After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 50

Missing

The moment she saw the cousin from her past life who had never appeared in Xie Yunya’s words before, Bai Xiying already realized something was wrong.

Adding to that the speculations she had about certain matters from her past life’s interactions with Xie Yunya, Bai Xiying asked someone to investigate the more unusual entertainment venues in A City.

One could imagine, if they had the capability to open such establishments, and were even involved in some gray areas, how could the powers behind them be simple?

As expected, those people didn’t find out anything conclusive.

The next day at work, Lin Xingzhu noticed that Bai Xiying kept her lips pressed together without saying a word, and her usually fair and beautiful features were tinged with a bit of gloom, as if she was deep in thought.

Lin Xingzhu tapped the steering wheel and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Bai Xiying smiled, but it didn’t dispel the worry on her brow. “My intuition really came true. It seems something really has happened to Senior Sister Xie.”

Lin Xingzhu was startled. They were chatting just fine yesterday, yet this morning she was saying something had happened to her.

Bai Xiying briefly explained the situation to her.

It turned out that when Bai Xiying woke up this morning, the information about the time of Xie Yunya’s disappearance that she had requested had already been sent over.

The other party said that Xie Yunya had disappeared the night before last, which was Sunday night, the same night she and Lin Xingzhu had argued and then made up.

It was said that around eleven o’clock on Sunday night, Xie Yunya went out alone to a nearby pharmacy in the residential complex to buy some fever-reducing medicine that her aunt had run out of at home, but she never returned.

A look of astonishment flashed through Lin Xingzhu’s eyes. She and Bai Xiying exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised.

Actually, when Xie Yunya and her cousin’s friends said their goodbyes and went home that night, it was already very late. Normally, at that time, since they were already home, Xie Yunya shouldn’t have gone out again, especially when her leg hadn’t fully healed.

But who knew that an accident would be an accident, always visiting suddenly without any warning.

And it just so happened that Xie Yunya went out to buy medicine that night.

“Why didn’t they let her cousin, a perfectly healthy and able-bodied man, go out?” Lin Xingzhu’s brows furrowed slightly, somewhat puzzled.

Bai Xiying was not surprised. “Sometimes, Senior Sister is just that considerate of others.”

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

Why did that sound as if she knew her so well?

She couldn’t help but cast a faint glance at Bai Xiying.

Bai Xiying seemed to have just said it casually. Although there was a faint sadness in her eyes, there was no excessive intimacy or distress.

Suppressing the untimely jealousy in her heart, Lin Xingzhu composed herself and returned to the matter at hand.

“So what now? What do you plan to do? Help her family investigate?”

Bai Xiying sighed slightly. “Since I know about it, I can’t just stand by and watch. Regardless of whether I can ultimately help with this matter, at the very least, I can’t remain indifferent. No matter how big or small my contribution is, I just want to have a clear conscience.”

As she spoke these high-sounding words, her pair of expressive eyes were fixed tightly on Lin Xingzhu.

To be honest, Bai Xiying couldn’t help but applaud herself inwardly for this speech. It was compassionate and moral enough; no matter how one looked at it, they would think she was a person of the finest character. It sounded like it should fit the type of person Lin Xingzhu, with her heart full of gentle principles, would admire.

Although she truly intended to do so, the reasons were not at all what she said.

But sometimes, people do need to package themselves appropriately. This wasn’t called concealment; after all, one should judge by actions, not intentions, for if one were to judge by intentions, no one would be perfect. Bai Xiying felt that saying this was just to present a better side of herself to the person she liked.

Hearing this, Lin Xingzhu’s expression was a bit complicated.

After a moment, she said softly, “You’re right.”

It was just very strange; Lin Xingzhu felt that this version of Bai Xiying really didn’t seem like her.

But she wasn’t repulsed by it.

It was just that Lin Xingzhu felt a slight sense of regret. Since she became clear about her feelings for Bai Xiying, she had planned to ask her out for shopping and a date. After all, they had never had such an activity since they met.

Lin Xingzhu hoped to take things slowly and pursue a path of subtle influence, allowing Bai Xiying to completely let down her guard before anything else.

That hidden door in Bai Xiying’s apartment was like a dark reef, which had, at some unknown time, taken root in Lin Xingzhu’s heart, quietly becoming an obstacle to her brave confession.

However, from their recent interactions, Lin Xingzhu felt that Bai Xiying’s sense of boundaries with her was gradually disappearing.

They say you can’t hide it when you like someone. When a person who has feelings for you stands in front of you, the atmosphere pulsating in the air is special and exciting; it’s hard for the person being liked not to notice.

Unless this person is truly blind in both eye and heart, a straight-as-an-arrow type destined to be alone.

Lin Xingzhu prided herself that although she had no relationship experience, her emotional intelligence and perception were still online. She had a faint inkling but wasn’t entirely sure.

It felt like an arrow on the bowstring, just missing the right opportunity.

Coming back to her senses, they didn’t dwell too much on the matter of Xie Yunya. Lin Xingzhu also stated that she would lend a hand when appropriate, hoping to find Xie Yunya soon.

After all, they were both alumni and had had brief contact before. Xie Yunya wasn’t the kind of person with a bad character who was disliked. Any normal person encountering such a situation would be willing to help if they had the ability.

Bai Xiying raised her brows, the corners of her lips hooking up, displaying an endless, free-spirited charm. “That’s why I said, Lin Xingzhu, you are truly too good.”

Her eyes gradually softened, and a few strands of pride couldn’t help but rise in her heart.

Look how gentle the person she likes is.

