Chapter 103

The atmosphere in the office had become extremely oppressive.

Except for the newly appointed Director of Teaching, the principal and all the teachers turned pale, because when the incident was first reported, they hadn't paid attention; instead, at the Zhou family's request, they helped Zhou Jiyao delete posts and lock comments.

No one expected the little girl later to go missing; they just turned a blind eye. For example, after Shen Xinxin reported the incident, she was constantly harassed by outside thugs, and rumors flew all over the school.

So later she fell into depravity, she went missing, yet they did nothing at all—they just ignored it.

Why did those thugs target her? Could it not be her own fault? Why does she love showing off so much? Wouldn't it be better to quietly tell a teacher? Why must she post it directly on the forum?

Her disappearance wasn't their doing either; they just... did nothing at all.

Here, the questioned Qiu Hua was sweating profusely, shaking his head repeatedly: "I don't know, I don't know..."

As he spoke, a chill rose in his heart; even if he vaguely guessed something, he could never say it out.

Qiu Hua's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, like a fish's lips constantly moving; his bulky body was shaken by Shen Yu back and forth, jostling his brains until they were almost scrambled.

"Stop shaking... it's not me... I didn't do anything!"

Shen Yu was almost going mad, filled with resentment toward them and even more self-blame; if it weren't for that period when she was busy with work, wouldn't she have noticed her daughter's abnormality, noticed her daughter's poor condition?

But the reality is, none of her suppositions will come true; she hates it so much, yet a sliver of hope remains in her heart: "Xinxin, where are you? I beg you, tell me where my Xinxin is!"

"Better late than never" Cheng Ziming hurriedly supported her, looking at the homeroom teacher dragged in with a bloody face, he muttered in his heart, "Serves him right!"

But he also cared more about the girl's safety.

At this moment, the principal also stood up, indignant, and said: "Police comrade, our teaching staff actually produced such a scoundrel; if the situation is true, I will definitely expel him and never rehire him!"

These righteous words, spoken at this moment, only make people find them laughable.

How did they act when Shen Xinxin first reported the incident? And now they put on another laughable face?

Cheng Ziming also found it ironic; he looked at Ling Yue, who turned her head to look at Zhou Jiyao hiding behind the crowd.

He lowered his head, clutching his hands tightly; one must not panic—without evidence, even the police cannot act arbitrarily.

Exactly like that!

He adjusted his expression accordingly, and when he raised his head again, his face was already deathly pale, as if truly frightened; he tried to hide himself in the crowd, coldly watching the hysterical Shen Yu.

Shen Yu stared at them with hatred, approaching each one in turn: "Police comrade, arrest them! Arrest them! They must know where my Xinxin is!"

"No no no!" Upon hearing they'd be taken to the station, the principal shook his head in terror: "It's not me; I just did nothing, I didn't know Shen Xinxin would go missing afterward—absolutely not me!"

The other teachers were the same, shaking their heads like rattles, nervous to the point of sweaty palms.

The only teacher filled with both shock and anger was likely the Director of Teaching; seeing his colleagues hard-pressed to hide their guilt, a surge of anger rose in his chest: "None of you knows—could Shen Xinxin have vanished into thin air?"

Qiu Hua didn't know if his brain had short-circuited or what; wiping sweat, he answered: "Who would know?"

At this moment, Ling Yue suddenly spoke: "I believe they also don't know."

After she spoke, she drew everyone's gaze; Ling Yue showed no fear, continuing: "But I also know who knows where Shen Xinxin is."

The girl's cold gaze swept over the crowd and landed directly on the back—on Zhou Jiyao.

"Shen Xinxin's mysterious top-student boyfriend, Zhou Jiyao."

Zhou Jiyao's face instantly turned deathly pale; he quickly retorted: "What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Shen Xinxin and I are just classmates; her having a boyfriend has nothing to do with me. Do you have any evidence that I'm her boyfriend?"

He was certain and sure that he had erased all traces, because at first he had coaxed Shen Xinxin, they being the first and second in their grade, yet they secretly started dating, which would look bad.

She also promised him she wouldn't tell anyone.

She must be deceiving me!

This has happened before; Zhou Jiyao couldn't possibly fall for it again.

But the next moment, his face turned ashen.

Ling Yue took out a mottled tin box, its lid printed with a cute cat's head, which he had never noticed before.

After the tin box was opened, inside lay a thick notebook.

Ling Yue: "This is the diary we found that Shen Xinxin hid away; it records the full course of your relationship with her. Do you still think we have no evidence?"

"When Shen Xinxin had her incident, why didn't you step forward? You, who were closest to her in relationship and proximity, what were you doing on the day it happened?"

"I was studying at home." Faced with the ironclad fact, Zhou Jiyao quickly changed his tune: "I really did cheat; my grades were poor, but later, when I dated Shen Xinxin, she saved me. I want to study hard and achieve second place through my own ability."

