceedingly satisfied.

*This case is probably the boss testing you,* Ah-Zeng thought to herself.

They stepped into the apartment where Zhang Da had lived. It was utterly chaotic and even reeked slightly.

Despite having gone over similar scenes countless times, Liu Lang carefully inspected it all over again. Qin Chuan had taught him a great deal in this regard.

Unsurprisingly, they found nothing.

"We need to find a breakthrough quickly," Ah-Sun said, staring at the video on her phone. "Zhang Da has found Yangzi's hiding place."

Time was running short, yet they had zero leads.

"Sharingan!" Liu Lang even activated his Sharingan, two tomoe spinning endlessly within his pupils.

Ah-Zeng advised him not to waste his energy, explaining that her own supernatural ability allowed her to perceive various forms of energy, and she had found nothing either.

"Zhang Da holed up in his rental apartment and rarely went out. Why?" Liu Lang wanted to find a clue from Zhang Da's behavior.

"Because he's a fugitive, of course he didn't want to go out much."

Liu Lang turned on the television and used the remote to check Zhang Da's watch history. "Looks like he was really bored. He watched so many shows."

*Clatter.* The remote control slipped from his hand and hit the floor.

When Ah-Zeng and Ah-Sun turned around, they only saw the remote on the floor—Liu Lang was completely gone.

Ah-Sun reflexively looked at the video stream, but Liu Lang was not visible in the footage yet.

With a blur in his vision, Liu Lang found himself standing inside a hotel suite.

There were several people in the room. A man with a thin mustache sat on a sofa, resting his head on his right hand with his eyes closed. Without his mouth moving at all, his voice rang out clearly.

A plump detective wearing a trench coat and a bucket hat asked anxiously, "Moguri, my boy, so who on earth is the murderer?"