Chapter 496: The Child Who Vanished Without a Trace

The next day.

The Police Station received another disappearance case, and the reporter claimed that his son had vanished without reason.

But this time it was not a Ulong Incident like yesterday's, and the missing one was not a pet cat but a five‑year‑old boy.

After a brief inquiry into the general course of events, the Police immediately issued an alert.

Wan Da Mall.

When the Police arrived, they found a couple arguing.

From the content of their quarrel, the Police concluded that the couple before them must be the ones who lost the child.

"Are you Mr. Wang, who just reported the case?" Han Fei stepped forward and asked.

"Yes, yes, that's me, I called the Police!" the man, seeing the police officer arrive, immediately stopped arguing with his wife: "Police comrades, you finally came; can you quickly help me find my son? He's been missing for almost an hour, and I'm worried something happened to him…"

At that moment, the woman beside him grabbed Han Fei's arm.

"Police comrades, this is my only son; I truly cannot be without him. Please, help us find him quickly,"

The woman's emotions were extremely intense, nearly at the brink of collapse; upon seeing the police officer, she said nothing, her body went limp and she almost fell, but Han Fei, quick‑eyed and swift, caught her.

"Rest assured, we will do everything we can to find him."

After speaking, he also pointed to the nearby Restroom: "You said on the phone that the child was lost in the Restroom? Is this the Restroom?"

"Yes!" the man nodded: "Earlier my wife went to the Restroom, and my son wanted to go too. I was afraid my wife would be anxious if she came out and couldn't find us, so I just crouched by the Restroom exit waiting, letting my son go in himself. I waited and waited but he never emerged; when I went in, I found the child was gone."

"Have you contacted the mall manager to check the surveillance?" Han Fei asked.

"No," the man shook his head: "We haven't dared to leave this spot; we only reported to the Police and waited for you to come."

"Then let's check the surveillance first."

This is a mall; surveillance cameras are everywhere, and the simplest way to locate someone is to review the footage. This method is often very efficient—so long as the missing child hasn't left the mall, they can usually be found quickly.

The group found the mall manager, identified themselves, and with the manager's assistance retrieved the surveillance of the Restroom entrance.

However, the situation matched the man's description almost exactly; after his son entered, he indeed never came out.

As soon as the footage finished playing, the man looked at his wife.

"See! I told you I couldn't have misread it; Xiaoyu never came out! You keep insisting I didn't watch the child properly—can this be blamed on me?"

"Why are you shouting at me! Isn't the child the one you lost sight of? I was just going to the restroom for a moment, and when I came out the child was gone. Are you saying this could be my fault?"

"I'm not blaming you; I'm just saying it's not because I was careless and didn't see him exit—you're accusing me, but he never came out at all."

"So it's not your fault? If you had gone in with him, could this have happened? Could a son be lost?"

"I was just waiting outside, thinking you'd be anxious when you came out and couldn't see us; besides, how could I have imagined this happening?"

"…"

"Stop arguing, stop arguing; fighting won't solve anything… You two, the immediate priority is to find the child."

After calming the two who were about to argue, Han Fei looked at Xu Mo, uneasy about this footage.

The latter immediately understood Han Fei's meaning, examined the footage, and shook his head: "The surveillance hasn't been tampered with."

"Besides this entrance, does the Restroom have any other entrances?" Han Fei asked the mall manager.

The mall manager replied immediately: "No, the Restroom entrance is sandwiched between two shops; walk about ten meters inside, turn left and you see the Restroom. There's only one entrance, no back door—both entry and exit must go through there."

No other exit… the surveillance didn't capture the child exiting, which means the missing child never came out at all? Han Fei said, "Let's go back and check."

A few of them, with the mall manager, returned to that Restroom.

As the mall manager said, there's only this one passage to the Restroom; the corridor serves as both entrance and exit, and all traffic must use it.

Since the footage didn't show the child exiting, it suggests he is most likely still inside.

"Go in and search carefully," Han Fei ordered the police officers.

The Restroom's exit and entrance are the same spot, and the surveillance only captured the child entering, not exiting; moreover, the footage hasn't been tampered with. Thus Han Fei considered only one possibility: the child, being playful, might have hidden himself to tease his parents.

"Police comrades, there's nothing inside; I already searched the whole place. At first I thought he was hiding to play with me, but I checked every corner of the Restroom and still didn't see my son, which is why I called the Police,"

After speaking, the man added, "I also had my wife search the Female Restroom, but she didn't see anyone."

Although he said that, the police officers still entered the Restroom to re‑examine it.

The only place in the Restroom where someone could hide is a stall, but they didn't find the missing child there.

The officers not only inspected the men's Restroom, but also checked the Female Restroom, the accessible Restroom, and the mother‑and‑baby room, yet still found nothing.

After a fruitless search, the officers who split up returned to Han Fei to report.

"Han Team, the Female Restroom yielded nothing."

"The accessible Restroom and mother‑baby room also have no one."

Han Fei's brows involuntarily furrowed; could the child truly have vanished into thin air? Impossible.

At this moment, Xu Mo added another remark.

"I've checked the windows, ceiling, and ventilation fan; the ceiling and fan are sealed, no one can crawl in. The windows could be climbed out of, but this is the third floor, and the wall outside the windows is bare, with no water pipe, so escaping through a window is impossible."

Compared with the other officers, Xu Mo's observation was more meticulous; he not only inspected places in the Restroom where a person could hide, but also systematically ruled out every other way to exit, concluding that no one could silently carry a child out of the Restroom.

Han Fei, hearing this, furrowed his brows even more.

Strange, strange indeed—no footage of the child leaving, the Restroom has been thoroughly searched, yet no child found; could the child truly have sprouted wings and flown away?

Just as Han Fei was puzzled, Wang Dachuan, as if recalling something, suddenly spoke.

"Han Team, while reviewing the surveillance, I recall seeing a man dragging a suitcase walk out of the Restroom."

As soon as the words finished, Han Fei waved his hand.

"I noticed that too, but that suitcase isn't big enough to fit a child that size; it couldn't be him."

What Wang Dachuan noticed, Han Fei naturally also noticed.

The reason he didn't mention it at first was that the suitcase's dimensions were insufficient to hold a child that large.

"I know it can't be shoved in directly, but what I mean is…" Wang Dachuan glanced at the couple beside him who had lost their child, and chose not to say the rest of his sentence in front of them, mainly for fear of hurting them.

Instead, (they) leaned close to Han Fei's ear and whispered their own idea.

After hearing the words Wang Dachuan said in his ear, Han Fei was visibly stunned for a moment.

Although Wang Dachuan's idea is a bit perverse, one must admit that it is indeed possible…

"Adjust the surveillance, check that person's identity… find him!"