Now not only Ling Yue, but Cheng Ziming also laughed, because after initially suspecting Zhou Jiyao, they had directly investigated his movements that day; he claimed to be studying at home? Indeed there was a period, but after evening he suddenly drove out.

Ling Yue: "Why lie? You went to the vicinity of the school, gathered a gang of thugs—what were you doing there?"

"If we remember correctly, that day was exactly the time of the school weekend break; you took leave to rest at home, so why did you suddenly go out and stay with that gang of thugs?"

No one expected that, even with the evidence laid out plainly, Zhou Jiyao would still put up a stubborn resistance, refusing to admit it to his death.

It doesn't matter.

Just then, a piercing siren wailed; Lin Shaoze coldly stared at him: "The police have arrived; you have plenty of time to explain, and we've also brought those thug friends of yours. Zhou Deng, you know, right?"

As his words fell, a yellow-haired male student trembled as he walked in; upon seeing Zhou Jiyao, a phrase instantly blurted out: "Young Master Zhou!"

Whoosh.

Everyone's gaze fell on them, sharp as needles in the back. His appearance also made the stubbornly clinging Zhou Jiyao's face turn ashen.

Seeing this, the yellow-haired guy was even more shocked; he had been caught while collecting "protection fees," and upon seeing Zhou Jiyao, he had thought the other side would rescue him, but now it seems he himself can barely protect himself.

When Cheng Ziming asked about the events of the previous year, Huang Mao Zhou Deng's face instantly turned ashen; sensing the surroundings, he looked anxiously at the police: "I, I don't know anything!"

Cheng Ziming raised his eyebrows, delighted; this is exactly what "there's no silver hidden here" means!

He simply said a couple of sentences; upon hearing the disappearance case was related to Zhou Jiyao, this coward was frightened enough to thump down on his knees: "I'll say it, I'll say it all—I didn't do anything, I merely saw Shen Xinxin once!"

As soon as he spoke, countless people stared at him in shock.

"Back then I said I went in the morning to harass Shen Xinxin, but that wasn't actually the last time I saw her; in the evening, Young Master Zhou—that is, Zhou Jiyao——" He said with a gulp, swallowing saliva: "He suddenly sought me out, telling me to intercept her on the small road on her way home from school, and then Zhou Jiyao would step in to rescue her!"

Ling Yue instantly recalled the entry in Shen Xinxin's diary: their first meeting had been a hero-saving-the-beauty scene, where Shen Xinxin, besieged by thugs, was rescued by the passing Zhou Jiyao.

She furrowed her brow, a flicker of unease rising in her heart.

The next moment, Zhou Deng continued: "Everything I did was at Zhou Jiyao's behest, including his romance with Shen Xinxin, and the accident I engineered for them!"

「Later Zhou Jiyao got his wish, but I didn't know what happened; one day he suddenly found me and asked me to harass Shen Xinxin again, preferably making her dazed, the more outrageous the things she did, the more harm she suffered, the more money he gave me. 」

「I also know my own abilities, I only dare to cause minor trouble; that evening we were preparing to redo it, but I didn't expect Shen Xinxin seemed to have guessed it; after I admitted it, I realized she was deceiving us; she angrily looked at Zhou Jiyao, and I ran away. 」

「I never saw her again; later I heard news of her, which was that she had gone missing. 」

He seemed very frightened, shrinking his head with lingering fear, recalling his fluke mentality back then, the whole person felt like crying but couldn't: 「I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything! 」.

He was meticulous, his memory so good that Zhou Jiyao wished he could stab him to death; his fierce gaze fell on the little hooligan Zhou Deng, who yelled: 「Uncle Police, he's glaring at me! Does he want to kill me? 」.

Kill.

Upon uttering that word, the atmosphere inside the room instantly became heavy.

His words confirmed that from the initial heroic rescue to the later incessant harassment, everything was orchestrated by Zhou Jiyao behind the scenes, further proving that he was the last person Shen Xinxin saw.

「My Xinxin…」 Shen Yu burst into tears; she wasn't a qualified mother, not even knowing her daughter had suffered such a thing, her heart felt as if stabbed by swords and spears, riddled with holes.

The Zhou Jiyao everyone was focusing on unexpectedly calmed down; his face turned deathly pale, and he remained silent.

Shen Yu: 「You bastard! You worthless creature, why did you harm our Xinxin?! Speak up! Speak up! 」.

Ling Yue pinched her brow, faintly guessing in her heart, but before she could sort it out, the panicked homeroom teacher from earlier timidly raised her hand: 「I might know. 」.

He nervously wiped his sweat and trembled: 「Because Zhou Jiyao's grades are too poor, his doing so well is entirely because I leaked the exam questions to him, but the college entrance exam is coming up soon—I couldn't possibly get the answers to the exam paper. 」.

