Chapter 49

In the dead of night, when the street of Iron Slag was silent, occasionally a drunkard would stagger by. In the pitch-black Mei Zi Ten-Yuan Leisure Shop, Xiao Yan'er finally crawled out from under the counter and murmured, "Mom, I'm scared."

No one answered. The wind blew through the courtyard, making the windows rattle.

Xiao Yan'er pulled out a chamber pot from under the bed, sat on it to urinate, and then found a pack of Little Panda crispy noodles, which she ate slowly. Afterward, she climbed into bed and went to sleep.

Hours passed, and the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn. The sun rose in the east, and the street of Iron Slag came alive with the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking. A new day had begun.

Xiao Yan'er climbed down from the bed and started playing with her building blocks.

Gradually, the street became bustling with traffic and the noise of people, but no one noticed that Mei Zi Ten-Yuan Leisure Shop remained closed all morning.

Sister Mei went berserk at the police station, banging her head against the wall, insisting that her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter was still at home and would starve without care!

Her frantic behavior finally caught the attention of the police officers, and one of them promised to check on her when he had the chance.

Since Mei Zi had been arrested for prostitution before, this time they planned to send her to a labor camp, while the others would be detained for ten to fifteen days.

The police station was busy, and every officer was working at full capacity. The officer quickly forgot Sister Mei's words and moved on to other cases.

...

Song Shuang was very excited, finally finding a meaningful task to undertake. She approached the student council president, Yu Nan, and shared her idea. Yu Nan expressed full support from the student council, but only in terms of manpower. As for funding, they would need to raise it themselves.

This didn't faze Song Shuang. She dragged Pengpeng to the Public Security Bureau, where she asked her father for sponsorship. Song Jianfeng smiled bitterly and had an office colleague write a letter of introduction with the bureau's official seal, which would grant them access to all levels of public security agencies in the province.

"As for funding, you'll have to figure that out yourselves. Now, Dad has to work." Song Jianfeng smiled and dismissed them.

The two girls left the bureau, and Song Shuang's phone rang. It was Ling Zijie calling.

"Ling Zijie, what's up?"

"Oh, I need your help. I'm planning to conduct a social survey, but I'm not familiar with Jinjiang..."

"No problem, are you still at Shuidu Grand Hotel? We'll come find you."

"I'm at a youth hostel now; I can't afford a five-star hotel."

"Alright, see you later." Song Shuang hung up and called to her friend, "Pengpeng, let's go."

Seeing Song Shuang's spirited demeanor, Pengpeng said with relief, "Shuangshuang, you've finally come out of the shadows."

"What shadows? There are no shadows." Song Shuang suddenly remembered she still owed Liu Handong a motorcycle, but that could wait.

The two girls arrived at the youth hostel in the city center and found Ling Zijie. The best debater had traded his suit for jeans and a soft shell, looking energetic and vibrant.

"I plan to write a report on the ecology of urban sex workers for my thesis. My focus will be on this person." Ling Zijie showed Song Shuang his phone, which displayed a girl with a ponytail, a backpack, and a white shirt, slender and delicate, looking like a high school student next door.

"This girl, whom I saw at Shuidu Grand Hotel, intrigues me. Can you help me find her?" Ling Zijie asked.

Song Shuang and Pengpeng looked at the girl on the screen and exclaimed, "Wow, she looks so innocent, not at all like someone who does that kind of work."

Ling Zijie nodded. "That's why I chose her as my first subject."

Song Shuang said, "But finding one person in a sea of people is really hard."

Ling Zijie smiled. "Not hard at all. We just need to review the surveillance footage from Shuidu Grand Hotel. We can find the girl, the johns, the pimps, and the madams. When the report is done, you can co-author it."

Song Shuang and Pengpeng exchanged glances and said excitedly, "Alright, let's do it together!"

The three of them set off immediately. Pengpeng drove the Mini Cooper to Shuidu Grand Hotel and went straight to the lobby manager to request the surveillance footage from a specific time four days ago.

The manager politely refused, citing guest privacy. Ling Zijie quickly said he had lost his wallet in the lobby and wanted to see if anyone had picked it up. The manager consulted his superiors and agreed to let them review the footage.

The three of them went to the surveillance room, and the staff retrieved the footage. Ling Zijie pointed to the screen, and Song Shuang and Pengpeng saw the girl standing in the lobby, the madam in a leopard-print skirt on the sofa, and the college students who had participated in the debate.

A few minutes later, a thug entered, took the madam and the girl to the elevator. Ling Zijie pointed to the screen. "They might have taken it. Check the elevator footage."

He took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and offered them to the security guard.

The guard retrieved the elevator footage. The man was smoking and pressed the button for the sixteenth floor.

"Switch back to the lobby," Ling Zijie said.

The camera switched back to the lobby. A few minutes later, a fat man in a luxury car arrived, took the elevator to the sixteenth floor.

