The footage from a period of time later was entirely cleared, showing only static, with nothing else visible.
Yue Ran realized something was wrong and said, "Rewind and look at what happened before." The footage rewound, and Yue Ran saw Shi Xinxin leaving the mall, being intercepted, her mouth covered, and the scene cut abruptly.
Yue Ran's eyes widened, and a single thought echoed in his mind: Shi Xinxin was in trouble!
As Yue Ran walked out of the mall, he felt dazed, his mind replaying the scene he had just witnessed.
Yue Ran sat in his car and made a call to someone.
"Immediately help me check the vehicles coming and going near the mall. See if there were any suspicious vehicles around 4 PM today. I'm coming over now."
The other end seemed to acknowledge, and Yue Ran hung up, started the car, and drove off, unsure of his destination.
Yue Ran sped along, wishing he had wings to fly.
"Screech!"
Yue Ran slammed on the brakes at an alleyway, pulled open the car door, slammed it shut with a "bang," and hurried into the alley.
Yue Ran walked up to a residential house and knocked three short times, then two long times. Someone quickly opened the door.
"Young Master Yue! You're here?" the person who opened the door asked, surprised at Yue Ran's speed.
Yue Ran nodded and strode inside, asking as he walked, "What's the situation now?"
The person replied, "Young Master Yue, there was a lot of traffic during those two time periods, so it's a bit difficult to screen. It will take some more time."
Yue Ran frowned upon hearing this. "I don't care about the details. Just get it screened as quickly as possible. The sooner, the better." He then stopped and said, "Right, I'll come with you!"
The person quickly led the way. "Understood, Young Master Yue. This way, please. I'll have them speed things up."
The two passed through the living room and entered a room, which turned out to be an ordinary bedroom. The person walked to the window, squatted down, and moved something under the bed, revealing a hidden door that opened.
Yue Ran entered first. The scene inside was unexpected. Judging by the facilities and various equipment, it was a miniature investigation unit!
Everyone was busy watching surveillance footage from around the mall. They all stood up when Yue Ran entered and greeted him, "Young Master Yue!" with great respect.
Yue Ran waved his hand. "You all carry on with your work. Make sure not to miss any suspicious vehicles." They acknowledged and went back to their tasks, the only sound being the rapid typing on keyboards.
Yue Ran sat to the side, his heart filled with anxiety, hoping nothing bad would happen to Xinxin!
"Ring ring!"
A mobile phone rang, sounding abrupt. Everyone seemed to pause for a second, then resumed their work.
Yue Ran took out his phone and saw it was Xiaomi. He hesitated for a moment before answering, "Hello, Xiaomi, what's up?"
After their call ended, Xiaomi had felt a strange unease. She started calling Shi Xinxin, but no one answered.
After waiting for a while, Xiaomi couldn't sit still any longer and went to Shi Xinxin's house. The result was obvious: no one was there.
Xiaomi continued to call Shi Xinxin's phone, listening to the "dududu~" sounds, a bad feeling growing with each ring. Xiaomi remembered Yue Ran had also been looking for Shi Xinxin and decided to call him to ask for any news.
"Yue Ran, have you found Xinxin? I'm very worried about her," Xiaomi said.
Yue Ran fell silent, unsure whether to tell Xiaomi about Shi Xinxin's kidnapping.
"Hello? Hello? Yue Ran?" Xiaomi called from the other end, not receiving a response for a long time.
Yue Ran snapped back to attention, seemingly having made a decision. "Xiaomi, I'm here." He paused for two seconds and continued, "Xinxin is fine. I've found her. There was a little accident. I'll bring her back, so don't worry."
Yue Ran hung up immediately. Xiaomi heard him say, "What..."
"Beep~" Before Xiaomi could finish, the call was disconnected.
Hearing Yue Ran's words, Xiaomi became even more anxious, wondering what had happened to Xinxin.
After hanging up, Yue Ran walked over to check on their progress.
Yue Ran approached one of the individuals and asked, "How's the investigation going?"
"Young Master Yue!" the person started to stand up, but Yue Ran stopped him. "No need, you can stay seated."
"Okay, Young Master Yue." Hearing Yue Ran's words, he didn't insist on standing and said, "We're getting somewhere and are currently following up." "Good, hurry it up." Yue Ran then moved to others.
Time ticked by, and Yue Ran waited anxiously, each moment feeling like an eternity.
Finally, the person who had opened the door for him earlier approached with a pleased shout, "Young Master Yue! We have results, come and see!" Yue Ran suddenly stood up and strode over.
Seeing Yue Ran approach, the person sitting at the computer quickly stood up to make way. Yue Ran said, "No need, just show me the results."
"Young Master Yue, look. After screening the vehicles exiting the mall, we found five suspicious cars during the two time periods you gave us." He then pulled up the captured footage and continued, "These cars entered the mall shortly after Miss Shi did, and they left the mall within a short period after she was taken away. They passed through these intersections."
Yue Ran looked at these cars and was somewhat satisfied with the results, though it wasn't what he had hoped for. He looked at the footage and said, "Check whose these cars belong to. Thank you for your hard work!"
As he spoke, a black Audi flashed before his eyes. He rewound and watched it several times.
The person next to him saw Yue Ran's actions and said, "Young Master Yue, this black Audi is the most suspicious. Its entry and exit times closely match Miss Shi's time at the mall, and it intentionally avoided areas with cameras. We spent a long time tracking it down before we could pinpoint it."
He paused and then continued, "We've discussed it and have roughly identified this black Audi as our primary target."
Yue Ran said nothing, simply continuing to rewatch the footage of the black Audi. For some reason, he felt he had seen this black Audi somewhere before; it was very familiar.
As Yue Ran pondered, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, and he remembered where he had seen the car.
He remembered: it was Alice's!
Alice had driven it several times when they went out together before, and he had ridden in it. If he remembered correctly, the license plate number was the same.
Alice was one of Yue Ran's good friends.
Yue Ran came back to his senses and quickly had someone verify it. Although he was about seventy percent sure it belonged to Alice, he still wanted to be sure.