「Back when the school first proposed the idea of recommended university admission, I told him that Shen Xinxin's grades were excellent and she participated in various competitions, making her the top competitor ahead of him. 」.

「He said he wanted to go to Capital University, there was a way, but I never imagined it would be this kind of way! 」.

Deceiving a young girl.

All signs pointed to one person——Zhou Jiyao.

He seemed to know he couldn't escape, his gaze sweeping around, he roared: 「What do you understand? What do you know?? 」.

「That's my last chance; what right does she have to take it away?! 」.

「She's going to expose me, she says the school won't care, so she'll go to the Education Bureau—she must be crazy! I've painstakingly built this for so many years, how could I bear it! I'm an illegitimate son of the Zhou family; for this step today, I've staked everything! 」.

Zhou Jiyao said this while suddenly lifting his head, his eyes bloodshot, his hideous face like a demon crawling out of hell, making people feel a chill down their backs for no reason: 「You're not trying to find her, are you? I tell you, you'll never find her! Never ever! 」.

Anyway, everything is over now.

After saying that, he burst out laughing, his cold gaze making everyone shiver.

Shen Yu nearly fainted; what does "never be able to find her" mean? Where did she take her daughter?

A thought suddenly flashed in her mind; Shen Yu shook her head: 「You… didn't you kidnap and sell my daughter? She's still so young—she's only eighteen…」.

「Hahaha. 」 Zhou Jiyao looked at her mockingly: 「Kidnapping and selling? You're thinking too highly of yourself—why don't you guess she's dead? 」.

The atmosphere in the room had already condensed into a sheet of ice; everyone looked at him, this gloomy male student.

Zhou Jiyao looked at her amusedly, suddenly stunned for a moment, as if possessed, he softly said: 「I didn't want to either—it's just that she was too noisy, so I gave her a light push—」.

A bone‑chilling cold crept up their chests; they looked at him, but Zhou Jiyao only laughed wildly.

Ling Yue frowned, looking at Zhou Jiyao who had suddenly blown up.

Beside him, Cheng Ziming wished he could punch him flat, beating him into a pig's head! The little hooligan Zhou Deng from earlier was terrified, crawling all over the ground, wishing he could flee to the Tai Ping Yang, far away from him!

Afterward, no matter how the police interrogated him, he remained silent, and the situation reached a stalemate.

This was also the first time Cheng Ziming had encountered such a thing; he explained everything, but did not reveal the missing person's whereabouts.

Just now, overcome with grief and having fainted, Shen Yu woke up, her face ashen, like dead ash; after coming to, she lunged straight at Zhou Jiyao, grabbing with her hands and biting with her teeth: 「Give me back my daughter! Give me back my Xinxin! 」.

Zhou Jiyao was shoved over, fell to the ground clutching his head and howling; upon lifting his head again, he met the sharp gaze of the police in the room—the memory instantly flooded back.

Those were his most secret words, which he had intended to keep buried for a lifetime; how could they suddenly come out? At that moment his body seemed no longer under his own control.

But how could that be possible!

An inexplicable chill suddenly surged up his back; Zhou Jiyao completely lost his mind, he screamed wildly: 「Shen Xinxin? Shen Xinxin, are you taking revenge on me? I'll make you die and become a lonely ghost! 」.

Zhou Jiyao looked at Shen's mother: 「Do you want to find your daughter's corpse? I will never tell you. Rest assured, as long as I don't speak, none of you will be able to find her—no one should even think of finding her! 」.

「She's been dead for years—by now her bones must have turned to dust, right? 」.

The atmosphere had completely reached a stalemate.

Shen Yu slapped herself; her daughter has been out there for many years; whenever she thinks of it, her heart feels like being cut by a knife.

The matter has come to this; the truth is now fully revealed.

However, the burial place of Xinxin has become the biggest mystery in the case, because Zhou Jiyao refuses to disclose it; we can only wait for the police to conduct further interrogation.

Amid the woman's sorrowful wails, the sparrow couple fiercely pecked at the man's face; Ling Yue withdrew her gaze, pressed her lips together, and suddenly a glint flashed in her eyes; she lifted her gaze, looking behind Zhou Jiyao——

A weak, semi‑transparent shadow floated in midair.

That was a girl wearing a blue‑white uniform, with a delicate, pretty face, her hair tied in a high ponytail, staring blankly at Shen Yu in the room, who was sobbing heart‑wrenchingly.

As if sensing her gaze, the girl suddenly turned her head, staring straight at her.

Since Zhou Jiyao's sudden outburst, Ling Yue had sensed something was off; now she finally confirmed it.

「Older sister——」.

Ling Yue instantly understood her meaning, slightly lowering her gaze, her voice echoing in the room: 「I might know where the location is. 」.

In an instant, everyone's gaze fell on her.