Thinking of this, Bai Xiying couldn’t help but start to feel warm. Just the thought that in the future, such a Lin Xingzhu would belong completely to her, made her heart uncontrollably tingle.

There was also the possessiveness that gradually seeped out from the cracks of her withered heart’s soil, strand by strand, silently spreading over the heart that had been crushed by a heavy stone.

I really want to make Lin Xingzhu my own as soon as possible.

Bai Xiying licked her lips, recalling that tipsy late night two days ago. A dark fire flashed in her eyes, dry and fierce, needing only a single spark to instantly start a prairie fire.

Lin Xingzhu pushed away her face, which was getting closer and closer, restraining her hand so as not to do anything extra to that tofu-like tender cheek. She gave a light cough, cleared her throat, and said, “Sit properly, I’m driving.”

When they reached the vicinity of the company, the car pulled over to the side of the road. Lin Xingzhu lifted her chin, signaling for Bai Xiying to go buy breakfast herself.

Ever since this restaurant opened, Bai Xiying almost never prepared breakfast at home in the mornings anymore. Anyway, the food in this breakfast shop was very much to her taste, and crucially, it was on the way and didn’t waste time, making it the absolute best choice for breakfast during the commute.

She had a sweet tooth. Wang Xiaoxiao, who had been here twice before, had complained that this shop was good in every way, except she didn’t know if everyone from the owner and chef down to the waiters were all obsessed with sugar. The moment you entered the shop, you could smell a sweet scent, as if the entire room had been steeped in a sugar jar for a long time to be able to emit this kind of air that even carried a sweet taste.

But Bai Xiying found the smell extremely comfortable, she couldn’t like it more.

Sometimes she even thought that if she were to open a restaurant herself, it ought to be sweet just like this.

Lin Xingzhu parked the car on the side of the road, rolled down the window, and watched Bai Xiying go inside before slowly moving her gaze upwards, looking at the “Foru” outlined in floral script on the shop’s sign, a faint satisfaction in her eyes.

The shop had been open for less than a month, and Lin Xingzhu hadn’t yet inquired about the specific sales figures. But for Lin Xingzhu, regardless of profit or loss, as long as Bai Xiying was still working here, she would support it to keep it open.

Adding two lifetimes together, Lin Xingzhu had never done something so heedless of gains and losses.

Now, thinking about it carefully, there was even a hint of sweetness to it.

Unfortunately, the sweet and relaxed feeling didn’t last long. That evening, when Lin Xingzhu returned to her apartment, she waited and waited, until the deadline she had set for Jiang Yeye’s return had passed, and still no one had come home. She couldn’t help but frown with worry.

She had already made two phone calls earlier, but no one answered.

At ten past ten, Lin Xingzhu dialed Jiang Yeye’s mobile phone again, but it still went unanswered. When she tried calling again, it showed that the phone was already turned off.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, an unresolvable worry hidden in her eyes. She opened the phone number of Jiang Yeye’s friend that she had jotted down that morning and dialed it, only to find that it was also turned off.

Lin Xingzhu had a very bad feeling, especially with the recent case of Xie Yunya’s disappearance as a precedent.

Pacing back and forth, she waited until after eleven o’clock and still no one answered, nor had anyone returned home. Lin Xingzhu immediately dialed a number to have someone investigate.

“Check the return route of the event she attended today. Get more people to ask around about the last time and place Jiang Yeye was seen today.” Lin Xingzhu’s voice was sharp as she gave one command after another. “And her friend who was traveling with her, investigate that side as well. You all search during this period. If there’s still no news, I will request police assistance after twenty-four hours.”

After hanging up, Lin Xingzhu’s expression was heavy. After a long period of thought, she decided to wait for news first. If it really came to it, she would call Father Lin tomorrow morning to explain the situation.

Lin Xingzhu didn’t sleep at all that night, constantly making phone calls to ask questions and constantly receiving feedback.

As the sky turned fish-belly white, she refilled her glass of water to wake herself up. Her eyes were bloodshot. She bent down to pick up her phone, sent a message to the company, and then told Bai Xiying about it before putting the phone down to close her eyes and rest.

She didn’t know how much time had passed. The curtains that had been open all night let in the gentle morning light when the apartment door was suddenly knocked on lightly.

Lin Xingzhu got up to open the door, and as expected, it was a worried Bai Xiying.

Seeing Lin Xingzhu’s obviously exhausted and desolate appearance from having stayed up all night, Bai Xiying’s heart immediately filled with a fine, tingling ache, and a fierce glint flashed past her eyes.

“What happened?”

Lin Xingzhu didn’t hide it from her. Her brows were furrowed with creases as she slowly let out a breath, “Jiang Yeye and her friend have been missing for a night.”

“…How could this be?”

Thinking of the vibrant and energetic girl she had met just two days ago, Bai Xiying frowned imperceptibly.

Lin Xingzhu sat on the sofa, her head lowered as she suppressed her emotions, “They were probably taken away by someone, but I don’t know if it’s a kidnapping or something else.”

If it was a kidnapping, they might receive news before long. If not, then the unknown situation would obviously only be worse.

Bai Xiying was silent for a long moment. She pried open Lin Xingzhu’s tightly clenched fist along the knuckles. Seeing the stagnant blood in the hand resume normal circulation, she then said, “…Could her disappearance be the same as Senior Sister Xie’s?”

Lin Xingzhu didn’t know either.

After all, there were too many channels and reasons for a young woman to disappear in the middle of the night.

She didn’t have an omniscient perspective, so she didn’t dare to make a definitive judgment.

---

---