"Bing Ge sent this?"
Zhang Yuanqing frowned as he finished reading the letter.
What does he mean by "change your life"? And what's this about being "unable to control it"?
Honestly, he couldn't even explain himself properly. He turned his gaze back to the black card, examining it repeatedly. It was just an ordinary card; if anything stood out, it was the pleasant texture and seemingly rare material.
Could this be a VIP card from some top-tier club? After all, only a man like me could handle a 36D girl.
Lei Yibing, nicknamed A-Bing, had been Zhang Yuanqing's best friend since childhood. Two years older, A-Bing had lived in the same alleyway as Zhang Yuanqing's family before his grandparents moved to a new house.
With dual A-rank strength and speed, and a C-rank intelligence, A-Bing had always looked out for Zhang Yuanqing. He'd charge into fights first, stay behind to cover their retreat, and defend Zhang Yuanqing whenever anyone mocked him for being fatherless.
That's why Zhang Yuanqing always called him "Bing Ge."
A-Bing's high school grades weren't ideal, so he went to university in neighboring Jiangnan Province. After that, their contact dwindled due to the distance.
As Zhang Yuanqing slipped the black card into his jacket pocket, he pulled out his phone and sent a teasing message to Bing Ge:
"Which club's VIP card is it? At least give me the address or contact information."
Half an hour passed without a reply.
Zhang Yuanqing decided to call Bing Ge directly.
After two rings, the call connected, and a deep male voice came through the speaker:
"Hello! This is Lei Yibing's father."
"Uncle Lei?" Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback, then exclaimed with delight, "Is Bing Ge back in Songhai this week? Could you put him on the phone? I need to talk to him."
A moment of silence hung in the air before Uncle Lei's voice, heavy with grief, replied:
"Yuanzi, I'm in Jiangnan Province. A-Bing... he's gone missing."
Bing Ge is missing?! Zhang Yuanqing froze, his mind reeling. After a few seconds, he asked, his voice a mix of confusion and urgency:
"What happened?"
How could Bing Ge go missing? He just sent me something.
"He disappeared three days ago. Your Aunt Zhou and I received a notice from the university yesterday and rushed here immediately," Uncle Lei said, his voice heavy with despair.
"Have you reported it to the police? What did the Public Security Bureau say?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, his voice hardening.
Uncle Lei paused for a long time, then said hesitantly, "It's... hard to explain. A-Bing's disappearance is... strange."
"Strange? What do you mean?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, startled.
Uncle Lei explained, "A-Bing disappeared from his dorm room the night before last. The police reviewed the hallway surveillance footage and found that he hadn't left the room all night. Yet the next morning, he was gone.
"His roommates said they saw him before they went to sleep, but when they woke up, he was gone. They initially thought he'd just stepped out."
"How is that even possible?" Zhang Yuanqing blurted out.
Could someone just vanish into thin air? Even a three-year-old wouldn't believe such a story.
Suppressing his anxiety, Zhang Yuanqing lowered his voice and asked, "Lei Uncle, did Bing Ge offend anyone at school?"
His first thought was that Bing Ge had angered someone with local influence. This could explain why the surveillance footage showed nothing amiss, as it often indicated the school was covering up something.
In this age of information overload, anyone who had been online had likely heard similar stories.
"The school authorities promised to cooperate fully with the police, but the police just told us to go home and wait for updates, saying they'd investigate. Your aunt and I haven't slept a wink all night," Uncle Lei said, his voice tinged with frustration and worry.
Just as I expected. Damn it! Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and reassured him:
"Don't panic, Uncle Lei. You know my grandfather and cousin both work at the Public Security Bureau. I'll ask them about how to handle this kind of situation and what to watch out for. If you have any questions or need advice, don't hesitate to call me.
"Also, you absolutely need to ask Bing Ge's classmates. If he offended someone, they'll definitely know."
Uncle Lei felt slightly relieved. "Understood, Yuanzi. Don't worry too much yourself. I'll let you know the moment I hear anything."
After hanging up, Zhang Yuanqing felt restless, pacing his room anxiously. He was deeply worried about Bing Ge's safety.
People don't just vanish without a reason. If the surveillance cameras didn't capture anything, someone must have tampered with them. The question was, who could Bing Ge have offended?
But what kind of enemies could a third-year college student possibly make?
Wait... he disappeared the day before yesterday.
The day before yesterday?!
