Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Back then, the adults-including the police-all took it for granted that I had been lazy, letting my sister deliver the meal because I was afraid of the heat.

Everything I said was dismissed as an excuse to dodge responsibility.

They poured all their energy into the search itself.

Because of that, they missed such a vital clue.

“Shifu, what made you think I didn’t have heatstroke?”

A breakthrough had finally been made in the case, and I was trembling with excitement.

“It’s simple. Based on your account, it’s clear that you and your sister shared a deep bond. She was young, and you were worried about her going to deliver the meal alone,” Lao Yu said as he flipped through the case files.

“Under normal circumstances, you would have held out until she returned before sleeping. Instead, you passed out and slept for a very long time. If your father hadn’t woken you up, you probably would have slept even longer.

“Obviously, that’s not normal.”

My eyes welled up, and I nodded.

In all these years, Lao Yu was the first person to notice that the bond between my sister and me was extraordinary.

After my sister went missing, my father had pointed a finger at my nose and screamed, “What kind of big sister are you? Your sister is gone and you could actually sleep? Why didn’t you just sleep yourself to death?!”

At the time, I couldn’t understand why I had fallen asleep. I hated myself even more than he did.

No one knew how much I loved my sister.

And no one knew that our bond went far beyond typical sibling affection.

It wasn’t just because we had spent twenty-four hours a day together before I started elementary school.

It was because we had huddled together through bitter winters and scorching summers, sharing every hardship.

Back then, my parents were busy with their business and left us at home for our grandmother to look after. But Grandma was a devout Christian who spent all her time running off to church meetings, often leaving us alone in the house all day, neglected.

So, by the age of six, I was already cooking for my sister. If the rice burned, we ate it burned; if it turned out well, we enjoyed it together.

When other children cried, they called for their mothers. When my sister cried, she called for her big sister.

“You were sweating a lot that day, so you must have drunk plenty of water. The problem likely lies in the water.”

Lao Yu pointed to the cup in front of me.

“But who would drug a ten-year-old? And for what purpose?” I couldn’t help but ask.

As I spoke, two possibilities surfaced in my mind, each more desperate than the last.

“Did your family have any enemies?”

I shook my head. “My parents’ business philosophy was that harmony brings wealth. They rarely had conflicts with anyone. The only rogue who ever had a grudge against us had an alibi for that day.”

As we were talking, a commotion broke out outside.

A couple had come to the station to report a missing child.

“Officer, our child is eight years old and has autism. Her father was taking her for rehabilitation training and lost her on the way.

“Please, you have to help us!”

The woman was frantic, nearly dropping to her knees.

The man hung his head, his tone self-reproachful, yet his expression held a hint of relief that he couldn’t quite hide.

Seeing this, I had a rough idea of what was going on.

I had been at the police station for less than a year, but I had already seen several cases like this.

Most involved children with special needs. The families couldn’t afford the treatment or rehabilitation costs, or the parents were worn down by years of torment and saw no hope, so they abandoned the child. Then, fearing public condemnation, they would come to the station to put on a show of reporting it.

Nevertheless, I still questioned the man in detail about what had happened.

“When we passed Binhai Park, she saw someone feeding the seagulls. No matter how I pulled, she wouldn’t leave. I had no choice but to go buy some birdseed, but in the time it took to turn my back, the child was gone.”

The child had gone missing around five in the evening, right when the tide was rising.

They had searched everywhere before coming to report it. By now, over two hours had passed since she disappeared.

If she had met with danger, a life could be lost in mere minutes.

If she had encountered human traffickers, two hours was enough time to reach a bus or train station.

It was too late.

Even so, the police couldn’t just ignore it.

Lao Yu had me immediately issue a missing person’s notice, using the disappearance site as the center to spread the word quickly across social media.

He also dispatched a squad to the major transportation hubs to look for the child and contacted two professional search and rescue teams to conduct an overnight search along the coast.

With this three-pronged approach, we took every possible measure.

The rest would depend on the child’s fate.