Chapter 472: Chapter 280: Li Xiaofang Is Missing

“What’s wrong?”

“Ever since what happened three years ago, she hasn’t dated anyone. We all told her to let it go, but that incident left a shadow in her heart. She simply refuses to date anyone, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Of course, Lan Huina and the others knew what happened three years ago, but they couldn’t bring it up, so they continued to ask, “What happened three years ago?”

“Huh, you don’t know? Back then, you police officers went to the hospital every day to investigate her. Her job was almost gone at that point. That boss disappeared, and there’s no way it was my daughter who did it. We, as her parents, know her temper and character best. She’s very timid and couldn’t do anything bad. She just had a relationship with that boss because she was kind-hearted and got deceived by him.”

“At that time, were you aware of her situation?”

“How could she have told us something like that? We only found out after it happened. That boss bought her a car and a house. She’s just so naive; otherwise, how could she have gotten involved in such a situation?”

Li Xiaofang’s parents are genuine farmers who occasionally take on odd jobs. In reality, they know nothing about their daughter’s situation, yet they defend her at every turn.

But then again, what parent in the world doesn’t stand up for their child?

“You’ve got to help us find Fangfang. She’s our only daughter. Without her, what are we going to do in the future?”

Tears welled up as emotions ran deep.

Nowadays, most families only have one child. Raising a child to adulthood is no easy feat. If something unexpected happens, it’ll be too late to want to have another.

“Rest assured, we will definitely continue to investigate.”

Seeing the elderly couple’s state, Lan Huina couldn’t bear to tell them the truth. Based on their estimates, the likelihood of Li Xiaofang’s safety was grim. However, given the current situation, they truly couldn’t upset them further.

“By the way, have you been to her apartment since Li Xiaofang went missing?”

“We have. The police station has also been there. They had a locksmith open the door, but there was nothing inside the house.”

“Okay, thank you for cooperating. If you remember anything about your daughter, feel free to contact us. Here are my contact details.”

After making most of their records, Lan Huina and the others said farewell and left, leaving their contact information before they departed.

—————–

Fuhui First People’s Hospital, Inpatient Department.

Yang Ming and He Wenqiu arrived at Li Xiaofang’s workplace and found her colleagues.

“Hello, did Li Xiaofang work here before?”

The young nurse in front, upon seeing their uniforms and hearing they were looking for Li Xiaofang, couldn’t help but display a look of disdain: “Since she came, our inpatient department has practically turned into a police station, with officers coming to see her from time to time.”

“A lot of police have been looking for her?”

“Exactly, in the last two months, you’re the fifth batch of officers to come by. I’ve heard that three years ago, there were even more cops, but I wasn’t around then.”

“Do you know anything about her?”

“No, you can ask the head nurse.”

She seemed reluctant to talk, and at that moment, a patient called for a nurse, prompting her to walk toward the ward.

Yang Ming and He Wenqiu exchanged glances: Is our charm really lacking? The nurse didn’t even want to speak with them.

Eventually, they found the head nurse, who glanced at them and asked, “Have you changed personnel?”

These officers were different from the previous ones, especially upon hearing their accents. The head nurse quickly realized: “You must be from out of town. Are you really police officers?”

“Absolutely, here are our credentials. We’re from Nan Province.”

“You’re here to find Li Xiaofang?”

“Yes.”

“You’re here about the case from three years ago, right?”

The head nurse evidently knew something and quickly linked their identities as officers from Nan Province to the case from three years prior.

Three years ago, officials from Nanchong had already come to investigate Li Xiaofang.

“That’s right. We came this time and found out she’s missing. Did she exhibit any unusual behavior recently?”

“I don’t know if it’s considered unusual, but three months ago I saw a man come to see her. They seemed to have a fight and parted on bad terms. It took days for Xiaofang to recover emotionally afterward.”

Yang Ming gave the head nurse’s report his full attention and immediately requested the hospital provide the surveillance footage from that period.

Fortunately, the hospital’s surveillance footage was preserved for half a year, so they easily retrieved the video. Based on the time frame provided by the head nurse, the two found the segment where Li Xiaofang had a dispute.

However, in the video, since it was in a hospital, the man was wearing a mask, so his face wasn’t visible.

“Let’s copy the surveillance footage back.”

When they returned, Qi Liyan and Zhou Jian had also come back from the police station.

They all arrived around the same time, and seeing everyone was back, Li Xiang called everyone together to share the latest findings.

“Zhou Jian, how are things on your side?”

“At the police station, the investigation into Li Xiaofang’s disappearance has been limited. They coincidentally encountered a homicide case, pulling away a significant amount of police resources. So, the investigation on her case was temporarily set aside. Hearing we came to take over, they were quite straightforward in sharing all the related materials.

This includes her call records. They had just begun investigating her last calls, and found nothing suspicious in her last few calls. However, Li Xiaofang’s car still doesn’t have any leads, and while her house was checked by the police station, the situation at home didn’t seem like she was planning to travel.”

“So, Li Xiaofang wasn’t prepared to travel suddenly herself, making it more likely that she was harmed.”

Hearing everyone’s analysis, Yang Ming shared his findings from the hospital: “According to the head nurse, Li Xiaofang had a confrontation with a strange man who seems suspicious. I brought back the surveillance footage.”

“Yes, the police station also investigated this. But because he wore a mask, they couldn’t capture his face. They’ve asked people close to Li Xiaofang, but no one recognized the man.”

Hearing everyone’s feedback, Li Xiang nodded: “This mysterious man is highly suspicious. Going forward, our primary task is to uncover his identity. Are there any mentions of him in Li Xiaofang’s phone or bank records?”

“The police station checked her phone records before; there’s nothing. They did review her bank records then, but perhaps they need to be reassessed now.”

“Alright, let’s keep investigating. This matter is still up to you guys. As for tracing the mysterious man’s whereabouts, see if the video surveillance can be used for reverse tracking. This task is up to you, Yang Ming. Checking the surveillance is hard work, and you two are surely not enough, so the rest of us will help. Our top priority is to find this man first.”

“Yes.”

Afterward, Li Xiang looked at Lan Huina’s team and asked, “Any news from Li Xiaofang’s parents?”

“Not at the moment. They know nothing about their daughter’s life in the city, not even where her apartment is. The last time they went there was with the police.”

“Have the colleagues at the police station carefully examined Li Xiaofang’s room?”

When asked by Li Xiang, Zhou Jian responded quickly: “Not thoroughly, just a quick look. They hadn’t had the chance to set up equipment before their personnel were called away.”

“Then let’s go have another look. The rest of you proceed with the plan. I’ll go to Li Xiaofang’s apartment with Lan Huina’s team.”

“Yes.”

The task force split into three groups again, each starting on their respective tasks.

For this case, their twelve-member task force was far from enough. Everyone needed to act as if they were doing the work of two just to push the case forward.

Li Xiang led Lan Huina’s group and, using the address provided by the police station, arrived at Li Xiaofang’s home.

“Oh? Is this the place? How come there’s someone here?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep