Chapter 9: Fright

Just as Su Tianmu was about to set out for the small mountain village, he received a call reporting a missing child and immediately turned his car around, heading straight for the scene.

“Who is this Ding Beibei? Is she the suspect’s child? How could she suddenly go missing?” Xia Wuyou, sitting in the passenger seat, asked him with a puzzled look.

He had originally intended to ask her to help search for clues in the mountain village, but now there was no time to take her back, so she could only go with him.

On the way, Su Tianmu briefly explained Ding Chaoyue’s situation to Xia Wuyou. After hearing it, she felt a complex tangle of emotions—she couldn’t decide whether to feel pity or hatred for the killer.

By the time they arrived, the teachers had already searched the surrounding area several times, but there was still no sign of the child.

Ding Chaoyue, at this moment, was nearly at the brink of collapse. Perhaps because of his own traumatic childhood, he was exceptionally sensitive to such matters. His reaction was so intense, it was almost excessive.

“Beibei’s father, don’t worry! We’ll find her. Maybe they just wandered off while playing and went a bit too far. Let’s all broaden the search area and look again,” a female teacher tried to comfort him.

“What do you know? Do you realize how dangerous it is for a girl her age to go missing?” Ding Chaoyue shouted, almost hysterical.

His sudden outburst startled the teacher, leaving her standing there, frozen and helpless.

When Su Tianmu and the others came running over, the female teacher looked like she’d seen her savior. She called out joyfully, “The police are here!”

“What’s going on?” Su Tianmu asked without delay, focusing on the missing child.

“My daughter is missing! Please, help me find my daughter…” Ding Chaoyue, shedding his calm and steady demeanor from before, was drenched in sweat as he clutched Su Tianmu’s arm, begging.

“Calm down. Tell us slowly—what exactly happened?”

Seeing that the parent was too distraught to speak clearly, the teacher quickly recounted the details of the school activity for Su Tianmu.

“So you’re saying Ding Beibei disappeared together with another boy from the class?” Su Tianmu confirmed.

“Yes. They’re the only two missing.”

Nearby, the other boy’s parent was also anxiously waiting.

Xia Wuyou, who had hurried to catch up, had seen the memories of the three victims before. The moment she laid eyes on Ding Chaoyue, a powerful wave of regret and fear swept over her.

She stared at him, speechless, rooted to the spot. Ding Chaoyue, unaware of her reaction, continued to call out in panic, not noticing her at all.

Xia Wuyou tried to compose herself, attempting to shake off the strange sensation she felt toward Ding Chaoyue. But instead of fading, the feeling grew stronger, as if a powerful will was trying to control her.

“Captain Su, let me take you to look for them!” Xia Wuyou blurted out, not even sure what was happening to her. It was as if her body was no longer her own—she grabbed Su Tianmu’s hand and pulled him into the forest before he could react.

No one knew how far they ran, but finally, hidden within the brush near the foot of the mountain—far from where the children’s field trip had taken place—they found a small cave. The entrance was tiny, only large enough for a child to crawl through. An adult like Su Tianmu wouldn’t fit.

“Are you sure they’re in there?” Su Tianmu looked at Xia Wuyou, uncertain.

“I’m sure. This is a place the boy discovered himself before—he calls it his refuge.”

Su Tianmu’s doubts only deepened, but now was not the time for questions. Rescuing the children came first.

“So how do we get them out?”

“Wait a moment,” Xia Wuyou replied, releasing Su Tianmu’s hand and crouching at the cave entrance. She called the boy’s name softly.

Su Tianmu stared at her in astonishment, but then, miraculously, after a few moments, two children slowly crawled out of the cave, one after the other.

The others, who had followed their trail, rushed to the cave entrance as well. When Ding Chaoyue saw his daughter, he ran over and swept her into a tight embrace.

“You scared me to death! Where did you go?”

The two children were covered in dirt, looking quite the mess, but aside from that, they appeared unharmed. Everyone finally let out a sigh of relief.

It turned out that the boy had played a prank to scare Ding Beibei and had lured her there. But fearing she’d run out and tell the teachers, he’d hidden inside, too afraid to come out.

A false alarm—everyone was safe, and that was all that mattered.

As Ding Chaoyue was still recovering from his fright, Xia Wuyou approached him again.

“Xiao Chao, I’m sorry. All these years, I’ve always wanted to say that to you, but I never knew how…”

Ding Chaoyue was stunned. He stared at her in disbelief, because hardly anyone called him by that childhood nickname, except for a few classmates from school…

After a long moment, he collapsed to the ground, overcome by sobs—as if a thousand-pound weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders, leaving him utterly spent.

It seemed Teacher Li Ming’s spirit had just visited—he’d spoken the words he most wanted to say in life, and helped Xia Wuyou find the missing children.

Watching Ding Chaoyue in his breakdown, Su Tianmu knew there was no need to go to the mountain village after all.

Once the children were safe, Su Tianmu instructed his colleagues to take Ding Chaoyue back to the police station.

On the way to take Xia Wuyou home, Su Tianmu looked at her with genuine gratitude.

“Thank you. I really don’t know how to thank you enough for today.”

He meant it—he truly admired her.

“Of course! Who am I, after all? The legendary detective who walks between the realms of the living and the dead—Sherlock Holmes Wuyou!”

She beamed with pride, wagging her proverbial tail at the praise—especially since it came from such a handsome man.

Su Tianmu couldn’t help but burst into laughter as well.

He rolled down the window, letting the cool autumn breeze sweep through the car. The chill was refreshing, clearing their minds.

“Achoo!” Xia Wuyou sneezed from the cold.

Startled, Su Tianmu quickly rolled the window back up.