Zhang Yuanqing froze in shock. A package from Jiangnan Province to Songhai City takes two to three days to arrive. If Bing Ge disappeared the day before yesterday, that means he vanished the very night he sent me the package!
Was this a coincidence? Or was there some connection?
As this thought crossed his mind, he instinctively reached for the black card in his pocket, but his hand froze mid-motion.
The black card was gone.
Had it fallen to the floor? Zhang Yuanqing immediately looked down, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the room's floor.
Nothing.
He crawled under the bed, peering into the dusty space beneath. Coins, pens, buttons, and other miscellaneous items lay scattered there, but the black card was nowhere to be seen.
The card had vanished, yet he clearly remembered placing it in his pocket.
How could it have disappeared into thin air?
Connecting Bing Ge's mysterious disappearance, the strangely worded letter, and the bizarre vanishing act of the black card, Zhang Yuanqing felt a growing sense of dread and confusion.
Could the black card be related to Bing Ge's disappearance? Or is it a crucial clue?
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuanqing decided to use his "old ailment" to try and recover his memories.
First, he poured cool water into a glass. Then, he retrieved a medicine bottle from the bedside table, unscrewed the cap, and took off his shoes before lying down on the bed.
With everything prepared, he closed his eyes, remained perfectly still, and began to visualize his father's face in his mind.
The trigger for his old ailment was to calm his mind and visualize a scene, preferably one he had witnessed but couldn't quite recall clearly.
This would stimulate his brain activity, gradually warming it up until his mental power reached a boiling point.
After so many years, his father's face had become blurred in his memory, making it the perfect subject for this exercise.
As time ticked by, his father's face gradually sharpened from a hazy blur to crystal-clear detail. Zhang Yuanqing's heart pounded violently, like an engine pushed beyond its limits.
In that moment, time seemed to rewind. The events of the past hour flashed before him like frames of a film.
He saw himself opening the package, reading the letter, and slipping the black card into his jacket pocket. Next, he texted Bing Ge.
From there, for the next half-hour, he sat motionless at his desk, scrolling through short videos for about ten minutes and exchanging a few lewd images with the perverts in his gaming group.
He saved a few high-quality pictures.
Then he read a novel for a few minutes, but his mind kept drifting back to the card, so he called Bing Ge.
After the call, the critical moment arrived. He paced anxiously around the room, knowing this was the most likely time for the card to fall out.
In the memory fragment, he saw himself pacing the room with a furrowed brow, then reaching for the black card only to find it gone.
Zhang Yuanqing's eyes snapped open, his face contorted with terror.
Gone?!
The black card had vanished into thin air.
What the hell did Bing Ge send me? A chill ran down his spine.
Before he could dwell on it, a cacophony of noise erupted in his ears, like countless voices overlapping. The fragmented memories in his mind surged forth like an erupting volcano, flooding his consciousness.
Warm liquid trickled from Zhang Yuanqing's nose, and his head felt as if steel nails were being hammered into it.
His face twisted in agony, he crawled toward the headboard, trembling as he poured five small blue pills into his palm and shoved them into his mouth. He then grabbed his water glass, tilted his head back, and swallowed the pills with a gulp of water.
Moments later, Zhang Yuanqing sat panting on the edge of the bed, his face pale.
By now, he was almost certain that Bing Ge's disappearance was connected to the black card.
"Bing Ge vanished after sending me the black card, and that card was clearly no ordinary object, given its bizarre properties."
This inevitably led him to suspect that Bing Ge might have faced some threat, forcing him to transfer the card out of desperation.
"But why didn't he hand it over to the local Public Security Bureau? Why send it to me instead?"
Could a college student like me, who's never killed a chicken or slept with anyone, really be more trustworthy than the police?
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly remembered the detail that "the surveillance cameras and dormitory staff noticed nothing unusual."
To pull off something like that, one would need considerable influence.
Did Bing Ge not hand the black card over to the local Public Security Bureau because they couldn't be trusted?
Or could it be that the person or group responsible for his disappearance had influence extending to the local Public Security Bureau?
He sent the black card to me because he knew my grandfather was a retired police chief and my cousin was a security captain with deep connections in Songhai City? People from Jiangnan Province couldn't reach me here?
He needed to tell his cousin about this.
Ding-dong~
The doorbell rang, its chime echoing from the entryway.
Grandmother's footsteps followed immediately as she crossed the living room to the entryway and turned the doorknob.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Hello, we're investigators from the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau. Is Zhang Yuanqing home?" a voice replied from outside.