There were cameras in the hallway but not in the rooms. The fat man entered room 1618, and a few minutes later, the madam rushed out and pounded on the door. The girl then came out and went downstairs with the madam. A while later, the fat man stormed out, furious.

"Switch back to the lobby," Ling Zijie said.

Suddenly, the door to the surveillance room opened, and the lobby manager and the head of security entered, looking unfriendly.

"Who are you? Show us your IDs," the head of security demanded.

"I lost something," Ling Zijie said.

"Lost something and only remembered to look for it four days later? Do you think I'm stupid? What are you investigating? You won't leave until you tell me!" The head of security clapped his hands, and four burly security guards entered.

Shuidu Grand Hotel had a powerful background, owned by a local entrepreneur who was well-connected in both the black and white markets. The hotel was a favorite for government and corporate events, and guest privacy was a top priority. The students' excuse of a lost wallet was clearly a ruse.

"What do you want to do?" Pengpeng asked, frustrated.

"Seek help from the local police station," Song Shuang said.

The three of them went to the police station in the town and explained their purpose, requesting help to access the surveillance footage from Shuidu Grand Hotel. They showed the letter of introduction from the provincial Public Security Bureau.

The police station received them warmly and invited them to wait in a meeting room. Half an hour later, the chief regretfully informed them that the hotel's surveillance footage had been destroyed due to poor management.

Pengpeng jumped up. "That's impossible, we just saw it."

"I'm not sure what happened," the chief shrugged and spread his hands.

Inside Shuidu Grand Hotel, the head of security and the general manager were watching the footage. They were seasoned professionals and immediately understood the situation.

"These young people are after the head of the Transportation Bureau, Mr. Jiao. They probably want to catch him in the act." The general manager smiled and dialed a number. "Mr. Jiao, this is Shuidu Grand Hotel's Shang Guimin. I have something to report. Three young people came to the hotel today to investigate your activities four days ago. Be careful, Mr. Jiao. It's probably someone trying to get you... Not the disciplinary committee, no, they're in their early twenties. I'll handle it, but you'll need to deal with them yourself."

In an office of the suburban road expansion project, Jiao Shihong was furious. He had billions of yuan under his control and many enemies. He didn't know who was trying to get him, but he needed to show them who was in charge. It was easy to mobilize people, but he called his trusted subordinate, Cao Junming, from the Road and Bridge Development Company.

"Xiao Cao, there's an issue at Shuidu. Someone is investigating me. Take a few people and handle it."

After making the arrangements, Director Jiao picked up his briefcase and went to a meeting on party advancement.

...

Song Shuang and her friends left the police station empty-handed. They got into the Mini Cooper and headed back to the city. A black Land Cruiser started up and followed them.

"That's outrageous, destroying evidence to cover for that corrupt john," Song Shuang said angrily.

"Let Dad find out who it is and put them under double regulation," Pengpeng said, also angry.

"My dad isn't in the disciplinary committee; he can't do that," Song Shuang explained.

Ling Zijie stared at the rearview mirror for a while and suddenly said, "I think someone is following us."

"Really?" Pengpeng looked in the rearview mirror. Suddenly, a force from behind hit the car, causing a rear-end collision.

Pengpeng slammed on the brakes. Just as she was about to unbuckle her seatbelt and get out to check, Ling Zijie said nervously, "Don't get out, drive!"

Song Shuang looked back and saw a black SUV. Two men got out, with lumps on their heads, gold chains, and dark glasses—clearly not good people. Various Hollywood movie scenarios of murder and pursuit flashed through her mind. She screamed, "Run!"

Pengpeng reacted quickly, hitting the gas, and the Mini Cooper shot forward like an arrow. The men cursed and hurriedly got into their car to chase them.

The Mini Cooper, red and white, was pursued by the formidable black Land Cruiser. The two cars raced on the road outside the town, raising clouds of dust. Pengpeng honked the horn, and Song Shuang, fumbling with her phone, called her father, but no one answered after several rings.

"Answer the phone!" Song Shuang was frantic.

In the meeting room of the provincial Public Security Bureau, Song Jianfeng was chairing a meeting. His phone, left in his office, vibrated alone, showing a call from his daughter.

The police station failed to collect money from Liu Handong. These days, even the police were wary of thugs, especially one known for killing several assassins. Provoking him would be counterproductive. Of course, Liu Handong couldn't help Mei Xi and the others, so he returned in frustration, driving recklessly to vent his anger.

Liu Handong had just dropped a passenger off in the town and was urinating by the roadside when he saw two cars racing past, nearly blinding him with the dust.

The Mini Cooper being chased looked familiar, possibly belonging to the two girls who had destroyed his tricycle. The men in the pursuing car with gold chains were clearly not good people.

Liu Handong spat, got into his Fukan, fastened his seatbelt, and started the engine. The old four-cylinder engine roared fiercely. He was angry and needed to hit someone!